Hendrick unslung his AK47, generously provided by the Chinese, and checked over the weapon and his ammunition. Hang on, Maggie, he thought nervously, then reslung the assault rifle over his left shoulder. He had told the Chinese that an American woman was being held by Chang and that he would escort her back to the United States with their permission. Their reply was something like we’ll see.
A week had passed since he had asked Loh to go to the Chinese, and he had chafed at every delay, even agreeing to a relative pittance instead of the fifty percent he wanted for leading the PRC’s forces to Chang’s headquarters. The delay would have been six months if a quick reaction force hadn’t been in existence, consisting of a secret joint PRC and Filipino command whose charter was to stamp out the pirates that operated throughout the Sulu Sea and up through the Taiwan Strait. The battle plan was to use the Chinese Navy to attack from the sea and the Filipino Army to attack from land.
Finally the smiling little bastard will get what was coming to him, thought Hendrick with satisfaction. He’ll be surprised as hell to see me again.
Chen’s boats went a mile up river until the river curved around and formed a natural cove. In the cove was Chang’s yacht. Hendrick nodded excitedly and repeated Chang’s name a few times to make sure Chen heard him.
This time Chen ignored him and issued orders in rapid fashion. The three inch guns on all the boats opened fire and pounded holes in the side of the yacht, ripping off pieces of wood and metal. Chang’s command ship took on an immediate list and sank quickly in a few feet of water. Chen’s boat quickly pulled up to the pier next to the now sunken yacht, and Chinese marines flowed from the main deck of their boat onto the pier’s wooden deck.
“See ya, Chen. Thanks for the ride,” said Hendrick and swiftly made his way from the flying bridge to the main deck to join the marines. He caught up with the trailing edge of them as they rapidly spread out to search the clearing. Hendrick looked around quickly, noting that the other three boats were also deploying their men around the small village that was Chang’s headquarters.
Gunfire opened up on them from a half dozen different directions at once. Hendrick hit the ground and crawled up behind a palm tree. He pointed his rifle around the tree and returned fire a bare second before the marines returned a devastating barrage into the buildings and underbrush. Chang’s forces fired a rocket-propelled grenade at one of the boats blowing a hole in the hull and sinking it in ten feet of water.
The guns on the boats, a combination of large caliber machine guns and light cannons all aimed at the source of the RPG and blew large holes in the jungle, sending trees, sand, brush, and body parts flying about. The boat crews kept up the barrage until that section of the area was totally devastated.
The marines began to move out and search each building. If they saw any movement within, they threw hand grenades through the windows. Hendrick knew he had to check out the rest of the buildings before the marines got to them. If Maggie was in one of them, perhaps tied up and unable to flee, he would lose her to the very people he was counting upon to rescue her.
Hendrick leaped to his feet, his weapon out in front and hoped that the small PRC flag he had taped to the back of his shirt would keep the boat crews from shooting him in the back. Automatic weapon’s fire opened up to his right, filling the air around him with small concussions as the bullets flew inches from his head. He ducked but kept his legs moving toward a building that looked like it might house a beautiful American woman who was to be sold to the highest bidder.
A grenade went off to his right, and he caught a glimpse of several marines falling wounded. Hendrick piled through the closed door and rolled onto the dirt floor. He got quickly into a crouch and glanced around the room. It contained some ragtag furniture, a bed with stained coverings on it and a pole buried in the ground toward one wall. And something else.
Hendrick went around the bed and grabbed the human arm that was sticking out from behind a corner of the mattress. The arm belong to a young girl whom Hendrick had seen attending to Maggie when he was on Chang’s yacht. He yanked her upright in spite of her attempt to pull away. She expected to be beaten, or worse.
“Where’s Maggie?” asked Hendrick, his hand squeezing her arm unmercifully. He wanted the answer quickly before the Chinese navy blew up the hut that Maggie was in.
“Not here,” said Li Tai Su.
“I can see that,” growled Hendrick. “Which hut is she in?”
“She was taken away,” replied Li.
