“You get through to the air base?” asked Canzoneri.
“Yes, the base commander said he’d get two CH-46’s on the way within fifteen minutes. So, we should have those thirty-one hostages on their way to Davao soon.”
“Now how do we find the other eighteen?” Franklin asked.
“I was hoping we could ask one of these two, but looks like we’re too late.”
“What about the broad outside?” Canzoneri said. “She can still talk. Should I bring her in here?”
Domingo nodded.
She was young, twenty-eight maybe, Franklin figured. Her skin was a shade lighter than Domingo’s. She said her name was Rosa.
“Why all these Mexican names?” Canzoneri asked.
“The Philippines was a colony of Spain for over three hundred years,” Domingo said. “They decreed that every person in the country must have a Spanish name. All the Spanish names you see today are holdovers from the Spanish reign.”
Domingo turned back to Rosa.
“Now, young lady. You are a rebel, we know that. You have conspired against your homeland. Your two friends here are dead, you can see their bodies. I am trying to be civilized about this, but I do have a short temper. Do not irritate me. Some questions. Where is your home?”
“Here, Lebak.”
“Are you married?”
“Yes. I have two children.”
“Is your husband a rebel?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“Away with the People’s Army.”
“Who is the leader of the People’s Army?”
“I don’t know. None of my friends know.”
“What is the Eagle’s Nest?”
She flinched when he said the words, and he looked at her closely. “You recognized the name. What is it and where is it?”
Rosa looked straight ahead and didn’t say a word.
“Tie her hands behind her back,” Domingo said. Franklin did.
“Canzoneri, lock the front door and any back doors. Stand guard out near the front door.” He hurried out.
Domingo slapped Rosa gently on each cheek. “Rosa, do you want me to knock you off the chair with a hard slap?”
“No.”
“Then answer. What is the Eagle’s Nest and where is it?”
“It’s where the leader of the Army lives. I don’t know where it is.”
“You’re lying, Rosa. Your husband is there as one of the leader’s personal bodyguards. Where is it?”
Rosa stared straight ahead.
Domingo swung his right hand, palm open, and slapped her so hard it knocked her off the chair. She hit the wooden floor hard, and not having her hands to break her fall, she hit on her shoulder and the side of her head.
Domingo nodded at Franklin. He lifted her back on the chair.
He repeated the question. She shook her head. He hit her again, knocking her off the other side of the chair.
When Franklin picked her up, she was crying.
“Strip her to the waist,” Domingo ordered. It wasn’t a request; it was a general talking to a yeoman second. Franklin used his knife to slice the buttons off a colored blouse, then cut the bra straps and cut the blouse to get it off without untying her hands, then threw the clothing on the floor. At first she tried to hunch her shoulders to hide her breasts.
“Now, we get down to the interesting forms of interrogation,” Domingo said. Rosa screeched at him in Filipino. He shouted back at her in the same tongue.
She stopped the words, and began screaming. Domingo took her blouse and jammed it into her mouth.
“Rosa, what would your husband do if he found you had only one breast?” Domingo held out his hand, and Franklin gave him his own carefully honed KA-BAR fighting knife. Domingo grabbed one of her breasts and drew a thin bloodline across the top. He let it go. Rosa looked down at the blood, spat out the gagging blouse, and screamed again. Domingo slapped her quickly twice and she stopped.
“Young lady, I was fighting Moros and other guerrillas when you were a child. I’ve cut off men’s genitals and sent them back to their wives. I’ve cut all sorts of pieces off prisoners urging them to cooperate on sharing information. I can do the same thing to you. One last time. What is the Eagle’s Nest and where is it?”
Rosa sobbed silently for a moment, then stared hard at him.
“It is where our leader lives, his retreat. It is on the mountain about ten miles north of here and up in the hills overlooking the sea. Some say it is six miles from the waves.”
“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it, Rosa? Is that where they took the last eighteen hostages this morning?”
“I don’t know.”
General Domingo stared hard at her. “I believe you,” he said. “Now, how many rebels in town?”
“Only eight.”
“Where are they?”
“Some in stores, offices.”
“Call them all. Tell them there is a special meeting here in ten minutes. Have them come here.”
Franklin handed her the blouse. He untied her hands, and she shrugged into it. It was cut so much that it didn’t cover her.
“I have another blouse,” Rosa said.
Domingo motioned them away. Franklin went out the door with her and watched her put on the new blouse. She didn’t turn her back as she slipped it on. Franklin let her go to her desk; then he checked it and found a knife and two small handguns. He took them all.
“Make the calls, now,” Franklin said. “Don’t warn them in any way, or I’ll shoot you, just the way I killed that man in the office.”
“Speak in English,” Domingo said.
She made the calls, took no arguments, gave no reasons, just told them to be at the police station in ten minutes.
Canzoneri had checked out the rest of the building. There was a small jail in back, three cells, and in each was a real police officer. He let them out and told them what was happening. They said they would help. Two officers stood on one side of the main door. They locked both rear doors. When the first rebel came in he was dressed in a summer suit, and went down hard when one of the policemen slammed the butt of his pistol down on the man’s head.
The next three were held under guns, put on the floor, and tied. When the fifth one came in, he was suspicious and already had a revolver in his hand. He saw the men on the floor and lifted the weapon, but Domingo put two .45 slugs into his chest and he went down and died a minute later.
The next three came in quickly, and were put on the floor and tied. One of the policemen seemed to be in charge. He had sergeant’s stripes, and grinned when the last rebel was down.
“They steamed in here three days ago and took over,” the man said. “Oh, I’m Sergeant Esteban. I’m in charge here. Not a lot to do, but the rebels wanted a town, I guess.”
“The Eagle’s Nest,” Domingo said.
“Yes, a rich man’s estate high up on the edge of the mountain about ten miles north of town. I’m not sure who owns it now. He comes in sometimes for supplies. We get everything in here by boat. We built a pier, but it isn’t long enough for big boats.”
“Now all we have to do is decide what we do next,” General Domingo said. “How do we get word to Murdock? How do we get back through those roadblocks? They will be waiting for us now.”
He went over to Rosa. She sat at her desk, not moving, not looking at anyone. “Rosa, how many guards does your leader have at his Eagle’s Nest?”
“Fifty, my husband told me that.”
“Figures,” Domingo said. Then he grinned. He took out the piece of paper and dialed the phone number. A short time later he spoke to the air base commander.
“Colonel Romano. Did those choppers take off on time?”
“Yes, sir, General Domingo. Armed and ready. They won’t have any trouble finding that rock house.”
“Good. Now I want you to radio them to divert one to Lebak, down here thirty miles south of the rock house right on the coast. Also, radio the pilot to tell Commander Murdock that we believe the missing eighteen hostages are at the Eagle’s Nest, about twenty miles south of him high on the mountain cliffs.”