The Cover of War

by Travis Stone

  'There.' Cam said pointing to a flat on the river's far bank. Amai and Danny are down there-'

  'Where?' Chaske said peering down. 'Give me a reference.'

  'I see them in my mind.'

  Forgot about that, Chaske thought.

  'They're underground,' Cam said. 'They're in pain.'

  Golota pointed to a break in the jungle, several hundred yards across the river. Chaske went cold; an army of NVA soldiers was marching away from them to the north.

  Blue said: 'Where's that lot off to?'

  'If we knew where we were, I'd tell you,' Golota said.

  Chaske said: 'Ashau, probably. That's an invasion force.'

  Blue said: 'I reckon we're further south than that.'

  Golota shook his head.

  Blue looked at Chaske. 'We gotta warn Command A-SAP.'

  Golota sniggered. 'How? We've got no radio.'

  Chaske watched the enemy force melt into the jungle like they had never existed.

  Cam said: 'We have to get down there.'

  'It'll be suicide,' Golota said.

  'The troops are all gone.' Cam said. 'They're going to battle. I've seen it.' She looked frightened. 'It will cover all of Vietnam in death.'

  Golota sniggered.

  Cam ignored Golota. 'There'll be less than a-hundred troops left here. We've chosen the right time.'

  Chaske felt like he was about to make a fool of himself. 'I won't think less of anyone for not coming,' he said. 'But I'm going down. I trust Cam's judgment.'

  Blue said: 'I'm keen-as-mustard.'

  52

  Triet's words hung over Amai's head like a guillotine blade: He will beg for death, every single day, for the rest of his natural life.

  Amai hadn't stopped shaking. The sorrow she felt was unbearable.

  She imagined life in Hanoi's dehumanizing prison: the years of misery, where one longed for death to free them from the endless torture.

  Her arms were heavy from boring into the clay. Her tears dripped into the spoil, turning the dust into tiny beads of mud. Her hands were shaking almost uncontrollably. She stopped digging.

  There's no use, she thought. It's over.

  'No.' she screamed into the clay. 'I won't give up.'

  She steadied her hands and inhaled through her nose. You're better than this, she told herself. She kept digging.

  The going was painfully slow. Sense of time had long since abandoned her. She dug and scraped and cried with no idea of how long she had been clawing at the doorframe.

  Then the shale hit something hard.

  Metal? She thought.

  She dug around it.

  The bolt.

  She felt a rush of elation and furiously enlarged the hole until it could take her thumb and forefinger.

  She pinched the bolt and tried to work it backwards. It moved a fraction, and then stopped.

  She clenched her teeth and tried to focus all of her strength into her fingers. Sweat dripped through her hair. Her fingers felt like they would snap.

  The bolt moved a fraction, and then came free.

  She pushed the door and it swung open. She felt totally astonished; then she felt triumphant.

  I've done it, she thought. Now what?

  She crawled into the dark, quiet tunnel. Her legs ached, but for the first time in days she felt in control.

  Danny.

  The blackness was total. She felt along the wall, searching for the light cord. Amazingly, she found it. She pulled the chord and the bulb flashed on and blew with a pop. The flash of light imprinted fuzzy circles on the black background.

  But she had seen Danny's door.

  She crawled toward it, running her hand along the hard packed clay. Then she heard Danny. He was moaning in pain. She searched frantically for his door, but all she could feel was dirt. Then her fingers hit wood. She felt up the door's face and found the bolt. She gripped the handle and tried to pull it open, but it refused to move.

  I'm too weak, she thought. It's not going to open.

  She hauled on it with desperation. Then it came free with a crack, skinning her knuckles on the stay. She looked around pointlessly.

  Did anyone hear?

  Acutely conscious of noise, she feared that Triet would return at any moment.

  Amai opened the door. 'Danny?' She whispered.

  Quickly, she thought.

  She crawled into Danny's cell. 'Danny, it's Amai.'

