Akhim regained consciousness although played possum. With the lads preoccupied, he watched the outside monitor and their departing helicopter. ‘Damn,’ he thought. ‘They must have heard the commotion and panicked.’ He closed his eyes and stayed motionless.
One man outside shouted. “You are outgunned and outnumbered. If you come out now we can all leave together; we have no quarrel with you.”
They never had chance to respond as a new wave of panic started outside with bullets flying.
Spock and Stu ducked behind the desk and Stu cocked a rifle ready to return fire. However, no bullets came their way. Stu peered over the desk and through a hole in the wall.
He saw the mercenaries firing erratically in all directions.
“What’s going on?” asked Spock furrowing his brow.
“I've got no idea,” said Stu sitting back down.
The Commander had caught two mercenaries on the periphery and silently dispatched them with a venom-coated dart shot into their temples. The other mercenaries saw their colleagues fall, but seeing no one, fired wildly around the Control Centre.
Pon, knowing his ally had now joined the affray, got to his feet, went to the side wall and sliced a mark with his Juglave. He stood back and smashed through the flimsy wall with his fists and feet, making a hole large enough for him to get through.
Pon dived into the next room with the noise of the gunfire outside covering his movements.
Several moments later, there was silence outside as a mercenary hollered for them to stop firing.
After a few tense moments, Spock and Stu heard more shouting and movement but when they tried to see what was happening, they only saw flashes of people passing the bullet holes.
The activity outside went on for several minutes with Stu and Spock assuming they were recovering the dead mercenary Pon had pushed outside. They heard men shouting about finding the person who had just killed two mercenaries and then heard a familiar voice shouting above the others.
Stu and Spock looked over the desk to where Mophi had been lying unconscious. Now, all that remained were a pair of bloody gonads and a slimy blood trail, were Mophi had slid along the office floor, and the door was now ajar.
“The bugger’s escaped,” said Stu frowning.
Pon entered Kim’s room like a leaping panther, landing beside Kim and Ca, who looked shocked as they witnessed his violent entry.
“Pon,” she cried and held him. Ca and Kim hid behind a mattress and wooden bed that they upturned to use as a shield. Pon hugged and kissed his wife and gave Ca a menacing look. Kim held Pon, sobbing with relief and delight. Pon glared at Ca and then furrowed his brow looking confused. He had seen his face before.
The shouting and confusion outside eased while Mophi organised his men as he lay in a pool of blood in the centre.
Pon looked at Kim, stroked her fringe off her eyes, and smiled. “Are you okay?”
Kim nodded and smiled. “What’s happening, are we safe?”
Pon smiled. “We will be fine, don’t worry.”
Pon glared at Ca who looked nervous after seeing how easily Pon had demolished the wall with his hands and feet. Ca realised he was not the mild mannered man Kim had described.
“Help me with this,” said Pon going over to a wardrobe.
He and Ca moved more furniture and reinforced their barricade at the door with a wardrobe and desk. Pon then walked to the other sidewall.
Although a loutish, intimidating bully, Mophi was a good soldier who always led his squads into well-planned and successful operations, with his specialty being urban warfare. He knew his foe’s strengths and their biggest weakness and realised they were pinned in like fish in a barrel.
Mophi sat on the floor in the middle of the Control Centre surrounded by metal desks and equipment.
In excruciating pain, he barked out orders to the remaining mercenaries to give the terrified technicians pistols, and he ordered them into positions, telling them that if they tried to escape, he would shoot them.
He had heard the banging and commotion from Kim’s room, so knew they would be setting barricades, which he wasn't concerned about, as bullpup rifles would make short work of shredding their defences.
His focus was finding the lone insurgent along with his own escape. He knew he needed to get the detonator for the explosives set to blow up the Control Centre, which was in Grimes’s office.
An explosion from the kitchen at the rear of the centre interrupted his thoughts. The technicians panicked and fired their pistols while the mercenaries crouched into firing positions and Mophi croaked for the technicians to stop shooting.
