Fitzduane 02 - Rules of The Hunt

by O'Reilly-Victor

  The terrorists on the ground fought till they died.

  Katsuda's surviving yakuza in their frogmen's suits raised their hands.

  * * * * *

  Reiko Oshima, the leader of Yaibo was in the copilot's seat of the airborne Huey when Lonsdale fired, and she saw the holes of the .50 as they punched through the engine compartment of the landed helicopter.

  The significance of the direction of fire was immediately apparent.

  "UP AND EVADE!" she creamed into her microphone. "UNLESS YOU WANT US ALL TO GET BARBECUED LIKE THAT OTHER IDIOT. GET THE FUCK UP. WE'RE TAKING FIRE FROM ABOVE."

  Startled both by Oshima's screaming and by the explosions in front of him from the other helicopter, the pilot was overheavy on the foot pedals and the Huey's tail wagged from side to side in what was known as the "Huey Shuffle."

  He recovered and then banked the machine away from the combat and climbed at maximum revs for his life.

  Beside him, Oshima scanned the sky for the source of fire. She was looking for a police or army helicopter, so she initially disregarded the airship. She could see nothing, and that was not believable, because an official helicopter would not leave the scene while all hell was breaking loose below.

  She knew how official minds worked when airborne. They liked to buzz around and report things and follow procedure. If there was a police unit up there, any moment some uniformed idiot with a microphone was going to fly alongside and ask her to surrender and she was going to blow his interfering brains out and send his machine in flames down on top of the Ginza. That was the way these people thought and acted. She had been outmaneuvering them for years.

  Could it be the airship? She had never remotely considered the airship in the past — it was just part of the sky over Tokyo, like clouds in the rainy season, and it had never entered her thinking one way or another — but now she focused on the huge floating structure as it receded into the distance.

  It was inconceivable that the Tokyo cops would actually think of firing down into an area of the city which housed some of the most exclusive residences in Tokyo, but she had temporarily forgotten to factor in the gaijin Fitzduane. He had already demonstrated a flair for the daring and unorthodox. An aerial ambush from the airship would be exactly the kind of tactic he would employ.

  A shiver of anticipation ran through her as she thought of the significance of the mayhem in Hodama's gardens.

  The gaijin was still alive.

  She had caught a brief glimpse of Namaka as they had flown in, but there had been no sign of Fitzduane.

  He should have been there. He was the bait. But was it not more likely that, having baited the trap, he would withdraw and watch events play out from a safer location? The gaijin was daring and clearly did not lack courage, but he was no fool.

  Suddenly, Fitzduane's plan became clear to her. He had used the strengths of his opponents against each other and he had been not only the bait but the catalyst of their destruction. Fumio Namaka, normally so farseeing and cautious, had been blinded by his obsession with the destruction of his brother's killer. Katsuda had been impelled by his desire for revenge against the Namakas and his ambition to become the new kuromaku. Who knew what other elements were involved? And worst of all, her own organization had committed its full strength out of obligation to the Namakas and had been caught in the trap.

  The full realization of how they had all been outmaneuvered by this foreign barbarian filled her with gall. But if her analysis was correct, it also meant that Fitzduane was in the airship. He had achieved complete tactical surprise, like a hunter concealed on high in a tree hide, but his main defense had lain in remaining undetected. And clearly he had not fully considered the possibility of his prey being airborne too.

  Oshima felt confidence in her judgment restored. It had been her idea to use the two stolen Japanese Defense Forces helicopters. Several Yaibo members had received helicopter training in Libya, ironically from North Vietnamese instructors using captured Hueys. For some time, she had seen the relevance of air power in terrorist operations and saw nor reason why the authorities should have a monopoly on air mobility and firepower.

  The roles were now reversed. The hunter in his hide would now be the hunted. And the airship would be a hard target to miss.

  This time Yaibo would have the high ground.

  Oshima pointed toward the receding airship. It was already several miles away. They had lost time looking for a police helicopter, but they would soon make it up. The Huey, she knew, was much faster than that huge bag of gas.

