what? Is there something? You gave a start just then. You said something. And the way you look ...' But:'Shhh!' Jake shook his head, concentrated, and remembered! Remembered it all, but most of all that he'd almost made a deal with a vampire. And he remembered something else: Harry Keogh's warning, that even a dead vampire is a dangerous thing that you should never, ever, let into your mind!'You look peculiar,' said the Old Lidesci.Jake looked at him, swallowed hard, and slowly got a grip of himself. 'It was ... it was nothing,' he said. 'Nothing that I want to talk about now, anyway. Later, maybe - to Liz and Ben Trask - when tonight's business is over.'And between times ... he dug out a ballpoint and began to make shaky notes on Liz's scrap of paper.For while he still hadn't quite come to terms with everything that was happening to him, and whether or not this latest manifestation was some kind of daydream, mental quirk, evidence of a dual personality, or whatever, still Jake knew that it was something he must remember in detail, something that he really couldn't afford to forget...Chopper Two disembarked its task force in Gladstone and refuelled. Earlier that day, three SAS men had made the long drive up to Gladstone to check that all was in order with the coastguard vessel. Now the two units met up for a final briefing.The attack on the island would be two-pronged. Along with WO II Joe Davis and four NCOs, Jake and Lardis Lidesci would be airborne; four more NCOs would be in the boat.
Zero Hour - the time scheduled for the launch of simultaneous attacks on both the Capricorn Group island and the mountain resort of Xanadu - had been set for 6:30 p.m. The weather was good and the sea flat calm, and with just ninety minutes to go to Zero Hour, the boat cast off.And an hour later, with the light failing as the sun sank down behind the Great Dividing Range, Chopper Two got airborne again ...At the same time, at the Brisbane flying club, Chopper One was warming up ready to go. Ben Trask and the SAS Major, joint operational commanders, were in a hangar using a radio in one of the vehicles. The precog lan Goodly, Liz Merrick, and the rest of the SAS men were trooping out to the jet-copter, their combat suits fluttering in the bluster of disturbed night air that stank of hot exhaust fumes.At 6:15 Trask transmitted: 'Callsigns One, Two, and Three, signals - over?'And the answers came back: 'One, okay - over,' (the locator David Chung's voice, from the Xanadu approach road).'Two, okay - over,' (Joe Davis's voice from Chopper Two).'Three, okay - over,' (the senior NCO on the boat).'Sitreps/ said Trask.And three identical answers came back one after the other: 'On schedule, and all systems are go.''Synchronizing watches,' said Trask, then waited a second. 'Set your watches to 6:17. I say again figures sixer, one, seven. Counting down, I now have - three, two, one, zero - 6:17 precisely. Good hunting, and good luck. Over?''Roger that, and out,' (from the same three sources). And:'Let's go,' said Trask. He and the Major ran out under the gleaming vanes of the jet-copter and boarded her. Moments later she took off and headed south for Xanadu ...
In Chopper One Trask had just minutes left to talk to Liz, lan Goodly, and the Major. 'I'm concerned/ he said. 'There's something wrong and I don't know what it is. It's a feeling that - I don't know - that everything we've done or we're trying to do is somehow misguided, as if we're on the wrong track, or we've been misled, or there's something we've overlooked.''That sounds like your talent at work, Ben,' said the precog. And then he sighed. 'Well, I'm glad that someone's talent is working!''And you?' Trask looked at him. 'Nothing?''Just trouble,' Goodly sighed again. 'Just problems, frustration, confusion. But as you know, I can't force it; it comes when it comes. But in your case ... is it anything specific?''No,' Trask shook his head. 'So it seems we're in the same boat - or airplane! It's a.feeling, that's all. I had it today up at the observation post on the mountain road. When I looked up the road, toward Xanadu