A faint buzz sounded, just barely audible over the sound of waves slapping the hull and the dull, distant thunder high in the sky. “Is there a plane overhead?” I asked.
“Two or three actually.” The captain explained, “They’re ours. The Commie captain on that sub just gave away his position. We figured something like this might happen, so we had planes in the area ready to pounce when they fired.”
The radio operator chimed in. “Command reports our planes are dropping on the sub now, ought to have him in a couple minutes.”
Five minutes later, a series of dull echoes reached the freighter, scarcely discernible, reached the bridge. The captain hooted. “That’s the end of that bastard. Our planes must have dropped three or four torpedoes on him.”
The crewmen exchanged high-fives, laughing at their role in the victory over the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Confused, I asked, “But what about the torpedoes he shot at us?”
Just then, a colossal boom slammed into the ship, seeming to come from the ocean and reverberating up through the hull. I managed not to slam my hands over my ears. “JESUS CHRIST! Did the torpedoes just hit us?”
Priest and the captain laughed, and the crew were all smiles. The captain said, “Mr. Cortez, that was the torpedoes, but they detonated 500 meters away from the ship.”
“What?! How?!”
Priest handled the answer. “Remember the laser air defense system we used on the first day of the war to shoot down all those Chinese missiles?” I nodded. “Well, turns out you can stick a laser underneath a ship and use it for point defense. Doesn’t have a ton of range, but if you get the frequencies just right, the water actually focuses the laser beam, making it even more powerful.”
“And you just used it to detonate the torpedoes?”
The captain nodded.
I shook my head in amazement. “You Taiwanese and your gadgets. Now I know what you meant when you said you knew bigger secrets than my identity, captain.”
The captain replied, “Oh, you’ve got another big surprise coming in a couple hours, Mr. Cortez. For now, why don’t you go below with your, ah, Priest, and get something to eat.”
Priest and I ate in a small cafeteria three decks down. Cold meat sandwiches, coffee, and chips.
“Probably not quite as good as you're used to, sir,” Priest observed.
I took a bite of a cold sandwich and said between bites, “True. This stuff tastes awful. If I were back home, I'd be having duck confit or some other fancy damn thing for lunch. And it would be cooked by the best chef money can buy. But I remember the days when this food would have seemed like a treat. Growing up, on the days when my mother wasn't home, dinner meant whatever I could steal, get from a friend, or buy with the change I made bagging groceries. So, no, I don't mind eating this crappy sandwich.”
Changing the subject, I asked, “You were in the fighting near Tongxiao?”
“Yes, sir. The whole army got caught with its pants down when the PLA came ashore there. A huge chunk of our military was still on the outer islands, where we expected the Chinese to strike first. On the first day of the Chinese invasion, Command desperately needed to slow the PLA down. So, they sent us naval commandos in to disrupt the beachheads as much as possible. Assassinate officers, blow up supply dumps, that sort of thing.”
“And it worked?”
Priest shrugged. “Not well enough, I suppose. My ten-man unit got chewed up trying to sabotage a makeshift supply depot where the first PLA armored division onshore was fueling tanks. I was the only one who made it out.”
“What went wrong?”
His voice taut with control, Priest said, “Sometimes things just go wrong. The Chinese had heavier security than we initially thought. They had set up a network of advanced mines within an hour of setting up the depot. My buddy triggered one of the mines. The Chinese called in reinforcements. Pinned us down.”
“How'd you end up getting out?”
Priest's eyes lost their focus as he thought about the battle. “Two men stayed behind to keep the Chinese busy while the rest of us ran off into the woods.” He shook his head and looked down. “I had been the second-in-command on that raid. My commanding officer was one of the two who stayed behind, and he ordered me to get everyone else out.”
Not knowing quite what to say, I settled on, “Sounds like you did well to survive.”
Priest muttered agreement. “Didn't complete the mission though. We lost four top commandos with nothing to show for it. I guess we can't all be the Knights.”
“Have you seen combat since then?”
“Yeah. Straight conventional fighting on the front lines. Part of the fighting withdrawal from Taipei. Set up a line, inflict some losses on the advancing PLA forces, then abandon the line before the Chinese can call in artillery and air support. Fall back a couple hundred yards and repeat. Hell of a game of cat and mouse.”
Something to think about. I filed the thought away. “I think I can pretty safely guarantee you won't see more of that kind of fighting in my outfit.”
“Your English is pretty good. Learn it working with the SEALs?”
“Perfected it when I trained with the SEALs in Coronado, but I learned it in school growing up. We all learn English in school and then pretty much anybody who's anybody travels to America at some point. That's starting to change a little in the latest generation now that Taiwanese universities are really getting spun up and the U.S. economy is so weak. But there's still a lot of prestige for people who studied in America.”
“And you studied in America?”
“No, I didn't go to college.”
That threw me for a loop. “But you're an officer?”
“I got promoted up from sergeant. Most people in Taiwan don't go to universities anymore. We have a lot of apprentices, a lot of learning on the job. I joined the navy when I graduated high school and here I am twelve years later.”
“Well, it'll be good to have more experience on the team.”
“And what's your experience, if you don't mind my asking, sir?”
“Engineering. And I've learned how to manage people in the course of building my business.”
Priest sounded politely skeptical. “Any military training?”
“I had some crash course weapons and espionage training over the past couple weeks. Other than that, no.”
“No offense, sir, but why are you coming along then? Why not just pay Douglas to lead the whole thing and you stay in Australia and coordinate the supplies?”
I had wanted to go through this with all the men at our first meeting, but there hadn't been time. “I have a vision for what I want this group to do, and I've learned in building my business that you can't delegate vision. We're not going to be in constant communication with Taiwan or my people in Australia. This is going to be an evolving, on-the-ground venture. Douglas is a good man, but his interests and my interests are not perfectly aligned.”
“What's your vision for the outfit?”
I took a sip of coffee. “We're going to raise the costs of the war for China. Screw up their supplies, their economy. And that means skirting right on the edge of being terrorists. Keeping on the right side of that line is going to be tough enough. You think a bunch of mercenaries, some of whom have terrorism on their resume, are going to take the high road without their employer looking right over their shoulder?” Shaking my head, I concluded. “I have to be there to rein them in.”
Sensing that he had gone as far as he could, Priest replied simply, “Makes sense to me, sir.”
We sat in silence, eating our sandwiches for a few minutes. Then I asked, “How did you end up with the name 'Priest'?”
“I carry a Bible and wear a cross whenever I go into the field, sir.” Sensing that further explanation was necessary, he added, “My parents are Christian missionaries.”