by Tim Blagge
As we all drove off, Rolf quieted the group and said, “If we have a run-in with the Chinese authorities, I have a way to neutralize them quietly. For me to do that everyone must remain behind me or you risk being neutralized yourself.”
The drive down to the boat went smoothly at first. Four blocks from the dock a police vehicle screamed around the van, pulled in front, and slammed on its brakes forcing us to stop. Another police vehicle pulled in behind us and our van was trapped!
Rolf whispered to Brenda. “We need to create a diversion and you are the best one to do it. Use your role as a hooker to get the interest of the Chinese Police and when I yell ‘hey’ get away from them so I can use my weapon.”
Brenda nodded her understanding.
A policeman approached the van to question our driver, who identified himself as a guard from the compound up the hill. The policeman in charge asked to see the driver’s papers and ordered everyone out of the van.
Brenda got out and immediately went up to one policeman at a time touching their shoulders, waist or butt as she circled around them in a seductive manner.
One cop looked at her with a leer. “How much for an hour?” he asked
“For you, 500 Yuan,” she answered in slightly slurred Chinese.
“Let me get you a drink. Maybe I can get you to lower your price.” He said.
With that he went to his car and brought out a half empty pint of Russian vodka. He put his arm around Brenda’s waist and gave her the bottle. Brenda took the vodka, tipped it up to her lips and proceeded to take a long drink. She coughed a little and wiped her mouth sloppily with the back of her hand. All the Chinese Policemen were entertained by Brenda’s antics and while they were looking at her, Rolf’s yelled ‘hey.’ Brenda punched the Policeman in his stomach, pushed away, and quickly moved back into her group. Rolf’s wave gun went click and whoosh and all the policemen collapsed.
“Grab your stuff and run for the dock!” Rolf ordered.
Everyone ran as fast as they could and jumped onto the fishing boat. Agent Vaughn was ready with the motor running. Rolf was the last to board so he cast off the final line. The fishing boat immediately backed away from the dock, turned and we were on our way home.
“I want everybody below decks,” yelled Rolf. “If the Chinese send aircraft to search for us we have to look like just another fishing vessel. We should have about and hour before they figure out what happened, get organized and come after us. An hour is when we are scheduled to rendezvous with another container ship that will take us back to Nagasaki.”
After everyone assembled below in the cramped galley area Rolf got up to speak. “I want to commend everyone that took part in this mission. And even though we are not home yet, everyone did their job perfectly. As far as I know there were no permanent casualties on either side; the best of all outcomes. I’d particularly like to thank Brenda Harris who with minimal training performed way beyond expectations.”
Everyone looked at Brenda who was still dressed in her hooker outfit. She held her arms straight in the air to form a vee and performed a sexy hip wiggle as she turned around. The crew of men clapped and cheered. Much to the delight of the rescue crew, Brenda threw her arms around Bill’s neck and gave him a long, passionate, never ending kiss. Even Stella looked entertained.
“Brenda I don’t know what to say except Thank you.” After a short pause Bill said “Brenda, you smell like booze. Did you actually drink that stuff? And look at you. You’re drunk!”
Brenda cocked her head and shrugged one shoulder pleading ‘guilty as charged’.
“Brenda, I’ve never seen you drink before,” said Bill.
“That’s because I never have Bill!” Brenda said with a goofy grin. “Now point me to the head I’ve got to puke.”
Everything went smoothly for our rendezvous with the container ship. We transferred our remaining equipment and everyone climbed up the rope ladder to the deck. Because Brenda was still a little sick, she was next to the last to climb up the ladder with Jerry just behind her in case she lost her grip. At the top of the ladder Jerry gave Brenda a big shove on her backside and she flew over the rail onto the deck. She looked back at Jerry and gave him another goofy grin and a thumbs up. I helped Brenda up and led her off the deck into the cabin.
