Terminal Guidance

Terminal Guidance
Don Pendleton

U.S. intelligence agencies are picking up chatter about something big coming their way.A series of calculated executions of undercover intelligence personnel in Washington, London and Pakistan convinces the Oval Office that this is the attack the world has feared. The Stony Man teams deploy to the hot spots, fighting to connect the dots in a plot to blow dirty bombs in Boston and Peshawar. And every minute counts as the warriors seek to smash a deadly alliance of terror that seems to have unlimited power and resources.

“I WANT THIS HANDLED BY STONY MAN.”

“If we do have someone passing information to the enemy, I can’t hand this over to our security departments. Sensitive information could be intercepted and used against us. Stony Man is a separate entity. No allegiance to any other departments here or abroad.”

The President leaned forward, fixing Brognola with an unflinching stare.

“The main reason I want you in on this, Hal, is information I received from a genuine source.” The President didn’t elaborate on his source, so Brognola raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

“I understand your curiosity about that, but I can’t say anything right now,” the President said. “Just take my word it’s on the level. The asset has warned that the threat of the strikes is real. There will be an attempted strike on Pakistan and the U.S. mainland. Hal, it’s going to be nuclear. And we have a name. Colonel Jabir Rahman. Is that a good enough reason to bring in Stony Man?”

“Good enough, Mr. President,” the big Fed said grimly.

Terminal Guidance

Stony Man

America’s Ultra-Covert Intelligence Agency

Don Pendleton

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

Terminal Guidance

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

PROLOGUE

Peshawar, Pakistan

Jay Crawford stepped aside as the rickety bus pushed through the crowded market. The interior was crammed with passengers as usual. More were perched on the roof and others clung to the exterior of the wheezing, smoke-billowing vehicle. Crawford had been in the country for almost twelve months and he still couldn’t get used to the constant congestion.

He glanced around the market area. The place teemed with people. Hundreds of them. They moved and jostled around the stalls in a colorful swirl, all seeming to be talking at once. Add to that the music coming from different locations, the cooking smells from the market traders… He never tired of it.

He turned in at the entrance of the crowded, open-fronted store that sold English-language newspapers and magazines. Crawford visited once a week to buy Newsweek and Time magazines. The man who ran the store nodded at him and produced the periodicals. He was stooped, bony, his face creased with a beaming smile as Crawford paid for his magazines.

“Good day, Mr. Crawford,” he said. “Are you well?”

“Yes, and you, Mr. Pradesh?”

“Yes. Yes.”

It was the same each time Crawford called in. Conversation seldom went beyond the polite exchange.

When Crawford stepped back outside the store’s cool interior, the solid wall of heat struck him. He checked his watch. An hour yet before he needed to make his daily report to his CIA section head in Washington. It would take him just over thirty minutes to walk back to his apartment. No rush. Crawford took out a pack of Marlborough cigarettes and lit one, enjoying the nicotine rush. He merged with the crowd and went with the flow. He had learned to go with the crush rather than try to fight against it.