Whatever Gods May Be Part 15

"Your work here is done, kemo sabe." Rhys reached for Jamie's shoulders and steered her out of the FOBCOC. "Time to sleep now." The usual nightmares plagued what little sleep Jamie got. Rhys woke her well before dawn and helped her gear up while she tried to figure out why this mission had her so spooked.

"Gotta go," Jamie said finally, reluctant to take her eyes off Rhys's face. "But I'll-"

"Yeah." Rhys winked. "You'll be watching." Rhys turned her eyes skyward, smiling. "We'll do a real nice dance for you." Jamie smiled back. "Good hunting," she said, holding on to the high-five Rhys offered, wis.h.i.+ng she could hold on to it forever.

v The mission had been dubbed TOP, so First Lieutenant Koenig's operational risk management worksheet showed those three letters and a date.

Jamie glanced at the list of identified mission hazards. She * 127 *

worried most about two: The weather could bite them, and so could PIA scouts, who were bound to be invisible behind state-of-the-art countersurveillance measures.

Full f.u.c.king circle. Once more, as long ago, success depended on fighters' honed instincts, on knowing how to hide, on what the unaided but experienced human eye could see. First squad had to exploit maneuverability and surprise. Remain undiscovered by the enemy while moving as quickly as possible through tangled tropical forest ahead of the erratic s.h.i.+ft from the dry season into "the hanging habagat"-the annual southwest monsoon.

The change from dry to wet could quickly make their climb of the rugged, mudslide-p.r.o.ne slopes not only uncomfortable but dangerous, too. Heavy monsoon rains and cloud forest fog also often confounded satellite infrared detection systems, which messed up their ability to track and coordinate the activities of deployed units. So everyone hoped to complete the mission before the monsoon gained real momentum.

Shortly before they embarked, the major general showed up in full kit with three others-a light colonel named Zachary, who was his intelligence chief, and a couple of very protective, well-armed senior NCOs.

The way the major general nodded too politely at the antsy Koenig nipped at Jamie's intuition. Embry dislikes him. As, perhaps, did Zachary, a plain, lean, no-nonsense woman in her late thirties whose reputation as Embry's trusted G-2 was widespread.

"Staff Sergeant Gwynmorgan," the major general rumbled in his burly baritone when he spotted Jamie, "glad to see you're along on this."

"Sir." Officers were not Jamie's favorite species, but she respected this man who'd pinned a second Silver Star on her chest and written her Navy Cross citation himself. Especially if he didn't much like Koenig.

Major General Embry's smile briefly lit his attentive eyes before they s.h.i.+fted back to the mission commander. "Okay, Lieutenant, tell me how we're getting up to Thumb Peak and where you want us."

"Of course, sir," Koenig said and ushered Embry and his entourage to a minutely detailed virtual-three-dimension topo display, thirty inches square. Jamie followed them and watched Embry. An in-fighter, she decided, willing and able to risk a punch to win. "We'll move up from Iwahig along the highest ridge, sir." Koenig pointed. "Here. It'll * 128 *

be pretty strenuous at first, but it'll get us to the most advantageous elevation the fastest. By the morning of day three we should be just below the summit..."

v Within minutes of their departure the rain started, slowing their climb. To maintain absolute stealth-to be invisible-they avoided the most-traveled mountain trails. Instead, they stuck to little-used tracks, and at times first squad carved minimal paths through the forest. Nine hours and almost eight klicks later, to Jamie's surprise, they'd seen no PIA. She dared to hope no PIA had seen them.

The second day began cloudy but rainless, and the major general appeared tired. He was in ace condition but in his mid-forties and out of practice. He continued, however, to hold his own. In the afternoon, the rain returned heavier than before. Still, they encountered no PIA, even though the end of the day put them perhaps an hour from the summit.

Nine months battling these people and I'm still confounded by where and when they don't show up. And where and when they do...

Before they broke camp on day three, Jamie downlinked, decrypted, and displayed the Eighth Regiment FOBCOC's satellite mission-monitor imagery, which she kept at the corner of her eyewraps'

shadowscreen so she could watch as Rhys and second and third squads began their op.

Despite intermittent rain, which at times made their detection gear unusable and occasionally obscured the FOBCOC downlinks, they'd stayed a t.i.tch ahead of schedule. Now the noise of temperamental precip provided audio cover, so they moved a bit faster than expected.

