Chapter 4

I went up to the room and checked my AK-47 and its magazines. Mike was there checking his weapon also.

"You ever been in a firefight?" he asked, nervously.

"No, have you?" I asked.

"Me, neither," he answered, and sounded scared.

"I wish that I had been able to sight this thing in," I told him.

"They told me not to worry about that," he said. "Spray and pray is what they told me. You can't see shit at night."

"I could see pretty well last night after the moon came up," I told him.

"It was darker than hell when I went to sleep," Mike told me. "I had to stay here on duty last night and won't get to go anywhere tonight either."

"I'll be back around midnight," I told him, as I tucked the 45 in my waistband and took three extra clips and put them in my cargo pockets.

"You going with Sawyer?" Mike asked.

"Yes, we both have hot dates," I told him.

"Good luck," he told me. "Drink one for me."

"Right," I told him. "Don't shoot me when I come in at midnight."

I met Sawyer at the gate. Both of the big steel gates had already been closed and reinforced with sandbags. Only the small personnel gate was still active. I saw that Sawyer had a red lens flashlight with him.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered.

"How many clips did you bring?" he asked.

"Three besides the one in the gun."

"That will work," he answered, and we passed through the personnel gate and started downtown. The walk was more familiar this time, as it was still light out, and I had come this way this morning in the daylight.

We stopped at the American Bar and had a quick meal before going on to the San-Ma-Kee There were only a few girls at the American Bar. It looked like a lot of people had gotten the word. Sawyer was surprised that Sophie wasn't there and took that as an ominous sign.

We were greet in the court yard of the San-Ma-Kee by Suenee and Sophie, when we got there. They were glad to see us and Sawyer looked a lot happier, too.

The San-Ma-Kee wasn't very busy this early either, as the dancers didn't start until 8:00. The band wasn't there yet either. There was a radio playing and a few waitresses were sitting around talking. We got a table right up by the dance floor and ordered drinks.

It was apparent that Suenee was very glad to see me again, as she moved right up next to me. Sophie sat on Sawyer's lap to start with but moved to a chair after a short time.

I only had one beer and then switched to cola. I wasn't about to get a bad head if there was going to be trouble tonight. Suenee saw that and smiled. She also only had cola.

After a while one of the waitresses brought out and set up the gramophone, and we danced for a while to the music. The dancers started appearing shortly before 8:00. There still weren't many people in the club. It would be a slow night here, too. About 8:00, the band showed up. Sophie and Suenee were ready to leave by then.

"We have to be back at the Team House by midnight," both Sawyer and I had told them.

"Yes, we know," Suenee told us. "We have rooms here for the night. It won't be a problem. The owner pays the government and the communist both to leave him alone."

We used the exterior staircase and went part of the way around the veranda to stop at adjoining rooms.

"These are the rooms," Suenee told us. I noticed that they were the rooms furthest from the streets around the building. She and Sophie unlocked the doors, while Sawyer and I removed our jungle boots. We took them into the rooms and didn't leave them outside, as I had done last night.

Suenee came into my arms after the door was closed and kissed me, as passionately as she had last night. She was shaking when we finished.

"Please love me, my Bill," she asked in a whisper. We could already hear grunts and moans from the other room.

"Yes, of course," I replied, as we both began removing our clothes. There was only a little light that came in from the fluorescent lights along the veranda. The upper fifteen inches of the walls were screened and there were thin vertical pieces of wood about two and a half inches wide that covered part of the screen with maybe eight inches of open space between them. This let light into the rooms and allowed for the circulation of air. Our room had a ceiling fan, and I assumed that Sawyer's did also.

We were soon out of our clothes, and I took Suenee back into my arms. She pressed herself against me, and I marveled again at her fine figure, her soft skin and wonderful scent. She is one fine woman and I realized again how lucky I was.

Suenee led me over to the bed and pulled me over on top of her as soon as we were in the bed. She seemed frantic.

"Love me, Bill," she pleaded. I didn't need another invitation and slid into her sweet body, and she locked her legs around me before we even started. Shortly, I couldn't hear anything from the other room, as Suenee filled my entire consciousness.

Even with the ceiling fan running, we were both sweating by the time we finished. Suenee had an orgasm soon after we started and another as we finished. We lay there in the afterglow and let the fan cool us down.

"Will you leave tomorrow?" Suenee asked after a time.

"Yes, if the helicopter is fixed," I told her.

"You will be careful," she told me.

"Oh, yes," I assured her, and then asked, "How did you know that we had to be back by midnight?"

"My amulet told me," Suenee told me, and then added, "There will be an attack tonight. I told Major Kung this morning that it was coming and that he should prepare for it. That is why Sophie and I have rooms here for tonight."

"Your amulet told you?" I asked, startled.

"Yes. It tells me many things. It's how I knew that you would be here last night and tonight. It warns me about danger and tells me what to do," she told me.

