Double Impact

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE SOLDIERS’ jeep roared past.

Willy muffled her cry with her fist, desperately fighting the shriek of horror that threatened to explode inside her. She fought it so hard her teeth drew blood from her knuckles. The instant the jeep had passed, her control shattered. She stumbled to her feet and staggered backward.

“He’s dead!” she cried.

Guy and her father appeared at her side. She felt Guy’s arm slip around her waist, anchoring her against him. “What are you talking about?”

“Andersen!” She pointed wildly at the bushes.

Her father dropped to the ground and shoved aside the branches. “Dear God,” he whispered, staring at the body.

The trees seemed to wobble around her. Willy slid to her knees. The whole jungle spun in a miserable kaleidoscope of green as she retched into the dirt.

She heard her father say, in a strangely flat voice, “His throat’s been cut.”

“Clean job. Very professional,” Guy muttered. “Looks like he’s been here for hours.”

Willy managed to raise her head. “Why? Why did they kill him?”

Her father let the bushes slip back over the body. “To keep him from talking. To cut us off from-” He suddenly sprang to his feet. “The village! I’ve got to get back!”

“Dad! Wait-”

But her father had already dashed into the jungle.

Guy tugged her up by the arm. “We’ve gotta move. Come on.”

She followed him, running and stumbling behind him on the footpath. The sun was already setting; through the branches, the sky glowed a frightening bloodred.

Just ahead, she heard her father shouting, “Lan! Lan!” As they emerged from the jungle, they saw a dozen villagers gathered, watching as Maitland pulled his wife into his arms and held her.

“These people have got to get out of here!” Guy yelled. “Maitland! Tell them, for God’s sake! They’ve got to leave!”

Maitland released his wife and turned to Guy. “Where the hell are we supposed to go? The next village is twenty miles from here! We’ve got old people, babies.” He pointed to a woman with a swollen belly. “Look at her! You think she can walk twenty miles?”

“She has to. We all have to.”

Maitland turned away, but Guy pulled him around, forcing him to listen. “Think about it! They’ve killed Andersen. You’re next. So’s everyone here, everyone who knows you’re alive. There’s got to be somewhere we can hide!”

Maitland turned to one of the village elders and rattled out a question in Vietnamese.

The old man frowned. Then he pointed northeast, toward the mountains.

“What did he say?” asked Willy.

“He says there’s a place about five kilometers from here. An old cave in the hills. They’ve used it before, other times, other wars…” He glanced up at the sky. “Almost sunset. We have to leave now while there’s still enough light to cross the river.”

Already, the villagers had scattered to gather their be-longings. Centuries of war had taught them survival meant haste.

Five minutes was all the time Maitland’s family took to pack. Lan presided over the dismantling of her household, the gathering of essentials-blankets, food, the precious family cooking pot. She spared no time for words or tears. Only outside, when she allowed herself a last backward glance at the hut, did her eyes brim. She swiftly, matter-of-factly, wiped away the tears.

The last light of day glimmered through the branches as the ragged gathering headed into the jungle. Twenty-four adults, eleven children and three infants, Willy counted. And all of us scared out of our wits.

They moved noiselessly, even the children; it was unearthly how silent they were, like ghosts flitting among the trees. At the edge of a fast-flowing river, they halted. A waterwheel spun in the current, an elegant sculpture of bamboo tubes shuttling water into irrigation sluices. The river was too deep for the little ones to ford, so the children were carried to the other bank. Soaked and muddy, they all slogged up the opposite bank and moved on toward the mountains.

Night fell. By the light of a full moon, they journeyed through a spectral land of wind and shadow where the very darkness seemed to tremble with companion spirits. By now the children were exhausted and stumbling. Still, no one had to coax them forward; the fear of pursuit was enough to keep them moving.

At last, at the base of the cliff, they halted. A giant wall of rock glowed silvery in the moonlight. The village elders conferred softly, debating which way to proceed next. It was the old woman who finally led the way. Moving unerringly through the darkness, she guided them to a set of stone steps carved into the mountain and led them up, along the cliff face to what appeared to be nothing more than a thicket of bushes.

There was a general murmur of dismay. Then one of the village men shoved aside the branches and held up a lit candle. Emptiness lay beyond. He thrust his arm into the void, into a darkness so vast, it seemed to swallow up the feeble light of the flame. They were at the mouth of a giant cavern.

