Hidden Sun

by John Campbell

  Konaka turned his attention back to his prisoners. “Well, Hendrick, you have given me more than you will ever know. A treasure far greater than gold or diamonds.”

  “Hidden Sun?” asked Hendrick. “You know what Hidden Sun is?”

  “You have given me Japan itself,” said Konaka, ignoring the question. He regarded him closely. “This is the third time we’ve crossed paths. And this will be your last time.”

  “Last year in the Taiwan Strait. You dropped in uninvited,” replied Hendrick sourly. “You were lucky that time. Five years ago you weren’t so lucky. Remember the Han Gao? You lost five men there.”

  “Four, really,” said Konaka. “I alone survived.”

  Hendrick was puzzled. “You survived?”

  “Yes,” said Konaka slowly. “After I cut your brother’s throat.”

  The admission from Konaka sent a jolt through Hendrick. He relived the diving disaster in a surrealistic nightmare fashion. The face in his nightmares floated before him in the flickering light from the divers’ lamps. The lines of flesh stretched tight roared through his mind. Hendrick squirmed to see the opposite side of Konaka’s face. The Japanese terrorist obligingly turned his left side toward Hendrick, exposing the scar that ran down the side of his neck. Hendrick had inflicted the wound on him during the battle inside the Han Gao.

  Hendrick gaped at him in shock. “It was you! You tried to kill us!” He leaped at the slim terrorist, succeeding in ripping the scarf from his face. Hendrick groped for Konaka’s neck to squeeze the life out of him but was grabbed immediately by four of Konaka’s men. They quickly pinned him to the floor.

  There, in front of him, was the man who had murdered his brother, the face, which had invaded his nights for five years. He had dreamt of the day when he would face Frank’s murderer, what he would say, how he would take revenge. Hendrick never imagined this situation.

  Konaka gave Hendrick an amused look, issuing a hissing imitation of a laugh, which made the prisoners’ stomachs turn. “I seem to be in the business of exterminating the Hendrick family.” He gestured to his men, and they dragged Hendrick to his feet. Hendrick gave Konaka a look of pure hatred.

  “Kill them all. Right now!” commanded Konaka to his men.

  Konaka’s men grabbed each of them and roughly dragged them out of the building. They marched them to the edge of a small ridge overlooking the lighthouse and forced them to their knees. One guard took up a position behind each of them with the rest covering them with automatic weapons.

  Hendrick could see Maggie steal a glance at him, her face half lit by the residual light from the two buildings behind them. He knew they were waiting for him to make a break for it. He surreptitiously eyed his watch, counting down the time left.

  “Hendrick -” Maggie began plaintively.

  “Shh,” he said, his mouth moving slowly, rhythmically.

  Konaka’s men yanked their arms behind them and quickly tied their wrists together. Maggie stared at Hendrick in silent desperation. The lighthouse beam swung around, briefly illuminating his face.

  Hendrick looked Maggie in the eyes, his mouth silently moving, his face full of anticipation. His eyes grew wide open as the countdown went to zero.

  “Get down!” shouted Hendrick and flopped forward onto the ground. Maggie stared at him in confusion.

  A second later, the island was rocked by a huge explosion.

  CHAPTER 28

  Into the Night

  The ground shook violently under them as the blast sent shock waves across the island. The foggy night was split by a huge fireball, which lit their surroundings as if it were daylight. Konaka’s men were thrown to the ground by flying rocks and debris driven by the blast.

  “Come on!” shouted Hendrick over the ear-splitting thunder of the explosion. Maggie opened her eyes a crack and saw Hendrick roll over the cliff. She peered fearfully over the precipice into the descending darkness, summoned her courage, and rolled her body into the rapidly returning night. She fell twenty feet into a clump of bushes, painfully banging her backside on a hidden rock.

  She yelled with pain, seconds later feeling a hand clamp around her wrist. Hendrick pulled her roughly out of the way. Loh landed where Maggie had fallen and grunted with pain at the same rock. A second later Wong and Malik joined them, narrowly missing Loh’s head. Hendrick quickly freed them from their bonds.

  Maggie grabbed the front of Hendrick’s shirt. “How -” she began but was cut off by another huge explosion, which again lit the sky and sent debris showering around them.