  "Pursue the airship," she said, "and maneuver so that we can attack from above. They won't be able to see us and they won't be able to shoot back. And hurry. I want that craft downed right over the city."

  The propaganda significance of destroying such a large and visible symbol of authority over Japan's capital city would be immense.

  The pilot increased power, and the Huey sped above the neon-lit city toward a target they could not miss.

  * * * * *

  "Fitzduane-san," said the Spider. "Radar confirmed by visual observation reports that our airship is being pursued by a helicopter." There was a pause. "Two helicopters were reported stolen by the JDF five days ago. We regret — but we have every reason to suspect terrorist action."

  "Roger that," said Fitzduane, who was thinking.

  The Spider's voice was urgent. "You may well be attacked, Fitzduane-san," he said, "but I would ask you to remember the rules of engagement. There must be NO civilian casualties. Whatever the provocation, you must not return fire over Tokyo. Evade and escape, Fitzduane-san, but do not open fire."

  "How long do we have before the Yaibo chopper gets within range?" said Fitzduane.

  "Two to three minutes minimum," said the Spider. "Maybe longer. And they may never attack. But it is important you be warned."

  "Out," said Fitzduane. The world now divided into his team and the rest, but there was one member he did not know too well. He went to sit beside the pilot. The inspector-san looked scarcely out of diapers, but most Japanese looked young for their age. In a few words, he told him the situation.

  The pilot grimaced and turned to Fitzduane. "Colonel-san," he said. "I have been trained in all normal aspects of airship operation, but this ship is not a fighter." He paused for half a beat and then spoke again. "But I will do whatever can be done."

  Fitzduane had initially thought the pilot looked about eight. He revised his opinion after sitting closer. Close up, the kid was undeniably over fifteen. To have achieved the rank of police inspector, he was clearly on the fast track.

  "Inspector-san," he said. "Where did you go to university?"

  "Todai," said the pilot proudly. All roads let to and from TokyoUniversity.

  "Well, that's all right, then," said Fitzduane cheerfully.

  The pilot turned and looked at this lunatic gaijin blankly.

  "You move and shake when I tell you, Inspector-san," said Fitzduane. "It's kind of like lateral thinking, only different. No looping the loop of Immelman turns. Just a couple of sexy maneuvers at exactly the right time. Understand?"

  The inspector-pilot-san still looked puzzled, until Fitzduane spoke for about twenty seconds. Then realization dawned and his face lit up. "Ah so!" he said with enthusiasm.

  Fitzduane looked genuinely pleased. "I always wanted to hear someone say that," he said.

  * * * * *

  The Yaibo helicopter was a scant hundred yards away from the airship, but slightly above and behind.

  The gondola was below and out of sight. They could see the airship and could get so close they could almost reach out and touch it, but the airship crew in the gondola below could not see them.

  The enemy was blind.

  "Open fire. Empty your magazines," said Oshima, and two AK-47s and five 9mm submachine guns crackled into action.

  The Huey was flying with both doors open, but still the noise was deafening. Cartridge cases cascaded out of the automatic weapons, boun
ced off the cabin floor, and then slid into the neon-lit glow of the darkness to fall two thousand feet to the city below.

  Three hundred full-metal-jacketed rounds penetrated the sausage-shaped balloon of the airship in under ten seconds.

  Helium gas began to leak from the holes.

  * * * * *

  Turbines whining, a flight of JDF Super-Cobra gunships on full military power climbed into the night sky over Atsugi and headed toward the airship.

  "ETA ten — one zero — minutes," said the Spider. There was no acknowledgment. "Gunships will rendezvous in ten — one zero — minutes," he repeated.

  Static came back at him. In midcommunication, the airship had gone suddenly silent.

  * * * * *

  "Bloody hell," said Fitzduane, with some understandable irritation, as the radio in front of him shattered in a cloud of sparks.

