“Yeah, right.”
They moved past the guards silently in the jungle, then worked back closer to the trail and kept it in sight as they slogged through the trees, vines, and an occasional swamp.
It was a half hour before they came on more men. This time they had a machine gun set up in a fortified position with sandbags draped around it and making a three-foot protective wall. Juan checked the weapon with binoculars and nodded.
“Yeah, it’s a NATO 7.62. Probably one they stole from the Army. Good weapon. I wonder how many they have.” The gun was was set up to fire directly down the trail and in an arc of about thirty degrees on each side. Four men were in and around the emplacement.
“Getting more interesting,” Lam said. “Like they have something to protect.”
“Like six million dollars worth of hostages.”
“Hopefully.”
The trail went through jungle again, past giant mahogany trees. Far ahead, Lam could see smoke and hear sounds. He couldn’t tell what they were.
They faded more into the jungle, wary of some outlying guard posts in the jungle well beyond the trail. The river was on the other side and gave protection there. By this time it was fifty yards across, racing downhill over some rapids, and swirling along darkly. It made an effective barrier from any attack on that side.
Now, for the first time, they could spot huts and small buildings along the trail. The edges of the village. They saw no rebels, and kept moving well inside the protection of the jungle growth.
Another half mile and the trail had become a fifteen-foot-wide road with ditches on each side. Buildings now sprouted all over the area and the place had the appearance of a real town. Slightly farther along they could see down a street, with what looked like businesses, and sidewalks. A whistle sounded, and a group of rebels marched around a corner and headed right at the two watchers. They were six abreast and at least ten deep. Sixty men, led by a sergeant or officer. They came toward the road, then turned left down another street and were gone.
“Damn, this is not a ragtag bunch of rebels,” Juan said. “They have the start of a real army here. If they get enough men and equipment, they could take over the whole island and have their independent nation.”
“We’ll work on that next. What about hostages? You see anywhere that they could be held?”
“Yes. Several of the buildings could be sealed and the people kept inside. They would have enough food here to feed them and keep them healthy for the big payoff.”
“There,” Lam said. “See that antenna on that three-story building? Looks like the biggest one in town. That could be their radio tower. I wonder how good their radios are.”
“Let’s find out,” Juan said. He took from his vest the small handheld radio he had taken at the checkpoint the day before. He turned it on and they listened. Soon a transmission came in Filipino. Lam looked at him.
“Someone asked a road checkpoint if they had seen anyone. A report has come through that the three men in checkpoint thirty-five have not reported in as required.”
“This place looks like there could be two or three thousand people living here. Mostly civilians. How do we attack a place like this?”
Juan waved one hand. “We get intel on where their headquarters are, where their barracks are, any other equipment they have, and then we come in at night and blow up those buildings and hose them down with hot lead.”
“Yeah, down and dirty. No air strike here. Looks like we have some work to do.”
Juan shook his head. “No, I have some work. First I get a green shirt that will fit me, then I go in and see all that I can and come back. You have a rough sketch of the place by that time in your notebook and I’ll fill in the facilities.”
“Can you find them all today?”
“I’ll try, do all of them I can locate. Should be enough to have a raid tomorrow night.”
“You’ll watch for any hostages?”
“You bet. That’s our primary mission. But while we’re here we can take out a few hundred rebels. The Army will be pleased.”
“Let’s set up a landmark to meet at.” Lam looked at the little town. “See that one building down there about a block away that’s painted?”
“Red, of all colors.”
“Let’s key on that. We can see it down this street, so we meet around here somewhere.”
“Good, I’ll leave some of my gear, my combat vest for sure. I should wait for dark to get a shirt off one of them, but I can persuade one of them to come through. I’ll have to be careful not to get any blood on it or a knife hole in it. That’s the toughest part.”
They put his combat vest and some equipment under a huge mahogany tree, and covered it all with brush. He slipped down to the trail, and walked casually across it and to the fringe of brush on the other side, then down the trail that led to the first street. No one bothered him. He vanished past the first building, and that was the last Lam saw of him that morning.
Lam went deeper into the jungle, found a spot with some sky showing overhead, and set up the SATCOM. He could do some transmitting on the chance the SEALs had their set on receive just in case he had anything to report. He tried four times sending out a message to Phil One. There was no response. He left the set on receive and waited around it for an hour. Then he turned it off and worked his way down the road along the rest of the town, making a sketch of everything he could see along the road. Marking in the streets that led off it and any buildings he could identify by shape or size.
Well beyond the town he saw where the valley spread out into a huge open plain that looked to be highly cultivated. He saw few buildings, but realized the farmers used all the land for growing, and lived in the jungle where nothing could be grown.
He sketched the rest of the streets and parts of the town he could see, and worked back to the “home” tree, where he had left the SATCOM with the other gear. Once more he tried the SATCOM in his transmission spot, and on the third try he had a response.
“Yes, Scout One, been waiting to hear from you.”
He kept the volume low on the speaker and replied.
“We have found what may be one of the major training camps and headquarters of the rebels. A prisoner said there were usually three to four hundred rebel soldiers here. Don’t know the name of the town yet, but Juan is inside now scouting out their GHQ, arms storage, barracks, any targets we can hit on a raid. Probably two thousand civilians here as well, so we’ll have to be selective. Over.”
“Good news. Wait for your call and your position. Colonel is furious with us for hitting the camp without authorization. He has come up with no new intel to give us a new target. We’re waiting for him. He doesn’t know about you recon guys yet. When he finds out he’ll blow sky-high. Stroh working on a general to outrank this man. None on base. He’s trying to get a new one assigned here to take over temporarily for the push against the rebels. More later. Make checks on radio every four hours. Out.”
Lam stashed the radio and moved down to where he could see the little town better. He wondered what Juan was doing over there. He could get in trouble, get himself killed, and never come back. Lam began making plans about what he would do if that happened. It wouldn’t, but he’d rather be ready. What the hell was taking so much time?
10
Lieutenant Juan Ejercito slid behind the first building in the town and looked around. He could see no green-shirted rebels. His own green shirt wasn’t quite the same and his pants not right, but he could pass unless some officer called him on it. He had to find the right shirt fast so he could pass as one of them. He walked down the street again casually, as if he knew where he was going. He passed more buildings, saw that some of them were small stores. Down the next block he saw rebels lounging around a store. He walked toward them, then went down an alley so he could come up behind them. Six men, and they were all young. Maybe you didn’t live long being a rebel. Some surely didn’t yesterday.