The man crawled inside, only to scramble out as a flurry of wings whooshed past him. Nervous laughter rippled through the gathering.

Bats, Willy thought with a shudder.

The man took a deep breath and entered the cave. A moment later, he called for the others to follow.

Guy gave Willy a nudge. “Go on. Inside.”

She swallowed, balking. “Do I have a choice?”

His answer was immediate. “None whatsoever.”

THE VILLAGE WAS DESERTED.

Siang searched the huts one by one. He overturned pallets and flung aside mats, searching for the underground tunnels that were common to every village. In times of peace, those tunnels were used for storage; in times of war, they served as hiding places or escape routes. They were all empty.

In frustration, he grabbed an earthenware pot and smashed it on the ground. Then he stalked out to the courtyard where the men stood waiting in the moonlight, their faces blackened with camouflage paint.

There were fifteen of them, all crack professionals, rough-hewn Americans who towered above him. They had been flown in straight from Thailand at only an hour’s notice. As expected, Laotian air defense had been a large-meshed sieve, unable to detect, much less shoot down, a lone plane flying in low through their airspace. It had taken a mere four hours to march here from their drop point just inside the Vietnamese border. The entire operation had been flawless.

Until now.

“It seems we’ve arrived too late,” a voice said.

Siang turned to see his client emerge from the shadows, one more among this gathering of giants.

“They have had only a few hours head start,” said Siang. “Their evening meals were left uneaten.”

“Then they haven’t gone far. Not with women and children.” The man turned to one of the soldiers. “What about the prisoner? Has he talked?”

“Not a word.” The soldiers shoved a village man to the ground. They had captured the man ten miles up the road, running toward Ban Dan. Or, rather, the dogs had caught him. Useful animals those hounds, and absolutely essential in an operation where a single surviving eyewitness could prove disastrous. Against such animals, the villager hadn’t stood a chance of escape. Now he knelt on the ground, his black hair silvered with moonlight.

“Make him talk.”

“A waste of time,” grunted Siang. “These northerners are stubborn. He will tell you nothing.”

One of the soldiers gave the villager a kick. Even as the man lay writhing on the ground, he managed to gasp out a string of epithets.

“What? What did he say?” demanded the soldier.

Siang shifted uneasily. “He says that we are cursed. That we are dead men.”

The soldier laughed. “Superstitious crap!”

Siang looked around at the darkness. “I’m sure they sent other messengers for help. By morning-”

“By morning we’ll have the job done. We’ll be out of here,” said his client.

“If we can find them,” Siang said.

“Find a whole village? No problem.” The man turned and snapped out an order to one of the soldiers. “That’s what the dogs are for.”

A DOZEN CANDLES FLICKERED in the cavern. Outside, the wind was blowing hard; puffs of it shuddered the blanket hanging over the cave mouth. Through the dancing shadows floated murmuring voices, the frantic whispers of a village under siege. Children gathered stones or twisted vines into rope. Women whittled stalks of bamboo, sharpening them into punji stakes. Only the babies slept. In the darkness outside, men dug the same lethal traps that had defended their homeland through the centuries. It was an axiom of jungle warfare that battles were won not by strength or weaponry but by speed and cunning and desperation.

Most of all, desperation.

“The cylinder’s frozen,” muttered Guy, sighting down the barrel of an ancient pistol. “You could squeeze off a single shot, that’s all.”

“Only two bullets left anyway,” said Maitland.

“Which makes it next to worthless.” Guy handed the gun back to Maitland. “Except for suicide.”

For a moment Maitland weighed the pistol in his hand, thinking. He turned to his wife and spoke to her gently in Vietnamese.

Lan stared at the gun, as though afraid to touch it. Then, reluctantly, she took it and slipped away into the shadows of the cave.

Guy reached for Andersen’s assault rifle and gave it a quick inspection. “At least this baby’s in working order.”

“Yeah. Nothing like a good old AK-47,” said Maitland. “I’ve seen one fished out of the mud and still go right on firing.”

Guy laughed. “The other side really knew how to make ’em, didn’t they?” He glanced around as Willy approached. “How’re you holding up?”

She sank down wearily beside him in the dirt. “We’ve carved enough stakes to skewer a whole army.”

“We’ll need more,” said her father. He glanced toward the cave entrance. “My turn to do some digging…”

“I was just out there,” said Guy. “Pits are all dug.”

