Girl Rides the Wind (26 page)

“I’ve got her,” Connie’s voice crackled in his ear. “On the opposite ridge, at your eleven.” Danko scanned the ridgeline a half klick away, looking for movement since her camo would be impossible to pick up in this light… but he saw nothing. “Are you dug in?”

“Yup,” Danko replied. “I’ve got over-watch from my three all the way to the water. I don’t see any hostiles in the ravine. It looks like they may not know we’re here.”

“My position has line-of-sight on an encampment just below the notch, at two hundred meters. All quiet. They’re not expecting visitors. Those must have been random patrols.”

“What about the RPG fire? That should have raised an alarm.”

“It looks like the sound didn’t carry into this ravine, and if those were just ordinary patrols, they may have waited to clear the wreck before reporting in.”

“How many hostiles?” Danko asked.

“It’s worse than we thought. Diao’s gotta be near company-strength judging from the baggage.”

Danko scanned the ridgeline again. “There. I see her, at my twelve, a half klick from the notch. Man, she’s really moving. Our SEAL is trailing her at fifty meters. She’ll encounter the first pickets at my two. Do we take ’em out for her?”

“No, we’re not cleared hot, not yet. The noise will ruin us.”

“Even with suppressors?”

“The birds are still too far out. We can’t risk a full engagement yet.”

“She’s running right into a belt-fed gun. Are you really willing to leave her exposed like that?”

In the time it took Danko to get that question out, Emily had closed the distance to the hostile position. Three men with what looked like a large-caliber automatic weapon – something big enough to use against an air-intrusion. She was on top of them almost before they had a chance to react. A sudden leap carried her across the cover-wall they had dug for themselves, moonlight glinting off a long, steel blade she drew over her shoulder.

Danko squinted through the rifle-scope, straining to see more detail in the low light, and imagining he saw it, though he heard nothing, no screams or groans carrying across the ravine. A few quick strikes, delivered in the space of a heartbeat – she kicked one man in the throat and stabbed a second in the face, perhaps jamming the blade through an eye socket, then pivoted to hack through the neck of the third man as he raised a rifle in her direction. Two more strokes finished the others, and for a moment, Danko thought he could see the red mist that would have to cloak such mayhem, though that was hardly possible in this light.

“No fucking way,” Danko said into the radio. “Are you sure she’s George’s daughter?”

“Give it a rest, Danko.”

“Didn’t you see…”

“I’m too busy watching for movement in Diao’s camp.”

“Right,” he said, turning to scan the lower ground. “No movement in the ravine.”

As Emily turned down the main slope leading to the front of the notch, Danko brought his barrel around to cover the intervening ground, though he couldn’t fire even if he spotted any hostiles. He didn’t dare cross Connie.

“She’s coming your way,” he said. “Do you have her?”

“Yes, just behind the trees, halfway along.”

“Do you have her on comms? Is there a malfunction?”

“Maybe, but she might just have turned it off.”

“What the…why in hell would she do that?”

“Probably doesn’t want the distraction,” Connie said.

“Going in blind is insanity. The girl’s a damned killing machine, but this…”

“Don’t let her hear you talking like that. You have no idea what doing this sort of thing costs her.”

“You’re getting soft, Savaransky.”

S
quatting
behind some sort of evergreen shrub, dense enough to conceal her –tropical trees, with huge leaves and garish blossoms, towered over her on either side – Emily wanted to scream. Tears streamed down her cheeks as the images she’d only just seared into her consciousness merged with deeper memories of men ripped from the world of the living, some still shocked by the unexpectedness of the ending that had caught up with them, others perhaps bemused by their loss.

“Why must their destinies bring them to me to be extinguished?” she muttered. “Is there no one else ugly enough for the work?”

The moment passed, and she recognized the emptiness of those passions by contrast to the enormity of the task that lay before her. Looking down into the encampment of Diao’s men, she counted the tents, only a few of which dotted the area, while lean-to’s sprouted from the verdure here and there. It looked as though the largest number slept under the open sky, their rifles next to them, or collected in stands in the midst of larger circles.

“If Toshi is even here…” Emily ran through the likelihoods. “… and she’s still alive… but Diao will have wanted to use her as leverage against the Japanese conspirators, even if they wanted her dead… she’s probably in one of the tents.”

She scanned the figures visible on the ground, and reaffirmed her sense that Diao would conceal the child. The camp was quiet, which suggested that their arrival hadn’t sounded an alarm.
Could it be a trap?
But what would be gained by pretending not to be ready? If they had any notion their location was known, it would make more sense to have everyone dug in along the ridges and on high alert.
Diao must think I was killed when the Phrog went down, and he figures no one will be able to mount a full-scale assault on his camp before his father’s forces evacuate them.

Two sentries rounded the perimeter of the camp, crossing at the wide end of the berm that formed a natural defensive position, and two others sat near a fire behind the berm. All the rest appeared to be asleep. If the men she’d killed had managed to signal, no one seemed to have heard it, and the ridge itself, at more than a hundred meters high, prevented all but the spotters from hearing the explosions.

