CHAPTER 9
"Hono Mountain, on this side," Vaughn said, pointing at the imagery tacked to the plywood. He had managed a few hours sleep, but got up before dawn, poring through the intelligence on Abayon and Jolo Island.
Orson stared at him silently for several seconds. Vaughn was behind the podium, the rest of the team arrayed about in their seats facing him.
"That's it?" Orson finally asked.
"There's not much intelligence on the Abu Sayef on Jolo," Vaughn said, which was an understatement.
"Reversing the videotape that was taken of the failed raid indicates it was shot from the mountain."
Vaughn turned to a satellite image of the mountain and marked out a large area with a pointer.
"Somewhere on the southeast side."
Orson turned to Hayes.
"You have any idea where Abayon hides out?"
"Like I said yesterday, in the mountain," Hayes said. He shrugged.
"No one except those in Abayon's inner circle are allowed anywhere close to the mountain. What I heard when I was on the island was that there are tunnels and chambers throughout it and that's where his lair is. And he almost never comes out. That's why there is no recent photo of him."
Orson got up and walked to the imagery.
"It's a big damn mountain. And the area is crawling with guerrillas. Not only do we need to pinpoint how to get into the tunnel system, but we also have to figure out how to kill him once we're in. Whether it's a shot to the head or taking out the whole complex."
"There's a third issue," Sinclair said.
"And what is that?" Orson demanded.
"Getting out."
Vaughn smiled but didn't say anything. He could tell that Sinclair had indeed served in Special Forces. It was always an issue on A-Teams that higher command had great plans for getting a team into its target area but was always vague on getting them back out.
"We'll get out," Orson said.
"That's about as specific as where the entrance is to the tunnel complex," Sinclair pointed out, "and you weren't too happy with that."
"One thing at a time," Orson said.
"First, we have to pin down exactly where Abayon is. According to everything we have and our asset" – he nodded at Hayes – "he's in the tunnel complex. So we have to figure out how to get in there."
"Why?" Tai asked. She didn't wait for an answer.
"If we can figure out how air is pumped into that place, we could gas everyone in there. Wipe them out without entering. Get Abayon and a bunch of his people in one attack."
Orson shook his head.
"We have to confirm that Abayon is dead. Doing what you suggest won't accomplish that."
Tai frowned but didn't say anything more. Vaughn also wasn't satisfied with Orson's answer. If they were so sure that Abayon was in the complex, then what she'd suggested made sense. Yes, they wouldn't be able to bring back Abayon's head, so to speak, for confirmation, but the odds would be that they had succeeded. He also knew, though, that ever since 9/11 and the failure to nail Bin Laden, there was a strong emphasis on having bodies in hand rather than best guesses on termination. The last thing anyone wanted was to report Abayon dead and then have him pop up somewhere.
"What about thermal imagery?" Orson asked.
Vaughn nodded.
"I ordered an intelsat to do some shots when it goes overhead. We should be getting those in shortly."
"The other thing to factor in," Hayes said, "is that Abayon has money. Lots of it. He's put a lot of it into the infrastructure on the island and also bought a lot of space from the Philippine government with bribes. When I was on the island, I heard rumors of large piles of gold that Abayon had from the war."
"Yamashita's gold," Tai said.
"Whose gold?" Vaughn asked.
"Gold is not an issue here," Orson said. He tapped the photo tacked to the plywood.
"Abayon is the target."
He turned to Tai. As he was about to speak, there was a tap at the door.
Vaughn went over and opened it. One of the ASTs was there with a large manila envelope with a red top secret seal. Vaughn took it and went back to the podium. He ripped it open and looked at the thermal imaging while the others waited impatiently.
"The complex must be deep," he said as he scanned the pictures.
"There's not much…" He paused as he noted something.
"There's a hot spot on the side of the mountain. Northwest side. Looks like it might be a ventilator exhaust, since hot air is flowing out of it."
"Just one?" Tai asked.
"A complex as big as what were talking about should have more than that."
Vaughn shook his head.
"According to some historical records I found, there were originally numerous caves and caverns on Hono, which the natives used hundreds of years ago. So we have to assume that the complex is mostly natural, with some artificial enhancement – cross tunnels, enlarging of natural chambers, and so on. I checked online with an expert on underground bunkers and he told me that in such a situation it's possible that the complex doesn't need an extensive air system, that air might flow through fissures and other natural openings. They could place generators for power in caverns that have the most air flow to cross ventilate.
"There's even the possibility," he continued, "that used air and exhaust could be pumped out into this river" – he tapped the imagery, indicating the valley in front of Hono Mountain – "and be dispersed in the water. So we're lucky to get at least one hot spot."
Kasen spoke up for the first time.
"Pretty sophisticated setup for a bunch of terrorists."
Hayes cleared his throat and everyone turned toward him.
"The rumor is that the original complex was built by the Japanese during World War Two."
Vaughn frowned "I didn't find anything on that."
Hayes shrugged.
"That's just the rumor on the island. I never saw anything either to substantiate it. An old guy I met did speak, though, about Japanese soldiers killing some of the villagers, but he said they weren't around very long."
"If the Japs initially built this thing," Sinclair said, "any chance of getting their blueprints or whatever?"
"I found no record of the Japanese building anything," Vaughn said. He tapped a very thick folder.
"The NSA, CIA, and various other agencies have spent a lot of time putting this material together, and there's nothing in it on that."
"So all we have is one hot spot and a big mountain?" Sinclair asked. He got up and went to the map.
"Nice talk, but there's six of us, and we have to get onto this island, find this old man hidden in a tunnel complex we don't even know how to get into, kill him, and then – even though you don't seem overly concerned about it – get back off the island and home without getting our heads blown off. We could use a little help here."
"We have to find him ourselves," Orson said.
Vaughn glanced at Tai. He found it curious that Orson had cut her off so abruptly earlier about the Yamashita gold thing, and that he also didn't seem interested in the Japanese connection. Even though it was long ago, it made sense that the Japanese might have done something on the island.
"And how do you propose finding him?" Sinclair asked.
"We send in a recon team ahead of the target window to pinpoint Abayon's location," Orson said.
"To check that hot spot and see if it's a way in."
Since it seemed that his part of the briefing was over, Vaughn went and took the seat that Orson had vacated. He glanced around the room. They were all considering the suggestion.
Sinclair was the first to voice an objection.
"If this island is run by the Abu Sayef, then it's going to be hard not to get discovered and give the enemy a warning, never mind losing the recon team."
Orson held up a hand.
"We're getting ahead of ourselves here. Let's back up and stick with the original briefing plan. We've determined we can't pinpoint our target – Abayon – so we'll have to come back to that."
He turned to Hayes.
"It's your island. I tasked you with infiltration and exfiltration planning."