Edge of War

“I say we get the hell out of here,” said Kerfer. “Sooner the better.”

Mara reached down to the banquet table at the back of the ballroom. The manager had been replaced by a small string ensemble playing something by Mozart. Fifty or sixty guests remained, including the Australian couple, who were busy chatting up a tall Frenchman on the other side of the room.

“We’re going to have to wait until morning to leave,” said Mara. “They’re enforcing the curfew on the streets.”

Kerfer made a face.

“I know you don’t think much of the Vietnamese,” Mara said. “But their guns have real bullets.”

“Once we’re outside of the city limits, it’ll be easy,” said the SEAL. “And my guess is that they’re only patrolling here, calming the tourists. Or cowing them.”

“What’s the gunfire about then?”

“Idiots panicking,” said Kerfer. “Where are these cars?”

“Across the river. I’m sure the bridges will be blocked.”

“We go by water then.”

“The ferry isn’t running. You want to swim?”

“I’ve swum a lot farther,” he said. “We’ll put you, Junior, and the kid in a life raft and tow you across.”

“You probably would.”

They stayed in the ballroom for another half hour. Stevens reported that guests were being barred from the lobby area, and that guards had been posted at all of the doorways. He’d tried to get upstairs to the lounge, but the doors were all locked.

“And they cut the electricity above this floor,” said Stevens. “We gotta walk up to our rooms.”

“Probably a miracle that there’s electricity anyway,” said Kerfer. “I’d like to get up to the roof and see what’s going on.”

“Club’s locked, Cap.”

“Spook can get us in,” said Kerfer. “Right, beautiful?”

“Maybe if you stop calling me beautiful.”

“Okay, ugly puss.”

“You don’t give up, do you?”

“Not in my vocabulary.”

The video surveillance cameras worked off the electricity, and with no electricity they weren’t operating. Mara had to get through two locks to get them into the club and out to the terrace. Neither was very difficult. Little Joe and Stevens stayed below as lookouts; everyone else came up. Squeaky carried M?, who’d fallen asleep. She looked almost like a doll in the big man’s arms.

A huge fire was burning only a few blocks from the hotel. Its glow was so intense that the nearby streets seemed to have turned orange, as if the sun had set between the buildings.

“Balmy night,” said Kerfer.

“Picture perfect,” replied Mara.

“What’s on fire?” Josh asked.

“That’s the airport in the distance,” said Mara. “They probably set the fuel stores on fire. Closer in, I’m guessing government buildings. Those over there are natural-gas fires. That’s just a big building.”

“You an expert on fires?” said Kerfer.

“I’ve seen more than a few.”

Mara walked over to the edge, scanning the river. The gunboat that had been tied up nearby had moved northward to the middle of the channel. A smattering of small boats were docked on the far shore, but otherwise the river was empty. The street in front of the hotel was empty. A troop truck sat in the nearby intersection, but Mara couldn’t see any soldiers.

“I’m gettin’ kinda tired,” said Josh. “Are we goin’ back to our rooms or what?”

“Maybe we’d better,” said Mara. “We’ll leave in the morning.”

She started for the doorway to get back into the enclosed area.

“Hold on,” said Kerfer, his hand over his radio earphone. “Someone’s coming up the steps.”

11

Ho Chi Minh City

Jing Yo had dozed off on the mat where they’d made love, falling into a dreamless sleep. He missed the final round of attacks, which struck fuel supplies north of the city as well as a military base to the west, and slept through the roar of the fire engines and military vehicles racing to deal with the destruction. He woke more than an hour later, in the quietest part of the night, with no reason to wake but the internal mechanisms of his mind. When he woke, he was refreshed, as calm and alert as on any of several thousand mornings as a young man in the mountains, studying to become an adept. He woke with his mind decided on what to do:

After he completed his mission, he would take Hyuen Bo and escape to Myanmar. There were countless places to escape there, and as long as his mission was completed the government wouldn’t press too hard to find him.

Colonel Sun might. But that was a separate problem.

Hyuen Bo was sleeping next to him. He put his hand down on her back, pressing it gently. He realized now that their fates were intertwined. He was not seeking to escape his karma, but fulfilling it.

The phone Mr. Tong had given him began to ring. Jing Yo rose, and took it with him to the kitchen.

“This is Jing Yo,” he said.

“We have located your subject.”

“Where?”

“Meet us behind the Rex Hotel as quickly as you can.”

“I’m on my way,” he said, though the connection had already been broken.

When Jing Yo looked up from the phone, he saw Hyuen Bo standing at the door to the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I’ll be back.”

“I want to go with you.”

“No.”

He started past her. She clutched at his chest. “Please.”

“It won’t be safe. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“You’re lying,” she said. “You told me you never lie.”

“I’m not sure when I’ll be back.” Jing Yo felt ashamed for lying, but he simply couldn’t allow her to come. “I will be back. Be ready to leave.”

“Will they let us?”

“Don’t worry,” he said, putting his finger to his lips.

* * *

The location sounded wrong to Jing Yo — it was in the center of the city, far from where he had seen the Americans earlier. And to get there, he would have to pass through part of the city that had been bombed earlier.

The more he considered it, the more he told himself that he must take Hyuen Bo with him.

Not that there was any question of her staying in any event.

* * *

He thought of running then, of leaving the country and going to Myanmar. But he had no proof of their treachery, and in the end, Jing Yo decided he must at least try to do his duty.

The Rex Hotel was to the northwest, more than two miles away. Hand in hand, they left the building where they were staying and went down the street. Within a block, Jing Yo began to trot. Hyuen Bo kept pace.

His plan was simple. He would hide her near the building when they arrived, then come for her when he was done. They would leave immediately, never to return.