As he was about to close the door and tell Eddie to floor it, Juan saw that his questions would have to wait.
The rooftop of the first of the two Humvees bearing down on them was no longer equipped with a machine gun. They must have switched it out when they realized the firepower they were facing.
Now the Humvee was mounted with an RPG.
• • •
“FIRE NOW!” Locsin yelled into the radio. “Before they get away!”
Using binoculars from the helicopter’s front seat, he could see that the last man had gotten into the heavily armed truck that had surprised the first two Humvees and taken out half his men with barely a shot being fired in return.
Locsin couldn’t let these rescuers get away with his scientists even if he had to kill them all.
His guard in the lead Humvee followed the order and launched the rocket-propelled grenade at the truck, which lurched forward with incredible acceleration just as he fired.
The RPG round missed the truck by less than a foot, tearing past its rear and blowing a tree in half.
Locsin cursed his man’s sluggishness. If these people got away, death would be too light a punishment for his failure to stop them here.
He turned to Tagaan, who was in the chopper’s rear seat. “You’re sure those are the two women from Bangkok?” He’d given Tagaan a look through the binoculars when the rescuers were outside their truck.
Tagaan nodded. “The redhead is Beth Anders, and her companion is the one with the dark hair. I don’t know how they located our base, but I will find out.”
“You’d better. We have to get rid of them.”
Tagaan nodded again and began unpacking the stored six-barreled minigun and its floor mount. Like the rest of the weapons Locsin had acquired for his rebellion, the rotary, belt-fed gun was supplied by Chinese sources sympathetic to his communist cause.
The Humvees were having trouble keeping up with the enemy truck on the dirt road because of its surprising power. As the truck reached the main road, the Halsema Highway, the trailing Humvee fired another RPG, which exploded on the road behind the truck as it turned toward Manila.
But then for some reason the truck began to slow down. Locsin raised the binoculars and saw that one of its right rear tires had been shredded by the latest blast. The damage didn’t stop the truck, but the flapping rubber kept it from pulling away on the twisting mountain road.
“You’ve crippled it,” Locsin radioed to his guard. “Catch up with them and finish them off.”
“Yes, sir” came the instant reply. The Humvee screeched around the hairpin turn in an attempt to get a clear shot. The second one followed close behind.
Around the next tight corner, a sudden fog that these mountains were known for seemed to spring from nowhere, obscuring the truck where the road disappeared into the trees.
Then Locsin realized what had happened. The truck had released a smoke screen. He could see the dense vapor pouring from the back of the truck the few times it popped into view.
Because the truck driver had waited until he was around the curve to churn out the smoke, there was no way for the pursuing guards to see it coming.
“Watch out ahead! He’s laid down smoke!”
But his warning came too late for the lead Humvee. It raced around the corner and into the thick smoke. The next time Locsin saw the Humvee, it had missed the turn and was plunging off the side of the mountain. Screams erupted from the radio, then went silent when the Humvee finally hit the ground in a fiery explosion a thousand feet below.
“We lost number three,” the guard in the fourth and last Humvee called.
Locsin’s grip on the binoculars nearly shattered them in his fury. “Don’t worry about them,” he growled. “Keep going.”
“We’ve had to slow down to get through this smoke.”
“I know! Keep going!” Locsin shouted. He would find out who these people were, but not before he wiped them from the earth.
Like an answer to his unspoken wish, Tagaan said from the back of the chopper, “Ready.” He flipped the switch on the minigun and rotated the barrel to arm it. From its mount in the center of the rear cargo area, he would now be able to fire it out of either door.
“Get us closer,” Locsin said to the pilot with a smile. He loved having air superiority. All they had to do was wait for the truck to emerge from the jungle foliage and they could leisurely cut it to ribbons.
21