Blood in the Water

by Jack Flynn

  * * * * *

  ‘He will not give up the union and the harbor,’ Soh said quietly. He was sitting on a rusted metal chair in a windowless concrete room roughly ten feet wide by twenty feet long. He guessed that this had been the operations center of the artillery unit that had run the Nike missile installation on the northern end of the island. It was by far the largest room in the maze of low corridors and small side rooms. The military had left behind a few items – metal chairs and tables, and a stack of metal pikes, the operational purpose of which escaped Soh’s imagination.

  ‘Even if he does, will you be able to keep control?’ Juan Suarez asked.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  Juan Suarez shrugged. ‘Even if O’Connell is removed, much of what he has put in place will remain. His men. His connections. There will be others who will try to take control, and even if they cannot, I wonder whether we will be able to insert ourselves into a system that has been built around one man and one way of doing things.’

  Soh frowned. The thought had occurred to him, but he’d been unwilling to admit the risk of failure to himself. He didn’t like being confronted by reality, but he appreciated Suarez’s keen mind. ‘What options do we have?’ he asked.

  ‘Perhaps none,’ Suarez said. ‘It may very well be that we have to kill many more, even if O’Connell is gone. We will have to find a way to wipe out the old system and build a new one around you.’

  ‘You may be right,’ Soh said. ‘But first we have to deal with O’Connell. He will have to leave, or he will have to give up his daughter.’

  Soh had welcomed Suarez back with a nod and nothing more. Suarez understood. They were soldiers, after all. There was no need for any acknowledgment of Suarez’s ordeal, or of Soh’s efforts to have him released. They would remain, as always, focused on their objective; maudlin feelings had no place in their world. If Suarez had been killed by O’Connell’s men, Soh would have missed the tactical advantage that Suarez’s presence gave him, but there would have been no further emotion. It was one of things that Suarez respected about Soh.

  Suarez shook his head. ‘He will never do that.’

  ‘What possibility does that leave?’ Soh asked.

  ‘He will try to get her back with force,’ Suarez said after a moment.

  Soh gave a derisive grunt. ‘It would be impossible,’ he said. ‘We are too heavily defended here. There is nothing he can do.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Suarez conceded. ‘But he will try. We must be ready for him to try.’

  Soh nodded. ‘Agreed. But if he does, his daughter will die instantly. And he will follow almost as quickly.’

  * * * * *

  It took them twenty minutes to make their way through the southeastern section of Fort Strong and reach the door leading to the long corridor that connected to the northern section of the fort. Cormack was well acquainted with the interior layout; the place was often used by smugglers as a temporary storage area for various contraband. He had described the place to Buddy and Cicero so that they would have a good idea of where they were and what they could expect. If Cormack was correct in his assumption, Soh and his men would likely be utilizing the northern section. It was the larger area, and there was plenty of space for two dozen men, which was the size of the force Cormack estimated that Soh had.

  So far Cormack’s assumptions had been borne out. But that was little comfort. He knew that in order to get into the northern section of the fort, they would have to first open the steel door on their side of the corridor. In all likelihood, the noise from that would be enough to alert Soh’s men that they were there. They then had to make their way down the fifty-foot long, low concrete passageway. If Soh and his men were alerted to their presence, all they would have to do was crack the door at their end of the corridor open and shoot blindly through the opening. The concrete walls, floor and ceiling would guarantee an endless ricochet and there would be no way that Cormack and his men would escape being carved to ribbons.

  Even if they made it down the corridor and managed to get the door on the other end open, they would still be forced to fight their way through anywhere between fifteen and twenty well-armed, highly motivated MS-13 soldiers who accepted that their lives were by definition likely to end early.

  As Cormack stared at the door to the corridor, the hopelessness of the situation fully dawned on him, and he realized that he would likely never see his daughter again. After a moment’s thought, he motioned for Cicero and Buddy to follow him back out toward the eastern entrance.

