Black Lotus

By Dan Crown

The world's #1 action author is back with a new hero!

An insane billionaire wants the US presidency and will stop at nothing to get it.

Standing in his way is the agent known only by the codename Roman.

When the headquarters of the Empire intelligence agency is breached, data is stolen and a top-ranking agent is slain. Roman embarks on a no-holds-barred globetrotting adventure, full of spine-snapping action and heart-stopping thrills as he attempts to track down those responsible.

The trail leads him to a terrorist group backed by a billionaire with presidential ambitions. Roman must defy death and fight against the powerful madman’s seemingly limitless resources, or the world will be plunged into conflict.

And who - or what - is Black Lotus?

"Gripping, non-stop action thrills from beginning to end. You'll be on the edge of your seat."
- Jack Massacre, President of the AAAAA (Action Adventure Authors Association of America)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329588363

Book preview

Black Lotus

Black Lotus

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Copyright

Black Lotus

Copyright © Dan Crown, 2015. All rights reserved.

First published in 2015.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.

ISBN: 978-1-329-58836-3

Prologue

Tanzania, Africa

Roman was in deep shit. His hands were bound by a thick rope behind his back. The coarse fibers were already rubbing the skin from his wrists.

He lay in the tray of an old militarized utility vehicle that was speeding through the deserts of Africa, north along a barely-there dirt track. Every few seconds the uneven road would launch him into the air, before gravity crunched him back onto the hard metal surface.

There were two men up front, one driving and one in the passenger seat. Both were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, as was the man sitting opposite him in the back.

After almost fifteen minutes of fumbling with the loose screw in the floor of the tray, Roman finally lifted it free. His fingers still ached from the effort. The screw had jagged edges, but the ropes were much too thick to cut through before they reached the Kenyan border. He would have to try something else, if only the man guarding him would look away for a moment.

The truck drove over a deeper depression in the road and both men in the back were thrown against the sides of the tray.

Roman rolled toward his guard, tucking up his legs in the process and allowing his bound hands to pass around his feet to the front of his body. The jagged screw still protruded from his tethered fists.

He sprang upright and slammed the screw into his surprised captor’s neck, piercing his carotid artery. He tore upwards as he wrenched the screw free. Blood sprayed from the fallen man’s neck and his gurgled scream was cut short.

The men up front both looked around, startled by the sudden torrent of blood. The passenger raised his gun. Roman pulled his guard’s body in front as the man fired. Two bullets were absorbed by the corpse before Roman advanced on the shooter. He kicked the gun from his attacker’s hand and dropped the human shield. He swept his bound hands over the passenger’s head and around his neck, pulling hard backward to choke him.

The driver, with one eye still on the road, picked up his radio and issued a distress call. It wouldn’t take long for help to arrive.

Roman kicked the choking man between the shoulder blades, snapping his head back sharply and breaking his neck with a sickening crunch. He yanked his hands free and picked up the passenger’s gun just as the driver reached for his own.

Roman was quicker.

The driver’s blood and brains sprayed out into the desert and his body slumped forward, hitting the steering wheel. The truck jerked to the left sharply, hit a rock and started to roll.

Roman dived to the right as the truck flipped sideways over and over through the air. Glass smashed and bodies were thrown out into the desert. Roman hit the ground hard on his back, winding him. The truck came to a stop nearby, upside-down and half buried in the sand. It was eerily quiet, but the distress call meant Roman wouldn’t be alone for long.

He quickly found the closest gun and shot the ropes from his hands, then located the body of the driver and rifled through his uniform. Nothing. The artifact must be in the truck somewhere.

A distant buzzing made him look up. Scanning the sky he could see the faint speck of a plane growing larger. Damn! Surano was here already. He would not be pleased that his men had fucked up so badly. Surano believed that the artifact was worth millions. Roman knew it was priceless.

The plane came in hot, all guns blazing. Roman dived beneath the upturned truck. Most of the bullets pinged from its shell, but some penetrated the tired metal chassis. Roman would be a dead man if he stayed here much longer.

‘You are such an annoying little man, Roman.’ The radio crackled to life. ‘You know you can still just pay the money and I will let you live.’

It was Surano. He wanted seventy-five million dollars for the artifact, a fortuitous discovery that had been made by a local construction company during the excavation of a building site. Surano had stolen the artifact after hearing that buyers were offering millions for it.

