"Ever been a bird in a birdcage, Bob?" Leah Silverstone paced slowly back and forth across the stone floor, keeping her eyes fixed on Sadeski. "I'm in the cage. Don't let them put you in one." She stopped, facing Bob, and planted her hands on her hips.
"I won't." Bob felt as though his voice was coming from a great distance away. "Our job is almost over. Then this bird is free."
"I see." There was a hint of regret in Silverstone's voice. "Don't die, Bob." She turned and began walking away. Bob reached out to her, but his legs refused to move. He watched helplessly as she walked through a stone column.
A loud noise came from somewhere nearby. Sadeski found his legs suddenly working properly and spun around to see that Rene Levancon had dropped his submachine gun, causing the clattering noise that had woken him from his half-dreaming state. The Frenchman was slumped against a column, seemingly asleep. Bob remembered he was in the Wat Phra Kaew, waiting for the terrorists to come. The last twenty-four hours had been a blur- the scene he had just "seen" had taken place hours before, on the Northern Cross. Bob rubbed his eyes and checked his watch. Almost midnight. He would need to stay alert.
Zachary Taylor covered Levancon's mouth, then punched him in the arm. The Frenchman woke up violently, thrashing his limbs. Taylor waited for him to calm down somewhat, then released Rene. Levancon stood up hastily, looking more irritated than anything else. "Dammit Zach, that wasn't necessary."
"It damn well was." Taylor retorted. "Last time I tried to wake you up like a normal person you started sleepwalking and convinced Sato you were a zombie." Bob suppressed a snort of laughter from his position. He remembered this particular incident vividly.
"All of you, shut up." Gordon Weston's voice seemed to roll out of every unseen part of the temple, barely above a whisper. "We need the element of surprise."
Silence returned, but nobody fell asleep this time. Weston was at the back of the complex, watching the river with two Thai policemen. The other four mercenaries were stretched along the southern end of the temple's east wall. Jao and Chariya had taken the northeast corner. Suphayok's police forces had assembled in four nearby buildings, ready to arrest the terrorists. A special forces van was under a tent just north of the complex. Two remote-controlled machine guns had been mounted in hidden positions near the main eastern entrance. Taylor held the controls. There was still an uneasy atmosphere. The target was still not entirely certain, and the size of the enemy force was unknown.
The hours dragged on. At about two A.M., gunfire erupted from the back of the temple complex. Bob ordered the others to hold their positions, then darted off through the main temple to find Weston. The larger man was dragging the bodies of six dead Khmer Rouge into a pile. "They came in barges," he explained. "The barges were empty. They'll be coming from the front. That was an escape plan." The Thai policemen ran off to the north, and Gordon followed Bob to the front of the complex.
The mercenaries who had been left in the front were watching the east intently. Off in the distance, far past the buildings the police occupied, something white gleamed in the glow from the streetlights. The object appeared to be moving closer. Bob beckoned to his men, and they followed him through the shadows to the north end of the temple. Jao and Chariya were waiting with the two Thai policemen, also watching the white object bobbing in the distance.
"What is that?" Chariya whispered. She was dressed all in black and clutching an Uzi. She seemed very small in the darkness of the vast temple.
"I don't know, but I think it's heading for the center." Bob began leading the whole group toward the center of the temple. Here, a large road led up to the main temple building, which housed several national symbols and the model of Angkor Wat. It was down this road that the floating white object was moving. A series of low stone walls separated the temple's steps from the road. One wall, about four feet high, was set farther back than the main wall, creating two narrow entrances through which visitors were forced to pass. Taylor, Jao, and Sato took up a position behind this wall. Chariya remained at the left entrance with the policemen, while Bob led Gordon and Rene to the far right.
Sadeski had noticed the Frenchman's sullen attitude had returned. The normally irritating characteristic was a welcome condition to Bob- if Levancon was behaving normally, there would be less to worry about. Bob peered around the side of the wall, exposing as little of his face as possible. The white object was still approaching, and a pair of legs could be faintly seen below it in the lamplight. More pairs of legs moved to the sides, and ghostly faces shone above them.
The large open square in front of the temple was better illuminated- the moon was waning, but it was still fairly bright in the sky. After a few minutes, the foremost pair of legs stepped into the square, and the moonlight illuminated a large Khmer man made even taller by a cow skull with strangely twisted horns serving as a face mask.
Across the entrance, Chariya sharply drew her breath in. "Kting Voar..." She turned to stare at Bob. It was the first time Sadeski had seen fear in the normally brash agent's expression. He wondered if this man was really as dangerous as the Thai agents believed.
Behind the masked man, a column of Khmer Rouge in their traditional black, loose-fitting clothes and solid red bandannas marched into the square, carrying various firearms, bombs, and what Bob suspected was a rocket launcher. Bob suddenly, inexplicably, thought of how Leah Silverstone would react to a parade of red bandannas down her dock.
He was jolted back to reality by Gordon Weston sharply drawing in his breath. From the north and south, smaller columns of Khmer terrorists were flowing into the main one. "They brought backup. There's about a hundred twenty."