The fishing boat slipped away with all its running lights off and we were on our way to Nagasaki. Rolf was the last one to go inside and just as he was stepping through the hatch he heard the sound of aircraft in the distance.
It was a plane and it was heading in our direction. The plane got closer and it was flying at low altitude.
“Felix, what do you make of that plane?” Rolf asked. “You are the expert on enemy aircraft.”
Felix raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes and peered onto the darkness. “This plane is a typical Chinese coastal surveillance aircraft. The fact that he’s flying low indicates that he is trying to spot any and all water craft. We’ll watch and see what he does when he sees this ship.”
The Chinese plane turned directly toward our container ship and lowered its altitude. Rolf and Felix ducked back inside the hatch as the plane rumbled loudly overhead.
“If he turns around and comes back, we’ve got a problem,” said Felix. “If he keeps going we are OK for the moment.”
“We are in international waters now aren’t we?” Rolf asked.
“The Chinese have a fluid opinion of where their territorial waters begin and end,” Felix explained. “They do what they want and if anyone complains, they hash it out in international court. If they are found guilty of some infraction, they offer a meaningless apology or say it was just a mistake and continue to do whatever they want. If they suspect we are on this ship, we will never be out of danger. Let’s hope the fifteen other ships transiting the area will give us some cover.”
Felix again raised his binoculars to the sky. The plane continued on and soon was out of sight.
About three hours later another Chinese surveillance plane came by again and flew directly over the ship at about 500 feet.
“By process of elimination, the Chinese have figured we are a candidate to be the ship transporting us.” Felix told Rolf. “I thought we’d escaped but my guess is that they will send their coastal patrol boats out to intercept us. This ship is making about thirty five knots. If the Chinese pour the juice to their boats, they can go almost twice that fast. If they leave now from Shanghai, they will intercept us in about three hours; sooner if they are already out to sea.”
“In three hours we’ll be way past halfway to Japan in open waters.” Rolf said.
“Remember the Chinese,” said Felix. “In matters this important nothing will stop them. Rolf, you’d better make your phone call now, and tell them to hurry.”
Rolf went to a part of the ship that was out of earshot of everybody. He pulled out his satellite phone and dialed Forest Buckholder’s direct line.
“Rolf, it’s good to hear from you,” Buckholder answered, “I assume that your little soiree went well.”
“So far so good,” Rolf commented, “But I think I’d like to take you up on your offer.”
“In anticipation of your call I have my crew and the helicopter standing by.” Buckholder replied. “Give me your location, heading and speed and I’ll give it to my pilot. Hold on while I get him on the other line.”
Rolf gave Buckholder the information and he could hear him in the background relaying the numbers to the pilot. Buckholder hung up with his pilot and came back on Rolf’s line. “You will be picked up by a Sikorsky S61R. It holds up to eighteen passengers, more in a pinch. Based on what you told me earlier everyone should fit. It is stationed about a hundred miles inland. So doing the math, it should meet you in about two hours. This helicopter is capable of a water landing, so unless your ship has a landing pad; we’ll have to do the pick up wet. The pilot will call you about an hour out so you can have your people ready. Good luck and I’ll see you in a couple days.”
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p; Rolf went below deck, assembled the group and explained the situation. “People, we believe that the Chinese suspect we are on this vessel and will send their Coast Guard to find out for sure. A helicopter big enough to hold everyone has been dispatched and will transport us back to Japan. If the Chinese Coast Guard gets here before the helicopter, we are going to have to fight our way out. They won’t be absolutely certain that this ship is the one we are on so they will approach and demand to search it. That will give us the element of surprise.”
“If the helicopter arrives first,” Rolf continued,” we will get in our two remaining rafts and paddle out to it. If the seas aren’t too rough and the helicopter can set down on the water, it’s only a matter of jumping aboard. If the seas are too rough, like they are now, the aircraft will hover while we climb up the ladders. Team leaders, let’s get together and decide how we are going to defend this ship if we need to.”