Roman ignored the message. He searched the truck. There it was, protruding from the sand - a small white cube, just tiny enough to slip somewhat uncomfortably into his pocket.

The buzzing had stopped now. Roman looked out and saw the plane had landed. Half a dozen armed troops disembarked and opened fire on the truck.

Roman fired back as he scrambled around to the rear of the vehicle. One of the men went down, blood spurting from his chest. Bullets whizzed past Roman and ricocheted off the truck as Surano’s hunters advanced, trying to outflank him.

One of the dead guards was lying nearby. Roman grabbed a knife from the man’s belt and tucked it into his own. He then picked up the dead man’s gun in his free hand – he now had one in each.

As the five remaining soldiers spread out, Roman ran up the overturned truck and launched himself toward the man directly in front. With his two guns he shot the two men standing on either side of his target then dropped the guns. The remaining soldiers opened fire.

As he landed he passed between the two men flanking him and rolled underneath the hail of gunfire. Each soldier’s fire passed over his curled body and slammed into the chest of his opposite number.

Roman slipped the knife from his belt as he rolled. He felt a burning in his left arm as the final soldier’s shot grazed its target. He emerged from the roll right in front of his assailant and plunged the knife straight into his heart. The man’s mouth opened in surprise and he stumbled backward, collapsing to the ground. Roman grabbed his gun and walked toward the plane.

The propeller’s started to spin up as Roman approached. They knew he wouldn’t be going far out here and were likely going to fetch reinforcements.

‘You want to deal, Roman?’ Surano called from the inside of the plane, laughing.

‘No deal.’

Roman clambered into the plane as it rolled past him, gathering speed for takeoff. He was greeted by a kick in the face from the heavily-booted Surano. Roman went flying back into the wall, his gun knocked from his hand and out the open door.

Surano pulled a pistol from his belt and aimed at Roman’s face, grinning in anticipation. Roman propelled himself off the wall with his arms, sliding forward and kicking Surano’s feet out from under him.

The gun went off, straight through the wall and into the cockpit. It was aimed low where Roman had been lying, so the pilot would be nervous but not dead.

Roman followed up by chopping Surano’s wrist, forcing him to drop the gun, which slid down the length of the plane as it ascended. The door still hung open.

The two men grappled on the floor. Surano punched Roman in the face. Roman gripped his neck and kneed him in the groin. Surano gouged at Roman’s eyeballs, breaking his grip and the two men rolled apart and stood up.

‘You are a fool Roman. You are risking your life fighting for this artifact, and you don’t even know what it does,’ mocked Surano.

‘Nor do you, Surano,’ Roman responded.

It was true, Roman had no idea why the object was so valuable, but he had orders to retrieve it at all costs. He assumed it was some kind of advanced technology, probably a weapon.

Surano was edging toward the back of the plane and the gun. Roman lunged at him, pinning both his arms against the wall. Surano kicked his shins, hard, but Roman ignored the pain. He flung Surano back toward the door, where he landed by the opening. Roman walked over and planted his foot on the man’s chest.

‘And for the record, I don’t consider you a risk to my life.’

He kicked Surano out the door, then walked to the back of the plane and picked up the pistol. Roman could tell by the weight that it still had three rounds in the clip, plus one in the chamber.

He entered the cockpit and shot the pilot in the head as he reached for his gun. He then dragged the body quickly toward the door and it followed Surano out of the plane.

Roman closed the hatch and took the stick, righting the plane from its brief, pilotless dive, and turning it around so it once again faced north.

He checked the fuel; there was more than enough to make it to Somalia. From there he could arrange transport back to London.

London, England

‘Back from another adventure, Roman?’ It was Genie, the personal assistant to the director of Empire.

‘I’m still in one piece, for now. I can’t go into the details,’ Roman teased. He knew she knew that protocol prevented him from talking about his missions, but she often gently probed him for information. Given the nature of Empire, he always had to keep his guard up, even with fellow agents.

Empire wasn’t just an intelligence organization; it was the secret intelligence agency that all others relied on. The CIA, NSA, MI6, Mossad, SSD and more were all fed information by Empire and relied on the organization to tackle the most dangerous threats to the civilized world. And none of them even knew it existed.