The watch she’d borrowed from Durant showed zero-four-twenty, which meant the birds were still more than thirty minutes out. She bided her time and estimated Diao’s troop strength from what she could see – eighty or ninety men, plus the seven she’d already killed, as well as a few lost in the initial attack on the Crown Prince’s family. That would bring the total up to the standard size of an infantry company in the PLA. He’d brought a hundred twenty men onto the BHR, and if all wishes were granted, that would mean there were no other patrols to worry about.

It took ten minutes to cover the remaining hundred meters in stealth, circling at an isocline halfway down the eastern ridge to reach a position directly under the notch, where the ridgelines merged. She’d try the tents first, and hope for the best.

Placing heel in front of toe, and moving with the utmost care, she peered through the mesh air vent on the nearest tent, and counted three bodies, and none small enough to be the one she sought.

The second tent had been erected a few meters away, but a nest of soldiers had chosen to take their rest in the middle of the most direct path. Circumnavigating them forced her to walk behind a clump of fruit trees, the sweet scent filling the heavy air. As she came around the far side, she practically bumped heads with a stumbling man – a somnambulist, perhaps, or just someone answering the call of nature. Whatever had roused him, he wasn’t fully awake and merely grunted as he passed her. She retreated behind the fruit trees and tracked him for a few yards, until he stopped and stood facing a large shrub. A long moment later, he stumbled back to his original bed, none the wiser for having brushed past her.

Back on the move, Emily followed her original arc along the periphery, always keeping one eye on the sentries, who looked like they didn’t intend to make a complete circuit. The second tent pressed up against a large fern, which would make it difficult to access the air vent without rustling its branches. She considered cutting a slit along the exposed side, but thought better of making such a disturbance.

Just as she began to slip the
wakizashi
back into the
saya
, a sound alerted her to a presence nearby she hadn’t accounted for, not expecting to find anyone set up between two large rocks a few feet above the main encampment. But the sounds of human speech were unmistakable, whispered though they were. She circled back the way she had come, and came down behind the rock formation. Either someone was talking in his sleep, or she’d have to settle with them before continuing.

The rocks formed a short passage, perhaps three meters long and wide enough for three or four people to shelter between them. Perhaps what they’d sought here was shelter from the moonlight, which struck the formation obliquely, casting a shadow off to one side and in between.

Crouching behind the larger of the two rocks, she listened intently for a sound, or any indication that they were awake or alert to her presence. She tilted her head to take in more whispers, and concluded that it was snoring. There was nothing left but to make her move. She drew the sword over her shoulder and prepared to slash at whatever she found.

What she found in that narrow defile caught her by surprise – two men, armed with rifles, had dozed off on guard duty, and a few feet away the little princess lay quietly on one side with her head resting on her hands. She still wore the blouse and pink skirt everyone associated with her from the press photos. Her hands and feet were not bound, which was a kindness to a small child, but they’d taken her shoes, no doubt to discourage her from running off. Occasionally, she whispered something in her sleep, and the guards had grown so used to it that they didn’t stir at the sound. Was it a prayer for her protector to come? If so, it lightened Emily’s heart to think that she could answer it.

Now, to extricate her prize from this predicament. Did she have to kill the guards in their sleep, or could they slip away without disturbing them? The fact that Toshi might cry out if awakened settled the question. A choke-hold would simultaneously wake them, and render them even more deeply unconscious, all without letting them cry out. Reaching an arm around from behind, one at a time and careful not to let them disturb each other, Emily choked off each man without waking the other, relieved to be able to spare them, if only for the princess’s sake.

As for Toshi, Emily decided to risk waking her, scooping her up as quietly as she could manage. Without even opening her eyes, the little girl draped her arms around Emily’s neck and rested her head on one shoulder.

Moving in silence while carrying a child proved considerably more difficult and time consuming than she’d anticipated. Short steps at first, as she pushed up along the bottom of the slope. If she could make the ridgeline, Perry would be there to cover their escape.

Halfway up the hill, and almost a hundred meters from the camp, Toshi whispered in Emily’s ear: “Ama.” It took a moment’s gentle persuasion and a kiss to extricate herself from the princess’s grasp.

“We have to be as quiet as we can, your highness.” Emily stood her up behind a tangle of foliage and branches, and whispered to her. “Can you be brave for a little longer?” Toshi nodded, and Emily pulled the little girl onto her back, hitched her legs up under her arms, and set off up the hill, less concerned about silence as the distance between them and Diao’s men grew.

Finally, once they’d gained the ridgeline, Emily took off at a dead run toward Perry’s position. The moon had dipped low enough to silhouette the pair against a sky just beginning to hint at the blue to come. If anyone in the camp had cared to glance upwards, they’d be easy to see, but Emily figured speed was worth the risk. They’d only be exposed for a few seconds.

“Holy sh… well, damn, Marine, you did it.” Perry pulled them into some cover just below the ridgeline, on the far side. “We’re losing the advantage of darkness.”

“Any word from the birds?” Emily whispered.

“What happened to your radio?”

“I lost it somewhere along the way.”

