See You in Saigon (16 page)

Excited, he
hurried back inside to where his younger brother waited obediently inside the
duct.

“Come on,” he
whispered as he pulled the grill open. “I didn’t see anybody. Let’s go.”

Needing no urging
to join the adventure, Van scrambled easily through the opening, jumped to his
feet, took his brother’s proffered hand and let himself be led around the
machinery and up the stairs. Opening the door once again, Xuan did another
quick scan, determining the area remained deserted then crouched down and
stepped out, pulling Van down with him before quietly pulling the door shut.

“Do you see those
bushes there?” Xuan asked as he pointed, keeping his tone low, “In front of
that big rock?”

“The ones with the
white flowers?” his younger brother whispered.

“Yes, those ones,”
Xuan confirmed. “When I say go, we’re going to run there and hide between the
bushes and the rock, okay?”

Van nodded with
enthusiasm. “Okay.”

Following a last
look around for any signs of danger, Xuan whispered, “Let’s go.”

Together, they
sprinted off, with Xuan letting his younger brother take a slight lead to stay
behind him, and covered the thirty foot distance in mere seconds.

“Now what?” asked
Van, looking pumped and flushed, not from the run but more so from the thrill
of their adventure. “Should we go to that door in the wall?”

“We have to always
be careful nobody sees us,” said Xuan, looking toward the house and its side windows
before turning to examine the remaining fifty feet to the outside wall. “If we
go straight to the door, we have nowhere to hide.”

“But we can get
out and run away,” Van insisted. “Then we don’t have to hide.”

Xuan gave his
brother a stern look. “Do you want to get in trouble with
Bà
?”

“No,” Van
muttered, shaking his head as he stared at the ground.

“Then you have to
do what I say,” said Xuan.

“Okay, but don’t
tell
Bà
,” Van replied.

“I won’t,” Xuan
promised before falling silent for a moment as he surveyed the grounds then
pointed to their next destination some fifteen feet away. “We’ll go from here
to that tree.”

“But it’s farther
from the door,” his brother argued.

“Van,” Xuan
growled. “We’re going there and hide behind that tree.”

“I know, I know,”
Van replied, “But it’s farther from the door.”

“Go, now,” Xuan
ordered.

They dashed to the
tree, making it safely and, over the next couple of minutes, continued their
trek from one source of cover to the next until they were crouched behind some
ornamental shrubs which lined the outside wall. From there, they quickly
crawled to the door which they hoped would allow them an easy escape.

“We’re almost
there, Van,” Xuan murmured from one side of the recessed door, pausing for a
moment as the anticipation of succeeding collided with the fear of something
going wrong.

“Well, open the
door,” his younger brother replied. “Then we can find someone to call
Ông
and he will save everybody.”

“I know but I’m
scared someone might see us,” Xuan explained. “Maybe someone is watching from a
window and there’s nothing to hide us.”

“But the door is
right there,” said Van. “I can open it if you want.”

“Maybe, because
you’re smaller,” Xuan agreed. “Let’s look around first to make sure there’s
nobody.”

They scanned the
property from front to back but failed to see anyone around. If any of the men
were watching from the windows, they weren’t visible. With a sigh, Xuan
accepted they had to take a chance.

“Okay, crawl to
the door,” he directed his brother. “Then stand up and open it as fast as you
can.”

Without any
hesitation, Van hastened over on his hands and knees, rose to his feet, tried
the door and said, “It doesn’t open.”

“Are you sure?”
asked his brother. “Try again.”

“I’m trying,” Van
replied. “It doesn’t work. You try.”

Throwing caution
to the wind, Xuan jumped to his feet, grabbed hold of the door handle and
pressed down on the thumb piece but it didn’t budge. Grabbing hold of his
brother, he pushed him down behind the bushes and dropped down next to him, out
of sight.

Pointing back in
the direction from which they had come moments earlier, he said, “We’re going
to climb that big tree over there to go over the wall.”

Van looked at the
closest of several mature oak trees growing every thirty or so feet along the
length of the wall, grinned at his brother and said, “That’s a lot more fun
than a door.”

* * * *

La Sa'ng fumed as
he rounded the corner of the house from the backyard onto the side of the vast
property. He understood he and the other ‘hired help’ were being handsomely
compensated for this gig but did not appreciate how they were being ordered
around in such an unruly manner. In the meantime, Thao’s regular crew had kept
themselves busy drinking and loafing around as soon as the people they had
kidnapped had been locked into their rooms.

Anyhow, he
reasoned as he performed his ‘patrolling’ duty, the sum Thao had offered for
this job
was
substantial and he actually hadn’t done much either except
for being present when they had nabbed the three women and locked the cop in
the trunk of his car. Since, all he’d had to do was a first shift of guard duty
the previous afternoon which had consisted of lounging in a comfortable
armchair while playing games on his mobile. His next shift, he had been told,
would be as of midnight, leaving him over twelve hours to relax, eat and drink
free beer. Perhaps being asked to take a stroll around this lavish property
wasn’t so bad after all.

Pleased with his
change of attitude, he continued his round with purpose, scanning the grounds
before him as he made his way toward the front yard of the home though not
expecting to see anything out of the ordinary. Directing his gaze toward the
wall which enclosed the property, what he saw caused him to stop short in
surprise. Partially obscured from view by a tall oak, two young boys stood atop
the ten foot wall.

