Authors: Larry Bond

Shadows of War (32 page)

BOOK: Shadows of War

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Northern Vietnam

Mara ran toward the gunfire,
AK-47 poised. The gunfire had a very familiar ring to itâa thick, almost bell-like sound that she associated with the Chinese Type 99 assault rifle, the upgraded bullpup-style gun China had developed and “sold” to the rebels in Malaysia.

Not good.

Her muscles tensed, her vision narrowed. She sprinted from cover to cover, ducking behind large trees, staying as low to the ground as possible. There was another road through the jungle ahead, maybe thirty meters away.

By the time Mara slid in behind the broken trunk of a large tree near
the road, the shooting had stopped. She waited there for a moment, ducking her head left and right to see, trying to find an angle that might reveal what was going on.

Nothing.

Mara eased forward, finger edging against the rifle's trigger, resting there ever so lightly.

Something moved on the left. She spun, dropped to her kneeâand just barely kept herself from firing.

“Ho-ho, you take time catching up,” said Jimmy Choi. “All the excitement done.”

“What the hell do you think you're doing?”

Mara's curse only made Jimmy laugh harder.

“What the hell is so funny?” she asked. “I could have shot you!”

“You're a professional. You wouldn't shoot.”

“Goddamn it.”

“Come on. We have something for you.”

Still seething, Mara followed the mercenary out of the jungle onto a hard-packed road. A Chinese EQ2050 Hanmaâthe Chinese version of the Hummer, also known as a Mengshi or Dongfeng Hanmaâsat just off the road. Four Chinese soldiers had been killed in the field. Jimmy's men dragged the dead bodies into the jungle.

“One of us not a good shot,” said Jimmy, pointing at a body that was stained with blood. “Bad luck for us. We have only three uniforms.”

“You did this for the uniforms? You took off, took all this risk, for the uniforms?”

“Hanma big bonus. Chinese Hummer. Voom, voom.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. No.
No.
You have to tell me what the hell you're doing. Don't you understand? You work for me.”

Jimmy Choi laughed.

“
Don't laugh at me.
Damn itâyou don't just take off like that.”

“We get job done.” Jimmy shrugged.

“Sure, if they don't stop us.”

“Bad luck for them they stop us.” He pointed to one of the bodies. “Those would fit you. You try. We close our eyes.”

They took the Chinese Hanma as well as
the troop truck, threading their way north with help from Jimmy Choi's images. Except that it squeezed her boobs, the uniform fit fairly well. She didn't look very Chinese,
however, and the general strategy was to avoid getting very close to the Chinese army if possible.

Soon after they stole the truck and the uniforms, Lucas called in with another update on the Chinese situation. They were continuing to concentrate their efforts farther south and west; the only units in Mara's area were small scouting parties, probing defenses and looking for resources that might be useful.

He gave her a precise location for the scientistâtwo miles from a Chinese forward operating base being constructed in Lai ChÃ¢u Province.

“Well at least he's not in it,” she said sarcastically.

“They actually don't have a lot of troops in the area around the base,” said Lucas. “They're focusing their efforts farther south.”

Mara knew the troop estimate had come from analysts who were basically making educated guesses from satellite photos. She knew better than to trust them.

Shortly after eleven in the morning,
she and Jimmy Choi's team reached the heavy jungle area surrounding the Hoang Lien Son nature preserve. They went up a small streambed, stopping near a small copse about a quarter mile from the road to rest. Twelve kilometers separated them from the spot where Lucas had said the scientist was hiding.

“Hey, glamour girl, we've been waiting for you,” said DeBiase, answering a split second after the connection went through. “What's going on?”

“You tell me. Where's our subject?”

“Hiding. We'll contact him as soon as the sun goes down.”

“You sure he can last until then?”

“He tells us he's fine.”

“This guy's for real, right, Million Dollar Man? Because if he's not, I'm going to be seriously upset.”

“We'll have a full brief for you tonight, Mara. We should be able to get you in direct contact with him right before the rendezvous. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Everything going well?”

“As well as could be expected.”

“What do you think of Jimmy?”

“He's a nutjob.”

“In a good way, I hope.”

“Not necessarily.”

“He's one of the best,” said DeBiase, a little too cheerfully.

“That's damning with faint praise,” said Mara. “I'm going to get some sleep. Call me if anything changes.”

“You'll be the first to know.”

Beijing

The news that the Chinese troops had massacred
several villages did not surprise Premier Cho Lai. The men were peasants, poorly educated, and raised to believe that all races were inferior to the Chinese. The incitements that their commanders had given them to join the battle had undoubtedly pushed them to believe that their enemy was little more than rats to be eradicated as any exterminator would.

