Edge of War

say.

A half dozen, he thought, had been involved in the firefight when the scientist managed to escape. Jing Yo assumed they would be with him now.

The bodyguards would not stop him from achieving his mission. On the contrary, if they were with him they would make the scientist easier to spot — most foreigners stood several inches taller than Vietnamese, and a cluster of them would stand out from the others.

Jing Yo walked all the way north to the ferry station without spotting anyone who might be his subject. He turned back, wending his way closer to the clusters of people this time.

If MacArthur was calling from this area, it was likely that he was staying in one of the nearby hotels. A number lined the block, and there were more scattered behind them. Jing Yo decided he would check out each of them after one more pass between the jetty and the ferry terminal.

The difficulty of his mission gnawed at him. He tried to clear his mind, to focus on the task at hand.

Instead, he thought of Hyuen Bo.

It had been a mistake to bring her with him to see Ms. Hu.

She might be in danger — she was in danger. Ms. Hu had made that clear enough.

This might be a ruse to get him away from the apartment. It had to be.

Just as the idea occurred to him, he saw a pair of figures climbing off the nearby rocks. They were tall, foreign. One was putting away a phone.

He was too far away to see, but immediately he assumed it was Josh MacArthur.

* * *

“What do we do Josh asked Mara as they started up from the riverbank.

“We get some sleep,” she said. “Our flight should be here first thing in the morning. How are you feeling?”

“Well, I kinda gotta pee.”

“Kinda gotta?” She laughed.

“Yeah. I’m just — my stomach and my sides are sore, but I feel better than I was.”

Mara threw her hand up, catching Josh in the chest.

“Hold on,” she told him.

* * *

Jing Yo realized one of the people was a woman.

That couldn’t be right.

He was three or four meters away. The shadows made it hard to see faces.

The pistol was in his belt, beneath his shirt.

Two people? Just two? A man and a woman?

His instinct was clearly wrong.

And yet, it felt right.

Desire, tricking him.

Jing Yo saw them stop. He stopped himself, then decided he would walk as close to them as possible. But as he took his first step, someone bumped into him from the back, shoving him to the ground.

“Hey!” shouted the man in English, very loudly. “Watch where you’re going! What are you doing?”

Jing Yo rolled over. The man was an American, smelly and obnoxious.

“My wallet!” yelled the man. “Help! My wallet!”

His instinct must have been right — this could only be a member of the scientist’s security team, posing as a tourist.

Jing Yo looked to the right — the man and the woman had fled.

“Sorry, sorry,” said Jing Yo, holding up his hands as he got up. He spoke in English as well. “Sorry, mister. Sorry, sorry.”

He backed away as the man continued to shout.

* * *

Mara steered Josh out of the park as Little Joe continued to shout behind them.

“What’s going on?” asked Josh.

“Keep moving.”

Squeaky was near the street. “We’re clear,” he said over the team radio. “Spook?”

“Yeah, we’re good,” answered Mara. “You see us?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stevens is on your left.”

“All right, I see him. I’m hiding the radio,” she added, sticking it down under her collar. “We’re going to the hotel. You see anyone else?”

“Negative. Get inside. We’re watching.”

They went in a back entrance to the hotel, trotting up fifteen flights of stairs because Mara didn’t want to risk the elevator. By the time they reached their floor, Josh looked pale.

Kerfer met them at the room. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” said Mara.

Kerfer got the pad and gave it to her.

Little Joe thought the guy was following us, she wrote.

One guy? wrote Kerfer.

Maybe there were more.

You see him?

No, but Little Joe bumped into him. He’ll have a description.

We shouldn’t stay here, wrote Kerfer.

I agree.

Wow, no argument?

“Give me a break, Navy,” said Mara.

She went to the bathroom and ran some water on her face. Mara doubted the man was anything but a random stranger who’d had the misfortune of walking a little too close to them, but there was no point in dropping their guard now. He could easily be a spy. Saigon was full of them.

Back in the suite room, Mara took one of her paper maps of Vietnam and sat in a chair. They could retrieve the cars and drive to the Cambodian border. Embassy staff in Cambodia could help them get to Phnom Penh; from there they could fly to Thailand and then back home.

“Whatcha doing with the map?” asked Kerfer.

Mara shook her head. She didn’t want to say anything, in case the room was bugged.

“There’s a club on the roof.” Kerfer motioned that they could talk up there. “Want some air?”

“Sure.” Mara looked at Josh, who was lying on the bed. “You want to come?” she asked.

“I don’t want to leave M?.”

“We’ll take her,” said Kerfer. He went over and picked the little girl up in his arms.

Josh got off the bed slowly. They went up in two elevators.

“Easier to protect you if we’re all together,” Kerfer explained as they reached the club.

Technically, the club was closed. But about a dozen guests were there, milling around tables that were lit by small candles in dark-colored vases. Mara led the way to a glass door she’d seen earlier. The door opened onto a narrow terrace overlooking the riverfront.

“Nice night,” said Kerfer.

“It’s a beaut.” Mara walked toward the edge of the large patio. A pair of lovers stared into the southern distance on the opposite end of the roof terrace. Otherwise, the Americans and M? were the only ones here.

“So what are you thinking?” Kerfer asked.

“Maybe we should just get the hell out of here,” she told him. “Drive over the border. We can probably get there in a couple of hours.”

“You don’t think there’s going to be all sorts of refugees lining up?” asked Kerfer. “It’ll be nuts. Especially now that they closed the airport.”