  ‘It’s no good,’ Cormack whispered once they were back out near the entryway. ‘It won’t work. It’ll get us killed, and it’ll get Diamond killed.’ He could tell from the looks on the other men’s faces that they knew he was right.

  ‘What now, then?’ Buddy asked. ‘I’m not leaving her here.’

  ‘I’m not either,’ Cormack said. ‘But there might be a better way.’

  ‘I’m all ears,’ Cicero whispered. ‘This is your show.’

  ‘You two head back to the corridor. Wait there. As soon as you hear a commotion, you hit the hallway as hard and as fast as you can. Get to Diamond before they do, and get her out.’

  Cicero frowned. ‘What commotion?’ he asked.

  ‘Trust me,’ Cormack said. ‘I know how to make a commotion when I want to.’

  Fifty

  Cormack climbed out of the entryway on the southeastern side of Fort Strong and moved as quickly as he could through the trees, down to the waterline. He didn’t like being out in the open, but he could move much more quickly around to the northern tip of the island picking his way around the rocks at the edge of the shore. Besides, the vegetation that had reclaimed the exterior of the fort was so thick he couldn’t have moved through it without making such a racket that he would have been announcing his approach to any guards stationed outside the northern entrance. He stayed close to the trees on the shoreline in the hope that they would provide some cover and prevent anyone higher up on the hill from spotting him.

  The cold bit through the neoprene, and his feet felt like chunks of lead in his lightweight boots. They were supposed to be waterproof, but the ice stuck to them and Cormack could not feel his toes anymore. He put that out of his mind, though, and continued his trek as quickly and quietly as he could. He had to step carefully, as the rocks were also covered in ice, and one wrong step could send him crashing into the shallow water, alerting anyone keeping watch from the fort’s northern entrance.

  He was surprised at how quickly he was able to round the northeastern corner of the island. Now, he knew, he was more exposed. The trees still provided some cover, but it was more likely that there would be guards in spots where they could see through the snow-covered brambles. He slowed his pace and kept his eyes on the hill above him, searching for the entryway.

  He saw it through a break in the trees a few moments later. It was around twenty yards to his west, and about twenty yards up the hill. He froze when he saw it because he could clearly make out three armed men milling around the cement ledge outside of the entryway. They were lookouts, clearly, though Cormack suspected that the cold had sapped much of their attention. They stood close together, whispering quietly, shuffling their feet back and forth. They were carrying what looked like assault weapons, though, and even in their inattentive state Cormack recognized that they posed a significant threat. One idle glance in his direction, and they would have a clear shot at him.

  He pulled back slowly from the break in the trees, so that he could no longer see the guards, and they would no longer be able to see him. He took a moment to assess the terrain as he debated the best approach. He felt through his vest and found the three flash-bangs. He also had his two loaded pistols, and two spare clips.

  If it were up to him, he would have preferred to attack from where he was, as that would not risk making any noise that would alert Soh’s men, but he knew he needed to get closer in order for his plan to be effective. It would also be helpful, he k
new, if he could attack from above them on the hill, though he suspected that might be pushing his luck.

  He tucked his weapons back into his vest and started carefully picking his way up the hillside, parallel to the fort’s entryway and the guards stationed there. Now the going was extremely slow. A few times he slid through narrow openings between tree branches and the tree rustled, snow coming down on his head from the branches above. Each time, he assumed that he would be discovered, and he held his breath, his hand going to his vest, searching for a weapon. Each time, though, there was no attack from the guards, and no indication that he’d been sighted.

  He made it up to a spot that was roughly even with the entryway on the hill, and then he encountered a small clearing and a solid wall of rock. The surface had some crags and ledges, and under other circumstances he could probably have scaled the cliff and put himself in the perfect vantage-point from which to attack those guarding the entryway. He couldn’t feel his feet at that instant, though, and he was wearing neoprene gloves that had iced over. He figured that the odds of him making it to the top of the ledge without falling were low, and such a fall would put an end to his life – not to mention Diamond’s. After a moment, he concluded that his position in the clearing was the best he was going to be able to do.