  The rounds, judging by the angle of entry, were coming from above and the rear. Before striking their communications, the fire must have punched through the double polyester coating of the envelope twice on its way in and out and then through the Kevlar-reinforced plastic of the gondola itself.

  He had hoped that such a combination would have stopped the light automatic fire normally used by terrorists, but he was being disabused. He was learning more and more about airships and modern firepower in a hurry. Frankly, he did not object to the acquisition of this information as such — he rather liked airships — but the manner of learning left a great deal to be desired.

  The back of his hand oozed blood from an encounter with a piece of razor-sharp plastic blasted out of the casing by the bullets, and he sucked the wound. A cut about an inch and a half long was revealed.

  All in all, they were being very lucky. The terrorists had been shooting at them for well over a minute, he estimated but so far nothing too vital had been struck.

  Yaibo was discovering the hard way that scoring hits on something as large as an airship was not the same as doing it damage. True, they were losing the gas that kept them up, but the bullet holes were so small in relation to the overall size of the envelope that it was going to take some time before all of the lift was affected. Fitzduane had heard that pilots in World War I had had much the same problem with German zeppelins before the incendiary had been invented. On the other hand zeppelins were allowed to shoot back.

  Fitzduane looked down. They were just crossing the coastline. TokyoBay lay straight ahead. Lots of nice water in case they had to touch down in a hurry, and better yet, no Tokyo citizenry.

  "Any sign of the bat out of hell?" he said into his headset microphone. There was a fighting chance the intercom was still working, and he wanted to give the pilot-san some moral support while he could.

  "He's still up top," said Lonsdale. There were more thuds on the top of the gondola roof, and dimples appeared in the ceiling. "The way I figure it, they're using a mixture of 9mm and AK-47, and only the AK stuff is getting through."

  "Well, that's very interesting, Al," said Fitzduane dryly. "How about you, Chifune?"

  "They're going to figure out soon they should be firing at the gondola, Hugo," said Chifune. "Or at least at the engines."

  "We're entering a free-fire zone," said Fitzduane, then added a qualification. "Well, Al providing you point your elephant gun away from Tokyo, what is that thing's range?"

  "Unaimed, about eight miles," said Lonsdale proudly.

  Fitzduane winced, but said nothing. He had followed the Spider's rules, but now that they were over the sea it was going to be a matter of self-preservation. Time to play ball.

  "DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!" he said to the pilot with absolute urgency. "MAX POWER! MAX ANGLE! POUR IT ON!"

  The pilot thrust the control wheel forward and the airship headed toward the murky waters below. The lights of several ships could be seen. The crews were going to have some unexpected free entertainment. He just hoped they had enough sense to keep their heads down.

  The terrorist helicopter suddenly appeared on their right, the side marked by Lonsdale, and started to slow down to match their speed and riddle the gondola at point-blank range. At first when the airship had dived, Oshima had thought the Yaibo fire had achieved a mortal hit, but then she had realized that either way it made sense to make sure. The airship was not going to crash into the city as she would have wished, but its destruction would still be a major victory.

  There was a thundering series of explosions as Lonsdale rapid-fired a complete ten-round magazine from the Barrett at the terrorists crowding the open doors of the helicopter flying beside them. In turn, automatic fire smashed into the gondola.

  The helicopter was only sixty yards away. Through his telescopic sight, Lonsdale saw the expressions on the faces of two of the terrorists as the huge 750-grain explosive bullets punched into them.

  There were vivid flashes as the .50 shells ignited and holes appeared in the cabin and windows of the Huey, but still it flew on. The damn things had been shot down by the thousands in the Vietnam War, but this one and its crew were bloody tough.

  A body fell from the helicopter and plummeted into the sea below.

  A split second later, the Huey peeled away and vanished into the darkness. The encounter had taken just a few seconds.

  Chifune had taken a 9mm round in her upper right arm just as she was turning to add her firepower to Lonsdale's, and the shock and impact made her stagger against the cabin wall, the .300 Magnum dropping for her hands.

