Catalyst (Breakthrough Book 3) Read Free Page B

video.  I’m not sure if you know this, but the attack was big enough that most commercial aircraft in the area were immediately grounded, even as far away as Venezuela.”
    “I didn’t know that.”
    “Yep.  Everything.  Down.  Kaput.”  Borger then began to grin.  It was a look John Clay had come to know well.
    “You found something.”
    “All aircraft were grounded,” he repeated.  “All commercial aircraft.”
    Clay raised an eyebrow.  “But not…”
    “But not military aircraft.”
    “Meaning what?”
    “Meaning…,” Borger replied, “military flights were not grounded.  Or should I say…the only military flight.”  He began typing again in a new window, which brought up a second map.  The second map was fixed on Georgetown.   Borger pointed to one frame, then to the other.  “This one is the international airport in Guyana.  Note the timestamp on both screens.”
    “They’re both the same.”
    “Exactly.  Same time, in two places.  The first picture is the Bowditch after it was struck.  The second, the Georgetown airport.”
    Borger zoomed closer in on the airport and sped up the video.  Both feeds accelerated, still in sync.  After almost a minute, he froze them both.  “That’s it.  Right there.”
    Clay studied the image.  An airplane could be seen taxiing onto one of the airport’s runways.
    “What is that?”
    Borger zoomed in closer and waited a moment for the image to sharpen again at the new resolution.  The turboprop engines were clear, jutting out beneath the craft’s high wing.  Borger zoomed in still further.
    “It’s a Y-12,” Clay said, under his breath.
    Borger nodded.  “Correct.  Chinese made, utility design, and able to carry upwards of twenty passengers.”
    “Was it there the whole time?”
    “No.  It flew in three days before the attack.  At night.”
    Clay frowned.  Of course it was at night.  Nightfall seemed to be the preferred time for everything the Chinese were up to in Guyana.
    Borger rolled the video again and they both watched as the plane paused briefly then accelerated down the runway and lifted into the air.  As it climbed, the aircraft banked and headed due west.
    Clay straightened behind Borger and folded his arms.
    “Care to guess where it’s headed?”
    There was only one country to the west that was within the plane’s range.  And it was another country with whom the U.S. had a strained relationship.  “Venezuela.”
    “Correct again.”  Borger continued typing on his keyboard and skipped to another location.   “But not just any airport in Venezuela.  It flew directly to El Libertador Air Force Base in Maracay and landed three hours and thirty-seven minutes later.  Upon landing, a single person exited the plane and boarded another.”  He scrolled the map and stopped on another aircraft.    One that was much bigger.
    This time, Clay recognized the plane without having to enlarge the picture again.  Both its design and enormous size were unmistakable.  It was a Xian Y-20.  One of the largest aircraft in the Chinese Air Force.
    “I’m guessing that’s a transport.”
    “It sure is,” nodded Clay.  “But it’s still in development.  That one is a prototype they revealed a couple years ago.”
    “A prototype?”
    “Yes.”
    Clay’s frown was deepening.  The El Libertador base in Venezuela was infamous for the coup attempt in 1992 when General Visconti seized control of the base and launched an aerial attack on the capitol city.  But it wasn’t the reputation that concerned Clay.  It was the fact that the Chinese planes had landed at a military base and not a commercial airport.  It meant the Venezuelan government was partially involved, or at the very least, aware of the activities of the Chinese.  Having the Xian Y-20 there most likely meant the Venezuelan government already knew more than they would ever admit.
    “Did it fly straight back?” Clay asked.
    “It did.  It refueled