“The Uzi’s gone,” her aide said. He fingered the door unlock buttons and power window switches — none were operable. “What the hell is going on?” He reached for the cellular phone in the backseat, but the “Ready” lights were all out — the phone too was dead.
A .45-caliber Colt semiautomatic pistol appeared in the hand of the driver; he showed it to O’Day and her aide but then immediately lowered it, out of view. “Please sit still and do not try anything foolish,” the driver said. “You will not be harmed unless you try to resist.”
It was not until O’Day looked at the man through the rearview mirror that she realized he was wearing sunglasses — their Marine driver had not been wearing them before because of the early hour and overcast skies. “Where’s our driver?”
“Safely asleep in the trunk, Ambassador O’Day,” the man replied. “He put up quite a struggle before we could subdue him. He will awaken in a few minutes.” The driver eased off the main avenue toward a hotel parking lot where the car could be partially obscured, but not appear too conspicuously isolated. He parked the car and immediately began removing the uniform.
“What are you going to do with us?”
“Nothing,” the driver said. Underneath the blue uniform, he wore a T-shirt with palm trees on it, khaki shorts, and white tennis socks; he replaced the spit-shined shoes with tennis shoes. He looked like a tourist from any number of Asian or European countries. Gripping the .45 in his right hand, he glanced nervously at his watch, leaned through the dividing window between the compartments, and said, “I know your embassy tracks all its vehicles by microtransmitter, so I will not stay any longer. I have a message from Second Vice President General Samar…”
“Samar!” O’Day exclaimed. “Is he still alive? Is he in hiding…?” Samar had disappeared the day Mikaso had been killed. It had been assumed Samar was dead, too.
“Silence,” the man said; then, realizing he might have sounded too demanding, added, “Please.” Then, “General Samar requests help from your government to relieve Davao on the island of Mindanao. He is resisting the Chinese invaders but cannot hold on for much longer — Puerto Princesa and Zamboanga have fallen, and Cotabato and Davao will be next…”
“If Samar wants help,” O’Day told the man, “he had better stop playing hide-and-seek and take control of the government. The non-Communist citizens will follow him, but everyone thinks he’s dead…”
“He may be dead if you do not help,” the agent said. “We need more than just…”
“Silence. I have stayed too long already. Listen carefully. General Samar says that the
“General Samar is on Mindanao, organizing his people and his resistance forces. He is carefully monitoring the Chinese military’s movements and communications, and he concludes that on the first of October — Revolution Day — Admiral Yin Po L’un’s forces will attack any foreign military forces that attempt to pass near Mindanao.”
“But that’s crazy,” O’Day’s aide said. “The Chinese wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack an American carrier…
“I will not debate you. The General has risked his life to bring this information to you — in exchange, he officially requests military and humanitarian aid from the United States. Please help. Contact him at this number immediately. Do not alert your embassy by radio or telephone; there are spies everywhere.” The man reached down and hit the button to unlock the trunk. “Your guard will awaken in ten to fifteen minutes; he will release you then. Do not attempt to follow me. Please help my people.”
The man raised the dividing glass screen, stepped out of the car, and ran as fast as he could away from the hotel; they saw him throw the gun into a ditch before he ran out of sight.
They had kept the landing lights off until seconds before touchdown. The only lights on around the entire base were the runway-end identifier lights and blue taxiway lights — all “ball park” lights on the parking ramps, exterior fights, and streetlights near the runway were out. Looking from the cockpit, the entire northern part of the island of Guam appeared as dark and as deserted as the thousands of miles of ocean they had just crossed.