‘I hope you haven’t come home empty handed, Roman. You know how Max gets,’ Genie replied, hinting that perhaps she did know something of Roman’s mission after all.

Genie opened the door to the director’s office and ushered him inside.

‘Good morning, Max,’ he greeted the director. She was in her fifties and had shoulder-length gray hair. There were few lines on her face – if not for her hair many would probably assume she was much younger than she really was. She wore a deep red top and black pants and was seated behind a heavy oak desk. Her green eyes could stare directly into your soul.

The director of Empire was always designated Max, though in the sixteen years of Roman’s service the director had not changed. Roman knew from brief conversations with other operatives that the there were many different Maxs. The command structure of Empire was a mystery even to those on the inside.

‘Did you recover the artifact?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’ Roman handed her the cube. She placed it on the desk in front of her and touched the surface in a particular way. The white cube folded open, revealing a slightly smaller black box inside. She nodded her approval and reconstructed the white cube.

Genie entered and Max handed her the cube.

‘Send this downstairs please, Genie.’

‘Yes, ma’am."

Max continued once Genie had left the room.

‘Well done. I’m sure Genie’s put on a brave face for you Roman, but something else has come up I need you to take care of. We have a problem here.’

‘In London?’

‘No, at Empire.’

The words chilled Roman’s blood.

‘What kind of a problem?’

‘The central operations facility has been infiltrated. Morgan’s body was found yesterday morning. All other personnel are accounted for.’

‘Security footage?’ asked Roman.

‘All surveillance recordings were corrupted. We believe some kind of portable radiation emitter was responsible. There’s more.

‘A microchip containing the locations of all of Empire’s facilities worldwide has been stolen. Other intelligence data was taken as well, but is of secondary importance. Thankfully, no information about our operatives was accessed, so normal engagement protocols still apply. Morgan was the only one with access to the chip.’

Morgan was the head of the research and development branch of Empire. Development of all new technologies were ultimately his responsibility, and it was usually he that equipped Roman before he embarked on a mission, and briefed him on any new devices that would hopefully give him an extra advantage in the field. Roman was careful not to become too attached to anyone, but he had worked with Morgan for almost a decade and they shared, if not a friendship in the traditional sense, certainly a mutual respect.

‘Your mission is to find and stop whoever is responsible for this,’ Max concluded.

The rest of the mission remained unspoken, but was perfectly conveyed by Max’s eyes. Exact retribution. Make whoever did this pay.

The door to the office opened again, and Genie entered.

‘Genie will take you downstairs. David is the new head of research and development. Dismissed.’

* * *

Ostensibly a small, two-storey lawyer’s office from the outside, Empire’s central operations facility in London extended deep underground. Roman himself had only seen a small fraction of its inner workings. The length of the elevator ride below left him in no doubt the facility could withstand any kind of nuclear attack on the surface.

That was also what worried him the most. Anyone familiar enough with Empire to infiltrate the organization and steal the location list would know this as well, which meant that if they were stealing the list to launch an attack on Empire, they had something more powerful than a nuclear weapon to attack with.

The elevator doors opened on a nondescript gray hallway. Normally they would head straight to the equipment chamber, but circumstances were different today.

‘Morgan’s quarters are this way,’ said Genie. ‘He was a very private man and kept to himself by all reports. Despite being head of the department he specifically requested a smaller space for his quarters.’

She opened the door.

‘You can see it’s a bit cramped.’

‘As you know, I have a knack for fitting into even the tightest spaces,’ said Roman.

Genie blushed and nervously smoothed her skirt. Security concerns had never dampened Roman’s enthusiasm for an affair.

Morgan’s body still lay on the floor. There were no signs of a struggle. Roman knelt down and turned over Morgan’s hand, examining the back. It was as he suspected. The security token, which was surgically grafted to all technical personnel, had been removed. A bloody patch of torn flesh was all that remained.

‘Morgan was killed here and the body hasn’t been moved, so the attacker must have had some way to keep the token active until they reached the data center,’ said Roman.

‘That’s what our preliminary assessment suggests,’ replied Genie. ‘No prints were recovered from the scene; forensics is analyzing a sample of Morgan’s blood. The results of their analysis should be ready by now.’

They made their way to the data center. All intelligence gathered by Empire’s network of agents was analyzed and dispersed here. They were greeted by a face unfamiliar to Roman. He had dark skin, glasses and an afro. When he spoke it was with a high-pitched voice and an English accent.