"But how?" I asked, even more confused.

"It whispers in my mind," Suenee told me. "Yours will warn you, also. You must learn to listen for it, my Bill."

"But ... but!!" I started.

"It is a gift from the Buddha. There is a temple near Bangkok dedicated to the six Amulets of Power. These that we have are not the Amulets themselves, as they have been missing for many years since the last of the Bearers passed on, but these others still whisper to the faithful and those they have chosen. Please listen when they talk to you, my Bill," she pleaded, anxiously.

I had never heard such a fantastic story before, yet how had she known about the attack or that we would still be here tonight, I wondered. Could this piece of jewelry on a boot string around my neck really warn me about danger? It seemed fantastic, yet even as I thought about it, the amulet grew warmer against my skin, leaving me to wonder.

We both fell asleep for a while after that, and I was awakened again later by Suenee stroking my cock. When she saw that I was awake, she pulled me down on top of her. There were no words this time, as I slid into her sweet warm body. We spent an indeterminate time then, as we made slow passionate love. In the end we came together and collapsed to cool down under the fan again.

The next thing, that I was aware of, was Suenee shaking my shoulder again.

"You must get up and wash," she insisted. She had already washed and had a small wet towel in her hand. When I got out of the bed, she wiped me down with it and then rinsed it out in a pail of water in the corner. Then she returned and wiped me off all over. It was refreshing but the water as still cold.

I was getting dressed when Sawyer banged on the wall.

"You up, Baker?" he asked in his usual bellow.

"Yes," I answered, more quietly. "I'm almost dressed."

We met out on the veranda, after I had kissed Suenee again for a while in the room. She had on a sarong again revealing her fine figure. On checking my watch, I saw that it was 2330 hrs.

"We need to move," Sawyer said and gave Sophie a long last kiss. She too had a sarong on, and I noticed that she also had a very fine if larger figure.

"Are you going to be OK?" I asked Suenee.

"Yes, I will be fine. Do not worry, my Bill," she answered.

"Do you need money for the room?" I asked and reached into my pocket to give her some money.

"No, I am fine," Suenee answered and pushed the money away. Sophie, however, took the two hundred Baht I wanted to give Suenee and put it between her breasts.

"I will hold it for her," she told me with a wink.

"Come on," Sawyer said and gave Sophie a slap on the butt. I kissed Suenee on the cheek and followed him down the stairs.

As we cautiously moved back up the now wet street toward the Team House, I realized that it must have rained again while I was up in the room. It had rained this afternoon while I had been studying Thai. I had never heard the rain tonight.

Through the broken cloud cover, the occasional moonlight revealed that all of the dark stores along the way were shuttered for the night and in anticipation of an attack. We didn't see anyone else on the way and stopped short of the Team House.

Sawyer used his red lens flashlight to signal the sentry at the gate that we were approaching. We waited until we received an answering signal before we approached the gate.

As we neared the personnel gate, someone inside quietly gave the sign and Sawyer answered with the countersign for the day. I had never checked to see if there was one and in fact had forgotten all about it. I was lucky to be with someone as experienced as Sawyer, who took care of such things. It was a lesson that I would do my best to remember in the future.

As we passed through the personnel gate, we were met by Sergeant Kelley, the Operations Sergeant.

"Damn, Sawyer, you're the last ones back, and just in time, too."

"Baker needed a nap after he got done," Sawyer told him with a little chuckle.

"Baker, can you relieve Sergeant Daniels in the S-2. He has been there all evening in case there was an attack and he needed to destroy the classified stuff. You have the highest security clearance of anyone here and it will be a good place for you," Sergeant Kelly asked me.

"OK," I told him. "I'll get my rifle and go down there."

"Good," Kelley answered, "but don't go barging in there, Daniels is a little nervous with all of the classified that we have at present."

As I approached the door to the S-2 section, after retrieving my AK-47, I carefully knocked on it.

"Sergeant Daniels," I called out, "it's me, Baker. I was sent to relieve you."

"Just a second, Baker," I heard in reply, "I'll unlock the door." Soon I could hear the door being unlocked from the inside and a red lens flashlight appeared in the darkness.

"Come on in," Daniels said after he had checked the hall and me with the flashlight. He closed and locked the door behind me. It was pretty dark in there with only the one red flashlight for illumination.

"Do you have a flashlight?" Daniels asked.

"No, I wasn't issued one," I answered.

"Just a second," Daniels replied and shortly produced another flashlight. "You can keep it. I have several here. Do you know how to activate the thermite grenades?" he wanted to know.

"Oh yes," I assured him. "That last school that I attended, where I got the radio, gave us a thorough grounding in classified material destruction: thermite grenades, C-4, dynamite, gasoline and flares. We also got to practice with the real stuff. They were very thorough. I had never seen people so paranoid about security."