The Weapon of Night

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The Weapon of Night is the nineteenth novel in the long-running Nick Carter-Killmaster series of spy novels.[1] Carter is a US secret agent, code-named N-3, with the rank of Killmaster. He works for AXE – a secret arm of the US intelligence services.

Publishing history

The book was first published in 1967 (Number A215F) by Award Books part of the Beacon-Signal division of Universal Publishing and Distributing Corporation (New York, USA), part of the Conde Nast Publications Inc. The novel was written by Valerie Moolman.[2][3] Copyright was registered on 30 January 1967.[4]

Tagline

Behind the paralyzing power failures, the strange lights in the sky, the stinging fumes in the air, total annihilation crawled nearer and nearer – with Killmaster and three foreign agent comrades the only force between the American people and complete destruction.

Plot summary

The story is set in November 1966. A series of unexplained power outages and air and water pollution incidents affect many parts of the United States. In several cases, witnesses also report seeing unidentified lights in the sky.

AXE agent Nick Carter receives a letter from Hakim Sadek – his collaborator on a previous mission (described in Safari for Spies). Sadek reports a recent conversation he had in Cairo, Egypt with a German surgeon who was hired to perform cosmetic surgery on 9 individuals for no purpose other than to alter their normal appearance. The surgeon was later found murdered. Carter learns that Valentina Sichikova – his collaborator on a previous mission in the USSR (described in The 13th Spy) is visiting USA on a courtesy visit to inspect a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant and to which Carter has been assigned as escort. As he meets her at the airport Valentina is shot by a sniper but survives. The two hitmen responsible are killed by AXE agents. Valentina tells AXE chief Hawk that the real reason for her visit is to inspect the West Valley Reprocessing Plant which was close to the origin of the Northeast blackout of 1965 and to follow up the disappearance from Moscow of 9 Chinese scientists.

AXE agent D5 (Dan Eiger) meets Sadek in Cairo to learn more about the patients and death of the German surgeon. Sadek is concerned that he has been followed. They are attacked in a hotel lobby and Eiger is killed. Sadek contacts AXE via the American embassy in Cairo and is immediately dispatched to Washington, DC.

Carter, Valentina and Julia Baron (Carter's collaborator on several earlier missions Run, Spy, Run, The China Doll, Fraulein Spy, Danger Key) visit the West Valley Reprocessing Plant and are given a guided tour by the plant's senior management. During the tour, Valentina recognizes one of the plant's staff. Before she can inform Carter everyone is knocked out by an invisible gas. When they awake Valentina is missing – apparently kidnapped and flown from the roof of the building in one of the plant's helicopters. Carter is suspicious and retraces the groups' movements before the gassing. He suspects that one of the plant's senior management, identified by Valentina, is an accomplice of the kidnapper and still in the building.

During Carter's investigation a blackout occurs and the generator in the power room is vandalized. AXE agents report that the helicopter has been found in the Catskills. Valentina is missing and the pilot – a former employee of the plant is dead. The investigators notice that the pilot's face bears tiny scars from cosmetic surgery.

Working on a hunch, Carter visits the power generating room supposedly guarded on the inside by the chief of security, Parry. Parry does not answer and Carter uses a laser torch to break in. Parry is missing – the door locked from the inside. Searching the room carefully, Carter discovers a secret entrance behind some storage lockers. The entrance leads down to a small underground chamber. Carter finds Parry interrogating Valentina. Carter attacks Parry and rescues Valentina. Parry kills himself with a poison capsule before Carter can question him. On closer inspection, Carter finds cosmetic surgery scars on Parry as well. Worse – a large quantity of uranium and plutonium are missing.

Carter, Valentina and Julia return to Washington,DC. They receive a call from Hawk introducing Hakim Sadek as AXE agent H19. Sadek recalls that the person who overheard the German surgeon talking to him about the facial surgeries had two artificial hands and called himself Martin Brown. Carter and Julia recognize the description of Judas – a terrorist and master spy frequently employed by communist China with whom Carter has fought several times previously (see Run, Spy, Run; The China Doll; Fraulein Spy, Web of Spies, Danger Key).