The firing ceased and as the smell of sulphur drifted around the Control Centre, Mophi ordered two mercenaries to go check the cause of the explosion.
With rifles raised, the pair edged their way towards the kitchen.
The Commanders diversion worked and when he saw them all in the Control Centre focusing on the kitchen, he broke the lock off the door and rolled into the room containing his surviving men.
He then felt a cold sharp blade touch his throat as he crouched. Pon removed his Juglave, nodded, and smiled before leaning over him and pushing the door closed. The Commander went over to tend to his badly beaten commandos.
After checking the kitchen, the mercenaries returned and told Mophi that the microwave oven had exploded.
Mophi smiled. ‘Bullet in the microwave… a diversion. Stupid move,’ thought Mophi and smirked when he saw the broken lock on the commando prisoners door. ‘Now they are all fish in my barrel.’
Mophi sat back against a desk holding his crotch and ordered a technician to get him ice and a field medical kit. The man returned several moments later and Mophi placed the ice on his still bleeding wound, opened an Omnopon Syrette, and injected himself. He removed a field dressing and grimaced as he applied the gauze-pad section to his bloody gonad-vacant area and lay back groaning until the narcotic analgesic took effect.
Stu and Spock could see into Kim’s room and a little way into the commando’s room. Stu taught Spock how to use the bullpups that he had recovered.
“Take the safety off, point it that way, and squeeze the trigger,” said Stu and pointed over the desk towards Mophi’s position. He showed Spock the safety catch, which he applied, just in case the big lad got trigger-happy and set the gun off in the rapid-fire position.
They looked at Grimes who was still unconscious and Akhim who still played possum, not relishing another beating from Stu. “If you see them bastards move, shoot them,” said Stu glaring at the pair.
Apart from mumbling, everything now seemed calm.
Grimes regained consciousness and nudged Akhim who opened his eyes and looked at him. Spock and Stu didn’t notice as they were sorting out the beer stash Spock had recovered earlier.
Grimes gave a reassuring look to Akhim and then nodded toward the bottle that Stu now held. Grimes saw that the bottle was the one that he’d laced with Thallium and earmarked for Mophi. It was the only bottle of that particular brand to avoid any mix-ups. He also noticed something else lodged under the corner of the table… the bejewelled box.
“All’s not lost,” he whispered to Akhim. “If Mophi can get the situation under control; we can ransom the Holy Relic back to Thailand and still come out of this in profit.”
Grimes then felt a dull thud as Stu hit him on his head with the laced bottle of beer. Akhim shielded his eyes as shards of glass flew towards his face.
Spock looked at Stu stood with the broken neck of the bottle in his hand.
“Arrogant bastard, causing us all this grief,” growled Stu, as he looked at the blood trickling down Grimes’s forehead. He then glared at Akhim cowering.
Spock, about to mention to his still angry friend about wasting good beer, noticed the bottle’s neck and label.
“Ah, Heineken!” said Spock, knowing Stu hated Heineken beer.
“Yeah, and it has a crown top, and we don’t have an opener, so I thoug
ht I would give it to the smug southern Jessie,” said Stu and again glared at Akhim. “Pity there wasn’t two bottles.”
Akhim trembled as Grimes whimpered with Thallium flavoured beer, mixed with his blood and glass oozing down his face.
The lads settled back into siege mode and took a swig from their screw off capped Saigon beer. Spock had noticed Grimes looking toward the end of the desk so he crawled towards the edge and saw the contents of Pon’s bag strewn between the mangle of machines, monitors, and papers. He saw the gold bejewelled box glistening under the corner of the desk. Spock grabbed the relic, brought it over, and showed Stu.
“What do you think happened here matey?” he asked showing him the box. “I expected to see Nick’s crowns and sand spilling out.”
Stu shrugged and looked mystified. “Me too, I’ve no idea,” he said looking at the box, “put it in your pocket, we can ask Shithead later, that’s if we get out of here alive.”
They sat back against the desk, drank the beer, and waited.