  * * *

  The blackness rolled in dark curves like molten glass, slowly taking the shape of Amai's body.

  Then she called his name.

  He opened his eyes. The blackness flooded in. The reality was too much to take. He felt like he was drowning in oil.

  Panic choked him.

  'Danny, can you hear me?'

  He recognized her voice instantly.

  Amai, he thought. 'Is it really you?'

  'Ssshh. It's me, Danny. I love you.'

  Then he remembered what she had done to him. In his mind it was Amai who had tricked him; Amai who had kidnapped him; Amai who had tortured him.

  This is a trick, he thought. Another torture.

  'Danny, can you move?'

  'Are you here to gloat?'

  'Danny listen-'

  'You people made a mistake-'

  'Danny listen. We don't have time. We must get out of here.'

  * * *

  Something stiff and bristly blocked her path. Amai remembered the baboon. She groped for its legs, found them, dragged it clear, and crawled back to Danny. He lay on his back, feet first. She put a hand on his leg and he groaned. He was too loud.

  'Quiet,' she whispered. 'What's wrong?'

  'My shoulders. They're dislocated.'

  She squeezed up beside him. 'It's me. Everything's okay.' She knew it wasn't.

  Her hand found his deformed left shoulder. 'Whatever Triet told you were lies, Danny.'

  She clasped his hand in hers, took his elbow with the other, and said: 'Say quiet if you want to get out of here.'

  She pulled his arm and felt the joint thump back into place. His body jerked, but he made no sound.

  The fear of capture fizzed through her blood. When will Triet come back?

  She pictured the tunnel, zigzagging up to the surface. That was the direction Triet would come from - and it was the direction of escape.

  She took Danny's right arm in the same manner as she had taken his left. 'You were tricked by a jealous man,' she said. 'Triet's insane. He thinks he owns me, Danny.'

  She pulled. Danny's shoulder relocated. He groaned.

  'I've broken out of my cell,' she said. 'I heard everything they did to you. We have to hurry. They will come back.'

  Amai's senses were primal; bat like; sensing every change in sound, smell, temperature, and taste.

  Something's wrong.

  She stopped. She could smell tobacco smoke, drifting down the tunnel.

  No, she thought. 'He's coming.'

  Paralysis attacked her limbs. What do I do? She felt like a caged animal. He can't catch us.

  Danny spoke in a semi whispered shriek: 'What do we do?'

  'Follow me,' she said. 'We have to go deeper.'

  * * *

  When Triet saw Amai's door ajar, he was struck with disbelief.

  How?

  He swung the lantern light to Danny's cell and saw that his door was also open; the baboon's carcass lying stiff legged in the tunnel.

  Triet could not believe it. Pointlessly, he looked inside the cells.

  They're gone.

  Thanh, his Lieutenant said: 'Where could they go?'

  Triet stopped. He tried to think. He had to assume that they had gone back up the tunnel to the trapdoor, seeking freedom in the jungle above.

  They will be on the surface, he thought with a shot of fright. They could get away.

  He guessed that even if they did escape, the Laotian jungle was too remote to survive for long; and anyway, his soldiers would easily find them. He illumin
ated Thanh's face. 'Get as many men as we have above. They must be found.'

  Thanh went back up the tunnel.

  Triet followed at a slower pace. He felt like he was missing something.

  * * *

  Amai led Danny down further down the tunnel; deeper into the labyrinth.

  She felt several narrow side-tunnels, but kept going straight, favoring the larger main tunnel for speed. Behind her, Danny's hand gripped the bottom of her pajama top. To navigate, she held one hand up in front of her face, and kept the other flat against the wall. She had no idea where the passage led. She just wanted to put as much distance between them and Triet as possible. She had not yet heard sounds of pursuit, and hoped that Triet had gone back to the surface.

  She wondered how long it would take Triet to realize his mistake. He would search relentlessly; he would not stop until he either found or killed them.

  How will we get out of here? She thought.