  “Ammo dump, must be,” said Loh in awe at the enormous force of the explosion.

  “There was a lot of C4 on this island,” explained Hendrick. “And there’s a lot less now.” To Malik he asked, “Are you ready?”

  “Goddamn right I am,” replied Malik with vehemence. “Weapons?”

  “Stashed on the other side of the hill,” said Hendrick. He turned to his Chinese friend. “Loh, take Maggie and run for the cove.” They could barely hear him over the continuing roar of secondary explosions.

  “Where are you going?” she asked nervously. The rapidly failing light of a previous detonation showed a grim set to his features.

  “Payback,” he said simply and turned to run back up the ridge.

  “No!” shouted Maggie. “It’s too dangerous! Konaka will -” Hendrick and Malik’s forms disappeared into the darkness. Loh reached for her, but missed. Maggie stumbled after Hendrick in a panic.

  Hendrick and Malik groped their way up the ridge. A siren went off in the distance. Hendrick hoped it was the alarm alerting the men in the barracks to deploy to their defensive positions. He took savage pleasure at the thought that Konaka would pay a tremendous price for killing Frank Hendrick.

  Hendrick’s thoughts turned dark. Revenge filled him. His brother’s death had consumed him since that horrifying day years ago. The identity of his killer had tormented him, making him guilty at not doing more to protect his brother and not seeking immediate revenge. Hendrick had stifled the guilt and desire for vengeance, thinking it was the right thing to do, and had gotten on with his life. Now, this night, he had come face to face with his brother’s murderer, and he could not suppress his feelings any longer. The thought that the killer was on the same island fueled Hendrick’s hatred and spurred him on to confront Konaka once again.

  He located the spot where Konaka’s men had captured him and groped around for a few moments until he found his M16 and the grenade bag. Retracing his steps back to his vantage point on the hillside overlooking the buildings, he quickly found the cache in the rocks where he had left the SMAW. He handed the M16 and the grenades to Malik and shouldered the SMAW himself. The two rockets were in a bag that he pulled out from between the rocks. Hendrick looked toward the building they had just been in. He hoped that Konaka was still there.

  They were set up thirty yards away on the hill above the building behind an outcropping of rock. They could see a lot of activity in and around the building, several of Konaka’s men talking frantically into radios. Another explosion split the night, lighting up the scene in shades of white, yellow, then red.

  Hendrick pulled the SMAW into the dim light and fumbled with it to load the HEDP, High Explosive Dual Purpose rocket to the back end of the tubular weapon. He set the weapon for delayed detonation, which he hoped was appropriate for the thin walled building he wanted to destroy. He hoisted the almost thirty pound weapon on his shoulder and peered through the sight. He flipped off the safety, aimed at the wall of the building and pulled the trigger.

  The SMAW went off with a deafening noise, sending a plume of smoke and flame from the rear of the weapon. The rocket hurtled toward the building at nearly five hundred miles an hour. The rocket rammed through the building’s wall and detonated in the interior a split second later. The explosion ripped the walls back and peeled the roof off, sending pieces of metal and debris flying in all directions.

  A few of Konaka’s men staggered away from
the building in shock. Malik lifted his M16 and aimed at them but didn’t pull the trigger. Hendrick noticed Malik’s hesitation but said nothing. He was amazed at what the SMAW had done to the building. Konaka’s men fell to the ground, incapacitated by the concussion of the blast.

  “You think Konaka was in there?” asked Hendrick. Malik shrugged. “Only one way to find out,” muttered Hendrick. “Keep their heads down.” Malik nodded.

  He crouched down and ran toward the burning building.

  Maggie reached the top of the ridge and stared toward the building. She saw a figure outlined against the flames and immediately ran toward him. The man quickly disappeared into the burning building.

  Maggie reached the building, feeling the heat sear her face. She ran through the door, hoping to talk Hendrick out of revenge on Konaka. The smoke and superheated air nearly knocked her unconscious. She fell on all fours and scrambled around, trying to see where Hendrick might have gone. A splitting noise filled the air. Maggie rolled under a table as a roof support gave way, sending burning rafters and shingles crashing down into the room.