“Then they’ll need help with the other traps-”

“They know what they’re doing. We just get in the way.”

“It’s hard to belive,” said Willy.

“What is?”

“That we can hold off an army with vines and bamboo.”

“It’s been done before,” said Maitland. “Against bigger armies. And we’re not out to win a war. We just have to hold out until our runners get through.”

“How long will that take?”

“It’s twenty miles to the next village. If they have a radio, we might get help by midmorning.”

Willy gazed around at the sleeping children who, one by one, had collapsed in exhaustion. Guy touched her arm. “You need some rest, too.”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Then just lie down. Go on.”

“What about you two?”

Guy snapped an ammunition clip into place. “We’ll keep watch.”

She frowned at him. “You don’t really think they’d find us tonight?”

“We left an easy trail all the way.”

“But they’ll need daylight-”

“Not if they have a local informant,” said her father. “Someone who knows these caves. We found our way in the dark. So could they.” He grabbed the rifle and slung it over his shoulder. “Minh and I’ll take the first watch, Guy. Get some sleep.”

Guy nodded. “I’ll relieve you in a few hours.”

After her father left, Willy’s gaze shifted back to the sleeping children, to her little half brothers, now curled up in a tangle of blankets. What will happen to them? she wondered. To all of us? In a far corner, two old women whittled bamboo stalks; the scrape of their blades against the wood made Willy shiver.

“I’m scared,” she whispered.

Guy nodded. The candlelight threw harsh shadows on his face. “We’re all scared. Every last one of us.”

“It’s my fault. I can’t stop thinking that if I’d just left well enough alone…”

He touched her face. “I’m the one who should feel responsible.”

“Why?”

“Because I used you. For all my denials, I planned to use you. And if something were to happen to you now…”

“Or to you,” she said, her hand closing over his. “Don’t you ever make me weep over your body, Guy Barnard. Because I couldn’t stand it. So promise me.”

He pressed her hand to his mouth. “I promise. And I want you to know that, after we get out of here, I…” He smiled. “I plan to see a lot more of you. If you’ll let me.”

She returned the smile. “I’ll insist on it.”

What stupid lies we’re telling each other, she thought. Our way of pretending we have a future. In the face of death, promises mean everything.

“What if they find us?” she whispered.

“We do what we can to stay alive.”

“Sticks and stones against automatics? It should be a very quick fight.”

“We have a defensible position. Traps waiting in the path. And we have some of the smartest fighters in the world on our side. Men who’ve held off armies with not much more than their wits.” He gazed up at the darkness hovering above the feeble glow of candlelight. “This cave is said to be blessed. It’s an ancient sanctuary, older than anyone can remember. Follow that tunnel back there, and you’ll come out at the east base of the cliff. They’re clever, these people. They never back themselves into a corner. They always leave an escape route.” He looked at the families dozing in the shadows. “They’ve been fighting wars since the Stone Age. And they can do it in their bare feet, with only a handful of rice. When it comes to survival, we’re the novices.”

Outside, the wind howled; they could hear the trees groan, the bushes scrabbling against the cliff. One of the children cried out in his sleep, a sob of fear that was instantly stilled by his mother’s embrace.

The little ones didn’t understand, thought Willy. But they knew enough to be afraid.

Guy took her in his arms. Together, they sank to the ground, clinging to each other. There was no need for words; it was enough just to have him there, to feel their hearts beating together.

And in the shadows, the two old women went on whittling their stalks of bamboo.

WILLY WAS ASLEEP WHEN GUY rose to stand his watch. It wasn’t easy leaving her. In the few short hours they’d clung together on the hard ground, their bodies had somehow melted together in a way that could never be reversed. Even if he never saw her again, even if she was suddenly swept out of his life, she would always be part of him.

He covered her with a blanket and slipped out into the night.

The sky was a dazzling sea of stars. He found Maitland huddled on a ledge a short way up the cliff face. Guy settled down beside him on the rock shelf.

“Dead quiet,” said Maitland. “So far.”

They sat together beneath the stars, listening to the wind, to the bushes thrashing against the cliff. A rock clattered down the mountain. Guy glanced up and saw, on a higher ledge, one of the village men silhouetted against the night sky.

“Did you get some sleep?” asked Maitland.

Guy shook his head. “You know, I used to be able to sleep through anything. Chopper landings. Sniper fire. But not now. Not here. I tell you, this isn’t my kind of fight.”

