“They should serve this at fast-food outlets,” James said. “Brother, this is pretty good.”
“Just don’t start quoting it as soul food,” Manning said.
“Now that you mention it…”
WITH THE MEAL OVER the Uygur broke camp, clearing the site with speed. The cook fires were extinguished, and what was left of the cooked mutton was sliced and wrapped for later consumption. The tents and other items of comfort were packed on ponies. Extra animals were brought forward and saddled.
James eyed the ponies with a doubtful expression on his face.
“Don’t you ride?” Anna asked him.
“I’ve done some,” James said, “but most horses I’ve known understood English and they tended to be taller than the rider.”
Once everyone was mounted they moved off at a steady pace. Shin Tek and his immediate group stayed with Phoenix Force, while the rest took the equipment and spare horses as they set out for another campsite.
“The Uygur keep constantly on the move,” Anna explained. “They do it so the Chinese military have no permanent Uygur base to strike at.”
It was a couple of hours short of midnight. A pale moon shone in the cold sky. A faint breeze soughed down from the distant foothills. It was silent except for the soft plod of the ponies’ hooves and the creak of saddles.
“Man, I got a Beretta in my holster, a P-90 over my shoulder, and I’m riding on a Chinese pony. How weird is that?”
“East meets West,” Manning replied. “The classic situation.”
“Classic my ass,” James said. “All I see is my butt meeting horseflesh.”
McCarter rode at Tek’s side, with Anna close by so she could translate.
“If Kang’s men are tracking Hung and his men, I don’t want to run into them if we can avoid it,” the Briton commented.
Anna spoke to Tek. The Uygur turned and smiled at him, then replied through Anna.
“These Chinese soldiers are like great plodding camels. They make too much noise and they are terrible in the dark. We can ride around them and reach the village. We are quicker on our ponies.” Anna grinned. “Tek says you worry too much. You remind him of his grandmother.”
McCarter wasn’t sure he liked the comparison. “You sure he didn’t mean his grandfather?”
“No,” Anna translated. “Old woman fits better.”
They rode through the rest of the night and into the coming dawn, light sliding down off the higher peaks.
Shin Tek spoke to Anna. “Kang has been our enemy for a long time. He runs errands for his masters in Beijing. They call and like the dog he is, he does their bidding.”
“Our only strength is to strike at them and make them see we will not surrender,” Anna said.
“Surrender?” Tek grunted in distaste at the word. “The Uygur have held this place for too long to surrender. Better to die still free than to exist as subjects of those old men in Beijing.”
Anna placed a slim hand on Tek’s arm. “Let us hope not this day, Shin Tek.”
He nodded. “Rather we give these toy soldiers a taste of real fighting.”
Anna relayed all this to McCarter. He absorbed the sentiments coming from Tek.
“And there I was believing I’m the gung-ho champion.”
“I dare say Tek’s war has been going on a little longer than yours.”
One of Tek’s men appeared from the higher slopes, negotiating the rocky terrain with deft flicks of his pony’s reins. He pulled to a halt to speak with Shin Tek, and the Uygur beckoned to Anna.
“He has seen the village. There were tracks leading in, left by three men.”
“Did he see Hung’s people?” McCarter asked.
“He says not,” Anna stated. “David, it could be they’re simply staying under cover. He does say he spotted some of Kang’s soldiers. They are camped a few miles from the village.”
“How the hell did they get there so fast?”
“Maybe a forced march,” James suggested. “Scouting party sent out ahead of the main squad. There to keep an eye on things until Kang shows up.”
There was sense in that, McCarter admitted. An advance team could establish themselves and have the village under observation to forestall any punitive action by Hung and his men. It was forward thinking on Kang’s part, but it did nothing to make Phoenix Force’s task any easier.
“Sooner we reach the village, the better,” he said. “We need to get to Hung and his people before Kang and company increase the odds.” He glanced across at Anna. “Tell Tek we need to move out now.”
They mounted up and followed Tek’s scout as he led them toward the distant village.
WHEN THEY NEARED the village Shin Tek and his scout rode ahead to establish the distribution of Kang’s men. On his return he went directly to McCarter and Anna.
“They are there,” he said.
“How many?” Anna asked.
“At least eight I have seen. But there could be others. Major Kang’s special troops. They wear his insignia.” There was a hard edge to his voice. “I know those dogs. They have butchered my people. Burned villages. Destroyed our sheep and goat herds so we might starve.”
Anna relayed Tek’s words to McCarter.
“If we take them on now, we’ll lose our advantage,” the Brit pointed out.
Anna understood what he was implying. Engaging Kang’s force now wasn’t something they could risk.
“Shin Tek, I must ask a great favor. I understand how you have the right to settle your grievances with these men who follow Kang. But my friends need to reach our own people before…”
Tek hesitated only a moment before he nodded.
“I gave my word to the tall one. It would bring shame on me if I did not honor it. We will go around these soldiers and find your friends.”
“Thank you, Shin Tek. We are in your debt.”
Tek mounted his pony, gesturing with his arm for them to follow.
