Lee discovered that Cato was correct as Shekhawat led the column through an arched doorway. A huge pile of rubble blocked a passageway on the right.
But a rock-strewn tunnel led the party back into what had once been living quarters located in the mountain itself. Holes had been drilled in the roof. Light streamed down to splash the ground below. “It’s perfect,” Lee said. “Is there a bodega in Kulekhani? If so, I’ll buy you a beer.”
“Thanks,” Cato said sarcastically. “For nothing.” Both men laughed.
The next hour was spent selecting some well positioned overlooks, unloading the horses, and getting organized. Last but not least was a conference with Major Raj Gupta at Trishul Air Base. Lee was secretly hoping for a reprieve. Something along the lines of, “Never mind, we found the Dalai Lama, and he’s in Bangalore.”
But no such luck. Nothing had changed, except for a heightened sense of urgency, as the Big Push began. “We had an agent,” Gupta said. “And, according to her final report, supplies are pouring into Nepal from Tibet. So, the sooner you find what you’re looking for the better. Over.”
And that, Lee realized, was as much of an epitaph as the Allied agent was likely to get. He convened a meeting that included Staff Sergeant Thapa, Doctor Kwan, and both of the lamas.
The group sat cross legged on the floor of a small antechamber. It was partially lit by a shaft of yellow light that slanted down through a zigzag crack in the roof. There was a flutter of wings as a bird escaped through the hole.
“Okay,” Lee began. “We’re as close to Kulekhani as we can afford to be. Maybe too close. Our first and, if we’re lucky, only recon mission will take place tonight. The objective is to find the residence where the Dalai Lama is located and extract the whole family from the village.
“Responsibility for identifying the correct house will rest with Lamas Khando and Jangchup. Sergeant Evers will serve as second-in-command plus medic. Security will be provided by two Gurkhas. All of us will wear night vision gear. If you haven’t used it before see Sergeant Thapa for some training.
“Meanwhile, a fast reaction force led by Staff Sergeant Thapa will be stationed just outside of the village where it will secure our line of retreat and respond if we run into trouble. His team will consist of Doctor Kwan, Binsa, and the bodyguards. Are there any questions?”
“Yes,” Kwan said. “Why can’t I go instead of Evers?”
Lee was surprised. The doctor had at least two personalities and he was never sure which one he was going to encounter. He nodded. “That’s a reasonable question. We need to keep the group small to avoid detection—and Evers can fill three slots. Second in command, combatant, and medic. But be ready… If we take casualties, or the baby is ill, we’ll be counting on you. Okay?”
Kwan nodded. “Okay.”
The interim plan called for everyone to remain out of sight and get some rest. And Lee was preparing to take a nap when Kwan came to see him. “Hey doc, what’s up?”
Kwan sat on an ammo box. Her expression was serious. “You said that Lama Jangchup and Lama Khando are responsible for identifying the correct house. And, according to Jangchup, it will have two chimneys and a solar panel on the roof. All because a monk had a vision. Do you believe that?”
Lee was sitting on a low wall. He could see that Kwan was worried. “No,” Lee answered. “I don’t.”
“But you’re going anyway.”
Lee shrugged. “Orders are orders. And I have to take direction from the lamas where religious matters are concerned.”
“And you believe that following stupid orders is a good thing?”
“Not always, no. But the military is all about discipline. In 544 BC General Sun Tzu wrote that warfare is governed by five laws: Moral law, Heaven, Earth, the Commander, Method and Discipline. He lumps the last two together.”
“So, you’re going Chinese on me.”
“No, I’m going green beret on you.”
“And when the lamas come up empty?”
“Then we return to Trishul. I hope so anyway.”
Kwan stood. “You aren’t as stupid as you look.”
“And you aren’t as worthless as you seem.”
Kwan smiled. “Be careful tonight.” Then she was gone.
Lee slept for three hours and arose feeling refreshed. The report from Thapa was positive. Two helicopters had been seen flying off to the east. A three-horse caravan, and small groups of hikers, had passed in both directions. Other than that, there hadn’t been any activity to speak of.
