by Weston Ochse
Liz brought Billings coffee. She took a sip, grimaced, but didn’t say anything else. She put the coffee down. To Musso she said, “What do you have?”
Musso rose from his workstation with a stack of papers in his hands. “We had Cyber Command scrape servers with known Myanmar access nodes, searching for all instances of Saw Thuza Tun. There’s more than seven thousand hits. I know that’s a lot, but through the process of disambiguation I was able to learn that the owner of the land upon which the warehouse—that warehouse—sits”—he pointed to the screen—“is none other than Saw Thuza Tun.”
“So his name is connected to the cargo ship and the warehouse. Any other connections?”
“I checked the registries for the other ships in the harbor that we were concerned about, but none of them can be traced back to this individual.”
“What does that lead you to believe, Musso?” Billings asked.
“That attacking America was a complete ruse.”
Billings pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. “So we’re back to this individual and his people trying to draw us into action. What else do we know about this Thuza Tun?”
“He has multiple holdings centered around Kadwan. He’s also been active in the Karen separatist movement. I found several editorials he provided in the last ten years regarding the importance of international attention regarding Burma/Myanmar. He rants about the suspension of the constitution in 1974, about the confinement of the Nobel Prize–winning activist Aung San Suu Kyi, and America’s willingness to go to every other corner of the planet except for their country. He definitely calls us out.”
Billings nodded, deep in thought. “What else?”
“Then five years ago he dropped out of the limelight. He had a regular column and followers, but he disappeared.”
“Any reason why?” Jen asked. She’d asked Musso this question several hours ago and was hoping he’d been able to find an answer.
“I’ll let Liz answer that.”
The young woman stood and approached nervously, picking at the file in her hand.
“Don’t worry. I won’t bite,” Billings said with a flat smile.
Liz laughed, but it came out as a bark. She licked her lips. “At first we thought maybe that he’d been arrested for his politics, but we found no record of this. We did find, in a collateral search in the Drug Enforcement Agency database, that he’s a known facilitator of cross-border drug transit through southern Thailand. He has links with several Triad figures, all who have been under investigation by the DEA.”
“That might explain the connection,” Musso offered.
“I was also able to track his major purchases over the past fifteen years, since the advent of the use of the Internet in Burma/Myanmar. Any older records haven’t been added.” Liz cleared her throat. “I have a record of all of his land purchases, including his substantial holdings around Kadwan. But what I found interesting is this purchase.”
She pulled out a photo and placed it on the table next to Billings. It was a full-color glossy of an overhead of an ancient town that was still partially covered with jungle. The buildings looked like they were shaped like immense pointed bells. Billings leaned forward to study the photo, but made no move to pick it up.
“This is Wethali. It’s the birthplace of Pyinsa Kalayni, who was the mother of King Kyansittha of the Pagan dynasty circa 1040 CE. It was a tourist site until the mid-nineties. The government reallocated their resources to the military and shut this down. Thuza Tun bought the town from a Myanmar general.”
“They can do that? Just buy towns?” the admiral asked.
“They can in Myanmar,” Musso said. “Tell them about the archaeological site.”
Liz’s eyes brightened. “Yes, of course. Wethali dates back to the fourth century. It was said to have been founded by a great warrior who couldn’t be killed. Sound familiar?”
“Chi Long,” Jen said. “He was around two hundred years earlier, right?”
Liz nodded. “There’s not a lot of information about Wethali, other than the place was destroyed by an earthquake in the eighth century. Until then, it seemed to be the center of the region, possibly even the capital.”
“Do you think Chi Long retired to live the good life in Burma?” Jen asked.
Musso shrugged. “He could have. We just don’t know. The data we have is so sparse that we have to stitch it together with supposition.” He glanced at Billings. “But we’re pretty certain of our analysis.”
“Wrap this up for me,” Billing said. “What’s your hypothesis?”