“Where? Who took her?” asked Hendrick.
“Don’t know,” pleaded Li. “Some kind of raiding party.”
“Where did they go?” asked Hendrick.
“Don’t know,” answered Li. “They hit and took only her.”
Hendrick stared at her, trying to determine if she was telling the truth. She certainly seemed frightened enough. Hendrick let her go and ran to the door. The Chinese marines had swept through the huts, killing almost all the inhabitants although they began to round up a few bedraggled survivors in the middle of the clearing. In the distance he could hear what he thought were the sounds of multiple M16s firing with a few AK47s thrown in. Chang’s forces had been driven inland and had run smack into the Philippine Army units positioned in the jungle to cut them off. Hendrick listened carefully to the cacophony of sounds coming from the jungle. He judged by the sounds of the numerous M16s, which were used by the Filipinos, that Chang’s forces were getting hit hard.
The battle was finally over, smoke from a dozen hand grenades lingering among the trees and foliage. Hendrick took a step outside and studied the area, intending to continue his search for Maggie.
A blur in his peripheral vision turned quickly into a large bulk of a man who hit Hendrick with a lowered shoulder and drove him backward into the hut. They both hit the dirt floor, and Hendrick immediately kicked his way clear of his attacker. The two men separated and stared at each other while Hendrick tried to regain his breath. He inhaled painfully then recognized his adversary. The man five feet away was Lin, Maggie’s large bodyguard.
Hendrick picked up a chair then glanced toward the doorway where he had dropped his AK47. Both he and Lin were equally distant from the weapon. Lin saw the look and immediately lunged for the rifle. Hendrick drove toward him with the legs of the chair out in front catching him across the neck with the lower rungs of the chair. He changed Lin’s course barely enough to prevent the big man from picking up the rifle.
Lin grabbed the chair and wrenched it from Hendrick’s grasp in one powerful motion while Li Tai Su circled around the men and headed toward the door. Hendrick half turned his back toward Lin as the big man threw the chair away disdainfully. Lin charged toward Hendrick.
The American waited a fraction of a second until Lin had come within range then rotated his body and swung his right fist with all his weight behind it. Hendrick’s fist slammed into Lin’s face, sending a spray of blood into the air and snapping the pirate’s head upright, but hardly slowing the big man’s charge.
Lin’s body kept going and pounded into Hendrick, sending him crashing to the ground and sliding painfully into the legs of the bed. Lin staggered forward a few steps and shook his head to clear it. He wiped his face and glared at the streak of blood on the palm of his hand.
Hendrick got shakily to his feet only to receive a thunderous punch from Lin, which sent him sprawling once again. He blinked his eyes quickly to clear his fogged vision and saw Lin standing over him with a thick wooden table high over his head ready to bring it crashing down. He could only raise his arm to shield himself from the impending blow.
An automatic weapon suddenly opened up, sending a host of lead into Lin’s back and through his body, opening up large holes in the flesh of Lin’s chest. Lin gurgled blood and surged forward, falling dead at Hendrick’s feet.
Hendrick looked toward the doorway and saw Li Tai Su with the AK47 in her hands. He stood slowly and staggered toward the young Oriental girl while wiping bloo
d from his nose and mouth. She handed the weapon over to him without resistance.
“Thanks,” said Hendrick, the word coming out distorted through swollen lips. He stared at her, his face asking why.
“Once in a while he would rape me,” said Li in an exhausted voice. “And if I became pregnant, he would kill the babies.” She looked at Hendrick with pitiful eyes. “Sometimes when they were still inside me.” She lifted her blouse and showed Hendrick scars that crisscrossed her stomach.
Hendrick grimaced at what was done to her, and his thoughts immediately went to Maggie. Would she meet the same fate? Hendrick’s stomach turned over, wondering where she was and who had taken her. He tried to shove the thoughts out of his mind by turning to Li Tai Su. She was staring at Lin’s body with tears of hatred flowing down her face.
