6
Shanghai, China
It was already late at night, but the lone Lamborghini dealer in the huge city of Shanghai would never ever turned away a customer, especially if they are paying cash. The manager woke up at midnight and rushed to the dealership, patiently waiting for the customer that called earlier who wanted to buy their most expensive model.
A few minutes later, the customer arrived in a black Rolls-Royce Phantom. A tall, muscular man and a thin, shapely female stepped out of the vehicle. They are wearing crisp tailored suits, obviously bodyguards. The muscle man opened the passenger door and a tall, brown-haired woman dismounted. She is very attractive, had it not been for the black eyepatch on her right eye that ruined her otherwise photo-perfect looks.
"Good morning," the dealer spoke in broken English. "You want buy special car?"
"Yes," the woman replied in Chinese. "I want to see it."
The dealer opened the doors and they all walked inside. They passed beautiful Lamborghini models on the showroom, but the woman is not at least interested with these ordinary models. She wants the special model, a car so rare it was not shown on public. The dealer led the trio to the huge climate-controlled vault and opened the door.
Inside the vault is a single incredible machine, a red Lamborghini Veneno Roadster. The extremely rare supercar is currently the most expensive car in the world. With its 750 horsepower 6.5 liter V-12 engine, it can tear the road at 356 Kph maximum speed and accelerate from 0 to 100 kph at only 2.9 seconds. It cost an eye-popping $ 4.5 million.
The woman didn't even examine the car. She simply took a metal case from her female bodyguard and gave it to the dealer. "I'll take it," she said.
A few minutes later, Hex is comfortably driving the Veneno on the road around the Taihu Lake. She loves the power of the car, it was like wrestling a wild animal. Even if she put just a little pressure on the gas pedal, the Veneno's engine screams like a pissed-off lion and the lightweight car accelerates like a space shuttle. It took Hex only around two hours to travel from Shanghai to the city of Suzhou. With the Veneno, even the huge country of China seems like France in comparison. Of course, the bodyguards' Phantom couldn't keep up with the Lamborghini monster so the bodyguards had to escort Hex aboard a Robinson helicopter. Even so, the Veneno is still faster than the small chopper and the bodyguards are having a hard time tracking it on the clutter below.
Hex reached the Port of Taihu Lake around daybreak. She saw a huge naval vessel on the port. Being an expert in military hardware, Hex quickly identified it as a Zubr-class hovercraft, the world's largest military air cushion landing craft, this one converted to civilian use. Hex was instructed to drive straight into the open loading ramp of the beast. The Zubr easily swallowed the Veneno and a few minutes later, the Robinson chopper landed on its deck.
Hex stepped out of the Veneno as General Chin and Ivan Govorov approached her. "Impressive car," Govorov said, admiring the smoothness of the Lamborghini like a master artisan that he is.
"Impressive boat," Hex commented.
"You like it?" Chin said. "This is a gift from Ivan."
Govorov chuckled. "More appropriately, a gift from the Hellenic Navy. I acquire this hovercraft in less than the price of your Veneno."
Hex's two bodyguards approached the trio. Hex gestured at them. "By the way, these are my bodyguards. Tiger," she said pointing at the muscular man. "And Edjie," she pointed at the woman.
"Let's take a tour," Govorov said. They all climbed the metal stairs of the hangar towards the bridge. Hex could see the massive propellers on the back of the Zubr, these gas turbine powered behemoths could propel the ship on sea and land at a maximum 55 knots. As soon as they boarded the bridge, the Zubr's skirt quickly filled with air, and the massive ship hovered on the lake water towards the nearby island of Manshan.
As the Zubr approached the island, they could clearly see huge construction sites being built on Manshan. The largest is a massive launch pad on the west of the island, near the coast. A few kilometers from the launch pad, connected by rails, is a vehicle assembly building where rockets are built and stored. Several dozen smaller buildings for support dotted the landscape.
"Manshan Rocket Launch Site would be the pinnacle of my plan for space domination," General Chin beamed. "This is where we will end the dominance of US in space technology. Once the Thor satellites are launched, we will control global access in communication and information."
"And of course, we can freely deploy weapons of mass destruction is space," Govorov agreed. "Star Wars technology will be on the palm of our hands. We can hold the world hostage to our will."
"But there is one hindrance to our plan," Chin said, gritting his teeth. "Koko Hekmatyar."
"Hekmatyar knows she is on her way out of the space race. Her Jormungand satellites are obsolete. But she is still the key to our success."
Hex looks puzzled. "Hekmatyar? Why?"
"We can never duplicate the technology of the Jormungand," Chin admitted. "So we need her for the final component of Thor."
"You need to get her, Hex," Govorov said. "Hekmatyar is our primary target."
"After what I did to her bodyguards, I am sure she will come after us," Hex replied confidently. "And when she does, she is mine."
"Do not be so sure, Hex," Chin warned. "Hekmatyar is still dangerous, with or without bodyguards. Remember that she has access to military hardware anywhere in the world."
"It won't mean a thing," Hex assured the two. "In the end of the day, it will be me against her. This will be our Ragnarok." She touched her scarred face for emphasis. "And I will have my revenge."