Then a cla.s.sic cloud forest fog supplanted the rain; its density interfered with detection and commo gear, forcing them to inch along with such caution that it seemed they hardly moved at all. When the fog finally abated and they could pick up the FOBCOC downlink again, it showed a Second Battalion unit approaching the summit from the northwest only a bit late.

Still no sign of PIA, though, and this perplexed Jamie. She expected to see nothing on the detection gear, but by now some hint of nearby PIA should have manifested. An unnatural silence ahead of them, a twig twisted out of place. Something. Yet no one in the squad * 129 *

had spotted anything, heard anything, and the Second Battalion guys were proceeding apace.

Maybe they're pulling back. Maybe this one's gonna go down easy...

A minute later, or perhaps two, all h.e.l.l broke loose on the other, northwest side of Thumb Peak's summit. Jamie had just taken point, and instantly her left hand sprang up in a fist, signaling the squad to freeze.

So much for easy. She put the distance at less than three hundred meters. The FOBCOC downlink displayed on her shadowscreen confirmed her guess. Twenty-eight tiny Second Battalion figures on the display huddled about two hundred meters north of the summit. Pinned there, they only sporadically returned fire. A spritely tangle of fine red Trajsat filaments converged on an area just north of the summit itself, defining the enemy's location.

First squad had halted about sixty meters southeast of the summit and some twenty-five meters below it. A glance at the map animations on her shadowscreen showed Jamie their disadvantage. Judging by the FOBCOC downlink, the PIA position had the benefit of higher elevation and good cover.

Right behind her, she knew, Lieutenant Koenig saw the same thing on his eyewraps. She turned to him, waiting for orders, but he gaped at her wide-eyed as though he'd never seen her before. Okay, fine, I take that to mean: Carry on. Jamie nodded to him like he'd given her an order to scout.

She signaled Avery, who was smart, feline agile, and a d.a.m.n good shot. Crouching low, Jamie led Avery toward the weapons fire, then sent Avery northwest while she headed north.

"How many are we dealing with?" Koenig demanded when they returned.

"We saw six on the summit, more farther north-" Jamie began.

"How f.u.c.king many altogether, Staff Sergeant?" Koenig only barely controlled his voice.

Jamie stared at him. Oh christ, he's starting to lose it. "I'd say a platoon, more or less," she responded carefully. "We couldn't see all the way up the slope without giving ourselves away, so-"

"So you don't know," Koenig snarled.

Before Jamie could reply, Koenig whirled to face Embry and, a * 130 *

little breathless, proposed calling in air support-actually said "And plenty of it," clearly expecting the major general to like the idea.

Embry listened, glanced at Zachary-and then, abandoning protocol, he spoke to Jamie. "Suggestions, Staff Sergeant?" Their eyes met and Jamie understood: He didn't want to use air support at all, much less before the main thrust of the mission got under way.

"Uh," Jamie stuttered, "uh, yessir. I don't believe they know we're here, and their surveillance doesn't see us, which means we can get very close to their position, because we can use the concealment of the forest until we-"

"But we don't know how many there are," Koenig interrupted with edgy impatience.

"No, Lieutenant, not reliably," Jamie replied, "but maybe we can find out more-"

"We gotta keep commo silence, Staff Sergeant. So how the h.e.l.l do you propose we do that?" Koenig croaked angrily. This second outburst had plainly p.i.s.sed off Zachary, but Embry's hand on her forearm kept her quiet.

"Watch." Jamie waved over five squaddies, then whispered briefly to them. They moved six or seven meters downslope, behind an outcrop that kept them safely out of sight of the summit.

Two of them a.s.sumed lookout positions. The other three began a slow-motion stop-start dance that lasted about two minutes.

"What the f.u.c.k are they doing, Staff Sergeant?" Desperation now laced Koenig's high-pitched whisper.

"Watch your fobc.o.c.k display," she told the officers, forgetting her p.r.o.nunciation, deciding to ignore Embry's eyebrow perking in apparent amus.e.m.e.nt. A minute later, their eyewraps' shadowscreens showed some of the tiny figures on the other side of Thumb Peak forming into a series of patterns. "Aw- right," Jamie said.

Embry smiled broadly. "That new high-tech signaling technique your idea, staff sergeant?"