Maitland handed the rifle to Guy. “Yeah. It’s a whole different war when people you love are at stake, isn’t it?” He rose to his feet and walked off into the darkness.

People you love? It filled Guy with a sense of wonder, the thought that he was in love. Though it shouldn’t surprise him. On some level, he’d known it all along: he had fallen hard for Bill Maitland’s daughter.

It was something he’d never planned on, something he’d certainly never wanted. He wasn’t even sure love was the right word for what he felt. They’d just spent a week together in hell. And in heaven, he thought, remembering that night in the hut, under the mosquito net. He knew he couldn’t stand the thought of her being hurt, that he’d do anything to keep her safe. Was love the name for that feeling?

Somewhere in the night, an animal screamed.

He tightened his grip on the rifle.

Four more hours until dawn.

AT FIRST LIGHT the attack came.

Guy had already handed the rifle to the next man on watch and was starting down the cliff face when a shot rang out. Sheer reflexes sent him diving for cover. As he scrambled behind a clump of bushes, he heard more automatic gunfire and a scream from the ledge above, and he knew his relief man had been hit. He peered up to see how badly the man was hurt. Through fingers of morning mist, he could make out the man’s bloodied arm dangling lifelessly over the ledge. More gunfire erupted, spattering the cliff face. There was no return fire; the village’s only rifle now lay in the hands of a dead man.

Guy glanced down and saw the other villagers scrambling for cover among the rocks. Unarmed, how long could they defend the cave? It was the booby traps they were counting on now, the trip wires and the pits and the stakes that would hold off the attackers.

Guy looked up at the ledge where the rifle lay. That precious AK-47 could make all the difference in the world between survival and slaughter.

He spotted a boulder a few yards up, with a few scraggly bushes as cover along the way. There was no other route, no other choice. He crouched, tensing for the dash to first base.

WILLY WAS STIRRING a simmering pot of rice and broth when she heard the gunshots. Her first thought as she leapt to her feet was, Guy. Dear God, has he been hurt?

But before she could take two steps, her father grabbed her arm. “No, Willy!”

“He may need help-”

“You can’t go out there!” He called for his wife. Somehow, Lan heard him through the bedlam and, taking her arm, pulled Willy toward the back of the cave. Already the other women were herding the children into the escape tunnel. Willy could only watch helplessly as the men grabbed what primitive weapons they had and scrambled outside.

More gunfire thundered in the distance, and rocks clattered down the mountainside.

Where’s our return fire? she thought. Why isn’t anyone firing back?

Outside, something skittered across the ground and popped. A finger of smoke wafted into the cave, its vapor so sickening it made Willy reel backward, gasping for air.

“Get back, get back!” her father yelled. “Into the tunnel, all of you!”

“What about Guy?”

“He can take care of himself! Go and get the kids out of here!” He gave her a brutal shove into the tunnel. “Move!”

There was no other choice. But as she turned to flee and heard the rattle of new gunfire, she felt she was abandoning a part of herself on the embattled cliff.

The children had already slipped into the tunnel. Just ahead, Willy could hear a baby crying. Following the sound, she plunged into pitch blackness.

A light suddenly flickered in the passage. It was a candle. By the flame’s glow, she saw the leathery face of the old woman who’d guided them to the cave. She was now leading the frightened procession of women and children.

Willy, bringing up the rear, could barely keep track of the candle’s glow. The old woman moved swiftly; obviously, she knew where she was going. Perhaps she’d fled this way before, in another battle, another war. It offered some small comfort to know they were following in the footsteps of a survivor.

The first step down was a surprise. For an instant, Willy’s heel met nothingness, then it landed on slippery stone. How much farther? she wondered as she reached out to steady herself against the tunnel wall. Her fingers met clumps of dried wax, the drippings of ancient candles. How many others before her had felt their way down these steps, had stumbled in terror through these passages? The fear of all those countless other refugees seemed to permeate the darkness.

The tunnel took a sharp left and moved ever downward. She wondered how far they’d come; it began to seem like miles. The sound of gunfire had faded to a distant tap-tap-tap. She wouldn’t let herself think about what was happening outside; she could only concentrate on that tiny pinpoint of light flickering far ahead.

Suddenly the light seemed to flare brighter, exploding into a dazzling luminescence. No, she realized with sudden wonder as she rounded the curve. It wasn’t the candle. It was daylight!

