YESTERDAY. HELD IN BUILDING NEAR FUEL DUMP.
REPORT BROUGHT TO DOI CHIANG DAO BY KAREN GIRL NAMED PHYA NIN. WOULD DISCOUNT, BUT MESSENGER CLAIMS KNOWLEDGE OF SOMEONE NAMED BATMAN, U.S.S.
JEFFERSON, PLEASE ADVISE.
Two prisoners! Magruder knew immediately that it was Bayerly and Pamela Drake.
He felt cold as he scanned the message a second time. Held near the fuel dump… and the fuel storage tanks on the east side of the U Feng perimeter would be among the first targets hit by Thunderbird.
Magruder felt as though he were balanced on a knife's edge. Jefferson had almost thirty planes in the air or ready for launch, aircraft with a destination five hundred miles north and with fuel in short supply. The alpha strike could not be kept waiting, not for two people who might or might not be Westerners, hostages of General Hsiao.
On the other hand, one of those hostages was a civilian, a well-known American news correspondent.
The other was an officer under his command, Lieutenant Commander Bayerly.
Magruder had heard the stories about Bayerly, about the tragic death of Admiral Fitzroy's daughter and the scandal surrounding the aviator who had been with her when she died. He knew that when a cloud like that attached itself to a Naval officer, that man's career was all but finished.
But Bayerly was a member of Jefferson's air wing, CO of VF-97. More than once in the past, Admiral Magruder had been forced to make difficult decisions regarding Jefferson personnel. Not going in to rescue Batman and Malibu the week before had been such a decision, one forced on him by the politics of the situation.
Here was a situation where carrying on with the mission meant killing one of Jefferson's own.
Damn it all! Bright Lightning could not be aborted. The Thais had already been brought in, and to back out now would leave them hanging. To go on…
'First,' Magruder snapped. 'Raise Colonel Caruso on the Chosin. I want to get in touch with the Marine Recon team heading for U Feng. Second, get me General Duong, That Military Staff Command. Third, I want confirmation on this from Batman Wayne. See if he trusts this woman. Fourth…' He hesitated. 'Fourth, get down to CIC and have CAG make a signal to ninety-nine aircraft. Bright Lightning is on hold until we get this resolved. Got it?'
'Got it, sir!'
'Then get on it!'
'Aye, aye, sir.' Gilmore whirled and rushed out the door.
Magruder couldn't cancel Bright Lightning, but he could delay it… a very little. It would mean diverting the alpha strike aircraft to bingo fields in Thailand rather than recovering them aboard the carrier, but that possibility had been considered from the beginning since fuel was such a critical factor.
And the delay might give them a chance to get the Marines in. A twenty-man Marine Recon force was already en route toward U Feng aboard one of Chosin's transport helos. Slower than the aircraft of the alpha strike, the Marine Super Stallion had taken off almost two hours earlier and was over central Thailand by now. The force's mission was to support That ground operations and to provide ground spotting and laser designation for the Navy attack aircraft.
But perhaps their mission could be changed to include a rescue.
Magruder hoped so. It was damned chancy tampering with the mission planning at this late hour, but none of the alternatives was attractive.
General Hsiao stood at the window of his office, hands clasped behind his back, looking out at the jungle as his aide delivered the report. 'Go on.'
'All radio contact has been lost with Colonel Kriangsak, sir, both with his headquarters at the Americana Hotel and with the troop column tasked with seizing the government complex in Bangkok. There are wild rumors that the Yankees are bombing Bangkok, that their Marines are landing in the city, but nothing confirmed…'
Hsiao's fingers tightened their grip behind him. 'What else?'
'General Kol is waiting outside. He wishes to see you most urgently.'
Hsiao turned and smiled. 'That I can believe.'
'Radar reports unusual air activity between here and Bangkok. There are also rumors of troop movements on the road north of Chiang Mai. Colonel Wu believes that an attack may be imminent and requests a meeting with you at your earliest convenience.'
Hsiao sighed. 'Very well. Tell Colonel Wu I will see him in ten minutes. At his office.'
'Yes, sir.'
'Tell that pig of a Burmese general to come in. I will deal with him now.'
The aide made a wai and backed out of the room. A moment later, General Kol entered, his chubby face flushed with anger. 'I have heard rumors, General,' Kol began. 'Rumors that the Americans are attacking.'
'That is nonsense, Kol.'
'You said that there would be no direct confrontation with the Americans.
You claimed the damage done to their ship would drive them away.' He shook his head stubbornly. 'Our agreement never called for armed conflict with the Yankees. I am returning to Burma with my men. Now.'
Hsiao laughed. 'It is a little late for that now, don't you think, General Kol? Haven't you heard the reports? That army forces are closing in on U Feng even as we speak! Your pathetic little army would be trapped and cut down before it got within five kilometers of the border!'
Kol swallowed. 'Nonetheless,' he said. 'My men will not fight the Americans. What do we have to gain from such a confrontation?'
'I'm paying you enough, General. Your men will do what I demand of them.'
'We'll see about that.' He turned away.
'Have you forgotten General Xiang?' He drew his Type 62 pistol and pointed it at Kol's head. 'That, my fat friend, is the price of crossing me!'
Kol turned again, and his eyes bugged out at the sight of the gun. His mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, then he licked his lips. 'I didn't mean, General, that…'
'The situation is under control, General kol,' Hsiao said. 'As planned, the Thais have committed themselves to an attack on our forces here at U Feng.
Our aircraft and anti-air missiles will sweep their planes from the sky. When the skies belong to us, we shall rain destruction upon the That forces and crush them. You, General Kol, can be a part of the victory, or a casualty.
Which shall it be?'
'I–I support you, of course, General,' Kol said. His eyes were wide as he stared down the pistol's muzzle. 'I simply wish to provide counsel… to advise caution. Provoking the Americans is a terrible risk.'
'I will handle the Americans, if it comes to that,' Hsiao said. 'You do what I tell you to do.'
'Yes, sir.'
'Get out of my sight. You make me sick.'
The general bobbed his head and departed. Hsiao reholstered the pistol.
Kol would have to be killed, of course, and quickly. It would have been foolish to trust the man fully before. Now, afraid and insulted, he was far more dangerous. But the execution would have to be handled carefully, to avoid alienating the expatriate Burmese troops in his command.
Too, the defeat of the That assault on U Feng would generate yet more impetus for the mutiny, perhaps even convince the King and his ministers in Bangkok to support the dissident officers' faction. The body of a Burmese general would be a fine, added touch, proof that Burma had been behind the communist rising in the north and the capture of U Feng. That might satisfy the Americans as well, who would still be wondering about the loss of one of their planes in the area and smarting from the attack on their carrier.
Burmese involvement would explain so much.
If Kriangsak were still alive, he would pull the whole thing together in Bangkok. Hsiao frowned. Loss of contact with Kriangsak was worrisome. It was possible that the attack in the capital had gone badly, that Colonel Kriangsak was captured or dead.
No matter, really. Hsiao had other contacts among the dissident officers, and the important thing was the destabilization of the That government. When the government fell, Hsiao's men would step in. One way or another,