  Cormack dropped to a knee and took out his weapons and ammunition again, making sure that they were ready and accessible. He had to hit the entryway as hard and as quickly as he could. His goal was to create such a commotion that Soh and his men inside would assume that there was a full-scale assault coming from the north. With luck, that would lure them to the front, by the entryway, and away from the corridor connecting the north side of the underground fort to the eastern side.

  From where he was, he could just make out the entryway, twenty yards or so due west. It had been a long time since he’d thrown anything any significant distance, and he wondered whether he would be able to be accurate enough to be effective. It was his only chance – and Diamond’s only chance as well.

  He held one of his pistols in his left hand, and placed the other on the ground, where it would be easy to grab. Then he picked up one of the flash-bangs, pulled the pin, and threw it as far as he could toward the entryway. As the concussive was in the air, he reached down and grabbed his second gun and aimed both weapons at the entryway, waiting for the explosion.

  * * * * *

  Diamond was sitting against the wall in the tiny room toward the back half of the northern section of Fort Strong, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her knees, trying to keep her belly as warm as possible. The cold had overtaken her at that point, and she wondered whether the baby could survive the night. She was aware of how fragile a pregnancy could be in the first three months under the best of circumstances. And these were, most certainly, not the best of circumstances. The doctor had said the spotting was totally normal, but fear still haunted her. If the baby was strong enough to live through this ordeal, it would be strong enough to live through anything once born, she believed.

  She could hear two voices outside the room, talking in low, tired tones in Spanish. Neither was the Asian man who had let her use the bathroom; their voices were too deep, and it was clear that they were men for whom Spanish was their native tongue. She looked at the door to the room where she was being kept. She was pretty sure it wasn’t locked – the place they were in had been deserted and in disrepair for a very long time, and it seemed likely that even if there had been a working lock at some point, it wouldn’t work now. Of course, the fact that her room wasn’t locked was hardly cause for optimism. If she opened the door, she guessed she would be confronted by more than a dozen men. She still had the bottle hidden in her jacket, but that would be useless against so many men with so many weapons.

  The explosion shook the entire fort. For a moment, Diamond thought that it had come from inside, the noise was so loud. Perhaps they had accidentally detonated some sort of a bomb in the room where all the men were loitering around. Quickly, though, she realized that the explosion had come from outside. She heard the men inside yelling and rushing somewhere, presumably towards the entrance.

  Then the gunfire started. Diamond was sure that her young life was about to come to a very violent, premature end – and she lamented the possibility that she would never get to see her child.

  * * * * *

  Soh was lying on the ground in a side room, alone, trying to get some rest. It wasn’t comfortable, but he’d had far worse accommodation at various points in his life. Rest was not coming easily to him; he was too preoccupied with the plans for Vincente Carpio’s escape in mere days. When the explosion hit, Soh thought, like Diamond, that one of his men had dropped one of the grenades that they had with them. The entire complex shuddered, and dirt and rocks shook free from some of the fractures in the cement ceilings. After a moment, though, he heard the gunfire, and he knew that it was not an accident; it was an assault.

  He leapt up, and rushed through a short corridor to the main room where most of his men were congregated. ‘What is it?’ he yelled.

  ‘It’s an attack!’ one of his men shouted. ‘They’re at the entryway!’

  Soh caught the eye of Juan Suarez, and the two acknowledged each other. Suarez had been correct; O’Connell was not leaving the union, and he wasn’t waiting. He was making a full frontal attack. It seemed like suicide – Soh and his men could hold out for hours in the stone bunker, and once the light came up, O’Connell would have to call off the assault. Soh shook his head – O’Connell’s fool-headedness had just sealed his daughter’s fate.

  Soh’s men were rushing toward the entryway, guns drawn. Soh grabbed one of them, though, and redirected him. ‘Get the girl!’ he shouted. ‘Bring her here to me!’

