The Death Strain by Nick Carter Read Free Book Online Page B

socks. "No need to put these on now," he said. "Inside the decorative ribbing on the sides they contain explosive wire. Just put a match to the whole sock and you'll get enough for one good blast out of each."
    I stuffed the socks in my pocket. "Send me a dozen in brown and a dozen in blue. I hope nobody gives me a hotfoot while I'm wearing them." Stewart's severe face remained expressionless, and I decided he'd never develop a sense of humor. I left and went upstairs to Hawk's office. There was a message for me to wait and wait I did. The pretty little thing in the outer office had a name and a telephone and an address where she lived alone. I got all three before Hawk came back. I followed him into the inner office.
    "You will join Major Nutashi at Andrews Field in two hours," Hawk said, his tone crisp. "You will both be flown to Hokkaido. There his people will prepare you for scouting the Kurile Islands. A fleet of four Russian submarine chasers of the S.O.I. Class will be standing by off the Kuriles. We decided against the use of submarines because of their lack of deck guns, which you may need. Also, these sub chasers can move in fasten Ostrov said there would be three W Class patrol submarines standing by below the surface if needed. Chung Li gave us a special frequency on which to contact him directly. He agreed to have all Chinese coastal forces alerted for any unusual activity, such as Carlsbad trying to make it to the Chinese mainland by boat. In radio contact with anyone, use the code name Operation DS."
    Hawk paused and his lips tightened. "The rest is up to you, Nick," he said. "All this background cooperation won't be worth a damn unless you get to Carlsbad. Everyone's agreed to stay quietly in the background and wait for word from you. But at least you know that no matter which way Carlsbad jumps, you can go after him fast, without worrying about being stopped. Just clear your moves through Operation DS."
    "Good enough," I said. "All assuming that Carlsbad is not holed up right here."
    "Oh, I forgot to mention," Hawk said. "We're pretty sure he's left the country. We got a report on a series of six private planes, left abandoned from here to Portland. Each plane had been reserved from a different charter service over a month ago, all by a Mr. Kiyishi." I grimaced. That name again. They'd set up a series of short hops and skips across the country, changing planes each time just to play safe. Neat, I had to admit.
    "We think they slipped by our people in Portland and took a commercial airliner overseas," Hawk concluded. He stood up and walked to the door with me.
    "This isn't just a matter of getting Carlsbad," he said. "If X–V77 is let loose in the process, we will have lost everything."
    "What you're saying is I've got to move fast and hard and slow and careful," I grinned. "Tell me how I do that, O Wise One."
    I should know never to underestimate the old fox. "Make believe you're after one of your top-heavy blondes," he said. "It'll come back to you."

IV
    The Kurile Islands were given to Russia by the Yalta Agreement and are still a sore point with the Japanese. The Japanese still fish their rich waters despite the control of the Russians, and the small, hardy, independent fishermen are a constant problem to the Soviets. Stretching from the very tip of Japan to the long Sredinny finger pointing downward from Russia, the islands are swept by cold currents from the Bering Sea and spend many of their days in bone-chilling fog.
    In one small, single-sailed fishing dory, three Japanese fishermen hauled in full nets and put out new ones, moving their little craft close to the island shores. One of them was an old man, stooped but still strong and able, the other his son, young and the mainstay of the boat. The third man was big for Japanese. Actually he was not even Japanese — he was me, Nick Carter.
    I stayed hunched over like the others, clothed in the same oilskin work clothes under which I wore the long