Wall of Night

62

Thirty feet upriver, huddling beneath a tangle of tree limbs beside the bank, Tanner could hear only snippets of Xiang’s words over the rush of the current, so strong it pushed his body nearly horizontal. Already, the icy water was numbing his fingertips and ears. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. The cold felt like a vice around his chest.

Until the moment he’d plunged into the river and realized the strength of the current and the temperature of the water, Tanner had intended to float downstream for a distance, then climb out on the opposite bank and keep going. Instead, he’d turned and started paddling hard upstream, gaining mere feet for every dozen strokes until finally he spotted the branches and latched onto them.

Now he wondered if he’d made a terrible mistake. If Xiang chose this spot as the hub for their search, he’d have to either try to crawl out and slip away or let go and take his chances downstream.

Either way, he couldn’t remain in the icy water for long.

Five minutes after the hind ferried Shen’s men to the opposite bank, it returned and landed at the road junction. Over the beat of the rotors, Tanner heard a barked order, but caught only bits of it: “Two … here … watch.”

He slowly turned his head until he could see Xiang and another man jogging toward the helo. Two soldiers remained behind at the river’s edge.

The Hind lifted off and flew upriver a few hundred yards, then turned and started downriver at a near hover. The belly spotlight clicked on and began tracking across the water’s surface.

Eyes squinted against the downwash, Tanner waited until the beam was nearly upon him then took a gulp of air and ducked under. The light swept over the tangle of branches, started to move on, then stopped. The water went translucent. Leaves and silt swirled around his face.

Come on … there’s nothing here …

The water went dark. Tanner resurfaced. The beam was moving downriver.

From his left, a flashlight beam played over the branches as one of the soldiers walked along the bank. He called to his partner, “Check upstream.”

A laugh in reply. “Xi wang ni war de hao!” Have a good time!

The soldier slipped from Tanner’s peripheral vision. He waited until the crunch of footfalls faded then dug his fingers into the mud and gently pulled himself onto the bank. Ten feet to his right, the remaining soldier stood smoking, his AK held at ready-low.

Shivering now, Tanner clenched his jaw against it and began inching his way along the bank. From the corner of his eye, he could see the patrolling soldier’s flashlight playing along the water’s edge. Suddenly the beam lifted, turned.

Coming back this way.

It took all his self-discipline to not get up and run. He kept crawling, gaining six inches at a time until he’d reached the soldier’s blind spot. Slowly, eyes fixed on the man, Tanner rose into a crouch. He coiled himself, sure the soldier was going to turn.

He didn’t.

Tanner sidestepped left, paused, took another step, paused. The patrolling soldier was fifty yards away, his flashlight beam skimming ever closer. Gotta go, gotta go … Tanner turned, scuttled into the trees along the road, and dropped onto his belly. Heart pounding, he waited for a shout.

None came.

At the bank, the two soldiers joined up.

On trembling legs, Tanner crept across the road, then started running north.

Against every rule he knew but beyond caring, he ran straight down the center of the road for an hour, listening as the braying of the dogs and the thumping of the Hind’s rotors slowly faded into the distance.

All the terror and frustration and exhaustion of the past two days rose into his throat. He wanted to scream. He swallowed it and kept running, and slowly the emotion subsided. With it went all his energy. As if someone had pulled a plug, he suddenly felt numb.

His boot struck a rock. He tripped and sprawled into the dirt.

Stay here, a voice in the back of his head told him. Sleep. You’ve gone far enough.

He rolled himself onto his back and stared up at the stars.

You’ve done all you can. It’s time to let go.

Then, a different voice: If you quit, they’ll find you and kill you.

“No,” Tanner murmured. “Get up, Briggs. Get off the road.”

He rolled his head to the left and saw a steep embankment of stunted pines bordering the road.

Get up, Tanner commanded. Climb the ridge into the next valley. More places to hide there. Find a place, then sleep. He rolled onto his belly, forced himself to his knees, then planted a boot in the dirt, then pushed himself upright. He staggered a few steps, then caught himself. His vision sparkled.

Now run. Don’t think, just run.

He pointed himself at the embankment and started up.

Ten miles to the southeast, Xiang and Shen stood on the lake’s shoreline, watching the Hind hovering over the water, its spotlight slicing through the darkness.

“There’s no way he could have slipped through,” Shen said. “The dogs have been up and down both sides of river; there’s no scent.”

“Then where is he?” Xiang demanded.

“There’s one possibility: he swam with the current and beat us here.”

“Ten miles, in this water?” Xiang said. “I don’t think so.”

“Then what?” Shen snapped. “Perhaps he’s a ghost; perhaps he sprouted wings and flew away.”

“Watch your tone, Lieutenant.”

Shen sighed. “I’m sorry, sir. It’s frustrating. We have no trail, no scent … We were three minutes behind him and now he’s gone!”

“He won’t get out of the country; in fact, I doubt he’ll even try — not yet at least,” Xiang replied. “We have a critical advantage; I think it’s time we use it.”

“What advantage?”

“We know where he’s going.”