  The man headed off to the rear of the bunker. Soh headed toward the front of the bunker to direct his men. Fighting off an attack would not be terribly difficult, but if they could inflict heavy casualties on O’Connell’s men, it would bring the war to a close even faster. If they could kill O’Connell himself, the war would be over.

  * * * * *

  It seemed to Cormack like the flash-bang was in the air for an unusual amount of time, and he wondered briefly whether perhaps it was a dud, but then it went off with a tremendous explosion, and he saw the three men at the entryway double over, covering their eyes and ears, momentarily disoriented by the device.

  Cormack immediately began shooting with both guns. He aimed halfheartedly, directing the shots toward the entryway. His focus was not necessarily to hit anyone; rather he wanted to shoot as quickly as possible to give the impression that there were numerous men engaging in the attack. It took less than a thirty seconds for him to empty the guns – twenty-two shots in all. By then, the three guards had regained some of their faculties and were struggling to get back into the bunker. It looked as though, even without aiming carefully, Cormack might have hit one of the guards in the shoulder, but he couldn’t be sure. As Cormack ran out of bullets in his first set of clips, he reached down and picked up another flash-bang. He pulled the pin and threw it, looking to hit the ledge just outside the entryway. His aim was off, though, and the flash-bang hit the cement above and to the left of the entryway.

  Cormack swapped out the two empty clips in his guns for two new ones, and resumed shooting as quickly as he could. Again, it took less than thirty seconds to unload both guns, and there was no one visible outside of the fort’s entrance at that point, but Cormack didn’t care. He needed to keep up the attack and commotion. It was the only chance.

  Once the second set of clips were exhausted, Cormack reached down for the third flash-bang – the last of his weapons. At this point, there was a steady volley of gunfire shooting blindly out from the entryway, and he hoped that Soh’s men would mistake their own gunshots for a combination of assault and defense. He pulled the pin on the flashbang and threw it toward the cement entryway. It went off, and the shooting from the entryway quieted briefly, and the
n picked up again in earnest.

  He took a last look at the stone passage, gunshots firing out from the breach in the metal door. His assault had lasted for less than two minutes. It was the best he could muster, though. He prayed that it would be enough.

  Cormack knew that Soh and his men would realize quickly that there was no more shooting, and he had little doubt that they would emerge from the fortress quickly to give chase. There would be several of them coming after him, and he no longer had any weapons to fight back with. The odds of him making it to the boat before Soh’s men had a line of sight on him were low, but he had to try. With any luck, Diamond was already out of the bunker and headed to the boat with Cicero and Buddy, but he knew the odds that the plan had been successful were also low.

  He threw off his assault vest to give him a little more mobility and started down toward the water. He was no longer concerned with maintaining silence. Speed was all he cared about.

  Fifty-One

  Buddy and Cicero heard the explosion, and there was no mistaking Cormack’s misdirection. They were in motion as soon as they felt the fort shake. They threw open the door and paused for just a second to make sure that gunfire was not coming down the corridor in their direction, but it seemed that Cormack’s diversion was, at least for the moment, keeping Soh and his men occupied.

  Buddy was the first into the passageway. The ceiling was low – just over six feet, and he had to keep his head down as he ran to avoid it from scraping against the cement. Cicero was able to run without bending, and he overtook Buddy midway down the corridor. He reached the door at the far end first, and gave Buddy a quick glance, just to make sure that he was ready for an attack. Then he turned the latch.

  Buddy felt a wave of relief when he saw the latch actually turn. It was possible, he’d thought, that it might be rusted beyond opening. It was even more likely that it was locked. In either event, Buddy had no idea how they would get through the doorway. They could try shooting at the latch and hope that it would give way, but it was far more likely that the ricochet off the metal and cement would kill one or both of them. The fact that the latch turned seemed a miracle, but Buddy was willing to believe in miracles at that point.