| General Fiction posted February 9, 2025 | Chapters: |
...31 32 -33- 34... 
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The mission continues on Gunagua Island
A chapter in the book The Devil Fights Back
The Devil Fights Back - Ch. 33
by Jim Wile
The author has placed a warning on this post for violence.
The author has placed a warning on this post for language.
| Background Three intrepid women team up to conquer medical challenges. |
Recap of Chapter 32: The island-spraying mission begins as Fran and Brian meet at the airport to board the C-130 plane to Gunagua Island in the Philippines. It takes them 40 hours to get there. When they arrive, they rent a small plane to recon the island to make sure there are no people on it before beginning the spray operation, only to discover a large fishing trawler on the north side of the island. Satellite reconnaissance reveals this to be a Chinese boat, and there are workers on the island.
Fran and Brian don’t want to make them suspicious by continual flights over the island and decide they must return to Manila, where they will rent a high-speed boat to return to the island so they can unobtrusively learn when the Chinese leave but also to spy on them. They want to determine if the Chinese are merely harvesting Balanga or digging up whole plants and soil to be able to grow it themselves.
Chapter 33
Fran
Back at the hotel, after quickly getting dressed in our camo clothes, we stuffed a few water bottles into our backpacks as well as our weapons and headed out. My contact at the DoD instructed us to rent the high-speed boat at the Baywalk Area near Manila Bay. He told us the rental company to use and that the DoD had made all necessary arrangements to bypass any license requirements. We would just need to show them our picture IDs.
Brian and I arrived at the promenade and saw a sign for the rental company where we showed them our IDs. The clerk, however, wouldn’t tell us the location of the boat until I bribed him with two US 20-dollar bills. One hadn’t been enough.
Our boat was located at dock B, slip 12. We found the slip and boarded the boat, a Yamaha 242x E-series model the rental clerk had said was capable of speeds up to 55 mph. We would push it to top speed.
“You ever operated one of these before, Little Brother?”
“No, you?”
“Not this model,” I replied.
“Well, how tough can it be? I think between the two of us, we’ll figure it out.”
We donned our life jackets, and I clipped the lanyard attached to the kill switch to mine. The kill switch will stop the engine if I get thrown from the boat.
I’ve driven other boats, and I knew enough to enter the GPS coordinates for Gunagua Island into its navigation system. I pushed the start button, guided the boat from the slip, then let the GPS take over and steer us to our destination.
It took us 90 minutes to arrive there. We could see the Chinese boat anchored on the north shore while we were still some ways off, so I disengaged the GPS and steered us toward the south part of the island to stay out of sight. I also reduced the speed way down now, mainly to cut down on the engine noise.
I pulled into a small cove where there was a sandy beach and stopped a little way offshore. The boat would be too heavy for us to pull onto the beach, so Brian dropped the anchor, and we tested it to make sure it was secure. We took off our boots to jump into the water, waded ashore, and put our boots back on.
Although the island was small, there were still some pronounced elevation changes. The beach we landed on was at the base of a tree-covered cliff.
“You’ve been here before; will you know where we’re going and how to get back?” I asked Brian.
“I chartered a helicopter the two times I came. We didn’t land anywhere near this part of the island, but it’s small enough that we shouldn’t get lost.”
“I’ll let you lead the way.”
The route to the top was rocky and steep, but we slowly made our way there despite the difficulty of the climb. When we reached the top and emerged from the trees, it afforded us a clear view of a large expanse of the island.
Portions were jungle-like with a dense canopy of trees. What kind they were, I had no idea. The jungle floor was covered with all manner of dense undergrowth. As we explored the outer edges of the jungle, Brian stopped suddenly.
“See this?” he said, pointing to a patch of green, leafy plants. “That’s Balanga.”
I studied the dark green leaves with their corrugated surfaces and spiky edges. “It seems to be growing everywhere. Out in the open as well as under the forest canopy.”
It was exhausting climbing up that hill from the beach in the heat, so we decided to stop for a quick break and to take a drink.
Brian said, “So, what do you think of lovely Gunagua Island so far?”
I was hot and sweaty from the climb and a little pissed we even had to be here now. I wasn’t really in the mood for banter, so I just said, “At least there aren’t mosquitos, and I haven’t seen any snakes. I’m going to see if I can spot any worker activity from here.”
I removed a pair of binoculars from my pack and scanned the area near the boat, which we could just see the top of. “I can see a couple of workers, but I can’t tell exactly what they’re doing. I don’t really see any digging going on, but we’re going to have to get closer for that. Let’s get our weapons ready just in case we have some sort of encounter.”