Hakim has searched the German surgeon's office in Egypt and recovered copies of the pre- and post-cosmetic surgery photos of the 9 suspects. Carter and Julia go to Montreal to trace suspects matching the description of these men. They discover that the business suite of a hotel has been used by a secretive group. Carter breaks in and discovers one of the nine (codename: HM) communicating with operatives around the country via Morse code transmitter. Carter incapacitates the man and discovers the location of two of the operatives in Little Rock, Arkansas (codename: TS) and Norfolk, Virginia (codename: LM). The saboteurs are using sophisticated projectors to simulate UFOs and various concentrated chemicals to trigger smog, tainted water and other forms of pollution to cause mass hysteria and civil unrest.

Valentina and an AXE agent arrest the spy in Norfolk. However, Hakim Sadek is attacked and beaten by a hysterical mob when he tries to arrest the spy in Little Rock. Carter and Julia return to New York. Carter takes the official AXE helicopter – equipped with Geiger counters – to search for the missing radioactive material. He finds it at an abandoned boating house on the shore of Lake Erie near Buffalo, New York. Carter kills the last four Chinese spies (codenames: AJ, CF, JD, OD), as they wait for final instructions from Judas. Judas suspects a trap and escapes by boat across Lake Erie into Canada.

Tracing a power surge to the Niagara Falls area, Carter flies by helicopter to investigate. Carter intercepts Judas at the Falls and chases him through the spray. Carter shoots Judas and sees him fall into the water near the Cave of the Winds. Judas is swept away but his body is not found.

Returning to the AXE branch office on Columbus Circle, Hawk relays the findings from interrogation of LM – the spy captured by Valentina in Norfolk. Judas and Chinese General Kuo Hsi Tang planned the operation to demoralize the population with pollution scares, radiation sickness and power outages; to be followed by a massive power cut and an invasion of the US accompanied by an unspecified secret weapon.

The plot has been folied and everyone suspects Judas has been killed; Carter remains uncertain.

Main characters

  • Nick Carter - agent N-3, AXE
  • Mr Hawk - Carter's boss; head of AXE
  • Judas – Carter's arch-enemy
  • Hakim Sadek – Egyptian policeman, H19
  • Valentina Sichikova – USSR agent
  • Julia Baron – OCI agent

The Nine Spies

  • BP – aka J Baldwin Parry – chief of security, West Valley Reprocessing Plant (real name: Chang Ching Lung)
  • HM – radio operator, Montreal
  • LM – Chinese spy in Norfolk, VA (real name: Kwong Yu Shu)
  • TS – Chinese spy in Little Rock, AK
  • JD – Chinese spy in New York, aka John Daniels (real name: Jing Du)
  • AJ – Chinese spy in Lake Erie (real name: Yuan Tong)
  • CF – Chinese spy in Lake Erie
  • OD – Chinese spy in Lake Erie
  • Hughes – West Valley Reprocessing Plant employee (real name: Feng)

Trivia

  • Valentina Sichikova first appears in The 13th Spy
  • Hakim Sadek first appears in Safari for Spies; it is unclear if his appointment as AXE agent H-19 is honorary, temporary or permanent
  • Judas reappears; he has featured in the previous novels Run, Spy, Run, The China Doll, Fraulein Spy, Web of Spies, Danger Key
  • Reference is made to the “Moscow bugging affair” and “Tom Slade” – Carter’s then alias in The 13th Spy
  • Reference is also made to “Abimako” the setting for Safari for Spies
  • Refers to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin from the Rex Stout mysteries.
  • Carter mimics the speech of the current US President, Lyndon B. Johnson (US President from 1963-1969)
  • Carter uses two new gadgets: a laser torch to burn through door locks (presumably less powerful than the 10,000 Watt laser pistol used in Hanoi; an unnamed knockout drug used to immobilize victims which requires injection of an antidote to bring about revival

Errors

The front cover caption refers to “three foreign agent comrades”; however, only Valentina Sichikova and Hakim Sadek are foreign; Julia Baron is a fellow US agent)[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Nick Carter". Fantasticfiction.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  2. ^ Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction: An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm. Bradley Mengel. 2009. ISBN 978-0-7864-4165-5
  3. ^ "Valerie Moolman Spy Author Information Page". Spyguysandgals.com. Retrieved 2013-11-19.
  4. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1967: July–December. By Library of Congress. Copyright Office, p2515
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