An hour later, Rolf’s satellite phone rang. “This is Captain Huro Yamamoto,” the pilot said in English with a heavy Japanese accent. “I am about 225 kilometers out and should be there in just under an hour. It looks like we will need to do an above water extraction because the seas are too rough. Have your people ready away from the ship when we get there. We are getting reports of heavy Chinese activity all over the region so we must get in and out quickly.”
“My men are fully trained and I promise you we will be ready Captain.” Rolf said. “Call me when you are fifteen minutes out.” Rolf hung up and went below to begin the transfer.
Rolf met with Jerry, Felix and Vaughn. “Jerry, you and Vaughn are the best shots and you have the right weapons so I want you two to be the first men on the chopper. In case we need it, you two will cover us while everybody else gets on. Also in the first raft I want the two women and Bill. Felix you will be responsible for getting them on board. We will put two more guys in this first raft with rifles to protect your flank.”
“The rest of us will fill up the second raft,” Rolf added. “And make sure everybody is wearing a life jacket. With the sea like this we may need them.”
Forty five minutes later, Rolf’s phone rang again. “Rolf, we are approaching your position. I hope you are ready,” said Captain Yamamoto. “Off in the distance it looks like some kind of vessel is approaching at high speed!”
“We are all in two rafts and the first one is pushing off on the starboard side now.”
“OK I see it,” said Yamamoto. “See you in a couple of minutes.”
The helicopter arrived, hovered ten feet above the sea and dropped two rope ladders. Jerry and Franco climbed up the ladders followed by Stella and Brenda and then Bill and the others. Jerry and Vaughn got in position, looked out the open door and saw a Chinese Coast Guard boat racing up at full speed.
When Rolf saw the Chinese vessel approach, he grabbed his rifle and the wave gun, took off his life jacket and slipped into the water.
The Chinese vessel’s main 50 caliber machine gun rang out first shooting at the ship and then turning to fire at the helicopter. Jerry returned fire out from the helicopter. The man operating the machine gun was shot and fell back. Another man raced up to take his position and before he could get there another shot from Agent Vaughn stopped him short.
By this time, six other Chinese Coast Guard crewmen were standing on deck with rifles and were firing at the helicopter and second raft. The men on the second raft and helicopter returned fire. Then everybody heard a click and a loud whoosh and four of the Chinese riflemen collapsed on the deck and two fell in the water. Rolf swam up, boarded the vessel and broke into the bridge where the captain was the only man still conscious. He was on the radio. A click and whoosh and the captain went down. Rolf then used his automatic rifle to shoot up and disable the communications and tracking equipment.
By this time everyone else was on the helicopter. Rolf went out on deck and waved. The helicopter flew over the Chinese vessel and Rolf grabbed the rope ladder and dangled there while the helicopter rose and began the trip back to Japan. Rolf climbed up the ladder and pulled himself aboard.
“Any casualties,” Rolf screamed to be heard over the noise of the rotors.
“Three” Jerry answered. “Agent Kim is dead. Agent Franco was shot in the shoulder but should be OK. And Brenda had a bullet graze her leg. It will require stitches but she will be fine.” One of Vaughn’s men, Corporal Reynolds, was a trained medic. He stitched up and bandaged Brenda’s leg and tended to Agent Franco.
-40-
Two hours later the helicopter landed at the airport in Kurume, Japan. An elderly Japanese man escorted everyone to a communal bath near the terminal where for the first time in almost three days, we were able to clean up. They even supplied clean underwear and a rack of clothing so we could completely change if we were lucky enough to find something in our size. Both Jerry and Rolf were forced to continue wearing their same outerwear because nothing on the rack was big enough for them.
Stella and Brenda were adventurous and selected short kimono style outfits and both of them looked fabulous.
While they were dressing on the female side of the communal dressing area, Stella and Brenda began talking for the first time.