As the sun sank people ate. And Lee was among them. Then it was time to check his gear which mainly consisted of armor, suppressed weapons, ammo, water, two trail bars and a radio.
As darkness fell the A and B teams left. Thanks to their night vision gear they could walk the trail without difficulty. There was no other foot traffic, which made sense in such a remote area.
Homes appeared as they neared the village. All were clinging to the mountainside at first. Then, as the combined teams arrived at the edge of Kulekhani, Lee saw that most of the dwellings were on level ground. “This is it,” Lee whispered to Thapa. “Stay out of sight until we return.”
There was another possibility of course, but neither one of them chose to mention it. Because if Lee had to call on Thapa for help it would mean that everything had gone to hell in a handcart. The noncom nodded. “Yes, sah… We’ll be here.”
Private Kilbur Rai was on point, followed by Lee, Evers, the lamas, and Private Yubraj Gurung. It was early yet, so the buttery glow of kerosene lamps was visible in windows, and the occasional wail of a battery powered radio could be heard.
A dog barked as they rounded a corner and Rai signaled for the rest of the party to duck. Fortunately there was a stone wall to hide behind. Lee could hear the Gurkha’s whisper via his headset. “Two PLA passing north to south. Bullpup rifles. Chatting. Over.”
Rai was a professional, and as such had been able to paint a complete picture with ten words. The enemy soldiers were armed with weapons capable of firing on full-auto and were talking to each other rather than maintaining situational awareness.
There was no reason to interfere with the mountain troops and Rai didn’t. And that was a good decision because if the A team had to snuff one or more of the soldiers, they’d have to kill all of them in order to complete their mission and escape. Or try to escape—since the chances of killing forty-plus PLA without one of them sending a distress call were somewhere between zero and none. Rai whispered, “Clear. Over.”
There were no published maps of Kulekhani. So, they planned to execute a grid search. Rai led them east through narrow streets which had evolved according to the needs of the people who’d been living there for hundreds of years. And those needs primarily involved fetching water, taking animals to pasture, or visiting the local temple.
Rai, Evers, and Gurung were under strict orders to ignore the search, and maintain situational awareness. That left Lee and the lamas free to scan the surrounding rooftops. Most of the Nepalese dwellings sat on tiny lots, featured peaked roofs, and were two-stories high.
Ground floor windows were often elevated above the level of the snow which would pile up during the winter months. Most homes had chimneys. But, as Rai led the team along a darkened street, Lee didn’t see a single building with two chimneys. Never mind a solar array.
There were false alarms however. Moments when wishful thinking on the part of a lama turned a stack of mud bricks into a second chimney—or the top of a rooftop chicken coop into a solar panel. None of which held up to closer scrutiny.
An hour passed. Then two. Finally, after crisscrossing the entire village, and dodging another two-man patrol, Lee thumbed his mike. “Viper-Six to Viper-Five and Eight. We’re coming your way. Over.” Lee heard two clicks by way of a response.
The lamas had receive-only radios and hurried forward to intervene. “It’s too early to give up,” Khando insisted. “Let’s search the village again.”
; “Sorry,” Lee whispered. “But that isn’t going to happen. Please return to your slot. We’ll discuss the situation later.”
It took twenty minutes to reunite with the response team, and twice that much time to reach the fort. Once inside both of the lamas sought to cajole and threaten Lee into going back. He refused. “You’ll be sorry,” Khando said ominously. “Colonel Jennings won’t be pleased.”
Lee knew that was true. Jennings wouldn’t be pleased. But he would understand. The house with two chimneys and a solar array didn’t exist. And searching all night wouldn’t change that.
But later, while lying in his mountain bag, Lee continued to consider the problem. Not from a Buddhist point of view, because he didn’t believe the house existed, but from a green beret perspective. Believing, and knowing, were two different things. And he was supposed to take action based on facts rather than hunches.
The house could be there after all. There weren’t any street lights in Kulekhani. And they’d been looking up from street level. What they needed was a bird’s eye view. Would the brass be willing to send something like an RQ-4 Global Hawk over the village? Aerial photos would tell the story. Maybe, and maybe not.