“He’ll never do that again. Now you are free,” he said. She looked at him uncomprehendingly. He turned to go out the door then glanced over his shoulder at her. “You had better stick close to me. The Chinese might shoot you before I can prevent it.”
Hendrick walked outside and surveyed the area. The Chinese were already at work, stacking the cases of gold up near their boats. Several Philippine Army members were present with a small delegation hovering near the gold. The Chinese and the Filipinos had agreed to split the take, even though the Chinese had claimed any treasure taken from the Awa Maru was theirs, stolen by the Japanese during World War II. The Chinese were to take the gold, all of it, and later recompense the Filipinos in U.S. dollars. His share was to be taken by the Chinese and paid to him in U.S. dollars a month later. His cut was a bit over a million dollars. He would have traded it all in an instant to see Maggie again.
Guttural orders were issued by a Chinese officer and a troop of men marched in a line, stopping in front of the remaining survivors of Chang’s forces. The survivors sat on the ground, leaning against trees and looking about in confusion. The troop of Chinese turned on order, facing the prisoners, then brought their assault rifles up to their shoulders, aiming at the ragtag pirate remnants. Some of the prisoners suddenly caught on and turned to flee in panic. The officer’s quick order and the shattering blast from the Chinese cut them down. A few more scattered bursts from the Chinese rifles and all was still.
Hendrick knew he should be shocked at the killing of the prisoners, but he felt nothing. Li Tai Su’s treatment at the hands of the pirates had shown him just what kind of animals they were. Right at the moment he couldn’t get worked up about the illegal and immoral way the remaining pirates were disposed of.
Two Chinese marines spotted Li and moved to take her from Hendrick. He put up his arm to hold them back, and she shrunk behind the big American. The Chinese shouted something incomprehensible to Hendrick who stood resolute.
“You must be the American,” said a voice to Hendrick’s left.
Hendrick glanced at the man, seeing that he was a Filipino officer.
“Why do you want to save this girl? In love already?” asked the amused Filipino.
“She saved my life,” replied Hendrick while keeping his eyes on the Chinese sailors confronting him. They hadn’t raised their rifles yet, but they were on the verge.
The Filipino spoke in Chinese, and one of the Chinese marines looked over his shoulder in an uncertain manner. He said something in a loud voice and Commander Chen’s head poked up from a group hovering over the stack of gold. He replied in an annoyed tone, and the two Chinese marines began to relax. They gave Hendrick a dirty look and slowly walked away.
Hendrick let out a sigh of relief and turned to the Filipino officer.
“Thanks,” Hendrick said and extended his hand. The Filipino gripped his hand in a warm handshake.
“Captain Carlos Andal,” said the officer. He gave Hendrick a sideways look. “She really save your life?”
Hendrick nodded and jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the hut where Lin’s body was already swelling in the heat. “Check it out.”
The Filipino walked up to the doorway and poked his head in. He came back with an appreciative smile for Li Tai Su. “She really did a job on the fat boy.”
“Yeah. Saved my ass,” said Hendrick. He looked around the clearing. “I don’t see Chang or any of his lieutenants.”
“We didn’t find him, or the other two, Yum and Xu. They apparently took off after someone attacked them a few days ago,” said Andal who fished a cigarette out of a crushed pack from a shirt pocket. He offered Hendrick one, but he declined with a wave of his hand. Andal looked Li Tai Su over and smiled at Hendrick. “So, what are you going to do with her?”
Hendrick gave him a disgusted glance. “Nothing. Not a thing,” he replied. “Maybe it’s time she was free for once.”
Andal raised his eyebrows. “Yes, maybe,” was his quiet reply. “We’ll have to question her for a bit just to see if we can find out where Chang has gone, but she won’t know anything. They never do. Maybe we’ll just escort her to the nearest village. After that -” He shrugged.
“She’ll be okay, won’t she? I mean you’ll treat her all right,” asked Hendrick.
Andal gave him a half insulted look. “I can control my men. We are not like these vermin.” He gestured to the pile of dead pirates in the center of the clearing.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything,” said Hendrick who was chastened by the Filipino’s reply. The Filipino officer nodded to acknowledge the apology.
