Dragon's Den

Dragon's Den
Don Pendleton

A bloodbath aboard a celebrity-packed yacht leaves the daughter of a high-ranking politician dead. Going undercover as a DEA official, Mack Bolan probes what appears to be a drug deal gone bad.But as kilos of high-grade heroin flood Los Angeles, Bolan's investigation exposes something worse than business as usual for local gangs and dirty politicians.The trail leads to Jakarta and the Golden Dragon, a drug lord with his hands in the pockets of officials–and an agenda that goes beyond white powder and cold hard cash. The Executioner hammers the opposition with a vengeance, savaging the Dragon's stranglehold on the drug trade… and engraging a powerful enemy whose mission stops nothing short of full-blown terror.

The Executioner

Dragon’s Den

Don Pendleton’s

www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)

For Bill and Joan Oliver

Acknowledgment

Special thanks and acknowledgment to Jon Guenther for his contribution to this work.

Contents

Acknowledgment

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Epilogue

Prologue

Washington Post, AP—Los Angeles

At approximately 7:15 a.m. PDT yesterday morning, narcotics officers of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department conducted a drug raid against a private yacht moored at the world-famous Marina del Rey. Sources report the yacht belonged to Raul Montavo, thirty-two, Hollywood’s hottest Latin superstar. Police confiscated more than two hundred kilograms of opium and an undisclosed amount of heroin that one officer stated “was in plain view.”

In a recent press conference, police spokesperson Martha Stellano said, “There were no fatalities or injuries during the raid. We found several bodies on board we believe are drug-related homicides.”

When questioned about the identities of the deceased, police refused to comment until members of the immediate family were notified and causes of deaths determined. However, confidential sources indicate Raul Montavo is among those dead, as is the relative of a U.S. politician. There is no word yet on when police plan to provide further information.

1

Mack Bolan parked his rental car in the lot of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department’s Marina del Rey station and climbed from the air-conditioned interior into the midday August heat. The salty odor of the Pacific breezes stung his nostrils. Bolan pulled the mirrored sunglasses from his face and rubbed his eyes. He still felt the aftereffects of jet lag. Shortly after his return from a personal mission in Europe, Hal Brognola had called and begged him to go to California.

“What’s up?” Bolan asked the Stony Man chief.

“We don’t have all the facts quite yet, but it was enough to draw the Man’s attention.”

Mention of the President got Bolan’s interest. “Let’s back it up a little. Tell me what you know.”

Brognola—head of the ultracovert Sensitive Operations Group, based at Stony Man Farm—told Bolan about the drug raid in Marina del Rey. Police had seized almost two hundred kilos of pure-grade opium. “And there were seven bodies,” Brognola added.

“Any make on them?”

“Three were Asian, but local law enforcement is having one hell of a time putting names to faces.”

“The other four?”

“Three Hollywood celebrities and Senator Simon Lipinski’s daughter.”