Then it came to him… The overlook! The one Cato and Shekhawat had established prior to the team’s arrival. Lee pushed the bag off, put his boots on, and went looking for Cato. The green beret was sleeping in a room mostly occupied by off-duty Gurkhas. He swore as Lee nudged him with a boot. “What the hell?”
“I’m sorry,” Lee said, even though he wasn’t. “I need to talk to you.”
There was a good deal of bitching and griping as Cato emerged from his warm cocoon and got dressed. Then, rather than disturb the Gurkhas, Lee led Cato to the area where most people prepared their meals. They sat cross legged in front of a small fire. Lee began by saying, “I’m an idiot.”
Cato grinned. “Sir, yes sir.”
Lee laughed. “Tell me about the overlook… The one you and Corporal Shekhawat established over Kulekhani.”
“It’s at the top of a cliff overlooking the village,” Cato replied. “We had an unobstructed view of the town.”
“How much detail was visible?”
“Lots,” Cato said. “Shekhawat is packing a pair of Vortex Kaibab HD 20X56 glasses. You’ve got to hold them steady, but once you lock them down, they’re awesome.”
“So awesome that you could make out a house that has two chimneys and a solar array?”
Cato’s eyes grew wider. “Yeah, I think you could.”
“Good. Find the corporal, borrow his binoculars, and pack two days’ worth of food and water. We’ll hike up to the outlook tonight and be ready when the sun rises. Then we’ll search the village foot-by-foot. If the house with two chimneys and a solar array is there, we’ll spot it.”
After preparing his own gear, and briefing Staff Sergeant Thapa, Lee followed Cato out into the night. It was cold. Damned cold. And, after fifteen minutes on the old caravan trail, Cato led him up a path so faint it was barely discernable. Especially in the darkness.
The green berets had to pause every ten minutes to rest and catch their breaths. Finally, after what Cato said was a three-hundred-foot gain in altitude, they arrived on top of a narrow ridge, with Kulekhani to the right. Most of the residents were asleep by that time, so very few lights were visible.
Lee followed a few steps behind as Cato followed the ridge east. The noncom looked like a green blob with dark drop-offs to his left and right. Lee tried not to think about what would happen if one of them slipped and kept his gaze on the path ahead.
After ten minutes Cato raised a hand which caused Lee to stop. No words were required as Cato turned his back to the village and lowered himself over the edge. Then he was gone.
Lee didn’t like heights and felt the usual stirrings of fear as he made his way over to the point where Cato had been, turned, and began to descend. There were plenty of hand and footholds. But that didn’t alter the fact that Lee was descending a cliff in the dark.
Cato was waiting on the ledge below. “Here we are, sir… Home sweet home. It’s time to settle in. Watch out for the bag Shekhawat pooped in.”
With that warning in mind Lee made a place for himself next to Cato. Then it was time to heat water, brew some instant cocoa, and slide into the mountain bag. And in spite of the hard rock Lee fell asleep soon thereafter.
Daylight woke him. It was a slow creeping process at first, followed by sudden rays of sunshine, as the sun cleared a mountain. That was when the mist dissipated to reveal the village of Kulekhani a thousand feet below. “Take a look,” Cato said, as he offered the glasses. “But be careful. Someone might notice if light reflects off the lenses.”
That was good advice. So Lee was careful to cup the lenses with his fingers. Houses popped into view. And, thanks to the binoculars, Lee could count the number of sheets that a woman had hung up to dry. “We need a system,” Lee said from the left side of his mouth. “A way to track the areas we have looked at, and mark the target if we see it.”
Cato had a notebook. He drew a crisscross map of Kulekhani’s streets with occasional landmarks to keep them oriented. Then he numbered the streets left-to-right, and assigned letters to those that ran top-to-bottom. That made it possible to identify an intersection as 7F, and to take notes regarding the areas already examined.
The map wasn’t perfect. There were too many curves and dead ends for that. But it beat the hell out of nothing.