Jamie grinned back. "I wish, sir. Sergeant Rhys thought it up. This is our beta test."

"Translate," Embry said.

"Fifty PIA, give or take. Most of them north of the summit, about seven meters down, a handful right at the top where there's less cover, * 131 *

some of their main force starting to flank. The Two-Eight guys figure it's because they've interrupted the PIA supply route," Jamie said.

"Could mean more PIA coming up behind the Two-Eight guys. But if so, they haven't been encountered yet. Also means, in my opinion, that the PIA don't know we're here. I believe they'll hyperfocus on Two-Eight and neglect their back, at least for a while. So if we move our a.s.ses before they realize their oversight, we can do it, sir. We can take them without air support."

"Let's hear your plan," said Embry.

The major general, his intelligence officer, Koenig, Ramirez, and Avery squatted around Jamie. "We split up," she said. "Ramirez and one fire team head east. They're Alpha team. Avery takes a fire team west-Bravo team. Lieutenant Koenig and I move with Charlie team onto the rock formation right there just south of the summit." Jamie pointed. "See it just beyond those trees?" Everyone except Koenig nodded.

"Sir, I'm hoping you and your staff and the corpsman can take up position farther downslope beneath that ledge there and cover our backsides."

"Yeah, Staff Sergeant, I think we can manage that." Embry smiled while he thumbed the a.s.sault rifle he'd lugged up the mountain.

"Fog's not impeding commo at the moment, so we pa.s.sive-signal the Two-Eight guys p.r.o.nto and tell them to open up at, let's see, eleven forty," Jamie said. "That'll give us time to get our teams in place. Alpha and Bravo will have minimal cover, but adequate, and an almost even elevation with the main PIA position. Two-Eight lays on suppressive fire aimed right up the middle between them, but below the summit itself. At the same time, Alpha and Bravo open up from both sides, creating crossfire and a diversion so Charlie team can come over the formation from behind and bag the PIA on the summit. Then Charlie targets the main PIA force from the summit while Two-Eight moves up and Alpha and Bravo squeeze from the sides." Koenig looked pale. Even though his head moved up and down, Jamie had no confidence that he really comprehended what she'd said.

Embry studied her, his craggy face scrunched around narrowed black eyes.

"That's it, sir," Jamie said, uncomfortable under the major general's matter-of-fact scrutiny. "That's the plan."

* 132 *

Have I made a complete idiot of myself?

"Sounds solid," said Embry. "Let's do it." v Alpha and Bravo teams moved out first, since they had more distance to cover. Three times while Charlie team slinked into position, Jamie asked the ashen first lieutenant if he felt okay and suggested he might want to join the major general. Three times he declined.

s.h.i.+t. He should be back there with Embry, sucking up, pretending to provide cover. Stupid, stupid, stupid mistake-and christ, we're gonna pay for it. Don't have much time before he wilts.

No time at all, in fact. As Charlie team cl.u.s.tered beneath the rock, Koenig's sudden gasping about air support escalated into shouts for them to stop. He was loud enough to attract PIA attention, but then the Two-Eight guys and first squad's other two teams started shooting.

Even though Koenig had probably given them away, they had to stick with the plan and move up and over the rock formation. It was Koenig's order to give, but he didn't.

"Go go GO!" Jamie rasped after waiting an extra second for the order, and they went. All except Koenig. In the corner of her vision, Jamie saw him curl against the rock. She left him there.

They found eight PIA on the summit. The four snipes with Jamie took six from behind with ease. Two other PIA had turned toward them, perhaps reacting to Koenig's shout. Jamie nailed one but missed the other and scrambled up the last few feet to the summit after him. He fired at her twice, blowing the E19 she carried out of her hands with the first shot.

When his second shot whisked off her boonie hat, the world slid into slow motion, giving her time to consider the decision before her.

Dive for cover while reaching for the pistol strapped to her thigh and shoot it out with him? Or stay up and lunge one more fast, long step to grab his weapon and wrench it from him?

The odds, she concluded, favored grabbing his weapon. As she did it, he twisted slightly to one side but held on. So did she, and they tumbled, skidding across the rock formation and landing resoundingly about two meters from the quailing first lieutenant.

Jamie and the PIA fighter rolled across the uneven slab of rock * 133 *

wrestling for control of the weapon. At last, on her feet again, Jamie gained just enough leverage to bash the b.u.t.t of the rifle into the PIA fighter's larynx.

