Robert Doherty - Section 8

"What about thermal imagery?" Orson asked.

Vaughn nodded.

"I ordered an intelsat to do some shots when it goes overhead. We should be getting those in shortly."

"The other thing to factor in," Hayes said, "is that Abayon has money. Lots of it. He's put a lot of it into the infrastructure on the island and also bought a lot of space from the Philippine government with bribes. When I was on the island, I heard rumors of large piles of gold that Abayon had from the war."

"Yamashita's gold," Tai said.

"Whose gold?" Vaughn asked.

"Gold is not an issue here," Orson said. He tapped the photo tacked to the plywood.

"Abayon is the target."

He turned to Tai. As he was about to speak, there was a tap at the door.

Vaughn went over and opened it. One of the ASTs was there with a large manila envelope with a red top secret seal. Vaughn took it and went back to the podium. He ripped it open and looked at the thermal imaging while the others waited impatiently.

"The complex must be deep," he said as he scanned the pictures.

"There's not much…" He paused as he noted something.

"There's a hot spot on the side of the mountain. Northwest side. Looks like it might be a ventilator exhaust, since hot air is flowing out of it."

"Just one?" Tai asked.

"A complex as big as what were talking about should have more than that."

Vaughn shook his head.

"According to some historical records I found, there were originally numerous caves and caverns on Hono, which the natives used hundreds of years ago. So we have to assume that the complex is mostly natural, with some artificial enhancement – cross tunnels, enlarging of natural chambers, and so on. I checked online with an expert on underground bunkers and he told me that in such a situation it's possible that the complex doesn't need an extensive air system, that air might flow through fissures and other natural openings. They could place generators for power in caverns that have the most air flow to cross ventilate.

"There's even the possibility," he continued, "that used air and exhaust could be pumped out into this river" – he tapped the imagery, indicating the valley in front of Hono Mountain – "and be dispersed in the water. So we're lucky to get at least one hot spot."

Kasen spoke up for the first time.

"Pretty sophisticated setup for a bunch of terrorists."

Hayes cleared his throat and everyone turned toward him.

"The rumor is that the original complex was built by the Japanese during World War Two."

Vaughn frowned "I didn't find anything on that."

Hayes shrugged.

"That's just the rumor on the island. I never saw anything either to substantiate it. An old guy I met did speak, though, about Japanese soldiers killing some of the villagers, but he said they weren't around very long."

"If the Japs initially built this thing," Sinclair said, "any chance of getting their blueprints or whatever?"

"I found no record of the Japanese building anything," Vaughn said. He tapped a very thick folder.

"The NSA, CIA, and various other agencies have spent a lot of time putting this material together, and there's nothing in it on that."

"So all we have is one hot spot and a big mountain?" Sinclair asked. He got up and went to the map.

"Nice talk, but there's six of us, and we have to get onto this island, find this old man hidden in a tunnel complex we don't even know how to get into, kill him, and then – even though you don't seem overly concerned about it – get back off the island and home without getting our heads blown off. We could use a little help here."

"We have to find him ourselves," Orson said.

Vaughn glanced at Tai. He found it curious that Orson had cut her off so abruptly earlier about the Yamashita gold thing, and that he also didn't seem interested in the Japanese connection. Even though it was long ago, it made sense that the Japanese might have done something on the island.

"And how do you propose finding him?" Sinclair asked.

"We send in a recon team ahead of the target window to pinpoint Abayon's location," Orson said.

"To check that hot spot and see if it's a way in."

Since it seemed that his part of the briefing was over, Vaughn went and took the seat that Orson had vacated. He glanced around the room. They were all considering the suggestion.

Sinclair was the first to voice an objection.

"If this island is run by the Abu Sayef, then it's going to be hard not to get discovered and give the enemy a warning, never mind losing the recon team."

Orson held up a hand.

"We're getting ahead of ourselves here. Let's back up and stick with the original briefing plan. We've determined we can't pinpoint our target – Abayon – so we'll have to come back to that."

He turned to Hayes.

"It's your island. I tasked you with infiltration and exfiltration planning."

Hayes stood. He ran a hand along his upper lip, wiping off a thin sheen of sweat, then went to the maps.

"Either into the water or the jungle is the best way. You want to avoid the villages, naturally. Any strangers will immediately be reported to the Abu Sayef. And none of you are going to pass for locals."

"We land in water," Vaughn noted, "it's a bit of a walk to the mountain."

Hayes nodded.

"True, but the closer you come down to the mountain, the more eyes will be watching. One thing the Abu Sayef are constantly warned about during their training is to watch the sky, that the government troops would come in helicopters or by parachute from a low flying airplane. You can be sure that there are antiaircraft missiles hidden somewhere on that mountain."

Vaughn remembered the RPG that had killed his brother-in-law. Things would have been much worse if the terrorists had used surface-to-air missiles. For this mission, he had entertained thoughts of landing right on top of the mountain and working their way down to find the entrance. Military dogma dictated taking the high ground.

"You said a low flying plane," Vaughn noted.

"I think we can get in at night using HAHO with offset."

He was referring to a high altitude, high opening parachute operation. It was a procedure where the plane flew very high, sometimes at an altitude of over 20,000 feet with the jumpers on oxygen, exiting at that height. The aircraft would not only be high, but offset laterally from the drop zone. After exiting the aircraft, the jumpers would immediately deploy their parachutes and then "fly" them to the drop zone. Offsets of ten to fifteen miles were common using such a technique, but the aircraft never got close enough either in altitude or lateral distance to raise suspicions.

Orson nodded.

"HAHO definitely for the recon team. The question is, who here is qualified to do that kind of jump?"

Vaughn raised his hand. Then Tai. That was it.

"We have our recon team," Orson announced.

"When do we go?" Vaughn asked.

"As soon as we can get a plane to drop you," Orson said. He tapped the map.

"You pick your drop zone. You HAHO onto the island. Check it out. Radio back to us how the rest of the team will get in. And you find Abayon. Let us know how we can get to him, and we'll do the mission prep for the actual kill. You let us know what we'll need to bring."

How about a tactical nuke? Vaughn thought. He didn't think much of the plan. It put him and Tai into enemy territory in an exposed position.

"And if we're compromised?" he asked.

Orson's dead gray eyes fixed Vaughn with their gaze.

"Then you're dead. Do not allow yourself to be taken alive, because we're not coming to get you, if that's what you're asking."

Vaughn took the thermal imagery and went over to the map of the island.

"I say we land here," he said, tapping the very top of Hono Mountain, where there appeared to be a small clearing.