Musso stepped forward. “We think that Thuza Tun got a line on an artifact, probably having to do with Chi Long, buried in the ruins of Wethali. We think he bought the land, searched for the artifact, found it, and is now a host for Chi Long.”
“That’s a lot of supposition,” Billings said. “What benefit would he have for hosting Chi Long?”
“A couple,” Liz answered. “Such a figure could become the center for a more active separatist movement. Chi Long was a general and was used to leading people. Also, if he can’t be killed, he can spin that anyway he wants, including that he’s divine.”
“You mean a god?”
“Or the son of one,” Musso said with a shrug. “Sure.”
“Okay. I buy it. It sounds right.” Billings stood wearily. “Get me to a secure phone. I need to contact the Sissy and let them know what’s going on.”
“Certainly,” Jen said, hurrying to a side door.
55
CIRCUS WAREHOUSE. EARLY MORNING.
They set the trap well. Walker had opened one of the crates and laid it to one side. Yaya now sat inside, with several airholes in the top and firing ports made from slits cut into the wood. They’d used steel plates they found to retrofit the walls with armor. Walker left Yaya with his 9mm pistol and ammunition, which meant that the SEAL now had two pistols.
Walker moved back to his original location, then thought better of it. He was too far away to come to the aid of his friend. He needed someplace closer, with as much cover and concealment as he could have.
He moved back into the warehouse, where he arranged the crates in the center of the room so that a person could actually fit inside the grouping, then made it so he could escape easily if needed.
Being in the dark was smart. He could look out and see who was approaching, but until someone stepped inside and acclimated their eyes, they couldn’t see him.
When he was finally ready, he settled in for a long wait.
But the wait wasn’t as long as he expected. Forty-six minutes later, a five-ton pulled into the rear of the warehouse. Soldiers jumped down from the rear and dropped the metal door, which would make it easier to put bodies inside. They took their time. The first thing they did was smoke a few cigarettes. The five of them squatted in a circle as they talked.
Walker noted that each carried an AK hung rakishly across his back. They also all wore sandals, which he surmised wasn’t regular military issue. Through his scope he could make out their yellowed teeth and their unshaven faces. These were the dregs sent to pick up the trash. He shouldn’t have to worry too much about them, but he wasn’t going to underestimate them, either.
He set up the shot. He could take out three of them without a problem, and if he could anticipate where the other two would head, he’d be perfect. Of course he wanted to keep one alive to interrogate. If they were lucky, the one he left standing would speak a little English.
He decided to take the shot.
Suddenly two new people entered his view. One was a soldier and the other must have been the driver. This new soldier wore boots, a pressed uniform, and a camouflaged baseball hat pulled low over his eyes. Where the other soldiers looked more like refugees, he was all spit and polish. He gestured into the hole and said something in a rapid-fire local tongue. The soldiers grudgingly got to their feet, argued a moment about who was going in the hole, then three of them went down and two stayed at the e
dge. By the wrinkle of their noses, they weren’t pleased about the smell. All the while, they were watched by Spit and Polish.
The driver was another matter. He looked like he’d stepped straight out of an American mall. He wore white-and-red Reeboks and faded jeans and a T-shirt that said MADE IN AMERICA.
Walker put his aiming point between the crosshatch and the top of the letter A in AMERICA. If he pulled the trigger now, he could blow out the young man’s spine.
The guy couldn’t have been more than twenty-five years old. He had the look of a city kid. He held a cell phone in his hand and was either texting or watching something in the universal way of inattentive addiction that every kid in America had mastered by the age of eleven. His nonchalance spoke volumes.
The driver entered the darkened warehouse, walked unerringly to the couch holding the engine, and reached deep between the cushions. He came out with a plastic bag. He opened it and removed what could only be a joint. He had it lit in a moment and was leaning back on the couch, inhaling the sweet leaf.
Meanwhile, the soldiers were working fast. One by one they handed bodies up to the soldiers waiting at ground level, who in turn rolled them into the back of the truck. When it looked as if they were done, Spit and Polish put the soldiers in a line and called out to the driver.
