Jack Du Brul - River of Ruin

Mercer roused his people as soon as the sound hit them. They couldn’t waste the precious seconds of distraction the explosion gave them. The Seahawk pilot understood her orders and didn’t bother staring at the awful destruction taking place up the canal. She swung her chopper in a tight circle, lowering her altitude so the door gunner could open fire directly into the Korvald ’s bridge. Glass and blood flew.

The Legion soldiers led the group around the wing bridge and across what had once been the side of the superstructure. The steel was slick with rain and the footing treacherous. There was no cover. Had it not been for the chopper keeping the Chinese pinned, their charge could have been cut down before it ever really got going.

Munz and Foch reached the edge of the superstructure first, dropping flat to peer over the lip to see who or what was below them. Mercer and Lauren watched where the Korvald ’s wing bridge jutted out ten feet over their heads. So far no one on the Chinese ship presented themselves as a target.

“Clear,” Foch called and disappeared from view over the edge.

The others rushed forward. The Korvald ’s rail was only a foot below them and was less than a yard away. The water between the two ships continued to bubble as air escaped from the capsized freighter.

Foch waited in the shadow of a ventilator to help steady the others as they leapt over. Above them and forty feet aft, the ship’s mangled wheelhouse continued to take automatic fire from the Seahawk. A short way off two pairs of legs shown grotesquely from under the Rose ’s decapitated funnel.

“What’s your plan?” Mercer asked the Legion officer.

He shrugged. “ Je ne sais pas . I thought you’d have an idea.”

Looking toward the bow, Mercer saw movement. A Chinese soldier was working his way along the raised hatch covers to find a way to shoot down the helicopter gunship with his type 87. Mercer swung his M-16, but Rabidoux was quicker and triggered off a three-round burst that threw the soldier flat.

Two more Chinese rose from their hiding places to counterfire and were cut down by Lauren and Foch.

“The chopper’s keeping everyone on the bridge occupied,” Mercer said, his breathing growing ragged as adrenaline once again electrified his body. “Foch, take two men and mop up the forward deck so no one can sneak up behind us.”

“ D’accord .” He grabbed Munz and the Legion trooper whose name Mercer didn’t know and vanished around the funnel.

Mercer and the rest shuffled over to the superstructure, mindful of glass still falling from the bridge. Reaching a sealed hatchway, Bruneseau took up a covering position while Rabidoux spun open the dogs. No one was waiting inside.

“Haven’t we already done this once today?” Harry remarked as they stepped out of the storm.

“Quit your complaining and help us find a place to hole up until Foch gets back.”

They made their way down a dim passage, turning left toward the interior of the ship, and found an unlocked cabin. Mercer went in first, his M-16 held tight to his shoulder. It was clear. Harry went straight to the desk and sat down. “Ah, that feels better. Damned peg leg is starting to bother me.”

A minute later, they heard movement outside the cabin. Rene peeked out the door then opened it wide for Foch and the others. “Is the deck clear?”

He nodded. “There were three others. What do we do now, hunt down the rest?”

Mercer thought about it. “No. Just one of them.”

“Sun?” Harry asked, understanding.

“I’ve got to do it,” Mercer said. “I can’t explain why, but I’ve got to.”

“It’s not worth it,” Lauren said, stunned that Mercer would suggest it. “We can all wait right here. No one’s going to find us and the Panamanian coast guard is going to be here in a few minutes.”

“I do want you all to wait right here. But I’m going.” Mercer checked the ammo in his M-16 and felt for the.45-caliber pistol tucked behind his back.

“Sun isn’t going to get away,” Lauren pleaded. She’d never seen such savagery in Mercer’s eyes before and it frightened her. “You talked about being macho before. Well, listen to your own advice.”

Mercer didn’t look at her when he spoke. “If you knew how empty I feel because of what he did to me, you wouldn’t ask me to stay. I won’t be myself until I know he’s dead. It doesn’t make sense, I know. But it’s how I feel.”

Harry stood. “Let him go, Lauren. He’s right.”

“You too?” She wheeled on him, feeling betrayed because she was sure Mercer’s oldest friend would see the insanity of what he wanted to do.

“It’s for the best. Mercer, go. We’ll be right here.”

“That’s another I owe you,” Mercer said, moving to the door. Lauren’s expression was one of disgust. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed and took off down the hall.

No one moved or spoke for several long seconds. Foch finally turned to Harry. “Enough time?”

“Another few seconds.”

“What are you talking about?” Lauren blazed.

“We’re going to follow him,” Harry said. “What did you think?”

Mercer’s feet barely touched the scuffed linoleum decking as he ran. His vision felt heightened, as if nothing could hide from his gaze. Even the deepest shadows looked bright.

His hearing was more acute. Each creak and groan reverberating around the ship sounded distinctly in his ears and he could tell where each noise originated.

He climbed two decks, moving ever closer to where automatic fire from the chopper continued to slam the bridge. He passed the body of an officer who’d staggered down from the wheelhouse to die. A trail of blood from the large-caliber holes in his chest led up a third flight of stairs. Over the staccato beat of machine-gun fire, Mercer heard voices shouting in Chinese. He started up the stairs, keeping low and to one side.

At the upper landing he guessed that the bridge had been evacuated because the door separating it from the rest of the superstructure was closed. To his left was a short hallway that doubled back aft. It was where the ship’s officers had their quarters. To the right, he could just see into another large cabin, probably the captain’s. That’s where the voices came from.

He moved out of the stairwell to get a better view of what was going on inside. He recognized one of the men as the captain and the other as the stocky civilian. Unfortunately the third man wasn’t Sun. It was a soldier. The more Mercer looked at him the more he was convinced it was the same guy who’d captured him following the chase on the car carrier.

Mercer couldn’t understand what they were saying but it appeared the veteran soldier wasn’t happy about something. In fact it looked like he was holding a pistol on the civilian and the captain.

“For the last time, Huai,” General Yu said, trying to keep his anger in check. “Put that damned gun away.”

“I can’t do that, General. Not until you tell me exactly why you felt it necessary to sacrifice my men.”

“I told you that soldiers dying is the price of war.”

“That’s what confuses me. Who was this war against? Panama? America? Who?”

Yu snapped his mouth closed, suddenly understanding what the sergeant was going on about. He had lost men in a conflict he didn’t understand. He wanted answers and Yu could see that some pat response wouldn’t satisfy him. “Sergeant, this operation was about defending our way of life. Not all our enemies come with white skin and round eyes. Some are within our own ranks.”

“Liu Yousheng might have been a bastard, but I never saw him as my enemy.”

Yu seized on his statement. “Might have been? You killed him?”