  Maggie glanced around quickly, seeing that her advance through the building was cut off by the collapsed roof. She hoped Hendrick had gotten out before the roof caved in. Her only exit was the way she had come in. She got on all fours again to head toward the front door, but her hand slipped on a piece of paper. She took a moment to look at it, sensing that the fire was not what it once was.

  Cyrillic letters filled the page. She suddenly remembered the cylinder Hendrick had had in his belt bag, and Konaka’s surprised reaction to its contents. She stuffed the letter inside her shirt and scrambled to the door. The blessed chill of the foggy night air soothed her as she left the building. Suddenly Loh and Wong were next to her, concern on their faces.

  “I couldn’t find them,” gasped Maggie. She leaned on Loh to catch her breath. The three of them looked at the burning building, which had settled into a slow disintegration.

  “He will meet us at the cove,” said Loh. He placed a hand on her shoulder, intending to move her along.

  “He’s going after Konaka. To kill him for the murder of his brother,” said Maggie.

  Loh glanced about, showing his concern over the possible return of Konaka and his men. “They’ll meet us,” he repeated. He gently urged her toward the northwest end of the island, toward the cove and the means of their escape.

  Hendrick backed out of the rear of the building, the heat assaulting his face. The entire structure had collapsed into a heap of burning rubble. Finding anyone in the debris was impossible. Hendrick scrambled up the small ridge to Malik.

  “Find him?” asked Malik.

  “Not yet,” said Hendrick. He turned to go, but Malik grabbed his arm.

  “We’re about done here,” said Malik. His meaning was clear. Revenge was one thing - getting yourself killed for revenge was just stupid.

  Hendrick gave him a look of fury. “He killed Frank.”

  “You’ve done enough, Steve,” replied Malik. “You’ve destroyed most of his organization.”

  “He may still be alive,” spat Hendrick. He yanked his arm free and slid off into the fog.

  Maggie moved with her Chinese companions, retracing their steps earlier in the night. They had picked up every weapon they could from the two dead guards. Loh and Wong had an AK47 apiece, and Maggie had picked up two nine-millimeter handguns and several clips.

  They slowly moved past the helicopter pad and its hangar, noting with disappointment that the area was untouched by Hendrick’s sabotage. The hangar and its surroundings were filled with guards. On the other hand, the area to the south was lit by several fires. He blew up most of the buildings on the island, she thought with surprise and burgeoning admiration.

  Konaka’s men had fallen back to defend their aircraft, she thought. She looked around the island, her insides quivering at the continuing danger to her, her Chinese companions, and most of all to Hendrick.

  She gnawed her lip with worry. How could he exact revenge on Konaka when the terrorist was surrounded by so many bodyguards? She let out a nervous breath and prayed for Hendrick’s safe return.

  Suddenly two men walked out of the fog, brandishing their weapons in front of them. Maggie almost cried with joy at the sight of Hendrick and Malik. They exhaled with relief at Maggie, Loh, and Wong.

  Wong immediately recounted his plan to steal a boat from the cove and escape. Malik looked at Hendrick.

  “It’s a good plan, Steve,” he said. Hendrick’s face slowly transformed from hard determination to resignation.

  “You’ve done all you could, now let the authorities take care of Konaka and his men,” implored Maggie.

  A machine gun opened up, sending a half clip into the rocks surrounding them. They all dropped low to the ground.

  “No light,” muttered Malik, puzzled.

  “Infrared,” replied Hendrick.

  “Great,” said Malik in disgust.

  Hendrick looked about for something to cover his head, then spotted Malik’s grenade bag. He emptied the bag of the remaining two grenades and put it over his head to cut down his heat signature. He peered over the rocks, taking in their surroundings.

  Hendrick and the others were on the downside of a hill with the crest backlit by the fires from the destroyed buildings. Any of Konaka’s men coming over the top at them would be silhouetted in the dim light, thus making nice targets. Fog still swept slowly across the hillside, and Hendrick prayed for more. Body heat could be masked from Konaka’s infrared night vision goggles if there were enough fog. Hendrick noted that his group was in an almost ideal location with natural rock cover encircling them.