  Fitzduane turned ashen as he saw her, and for the briefest of moments he saw her and felt her naked in his arms as they had made love.

  He leaped from his position beside the pilot and helped her to a seat. A brief examination revealed that the wound was not serious, and he quickly bound it, conscious that he was perhaps hurting her but there was no time. He kissed her on the forehead briefly and picked up her weapon and checked the magazine. Chifune smiled weakly at him. She was still in some shock.

  The airship had now leveled off and was flying so low, they passed a huge oil tanker heading in the opposite direction toward Tokyo and found the gondola was actually lower than the bridge of the ship.

  The watch crew stared openmouthed as the vast black shape appeared to head straight toward them, then flashed by their port side at a combined speed of around eighty miles an hour. As the watch commander remarked afterward, he had heard of the Flying Dutchman but this was ridiculous. For a few seconds, the scale of the airship made him think he was going to by rammed by some flying supertanker.

  Fitzduane was now focusing on the left observation windows, while Lonsdale covered the right.

  The helicopter had attacked them from above and the side. Both attacks had been of limited effectiveness, but he expected the next attack to be roughly level with the gondola and from the rear. That was the airship's most vulnerable remaining blind spot, in his opinion. The Huey could not get underneath them, because they were flying so low, and a head-on pass would not allow enough time to bring adequate power to bear.

  There was no practical defense against an attack from the rear. The airship's visibility was all on the sides and to the front. The rear of the gondola housed the engines, and they were enclosed in a windowless compartment. In some ways, Fitzduane was surprised that the terrorists had not attacked there immediately, but then they would not be so intimate with the airship's structure, and on-the-job training tended to be mostly trial and error. But he had an uncomfortable feeling that Yaibo was learning fast.

  "Colonel-san," shouted the pilot. Fitzduane had taken off his headset to go to Chifune's aid, and now the pilot had twisted around in his seat and was shouting at him. All the observation windows were open to facilitate firing, and the roar of the engines at full speed filled the gondola.

  Fitzduane made his way to the front and leaned over to hear the pilot.

  "Fitzduane-san," said the pilot urgently. If we are to be successful with out maneuver, WE MUST LOSE WEIGHT."

  There was the crack of the Barrett as Lonsdale lea
ned precariously out of the window and tried to fire to their rear. "Hugo, they're maneuvering behind us," he said. "Sling a harness around me and I'll try and have another go. I can do it."

  Fitzduane considered for a moment and tried to imagine Al's line of fire shooting backwards. It could work for a shot or two, but all the Huey would have to do would be to maneuver slightly and it would be out of range again.

  He looked hard at Lonsdale. They'd already discussed another option, but Al's harness idea had certainly been worth considering.

  He discarded it. "We stick with Plan B," he said. "Pilot-san wants more lift, so when I give the word, we dump everything we can. The we should have an opportunity, and we'd better not miss."

  Lonsdale grinned. "This is a very crazy tactic," he said, "but then you're a very crazy man."

  Fitzduane smiled. "Let's go to it."

  "Mike Bergin and the dead pilot too?" said Lonsdale.

  Fitzduane hesitated for a moment, and then there was a banging sound from the rear as the attacking Huey fired at them. He knew the time had come to finish it, and noble gestures would be of scant worth if the terrorists had their way. On the other hand...

  "Not unless we have to," he said. He turned to the pilot. "NOW!" he shouted.

  The pilot switched both engines to vertical thrust and at the same time activated the control that dumped half a ton of water from the ballast tanks in the gondola.

  Simultaneously, Fitzduane and Lonsdale pushed the bodies of Schwanberg and Chuck Palmer out the door. Other heavy items followed.

  Modern airships flew ‘heavy.’ That meant they got around ninety percent of their lift from the helium contained in the envelope and the remaining lift from the aerodynamics of the envelope and the engines. That combination made the airship easier to control and to land without bleeding off expensive helium. The normal rate of climb was based on that heavy configuration.

  The dumping of the ballast and the bodies changed the equation dramatically.