Walker glanced over at the driver, who was halfway through his joint.
He shouted something back, pocketed the bag, and stood. He inhaled deeply, looking around as he did. His gaze stopped on the boxes in the center of the room. He stared right at the spot where Walker was hidden. But did he see him? Or was he noticing that the boxes had been moved?
Walker was ready to fire, but the driver turned away, dropped the joint on the floor, and wiped it away with his feet.
He strode a little unsteadily toward the opening.
Spit and Polish said something nasty and slapped the driver, knocking him to the ground.
Walker took his shot.
Spit and Polish’s head jerked back and he fell.
Walker fired twice more, each shot taking down a soldier.
Yaya joined the fracas, double-tapping the remaining three, which left only the driver, who was crouched at the entrance, screaming. He started to run out the door, but Yaya was there, a 9mm pistol in his hand. The driver spun and ran back inside, straight toward Walker, who slid out of his concealed position.
Walker stood tall, his Stoner notched into his shoulder and pointing directly at the driver’s face. The driver tried to stop, but his feet went out from under him. He fell backwards, sliding to a stop at Walker’s feet. Walker put his rifle into the center of the man’s forehead and said, “Don’t move.”
The driver’s eyes were wild. He looked as if he were about to bolt.
Good. Now to figure out a way of ascertaining where their friends had been taken.
Walker reached down and snatched the cell phone from the young man’s trembling hands. “You won’t be needing this anymore.”
“You … you … you…” the man stuttered.
Yaya approached from behind. “I think this one speaks English.”
“At least one word of it,” Walker said. “Let’s see if he knows any more words. Got a name?”
“Ed … Eddie.”
“Okay, Ed-Eddie,” Yaya said, kneeling next to the man’s head. He pressed the 9mm hard into one ear. “Where’d you take my friends?”
“I can’t tell you,” he whimpered. “He’ll kill me.”
“Who? Chi Long?” Walker asked, hoping that Laws had been right.
As soon as he said the name, Ed-Eddie’s face blanched. “You know?”
“Of course we know. We’re U.S. Navy SEALs. We fucking know everything,” Yaya said.
Walker couldn’t help but grin at his friend’s aplomb. “Almost everything. Where are the others? Where are the other SEALs?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit!” Yaya twisted his face into something monstrous. “Total fucking bullshit!”
Ed-Eddie’s eyes rolled toward Walker, who knew instinctively that he’d have to be the foil for Yaya’s bad cop. They didn’t have Laws’s interrogation experience, but it would have to do. In conversations on the safety of American soil, he’d always proclaimed that he’d never resort to torture. Now he’d have to put that assertion to the test.
“No, Yaya. Maybe our friend here just wants to help. I mean look at him. He’s not like those others.” As he said it, Ed-Eddie shook his head. “He wears American clothes and American shoes. Hell, look at his shirt. For all intents and purposes, he might just be American.”
Yaya stared at Walker for a moment, then smiled slyly. “He’s the farthest thing from American. A shirt and shoes don’t make you who you are. You know what we say, clothes don’t make the man.”
Walker shrugged. “You’re right about that. You can dress the part, but you can’t act the part. An American wouldn’t let another American get hurt. In fact, an American would make sure he’d do anything in his power to help his fellow American.”
“Why not let me take him out in the woods,” Yaya said, digging the pistol into the man’s ear. “He’s not American. He’s just a pretender. He’s just a slave of Chi Long.”
Ed-Eddie began to cry. “I want to be an American,” he sobbed. “I want to help. I do, but he’ll kill me.”
“Who’ll kill you, Ed-Eddie?” Walker asked.
The man sniffed. “It’s just Eddie.”
“Okay, Eddie. So who’s going to kill you?”
He squirmed on the floor, trying to see both Yaya and Walker. “You know,” he whispered. “Him.”