****
Pon looked confused as the Commander tended to his injured men. He again noticed the strange footwear of the Commander, introduced to him by Lee as Captain Ca Tho: Cambodian Special Forces 911. Pon saw he bore a striking resemblance to the man in the next room.
The badly beaten commandos could hardly move. Pon and the Captain realised the soldiers would be of little use in any attack, so they made barricades with the bed and furniture. Captain Ca gave the commando who didn’t have broken hands his pistol to defend themselves.
Pon then turned his attention to Kim’s room and told the Captain that he wanted to be with his wife. The Captain agreed and he and Pon rolled through the hole Pon had made earlier.
Pon and Captain Ca landed within a split second of each other next to Ca and Kim behind their barricade. Pon went to Kim, nudged Ca out of the way, and hugged her. He looked to make sure the Captain, who had landed next to Ca, was okay.
The sight of the newcomer shocked Kim as the two Ca’s, now side-by-side, looked like a window to her past.
The pair looked puzzled at each other. For Ca the fisherman, it felt like looking into a mirror ten years ago. He noticed the Captain’s shoes and looked dumbfounded. Captain Ca also felt confused by the uncanny resemblance, so while Pon comforted Kim, the siblings leant against the wall and whispered to each other in Vietnamese.
Fisherman Ca introduced himself as Gio-A Tho, but told the Captain he was nicknamed Ca.
The bemused Commander gasped and told him that Ca was the name given to him by his father, Nguyen Tho.
Ca’s voice trembled as he told the Captain his father was called Nguyen, and how he’d been reported missing in action presumed dead, and how he’d only ever worn homemade tyre slippers. He described Nguyen and Captain Ca knew the depiction sounded identical to his father, allowing for age.
The two compared notes and within a short time, realised that they were related. They talked about their different upbringings and their lives for what seemed like ages, which seemed surreal, considering the situation they now faced.
Fisherman Ca, realising Pon spoke no Vietnamese, told his brother about Hern and how he was conned into getting involved and how much he regretted being fooled. He told his brother that he still had feelings for Hern, but the exact details would have to wait. They both considered that there must be a reason why fate had brought them together, and neither thought it was to die.
The lull in the fighting lasted over an hour. Pon noticed the way Kim kept glancing at Ca, but decided this would keep for another time. Pon, although angry, felt more concerned about his wife's safety. Another two of his concerns had a major problem in the next room. They were almost out of beer, but they had a plan.
Pon and Kim also had a plan. Pon knew Stu and Spock spoke a little Thai and shouted at them. It took the lads a few minutes to decipher and figure out what he wanted and, although not fully understanding, Spock leant over to the still whimpering Grimes and asked him where his special mouse phone was. Grimes looked confused but pointed at the desk drawer and Spock took the satellite phone and hurled it through the hole in the wall. Pon caught the phone and handed it to Kim.
When they were almost ready to put Mophi’s plan into action outside, his analgesia had almost worn off. He groaned with pain as he waited for the mercenaries and technicians to get one more piece into place. His plan was to bypass the remote control detonator from Grimes’s office to another one that the technicians were setting up.
Mophi would then blow up the Control Centre from outside the tunnel as Grimes had originally planned, destroying everything and everyone inside. His only regret would be leaving Akhim to die, but that would be collateral damage, an acceptable loss.
He watched the remaining Vietnamese technicians splicing and re-routing electrical, fibre optic cables, and controls. They feverishly, but nervously worked, while the mercenaries kept their rifles pointing at the rooms. However, as some of the Vietnamese technicians had escaped through the narrow Cu Chi tunnels earlier, it took longer than expected.
Kim used the satellite phone and called her father. The two Ca’s were still deep in conversation, with the Captain trying to take his older brothers mind off the situation and feeling angry with himself for not staying outside and inflicting more damage.
Pon saw Kim looking furious as she whispered in Vietnamese down the phone. She hung up and hugged Pon. “What happened?” asked Pon, “did you speak with Thran?”
Kim shook her head and said. “No, they were locked in their room, the gardener had their phone and said he couldn’t release them because the kidnapper said he was coming back later and he felt afraid.”
