"Stand aside, Wells," Steiger said, reaching out to shove Wells to one side, but Wells batted his arm away.
"General," he said, "I insist that you honor the terms of our agreement!"
"Steiger… Forrester said.
"Sir, I really don't think — "
"Put it away." said Forrester.
Reluctantly, Steiger holstered his disruptor.
"A wise decision, Colonel," Lin Tao said.
"Never mind that," Steiger said. "Where's Moreau?" "Regrettably, I have just now learned that he has fallen into the hands of Nikolai Drakov." Lin Tao said.
"How convenient. More likely they've been in this together from the start," Steiger said.
"It's a trap,” said Delaney.
"No!" said Wells. He turned to Forrester. "General, you must believe me-"
"Take it easy, Mr. Wells," said Forrester.
"If I had truly led you all into a trap," Lin Tao said, "then it would already have been sprung. Observe."
He clapped his hands once, sharply, and dark figures seemed to materialize out of the fog all around them. They moved noiselessly, carrying clubs and hatchets and various other weapons. They were all Chinese, wearing loose black pajamas and green headbands. There were at least fifty of them.
"Damn!" said Steiger, quickly unholstering his sidearm. Andre and Finn already had theirs out.
“Wait!" said Wells.
"Steady, people." Forrester said. "There's too many of them. We could never get them all. Besides, they could have nailed us as we clocked in."
"Quite so,” Lin Tao said, nodding slightly.
"Why?" said Steiger. "What's your interest in this?"
"Phillipe Moreau is my friend." Lin Tao said, "and Nikolai Drakov poses a danger to us all. And now there is a still more personal reason. Drakov has abducted my granddaughter, Ming Li. I am anxious for her safety. And I am concerned that we are wasting time." He spoke quickly in Chinese and the men who had appeared in answer to his summons moved quickly past them through the warehouse doors.
"This is crazy," Steiger said. "These people aren't trained troops. And we've got no idea what we're going into."
"There's only one way we're going to find out." said Andre.
"Hell, don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Delaney said, clapping Steiger on the shoulder. "We wanted reinforcements, now we've got 'em."
It was almost pitch black inside the warehouse. They moved slowly, waiting for their eyes to become accustomed to the darkness. The men of the Green Dragon tong had fanned out once they entered and now they moved like wraiths among the stacks of dusty wooden crates. Suddenly someone screamed.
There were shouts and more screams and over them, the sounds of bestial growling. A werewolf had dropped down from a stack of crates on one of the Chinese men and the victim had time for just one scream before his throat was torn out by the beast. Several of Lin Tao's men brought the creature down, only to be thrown violently aside as if they didn't weigh a thing. Three more men leaped upon the werewolf, brandishing their tong hatchets, and the creature howled as the sharp blades sank home, but even though mortally wounded, it continued fighting, killing all three of them before others jumped in to take their place.
Another creature had been spotted crouching atop a stack of crates and as it leaped, a dozen lethal throwing stars went spinning through the air, striking it in the chest, face, and head. With a doglike squeal of pain, it fell to the floor of the warehouse and died, but there were still others.
Hatchets rose and fell as the men of the Green Dragon fought with Drakov's creatures and human screams mixed with animal roars as both men and hominoids died. Delaney brought one down with his disruptor and the werewolf fell howling through the air, wreathed in a blue glow. It disintegrated before it hit the floor.
Andre stayed close to Wells, protecting him, firing at the creatures as they rushed at them out of the darkness. One landed on Forrester's back, but Forrester dislodged the creature and threw it into a stack of crates, then shot it as it came charging back at him. Lin Tao avoided a rush by one with a movement that was almost imperceptible. He seemed to lean to one side slightly at the very last moment
and then his hands shot out in a blur of motion and the beast flew past him, its own momentum added to the force of Lin Tao's throw, so that it landed in just the right manner to break its neck,
It was over quickly. There had been about a dozen of the creatures, but their assault had been so furious that nineteen of Lin Tao's men had died. They stood over the corpse of one of the creatures, watching in mute fascination as, in death, itslowly reverted to its human form. Moments later, instead of a fearsome man beast, they were looking down at the crumpled, bleeding body of a teenage boy, not yet even old enough to shave.