Email:
Lespion@msn.com
Weaponless, Jia Li slipped through the dark
forest. Tackling the Japanese
when armed was dangerous enough.
Going after them with her bare hands was unimaginably
perilous. She had left her
bo with
James. The seven foot staff would
simply encumber her as she stalked the
Japanese. It was going to be
tricky enough just getting close enough to see what was going on without
getting caught.
As she approached the edge of the camp she
moved even more slowly and carefully checked out every bush before she passed
it and surveyed every tree before she slipped beneath
it. The Japanese liked to post
sentries in trees and she had no intention of being discovered by one of
them.
Near the edge of the camp she spotted what
she had anticipated. It was fortunate
she had taken her time. Her patience
paid off when she saw the slight movement that indicated the soldier’s
position thirty feet above the ground.
The sentry was well placed with a field of vision that took in a ninety
degree swath of forest. Although
it was dark it was too dangerous to chance that he might not see her and
so she settled down to wait.
Two hours went by before the event occurred
that she was waiting for. Another
Japanese soldier trudged out from the centre of the
camp. He called up to the sentry
and the soldier responded.
“About time. I’ve
had to crap for over an hour.”
“Why didn’t you just do it up
there?” the new arrival replied.
“Yes, you’d like stepping in my
shit,” the sentry spat. He
began to clamber down the trunk. At
the same time Jia Li moved.
The newcomer was still laughing as his comrade
regained the ground.
“Don’t forget to remind Alito to relieve me,” he said
as he shouldered his rifle and began to climb the tree.
There was no reply and he stopped and turned
just in time to relief the full force of Jia Li’s fist in his
throat. With a strangled croak,
he clutched at his shattered larynx, his face turning blue and his knees
buckling. Jia Li caught him and
eased him quietly to the ground.
She stripped him of his grenades and bayonet and then she turned back
toward the camp, stepping over the body of the first man she had
killed. She repeated the process,
tucking the bayonets into her belt and slinging the grenades over her back
using one of the dead soldier’s
belts.
Then she moved toward the centre of the camp,
maintaining her methodical infiltration.
This time she encountered no
more aerial sentries. She knew
that she did not have an endless amount of time, but neither did she want
to be killed or captured. She
had observed the camp long enough to know that the two men she had disposed
of would probably not be missed for awhile, but she did not want to have
to kill any more just yet. Her
first priority was to get close enough to find out who had been
screaming.
She found her answer near the centre of the
camp. There were four women in
a bamboo cage and Jia Li knew them all.
She didn’t bother to speculate too much on what had probably
been done to them or on what her former companions were doing in the middle
of
She was quite willing to do the latter, but
there were just too many soldiers and so she tried to work on the distraction
idea. For almost another hour
she studied the camp, trying to familiarize herself with its
layout. By the time she was finished
she thought she knew the function of almost every
tent. The few she did not know
she decided to investigate.
She got it right the first
time. It wasn’t too difficult,
it was the only one with a guard posted on it, but that was a small
obstacle. The guard was not expecting
any trouble and in the darkness Jia Li had no trouble cutting her way through
the canvas at the back of the tent.
Inside was the somewhat limited ammunition supply of the Japanese
expedition. It was, however,
enough for her purposes. She
selected a crate containing several mortar shells and took out one of her
grenades. She pulled the pin,
dropped it, and took off. She
would have only four or five seconds to get clear and she made a bit of noise
bursting through the back of the tent.
However, noise was not what she was concerned
about.
Ten long strides from the tent she threw herself
flat just as the grenade went off.
There was an almost simultaneous explosion as the crate of mortar
shells exploded with an almost deafening
roar. She lay there for a few
seconds while debris rained down around her and the other ammunition continued
to explode and then she was on her feet and heading for the
cage.
As she ran she tossed grenades into or near
each of the tents she passed until she had used up the supply she had
salvaged. The smaller explosions
added to the confusion and from the screams behind her, inflicted a few
casualties. By this time dozens
of Japanese soldiers had staggered from their tents.
Most had weapons, but in the
confusion of the continuing explosions, no one noticed a small figure darting
through the shadows until she neared the
cage. Only then did Jia Li face
any opposition as she encountered two Japanese
soldiers.
A bayonet in each hand, she made short work
of them, catching one in the throat and then gutting the other before taking
him through the heart. She dashed
toward the cage. Two quick slashes
cut the ropes tying the door shut and then she wrenched it
open.
