Singapore Sling Shot - Andrew Grant [35]
Wang Yoo’s instructions had been to hide himself in cover, but after two fruitless nights sitting in the deep shadows, he moved out into the open. He was scared of snakes and out in the open he believed he would see a snake before it saw him.
Yoo wanted a cigarette, badly. Lu had ordered them not to smoke, not to do anything that would alert others to their presence. So far, Yoo had obeyed the directive. Now, tired, bored and hours from his bed, he decided that he would enjoy at least this one small pleasure. He knew that the boss would not be coming to the fort this or any other night, and he also knew that the others were all in their designated positions. They would not come roaming, so there was no one to tell on him off for his minor indiscretion.
Yoo shielded the flare of his cigarette lighter with his cupped hands and lit up, gratefully sucking the nicotine hit into his lungs. He doesn’t see the shadow that moved away to his right. He didn’t hear the sickening thud as his skull and a metal stanchion collided.
I had no qualms about laying the watching man out. There was a gun in a belt holster and a cellphone in his pocket. I think I probably hit him too hard. He was still alive, but no doubt his skull was fractured. Would anyone come to relieve him or was he there for the night? I had no way of knowing. I could have left him sitting there and slipped away, but what I didn’t want was to have him come after me, or be there to intercept me if things went wrong and I had to return the way I’d come.
I tossed the gun, a Chinese copy of a Russian Markarov, seawards and followed it with the cellphone. There was no way this mid-thirties Chinese guy was going to be a threat to me, so I left him where he lay. Callous? Maybe, but this game was to the death and the death wasn’t going to be mine.
I skirted the fire direction tower and paused where the tunnel leading back into the fort begins. Tunnel is a euphemism in this case. This is more like a very deep concrete trench with a steel mesh roof across the top. Various magazines and rooms open off it as it pushes up and back towards the heart of the fort.
Was there someone stationed in the tunnel or perhaps up above, where they could see down through the mesh roof? Anyone with night vision glasses would have a field day. I figured that there were none of those in operation over here. Otherwise why did the guy I’d just brained not have a pair? Rightly or wrongly I had to go with my gut instinct. I could have used a night scope myself right then, but they’re cumbersome at best and they have some big disadvantages. Anyone flashing a high-intensity light beam or a laser into the system can fry your eyes—permanently.
I started up the tunnel, moving slowly, hugging the walls, senses tasting the night. Overhead a military jet blasted the night apart, destroying my hearing for the moment. As the aircraft’s rumbling roar faded, something stirred in the night. A rat in one of the side rooms? A lizard maybe or even a snake? Whatever, my senses told me it wasn’t human, so it was of no concern. I carried on climbing up towards the core of the fort.
The tower with the two cameras was above and to my right. I couldn’t see it from down in the concrete trench, but I knew that once I emerged from the tunnel I would be in view and the alarm would sound. The thing was that until I had the recorder, Lu’s thugs wouldn’t try and stop me. That was my theory anyway. The alternative was that they would try and grab me and apply some very excruciatingly painful techniques to my body to try to get me to spill the device’s location. I had to figure that they