  Gunfire began in earnest, sending pieces of rock and bullet fragments flying about them. The firing tapered off, then stopped completely. Shadows shifted near the crest of the hill.

  “Get ready,” muttered Hendrick. He heard Malik flip off his safety.

  They heard quick footsteps on the cold ground. Suddenly there were twenty men, screaming fanatics, charging toward them over the hilltop.

  Hendrick and the others placed their gun barrels over the rocks and opened fire at the horde of Konaka’s men charging toward them. Their AK47s and Malik’s M16 chattered on full automatic, sending a burst of lead into the enemy line. Maggie leaned on a rock with a gun in each hand, alternating rounds from each weapon, causing a rapid thumping sound to fill the air. Malik fired a grenade, the launcher making a hollow sound. He shouted to get down, and they all got behind the rocks.

  The grenade went off, the blinding detonation knocking down a host of the enemy. Malik fired his last grenade, getting three more of Konaka’s soldiers. Hendrick and the others opened fire again, sending well-aimed bursts into the remaining enemy. Konaka’s men twitched, fell, and died.

  The firing stopped, silence again falling over the island. Hendrick looked at the others. They were all right, except Wong squirmed in pain. Loh breathlessly told him that Wong had stopped a bullet in his shoulder. Hendrick peered over the rocks and saw movement in the fog. Konaka was gathering his men for another attack. He pulled Malik close to him.

  “Can’t stay here,” said Hendrick. “Take the rest of them and head for the cove.”

  Malik gave him a look of defiance. “You’re going to need some help covering their retreat.”

  “One can hide better than two,” countered Hendrick.

  “Two can fight better than one,” replied Malik.

  Hendrick hesitated, then relented and slid next to Loh who was attending to Wong. “Can he walk?” asked Hendrick. Loh nodded. “Take Maggie with you. We’ll keep Konaka’s men busy.”

  Loh touched his arm. “Take care, my friend,” he said with feeling.

  “I don’t plan on dying here,” said Hendrick. “I’ll be along.”

  He moved next to Maggie who was checking her ammunition.

  “You go with Loh and Wong. Joe and I will cover,” he said.

  Maggie gave him an alarm
ed look. “You’re coming with us, aren’t you?”

  “Sure,” he replied, looking over the rocks toward Konaka’s men.

  “You aren’t going to do anything stu-” began Maggie. Hendrick suddenly leaned over and kissed her. Her lips quivered with anxiety and fear, then her desire arose, their kiss deepening until she was breathless when he broke away.

  Loh came up to them. “Let’s move while Wong is still conscious.”

  Maggie gave Hendrick a lingering look, then crawled off behind Loh. Hendrick watched them disappear into the fog.

  “She doesn’t know what we have in mind, does she?” asked Malik. Hendrick didn’t answer. “We won’t be able to stop the next rush.”

  Hendrick was afraid he was right.

  They could see heads silhouetted against the fading light from burning buildings, intermittently poking above the hilltop at the limit of their visibility in the fog.

  “Tight spot,” said Malik.

  “We’ve been in tighter ones before,” replied Hendrick.

  Gunfire erupted again.

  Maggie whirled around at the sounds of automatic weapons’ fire in the distance. Dread filled her. She knew the gunfire was directed at Hendrick and Malik. She hesitated, wondering if she should go back to Steve.

  “Keep moving!” hissed Loh at Maggie. He held Wong by the arm to keep him upright.

  Maggie swallowed hard and followed after Loh, her legs getting weaker with each crack of Konaka’s guns.

  Konaka’s men came at them again, screaming their curses at the top of their lungs. Hendrick and Malik emptied clip after clip into the charging line. The enemy was unrelenting this time, sending wave after wave at them. Malik ran out of ammunition first, followed seconds later by Hendrick. They hunkered down behind the rocks, holding their breath, looking for a way out.

  Two of Konaka’s men leaped over the rocks, landing behind them. Hendrick and Malik were on them immediately, grappling with them, searching for any weapon they could use. Hendrick knocked his man over backwards and grabbed his neck with both hands. The man gasped for air. Hendrick snatched a knife from the man’s belt and drove it into his neck. He looked at Malik to avoid seeing the blood flowing from his adversary.