  It felt like she was leading Danny into the bowels of the earth, but there was no other choice. She hit a T intersection.

  'Which way?' She said.

  'You choose.'

  'Let's go right, the air smells slightly fresher.'

  The tunnel was larger and the walls more worn. She was able to almost stand, and they quickened their pace.

  The tunnel began to curve left in a smooth arc.

  Something made Amai stop. She listened. She could hear sounds. Soldiers were coming towards them.

  Triet? She thought. No wrong direction.

  She remembered feeling a small opening on the left wall, a few yards back. She turned around and pulled Danny toward it. She had no idea where it led, but the voices were getting closer. She whispered: 'In here,' and pushed into the opening, finding herself in a tight, steeply descending tunnel.

  What is this? She thought.

  She slid down a few yards and realized that Danny was no longer behind her. She looked back up but couldn't see. She wanted to yell out to him, but couldn't take the risk of being heard.

  She let the gradient take her, and hoped Danny would follow.

  * * *

  The opening into which Amai had gone was barely shoulder width.

  Danny put his head in. I can't. It's too small.

  He pulled back and knelt in front of the hole, fighting his fear. The soldiers were nearly on him. He could hear their speech clearly.

  Either I stay here and get caught, he thought. Or I follow the woman I love down that hole.

  He was exhausted and dehydrated, but there was a new kind of energy flowing through his body. Everything had changed.

  Amai loves me.

  Her love gave him strength, and his love for her boosted his courage; a courage that he had not known until now; a courage that he needed to survive.

  He pushed his head back into the tiny hole. His shoulders jammed and pain shot into each joint. He gritted his teeth and wriggled inside. It went against everything his mind and body was telling him. It felt awful. But he was doing it.

  He felt a dizzy sensation and realized that he was sliding. Blood rushed to his head. His hands slipped on the smooth clay.

  This is steep.

  Then he realized that the only thing stopping him from sliding out of control were his aching shoulders, pushing against the hard walls.

  Where the hell does this go?

  * * *

  Amai felt a bump and realized she had hit flat ground.

  The space around her felt roomy and the air tasted a little fresher.

  She stood and her head hit the ceiling.

  Where's Danny? Did he follow?

  He landed at her feet and she felt relief. She reached for him in the dark, found his hands, and pulled him to her. She wrapped her arms around his chest. His familiar scent comforted her. She meshed her fingers into his hair and searched for his lips with hers. His mouth tasted wonderful, and images of their romance rushed through her mind.

  Danny groaned. She couldn't tell if it was his shoulders or her kiss. She sucked his lips and kissed what felt like an eyebrow. Her eyes longed to see him.

  Voice fragments echoed down from the tunnel above. Amai held her finger to Danny's mouth.

  The voices moved on. Their presence had gone unnoticed.

  She whispered: 'We have to find a way out.'

  Danny's hands gripped her waist and she could feel his hot breath on her neck.

  He said: 'Where are we?'

  'No idea. Let's keep moving.'

  She took three steps and felt the ground wobble. 'Hatch.'

  She dropped to her knees and groped for the handle. She found it and lifted the door. 'I'll see where it goes.'

  In Cu Chi, a hatch like this could have been booby-trapped, but such a precaution wasn't necessary here, as the NVA didn't expect enemy infiltration.

  She gripped the frame and lowered herself down. As she dangled in space her heart leapt - it wasn't as dark. Then the rotten timber crumbled in her grip and she fell.

  Her mind raced: Is this a well shaft? How far-?

  She landed on her backside.

  Looking back up, she could see Danny's outline. 'I'm okay,' she said.

  Danny dropped down beside her. She looked around, saw what looked like water, and realized her thirst.

  She said: 'Water,' pulled Danny toward it, and knocked over a stack of tin buckets. The clang was tremendously loud and reverberated back up the tunnel. She cursed herself.

  She dropped to her knees and started gulping. It tasted divine. Beside her, Danny drank like a wild animal.

