Shadows of War

war with the Americans. They see a uniform and it gets them excited. Blood to a shark.”

“These were the only two men at the farm?” asked Jing Yo.

“We’re still searching.”

“Why didn’t you search before you set the barn on fire?”

“We were just in the process when we came under fire,” said the sergeant.

He answered quickly, his voice high. Jing Yo concluded that he was lying. Most likely one of his own men had begun to shoot out of panic, perhaps even before the fire had been set. It wasn’t important; finding the American was.

“Sergeant Wu, send someone up to the house to help the search. You and I will look in the barn.”

22

Bangkok

Peter Lucas stared at the computer screen, waiting for the refresh to take effect. The image was coming from a Global Hawk 2 unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, which was flying over Laos. Flying at just over 120,000 feet, the plane used a special lens to get a sideways view into Vietnam without actually going over the territory. The camera showed incredible detail: if someone stood on the ground with a pair of coins in his hand, an expert could tell the difference between the penny and the quarter. But it wasn’t good enough for Lucas — it didn’t show him where MacArthur was.

Had he gone to the farm? Or was he running from it when he called?

“You can let the computer refresh on its own,” said DeBiase, standing next to him. “It’s not going to go any quicker if you do it manually.”

“It gives me something to do.”

The screen flashed and the image began redrawing itself. The barn was still on fire. The two helicopters, which had been at the edge of the frame on the last shot, were now on the ground.

“Those helicopters are a bad sign,” said DeBiase. “They wouldn’t have sent them unless they were there for something important.”

“Mmmm.”

“You could call him.”

“Ringer might give him away. If he’s hiding there.”

“They’ll find him sooner or later. Mara’s awful close. The Chinese may find her instead of him.”

Lucas tapped his fingers on the console. DeBiase was right. He reached to the keyboard, selected the dialer, and called.

* * *

The phone started to ring as Josh neared the entrance to the mine. He stopped, then took a step toward the cave, then decided to answer the phone.

“What?” he said.

“Josh, it’s Peter.”

“Are you who you say you are?”

“Josh, listen — ”

M? tugged at him. The helicopters were practically overhead.

“Go to hell,” said Josh. He hit the Kill button and shoved the phone in his pocket as he ran toward the cave, his finger moving to the trigger of his gun.

* * *

Mara studied the Chinese helicopters from the cab of the truck. She’d never seen the gunships before. They looked a lot like American Apaches, but with faceted sides and a thick cowling over the engine. These were features designed to make the chopper stealthier, though in their present configuration, with thick air-to-ground missiles and gun pods on their stubby winglets, they didn’t look like they were in much of a mood to pass by unnoticed.

“What we doin’, boss?” asked Jimmy Choi over the squad radio.

“We’re waiting until we get a positive location,” said Mara. She still had the Russian’s headset.

“And what we do if it’s on the barn?”

“What do you suggest we do?”

“Ho-ho. I suggest we blow through the Chinese army.” Jimmy laughed. “If you get rid of the helicopters. No helicopters, we’re in like

Flynn, babe.”

“I’m glad you can laugh at a time like this.”

“Better than crying, right?”

“Seriously.”

“Serious — helicopters a problem but we have grenades. We can take down two or three. But maybe kill your scientist, too.”

Mara picked up the sat phone to call Lucas and find out if he had a location, but he beat her to it. She hit the Talk button as the phone started to ring.

“It’s Mara. Go ahead, Bangkok.”

“Mara, listen. I’m just beaming you the GPS coordinates. He’s on a hill two kilometers southwest of that farm. The helicopters are circling all around the area. But the only ground troops we can see are at the farm.”

She picked up the field glasses and scanned the area. The hill was probably the one almost directly to her left, less than a mile away.

“Can you get him?”

“Definitely,” she said, digging out her GPS to make sure.

* * *

Jing Yo raised his rifle, ready to follow the soldiers into the smoldering barn.

Was the scientist the man he had chased into the water days before? If so, he was a difficult opponent, a man with much luck or many lives, perhaps both. And skill.

His satcom radio buzzed. Jing Yo raised his hand, signaling Wu to wait, and answered the hail. It was the intelligence officer from division who was helping track the scientist.

“I have a new fix for you,” said Owl Eyes excitedly. “Not three kilometers away. He’s just communicated within the last two minutes. Hurry; he may be trying to escape.”

They were airborne two minutes later. Jing Yo stood in the space behind the flight deck between the two pilots, crouching forward so he could see. The GPS coordinates, projected onto a rolling map in the center of the helicopter’s control panel as well as on the HUD or heads-up displays in front of the pilots, indicated the scientist was on a small hill to their right as they flew.

“No place to land,” said the pilot.

“Land in the road,” said Jing Yo.

“Not wide enough. The rotors will clip the trees.”

“We have a field half a klick south, right there,” said the copilot.

“No. We’ll rappel,” said Jing Yo. “We’ll go down lines into the road.”

“As you wish, Lieutenant.”

“Who’s that?” Jing Yo asked, pointing to a command vehicle and troop truck that were coming up the road toward the hill. The direction was wrong for it to be Wong, whom he’d ordered to finish the search as a precaution.

As they watched, the trucks pulled over by the side of the road and several soldiers got out, sprinting up the hill.

“You sure they’re not your people?” the copilot asked.

Had Sun put another unit on the job without telling him? It would be just like the colonel.

But no; Sun didn’t have enough resources to waste them in a meaningless competition.

“It doesn’t matter. Get us in there.”