“Hope we’re getting closer. I asked for a new target to hit, but the colonel said he didn’t have any more intel where the rebels might be, let alone the hostages.”
“Any more released?”
“Four more, Japanese. They were driven by car to a town over on the west coast. Doesn’t help us much, but it’s a pointer.”
“Keep us informed, Home Plate. We’ll cool it here tonight and see what you can develop tomorrow.”
Murdock put down the handset and scowled. “Where in hell is Stroh when you need him?”
He looked up and saw Stroh standing just behind him.
“Any closer and we’d have to get engaged,” Stroh said. He had a grin six feet wide. “Finally snagged some politicos who would whip the Army into shape. We have a major general flying in here tonight from Manila. He’s been given temporary command of the Mindanao Region. He has complete authority and he’s been instructed by his government to give us carte blanche in chasing down the hostages, even if it means fighting the rebels. We’re hot to go. You have a target?”
Murdock told him what he’d just heard from Lam.
“Sounds interesting, but how does that get us to the hostages?”
“We take two prisoners. We interrogate them downstream somewhere. They will talk. Someone will know where the hostages are and how we get to them.”
A Filipino Army runner with sergeant’s stripes on his sleeves came to the door, and Jaybird let him in. They talked a moment and Jaybird pointed to Murdock and Stroh. The Filipino came over at once and saluted.
“Sir, Commander Murdock?”
“Yes.”
“Sir, Colonel Alvarez would like to see you at once. No others are required, just you.”
Stroh put his hand on Murdock’s shoulder. “Don’t like the sound of this. I’m going to tag along. If he don’t like it, tough shit.”
A few minutes later a jeep let the two Americans off in front of the post commander’s office, and they went inside. A master sergeant looked at both of them, stared hard at Don Stroh in his summer civilian clothes, then nodded and led them to the colonel’s office.
Colonel Alvarez worked on some papers on his desk. When he heard his door close, he looked up.
“I asked to see only Commander Murdock,” the colonel growled.
“I understand that, Colonel Alvarez, but I’m along for the ride. Anything you want to say to him you can say while I’m here.”
“Mr. Stroh, your CIA credentials don’t mean shit in my office. You get out now, or I’ll call two military police and have them haul you out by your balls.”
Stroh chuckled. “Colonel, I don’t think you should do that. First put in a call to Manila and check with Major General Nofrando Domingo.”
Colonel Alvarez jolted to his feet at the mention of the name. “What in hell have you been doing?”
“Make the call, Colonel. You’ll find it interesting. However, you better hurry. As I remember, the general and his staff are flying here tonight. They may have taken off already.”
Alvarez slumped in his chair. “Bastard.”
“How long did you think you could get away with protecting the rebels, Colonel?” Murdock asked. “First you send us on a wild-goose chase to a camp you knew was abandoned. The next day you give us three rebels in an out-of-the-way village that was of no importance. Then you were livid when we told you that we had found another rebel camp and attacked it. Since then you’ve been stalling and putting us off.”
“I did no such thing.”
“A little late for alibis, Colonel,” Stroh said. “You and your career are gone. Zippo, poof, like a light winking out at midnight.”
“Just for your information, Colonel, we left two men along that river,” Murdock said. “They have located a rebel regional headquarters. We knew it was impossible to get any chopper support through you. But General Domingo has been ordered by your President to give us full cooperation.”
The colonel reached for his phone.
“Afraid not, Alvarez,” Stroh barked. “General Domingo has given me and Major Rodriguez the authority to put you under house arrest until he arrives. You won’t be tipping off the rebels anymore about anything.”
Murdock turned to go, then went back and ripped the telephone wires out of the wall. “Colonel, how much of that six million dollars were you supposed to get for your work here stopping all Army efforts to find the hostages?”
Alvarez glared at Murdock. Stroh went to the door, and two military policemen came in. Right behind them was a tall man with gold oak leaves on his shoulders.
“Good, Major Rodriguez,” Stroh said. “The colonel here would like to be shown to his quarters, where he is to be isolated with no phone or radio use until Major General Nofrando Domingo arrives later. You are dismissed, Colonel. You’re outgunned and outranked.”
The colonel left without his unlit cigar, and Stroh laughed. “Well, now, the old CIA dog does come in handy sometimes, doesn’t he?”
“More than you know this time. We were dead in the water.”
“Well, let’s talk about it over dinner. I understand the officers club here has a wonderful range of foods. I’m buying. You can pick out the wine.”
Murdock looked at his watch. “Fine, but we have to be back to our SATCOM by 2200. Lam and I need to work out a schedule for tomorrow, or tomorrow night, whichever he thinks would be the best.”
Dinner was delicious: a rare steak with all the trimmings and a huge baked potato that Murdock could have made his dinner by itself.
They hit the SEALs area at 2130; Bradford set up the radio to receive and they waited.
Promptly at 2200 the call came.
They decided on a nighttime operation for their own safety and to keep civilian casualties at a minimum.
“We’ll find an LZ that your ship can land in and mark it with flares,” said Lam. “We’ll keep it four miles downstream from the village so they won’t hear it. The jungle eats up sound around here like magic.”
“Roger, Scout One. We’ll be on station there at an hour after dark, or about 2000 tomorrow. Anything else?”
The sound of a rifle shot came over the radio. “Yeah, Skipper, we’re hauling ass. Somebody is moving in with about twenty men we didn’t hear. I must have been sleeping. Got to go. See you tomorrow, I hope.”
The radio went dead. There were no more transmissions.
“Now what the bloody hell is that all about?” Murdock asked. “Lam is our best set of ears. He can hear a mouse sneeze at fifty yards. Hell, we’ll check again later and see if we can get any signal. I hope to hell that they got away.”
11
Murdock and the rest of the SEALs slouched around their quarters. Everyone knew about the general coming in and that they had a target. If they could find it, and if Lam and Juan didn’t get themselves shot full of holes before daylight.
Bradford tried the SATCOM call every half hour until midnight; then Murdock told him they would try in the morning.
“Get some sleep,” Murdock said. “We still have a mission tomorrow afternoon until we hear differently. My gut feeling is that the two of them will come through the attack.”
Stroh lifted his brows. “Did they say upstream or downstream from the second village you hit before?”
Murdock frowned, rubbed his face with his hand, and shook his head. “They didn’t say. But with two thousand people, it would have to be downstream. Up there in the boonies where we were, there was nothing to support a population that size.”
“So how far down?”
“We need a good detailed map of the area. Wonder if the colonel has any.”
“You mean the general. We don’t know if he came in tonight or not, but at least we stopped the damn Colonel Alvarez. I bet he was in for some big cash money.”