The Evening News (99 page)

Even though he had had experience with silencers, their quietness
always surprised him. He peered down the sights, ready for a second shot
,
but it wasn't needed. The first had hit the guard in the chest, just about
where the heart should be and where blood was beginning to appear. For an
instant the man looked surprised, then he fell where he was, dropping the
rifle, which created the only noise
.
Even before it happened, Partridge had seen Jessica drop flat to the
ground, obeying his command instantly. In a crevice of his mind he was
relieved and grateful. Now Jessica was scrambling to her feet
.
Partridge turned toward the outside doorway to the shack, but a swiftly
moving shadow was ahead of him. It was Minh Van Canh, who had stayed
positioned at Partridge's rear, as ordered, but now changed places, going
forward. Minh went swiftly to the guard, his own Uzi at the ready, then
confirmed with a nod to Partridge, just entering, that the man was dead
.
Next, Minh moved to Jessica's cell, inspected the padlock which secured it
and asked, "Where is the key
?
”

Jessica told him, "Somewhere over where the guard was sitting. Nicky's
too
.”

In the adjoining cell, Nicky stirred from sleep. Abruptly, he sat upright
.”
Mom, what's happenine
.”

Jessica assured him, "It's good, Nicky. All good
!”

Nicky took in the new arrivals-Partridge, approaching
and holding the Kalashnikov rifle he had just picked up, and Minh collecting keys which were hanging from a nail
.”
Who are they, Mom
?
”

"Friends, dear. Very good friends
.”

Nicky, still sleepy, brightened. Then he saw the fallen, still figure on
the ground amid a widening pool of blood and cried out, "It's Vicente!
They shot Vicente! Why
?
”

"Hush, Nicky
!”

Jessica warned
.
Keeping his voice low, Partridge answered
.”
I didn't like doing it
,
Nicholas. But he was going to shoot me. If he had, I couldn't have taken
you and your mother away from here, which is what we've come to do
.”

With a flash of recognition, Nicky said, "You're Mr. Partridge, aren't
you
?
”

"Yes, I am
.”

Jessica said emotionally, "Oh, bless you, Harry! Dear Harry
!”

Still speaking softly, Partridge cautioned, "We're not out of this yet
,
and we've a way to go. We all have to move quickly
.”

Minh had returned with the keys and was trying them, one by one, in the
padlock of Jessica's cell. Suddenly the lock opened. An instant later the
door swung wide and Jessica walked out. Minh went to Nicky's cell and
tried out keys there. Within seconds Nicky was free too, and he and
Jessica embraced briefly in the area between the cells and the outside
door
.”
Help me
!”

Partridge told Minh. He had been dragging the body of the
guard toward Nicky's cell and together they lifted the dead man onto the
low wooden bed. The action would not prevent discovery of the prisoners'
escape, Partridge thought, but might delay it slightly. With the same
motive, he lowered the light in the kerosene lamp so it was merely a
glimmer, the hut interior receding into darkness
.
Nicky left Jessica and moved close to Partridge. In a stilted monotone
,
he said, "It's all right about shooting Vicente, Mr. Partridge. He helped
us sometimes, but he was one of them. They killed my granddad and cut off
two of my fingers, so I can't play the piano anymore
.”

He held up his
bandaged hand.

"Call me Harry
,”
Partridge said
.”
Yes, I knew about your grandfather and
the fingers. And I'm terribly sorry
.”

Again the uptight, rigid voice
.”
Do you know about the Stockholm
syndrome, Harry? My mom does. If you'd like her to, she'll tell you
.”

Without answering, Partridge looked closely at Nicky. He had encountered
shock before-in individuals affected by more exposure to danger or
disaster than their minds could handleand the boy's tone and choice of
words within the past few minutes held symptoms of shock. He was going
to need help soon. Meanwhile, doing the best he could, Partridge reached
out and put his arm around Nicky's shoulders. He felt the boy respond by
drawing closer to him
.
Partridge saw Jessica watching, her face showing the same concern as his
own. She, too, wished the guard could have been someone other than
Vicente. If it had been
Ramon
, she would not have been troubled in the
least. Just the same, she was taken aback by Nicky's words and manner
.
Partridge shook his head, trying to convey reassurance to Jessica, at the
same time ordering, "Let's go
.”

In his free hand he kept the Kalashnikov; it was a good fighting weapon
and might be useful. He had also pocketed two spare magazines he found
on the body of the guard
.
Minh was ahead of them at the doorway. He had retrieved his camera from
outside and now had it raised, recording their departure with the cells
as background. Minh was using a special night lens, Partridge
noted-infrared didn't work with tape -and he would have passable
pictures, even in this dimmest light
.
Since yesterday, Minh had been taking pictures from time to time, though
selectively and sparingly since there had been limitations on the number
of tape cassettes he could bring
.
At that moment
Fernandez
, who had been watching the other buildings
,
burst in. He warned Partridge breathlessly, "Coming here-a woman! By
herself. I think she's armed
.”

