Chapter Eighteen
“Tell the driver to slow up. It should be right along here somewhere.”
“I still haven’t seen the buses.” Clancy scowled through the dust and bug-caked windshield of the truck.
“Don’t worry, they’ll be—there they are!”
The buses were rounding the curve ahead, bearing down on them with the leisurely pace characteristic of this country. Tidwell watched the vehicle occupants as they passed, craning his neck to see around the driver. The bus passengers smiled and waved joyously, but Tidwell noticed none of them took pictures.
The mercenaries smiled and waved back.
“The fix is in!” chortled Clancy.
“Did you see any empty seats?”
“One or two. Nothing noticeable.”
Good. Look, there it is up ahead.”
Beside the road there was a small soft shoulder, one of the few along this hilly, jungled route. Without being told, the driver pulled off the road and stopped. They sat motionless for several long moments, then Aki stepped out of the brush and waved. At the signal, the driver cut the engine and got out of the car. The two mercenaries also piled out of the car, but unlike the driver, who leisurely began taking off his shirt, they strode around to the back of the truck and opened the twin doors. Two men were in the back, men of approximately the same description as and dressed identically to Tidwell and Clancy. They didn’t say anything, but strode leisurely to the front of the truck and took the mercenaries’ places in the cab. Like the driver, they had been briefed.
The two mercenaries turned their attention to the crates in the back. Aki joined them.
“Are the lookouts in place?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You worry too much, Steve,” chided Clancy. “We haven’t seen another car on this road all day.”
“I don’t want this messed up by a bunch of gawking tourists.”
“So we stop ’em. We’ve done it before and we’ve got the team to do it.”
“And lose two hours covering up? No thanks.”
“I’m going to check the teams. I’ll send a couple back to give you a hand here.”
He hopped out of the truck and strode down the road, entering the brush at the point where Aki had emerged.
Fifteen feet into the overgrowth was a clearing where the teams were undergoing their metamorphosis. Nine in the clearing, and one in the truck made ten. Two full teams, and the buses had looked full.
The team members were in various stages of dress and undress. One of the first things lost when the teams were formed was any vague vestige of modesty. The clothes had been cunningly designed and tailored. Linings were ripped from jackets and pants, false hems were removed, and the familiar kill-suits began to come into view.
Clancy arrived carrying the first case. He jerked his head and two already-clothed team members darted back toward the road. Setting the carton down, Clancy slit open the sealing tape with his pocket knife. He folded the flaps back, revealing a case of toy robots.
Easing them out onto the ground, he opened the false bottom where the swamp boots were kept. These were not new boots. They were the member’s own broken-in boots. Clancy grabbed his pair and returned to a corner of the clearing to convert his clothes. One by one, the members claimed their boots and a robot and stooped to finish dressing.
Tidwell had worn his boots to speed the changing process. He whistled low and gestured, and a team member tossed him a robot. He caught it and opened the lid on its head in a practiced motion. Reaching in carefully, he removed the activator unit for his kill-suit and checked it carefully. Satisfied, he plugged it into his suit and rose to check the rest of the progress, resealing the lid on the robot and stacking it by the carton as he went.
Conversion was in full swing as more cartons arrived. The shoulder straps came off the camera gadget bags, separated, and were reinserted to form the backpacks. Fashionable belts with gaudy tooling were reversed to reveal a uniform black leather with accessory loops for weapons and ammunition.
Tidwell particularly wanted to check the weapons assembly. Packing material from the toy cartons was scooped into plastic bags, moistened down with a fluid from the bottles in the camera bags, and the resulting paste pressed into molds previously covered by the boots to form the rifle stocks. The camera tripods were dismounted, the telescoping legs separated for various purposes. First, the rounds of live ammo were emptied out and distributed. Tidwell smiled grimly at this. All the forces’ weapons were “convertibles”—that is, they were basically quartz-crystal weapons, but were also rigged to fire live ammo if the other forces tried to disclaim their entry into the war.
The larger section of the legs separated into three parts to form the barrels for both the flare pistols and the short double-barreled shotguns so deadly in close fighting. The middle sections were fitted with handles and a firing mechanism to serve as launchers for the mini-grenades which up to now had been carried in the thirty-five-millimeter-film canisters hung from the pack straps. The smallest diameter section was used for the rifle barrel, fitted with a fountain pen telescopic sight. The firing mechanisms were cannibalized from the cameras and various toys which emerged and were reinserted in the cartons.
One carton only was not refilled with its original contents. This carton was filled with rubber daggers and swords—samurai swords. These were disbursed to the members, who used their fingernails to slice through and peel back the rubber coating to reveal the actual weapons, glittering and eager in the sun. These were not rigged for use on kill-suits.
The label on the empty box was pulled back to reveal another label declaring the contents camera parts, and the skeletons of the cannibalized cameras were loaded in, packed with the shreds of the outer clothing now torn to unrecognizable pieces.
The cartons were resealed and reloaded, and the truck was again sent along its way with a driver, two passengers, and a load of working toys and camera gear.
Tidwell watched it depart and smiled grimly. They were ready.
“Call in the lookouts, Clancy. We’ve got a long hike ahead of us.”
“What’s with Aki?”
The Oriental was running toward them waving excitedly.
“Sir! Mr. Yamada is on the radio.”
“Yamada?”
“This could be trouble, Steve.”
They returned hurriedly to the clearing where the team was gathered around the radio operator. Tidwell grabbed the mike.
“Tidwell here.”
“Mr. Tidwell.” Yamada’s voice came through without static. “You are to proceed to the rendezvous point to meet with the other teams at all haste. Once there, do not, I repeat, do not carry out any action against the enemy until you have received further word from me.”
Tidwell frowned, but kept his voice respectful.
“Message received. Might I ask why?”
“You are not to move against the enemy until we have determined who the enemy is.”
“What the hell—”
“Shut up, Clancy. Please clarify, Mr. Yamada.”
“At the moment there is a cease-fire in effect on the war. The government of the United States has chosen to intervene.”