Bob realized that the situation had suddenly become substantially less favorable for their odds of survival. There were no more than sixty policemen, all of whom had been expecting a numerical advantage, waiting nearby. With the special forces team and the nine at the entrance, there were a total of seventy-five poorly organized defenders available to face what had been one of the most feared paramilitary forces in Asia. The fact that this force had survived thirty years of extermination campaigns was a testament to the difficulty of the upcoming battle.
The man wearing the cow skull mask had turned to face his followers and was now speaking in Khmer. His harsh voice rang through the square. Bob glanced to Taylor and found the younger man watching him intently, waiting for the order. Taylor nodded at Bob. He held a remote in each hand and carried a machine gun across his chest. Next to him, Jao appeared woefully unprepared with only an Uzi to match his cousin's. On the other side, Sato carried an assault rifle, several pistols, and a katana. For the Japanese mercenary, this was light armament- Bob had to waste a substantial amount of time before any gunfight convincing the younger man that mobility was important.
The masked man's speech seemed to be building to its conclusion. His voice grew louder, and eventually he raised one fist into the air. This was met with a response from the crowd of troops following him. The masked man turned to face the temple, and his followers picked up their bombs and began moving forward.
"Zach." Bob hissed. "Now!"
The machine guns sprang to life, laying down a murderous fire into the advancing terrorists. As the guns fired, Bob felt the wall shaking slightly. He realized, with a sense of dread, that only a foot of brick and mortar was between one gun and his position, and Chariya was in a similar predicament. A few Khmer men turned and ran, but the "Kting Voar" gave a roar and charged the entrance, followed by a knot of his troops. The men who had not charged began firing wildly in the direction of the concealed machine guns.
Taylor stopped the fire and sprang up over the central wall, mowing down the first row of terrorists with his machine gun, with the leader's bone mask shattering from several hits from the powerful weapon. The sight of the "Kting Voar" falling in action induced some of the terrorists to flee, but almost half were resolutely advancing on the temple. Zachary dropped behind the wall once again and Jao and Takeshi began firing through the entrances. On the left, Chariya and the two policemen had also started shooting. In the distance, Bob could see the special forces team coming in from behind in their van. The police would be close behind.
A bullet struck Jao in the shoulder, and the diminutive man was sent spinning, coming to rest on the temple steps in a heap. Chariya cried out to her cousin, who did not move or respond. Taylor took his place, and Sato roared at the terrorists. As Bob had expected, the terrorists were now fleeing to the wall he was behind for cover. After eight men had taken shelter near the machine gun, Bob and Gordon leaned over the low wall and began to empty their weapons into the Khmer Rouge at point-blank range. Rene covered the position through the entrance, cursing in French.
The police were now flooding out of their buildings, encircling the remaining terrorists. Sato, his blood-lust awakened, cast his gun aside and drew his katana. Bob immediately sensed what was happening. "Takeshi! No!" His words fell on deaf ears- the mercenary had charged into a group of Khmer Rouge almost at the left entrance and was now hacking them apart with the blade. He quickly regretted not heeding Bob's warning, however- a bullet from somewhere to the right struck him in the calf and he went down among the Khmer corpses.
In a matter of seconds, the bullets stopped flying toward the temple. The initial charge had been completely eliminated, and the remaining terrorists- no more than twenty- had realized they were outnumbered and were now attempting to flee from the police. It appeared that a substantial number had fled already. The police were able to rapidly round up the survivors and lead them away toward a prison to the north.
Chariya knelt over her cousin. <Jao! Jao, can you hear me?> She seemed frantic, and her hands shook slightly as she turned the small body over.
Jao's eyes were open, and he had a dazed grin on his face. <Tell Mekhala I'm Jaym Bond, agent...> His tone was, though faint, clearly jovial. The puddle of blood under him was slowly spreading.
His cousin's eyes widened once she noticed this. <You two!> The policemen ran over to her. <Get him to a hospital. He's losing blood.>
The policemen picked up Jao carefully, avoiding the damaged shoulder. The agent weakly tried to move his other arm. <Big sister, I didn't see anything...> His singsong speech trailed off as the policemen carried him away. Chariya followed them, speaking to her delirious cousin in worried Thai.
Takeshi, covered in others' blood, tried to pick himself up using his katana, but his injured leg would not support his weight. Wincing with pain, he hauled himself up the wall. Bob shook his head. "You're an idiot, you know."
"Ah! Damn." Sato gritted his teeth. He turned to face his leader. "I know, Bob. Sorry about that."
"Don't apologize. You're the one who's gonna suffer for it. Who here knows where the hospital is?" Bob turned to the other three mercenaries.
"I got it." Weston carefully maneuvered his large frame between the corpses on the ground to Sato. He glanced down at the sword in his friend's hand. "Drop it, Takeshi." Not until the Japanese mercenary had complied did Weston pick him up and begin walking off in the direction the policemen had gone. Bob, Rene, and Zachary set about collecting their weapons. Bob thought back to what Silverstone had said. He was now effectively in a cage, despite no personal issues. He was not the bird, the crew as a whole was. Sadeski was just the head.
ns 15.158.61.55da2
