“No, sir, these were Chinese. I checked them with my glasses. They’re all armed.”
“We go through them or around them?” Murdock asked.
“No way to go around unless we want to slide down about fifty feet of sheer rock.”
“So we go through them. Three or four rounds of twenties could do the trick.”
“Sir, I’d go with the silent snipers. Won’t warn anyone else on up the slope that we’re coming. Must be other troops up there near the chopper.”
“Agreed,” Murdock said. Into the Motorola he called up Bradford and Fernandez. The rest of the platoon held its ground as the two snipers, Lam, and Murdock moved up to where they had good fields of fire. Murdock stayed just behind Bradford.
He hunkered down behind a giant koa tree and edged around it so he could see the campsite. It was only fifty yards ahead and he had perfect sight lines for firing.
Fernandez was twenty yards to the left, finding a shooting spot. The earpiece ticked three times and Bradford nodded. He sighted in on a Chinese soldier who had just stood up from behind the fire. He had a rice roll over his shoulder. Inside was enough cooked rice and other food to last him for a week.
Bradford fired and the Chinese soldier slammed backward out of sight.
Another Chinese soldier on the far side of the fire suddenly crumpled where he sat, sprawled on the green forest floor, and didn’t move.
A third soldier leaped up and darted away from the shooters. One silent round caught him in the back and he slammed into a tree, slowly fell away, and sprawled on the ground. Murdock realized it was almost daylight. Fringes of dawn still shadowed some areas. The sun would be up soon.
“One more of them out there somewhere,” Bradford said.
“Let’s move up and find him,” Murdock said. The four men moved like shadows from one tree to the next. If the Chinese soldier knew they were coming, he never heard them. He lifted up over a fallen log behind the fire and stared around, then dropped down.
Murdock clicked his mike twice and the four men stopped.
Bradford had seen the head come up and go back down. He aimed at the spot, just an inch over the top of the log, and held his sight and waited.
The head eased up again, then came higher so the man’s eyes cleared the log. Bradford fired. The top of the man’s head exploded into the green surroundings, turning some of the leaves a fall-like crimson and shades of pink and pale red.
The four moved up again. There were no other troops in the area. Lam took off up a hint of a trail toward the top and the chopper, while Murdock brought up the rest of the platoon. Lam came back and reported no evidence of any troops ahead for at least a half mile. The platoon moved on. The terrain became steeper and the men tied their weapons on their backs to use their hands to help them climb. It was fully light now.
Lam kept fifty yards ahead of them. He would double-click on the mike if he wanted them to stop.
Lam eyed the perpetual green of the lush windward side of Oahu. More rain here and more plants and flowers and trees. He could see the pinnacles maybe a half mile ahead now, but they were still high on the skyline. He wondered how the platoon would get up the last slants.
Lam carried a silenced Colt M-4Al Commando set for three-round bursts. He parted a giant fern and looked ahead. Two Chinese soldiers saw him at the same time. He pivoted up the Commando and slammed six silent rounds at the two Chinese. They both jolted with the hot lead rounds, lost their weapons, and slid to the ground, dead before they came to a stop.
Lam dropped to a crouch hidden behind the fern. He waited. Had they been coming to reinforce the outpost? Maybe. He waited another minute, then double-clicked the mike and trotted back to where he found the platoon flat in the green of Hawaii. He told Murdock about the confrontation. They went back up for a look.
Murdock watched the bodies for five minutes. No one moved, no one came down the semblance of a trail.
“Let’s take a look,” he said. They moved up slowly, weapons covering the two men on the ground. A minute later Murdock saw that both Chinese were dead and that there seemed to be no alarm.
“Come on up,” Murdock said to the radio. He held Lam until he saw the troops coming, then let him move out ahead on what by now had turned into a well-traveled and recent trail. The weeds and wild ferns had been trampled down, and some small trees even hacked off at ground level.
Lam move up cautiously. He could see a trail now that worked up the slope toward the pinnacles above. They were still a quarter of a mile and maybe six hundred feet above him. He had no idea how the trail could go up the sheer cliffs. They looked fifty feet high and went straight up.
He worked silently ahead through the emerald green of the Hawaiian forest. There were more kinds of trees than he had ever seen, and he knew that almost all of them had been brought to the islands by humans.
The woods thickened and the trail turned around a heavy stand of the native koa trees. He paused beside a large one and looked out. Ahead there was a level space that looked like a natural clearing. For a moment he didn’t believe what he saw. Then when it registered and clicked into place, he shrank back so he was sure he was out of sight.
“Cap, you’re gonna have to see this to believe it,” Lam said softly to his lip mike. “Best get up here pronto.”
14
Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock stared through the screen of brush at the open place forty yards ahead.
“You’re right, I don’t believe my eyes,” Murdock said. “Tell me about those four girls.”
“You are seeing right, Cap. Those are four naked hula girls out there dancing up a fucking storm.”
“Spread out on those green cloths on the ground. What’s that?”
“True, Cap. Just what you think it is. All the goodies of a traditional Hawaiian luau. The pit for the pig is just behind them. You can still see steam and a little smoke coming from it. Looks like they have just opened up the imu, the fire pit, where the cooking is done.”
“The four men. Chinese, I’d bet.”
“Oh, you betcha, Commander. From their ages I’d say they are all officers. That same chopper could have brought them and the whole luau up here a few hours ago.
“Look over there at the imu. Looks like slabs of pork have been cooked after they wrapped them in ti and banana leaves. On the sides are the other goodies, the lau-lau. These bundles have in them chicken, fish, poi, sweet potatoes, and bananas.”
Murdock looked at him in surprise. “How come you know so much about Hawaiian luaus?”
“My folks used to come here every summer. Got so we hated the luaus. We were teenagers then and wanted to swim and chase girls on the beach.”
Murdock took out his binoculars and stared at neatly folded uniforms in back of the naked men. He spotted epaulets and some gold bars.
“Yeah, officers. The main body must be close by somewhere.”
“We take them down with silenced shots?” Lam asked.
“No. I want information. We’ll slip up and then confront them.”
Lam nodded. He checked the area ahead. “We can move up through the brush to about thirty feet of them. Then burst out and cover them.”
“Tie and gag them,” Murdock said.
“Man, look at that end girl. She’s got the biggest tits I’ve ever seen.”
Murdock chuckled. “Maybe you haven’t been getting out enough lately, Lam. Let’s go get them.” He grinned.
They worked ahead slowly, then charged out of the brush into the four officers’ faces. Only one reached for a pistol. Lam kicked his hand away before he found it.
No words were necessary for the Chinese. The four girls stopped their hula and turned off the tape player.