Typhoon Fury

46

Juan and Max watched as Locsin ducked back inside the tunnel with his two men. They kept an eye on the camera feed from the Crawler to see what Locsin would do when he got back to the opening they’d widened.

“Something’s up,” Max said, peeking through the bushes. “You think they’re getting ready to leave?”

“Depends what they found inside that tunnel,” Juan said. They’d heard only snippets of Locsin’s phone conversation, something about documentation but no pills.

“Wait, there are the men he was just talking to.”

“But where’s Locsin?”

The two communist soldiers leaned over the trailer so only their feet were visible to the Crawler’s camera. Juan could hear them unzipping something. Then the men went back toward the tunnel entrance. Max moved the Crawler to the end of the trailer, but Juan could see only the backs of the men. They were each carrying something.

Seconds later, they emerged from the entrance holding Chinese-made Norinco QBZ-95 assault rifles.

Locsin was still nowhere to be seen.

“That’s some high-quality hardware,” Max said.

“And they brought it out for a reason,” Juan said. “We’ve been made.”

Juan looked over his shoulder and saw the Oregon sitting near Manila Bay’s entrance.

“Locsin recognized the Oregon. Someone on his side must have seen it last night when we sank the Magellan Sun and made the connection.”

“But how did they see it? Their trucks were gone by the time we came into the bay at Negros Island.”

“Doesn’t matter now,” Juan said, watching Locsin’s men cross the road where Linc and MacD lay.

“You’re about to have some uninvited guests,” Juan said to them over the radio.

“We see that,” Linc whispered back. “ROE?” He wanted to know the rules of engagement.

“Take them out quietly, if you can. That might lure the rest of them out here.”

“Roger that.”

“Remember, act like they’re wearing full body armor.”

Linc didn’t respond this time. Locsin’s men were too close. Juan trained the red-dot sight of his own weapon on them.

Suddenly the head of one of the men snapped back, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his eye. At the same time, a Ka-Bar knife tumbled through the air, striking Locsin’s other man in the neck. It was a beautiful throw from Linc, and any normal human would have gone down instantly, but the man ignored the mortal wound and raised his assault rifle.

Juan fired a single shot that went through his target’s head, but not before he was able to squeeze off a fusillade of rounds in Linc and MacD’s direction, shredding leaves and branches. The man went down like a marionette cut from its strings.

“Everyone all right?” Juan said loudly. No need for quiet after the gunshots that would have been heard all over the island.

“Thanks for the cover fire,” Linc said. “No casualties here.”

“So much for our ambush,” Max said.

Juan sat up and shifted his sights to the tunnel entrance. “Where’s Locsin?”

“He’s coming back on the camera,” Max said. “He must have been just inside the tunnel when he saw his two goons killed.”

Locsin’s men started pouring out of the hole, but he was waving most of them back into the excavated chamber after they gathered their weapons. He kept two men behind to cover him while he took a screwdriver and opened the hood of the Bobcat. The Crawler’s view was blocked, so Juan couldn’t see what he was doing.

“Where are his men going?” Max asked, incredulous. “I checked the map, and that tunnel doesn’t have an outlet. Are they going to commit suicide?”

“Or they plan to make a last stand in there instead of out here,” Juan said. “You didn’t see any masks on them, did you?”

“Nope. And, luckily, I brought just the thing to get them to come to us.” Max removed one of the canisters of tear gas he’d brought with him. “A couple of these through that hole, and they’ll be shoving each other aside to get out.”

Locsin backed away from the Bobcat carrying the loader’s twelve-volt battery. He motioned for his men to come back and follow through the hole they’d opened.

“What’s he doing with that?” Max asked.

“Let’s find out,” Juan said. He stood and waved for the rest of the team to move forward toward the tunnel.

When they were all together, he said, “I don’t care about anyone else, but we want Locsin alive.” He looked at Raven. “It’s the only way we’re going to find Beth.”

She nodded at him, and they all went in.