Lam checked the tracks in the area. “Looks like eight or ten men pushed the rig down the slight slope all the way to the little road over there between the pineapples. Then they could start the engine and not be heard.”
“So, we’ve got two problems,” Murdock said. “We need to find the two fucking admirals and their families, but we can’t let the kidnapper get away in his pickup.” He stared into the night. “Guns Franklin,” he said on the radio. “Leave your combat vest and weapon here and run back to the vans, and have them both drive up here as damn fast as you and they can get here. Go, now.”
“Roger, Cap. I’m out-a-here.”
“Hey, JG, I think I’ve found something,” the radio chirped. “Down at the end of the packing shed. It looks like a door that leads down into some kind of underground tunnel or room or something.”
“Hold right there,” Murdock said. “We’re coming down there to take a look.”
8
Murdock stared at what appeared to be a broken wall of some sort that had been pushed back against the end of the packing shed. There was a slight decline in the floor as it slanted down some two feet. Lam hurried and held up his hand, keeping the others back while he searched the dirt floor. He went to his hands and knees and then stood grinning.
“Cap, there’s been a lot of foot traffic back and forth across this strip of dirt. I can make out more than a dozen tracks, and several of them are women and children’s shoes. A lot more here than meets the eye.”
“Where is this door?” Murdock asked.
Ostercamp looked up and shrugged. “Well, sir, it wasn’t exactly a door, but it looked like it could be. Over here.”
He moved to a section of the broken wall that closed off the end of the packing shed. He pushed on one section. “This part looks loose, like it could move.” Ostercamp kicked the wall with the flat of his boot and it shook, then edged upward six inches.
“Yes, it does move,” Murdock said. “Kick that sucker again.”
Ostercamp jumped up and slammed both boots against the wall, then dropped to the ground. The wall section moved a few inches, then stopped for a moment before it lifted and swung back six feet to reveal a door in another wall.
“Easy and stand back,” Murdock said. He moved up to the door and looked at the knob. The usual. He reached down and patted the metal knob. No electrical reaction. He turned the knob and pushed open the door with the muzzle of his Bull Pup. The door opened on oiled hinges. Inside they saw a set of steps leading down, and then a short tunnel to another door.
Murdock and the men hurried down the steps. Ed DeWitt tried the door. It was locked. He looked at Murdock, who nodded.
DeWitt used his Bull Pup and slammed two rounds into the door just in front of the doorknob where the lock would be. The sound of the shots in the enclosed tunnel blasted against the men’s ears like a howitzer going off. The door shuddered a moment, then swung open inward.
Just inside the door they found two teenage boys, each armed with a three-foot-long wooden club. One of the boys dropped the club and ran forward.
“You guys Navy SEALs?” he asked.
“Yes,” Murdock said. “I’d guess you’re one of the hostages the Chinese have been holding. Are the two admirals here?”
“No, sir,” the other boy said. “Half hour ago the Chinese commander came back, took my dad and Jake’s dad, and hustled them out of here and locked the door. We don’t know where they took them.”
“Everyone else here okay?” DeWitt asked.
“Yes, sir,” Jake said. “My mom is worried about Dad, but nobody else got shot or anything.”
“We’re sorry about Little Patty. That was terrible. Now, go get your families and bring them into the main house. The worst of this is over for you.”
Murdock led the way out of the underground. He used his radio. “Franklin. Where the hell are you? We need one of the vans around to the side of the house pronto. Come back.”
“Cap, we’re almost there. Sprained my damn ankle on the run and that slowed me down. Be there in two.”
“DeWitt. Assign two men to take care of the admirals’ families. Then join First Squad with the rest of your men. We’ll jam into the extended van and try to catch up with the Ford truck. Not many places he can run to out here.”
The two vans came around the side of the house and slid to a stop. “Let’s mount up that first van and ride. Everyone have TO&E ammo loads? Let’s move.”
Lam headed them out the right way, then jumped in the van. At the dirt track through the plantation, Lam stopped the rig and checked the dirt. He pointed to his right, which would lead back into the island more.
“Where can he be going?” Lam asked.
“Not the slightest,” Murdock said. “Let’s hope he doesn’t have a chopper stashed up here somewhere. We don’t know for sure how he got inland.”
The dirt road continued for three miles, then left the pineapple field and struck out across undeveloped land. The driver swore.
“That pickup, was it lifted with four-wheel drive?” the driver asked.
Murdock scowled. “Yeah, it was lifted at least. Getting rough out there?”
Just then the van slowed and hit something. The front end dropped a foot and the rig came to a sudden stop.
“No way we can keep moving across this rough land,” the driver said. “I didn’t even see that ditch. We can’t get out of it.”
“Everyone out,” Murdock barked. “Lam, get out front and track that bastard. We’ll be right behind you.”
The SEALs moved at a six-mile-an-hour pace as they jogged across the country. It became more rugged, and soon they could see spots where the four-wheel raised pickup had trouble getting through. One gully had three bumper marks on it where the pickup didn’t quite make it across. The fourth time had been a winner.
“We should be gaining on them,” Lam said. “This terrain is gonna stop them sooner or later.”
It did, but it was a half hour later and the night sky was wide open and star-filled and the moon had waned a little from its fullness the night before. They found the pickup nosed down into a ditch it couldn’t climb out of.
“Missed it in the darkness,” Lam guessed. He went across the gully and used a pocket flash to figure out which way the walkers had headed. After two minutes of false starts he pointed almost due north.
“Looks like he’s heading for the coast, Cap,” Lam said. “What’s he going to do, swim back to China?”
They kept moving. The trail was easier to follow now since the men were walking in a file and making a track with as many as twelve sets of footprints. Lam tried to jog again, but lost the trail when they turned toward a patch of trees. These were native koa and ohia trees in what looked like an area designed to produce firewood for stoves and fireplaces.
Murdock and Lam conferred. Then Lam headed out quickly and the SEALs waited. If the woods were clear, he’d give them a call on the Motorola.
Five minutes later he called and the SEALs jogged the half mile into the woods. Lam had been working to find where the Chinese men came out. It took him five minutes more before he stumbled on the discarded food can. It had Chinese characters on it. The trail led north again.
Murdock called up Franklin. “Take the driver and cut across country to the mansion. Fire up the other van and we’ll try to connect on some roads up ahead. We’re moving back into the more settled section of the place, and I’d guess the bastards will try to hijack a car or a truck. We need wheels over there. Go.”
The crack of a rifle shot sent all the squad diving to the ground.