The First End (15 page)

The road they travelled upon twisted and turned
through the choking jungle underbrush. At times, the trees were so
thick that Bill could barely distinguish the road from the jungle.
And bouncy! After just the first mile, Gardner felt as if he had
undergone a beating from an angry Sumo wrestler. Everything hurt,
and there was absolutely no way to make the hard metal seat any
more comfortable.

After Hu’s first initial conversation, the man
had lapsed into silence, his smile seemingly gone. Not that Bill
was interested in conversation. His full concentration had to be on
trying to prevent a bump from slamming his head into the roof of
the small van. He already had several bruises from not being quick
enough.

About three hours later, Hu looked over. “We
almost there. Soon.”

“And then what?”

“We wait one day. Go north. Cross border. I
help.”

“You’ll help me with my mission or just across
the border.”

The small man shrugged. “Fate knows.”

That also sounded ominous.

Soon they came to a small hut built into a
clearing somewhere outside the city limits of Haiphong. Getting out
of the van proved to be a challenge. Every muscle and bone ached
with a persistency he had not experienced since a mission to South
America years ago. That time, he had contracted malaria. He cursed
the abominable car and silently vowed never to step foot in the
beast again.

Hu, on the other hand, jumped out of the van as
fresh and spry as anyone Bill had ever seen—and he had made the
trip along that cursed road twice! Hu motioned towards the shack.
“My home. Come.”

They entered the small single room hut. A cot,
looking as if it was wilting in the heat and humidity, sat in one
corner. A single table with a radio, some paper, and a dirty bowl
of left over rice sat in another corner. The dirt floor looked
clean enough, if one discounted the sprouts in the corners, and a
single wood shuttered window faced north.

There was no second cot.

The only other distinguishing feature was a
large chest situated at the foot of the cot. Hu went over to the
cot and chest, tossed his ballcap onto the bunk and flung open the
chest. “Come. Your equipment.”

Bill walked over and glanced into the chest. He
picked up a .45 auto, four extra clips, a large knife, boots that
could be used for both in and out of the city, and a heavy bag.
Glancing in the bag, he raised an eyebrow and looked at Hu.
“C4?”

The man grinned. “Big boom!”

“Sure is.” Bill didn’t relish carrying around
this much explosive. He quickly calculated, and had enough to
destroy a good size warehouse with everything and everyone inside.
Ouch. And they expected him to waltz all over China with this
stuff! Insane. “Look, Hu, I got to talk to General Hynes. Can you
contact him?”

“No. Radio receive only.”

“How do you…” Bill trailed off, realizing the
futility of trying to figure this all out. Hu reminded him of those
weirdo survivalists who loved to rough it just to prove how tough
they were. Though Hu may have a different reason, he certainly
didn’t seem to mind his sparse living circumstances.

“Tomorrow, we go. We get sleep now.”

Looking out the window, Bill realized that night
was falling. Somewhere, a large cat screamed his anger at missing a
kill. More ominousness. With another sigh, he looked at the cot.
“Who gets the cot?”

Sometime before the sun came up, Bill found
himself in the van once more. The road they followed north winded
and crept through the underbrush. For whatever reason, the route
proved to be less bumpy than the first road from Hanoi. Neither did
Hu seem particularly interested in getting to their destination in
a hurry.

“We cross border fifty kilometers east of Lang
Son.”

“We?”

“Yes. I go with you.”

Bill breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t relish
trying to move about a country when he didn’t even speak the
language. The few words he did know amounted to swear words. He
would need a guide, someone who spoke the language, and someone who
knew how to hide. Hu, hopefully, could provide that and if not,
maybe he knew who could.

“Isn’t it dangerous for you in China?”

“Yes.”

“But you are going anyway?”

He shrugged. “It dangerous here too. I go with
you. Help you. American government free my mother.”

“They promised to free your mother?”

