Victor O'Reilly - Rules of The Hunt

A shiver of anticipation ran through her as she thought of the significance of the mayhem in Hodama's gardens.

The gaijin was still alive.

She had caught a brief glimpse of Namaka as they had flown in, but there had been no sign of Fitzduane.

He should have been there. He was the bait. But was it not more likely that, having baited the trap, he would withdraw and watch events play out from a safer location? The gaijin was daring and clearly did not lack courage, but he was no fool.

Suddenly, Fitzduane's plan became clear to her. He had used the strengths of his opponents against each other and he had been not only the bait but the catalyst of their destruction. Fumio Namaka, normally so farseeing and cautious, had been blinded by his obsession with the destruction of his brother's killer. Katsuda had been impelled by his desire for revenge against the Namakas and his ambition to become the new kuromaku. Who knew what other elements were involved? And worst of all, her own organization had committed its full strength out of obligation to the Namakas and had been caught in the trap.

The full realization of how they had all been outmaneuvered by this foreign barbarian filled her with gall. But if her analysis was correct, it also meant that Fitzduane was in the airship. He had achieved complete tactical surprise, like a hunter concealed on high in a tree hide, but his main defense had lain in remaining undetected. And clearly he had not fully considered the possibility of his prey being airborne too.

Oshima felt confidence in her judgment restored. It had been her idea to use the two stolen Japanese Defense Forces helicopters. Several Yaibo members had received helicopter training in Libya, ironically from North Vietnamese instructors using captured Hueys. For some time, she had seen the relevance of air power in terrorist operations and saw nor reason why the authorities should have a monopoly on air mobility and firepower.

The roles were now reversed. The hunter in his hide would now be the hunted. And the airship would be a hard target to miss.

This time Yaibo would have the high ground.

Oshima pointed toward the receding airship. It was already several miles away. They had lost time looking for a police helicopter, but they would soon make it up. The Huey, she knew, was much faster than that huge bag of gas.

"Pursue the airship," she said, "and maneuver so that we can attack from above. They won't be able to see us and they won't be able to shoot back. And hurry. I want that craft downed right over the city."

The propaganda significance of destroying such a large and visible symbol of authority over Japan's capital city would be immense.

The pilot increased power, and the Huey sped above the neon-lit city toward a target they could not miss.

"Fitzduane- san," said the Spider. "Radar confirmed by visual observation reports that our airship is being pursued by a helicopter." There was a pause. "Two helicopters were reported stolen by the JDF five days ago. We regret – but we have every reason to suspect terrorist action."

"Roger that," said Fitzduane, who was thinking.

The Spider's voice was urgent. "You may well be attacked, Fitzduane- san," he said, "but I would ask you to remember the rules of engagement. There must be NO civilian casualties. Whatever the provocation, you must not return fire over Tokyo. Evade and escape, Fitzduane- san, but do not open fire."

"How long do we have before the Yaibo chopper gets within range?" said Fitzduane.

"Two to three minutes minimum," said the Spider. "Maybe longer. And they may never attack. But it is important you be warned."

"Out," said Fitzduane. The world now divided into his team and the rest, but there was one member he did not know too well. He went to sit beside the pilot. The inspector- san looked scarcely out of diapers, but most Japanese looked young for their age. In a few words, he told him the situation.

The pilot grimaced and turned to Fitzduane. "Colonel- san," he said. "I have been trained in all normal aspects of airship operation, but this ship is not a fighter." He paused for half a beat and then spoke again. "But I will do whatever can be done."

Fitzduane had initially thought the pilot looked about eight. He revised his opinion after sitting closer. Close up, the kid was undeniably over fifteen. To have achieved the rank of police inspector, he was clearly on the fast track.

"Inspector- san," he said. "Where did you go to university?"

"Todai," said the pilot proudly. All roads let to and from TokyoUniversity.

"Well, that's all right, then," said Fitzduane cheerfully.

The pilot turned and looked at this lunatic gaijin blankly.

"You move and shake when I tell you, Inspector- san," said Fitzduane. "It's kind of like lateral thinking, only different. No looping the loop of Immelman turns. Just a couple of sexy maneuvers at exactly the right time. Understand?"

The inspector-pilot- san still looked puzzled, until Fitzduane spoke for about twenty seconds. Then realization dawned and his face lit up. "Ah so!" he said with enthusiasm.

Fitzduane looked genuinely pleased. "I always wanted to hear someone say that," he said.

The Yaibo helicopter was a scant hundred yards away from the airship, but slightly above and behind.

The gondola was below and out of sight. They could see the airship and could get so close they could almost reach out and touch it, but the airship crew in the gondola below could not see them.

The enemy was blind.

"Open fire. Empty your magazines," said Oshima, and two AK-47s and five 9mm submachine guns crackled into action.

The Huey was flying with both doors open, but still the noise was deafening. Cartridge cases cascaded out of the automatic weapons, bounced off the cabin floor, and then slid into the neon-lit glow of the darkness to fall two thousand feet to the city below.

Three hundred full-metal-jacketed rounds penetrated the sausage-shaped balloon of the airship in under ten seconds.

Helium gas began to leak from the holes.

Turbines whining, a flight of JDF Super-Cobra gunships on full military power climbed into the night sky over Atsugi and headed toward the airship.

"ETA ten – one zero – minutes," said the Spider. There was no acknowledgment. "Gunships will rendezvous in ten – one zero – minutes," he repeated.

Static came back at him. In midcommunication, the airship had gone suddenly silent.

"Bloody hell," said Fitzduane, with some understandable irritation, as the radio in front of him shattered in a cloud of sparks.

The rounds, judging by the angle of entry, were coming from above and the rear. Before striking their communications, the fire must have punched through the double polyester coating of the envelope twice on its way in and out and then through the Kevlar-reinforced plastic of the gondola itself.

He had hoped that such a combination would have stopped the light automatic fire normally used by terrorists, but he was being disabused. He was learning more and more about airships and modern firepower in a hurry. Frankly, he did not object to the acquisition of this information as such – he rather liked airships – but the manner of learning left a great deal to be desired.

The back of his hand oozed blood from an encounter with a piece of razor-sharp plastic blasted out of the casing by the bullets, and he sucked the wound. A cut about an inch and a half long was revealed.

All in all, they were being very lucky. The terrorists had been shooting at them for well over a minute, he estimated but so far nothing too vital had been struck.

Yaibo was discovering the hard way that scoring hits on something as large as an airship was not the same as doing it damage. True, they were losing the gas that kept them up, but the bullet holes were so small in relation to the overall size of the envelope that it was going to take some time before all of the lift was affected. Fitzduane had heard that pilots in World War I had had much the same problem with German zeppelins before the incendiary had been invented. On the other hand zeppelins were allowed to shoot back.