“Kano’s men,” Perry said, and Connie glowered at him.
“Fine. Captain Kano is willing to support us, but only if we find evidence that the Chinese have her.”
“Have who?” Gunderson asked.
“Princess Toshi.” Perry ran a hand through his hair as he contemplated the strangeness of their position. “We think the Chinese are behind the kidnapping. ”
“Holy shit,” Gunderson said. “What kind of evidence do they want?”
“The Admiral says Kano will take Emily’s word for it,” Connie said. “But that means…”
“… we have to find her. I think I’m finally beginning to understand the way you black-ops people think.”
“Okay,” Perry said, still feeling a bit stunned by the enormity of the events they’d stumbled into the middle of. He took a deep breath and turned to Gunderson. “Let’s say we find her,” – he had to take another breath – “We’re going to have to refuel to get her there… and we’ll need more guns than we have in the boot.”
“I can’t help with the guns,” Gunderson said. “But I’ve already plotted fuel-runs, and I know where we can get AV-gas.” She rolled a map out onto the floor of the cabin. “Depending on how close to bingo-fuel we are, and assuming that we want to avoid any of our people, I’ve lined up a friendly refuel at Caraga on the east coast, but that means we’ll need to refuel again en route. There’s another safe spot outside Surigao City, and something a bit less than friendly near Cebu City. Of course, Manila should be safe as well.”
“Any reason you’re pointing us east, Lieutenant?” Connie asked.
“If all goes well, I expect we’ll be skimming the waves most of the way north, you know, for fuel efficiency, and there are too many unfriendlies along the western route. I don’t think you want to risk be taking down by an RPG, not to mention any rogue Chinese fighters. I mean, we have no idea how dark our presence down here still is, Commander.”
“Good thinking, Kath,” Perry said.
“Now I see why we wanted to have you along, Gunderson.” Connie put a hand on her shoulder. “But I hope you realize that we are probably heading straight into a firefight. Are you ready for that? Let us know now, and we’ll drop you in Manila on the way.”
“No, ma’am. If we find Em, I’m sticking with her to the end, wherever that is.”
“Do you have any live-fire experience, Lieutenant?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Connie…” Perry said, before she waved him off.
“Have you ever even seen anyone die?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Gunderson paused to swallow. “I was there when Em cut the head of the Chinese operative who was holding me and… and Stacie hostage. She protected me that night, and I’ll be damned if I don’t stand by her now, when she might need my help.”
“Are you ready to die for her?”
“Yes, ma’am, if that’s what it takes.”
Connie glanced over to Perry, who shrugged his shoulders.
“I tried to tell you.”
“Okay, Lieutenant,” Connie said. “You’re in. But I’ll be damned if I’m gonna be the one to tell your parents how you died… so for fuck’s sake, keep your head down when the shooting starts.”
They were airborne a few minutes later, skipping over the whitecaps outside Sarangani Bay, just south of General Santos City. The engine noise in their De Havilland DHC-3 made conversation difficult, and the bird was too primitive to have any headsets, though it quieted down some once they’d reached a comfortable cruising altitude of five hundred feet. Gunderson banked left south of Saragani Island, until Perry touched her shoulder.
“Where are you taking us, LT?”
“I figure we work our way down from the windward chain until we get to Pulau, Lieutenant Commander. Then we can swing over to the leeward chain and follow it down to Manado. We can refuel there for a second pass.”
“Okay,” Perry said. “But then we head west to Bongao and sweep the islands in that chain before dark. We can overnight there if we have to.”
Flying time to Pulau Karakelong would normally be less than ninety minutes, but Gunderson was in no hurry, and circled more than one of the smaller islands. Tracing the leeward chain was even more involved, since the chain formed an elongated question-mark in the seas north of Pulau Sangihe.
When the search came up empty in the islands north of the main island, she turned south towards Ulu, a kidney-shaped island the north end of which was dominated by a spent volcano, sloping off toward the foothills of the southern end.
“Take us up, Lieutenant,” Connie said, holding a pair of binoculars.
“How high?”
“Can we do fifteen thousand feet?”
“This bird can probably go as high as eighteen thousand, but making it to Manado will be dicey after that… maybe with gliding.”
“Okay, give me ten and head west.”
“But there’s nothing out that way, ma’am. We checked the maps.”
“That’s what I’m counting on… an island that won’t be on the maps.”
The climb woke Perry from a brief doze. “Where are we headed, Kath?”
“We’re going topside to get a better view,” Connie said, peering intently out the starboard windows. She handed Perry the binoculars after a moment. “There it is, just as I remember.”
“What do you know,” Gunderson said. “An uncharted island on the beam. Shall we give it a flyby?”
“No, we need to refuel first, or we’ll be stuck out there. Can we do that on Sangihe?”
“I think there’s an airstrip in Tamako.”
“Good. Take us back, Lieutenant. We should still be able to get to that uncharted island before sunset, right?”
“Aye aye, Commander.”