They were able to see the remains of the village from their concealed position. The ponies had been herded together and tethered out of sight. McCarter crouched beside Anna and Shin Tek, examining the area. Nothing moved. There was no sound. The village looked completely deserted.
Tek spoke quietly to Anna. “Perhaps your friends have gone.”
“I do not think so. They have no supplies and probably little ammunition. And they have something they must pass along to us.”
“It could be a trap.”
“Shin Tek, all things are possible.”
He smiled. “Yet still you will go into that place?”
“It is why we came here.”
Tek sat with his back to the rock. “Ask your husband-to-be what he would do.”
Anna made the request, relaying McCarter’s answer to Tek. The Uygur sighed in resignation.
“I knew he would say that. If he goes into the village you may find yourself a widow even before you get married.”
“Then it will be a risk I must take.”
Tek shook his head. “Ask what he needs me to do then.”
McCarter considered for a moment. “Give us cover when we go in. Tell him I don’t want him or his men to take risks. I’m grateful for his help getting us here, but I don’t want them getting hurt.”
“He doesn’t want us to get hurt?” Tek slapped his thigh. “If nothing else, this one makes good jokes.”
“He likes your sense of humor,” Anna told McCarter.
“Bloody hell, I have to come all the way to China to find a fan.” McCarter checked his weapons. “Lock and load, people. This is where we do the dangerous bit. Cal, you and Gary cut around the east side of the village. Cover the back door. You spot anyone who isn’t one of us, don’t wait for formal introductions. I’d like to do this without attracting too much attention, but if those Chinese spot us, we fight back. Right now our objective is to get Hung and his people clear, move them to the border and extract them.”
“We’ll give you a call once we’re in positi
on,” Manning said.
The Phoenix Force pair moved away and began a wide circle that would eventually place them in position.
Encizo tapped McCarter’s arm. “We have movement.”
A lone figure had emerged from one of the partially demolished houses, moving lowly, rubbing his eyes. He took a couple of steps away from the front of the house, looking around as if he was hoping to see something—or someone.
“Is that one of Hung’s men?” McCarter asked Anna.
“I think it’s Sammy Cho. That looks like blood on his clothing. He doesn’t look too good.”
The single shot cracked the silence, and the solitary figure turned and dropped facedown on the hard ground, raising dust as he hit. A second shot sounded. The downed man’s head snapped to one side, dark skull and hair fragments blowing out from the gaping exit wound.
“Bastards,” Encizo said. “Looks like they decided not to wait any longer.”
McCarter activated his com-link.
“That was one of Hung’s men being shot.”
“Message understood,” James replied. “We’ll—”
His words were lost by the sudden crackle of autofire coming through McCarter’s com-link.
“Cal?”
No response.
He could still hear the armed engagement.
“Bloody hell,” he exploded.
KANG WAS FURIOUS.
He had only just been informed that his scouting party had spotted an incoming group that appeared to be a mix of Uygur and Caucasian. They were all armed and were closing rapidly on the village where Hung and his people were hiding.
“Major, we may lose our advantage if we don’t do something now,” the sergeant in charge of the scouting party said.
“Then do it,” Kang yelled into his microphone. “Just don’t let them get away. Any of them.” He turned to his pilot. “Get us there quickly. Quickly.”
“WATCH YOUR BACKS,” Calvin James called through his com-link. “We have hostiles on our flank.”
McCarter was relieved to hear James’s voice, but not so happy that his people were under attack.
“Let’s move,” he said.
Shin Tek called to his men and they ran for their horses, throwing themselves into their saddles and heading the ponies in the direction of the opposite side of the village where more Chinese had appeared. As they rode they opened fire, screaming defiance at the enemy. Their weapons crackled as they headed in the direction of the troops. Bullets slashed into the Chinese, at least two men stumbling in shock and pain from being impaled by Uygur arrows. Tek’s band rode in a hit-and-run tactic, galloping into and through the troops, then moving rapidly away to regroup for another strike.
McCarter turned his attention to the closest Chinese, sensing there might be an influx of men above the few they had initially seen. Kang’s main body of men? Whoever, they added to Phoenix Force’s problems. Hostilities had commenced. They were going to have to deal with whatever hand had been dealt.
The rattle of autofire exploded around them. Bullet hits scarred the rock and spit up spumes of gritty earth. Shell casings glittered in lazy arcs as they were expended from ejection ports, bouncing as they hit the ground.
McCarter, with Anna close by and Encizo bringing up the rear, directed his fire at the Chinese who emerged from cover on his left flank. They were moving down slope toward the semiderelict house Sammo Chen Low had emerged from.
The Briton felt the P-90 vibrate as it spat out 5.7 mm slugs. The burst caught the lead Chinese, dumping him hard on his knees, his muscles suddenly becoming slack. He fell facedown, arms limp at his sides. As the stricken man went down, McCarter turned his SMG on the downed man’s partner, raking him side-on. The volley cored in and shattered bones before penetrating deeper to cleave through ribs and heart.