Murmurs of joy echoed through the passageway. All at once, they were all scrambling forward, dashing toward the exit and into the blinding sunshine.

Outside, Willy stood blinking painfully at trees and sky and mountainside. They were on the other side of the cliff. Safe. For now.

Gunfire rattled in the distance.

The old woman ordered them forward, into the jungle. At first Willy didn’t understand the urgency. Was there some new danger she hadn’t recognized? Then she heard what was frightening the old woman: dogs.

Now the others heard the barking, too. Panic sent them all dashing into the forest. Lan alone didn’t move. Willy spotted her standing perfectly still. Lan appeared to be listening to the dogs, gauging their direction, their distance. Her two boys, alarmed by their mother’s refusal to run, stood watching her in confusion.

Lan shoved her sons forward, commanding them to flee. The boys shook their heads; they wouldn’t leave without their mother. Lan gave the baby to her eldest son, then gave both boys another push. The younger boy was crying now, shaking his head, clinging to her sleeve. But his mother’s command could not be disobeyed. Sobbing, he was led away by his older brother to join the other children in flight.

“What are you doing?” Willy cried. Had the woman gone mad?

Calmly, Lan turned to face the sound of the dogs.

Willy glanced ahead at the forest, saw the children fleeing through the trees. They were so small, so helpless. How far would they get?

She looked back at Lan, who was now purposefully shuffling through the dirt, circling back toward the dogs. Suddenly Willy understood what Lan was doing. She was leaving her scent for the dogs. Trying to make them follow her, to draw them away from the children. By this action, this choice, the woman was offering herself as a sacrifice.

The barking grew louder. Every instinct Willy possessed told her to run. But she thought of Guy and her father, of how willingly, how automatically they had assumed the role of protectors, had offered themselves to the enemy. She saw the last of the children vanish into the jungle. They needed time, time no one else could give them.

She, too, began to stamp around in the dirt.

Lan glanced back in surprise and saw what Willy was doing. They didn’t exchange a word; just that look, that sad and knowing smile between women, was enough.

Willy ripped a sleeve off her blouse and trampled the torn cloth into the dirt. The dogs would surely pick up the scent. Then she turned and headed south, back along the cliff base. Away from the children. Lan, too, headed away from the villagers’ escape route.

Willy didn’t hurry. After all, she was no longer running for her life. She wondered how long it would take for the dogs to catch up. And when they did, how long she could hold them off. A weapon was what she needed. A club, a stick. She snatched up a fallen branch, tore off the twigs and swung it a few times. It was good and heavy; it would make the dogs think twice. Prey she might be, but she’d damn well fight back.

The barking grew steadily closer, a demon sound, relentless and terrifying. But now it mingled with something else, a rhythmic, monotonous thumping that, as it grew louder, seemed to make the ground itself shudder. Not gunfire…

A helicopter!

Wild with hope, she glanced up at the sky and saw, in the distance, a pair of black specks against the vista of morning blue. Was it the rescue party they’d been waiting for?

She scrambled up on a mound of rocks and began waving her arms. It was their only chance-Guy’s only chance-for survival.

All her attention focused on those two black pinpricks hovering in the morning sky, she didn’t see the dogs moving in until it was too late.

A flash of brown shot across her peripheral vision. She jerked around as a pair of jaws lunged straight for her throat. Her response was purely reflex. She twisted away and a hundred pounds of fur and teeth slammed into her shoulder. Thrown to the ground, she could only cry out as powerful jaws clamped onto her arm.

Footsteps thudded close. A voice shouted, “Back off! I said back off!”

The dog released her and stood back, growling.

Slowly Willy raised her head and saw two men in camouflage garb towering above her. Americans, she thought in confusion. What were they doing here?

Rough hands hauled her to her feet. “Where are the others?” one of the men demanded.

“You’re hurting me-”

“Where are the others?”

“There are no others!” she screamed.

His savage blow knocked her back to the ground. Too dazed to move, she sprawled helplessly at their feet and fought to clear her head.

“Finish her off.”

No, she thought. Please, no…

But she knew that no amount of begging would change their minds. She lay there, hugging herself, waiting for the end.

Then the other soldier said, “Not yet. She might come in handy.”

She was dragged back to her feet to stand, sick and swaying, before them.

An expressionless face, blackened with camouflage grease, stared down at her. “Let’s see what the good Friar thinks.”