Aside from the airstrip, with its one, moldy hangar and a reassuring fuel pump on one side, Tamako was a two-street town with a few beachfront restaurants and a lonely hotel. The only visitors came for the hiking, scuba diving, and fishing, and there weren’t many of them, but the island’s economy barely noticed them, and the locals didn’t either. Perry negotiated for fuel with the old man who managed the airstrip while Connie and Gunderson walked into town to get some food. An hour later, they were airborne again and flying toward the afternoon sun.
“What’s so special about this island?” Perry asked. “The guy at the Tamako airstrip says there are dozens of tiny, uncharted islands west of Sangihe.”
“I’ve been to this one before,” Connie said.
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Gunderson had turned almost completely around in her seat. “The storm doesn’t care about your memories.”
“Hey, LT,” Perry said. “Eyes on the road please.”
“I know… it’s foolish,” Connie admitted. “Indulge me. We can glide through the rest of the islands tomorrow.”
“Is that it?” Perry asked. The saddleback?”
“Yeah,” Connie said, her voice coming from further down the throat than usual. “You better take us low, and circle around the north point. Let’s have a look.”
Two mountains separated by long, low swale, perhaps a mile at the widest, with a waterfall visible on the northern peak. Gunderson swung around the rocky western coast and came around the southern tip.
“There’s a natural harbor on the leeward side, you should see it in a moment. Let’s put in there.”
“What for?” Gunderson asked. “There’s no sign of them.”
“Oh, yes there is” Perry said, gesticulating out the portside window. “Look there, caught on the rocks… it’s a Zodiac, or at least it’s the remains of one.”
“Bring us in, Lieutenant,” Connie said. “We’re going to recon this island.”
Chapter 23
New Friends and Old
“There used to be a dock here,” Perry said. “You can still see a few of the pilings.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” Connie tossed him one of the M4’s she’d obtained from the mercs runn
ing security at Ulugan Bay. “You may need this.”
“What the hell is the deal with this place? Something is way not right here. I mean…”
“No, ma’am,” Gunderson said, when she saw Connie’s face. “I’m not staying with the plane… with all due respect.” Perry turned to watch this discussion – just how determined was Kathy to face whatever they might come across? Connie growled something inaudible from his distance, then handed her another M4.
“Do you know how to fire one of these? Because you may need to.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
Perry took the lead, pushing through the tropical vegetation that reached across anything that might have looked like a trail a few steps earlier. Ferns and palms gave way to bamboo groves, and the thicker trunks of deciduous trees. Birds followed their path, squawking and fluttering whenever they disturbed any of the larger foliage.
“There’s no sneaking up on anyone here,” Perry called back to his compatriots.
“Why don’t you announce that a little louder,” Connie said.
“I take it you’ve noticed the cameras.”
Connie slipped a long-barreled rifle over one shoulder and motioned to Gunderson to do the same. “We ought to be seeing the welcoming party any minute now.”
“What the hell have you gotten us into, Connie?”
The rustling in the trees all around them wasn’t hard to detect, but these guys weren’t interested in stealth, not in the middle of the afternoon of a very sunny day. Within seconds, and before Perry could do anything about it, they were surrounded by a dozen men, dressed in jungle-camo with AK47’s leveled. More men arrived in the time it took them to lay their own weapons on the ground.
“Don’t hurt them,” a woman’s voice called out from a distance. She repeated the command in what Perry took to be Mandarin, before he finally caught a glimpse of her, now standing at the top of a rise. Long, straight black hair, and dressed too fashionably for jungle living – she looked Asian to his eye, but not exactly Chinese, or at least not like the Han, the main Chinese ethnic group. “Welcome to my home,” she said, once the commotion of her arrival had died down. “She told us to expect you.”
A much taller man arrived on the scene a moment later, gray-auburn hair, perhaps American, and dressed in the same sort of paramilitary gear the others wore.
“You,” Connie cried out. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
“The feeling’s sort of mutual, but she insisted you’d come for her… and I’m pretty sure no one else could have found us, since we’re not on any charts.”
“Then she’s here?”
“What do you think?” he said with one eyebrow raised, and then she, too, came over the same rise.
Something about the jungle scene, or the humid air, or Perry’s own anxieties – whatever it was, Emily seemed more beautiful than ever, framed by two huge palm fronds. Her eyes burned even more darkly as she looked at him – no words passed between them, and none were necessary. As difficult as she could be, it was moments like this that told him where he fit in her affections. Everyone was speechless as she walked down the slope toward them, nodding to him, as if to indicate that he shouldn’t expect any special attention, at least not yet – that would come later. Now it was someone else’s turn. She whispered something in Connie’s ear and hugged her briefly, and then turned to Gunderson.
“I’m so glad you came,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about you lately.”
“You had me so worried.” Kathy threw her arms around Emily’s shoulders, and tears streamed down her face. “When I heard…”
Emily kissed her forehead and wiped away the tears of the smaller woman. “All that matters is that you’re here now.” She folded Kathy back into her arms and glanced over her shoulder at Perry and Connie… and it felt like an inquisition. He shrugged and looked over at Connie, who had no better excuse to offer.
“This island is a stronghold built by a madman,” Emily explained, as they walked back along a stream toward the larger of the two hills that made up the central saddleback, a waterfall audible in the distance.