“Him?” Walker pointed at Yaya.
“Or him?” Yaya pointed back at Walker.
“No,” Eddie said, his voice going low. “Chi Long.”
“Ahh,” both Walker and Yaya said at the same time. “Him. Is that where you took our friends? To Chi Long?”
Eddie nodded.
“Are they alive?”
Eddie nodded again.
Walker felt an immense surge of relief. But he couldn’t dwell on it. They needed to know more.
“I wouldn’t worry about ‘him,’” Walker said, using finger quotes. “Yaya has a magical device that makes us invisible. He can’t see us.”
Eddie’s eyes narrowed.
“No, really. That’s how the other soldiers couldn’t find us. Just as ‘he’ has magic,” he said, using finger quotes again, “we have magic, too.”
Eddie craned his neck to look at Yaya, who until that moment had been looking imploringly at Walker. Walker shrugged and grinned at his friend.
“Go ahead and show him the concealment device,” Walker urged.
Yaya looked around, then reached into his side pocket. He pulled out the old cable he said was from World War II and held it up. “You mean this old thing?”
“That’s it.”
Eddie looked at it and narrowed his eyes. “How does it work?”
This time it was Yaya’s turn to smile. “You put it in your mouth. Here, Walker will show you.”
Yaya handed the cable over to Walker, who reminded himself that Yaya needed a good asskicking. Walker took it, grinned at Eddie, then placed an end in his mouth. It tasted like tar, cigar ash, and an old wig, but he kept it in his mouth.
Eddie looked from one to the other. “But there are two of you.”
Yaya nodded in agreement, and looked at Walker. When Walker’s grin grew even larger, Yaya’s nod turned into a shake.
Walker pulled his out of his mouth momentarily and said, “We both have to have it in our mouths.”
He put his back in and offered Yaya the other end. Yaya put it in his mouth and frowned only a little at the taste. The cable was almost at its limit as it stretched between the pair. Yeah, revenge is a dish best served with old cable.
“But I can see you,” Eddie said matter-of-factly.
Walker removed it from his mouth. “Of course you can. You aren’t a demon. This only w
orks on demons. You know, like him.”
Eddie stared at Yaya, who still had his end in. After a moment, he narrowed his eyes shrewdly. “Not as good as a suit.”
Walker and Yaya exchanged a look.
“What kind of suit?” Walker asked.
“You know,” Eddie said, touching the skin of his arm. “One made from people.”
“You’ve seen this?”
Eddie glanced toward the dead soldiers. “I’ve seen one.”
56
SPG OFFICES. CORONADO ISLAND.
The barbarians were at the gates. If it hadn’t been a variation on the usual, Billings would have been outraged. They finally had eyes on and CENTCOM wanted to retake control of their satellite, citing their priority. Their priority my ass, she thought. If it weren’t for the fact that SEAL Team 666 wasn’t as highly classified as it was, they wouldn’t even be having this conversation. After all, which was more important, hunting down someone’s cousin they believed to be a member of the Taliban, or supporting an elite unit that was ascertaining whether America was being threatened with destruction?
That the four-star general at CENTCOM knew about SEAL Team 666 and requested the shift in priority anyway was an indictment on his status as Head Asshole in theater. He knew she couldn’t drop the bullshit flag and point out which was more important. He knew that she’d keep the team’s existence a secret no matter what. In fact, she would bet that he was counting on it.
But there was nothing to be done at this point except to try and make something from nothing.
She stared at a map of the world. Her eyes found Myanmar, then drew down the coast until she reached the spot where she believed Kadwan to be. It was so far away from anything. They had assets in Thailand, but they’d have to invade sovereign airspace to get there. Because Kadwan was on the coast, it would be so much easier to bring help across the sea. They could go virtually undetected until the last moment.
She grabbed her phone and put in a call to the SOCOM J3. He owed her a favor for fighting on his behalf for funding, during last year’s congressional free-for-all after the budget cuts.