Hu licked his lips and said nothing. He didn’t
need to. The doubt and hope that warred over his features told the
true story. The US government wouldn’t dare risk an international
incident to rescue one woman who held no political clout. They had
merely hinted to Hu, stringing him along with the hope that if he
helped the US, they would in turn rescue his mother one day. Bill
knew it to be an empty hope at best, maybe not…Nao Hu probably did
too, but this was his mother. He would not give up hope.

Gardner admired the man and felt sorry for him
all at the same time. He couldn’t guess the man’s age. The man’s
face was lined, but the lines seemed more stress lines than age
lines, and though his lack of English and large grin made him seem
rather backwards, a simmering intelligence lay just below the
surface. Gardner had no doubt that if push came to shove, this
would be a very dangerous and cunning man.

“What is the plan?” he asked.

“Wait.”

The lawyer took the hint and settled back to
wait. He spent the time trying to figure out how he would possibly
get to Beijing, even if they managed to sneak across the border
without being spotted or detained. No doubt Nao Hu could contrive
of a way, but the mission seemed ill planned and ill conceived. How
could one man who barely spoke the language infiltrate and destroy
a Chinese plane, no doubt protected by some of the most
sophisticated equipment the Chinese had? He looked at the satchel
containing the C4 explosives. Just being caught with that would
mean either a death sentence or the rest of his life in a secret
military prison.

Something wasn’t right about this entire
mission, but he just couldn’t put his finger on what it might be.
He trusted General Hynes, but he seriously doubted his ability to
succeed. Sighing, he shoved these unproductive thoughts aside and
focused on the next step. One step at a time, he decided—just take
things one step at a time.

Sometime later, Hu pulled the van off the road
and into a thicket of trees. “Come,” he said, jumping out of the
vehicle. Bill followed suit and found the smaller man rounding the
van with a machete in his hands. “Cut branches and hide van,” he
instructed.

Shrugging, Bill took the machete and set about
cutting down large branches to conceal the van from prying eyes. Hu
pulled two packs out of the van and began stuffing supplies into
each. Gardner noted that the man had no weapons, nor did he add any
to the bag. Bill frowned at that, but said nothing. When the van
was sufficiently hidden, Bill retrieved the satchel of explosives
and put them into his own bag.

“Where do we go from here?” he asked as the
slighter man shouldered his pack.

“Follow. I show.”

They marched for thirty minutes through the
thick terrain until they emerged on a high bluff that revealed a
treacherous landscape of canyons and mountains. Hu pointed to a
gorge below them. “We go there.” He pointed to the top of the
mountain that the gorge bisected. “Border there. No one know we
cross.”

Gardner considered. “How long will this
take?”

“Four days to Ningming. We take train
there.”

Bill looked perplexed. “Four day hike?”

Hu shrugged. “Not know this word.”

“Four day walk?”

Hu’s eyes lit up. “Yes. Good walk.”

Gardner sighed. He wasn’t going to like this,
not one bit. “Are there any dangers?”

“Always dangers.”

“I mean human dangers. Are there any Vietnamese
or Chinese we need to worry about once we get down in the
gorge?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes.” Hu shrugged. “Chinese have…how you
say…post down there.”

Bill considered. “How many men are likely to be
there.”

“Three.”

“Okay. Great. Glad to have everything cleared up
then. So what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

Grinning from ear to ear, Nao Hu began the
descent into the gorge.

Chapter 15

It had taken most of the rest of the day to
reach the small military post built into the side of the gorge.
Bill hadn’t gotten a lot of information out of Nao Hu, but he did
get enough to understand that this route had once been a major
smuggling corridor. Even if no one was using it much, the Chinese
still felt the need to establish a presence in the area.

The Vietnamese, on the other hand, ignored the
area, despite tensions between the two countries that existed since
the border war. Hu claimed that once a month, a Vietnamese patrol
would scout the post, seeking to make sure that no military
build-up was taking place in the narrow gorge. The Chinese, bored,
would often invite the Vietnamese patrol in for drinks, before
sending them on their way. It seemed the tension existed more at a
government level than in the rank and file.

