Xu Lei - Search for the Buried Bomber

“After him!” I cried, but he pulled me back.

“We have no weapons. If it is the spy and he’s carrying an automatic rifle, then, head to head, we’re no match for him.”

“So what do we do?” I hurriedly asked.

“We have to take him out in one blow.” Wang Sichuan was very calm as he spoke. “Listen, this isn’t a joke. Our adversary is a spy, a cold-blooded killer. You’re a technical specialist, and Little Ma is an engineering corpsman. Neither of you have real battle experience. This is no time to be rash.”

I was enraged. “What battle have you been in?”

“I may have never been to war, but by five I was riding horses with my dad. By fifteen, my friends and I were heading into the mountains to hunt wolves. When we Mongolians were kids, our games were all life-and-death. You’re just not going to be as strong as us.” He paused to look out at the flashlight beam, then continued: “This is a hunt, and our sole advantage is that it’s three of us against one of him. We’ll have to divide the responsibilities: one person will divert his attention, one will knock his rifle away, and the last will subdue him. Old Wu, being the smallest, will distract him, I’ll take care of knocking his gun away, and then, in that instant, you, Little Ma, will make a surprise attack.”

“But you don’t have a gun,” I said. “How are you going to knock his away?”

Wang Sichuan looked around for something to throw, but there was nothing atop the walkway. He reached into the water and hauled up a thighbone from within one of the submerged gunnysacks. “The Mongolian grasslands are just as empty as here,” he said, “but so long as one’s skills are great, anything can become a weapon.”

Seeing his stance as he hefted the thighbone, I knew he was preparing to throw the bulu . “Why not just smack him across the head with it and knock him over?” I asked.

“Not possible,” he said. “See for yourself.”

Looking over at the swinging beam, I understood what he meant. There wasn’t enough light. All we could see of the person was the area just around his flashlight.

“That’s why you have to make him open fire—so that I know where his gun is.”

I ordinarily had a lot of confidence in his skill, but this was all or nothing. “No way,” I said. “We’re just gambling on your bulu toss. What happens if you miss?”

“Don’t speak such nonsense,” said Wang Sichuan. “Keep hesitating and that son of a bitch will get away. You want to be trapped here forever?”

I looked up. The light beam had stopped moving. I knew we had no choice but to roll the dice. I nodded.

The three of us turned off our flashlights and continued cautiously, taking cover wherever we could find it. We quickly drew close to the source of the flashlight beam, and our quarry came into view. He was less than thirty feet away, wearing a Japanese military uniform, and moving things into the oxskin raft. The man appeared on alert. He kept looking all around. Then we saw the film canister. It was already in the raft. I crouched behind several gunnysacks, revealing only the top half of my head as I watched. He was wearing a gas mask. I swore. Even now he still wouldn’t reveal his identity.

Wang Sichuan gave me a glance and motioned noiselessly. You draw his attention, he was saying, while Ma Zaihai dives underwater. I nodded. He prepared to hurl the bulu . Then, just as Wang Sichuan was about to signal, the man suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked around in alarm, as if he’d noticed something. Wang Sichuan and I ducked back down at once. This guy’s alert as hell, I said to myself. He really is a professional spy. We waited a long time, then looked back out. His movements had sped up. Clearly he was afraid.

Wang Sichuan made no more movements and gave us only a glance. Ma Zaihai immediately dove underwater. Straining my eyes, I watched as he swam under the raft. He was ready. Wang Sichuan nodded to me. Taking a deep breath, I muttered a mental “Buddha preserve us,” then ran out, roaring madly, “Don’t move!”

Immediately the flashlight beam was on me. I made it two steps before he opened fire, the bullet whizzing past my head. That’s not good, I thought. That bullet was way too close, and he probably couldn’t even see me yet. This son of a bitch really knows his way around a gun. Instinctively, I rolled to the ground. Two streaks of flame flew past where I had just been standing. One second later and I would have been toast. Luckily Wang Sichuan was no slouch himself. A moment after I hit the dirt, I heard the characteristic hollow smash of the bulu . This had to be his most powerful throwing style—the one he said was used to take down wild oxen. Then came a series of noises followed by a splash. I knew we’d done it. Leaping to my feet, I sprinted toward the noise.

Water splashed in all directions. Wang Sichuan must have already jumped in. I was about to do the same when I saw the black iron film canister. It was sitting magnificently on the floor of the raft. I stepped into the raft and grabbed it, then picked up the burning-hot rifle and aimed it at the water. It was two against one and Wang Sichuan was there. They wouldn’t need me. Safeguarding the data seemed more important.

The water roiled for some time. Ma Zaihai’s head was first to emerge, but then he went back under. With everyone twisted together, there was no way I could determine who was who. I didn’t dare fire. After tossing and turning for who knows how long, the water suddenly went still. With a thump Ma Zaihai climbed into the raft, his mouth wide and gasping for breath. I very nearly smashed him with the butt of the rifle before I saw who it was. “What happened?” I asked him, but he couldn’t say a thing, just panted so hard it seemed he might die. When I went to help him up, he didn’t have the strength to even take my hand.

After several seconds Wang Sichuan popped out of the water as well. With his great big lungs, he was barely panting. Paddling in every direction, he looked around. The water was calm. I shined my flashlight across it. There was nothing to see.

“Goddamn it,” Wang Sichuan swore. “He got away! Do you have the goods?”

I raised the iron canister. Shaking his head, he climbed into the raft and pulled Ma Zaihai to his feet. “If only we hadn’t eased up in the end, a merit citation would have been ours for sure.”

I stared down at the pitch-black surface of the water. Somewhere, I knew, there was a pair of eyes staring right back at us. Looking over at Ma Zaihai, I could tell from his expression how much he wanted to get out of here. “What now?” he asked. “Should we just set out directly?”

To tell you the truth, upon seeing the raft, my only desire was to leave at once. I could barely consider anything else. I nodded. “Screw it,” I said. “For the safety of the film, I think we should head back right away.”

Ma Zaihai was overjoyed and began hauling in the anchor. I looked over at Wang Sichuan. He remained stock-still. My heart thumped and I looked straight at him. “What is it?” I asked. Did he still want to wait for Old Tang and the others? The situation had changed. Our plans had to as well. I knew leaving them like this was an irresponsible move, but with such a great excuse in my hands, I couldn’t bring myself to worry too much about it. Wang Sichuan’s sense of justice was too strong. Did we always have to do the heroic thing?

His expression was a little odd. He hesitated for a moment, then spoke. “I was just thinking about whether we should first head back to the projection hall.”

“The projection hall?” said Ma Zaihai in amazement. “What do you want to go back there for?”

Wang Sichuan tipped his head toward the iron canister. “If we just hand this thing off to our superiors, we’ll probably never in our whole lives know what’s on it.”