‘Good morning Genie’, he looked her over appreciatively, ‘And you must be Roman – I’ve heard so much about you.’ He extended his hand, which Roman shook.

‘David, I presume.’

‘Please, call me Dave.’

‘Well Dave, please proceed,’ prompted Roman.

‘Forensics didn’t find anything foreign in Morgan’s blood,’ said Dave. ‘There were no other leads on that front either.’

He turned to a nearby console and pressed a few buttons, bringing up a map of Europe on the large three-paneled screen along one wall of the chamber. Blinking red circles surrounding Berlin and Warsaw appeared on screen.

‘We do have one lead though. Since the data was taken, our analysts have picked up a spike in traffic regarding delivery of an item to a terrorist group in Poland called Cedr. Local agents were deployed yesterday to gather further intelligence.

‘It appears that Cedr are expecting the arrival of someone they refer to only as Black Lotus. One of their agents, we presume.’

‘Surely an operative from a small, relatively unknown terrorist group would not be able to infiltrate Empire,’ said Genie.

‘Black Lotus is probably a mercenary, and Cedr are likely being bankrolled by a more powerful organization,’ Roman replied.

‘Well, that’s what we need you to find out,’ said Dave. ‘Cedr are expecting to make contact with Black Lotus on the Berlin-Warsaw train. We want you to be on that train as well.’

Roman nodded his understanding.

‘Now, we should move to the equipment chamber. I have some new toys you may be interested in.’

* * *

The equipment chamber was a large, thick walled room designed to withstand the numerous high-explosive blasts that took place within.

As Genie followed the others through to Dave’s demonstration area, Roman could see her flinching every time something exploded or a bullet was fired in her direction.

The testing area was enclosed in some kind of transparent plastic, presumably close to indestructible given the kinds of things that were tested here. Some small benches and a rack of clothing were against one wall. Ordinary objects sat on the benches, but Roman knew they were more than met the eye. A brick wall had been constructed in the middle of the area.

‘So what’s on the menu today?’ he asked.

‘Well funny you should ask, Roman. The first thing I have for you is what looks like ordinary chewing gum,’ said Dave.

‘Really? What flavor?’

‘I call it electric blue, because it also doubles as a taser. Embedded in the gum is a small generator capable of electrocuting a man. It has a limited charge though, so it will only work once.’

Roman slipped the stick of gum into a pocket.

‘Just make sure you don’t chew it by mistake.’

‘I’ll try to remember that,’ said Roman.

‘Next, some new clothes.’ Dave retrieved a jacket from the rack of identical black jackets in the corner. ‘Put this on.’

Roman handed his jacket to Genie and replaced it with the identical one given to him by Dave.

‘Perfect fit,’ he commented.

‘That’s not all. Reach into your left inside pocket and you should feel a small ring. Pull it.’

Roman did as he was told.

He felt a force briefly against his back and saw Genie gasp and jump backward. The rear of his jacket tore open and a light parachute projected out and fell to the floor.

‘Impressive,’ said Roman.

‘The suit chute can hold up to two hundred kilograms of weight and is effective even for low altitude openings.

‘Finally, the Glass Hammer.’

‘That doesn’t sound particularly useful, Dave,’ said Roman.

Dave picked up an ordinary-looking watch from a bench and attached it to his forearm.

‘Placing this watch against a solid object allows it to calculate that object’s resonant frequency. It then vibrates at that frequency, and the amplification will cause the object to literally fall apart.’

‘But does it tell the time?’ Roman teased. Dave ignored him.

‘Allow me to demonstrate.’

Dave walked to the centre of the room and placed the face of the watch against the brick wall. After a few seconds cracks shot out from the point of contact and the wall crumbled.

Dave looked very pleased with his handiwork.

‘I’m sure that will come in handy,’ Roman approved.

‘That’s everything Roman.’

‘What, no car?’

Berlin, Germany

Roman sat in his cabin, watching the Berlin train station as the final passengers boarded for their midday escape to Poland. The overhead lighting burnt through the fog on this wintery day, but there was still a chilly mist hanging in the air as the train began its six-hour journey.

There were probably a hundred people on board the train, including passengers and staff. One of them was Black Lotus.

They cleared the outskirts of Berlin within the hour, plunging into the European countryside.