They kicked around where he might go. The villages were out. They didn’t have enough food to feed him, and there were no defenses. There wasn’t any place he could fall back to.
Murdock shook his head. “I don’t know, maybe that bomb shook up my brains more than usual, but I keep thinking that Lam might have something there. Lebak here is the only place he could come where he might fit in and not be noticed at least for a while. He could buy or steal food here for his men.”
“I told you guys this man is brilliant,” Jaybird yelped. “I’ve known it all along.”
The rest of them thought it over and heads began to nod.
Murdock grinned. “So, after you guys get washed up and your weapons cleaned, I want you to go in twos all over this small town and talk to people and see if they have noticed anything unusual, like ten or fifteen people suddenly showing up in a house or a store or an old warehouse. Git on your horses and move. Maybe when you get back, we’ll have figured out some chow for you.”
Murdock went outside to see the men on their rounds. That was when he saw a CH-46 drop into the LZ and power down. He went over and talked with the pilot.
“We have some more hostages for you to take to Davao,” Murdock said, “but General Domingo will tell you about that. You bring anything for me?”
“How about a radio,” the pilot said, and handed Murdock a SATCOM complete with antenna.
“Oh, yes, we’ve been needing that. Thanks.”
Murdock took the SATCOM back to the warehouse, and set it up and called Don Stroh on his special frequency. He connected on the second call.
“Hey, Mr. Banana out there, how is it peeling?” Stroh asked.
“By the bunch. We just liberated six more hostages, but we’re short on the final six. Trying to get a sighting on where they might be. So far no more problems. You know we lost Train Khai.”
“Yes, I heard from your CO in Coronado. At least on this one we don’t have to make up a death story. You guys have been all over the international press, TV, newspapers, everything. The rescue mission is in the clear and you’ll have a scrapbook of clippings by the time you get home.”
“I didn’t know that, Stroh. Then maybe we can get another dozen Bull Pups and six more EAR guns.”
Stroh laughed. “Probably not, but I’ll try. I’m still here in Davao. The brass here wouldn’t let me come to Lebak. I could have grabbed a forty-six, but decided against it. They don’t even have a five-star hotel there, as I understand.”
“You’re right there, Stroh. Just wanted to check in. We have our SATCOM back. It was lost for a spell. You take care. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
They signed off. Murdock went outside the quarters looking for any of his men. Jaybird and Lam came in, but were empty-handed.
“Nobody we talked to had seen anyone or anything unusual. They all asked at once if we meant the rebels, and we said yes. The rebels are not well liked in this town.”
Murdock called the general on the Motorola, but he was too far away to be reached.
A short time later the bird that was at the cave came back with six of the Rangers and three prisoners who were awake and with their hands tied behind their backs. Juan was along, and he and the rebels vanished into a shed behind the warehouse.
“Looks like it’s question-and-answer time,” Jaybird said. “I want to go watch.”
Murdock shrugged. “You might pick up some pointers on how to torture a prisoner for longer periods of time without killing him.”
Jaybird lifted his brows. “Hey, maybe I’ll watch the next time.”
It was almost dark when the forty-six landed with the final group of prisoners and General Domingo and the rest of his men. They tied the prisoners, pushed them into the shed, and locked the doors.
Later, Juan came out and shook his head. “So far we have learned nothing about where Muhammad might have gone. We were told he had that armored personnel carrier, and we know he has that fifty-caliber MG. We just don’t know where he is.”
Domingo scowled and nodded. “Let’s take a fresh look at it in the morning. Not much else we can do tonight.”
Murdock told the general about their idea that Muhammad had retreated right into Lebak.
“He could be hiding in a dozen buildings around here,” Murdock said. The general agreed.
“I’ll put my men on a four-hour shift shaking down this town,” he said. “If he’s here, or if anyone knows anything about him, we’ll find out.”
By 2200 the Rangers hadn’t turned up any evidence of the rebel leader, his men, or his equipment. Everyone called it a day and hit the sack. Breakfast would be at 0600.
After breakfast at the improvised mess hall, Murdock went to the structure behind their warehouse and checked on the interrogation. Juan had a knack for it, knowing which of the ten prisoners to question in depth and which ones to dismiss. The lot had been narrowed down to two men. Juan thought both of them knew more than they were saying.
He concentrated on one. “We know where your mother and your wife and twin daughters live,” Juan said. The man looked over with a frown, but said nothing. He sat tied to a chair, his hands behind his back.
“I will release you as soon as you tell me where Muhammad has gone. You know. I can see it in your eyes, and the eyes never lie. This is the big picture. You either tell me where Muhammad has gone to, or you die where you sit. Quite simple really. You tell me, and I release you and you can walk out the door a free man, with civilian clothes, and go back to your mother and family right here in Lebak.”
The man turned, his face a mask of terror.
“Don’t hurt my family.”
“Tell us where the evil rebel, Muhammad, has gone.”
“He would kill me.”
“He won’t have the chance. He will never know. Besides, his power is shattered. He has lost the rock house, the Eagle’s Nest, and even the hidden cave. Now he is hiding like a snake in the jungle. He has no men, no power. He is a sniveling coward, using men like you to promote himself for his own ends.”
“No, he says we will be better off.”
“What has he given you besides the misery of being a rebel, of being shot at and chased and interrogated? What has he done for you?”
The man started to cry. He looked at Juan and back at the second man, who also sat tied to a chair. The man had blood dripping down his cheeks and off his chest. He had been tortured for an hour before Juan left him and moved to this man.
“I’m not sure where he is. There was a place we were to run to if we lost the fight at the caves. He said the big machine gun would stop anything the Army could throw at us. It didn’t.”
“Where is the hiding spot?” Juan asked.
The man took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He said go to the church here in Lebak and ask for asylum. The priest there could not deny us entry.”
Juan thought about it a moment, then nodded. “Yes, that sounds like something this infidel would do.” Juan pointed to two Rangers. “Keep him here, as he is. We’ll see if he’s telling the truth.”
He and Murdock left the building and ran back to the warehouse, where General Domingo studied a map of the area. He glowered at the news of where Muhammad might be.
“We’ll take all our men,” he said. “We move up from all four sides of the church and the small rectory. Then I’ll go knock on the door and talk to the priest.”
Murdock called his men up, told them to come fully equipped with weapons and combat vests, and they marched out in patrol order.
The Catholic church sat on a lot of its own with no other buildings around it. The rectory perched beside it. Since this was a poor village town, the church was modest, a wooden structure painted white with a gleaming cross over the two-story building.