“You’ve been out of contact this whole time?”

She cocked an eyebrow and gave him
that look
. “The birds?”

“Fifteen minutes out, but one malfunctioned and had to turn back.”

“Crap. That means we’re still seriously outnumbered. If we have to fight it out… things could get ugly.”

The princess squirmed off Emily’s back and looked up at her meaningfully, as if to suggest that an important piece of protocol had been overlooked during this conversation.

“
Hime, kochira wa Perry-san desu
,” Emily said, with a bow, then turned to Perry. “Allow me to present Princess Akane of Japan.” When Perry didn’t bow right away, she nudged his shoulder, and he got down on one knee.

“
Hajimemashite
,” the little princess said, nodding slightly, and then giggling.

Emily whispered in his ear, and he turned to the princess and said, “
Yoroshiku, hime
.

Once the introductions were over, Emily scooped Toshi up and swung her onto her back. “Let’s move. I want to be on the beach when the bird lands. She’s getting off this island ASAP.”

“Do you want me to carry her? We might make better time.”

“Probably, but I’m not sure she’ll accept anyone but me.”

“Well, then, keep your eyes open for two roving patrols. Connie spotted one rounding the southern tip. They may be coming our way.”

“Can we avoid them by going through the ravine?”

“Yes, but it’s uneven terrain, and dense vegetation will make stealth impossible. We’ve got overwatch in there, but it’s not a clear field… lots of places for an ambush.”

“Fine. Let’s run the ridge and dodge into the ravine closer to the beach. Signal Kathy and Durant to meet us at the LZ.”

The moon fell toward the horizon quickly, promising to bring a new, if temporary, darkness to the scene. By this point, they were more than half a klick from Diao’s camp, and stealth was not nearly as important. Once the ridgeline had dipped to little more than twenty meters high, Emily signaled to Perry and they looked for a path down.

“Eyes open for trip wires,” he said in a hush.

“You better take her.” Emily slipped the princess over her shoulder until she held her face to face. “Will you permit Perry-san to carry you?”

Toshi contemplated this suggestion for a few seconds, turning to consider Perry’s face in what little light remained from the moon. Finally his charms won out, or perhaps the appeal of riding on much broader shoulders – “
Hai, Ama-san
.” – and she reached out for him.

“Don’t follow too closely… just in case, you know.” She slipped the strap for the M4 over her head and drew the
wakizashi
, careful not to let it flash in the light. “What kind of rounds do we have for the grenade launcher?”

“Six HE rounds.”

“Any Starbursts?”

“One, I think, maybe two. Do you have a plan?”

“If we have to light ’em up, Connie and Danko may be able to do some damage from their overwatch.”

She knew the downside to this tactic, since the Starburst round would probably blind her snipers as much as it would Diao’s men. All she could do was shake her head and hope it didn’t come to that. Then she was off, moving at speed on a diagonal course into the ravine, with Perry picking his way with more care and trying to keep eyes on her in the dark.

The ravine floor proved to be more uneven than she expected, undulating gently for most of it, and broken by at least one steeper interrupted rise that she could see. The most regular trajectory, and the one freest of obstructions appeared to run along the base of the western ridge, and this also seemed desirable because it promised to bring them out near the position occupied by Durant and Kathy.

It didn’t take long to discover a problem with this path – the glowing end of a cigarette signaled danger twenty meters ahead, though she’d already been tipped off by the smell of smoke that hung in the still air. She held up a hand to signal Perry, and reckoned the distance remaining to the LZ. Still too far to risk allowing a general alarm. When she turned around to get Perry’s attention, he didn’t even need to see the expression on her face, which was practically invisible under the darkening sky. He pulled the little princess off his back and held her against his chest, her face looking backwards over his shoulder.

One deep breath to clear her mind, and Emily dug hard on a steep diagonal to her left, meaning to circle above the hostile position, in stealth initially, and then burst down through the underbrush at the last second. If it was only a three-man team, she might dispatch them before anyone got a shot off… but if there were four, she’d have to get lucky.

The foliage parted, and she took her enemies by surprise, growling like a panther in the night, launching herself at them from the darkness. Her blade, like a talon, tore out the throat of one man, and slashed behind the ear of a second, but as he turned away, it caught in the vertebrae of the neck and she had to release it to settle with the last man. A roundhouse kick to the face smothered his voice and left him open to a fierce chop across the throat before he could raise his rifle, but in a spasm a finger caught in the trigger-guard, and squeezed off a round, its report deadened by the heavy, humid air.

“Shit.” Emily wrenched the
wakizashi
from one man’s neck and waved Perry forward, while she wiped the blood from the blade.

“Do you think it carried?”

“No time to worry about it. Let’s just get moving.” She slipped the blade back into the
saya
and pulled the M4 over her back.

“Heads up, everyone. We may have a hot LZ in a second. Over.” Perry put the little princess on his back and ran after Emily.

“Looks like we’re cleared hot,” Connie responded. “Mobile targets only. Over.”

“The bird’s three minutes out,” Perry huffed as he ran, struggling to keep the underbrush from striking the precious burden on his back.