The Filipino troops set fire to the small village as well as the pile of corpses from the battle. They could see that the Chinese had lost several marines and sailors in the battle. The Filipino army as well had taken some casualties. The Filipinos carried their dead and wounded on stretchers inland down a narrow road to their trucks, which were located well inside the jungle. Captain Andal took his leave of Hendrick and went over to his troops in the clearing. Li Tai Su waited until Andal left then walked up to Hendrick.
“Is Miss Ramsey your woman?” she asked.
Hendrick grunted to himself. “Miss Ramsey is her own woman. She doesn’t belong to anyone.”
“I think she loves you,” Li said with a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Hendrick gave her a sharp look. “What makes you think that? Did she say that?”
“It was the way you looked at each other while you were held captive on Chang’s boat,” replied Li. “Even that stupid pig Lin knew that. And I think you love her.”
Hendrick’s stare softened, but he didn’t want to confirm Li’s suspicions. Was it all that obvious? “You liked Maggie, didn’t you?”
Li Tai Su nodded and her smile grew. “She was so different from me. So intelligent, so big and beautiful - and free.”
“Now you’re free, and she isn’t,” said Hendrick in a low voice.
“Free?” said Li and looked around confused. “I’ve never been free my whole life. Chang had become my family after they had died in an earthquake. Chang had always taken care of me,” she added in a voice that betrayed her realization of what would not happen next. She would not have Chang to lean on anymore. But she wouldn’t be brutalized by Lin either.
Hendrick saw that the Filipino Army was about to depart. He had arranged to tag along with the Filipinos to take a plane to Manila, then back to Taipei. He fell into line with Captain Andal’s men and turned to look back at the burned-out village.
He saw Li Tai Su at the end of the line of Filipinos. She turned and gave the area a relieved, yet nostalgic, final look. She then turned and marched into the jungle with the rest of them.
SOUTH CHINA SEA
I was there.
Masaya Konaka sat in the middle of the spacious stateroom on his privately owned freighter and meditated on things long past. He was in a lotus position with his hands resting gently on his thighs, his back ramrod straight, and his eyes closed. His breathing was a bare whisper.
I marched out of Kagoshima with Saigo Takamori on February 17, 1877 to destroy the Kumamoto Castle and the government’s army of c
onscripts within.
Once again he felt the snow hit him as the wind drove the flakes against his body and face. The sting of the weather was nothing compared to the Japanese government’s actions of the previous year. In 1876 the government had outlawed the carrying of swords, knowing that the samurai carried two swords on their person to enforce justice in their fragmented society. In the same year they had also effectively destroyed the samurai pensions. The nine thousand samurai that marched from Kagoshima in the Satsuma region of the island of Kyushu to do battle with the government’s soldiers carried the sting of those indignities with them.
For nearly a thousand years the samurai, “those who serve,” acted as the warriors in feudal Japan. They served honorably as keepers of the peace, as administrators, in the service of feudal lords, as battlefield commanders, and dishonorably as assassins. They served governments and rebelled against them, and were inextricably woven into the fabric of Japanese legend.
Four days after marching out of Kagoshima, the Satsuma samurai arrived at Kumamoto Castle and clashed with advance units of the Japanese Imperial Army, the samurai Snider and Enfield rifles erupting with volleys of fire. They surged forward, their wakizashi, short swords, drawn and their daito, long swords brandished over their heads and gleaming in the sun. The samurai quickly drove the army back within the walls of Kumamoto.
The next day the Satsuma samurai assaulted the walls of the castle by creeping over the ramparts and were attacked by rifle fire from the defenders.
I scaled the walls. I died at Kumamoto. I marched with Saigo.
The defenders of Kumamoto were mostly draftees and as such were untested in combat. Their initial success in driving the attackers back was due to their use of rifles. Eventually with ammunition running out on both sides, sword attacks became common with the samurai confident that they would overcome the soldiers in the older style of fighting.
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