Twelve Hours To Destiny

Steve Carradine #4: “Twelve Hours To Destiny” by Manning K. Robertson. Working for British Intelligence, Steve Carradine is sent to Hong Kong to find why their agent there has disappeared. His job is to find him, and discover the secret he held of a new super weapon in Chinese hands. In Hong Kong, Carradine discovered a double agent, then is contacted by the missing agents niece. Her uncle has been taken to the mainland, where he’ll be tortured for what he knows about China’s secret weapon. The girl is part of a Chinese acrobat troupe, and they have free movement in China. She smuggles Carradine into China, then her troupe helps him rescue her uncle from a guarded facility. The troupe hate the communists, and have been fighting them on their own, using their acrobat show as a camouflage. After rescuing her uncle, however, Carradine discovers they only have twelve hours before the new weapon will be tested, and they must again travel into deeper country, and enter a well-guarded compound to destroy the facility and weapon. This is a really nice plot, with good action. Everything seemed to go like clockwork, however, and if it hadn’t been for the troupe of Chinese acrobats, it’s doubtful one man could have pulled everything off. Personally, I thought Steve Carrigan out-Bond Britain leading spy, James Bond.