Chapter 5

The chimney opened out into the common cavern, 'malai farnia, ' about 9 metres from the floor. There were handholds, however, and Chino was able to descend easily. She found some cover and pulled her white robe over her head on top of her overalls. The overalls had been too big but she'd tied the legs with leather thongs so they didn't snag on the rocks. The robes were useless for climbing.

She let her belt out a little until she felt confident she had access to the pistol, still holstered at her waist. She tapped her throat mike a couple of times, but she wasn't surprised it didn't work. Johnny had explained they wouldn't work in the caves. Her earphone just picked up static. She pulled it from her ear lest one of the Farnia women spotted it.

All was quiet in the malai, as she expected. It was the time of 'kafew' for the 'daania dowi, ' and she knew they'd be in the dormitory, the 'fawrifawri.'

Keeping low, she inched around the wall of the cavern towards the passage that led to the 'fawrifawri.'

The language had two ways of describing an indeterminate number greater than one. Sometimes, such as the 'fawrifawri, ' they repeated the noun twice. Other nouns were more conventional and involved altering the last vowel or vowels. Generally, a definite number was described by using their Polynesian based counting words following the noun. Golovko suggested it was because of the many influences the language absorbed and he likened it to English.

The passage was lit by electric lights driven off batteries the Farnow acquired from Daani. When these went flat they merely acquired more as they had no means of recharging them at present. But Chino was sure they'd obtain a generator some day and the fuel. They were an intelligent people and learned the ways of the Daani quickly.

The first cavern she knew, contained the Farnia, the women of the Farnow, and a screen would be hung across the portal to protect their modesty. It was forbidden, 'nogo, ' to see any of the Farnia without their head to toe covering. The men, the Farnow, could possibly be killed for such an outrage. And, up ahead, Chino knew, was the Chinese bitch who enforced those rules.

But Chino was a 'dowi' and of value as future breeding stock. She knew she wouldn't be killed, but that didn't stop the bitch from flailing her with her 'ratta, ' a bamboo whip.

The passage made a sharp left and finished up in a locked section where the 'dowia' were incarcerated during 'kafew.' Chino pressed herself against the wall and gingerly peered around the corner. Instantly, the guard spotted her. She had the eyes of an owl, the dowia claimed, and little missed her steely gaze.

"Yu!" the guard yelled, "komkom!" That meant come out at the double.

Chino had worked out her plan of attack. She walked out into the passage, hands clasped in front of her and head bowed in submission. The guard advanced stroking the ratta, 'like jerking off a boyfriend, ' Chino thought. She was charged for this. The anger from past beatings pumped through her body and made her come alive, tingling, and thirsty for revenge.

The guard swung out her whip to strike, in exactly the same way Chino had seen many times before. While she was unbalanced, Chino spun like a ninja and grabbed her by the whip hand. The American teenager was slight and it was easy to duck down, barge into the Chinese woman, and at the same time quickly pull the startled guard over her shoulder. The woman crashed, clattering onto her back with a look Chino thought was priceless. Chino dropped her knee onto the woman's stomach, a little harder than was necessary, and pulled the pistol from her robes. This, she jammed in the woman's gaping mouth and pressed the muzzle as hard as she could against her upper gums.

"You fucking breathe, bitch!" she snarled, and emphasised the command by cocking the lever back.

Adrenaline coursed through her body making it tremble. Her heart thundered in her chest and her breathing sounded like a steam locomotive under full throttle. Chino pulled the pistol from the woman's mouth and moved it to the strap of the her rifle. She warily moved the strap down the guard's arm, her eyes never leaving her face.

The guard was stunned into inaction and lay on her back trembling in fear. Chino felt confident enough to pull the rifle from under her and lay it on the ground behind. Then she stood slowly, keeping Pavlov's pistol pointing at her chest. The women rolled over and assumed the fetal position. Her hands moved to her stomach and she groaned. Clearly Chino had hurt her when she dropped her knee into her guts.

Chino stood over her like some triumphant pro wrestler. On impulse she kicked her in the back of the head and the woman wailed. Afterwards, Chino couldn't explain to herself why she'd done that, but it sure felt good at the time.

But she'd a job to do, so she spun and went to unbolt the steel door that held the prisoners. What she was confronted with shocked her into silence.

It had been an hour since the dowan arrived and they still lay in the grass, not moving. Roscoe realised it was a game of 'who'd blink first, ' and he wasn't going to be the first to reveal his positions. His boys had kept their heads, so far, but, like him, they were running out of patience. He'd set a system of frequent reports, both to keep the boys on their toes and to reassure them. He knew the mind someimes plays tricks when you've been running on adrenaline for so long.

He'd thought this might only be the advance guard, a force of observation, and the main body might be descending from another direction. He was confident, however, that he had all points covered and the NVG guys were set in the most efficient positions.

"Roscoe, that you?" crackled the head set.

"Yeah, go ahead!" he answered.

"Chino's back," Pavlov reported, "and we've got a change of plan. How's your position?" Roscoe reported there'd been no change and the dowan were just watching. "Yeah? Well, I need you guys up here. Chino's going back down to fetch the women. There's a few more than we expected."

"How many?" Roscoe asked.

"23! We can't bring them up through the chimney, it's too narrow. Chino's going to guide them to the entrance of the caves on the far side of the ridge. It's the only way. We're going to have to take out the guards and fight our way to the beach."

"Jeezus, Pavlov, that's beyond the game plan. How're we protect the civilians?"