Still, Hu said it would be better to avoid the
men at the post. Bill quite agreed. An American dropping in for
coffee would not have the same effect as the predictable Vietnamese
patrol would.

The rocky gorge was navigable only by a narrow
trail that wound its way along the bottom. The post, looking more
like a rundown shack than a proper military establishment, was
built on a ledge about fifty feet higher than the gorge floor.
Music, and voices raised in argument, filtered down to Gardner’s
ears.

“What are they doing?”

“They try have fun. Relax.”

Bill didn’t know if the man meant for him to
relax, or was trying to describe what the men in the post were
doing. Either way, he forced his muscles to relax. The trail began
an accent towards the post, abandoning the gorge floor due to large
and impassable boulders. They would be forced to walk within feet
of the men in the shack. Hopefully the guards would just stay
inside until he passed.

“They can’t see American,” Hu whispered. “Else
they die.”

Bill understood. They couldn’t afford to be
seen. No doubt they had a working radio inside to report anything
untoward, and even if he disabled the radio, if he was seen, one of
the men would undoubtedly hike out to report the American. If he
was seen, he would need to kill the men. All of them. That left a
bad taste in his mouth.

Slowly, they inched their way up the trail,
careful not to dislodge any rocks that might alert those within the
shack that someone approached. Bill slowed his breathing, and
allowed his focus to gather on the task at hand. More deaths
resulted from panic and overreaction than anything else. He needed
a clear head and sharp wits.

The trail passed right by the door to the shack,
allowing only about six feet from the door to the ledge and a fifty
foot drop to the bottom of the gorge. A five story fall was nothing
to sneeze at. The back wall of the shack looked to be either the
cliff wall itself, or it had been built right next to the cliff
wall. It was entirely possible that another room had been dug into
the wall to allow for more room. A single window by the door faced
the ledge and the trail. Bill and Hu would need to sneak under the
window and by the door without being seen, and also make their way
down the trail and into the rocks on the descent side of the trail
without being seen.

The shack itself was a low built thing that
could be climbed over on the cliff wall side, but Bill didn’t hold
any faith that attempting such a rash action would go unnoticed by
those inside.

Slowly he moved forward, Hu now following as
Bill’s natural instincts for leadership assert themselves.
Utilizing every trick he had ever learn when in the military, he
moved catlike along the trail, careful to use the larger rocks as
stepping stones and avoid the crunchy gravel as much as
possible.

He got to within ten feet or so of the shack
when the door swung open and someone partially stepped outside.
Most of the man’s body remained inside as the soldier continued his
argument with his companions inside. That could change at any
moment.

Bill realized several things in the instant the
man had opened the door. First, the moment the man moved outside
fully, he and Hu would be spotted. Secondly, he had no weapon other
than the explosives and his knife. Neither weapon was ideal in this
situation.

With no hesitation, he pulled Hu after him as he
scrambled silently forward. He reached the side of the shack and
hugged the wall beyond the view of the door. Hu, his breathing also
under control, looked at Bill in concern. Both understood that if
the soldier decided to move their way down the trail, they would be
spotted instantly. If he was just going to the ledge to relieve
himself or get away from his companions for a moment, then they
might stay safely out of sight until he decided to re-enter the
shack.

The lawyer held his breath and edged forward
until he stood just around the corner. If the man stepped in their
direction, he would have to act quickly. This first guard presented
no problems, but it was the two others inside that Bill was
concerned about.

He waited.

Suddenly the Chinese soldier stepped into view.
No doubt the man merely wanted to take a stroll, for he certainly
didn’t notice them at first, but Bill didn’t hesitate. He lashed
out with a powerful kick that launched the man out over the ledge.
With a despairing cry, the man fell from sight.

Almost seemingly like one motion, Bill recovered
his balance and yanked Hu around, pushing him to the corner of the
shack where the wall met the cliff face. “Climb,” he ordered.