Kim looked furious. “I told him that the kidnapper would not be coming back, and he was our prisoner.” She sighed, “I don’t know what he intended to do because he went silent before hanging up.” Pon muffled the phone in case it rang and ten minutes later, it did. Kim breathed a sigh of relief and whispered to her father. Pon couldn’t understand the conversation, but saw the tears of joy and relief etched over Kim’s face. Kim told her father about their current situation and after a brief conversation, she hung up and smiled. “Father said he needed to make a phone call but assured me everything will be fine. He told us to lie low and wait for help to arrive.”
Beer finished, Spock and Stu put their plan into action. Stu went over and slapped Akhim, who had closed his eyes while he listened to the conversation in the next room. He opened his eyes and trembled as Stu glared at him. “Now, listen carefully Ab dab unless you want another thumping. Here’s what we want you to do,” said Stu sounding serious, “speak with Dumbo out there and tell him you and the English snob are still alive.” Stu frowned and glared at Akhim. “But that will be temporary unless he lets us all go. Tell him that me and Spock have rifles and are both trained by the British military on how to use them.”
Akhim nodded, and speaking standard Arabic, shouted to Mophi. “Mophi, help us, we ha…” Akhim’s sentence was cut short when Stu clipped him again.
“English,” barked Stu, “speak English.”
“Mophi doesn’t speak or understand English,” said Akhim.
“He did when he threatened me,” said Spock and frowned at Akhim.
“Only certain phrases,” said Akhim, “and Arabic’s easier for him to understand and you want me to make sure he understands… Don’t you?”
Stu and Spock thought for a moment and said, “Okay, but if you are lying, you will get the same as him,” pointing to the still whimpering Grimes caked in dried blood and Thallium beer. “But we won’t be wasting a bottle of beer on your head,” said Stu patting the butt of the rifle.
Akhim gulped and shouted in Arabic. “Mophi, pretend as if you are agreeing to everything I say.”
Mophi listened and shouted back that he would.
“The woman contacted her father, so the gardener must have released him,” said Akhim and smiled at Stu.
Mophi shouted back and told him
not to worry and he would rescue him and Grimes.
“What’s he saying?” asked Stu, cutting Akhim off.
Akhim smiled. “He wants to end this too, and suggested that we should all put down our weapons.”
Stu and Spock smiled at each other as Mophi shouted again wanting to know about their armaments.
Akhim smiled and nodded at Stu before he told Mophi of the two bullpups, but didn’t know what weapons the others had. He told him they would need another way to escape as the helicopter had left.
Mophi leant back and thought, ‘Damn, we will have to drive the amphibious vehicle through the jungle to the nearest town.’
Mophi looked at the Vietnamese technicians and smirked. “That won’t be a problem; they can hide me until I can get out of Vietnam.”
He beckoned over a mercenary and whispered. “Tell everyone to get into position.”
“Well?” asked Stu feeling nervous, as it seemed too easy. “What’s happening?”
“Wait,” said Akhim, also getting nervous, as Stu looked ready to bash him again.
“Whatever you plan to do Mophi, do it now,” shouted Akhim.
“Okay,” shouted Mophi. “Lay flat and we will come and get you.”
“Well, what did he say?”
Akhim smiled, closed his eyes, and lay on the floor.
“Oy,” said Stu and slapped him. “I think the buggers fainted.”
Mophi now knowing time was of the essence beckoned over a technician and glared at him. “Have you finished?”
The technician trembled and smiled as Mophi pointed a pistol at his head. “Five more minutes,” he said and scurried back and spoke with his colleagues who quickened their pace.
While the mercenaries kept their guns trained on the rooms, Mophi glared at the technicians and looked at his watch.
After ten minutes, with cold sweat running down his frightened face, a technician came over and with his hands trembling handed Mophi the remote control.
Mophi winced in pain as he stood and called over a mercenary to help. “Okay, tell the others to lay down blanket fire on my order and help me to the vehicle.”
Bimat--A Vietnamese Adventure Page 20