Though the boys
represented no danger in themselves, either or both risked injury if they fell
from such a height. Should that happen, it would attract attention which Sa'ng
was certain would not be appreciated by Thao and, even less so by the other,
Scorpion. Accelerating his pace, Sa'ng headed in the direction of the boys,
intent on having them go anywhere but on the property.

* * * *

Through personal
connections completely unrelated with his position or department, General Quang
had secured the services of a seaplane and trusted pilot to provide a bird’s
eye view of the Cao property in Vũng Tàu.

Jerry Washington,
the sole passenger in the 1980 Maule M-5-235C four-seat monoplane, had opted to
sit in the back due to his size and also to have access to the windows on
either side. The handful of passes over the property to date had revealed two
sedan-like automobiles parked in front of the garage on the north side and four
men lounging about the pool in the rear but little else of use.

As the plane
headed east over the peninsula for what the pilot had been informed would be
their final pass, a low one on the south side of the property, Washington
peered intently down, searching for the smallest detail which might be helpful.

“Holy shit,” he
exclaimed as he pulled his mobile from his pocket, quickly finding the contact
he needed to reach. “Jon, where are you?”

“We just got out
of the car at the park,” Jon replied. “Is that you up there?”

“It is,” said
Washington. “This may have nothing to do with anything but I see two kids
standing on top of the outside wall on the park side and some dude hoofing
toward them inside Cao’s property.”

“I see the kids,”
Jon replied, breaking into a run, followed closely by his colleagues. “I’ll
call you back.”

“Jesus,” Chris
exclaimed as the approached the two boys. “I think those are Quang’s
grandsons.”

* * * *

“How do we get
down?” Van asked as they stood on top of the wall.

“We have to go
over there to those trees,” Xuan replied, pointing west where branches of a few
park trees extended toward the wall.

“That’s far,” Van
whined. “I don’t like it up here. I’m scared to fall.”

“You won’t fall,”
his brother encouraged. “We have no choice.”

“I’m scared,” Van
repeated, his bottom lip starting to tremble.

“Hey, you two,” a
shout in Vietnamese interrupted their discussion. “What are you doing up
there?”

Xuan looked down
at the young man dressed in swimming trunks and a t-shirt but didn’t recognize
him.

“W-we were
p-playing in the park and we climbed up here,” he managed to reply.

“Get down from
there right now,” the man ordered. “You can fall and hurt yourself.”

“I don’t want to
fall,” Van cried as tears threatened to flow.

“How did you get
up there?” the man demanded.

“
Xin chào
,”
a voice called from the park side of the wall.

The boys turned
and looked down to see three familiar looking men standing below them.

“It’s the men from
the zoo,” Xuan whispered with excitement then called out, “
Xin chào
!”

“Who are you
talking to?” demanded the young man within the property.

“Jump,” Jonathan
called as he, Chris and Dave extended their arms upward, motioning the boys
toward.

“I think they want
us to jump,” murmured Xuan.

“It’s high,” Van
wailed. “I’m scared.”

“Who are you
talking to?” the young man below repeated. “If I have to, I will climb this
tree to get you down from there.”

“Come on, guys,”
Chris called. “We’ll catch you.”

Xuan and Van
looked down at the three smiling men in the park, gesturing them down then
turned to see the angry young man behind them starting to climb the tree toward
them.

Firmly grasping
his little brother’s hand, Xuan said, “One, two, three, jump!”

* * * *

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon),
Vietnam, late morning

To avoid
attracting any unwanted attention and the risk of Scorpion being forewarned,
General Quang had agreed to remain in Ho Chi Ming City until the last possible
minute before joining the North American operatives in Vũng Tàu. He had
even kept Lieutenant Nguyen, who would be accompanying him when the time came,
out of the loop, simply advising him to remain available to assist him at a
moment’s notice. As he had done for the seaplane used by Washington, he had
also arranged for a helicopter and pilot for himself, once again through
personal contacts.

While the probable
location of the abductees, and their kidnappers, had not been shared with
anyone, formal reports of the crimes had been filed. As a result, much of his
morning had been occupied with visits and calls from colleagues offering
assistance or moral support which had helped time pass while he waited for one
call he truly anticipated – a call from Jonathan or one of his team to get the
ball rolling.

His personal
mobile vibrated in his breast pocket and his pulse quickened as he noted the
caller was, in fact, Jonathan.

“Hello, Jonathan,”
he answered. “How are things progressing?”

“Better than we
anticipated,” Jonathan replied. “I have your grandsons with me.”

“What?” Quang
exclaimed, standing so abruptly his chair crashed into the credenza behind him.
“Are they okay? What happened? Were they released?”

“Yes, they’re
okay,” Jonathan confirmed. “They aren’t injured and they don’t seem
traumatized. The problem is our language barrier.”

“Put your phone on
speaker,” said Quang. “I’ll talk to them and translate.”

For several
minutes, the bilingual discussion went on with Quang and Jonathan asking
questions and both boys responding with surprising precision.

“There’s also a
rather extensive note in Vietnamese the boys gave me which I obviously can’t
read,” Jonathan mentioned.

“Xuan, can you
read the note you gave to Mr. Addley?” Quang asked in their native tongue.

“I don’t
understand a lot of the words,” Xuan replied.

Van giggled and
added, “
Bà
used my crayons.”

“It’s a good thing
you had your crayons,” his grandfather praised. “Thanks to you,
Bà
was
able to write us some information to help us save them.”

“And Van and I
escaped to bring it to you,” Xuan added with pride.