The break gave Murdock some time to think. He could lay out no plans for this mission. It was so blind he felt like he had a black cloth wrapped around his head. They would simply have to play it by ear and as the chips fell. The damn situation and terrain again.
He wondered what Ardith was doing this night in Washington, D.C.? Usually he didn’t let thinking about her smash into his work on a mission. Somehow tonight was different. He missed her. God, how he missed her. She was special, more wonderful than any woman he had ever known, marvelous, a good friend, and a delicious and inventive lover. Oh, damn. He frowned. Had he said that last out loud? He looked around. Nobody paid any attention to him. They were recuperating for the next hike.
He checked his watch. Five minutes. Time enough. No, another five. This one was special. He didn’t want to mess it up. If they were too tired they could stumble into an outpost. The damn Chinese would have guards out. He hadn’t figured where they would be.
After ten minutes he lifted up. The others saw him and stood. There would be no talking the rest of the way. Murdock and Lam judged the distance. They were spread out ten yards apart, barely able to see each other, but it was safer that way in case of an ambush or a lucky hand grenade. Then only one man would go down, not four or five if they were close together.
Lam went out in front as the scout working through the trees and brush, staying at the same level on the mountain. From here it looked like they were about a thousand yards down from the top. Where they should be. Another mile and they would be in position. He wasn’t sure if they should start up tonight or do some recon and find out what they were up against.
High on the slopes above them in the Hardship Camp, Governor Tom Itashi sat on the low wooden bunk built into the wooden sides of the tent foundation and frame. His hands were free, but a steel band tightly around his right ankle was locked to the side frame. Lieutenant Hing stared hard at him in the soft glow of one candle that had been waxed in place on the end of the bench.
“I ask you once more, Governor Itashi. How much time will it take your people to respond to our demands?”
“Lieutenant Hing, I have no idea. You ask for a helicopter and gold and a ship. I can offer you none of these. The U.S. Government and the Hawaiian State Government do not negotiate with terrorists for the lives of hostages. I’ve told you that a dozen times.”
“You are not just a prisoner; you are the governor of Hawaii. An important man. They will not sacrifice you for their principles. In the end they will meet my demands.”
“So, if you get the gold and the chopper and the ship, you will vanish into the Pacific and be rich for the rest of your life?”
“Not true, Governor. I do everything for the great nation of China. I will take the gold to the ship and meet with the victorious Chinese Navy and be promoted to captain in the Marines.”
“I am concerned about the welfare of my people. How are they? I haven’t seen them since you captured us.”
“They would be better if you cooperate. I have fed them once a day. Each has one blanket. None has been beaten, yet.” Lieutenant Hing smiled. “Of course I could beat them one at a time while you watched, until you directed your people over the radio to bring the gold.”
“Lieutenant Hing. That would not move me. I was a U.S. Marine. I have killed men with my bare hands. I have seen more death, torture, and wanton killing than you can even imagine. You’re a child when it comes to persuasion, laughable.”
Governor Itashi didn’t see the blow coming. Lieutenant Hing slammed his fist into the governor’s neck and toppled him sideways on the bench. Governor Itashi struggled to sit up. His jaw felt like it was broken. He moved it, then smiled. “Lieutenant, not bad for beginner. If you had some proper training and…”
He saw it coming this time, caught the fist on his arm, slanted it upward with his left, and counterpunched his right fist into Hing’s belly. The man’s eyes went wide and he staggered back, trying to recapture his breath. His face worked in fury. Then he stabbed his right hand at his waist and drew the pistol there. A 9mm probably, Itashi thought, as he saw the hand come up and the weapon fire.
The slug jolted into the governor’s right thigh and felt like a white-hot iron rod had been drilled into him. He bellowed in pain, then cut it off. Had the round gone all the way through? He lifted his leg, but before he could feel underneath, the pistol slammed against the side of his head and dumped him sideways to the wooden bench again.
The governor sat up slower this time. “Did I tell you that I was a line-crosser in Vietnam? I did a lot of headhunting work. Most guys can do that job only a few months. I lasted for two years before I got shot up so bad they sent me home. When the chopper brought me out I had eight bullet holes in my hide. Yeah, eight. I should’a got a damn Purple Heart for each one.”
Hing came up close to the governor, his nose an inch from the other man’s face.
“You will use the radio and advise your people you have been shot and that they must obey my orders sent to them yesterday. The chopper has to be here no later than your time ten o’clock tomorrow morning, with the gold and the destination where we pick up the ship. You must do it, or all of you will die.”
The governor ignored the man in his face. He reached under his right leg. There was no exit wound. The bullet had hit a bone or slanted upward or downward. It was still inside his leg. It had to come out of there within seventy-two hours or his life could be in danger.
“So, American politician, you think about your situation. I have a more pleasant task.” He slapped Governor Itashi gently on the cheek and left the tent.
The lieutenant went down two tent frames and entered the fourth one. Two women were chained to the barren wooden bunks. Both sat watching the single candle that burned on a built-in table.
He saw fear growing on the women’s faces.
“Was that a shot I heard?” the older one asked.
“Yes, the governor has one of my bullets in him. Now, which of you would like to volunteer for special duty?” He watched them closely. Neither said a word nor looked at him. The oldest one was about forty, he decided, but with a slim body she had taken good care of and with fine breasts. The younger one was chunky and not appealing.
He moved forward and unchained the older one. “Your name is Sara, as I remember.” He took her by the hand. “Come, Sara, you have special duty tonight. I think you’ll find it most interesting.”
“No,” the woman screamed. “I want to stay here.”
He jerked the end of the chain locked around her left wrist. Sara screamed again. Lieutenant Hing snorted and yanked the chain, pulling her with him out the flap of the tent and toward his tent at the end of the line of six. Sara screamed all the way.
In the heavy growth less than five hundred yards below, Murdock and the rest of the SEALs heard the screams.
“The bastards must be doing the women,” Dobler said. “Two on the staff up here are women, right?”
Murdock said he was right.
“Time we start moving up the hill,” Murdock said into the Motorola. “We’ll go in an assault line, ten yards between. They must be somewhere right above us. Let’s move out, silently as all hell. I’d like to give these bastards a real SEAL surprise.”
21
Murdock had been worried about the hostages ever since they took on this assignment. One of the women was forty-one years old, the other one twenty-six. The older one was the governor’s chief administrative assistant, extremely competent and said by some to be the real brains behind the governor. She evidently was something of a triple threat. The short description of her he had read at Pearl said she was brilliant, pleasant, and a former Miss Hawaii who had a doctorate in government administration.