The blow's crunchy-squishy sound formed a memory she knew she'd never be able to forget. Adrenaline-drenched, clutching the man's QBZ-96, she saw his life ebb from his eyes as he choked. Before his deflating body met the ground, she turned away to face the first lieutenant.

Still hunched against the rock formation, Koenig had extracted his pistol from its holster. Now he shakily pointed it at her.

"Lieutenant!" Jamie exclaimed in astonishment.

His eyes dilated and, staring at her, he angled the barrel of the pistol to his temple. s.h.i.+t. I don't have time for this.

Putting the odds of Koenig doing it at about three to one, Jamie spun around toward the summit, figuring her life would be better without him in it.

But then, growling "Ah h.e.l.l," she swung the QBZ-96 back at Koenig and squeezed off a single shot that nipped his outer thigh inches above his knee. He screamed, dropped the pistol. She glanced downslope and bellowed, "Corpsman!"

Both Embry and Zachary stared back at her-witnesses.

Jamie had no idea why she did it. She did not plan to do it.

No matter.

Soon she'd be marched off in manacles. The Corps did not excuse someone shooting an officer. Ever. Guess handcuffs and leg irons and convict scrubs are gonna be my fate. First, though, she'd do everything she could to keep her guys alive. She turned and scrambled back up to the summit toward the commotion of automatic-weapons fire.

v An hour after it ended, Jamie remained atop Thumb Peak, sitting cross-legged, watching the sun descend toward the sea far to the west.

The sky had cleared of clouds; at least she'd see stars tonight.

There'd been sixty-three PIA-more than they'd thought-but her plan had worked almost perfectly. Four from first squad wounded, but no KIAs, plus all but one of the Two-Eight guys still alive, too.

Before dark, any minute now, a medical helo would arrive and drop a * 134 *

mobile trauma unit to treat the wounded. Dawn would bring a Second Battalion company to relieve them and evacuate the wounded. So far, the rest of the Three-Eight snipe platoon had also done well, according to Rhys: No KIAs, only two go-home wounds.

This outcome accorded Jamie such overwhelming relief that she wasn't really sure she could stand up. After all, this had become her last mission. Ahead was only- She banned the thought. No point in thinking.

A klick and a half to the west rose another peak nearly as high as the one on which she perched, and she wondered if a PIA sniper lurked there. She knew a good snipe with a decent weapon could make the shot that would kill her. She had, more times than she cared to contemplate.

Sure would solve a lot of problems. But no one fired. The fight hadn't gotten there yet. When she saw Ramirez approach, she nodded at him but said nothing. Ramirez sat next to her and, without a word, put her boonie hat on her knee. Late-afternoon sunlight shone through the holes where the PIA round had drilled it.

"Thanks," she said but didn't keep her eyes on him. In the waning light, he looked too much like a dark-haired Arnoldt.

After a long minute, he spoke. "The general wants to see you." He angled his head toward Embry's location.

Exhaling, she took the hat off her knee, put it on her head, and rose stiffly. "Perimeter all set up?"

"Yeah, and scouts patrolling three-sixty 'round the summit."

"Good work. And, Ram, see that everyone up here's under wraps." She inclined her head westward. "No doubt that peak over there makes a great sniper's hide."

Jamie climbed down the rock formation that had sheltered Koenig and was startled to find him still there, his b.l.o.o.d.y right pant leg ripped up to his hip, his blouse off and balled behind his head. The corpsman hovered above his leg while talking quietly into her comlink.

Koenig was unquestionably in pain, but his eyes were clearer than they'd been all day. When he looked up, Jamie thought she saw a faint smile. She wanted to pa.s.s on by but knew she ought to say something to this man, so she paused, searching for words.

The first lieutenant eased the burden of the moment with unlikely dignity. "Gwynmorgan," he said. "Nice shot."

* 135 *

She noticed that he didn't refer to her by her rank and understood this meant something. Jamie opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Lieutenant Colonel Zachary, who barely glanced at Koenig. "Miz Gwynmorgan, the general would like a moment," Zachary said. "I'm sure Mr. Koenig won't mind." Koenig's head went up and down slightly and his face relaxed into an undeniable smile as he closed his eyes and eased back his head.