At the same moment, approaching footsteps
were audible and close
.
There was no time for orders or dispositions. Everyone
froze where they were. Jessica was near the doorway, though off to one side. Minh faced the opening directly, the others were farther back in shadows. Partridge had the Kalashnikov raised. Though he knew that firing it would awaken the hamlet, to get at the Browning with its silencer, he would have to put the rifle down and change hands. There wasn't time
.
Socorro walked in briskly. She was wearing a robe and holding a Smith and
Wesson revolver pointed forward, the hammer cocked. Jessica had seen
Socorro with a gun before, but it had always been holstered, never in her
hand
.
Despite the gun, Socorro did not appear to be expecting anything out of
the ordinary, and in the almost nonexistent light at first mistook Minh
,
who was closest, for the gua
rd. She said, "Pensg que escucho
. .
.”
Then
she realized it wasn't the guard and glancing left, saw Jessica
.
Startled, she exclaimed, " f
aces . . .
?
”

then stopped
.
What happened next occurred so swiftly that, later, no one could describe
the sequence of events
.
Socorro raised the revolver and, with her finger around the trigger
,
moved swiftly, closing on Jessica. Afterward, it was assumed she intended
to seize Jessica and hold her hostage, perhaps with the pistol at her
head
.
Jessica saw the move comin
g and, with equal swiftness, re
membered CQB --- close quarters battle-which she had learned but had not used since captu
re. While tempted at earlier mo
ments to employ it, she had known that in the long term it would do no good and decided to save her skill for a moment when it really counted
.”
When an opponent moves towards you,
“
Brigadier Wade had emphasized
during
lessons and demonstrations, 'Y
our human instinct is to move back
,
The opponent will expect that too. Don't do it
!
Instead, surprise him and
go forward-move in close
!”

With lightning speed, Jessica leapt at Socorro, raising her left arm
,
braced rigidly, upward and forcefully inside the other woman's right
.
With a jarring movement as the arms made contact, Socorro's arm flew
involuntarily upward, forcing her hand back until the fingers opened in
a reflex action and the
gun dropped. The entire maneuver took barely a second, Socorro scarcely aware of what had happened
.
Without pause, Jessica thrust two fingers hard into the soft flesh under
Socorro's chin, the fingers compressing the trachea and impeding breathing
.
Simultaneously Jessica placed a leg behind Socorro and pushed her backward
,
throwing her off balance. Jessica then turned Socorro and placed her in a
tight stranglehold, making it impossible for her to move. If this had been
war-for which CQB was intended-the next step would have been to break
Socorro's neck and kill
.
Jessica, who had never killed anyone or ever expected to, hesitated. She
felt Socorro struggling to speak and slightly eased the pressure of her
fingers
.
Gasping, Socorro pleaded in a whisper, "Let me go . . . I will help you
.
. . go with you to escape . . . know the way
.”

Partridge had come close enough to hear. He asked, "Can you trust her
?
”

Again, Jessica hesitated. She had a moment of compassion. Socorro had not
been all evil. All along, Jessica had an instinct that Socorro's days in
America as a nurse had tilted her toward good. She had cared for Nicky
after his bums, and later when his fingers were severed. There was the
incident of the chocolate bar, tossed by Socorro into the boat when all
three were hungry. Socorro had improved their living conditions by having
openings cut in walls . . . had disobeyed Miguel's orders in allowing
Jessica to join Nicky in his cell . .
.
But it was also Socorro who had been part of the kidnap from the beginning
and who, when Nicky's fingers were being cut, had called across callously
,
"Shut upl There's no way you can stop what's going to happen
.”
And then, in her mind, Jessica heard Nicky's words, spoken only minutes earlier: "It's all right about shooting Vicente, Harry . . . He helped us sometimes, but he was one of them . . . Do you know about the Stockholm syndrome? . . . . My mom does . .
.”
Beware the Stockholm syndrome!
Jessica answered Partridge's question. Shaking her head, she told him
,
"No
!”

Their eyes met. Harry had been amazed by Jessica's demonstration of skill
in hand-to-hand combat. He wondered where she bad learned it and why. At
the moment, though, that didn't matter. What did matter was that she had
reached a point of decision and her eyes were asking him a question. He
nodded briefly. Then, not wanting to witness what came next, he turned
away
.
Shuddering, Jessica tightened her grip, broke Socorro's neck, then
twisted the head sharply to sunder the spinal cord. There was a snapping
sound, surprisingly faint, and the body Jessica was holding slumped. She
let it fall.

Led by Partridge, with Jessica, Nicky, Minh and Fern
a
ndez following
quietly, the group moved through the darkened hamlet, encountering no
one
.
At the jetty Ken O'Hara said, "I thought you'd never get here
.”