It was a dangerous mission. The enemy couldn't watch every kilometer of highway, but they had learned to converge quickly when the Thai choppers were spotted, and their strike force was having to finish their missions with less and less time to spare. And this spot was likely to be defended. That was why Bean's contingent-four of the five companies-would be deployed to clear away any defenders and protect Suriyawong's group while they laid the charges and blew up the road and the bridge.
All was going according to plan-indeed, better than expected, because the enemy seemed not to know they were there-when one of the men pointed out, "There's a woman on the bridge."
"A civilian?"
"You need to see," said the soldier.
Suriyawong left the spot where the explosives were being placed and climbed back up to the bridge. Sure enough, a young Indian woman was standing there, her arms stretched out toward either side of the ravine.
"Has anyone mentioned to her that the bridge is going to explode, and we don't actually care if anyone's on it?"
"Sir," said the soldier, "she's asking for Bean."
"By name?"
He nodded.
Suriyawong looked at the woman again. A very young woman. Her clothing was filthy, tattered. Had it once been a military uniform? It certainly wasn't the way local women dressed.
She looked at him. "Suriyawong," she called.
Behind him, he could hear several soldiers exhale or gasp in surprise or wonder. How did this Indian woman know? It worried Suriyawong a little. The soldiers were reliable in almost everything, but if they once got godstuff into their heads, it could complicate everything.
"I'm Suriyawong," he said.
"You were in Dragon Army," she said. "And you work with Bean."
"What do you want?" he demanded.
"I want to talk with you privately, here on the bridge."
"Sir, don't go," said the soldier. "Nobody's shooting, but we've spotted a halfdozen Indian soldiers. You're dead if you go out there."
What would Bean do?
Suriyawong stepped out onto the bridge, boldly but not in any hurry. He waited for the gunshot, wondering if he would feel the pain of impact before he heard the sound. Would the nerves of his ears report to his brain faster than the nerves of whatever body part the bullet tore into? Or would the sniper hit him in the head, mooting the point?
No bullet. He came near her, and stopped when she said, "This is as close as you should come, or they'll worry and shoot you."
"You control those soldiers?" asked Suriyawong
"Don't you know me yet?" she said. "I'm Virlomi. I was ahead of you in Battle School."
He knew the name. He would never have recognized her face. "You left before I got there."
"Not many girls in Battle School. I thought the legend would live on."
"I heard of you."
"I'm a legend here, too. My people aren't firing because they think I know what I'm doing out here. And I thought you recognized me, because your soldiers on both sides of this ravine have refrained from shooting any of the Indian soldiers, even though I know they've spotted them."
"Maybe Bean recognized you," said Sirayawong. "In fact, I've heard your name more recently. You're the one who wrote back to him, aren't you? You were in Hyderabad."
"I know where Petra is."
"Unless they've moved her."
"Do you have any better sources? I tried to think of any way I could to get a message to Bean without getting caught. Finally I realized there was no computer solution. I had to bring the message in my head."
"So come with us."
"Not that simple," she said. "If they think I'm a captive, you'll never get out of here. Handheld g-to-a."
"Ouch," said Suriyawong. "Ambush. They knew we were coming?"
"No," said Virlomi. "They knew I was here. I didn't say anything, but they all knew that the Woman-in-hiding was at this bridge, so they figured that the gods were protecting this place."
"And the gods needed g-to-a missiles?"
"No, I'm the one they're protecting. The gods have the bridge, the men have me. So here's the deal. You pull your explosives off the bridge. Abort the mission. They see that I have the power to make the enemy go away without harming anything. And then they watch me call one of your departing choppers down to me, and I get on of my own free will. That's the only way you're getting out of here. Not really anything I designed, but I don't see any other way out."
"I always hate aborting missions," said Suriyawong. But before she could argue, he laughed and said, "No, don't worry, it's fine. It's a good plan. If Bean were down here on this bridge, he'd agree in a heartbeat."
Suriyawong walked back to his men. "No, it's not a god or a holy woman. She's Virlomi, a Battle School grad, and she has intelligence that's more valuable than this bridge. We're aborting the mission."
The soldier took this in, and Suriyawong could see him trying to factor the magical element in with the orders.
"Soldier," said Suriyawong, "I have not been bewitched. This woman knows the groundplan of the Indian Army high command base in Hyderabad."
"Why would an Indian give that to us?" the soldier asked.
"Because the bunduck who's running the Indian side of the war has a prisoner there who's vital to the war."
Now it was making sense to the soldier. The magic element receded. He pulled his satrad off his belt and punched in the abort code. All the other satrads immediately vibrated in the preset pattern.
At once the explosives teams began dismantling. If they were to evacuate without dismantling, a second code, for urgency, would be sent. Suriyawong did not want any part of their materiel to fall into Indian hands. And he thought a more leisurely pace might be better.
"Soldier, I need to seem to be hypnotized by this woman," he said. "I am not hypnotized, but I'm faking it so the Indian soldiers all around us will think she's controlling me. Got that?"
"Yes sir."
"So while I walk back toward her, you call Bean and tell him that I need all the choppers but mine to evacuate, so the Indians can see they're gone. Then say 'Petra.' Got that? Tell him nothing else, no matter what he asks. We may be monitored, if not here, then in Hyderabad." Or Beijing, but he didn't want to complicate things by saying that.
"Yes sir."
Suriyawong turned his back on the soldier, walked three paces closer to Virlomi, and then prostrated himself before her.
Behind him, he could hear the soldier saying exactly what he had been told to say.
And after a very little while, choppers began to rise into the air from both sides of the ravine. Bean's troops were on the way out.
Suriyawong got up and returned to his men. His company had come in two choppers. "All of you get in the chopper with the explosives," he said. "Only the pilot and co-pilot stay in the other chopper."
The men obeyed immediately, and within three minutes Suriyawong was alone at his end of the bridge. He turned and bowed once again to Virlomi, then walked calmly to his chopper and climbed aboard.
"Rise slowly," he told the pilot, "and then pass slowly near the woman in the middle of the bridge, doorside toward her. At no point is any weapon to be trained on her. Nothing remotely threatening."
Suriyawong watched through the window. Virlomi was not signaling.
"Rise higher, as if we were leaving," said Suriyawong.
The pilot obeyed.
Finally, Virlomi began waving her arms, beckoning with both of them, slowly, as if she were reeling them back in with each movement of her arms.
"Slow down and then begin to descend toward her. I want no chance of error. The last thing we need is some downdraft to get her caught in the blades."
The pilot laughed grimly and brought the chopper like a dancer down onto the bridge, far enough away that Virlomi wasn't actually under the blades, but close enough that it would be only a few steps for her to come aboard.