But the implication of the message that his intelligence network had interceptedâthat there was a Western witness who had evidence and who might be believed in the UNâwas more problematic. While the premier was sure of the Russians, the French assurance was not on very firm ground. If France caved in to American pressureâand Cho Lai had no illusions about where the U.S. would standâthen the Poles would be next, followed by the Germans. He would have to follow through on his threat to pull the country's deposits from the French banks, thereby weakening the country's investments elsewhere. The situation would be difficult.

At some point he would have to confront the rest of the world, but he greatly preferred to do it later, after Japan if possible.

The real problem was the U.S. president. Cho Lai had believed that he, of all people, would be happy to see the Vietnamese crushed. For a brief time he had even toyed with the idea of inviting the Americans to take part in the feast. But the American was a wily opponent, crafty and sure of himself.

The ancient emperors would have been pleased to take on such a worthy enemy.

But that did not make the problem any less vexing. The scientist had to be dealt with. Immediately and discreetly.

Cho Lai turned to General Lang. “Get me Colonel Sun. I will speak to him personally. No one else.”

Western Vietnam

Jing Yo didn't expect Colonel Sun
to be in too good a mood when he returned to Na San from the division meeting; that would be against his character. Still, given that they had achieved all of their objectives, and that by all reports the Chinese army was advancing at an even quicker pace than expected, he did think his commander would be at least neutral. But the frown on the colonel's face was obvious even from fifty paces as he stepped off the helicopter.

“The camp at Ba Nheu Sang,” barked Sun as he strode toward the hangar building that had been commandeered as the commandos' headquarters. “The scientists.”

Jing Yo fell in, unsure what the problem was.

“Your hands?” asked the colonel as they walked.

“My right hand was burned but has been treated.” He held it up. The bandage covered the palm; the rest was fine. “The wounds are of no matter.”

“Good.”

Sun snapped off a salute as he passed the two guards at the hangar door. Ordinarily, Jing Yo had no trouble keeping up, but Sun's anger was driving him at a rapid pace, and the colonel reached the door to his office several steps ahead of him. Sun threw the door open and went to his desk, a narrow metal table salvaged from one of the terminal offices. The room itself had been used as a storehouse for parts until the Chinese takeover. The bins, nearly all of them empty, lined the wall behind Sun.

“Close the door,” said Sun. “The man you chasedâyou killed him?”

The question had an accusatory ring to it. Jing Yo's hand lingered on
the doorknob as he tried to decide whether to remind Sun of his order or not. In the end, he decided mentioning it would at least put Sun on notice that he knew the full story, not whatever one the colonel was going to adopt.

But of course, it had to be done judiciously. Not to avoid the truth, as his mentors would say, but to make the truth something all could view with calmness.

Calmness being a relative quality in Sun's case.

“He had gone into the water, as I reported at the time,” said Jing Yo. “We were told to suspend the search. We were required elsewhere, with a higher priority.”

Sun's frown deepened, but he did not explode.

“It may not even have been him,” said the colonel. “It probably wasn't. This is what happens when we use general troops. Incompetents. Peasants. This was a job the commandos should have done.”

“A problem, Colonel?”

“An incredible problem, Lieutenant.” Now Sun's temper flared. “A problem that
must
be rectified. That
you
will rectify.”

Jing Yo waited. Given the injuries his unit had sustained, he had expected he and the surviving members would be rotated back home for replenishment and training. That was not a prospect he relishedâmuch better to be in the middle of fighting, he feltâbut he knew his men would welcome the rest.

“Here. Look at this.” Sun reached into the pocket of his shirt for a piece of paper. Unfolding it, he handed it to Jing Yo. “This is a transmission he has made. An American. Josh MacArthur. A CIA agent, undoubtedly.”

Jing Yo took the paper. According to the heading, it was a transcript of a transmission made within the past twenty-four hours by sat phone.

“From this descriptionâ”

“The village at Pa Nam. Not the one you responded to that night,” said Sun. “They covered it up, but apparently not well. Their commander has been recalled.”

Jing Yo nodded.

“Peasants with guns. But we are the ones who have to fix it. Because,” Sun added derisively, “we are the only ones who are competent in the Chinese army. Only the commandos can carry out an order without screwing it up.”

“Do we have the coordinates of the phone that was used to transmit this?”

“We have an area location. The American spy made a second transmission a few hours ago. You're to meet with an intelligence officer from divisional at Ba Hong forward operating base in an hour to discuss the latest information.”