“So Stella, I knew you were Bill’s associate and worked on his project along side him. I knew you were a female, and he’s had nothing but good things to say about your skill and knowledge but somehow he left out the part about you being stunningly beautiful.”
“Well thank you for that complement Brenda,” Stella responded. Even though Bill and I have spent way too much time together in the last couple months, our relationship would best be characterized as friends and colleagues.”
You don’t find Bill cute and sexy?” Brenda probed.
“Possibly, but I much more appreciate his mind. Bill’s brain works just a little differently than most of us and I find that difference intriguing.” Stella answered.
“Just remember Stella,” Brenda said. “And I say this with all the respect you have earned; I saw Bill first!”
Back in the reception area, Rolf’s phone rang. It was Buckholder.
“Rolf, this is Forest. I am so sorry to hear about your casualties and the drama you encountered getting on the helicopter. I have taken the liberty of providing you a long range 737 for your flight back to the States. I have included my personal staff to serve you and your people so it should be a pleasant fight. The older Japanese man who has been escorting you will take you to the plane when you are ready.”
“Mr. Buckholder,” Rolf said, “first we’ll have to take care of Agent Kim’s body for the trip home. You have taken care of us well and may have saved our lives, but no one works for free. I suppose you will expect Bill and Stella to come to work for you when we get back.”
“Rolf, of course I hope they come to work with me.” Buckholder answered. “At this point, I am hopeful but expect nothing. I can provide along with a competent support staff, a pleasant working environment and the security that’s been sorely lacking. Why don’t we schedule a meeting with you, Stella and Bill tomorrow at 11 A.M.? We can discuss any questions you might have then.”
“I think that will work for us Forest. Now which airport are we flying into in L.A?” Rolf asked.
“We will leave that open right now.” Buckholder answered. “I have people at most of the airports and if something doesn’t look right we will divert the plane to an airport that looks safe. I can’t believe the bad guys know about your homecoming yet but they have shown a remarkable ability to mobilize very quickly so I will leave nothing to chance.”
“OK Forest,” Rolf said, “we will gratefully accept your plane ride home. We will talk when we all get back.”
The trip home was amazing. We were served champagne, caviar, fine wine and some of the best food most of us had ever eaten. Since it was a twelve hour flight back, most of the guys drank and ate heavily in the beginning, knowing they would have eight hours to sleep off any affects of the alcohol.
I was sitt
ing next to Brenda, “Would you like to celebrate with a glass of champagne?” I asked.
“Are you kidding Bill? “Brenda answered. “I’m still feeling the effects of my first and only run in with booze. I broke a covenant with my church when I did it but I was a spy and I was just playing a part. It was worth it to get you back, Bill.” Then Brenda looked around and waved for the flight attendant to come over. “I would like another helping of that Beluga Caviar please.” Brenda asked as she wiped her mouth with a linen napkin. “I never thought I’d say this but I could get used to eating caviar.”
“Next you’ll be ordering a plate of escargot,” I joked.
“Do they have that here?” Brenda asked as she looked around the cabin; “If they do, bring me a double order!”
Several hours later the plane started to drop down for our landing.
“People, we are landing in Long Beach.” Rolf stood up and announced. “Even though everything looks quiet at Burbank, we have decided that Long Beach is a safer bet. There will be four vans available with drivers going to different areas to take you to your destination.
After we landed, Vaughn, Alvarez and three guys got on the downtown L.A van and Jerry, Brenda, Stella, Rolf and I got in the van going to the Pasadena area.
“Jerry, spend the night tonight,” I suggested. “Joanna will love to see you and we can all just hang out. And Brenda, let’s have the driver drop you off at my house too; I’ll drive you home later in my new Mustang convertible.”
“Sounds great Bill,” Brenda said as she gripped my arm with both hands and snuggled up closer.
When we were dropped off at home, we noticed that two security agents were still watching the house. Rolf reminded me we needed to get together tomorrow at eleven for our meeting with Forest Buckholder.