Lethal Payload

Bolan got the directions from the U.S. Embassy, but he could have followed his nose. It was evening, and with the setting of the sun the act of cooking had become tolerable. Bolan walked the invisible borders of the shantytowns by scent and turned to follow the aroma of jasmine rice, curry and simmering coconut milk to the Javanese quarter.

Bolan had few illusions. He was barely armed, and his ruse was as thin as hell. He would not be able to withstand more than a few moments of scrutiny, and if it came to a fight he would never live to reload the little .22 Walther PPK/S tucked in the small of his back. The knife tucked in his boot would be of even less use against men who had spent their entire lives practicing the dances of death with foot-long kris knives and parangs.

People sat outside on the stoops and rattan chairs, taking their ease, or leaned out the windows to try to catch some hint of the evening breeze. They smoked cigarettes and looked sidelong at Bolan with undisguised suspicion as he passed.

Bolan consulted his mental map and approached the practice hall of Pandekar Ali Soerho.

Soerho was a pandekar of high repute, of the Jokuk style, from the same lineage as Regog. In this confrontation, Bolan would not have tactical surprise or Adamsite gas to back him up against this mystic warrior and his circle.

The hall was a WWII-vintage Quonset hut that had been repaired many times. Tin siding had been used to patch the walls and the roof. Woven rattan screens covered the windows. The scent of sandalwood incense drifted from an open door that was obscured by hanging strings of cola nut beads. Two men sat on the stoop smoking pipes with incredibly long stems. They wore T-shirts, shorts and sandals and looked like everyone else in the quarter seeking relief from the evening heat. The veins crawling across their corded, rock-hewn forearms, and callused hands bespoke of long weapons training with blades and staves.

The two men watched Bolan approach with supreme disinterest.

When Bolan neared to a few feet, the two men suddenly rose with fluid grace. They flared out heavily developed shoulders and stood in his way like temple guardians carved of stone. Bolan smiled, but the smile he gave them was very sad, as if he were in mourning. He bowed his head toward both men respectfully. “Asalaam aleikum.”

The two sentries blinked in surprise as Bolan greeted them in Arabic. They bowed back, but their wary eyes were still hooded like hawks considering prey.

“What do you want?” the taller of the two men asked in French.

“I need to speak with Pandekar Soerho.” Bolan bowed slightly again. “One of us is fallen.”

Bolan took out the knife he had liberated from Pak Widjihartani’s corpse in Indonesia. Widjihartani’s legion dog tags were wrapped around the hilt. The two men sucked in their breath in dismay. The taller one surveyed Bolan intensely. “And you?”

Bolan pulled up his sleeve. His arm still burned where the tattoo had been scrawled into his skin. The tattoo was not deep, but direct injections of cortisone had been required to get rid of the swelling. The CIA developed inks would dissolve within days. The job had been done by a former Navy SEAL who owned his own tattoo parlor and contracted out tattoos needed by agents going undercover. The man was a pro, and even though the tattoo was less than forty-eight hours old, it looked like Bolan had borne it for years.

The tattoo was of a shield. A dragon was scrawled across its background, and a stylized owl parachuted across the front of it.

The sentries stared at the tattoo and nodded slowly. The taller one took the knife from Bolan and motioned for him to follow them inside.

The scent of sandalwood was very strong. The walls were covered with crossed spears and staves. Short swords and knives with blades that curved in every possible direction were everywhere. Batik prints of gods, heroes and demons covered the patched, steel walls. The incense sticks near the altar had burned low. The evening’s instruction was over. Two men swept the floor, and another dusted the altar.

Ali Soerho sat cross-legged on a mat. Bolan scrutinized the pandekar carefully as he unfolded his legs and seemed to grow out the mat like a tree. He was a slightly built man who looked to be around fifty. Bolan knew that looks could be quite deceiving in martial-arts masters. Soerho could be anywhere from fifty to seventy, and to have reached the rank of pandekar his slight build and gentle features hid his power like silken cloth wrapped around an iron dagger.

The taller of the men escorting Bolan approached the pandekar and bowed deeply. He leaned in close to his master and whispered to him for long moments before presenting him with the knife Bolan had brought. Soerho accepted the weapon reverently and went to lay it upon the altar. His man and the two men sweeping fell into rank behind the pandekar as he approached Bolan.

The man dusting the altar ceased his cleaning and pulled out a cell phone.

Bolan bowed low to the pandekar. The master bowed back and spoke in very rough, halting French. “You speak Arabic?”