"I'm still thinking that through. Can you get three or four of your boys up here, we'll need the muscle?"

"You picking this up, boys?" Roscoe called. Some of those with poor English had to have it explained by Shapalaev in Russian. Eventually, he was confident everyone understood the situation. "Pavlov?" he called, "I want this undertood. Are we at war? Are you bringing it on?"

"Sure," Pavlov said, after a pause, "I guess I am. I'll answer to the chief. I'm declaring war."

"Hear that, boys? Two each, shoot to kill!" Roscoe ordered, and aimed his rifle.

The sight that confronted Chino was two dozen, miserable, ill clad, shivering women and girls crammed into a space designed for no more than 6. They lay on rugs on the cold ground, wide eyed and terrified, some still saturated from their recent reluctant sea voyage. Evidently they had just been brought in by the returning kaaks, snatched from a vessel at sea or on land somewhere.

Mihiko had been a waitress on the cruise yacht Chino's family had hired. She recognised Chino immediately and ran to hug her. She was followed by Amy, a part Hawaiian, who'd similarly been snatched from the yacht. The three girls danced together to the consternation of the others.

"Who are these?" Chino asked.

"Just come," Amy explained, "the kaaks brought them. Where'd you go? We thought you'd drowned."

"I've been on a Russian submarine with 160 guys," she smiled, "I brought an army back, they're outside."

"Shit, Chino, you jerking my chain?"

"No way! But, we can't leave these girls here. We have to figure a way of getting them all out."

"Bring your army in, Chino?" Amy suggested, "how many are there?"

"A dozen."

"Shit! We reckon there's a 100 or more dowan here. Mich heard they've got some big guns."

"How big?"

"How should I know? Mich, how big were those guns?"

"The Greek girl said they were about this size," she spread her arms, "and they had legs to rest on."

"Machine guns," Chino considered, "I'd better tell Johnny..."

"Johnny? Oooh! Who's Johnny?"

"This marine, y'know!" Chino told her, mock coy. "Hey, I'd better get back and talk to the boys. Amy, y'wanna come? You're thin enough to get up the chimney."

"Sure!"

"I got you a rifle. Y'know how to fire it?"

"Pull the trigger, what's to know?"

"Shit! Let's go?"

Pavlov examined the rifle Amy had hauled back up the vent. He was surprised it was a .303 Lee Enfield, of British manufacture, and by the stamp on the breech, manufactured by the British Small Arms Company in 1927. It was military pattern and evidently issued to the British Army.

Amy knew the way down to the entry portal of the women's caves and was to guide Pavlov's team down. Chino darted back down to guide the women out. The dowan wouldn't enter the malai but some of the dowia were armed, similarly to the Chinese guard. She was unsure whether they'd risk killing valuable breeding stock. To prevent their escape, however, who know's what they might do?

Pavlov left two men on the ridge with the NVGs as cover for Roscoe's men as they made their way to join them. They had the high ground with sweeping views of the terrain. They had to hurry as more dowan were sure to issue from the men's caves. Chino told him to expect up to 100 dowan, but was unsure how many had firearms.

He paused about halfway down to the sudden eruption of distant gunfire. Roscoe's men had made their move and, by the sound of it, the dowan at the beach were loosing off wildly.

It lasted no more than 15 seconds. Pavlov held his breath a further 15 seconds before his earphone crackled.

"Clear!" came Roscoe's Virginian drawl.

"Casualties?"

"None. Those guys can't shoot fer shit. First rule, clean your firearm. Half their guns miss-fired and the rest skedaddled."

"Status?"

"Meet you at the base of the ridge. You got a landmark?"

"What about that lava chimney? The one that looks like a penis?"

"Haha, yeah, I got what you mean. 'Big Dick Point' it is."

It was time for Pavlov to contact the Retvizan. He switched channels but all he received back was static. Scanning the distant ocean with his NVG, the sea appeared to be empty.

He knew, however, the Japanese submarine was in the vincinity and he wasn't surprised the Russian sub had cleared out. The Jap was Gorshin's and Fedyunsky's problem and he'd little doubt they'd settle the question one way or another. It was out of the question for a Russian Naval vessel to leave crewman behind in jeopardy.

Trouble was beginning to gather in the long and winding journey to the mouth of the caverns. Chino had walked these corridors for a month and knew them pretty well. But it was a different story conducting two dozen sobbing, cold and frightened women and girls down those dark tunnels.

All of a sudden their lights went out. Chino thought she ought to have seen that coming. Surely the first thing they'd do was disconnect the lighting.

Still, they had Mihiko at the front and she could find the way in the dark. She, Chino, took the rear in case of pursuit. But their charges became disorientated, some screamed in terror, and Chino had to lend a hand to push them on. With all the racket they were making she couldn't hear any sounds of pursuit.

Frustrated and running low on ideas, Chino, on impulse, pulled Pavlov's pistol from its holster and crouched at the end of one of the longer passages. She closed her eyes and fired back the way they'd come.

The pistol jumped in her hand and she was sure the round went into the passage roof. The cave was momentarily lit up by a blinding white light. But the worst thing was the noise. It was horrendous and rendered Chino temporarily deaf.

At least she couldn't hear the terrified women scrambling in panic. But she really wondered why she'd done that. It felt like she'd had her head pummelled between two swinging mallets.

The passage ahead turned a sharp right then it led straight ahead to the mouth some 50 or so metres ahead. Suddenly, Chino could hear male voices, shouting and urging the woman along. But the cave behind them was suddenly lit up by another flash and a booming came rolling towards them.