  Poor soul, she thought.

  A feeling of deja vu struck her. I've been here before. But she couldn't recall the narrow access passage. Then she almost laughed out loud.

  During her training, prior to infiltrating Saigon, she had come here for water. This aquifer was the water-point for an underground kitchen. The narrow tunnel that she and Danny had come down to escape the soldiers was only a ventilation shaft.

  The water lapped at her knees. She guessed that the motion was caused by the big river to the south of the knoll.

  Even from underground, she could picture the landscape above: the large, dome-shaped hill that the tunnel complex had been bored beneath; the never-ending jungle; and the river, which flowed for several hundred miles to join the Mekong.

  An image flashed into her mind: she saw herself swimming under the aquifer and out into the main river.

  'Got it.' she said.

  'Got what?'

  'Wait here. Don't move. I'll be back soon.' She waded into the cool, dark water.

  'Are you crazy?'

  'You know I am.' She went under and opened her eyes. Beneath the surface the water was greenish. She swam down a few feet to the bottom. A rock wall stopped her from going further.

  She surfaced for air.

  'You okay?' Danny whispered.

  'There's got to be a way out,' she said breathing in through her nose. 'It's not all black down there.'

  She went back under, groping the rock with her hands; it felt porous, like limestone. To her right, the tone lightened. She swam into a cavernous area. She lifted her head and broke the surface. A gap of several feet separated the water and the cave roof.

  Amai took a breath and went back down. She could see driftwood bobbing up and down only feet away.

  The river.

  Amai re-surfaced in the cave, took more air, and then sunk back under. Beyond the debris, sunlight dappled the river's surface.

  I need air.

  She swam under the driftwood and kicked up, and broke the surface.

  Then she realized that something was wrong.

  She wasn't in control. The current was pulling her downstream. Fright hit her. I'll be swept away.

  She saw a log, sticking out from the bank. She grabbed for it and missed - the current was too strong.

  * * *

  Even before the whistles started blowing, Danny knew that something had gone wrong.

  Where is sh
e?

  He knelt at the aquifer's edge, watching its dark surface, hoping that Amai would re-emerge. Voices and whistle blasts echoed in the tunnels above, igniting his panic.

  They're coming, he thought. Where's Amai? His skin crawled. Has she drowned?

  Above, bare-feet slapped the clay.

  The black water slapped his knees. Where the hell is she?

  Triet's soldiers were closing in. Danny knew that he had to react. Cigarette smoke scented the air.

  Danny understood that only two options existed: recaptured and a life of torture; or drowning with the woman he loved.

  I can't be caught, he thought. I can't go back in that hole.

  Lantern-light flickered on the wall behind him.

  His decision was made.

  He slithered into the water like a reptile.

  53

  The jungle hummed as if it knew something was about to happen.

  Chaske crouched on the riverbank, behind a mass of shovel-shaped leaves, peering across the river. The opposite bank was a sandy beach, littered with boulders. A trail led west from the beach, tracing the river a short distance before turning into the green abyss.

  'This is it,' Cam said.

  Chaske nodded. The presence of the NVA Army certainly suggested that Amai and Danny could be held somewhere close. He thought: Maybe Cam's right. His gut squirmed. What if she's wrong?

  'There,' Golota said, pointing to what looked like a large termite hill on the far bank. 'Air-vent. It's a fucking tunnel complex.'

  Chaske shed his day-pack and slung his MP-5. 'I'll go across and have a look.'

  'Nice knowing ya,' Golota said.

  Cam gasped and Blue pointed to the river.

  Chaske saw it immediately: a body was in the water.

  In front of Chaske the river widened and slowed. The current released the body onto the beach and it got to its knees and crawled up the bank.

  Cam shrieked: 'It's Amai.' And then she bolted toward the water.

  Chaske reacted instinctively. He shot forward, grabbed Cam's ankle, and brought her down. In one fluid motion, he leapt onto her back and muzzled her with his hand.