After pissing against the rock face, and eating their MREs, the green berets pulled a section of artic camo netting over themselves and went to work. As one person glassed a section of the village the other had responsibility for security. And it was Cato who spotted the incoming threat. “Drone, nine o’clock, headed this way. Cover up.”
Lee caught a glimpse of a small helicopter-style drone before ducking under the netting and lying perfectly still. China had been selling consumer grade drones all over the world prior to the war. So, when the fighting began, it had been easy for them to convert such devices to military use. It was very unlikely that the aircraft headed their way was armed with anything more than a camera. But that was dangerous enough given their circumstances.
Lee could hear the persistent whine generated by the drone, and figured that a PLA soldier was flying the device from the Chinese base on the south side of town. The question was why? Were such flights a regular part of the unit’s security protocols? Or had someone seen a glint of reflected sunlight where there shouldn’t be one? The fact that Cato and Shekhawat had spent time on the ledge without spotting the drone before seemed to argue in favor of the second possibility. Lee held his breath.
The mosquito-like whine continued to grow louder. Lee feared the machine would hover directly above them--at which point the game of hide-and-seek would be over.
Then the sound started to fade. And when Lee took a peek he saw the drone moving away. He let his breath out in a sigh. “What’s that odor?” Cato demanded rhetorically. “Oh, that’s right—I soiled myself.”
Lee chuckled. “We’ll have to be even more careful. All right, back to work.”
The next hour passed slowly as the men took turns scanning, and rescanning, the village in an effort to make sure that every house had been scrutinized.
Eventually it became necessary to pee, which they did while kneeling, and to eat lunch while lying on their stomachs. Then the process started anew. Lee’s eyes were bleary, his elbows hurt, and it was increasingly difficult to concentrate. But, when a large white and black stork entered Lee’s field of vision, it was natural to follow the bird as it settled onto a chimney. And not just any chimney—but one with a bushy nest.
Lee felt a sense of shock as he realized that there was a second chimney at the opposite end of the roof! Gray smoke dribbled out of it. Bingo! A house with two chimneys. But where was the solar array?
Lee searched the roof looking for a panel but failed to find one. Then he noticed an outbuilding. And ther
e it was! Sunlight glinted off the solar array on the roof. Did that count? It wasn’t on the house, but the shed was associated with the house, and that might be sufficient. “I think I have it,” Lee said. “Get ready to take notes.”
“You’re kidding,” Cato replied. “For real?”
“Yes, for real. Take this down.” Lee gave Cato the coordinates, described landmarks located near the house, and finished by mentioning the nest. “It’s big and bushy,” Lee added.
“So, you believe the Dalai Lama is there, in that house,” Cato inquired incredulously.
“No,” Lee replied. “I believe the house resembles the one the lamas described. Nothing less, and nothing more. Everything having to do with the Dali Lama is above our paygrade.”
Cato yawned. “Okay, time for a nap then. I’ll take the first watch.”
“No can do,” Lee told him. “We’re going to keep looking.”
“Why? We found it.”
“What if the village has two houses with two chimneys?”
Cato frowned. “You really are a pain in the ass. Sir.”
Lee grinned. “You need an attitude adjustment, Sergeant. Right after the war.”
“Will we be drinking?”
“Yes.”
“Good,” Cato said. “I’m in.”
The search continued. House-by-house, street-by-street, as they looked for a second target. Cato spotted another solar panel. But it was mounted on the roof of a house with one chimney. Finally, when the sun hung low in the sky, Lee made the call. “Okay, that’s it. We’ll pull out when its dark.”
The trip back to the old fort went smoothly and, once the green berets were half-a-mile out, Lee thumbed his mike. “This is Viper-Six. Two minutes out. Over.”
The answer came quickly. “This is Five. Welcome back. Out.”
Doctor Kwan, Staff Sergeant Thapa and the lamas were waiting in a room without windows. What light there was came from two kerosene lanterns. Shadows danced the walls as the green berets dropped their packs and sat cross-legged on the floor. All eyes were on them. “Well?” Jangchup demanded eagerly.
Red Dragon (Winds of War Book 3) Page 11