“Yes, Colonel.”

Sun folded his arms in front of his chest, shaking his head. Jing Yo stepped back, bowed his head, then prepared to leave. As he reached the door, Sun stopped him.

“Beijing has heard of your fine work,” the colonel said. “The premier himself asked about you.”

Jing Yo felt his face flush.

“It will be very clear that this problem originated with the regular army,” said Sun. “But we must not fail to correct it.”

“I will correct it to the best of my ability, Colonel.”

Sun nodded, dismissing him.

Northwestern Vietnam

The small house and the buildings surrounding
it looked normal from the top of the hill, and it was only when Josh and M

got a dozen meters away that he realized something was wrong. A pair of goats were braying in the yard between the house and the livestock barn, pleading hungrily for attention. They were standing at the edge of a pond so wide it blocked the way. It looked as if it had been there forever, yet it blocked off not only the yard but the driveway to the road, which easily twisted around several other obstructions on the three-hundred-yard path from the macadam.

Josh guessed what had happenedâa Chinese bomb had hit the ground and disturbed an underground spring or well piping. The goats might have been able to swim across, but the pond's sudden appearance baffled and spooked them.

The rear of the house had been hit by another bomb or missile. The explosion had cratered the rear third of the structure. Afraid of what he might find in the house, Josh decided not to scout it by himself; he didn't want the girl to see any dead bodies. So he carried her around the back of the barn to a small saltbox shanty covered in sheets of rusted tin. Putting M

down, he knocked on the door, even though the building looked barely big enough to hold a few rakes.

The structure shuddered with his tap.

“Hello,” he said.
“Xin chÃ o!”

No answer.

The door was held in place by its odd angle against the threshold; he had to lift it up and toward him to open it. The interior was empty except for an old shovel and several seed bags of grain.

“Here, come on,” he told M

, gently pushing her inside. “You stay here. I want to look at the rest of the farm. Stay.”

He mimed her sleeping, and pointed to the seed bags on the floor. The girl looked fearful, almost on the verge of tears. Josh dropped to his knees, trying to explain that he would be back. He mimed himself walking aroundâfingers on his palmâand looking for troubleâhands cupped like binocularsâand then coming back. When he was done, she looked confused rather than reassured, but she stayed when he pressed the door closed.

About ten feet of the side wall of the house had disintegrated, and there was a sizable hole where the floor had been in the back room. Josh squeezed gingerly around the jagged edge, slipping between the leaning interior walls into what had been a children's bedroom. Except for the cracks in the walls and ceiling, it appeared entirely untouched by the chaos. Bedrolls were neatly lined up against one wall. A small shelf above them held a rock collection; stones of all sizes and shapes sat on the linoleum paper surface as if on display. Two dolls, one made of vegetable husks and the other of yarn, flanked the collection, as if they were guarding it.

Josh tucked the yarn doll under his arm and went to explore the rest of the house. It was large and clearly belonged to a relatively well-to-do family. The furniture in the living room looked Western and new. The television was a large LCD screen.

The blue power light was on. Curious, Josh went and pushed the Power button. The TV flicked off. He pushed it again, expecting that he would get a screen of static. Instead, he got a pictureâsnowy, but visible.

A newscaster was speaking, not in Vietnamese, but in Chinese. Josh couldn't follow what he was saying, but the graphics that flashed on the screen showed an arrow arcing into China, and then arcing back.

Were the Chinese saying that the Vietnamese had attacked first?

The newscaster's face came back, angry, flushed.

He was saying that, wasn't he? Claiming the Vietnamese were getting what they deserved for having attacked first.

But Josh knew they hadn't. He'd lived through it. And he had evidence.

He put his hand on his pocket, touching the digital video recorder.

As he did, something creaked behind him. Panic seized him before he could turn around, before he could grab the rifle hanging from his shoulder. It was so important that he live, and yet here he had gone and let his guard down; he was going to die.

But it was only M

“You scared me,” he told her. “I told you to stay.”

She held her hands out to him.

“Look, a doll,” he told her, holding out the toy he'd found.

She ignored it, raising her hands up and down emphatically. It was the signal they'd used while walking, indicating she wanted to be carried.

“It's okay. I'm just looking around,” said Josh, kneeling to talk to her. “Did you know this house? Did you know these people?”

She didn't answer, just kept pumping her arms.

“Is this your house?” he asked.

He tried to think of a way to put the question into gestures, looking upward, pointing at her. But she didn't understand. She grabbed hold of his shirt and tugged him toward the window.

“What's up, M