“…and we are his prisoners?” Perry asked. He glanced over at Connie, looking for some indication of her intentions – would she try to fight it out? Would Emily? If so, what were they waiting for? — but she was caught up in conversation with the tall American who seemed to be in charge, at least of the soldiers.
“No. He’s long dead. His little fortress has been used by these people for the past couple of decades.”
“Who might they be?”
“That’s a long story,” Emily said. “For now, at least, maybe it’s enough to know that they aren’t enemies.”
“Are they friends, then?” Kathy asked.
“In a manner of speaking, yes. It turns out they have a connection to my father.”
“You are full of surprises, Em. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any stranger. This morning, these two brief me on the current military crises in China and Japan, and how we may have to rescue a princess…”
“They said what?” Emily’s face turned pale for the briefest of moments, but when she grabbed his shoulder to spin him around, Perry saw once again the fire that smolders at the bottom of her eyes. “What’s happened to the little princess?” she demanded.
Connie pulled her aside and relayed the bad news in hushed tones, and Perry motioned to Kathy to give them a little space.
“Did I say the wrong thing?”
“No, Kath. She needed to hear it sooner or later. Now we just have to figure out our next move.”
“I’ve been such a fool,” Emily cried out behind them. “I’ve wasted so much time.”
“This is what you meant before, isn’t it?” Kathy asked. “Once we’d found her, the real adventure would begin.” Perry nodded. “So we’re going after her… the princess, just like the Admiral wanted?”
“That depends,” he said in a whisper.
“… on what?”
“On how difficult it is to extricate ourselves from this island.” He glanced at all the armed men walking around them as he said this.
“My name is Hsu Qi, and we are Shan people,” the elegantly dressed Asian woman said to Connie.
By this time, Emily had drawn Perry and Kathy into a discussion of the logistics of departure with a small Asian man in uniform, whom she introduced as Tammy. Talk of refueling options, ammunition, and ordinance became their new focus.
“But how did you end up here, of all places?” Connie asked, now more curious about the inhabitants of the island.
“Don’t you remember that time you flew us down here?” the tall man she recognized as Danko said, fully expecting her to remember an event that happened more than two decades ago.
“I left you here with George Kane…”
“Yes, her father.” He spoke in a particularly ‘meaningful’ tone of voice as he tipped his head toward Emily. A dim recognition flickered in Connie’s eyes. “He is her father, isn’t he?”
“As opposed to whom?” she snorted at him.
“She carries that picture around with her…”
“You mean the one of the four of us that day?” She didn’t wait for a response. “I gave it to her, because she needed something to hang on to. She was just a kid, and Meacham and Burzynski had taken everything from her. When I found her, she was on her own, trying to finish high school, and caught in their crossfire. You remember how it was in those days, right?”
“But George is her father, right?” He lowered his voice to nearly a whisper as he posed this question again.
“Of course he is. Who else would it be?” Connie tilted her head as she said this, like a dog trying to understand some new experience.
“It’s just that the resemblance to Walker is uncanny, and when she fought off Hsu Qi’s men… well, there was something almost demonic about her, like…”
“No,” she said, in as firm a tone of voice as she could muster. “No way… that’s
not even possible…” Her words trailed off, as if she were beginning to consider that point where the possible and the impossible sometimes overlap. “She didn’t kill any of them, did she?”
“No, but there was a moment… and that damned sword she carries…”
“Could Walker have resisted killing as many as possible? Just think about it.”
“I know. That’s what I said… but it doesn’t really prove anything.”
“Well, I know her mother, and I’m pretty sure she’d never met Walker, at least not until long after Emily was born. But why is this so important?”
“Because these people have a particular grievance against Walker,” he said in as quiet a voice as he could manage.
“Oh,” Connie said, in a sudden realization. “That’s what you and Kane were doing here back then.”
“Yes,” Hsu Qi said, as if she’d been part of the conversation this entire time. How much had she heard, and was Danko really trying to keep her from hearing? “They came at my request, to protect my brother from David Walker.”
“Why was Walker after your brother in the first place?”
“I think it was because he realized my brother was hunting him.”
“It all has to do with some black-ops work George and I did for Meacham decades ago,” Danko said. “Walker came along on a few of those, and we had the misfortune of stumbling on Hsu Qi’s family at one of the camps we raided…”
“… and Walker went on a killing spree, right?”
“Yes,” Hsu Qi said. She shuddered to remember those events, as if a cold wind had found only her in the midst of the heat and humidity of the island.
“If only you’d killed him then,” Connie said, trying not to remember how closely she’d been associated with Walker in those days. “It would have spared her having to do it later.”
* * *
The entrance to the underground complex was not difficult to spot, at least from ground level, though from the air, or from a satellite, they’d be pretty much invisible. Two parallel passageways had been carved in to the earth, tracing natural underground rock formations in some places, and relying on poured concrete walls in others. Connie doubted it would survive an aerial bombardment – the structure was too old to have been built to withstand such an assault. No, the idea here had been to escape detection, rather than to prepare for a battle.
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