Anna had spotted more gunners and turned her own weapon on them. She touched the trigger and took out the man in the lead, edging her weapon around, hitting the next man in the shoulder. She was about to fire again when the crackle of a P-90 came from close by and she saw Encizo cut the man down, then turn at the hip and loose a volley that caught another Chinese as the man sidestepped his falling colleague.
There was little time for anything else but to aim and fire, picking targets as they showed and hoping to pull the trigger before the opposition could. The immediate area was alive with the snap and whine of cross-firing weapons. The adrenaline surge of no-quarter combat left little time for anything but the individual to struggle to stay alive and cut down the enemy.
And then into the maelstrom of the killing ground came the rising thwack of helicopter rotors. The swirling downdraft from the swooping bulk of the machine bringing Major Kang onto the scene caused a sudden fog of gritty dust. From his position looking down on the battleground he made a decision and ordered his door gunner to open fire on the enemy.
“On what target, Major? There is so much dust I can’t tell who is who.”
Kang reassessed the scene below. Despite his annoyance at the door gunner’s response, he had to admit the man was right. The dust cloud had obscured the target area. He turned to his pilot and jabbed a finger in the direction of the hazy outline of the only village structure still capable of offering shelter.
“There. Put one of your HE missiles into that house. It should bring those damned dissidents into the open.”
The pilot, aware of Kang’s anger when challenged, knew better than to even think about questioning his commander’s orders. He eased the hovering chopper around until he had the target in front of him. He dropped the nose of the helicopter, quickly setting his fire selector to activate the missile pod, and took his shot. The slim HE missile blazed its unerring way from pod to target and took out most of the structure in a burst of flame and smoke. Debris was thrown in all directions.
Kang smiled, a personal satisfaction at having achieved something.
“The only way to deal with vermin. Blow them out of house and home.” He turned to his pilot. “Again.”
JAMES AND MANNING, choking on the thick dust, hauled themselves to their feet. They had been closing on the house, exchanging fire with the darting figures of the Chinese troops, when the missile struck, slamming them off their feet. The hot wind of the explosion gusted over them.
“You okay?” Manning asked.
James nodded. “Close but no cigar.”
As they stumbled to their feet, checking weapons and themselves, they could still hear the rattle of gunfire from the far side of the house.
“The hell with this rear offensive,” Manning said. “Those Chinese have scattered to the front. We need to be there.”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s move, partner.”
As they moved forward, James caught a glimpse of the second missile as it burned the air on its way in.
“Gary…” he yelled, his warning lost as the missile struck.
It exploded a split second later. The sudden glare of the blast seared his eyeballs, leaving him momentarily blinded. James felt an invisible force catch him and lift him off his feet. The concussion sucked away sound and sensation, dragged the breath from his body. He knew he was being thrown through the air, but the feeling was so off the scale he had no way of resisting…almost a sensation of freefall…and then he hit the ground again, hard. It left him stunned. The heat washed over him and he caught the thumping roar of the explosion, then nothing.
JAMES SQUEEZED HIS EYES shut, hoping the double-vision effect would fade. When he opened them again the haze had gone and he saw that the battle lines had altered completely.
Kang’s helicopter had swooped down and hovered above the area fronting the demolished house, close to the ground. The swirling rotor wash flung smoke and dust in all directions. Behind the chopper a pair of Multipurpose Combat Vehicles, with swivel-mounted Type 89, 12.7 mm machine guns, had rolled into view. The machine guns, including the door-mounted one in the helicopter, were covering Phoenix Force.
There was
a moment when it seemed McCarter might carry on fighting. He had taken in the superior firepower of the machine guns and the Chinese soldiers facing his people, and James could almost hear the thoughts inside his commander’s head. There might have been a time, long past, when McCarter could have conceivably defied the odds and gone for broke. Command of Phoenix Force had changed him. McCarter was no quitter, but even the former wild child of the SOG knew the limitations of reckless action. He assessed, deliberated and lowered with obvious reluctance, his P-90.
“For now,” he said. “We don’t have any choice.”
The others followed suit.
James, as had McCarter, saw the mounted Uygur, riding out of sight beyond a distant ridge, away from the combat zone. Shin Tek was taking his men to safety until they could regroup and offer stiffer resistance. In the distance he could hear someone ranting wildly in Chinese. He focused himself toward the sound and saw a uniformed officer directing his armed troops. There was a frightening sense of rage emanating from the man. His soldiers scattered, eager to carry out his orders—or at least to remove themselves from his anger. Whatever else had happened here this man was less than happy with the result.
Glancing around James saw McCarter, Encizo and Anna in a similar position to himself. He caught McCarter’s eyes. The Briton had a bloody gash across his left cheek. Blood had streamed down to soak the collar of his combat suit. He looked, James thought, suitably pissed off.
Kang’s soldiers moved quickly to disarm their captives. They bound their hands behind them, then the prisoners hurriedly herded together in front of the man they were to know as Major Kang.
The man walked along the line, studying his prisoners, nodding to himself. There was almost a look of relish in his cool gaze, as if he were congratulating himself on this success. When he reached Mei Anna, his pleasure became even clearer. He cupped her chin with his hand, forcing her to look directly at him.
China Crisis (Stony Man) Page 11