“You really think we might?”
“Probably not, but you never know.” I armed myself from my pack, as did Brian, and we prepared to head out again.
It had felt cooler in the shade, but once out on the open plain, the heat was oppressive. It felt more like the 90s rather than the 80s, and there was little breeze today. We’d been walking for a couple of minutes when we heard a sharp voice behind us say, “Tingzhi!” (Stop!)
Brian and I froze.
“Fangxia ni de qiang!” (Drop your weapons!)
Presumably, this was Chinese, but neither of us spoke it. I could guess what he was saying, though. I hadn’t expected this. Apparently, the work crew sent out a scout to keep an eye on things and make sure they were working in secret. What he was doing so far from the work site, I didn’t know. Perhaps there were several others, scouting different parts of the island.
“Xiànzài!” (Now!)
“What’s he saying?” Brian asked.
“I think he’s telling us to drop our guns.”
“What do we do?”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw what looked like an AK-47 pointed at us by a man no more than 30 feet behind us.
“Xiànzài!” he repeated.
“Better do what he says. He’s got an assault rifle pointed at us.”
We both let our guns fall to the ground.
Brian said, “I hope you’ve been trained for shit like this. Got any bright ideas?”
“Chénmò!” (Silence!)
“I’ll think of something. Just do what he says for now.”
“Chénmò! Xiànzài jìxù qiánjìn!” (Silence! Now move forward!)
“What’s he saying now?” Brian whispered.
I whispered back, “I only know a few Chinese words. I think he’s saying, ‘Shut up and move.’”
Apparently, he wasn’t going to shoot us right here but would probably take us back to the leader of the expedition for direction. I doubted very much they would let us go and would likely shoot us then.
We began walking forward and got no response from behind, so I guess we were doing what he’d commanded.
After a minute or so, Brian whispered to me, “Thought of anything yet?”
I whispered back, “Gradually slow down so he gets closer to us, and move apart slightly.”
“Chénmò!”
We both slowed and widened the gap between us by a couple of steps. This had the effect of moving him within just a few yards behind us before he realized what we were doing. My glance behind earlier revealed that he was just a young man, perhaps no more than 20. He wasn’t wearing any kind of uniform, just pants and a T-shirt, so I didn’t think he was a trained soldier or anything close.
“Dòngzuò gèng kuài!”
“He’s probably telling us to go faster, but just keep up the slow pace,” I whispered very quietly. “In ten seconds, make like you’ve stepped in a hole, cry out, and fall down.”
I braced myself. 1—2—3… Time slowed as I choreographed in my mind exactly what I would do when Brian went down. My training kicked in as I recalled the hours of exercises I’d been through at Quantico for situations similar to this one…. 4—5—6… The adrenaline was coursing through me as I tensed up, awaiting the exact moment to strike. I could sense Brian next to me, similarly tensing up for the coming ruse…. 7—8—9…
And then he stumbled and cried out, “Oh, fuck!” as he fell to the ground, holding his ankle. Our captor was startled and quickly shifted his attention to Brian. I reached down in a well-practiced motion, pulled my pant leg up, and extracted a tactical knife from an ankle sheath. The young man was only three paces behind us. I turned, closed the gap quickly, and, as he began to point his gun toward me, I thrust the knife deep into the side of his neck.
Book of the Month contest entry
 Recognized |
Fran Pekarsky: One of three narrators of the story. She is an FBI agent from the North Carolina field office in Charlotte.
Dana Padgett: One of three narrators of the story. She is the assistant marketing director for a Big Pharma company.
Brian Kendrick: Fran's younger brother. He is the inventor of Dipraxa and Glyptophan.
Julia Kendrick: Brian's wife. She is a world-class violinist who now plays in a bluegrass band.
Johnny Kendrick: Brian and Julia's baby boy and Marie's grandson.
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother. She is the third narrator of the story.
Cedric (aka Cecil): The doorman at the apartment house where Marie lives.
Lou D'Onofrio: Fran's boss at the FBI.
Patty Mattson: A hacker friend of Fran's. The programmer on Brian's project.
Abby Payne (nee St. Claire): A girl from Dana's past, who she used to bully but has befriended during their adulthood. The mathematician on Brian's project.
Leonard Merra: A vice president at the Big Pharma company where Dana works. He is in charge of stopping Glyptophan.
Barry Degner (aka Tony Faiella): Dana's friend who will act the part of a leg-breaker to attack Brian.
Picture courtesy of Playground-v3
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