Bolan bowed again and replied, “I am only just learning, to further my studies of the Holy Koran.”

One of Soerho’s men quickly translated. The pandekar nodded at Bolan’s wisdom. The tall disciple took over as interpreter. “You knew Pak?”

Bolan pulled false foreign legion dog tags up from around his neck. “We served together in the legion. It was there that I converted to Islam.”

The man with the phone clicked it shut and went back to his dusting. Bolan noted he was working his way back the way he had just come and was putting himself between Bolan and the door. The pandekar spoke through his translator as he gestured at the knife and the dog tags on the altar. “How did you come by these things?”

“How much have you been told?” Bolan countered.

The Javanese had a very rapid discussion in their own language. Bolan decided to interrupt it. “There was an attack. Pak and his men were overcome and killed. We believe it was done by special forces, most likely Australian SAS.” Bolan let his eyes harden. “We believe we were betrayed from within.”

The taller disciple looked shocked as he translated.

Bolan’s face was stony as he openly scrutinized the men before him. One of the disciples flinched as he met the soldier’s tombstone stare. The big man had come looking for a traitor. It was very clear that he did not consider them above suspicion. The Executioner repeated himself slowly. “How much have you been told?”

The taller disciple cleared his throat. “Only Ki has been—”

“Where is Ki?” Bolan demanded.

“I am here.” A man parted the strings of beads blocking the door. He was short but had almost inhumanly wide shoulders. He was naked save for shorts and sandals. Every muscle in his body stood out in high relief, as did numerous scars, some of which Bolan recognized as bullet and shrapnel wounds. Tattoos crawled along his biceps and shoulders. Both the man’s physique and the way he carried himself were reminiscent of a brutal and battle-hardened Bruce Lee. The two men measured each other. Bolan was relieved that the man did not sport the owl and dragon tattoo.

The man wore round, French military dog tags.

Bolan nodded at him. “Ki.”

“Ki” looked at the sheathed kris and the dog tags on the altar. He then stared long and hard at Bolan’s tattoo. “You served with Pak?”

Bolan threw caution to the wind. “We met in the Pacific. I was in the 5th Foreign Regiment. I spent most of my time at Fantagataufa and a number of the other atolls.”

It was a wild gamble. The 5th Foreign Regiment had been stationed in support of France’s nuclear testing in the South Pacific. Their activities had great political sensitivity, and the regiment had since been dissolved. Their top-secret duties and subsequent disbandment allowed Bolan to make up almost any kind of story. The Achilles’ heel of the ruse was that French-owned atolls were tiny communities. The communities of the legionnaires even tinier. If Ki had served in the same theater, Bolan was toast.

Ki watched Bolan like a hawk as he digested Bolan’s story.

Bolan met his gaze without flinching. “How much have you been told?”

Ki never stopped trying to read Bolan’s eyes. He looked down at the tattoo on Bolan’s arm once more. “I do not know you,” he finally announced. “This will require verification.”

“Of course.” Bolan frowned impatiently but nodded. “I am going to give you a telephone number.” He reached slowly into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small pad and a fountain pen. “Memorize it and destroy it.”

Bolan flipped open the pad and turned the pen over. Suddenly he pressed the pocket clip.

The pen hissed in Bolan’s hand as it shot a stream of pressurized CS tear gas directly into the pandekar’s eyes.

Bolan flicked the notebook into Ki’s face as the pandekar staggered back into his disciples. The blow had no impact but Ki brought his hands up to cover his eyes. Bolan put his thumb on the butt end of the pen and thrust the blunt object into Ki’s esophagus.

Ki’s knees wobbled as he gagged.

Bolan jumped to put Ki between himself and the rest of the disciples. Blades appeared in their hands.

With his free hand, Bolan ripped the dog tags from around Ki’s neck.

The man by the door ripped a rattan stave from the wall, and it blurred about his body like a propeller as he came for Bolan. The Executioner emptied the rest of the gas-pen at the men surrounding the pandekar and broke for freedom as they flinched. Bolan broke sideways and ran at a dead sprint for the eastern wall of the hut. He chose a rusty looking five-foot section of tin siding that had been used to patch a hole in the ancient structure, and hit it like a fullback.

Metal screamed. The rivets holding the siding tore free, and Bolan and the entire section of siding exploded into the night. He rolled in the muck of the alley and came up running.

The disciples boiled out of the hole Bolan had made. They were shouting at the top of their lungs. The soldier could guess what they were yelling to the barrio around them at large.

“Stop him!”