Amy was the first out, followed by
Melissa. Katie came almost
last. She was hampered by Lisha
who she was dragging from the cage, the African girl was apparently unable
to stand. Without a word Jia
Li gestured toward the forest and seizing Lisha around the waist lifted her
from the ground in a fireman’s
carry.
Surprisingly, Katie still delayed, but her
words made all clear. “Ayashe
is still here. The Japanese
lieutenant has her.”
Jia Li made a choice that was both difficult,
but necessary. “We can’t
help her now. Grab what weapons
you can find and head for the forest.”
Katie’s face showed her anguish at the
decision, but she didn’t argue.
While Jia Li carried Lisha they headed for the refuge of the forest,
following in the wake of Amy and Melissa.
Once among the trees Jia Li led then by a
round about route away from the camp.
It soon became apparent that the women she had rescued were not in
much better shape than Lisha was, but they forced themselves on, knowing
what recapture by the Japanese would
mean. There was not one of them,
however, except comatose Lisha, who did not think about Ayashe and what it
might mean to the Dene girl to remain in the hands of the
Japanese.
The explosion that rocked the camp interrupted
Ayashe as she was subjected to a most painful sex
act. She gasped as
Being forced to submit to anal sex had been
excruciatingly painful. She had
screamed in agony as
The ropes resisted her efforts, but the bed
didn’t. The rickety bamboo
broke apart and she was able to struggle to her
feet. Her hands were still bound
behind her, but her legs were free.
She moved toward the door and out into the darkness as fast as her
battered body would take her.
Outside, the camp was in total confusion,
with exploding ammunition sending bullets whining in all
directions. A number of tents
were burning and Japanese soldiers were running this way and that while others
fired blindly into the forest.
Crouching low, she ran for the shelter of the dark
forest.
Once among the trees she kept on moving, not
really caring which direction she ran, just so long as it was away from the
Japanese. All was going well
until she ran into a Japanese soldier.
He was just as surprised as she was, and nearly
stabbed her with his bayonet, but at the last second he stopped and reversing
his rifle slammed it into her belly.
Ayashe had just time to clench her stomach muscles, but the impact
knocked her to her knees.
Her wrists still bound and flat on her back,
she was helpless as he dragged her a few feet into a small patch of big-leafed
plants and proceeded to unbuckle his
belt. She kicked at him, realizing
that she had escaped one savage violation only to be faced by
another. Laughing, he caught
her ankles, split her legs and inserted himself between her
thighs.
She must have screamed, although she didn’t
remember doing it. She was only
aware of the pain of penetration as once again she was forcibly violated,
and then quite suddenly the man ravishing her jerked back
sharply. Ayashe was surprised
to see the sharp point of a bayonet protruding from his chest and then he
was yanked off her and thrown to one side.
An Asian woman stood over her, bloody bayonet
in hand. For an instant Ayashe
did not know if she was Japanese or something else and then the women spoke
in Chinese- accented English.
“Can you walk? We
must go.”
It was then that Ayashe recognized
her. She was a woman she had
met a few times before. With
an overwhelming sense of relief she realized that it was Larra’s companion,
Jia Li. She nodded her answer
and then realizing that in the dark the movement of her head might have been
missed she answered, “Yes.”
“Good,” the Chinese woman said.
She extended her hand and pulled
Ayashe to her feet. Turning her
around, she cut the ropes binding her wrists.
“Take this.” she added and handed
Ayashe the rifle and ammunition pouch of the dead Japanese
soldier. Then, without waiting
to see if Ayashe was following, she moved off silently through the camp,
heading for the forest.
Ayashe’s hands were numb, but she ignored the pain of returning
circulation and cradled the rifle and
ammonium.
They encountered no more Japanese and a minute
later Jia Li stopped for a second to pick up two more rifles that had been
stowed in the bush. Then she
continued to pick her way among the trees, moving a bit more rapidly when
she saw that Ayashe could keep up.
A few more minutes and then Jia Li halted again and gave a low
whistle. She was answered almost
immediately and Katie and Amy stepped forward from the
bush. There were a few hushed
words of greeting and then they stepped into the trees and found Melissa
and Lisha.
The African girl appeared to be
sleeping. “I think it’s
psychological,” Melissa whispered.
“A reaction to what she’s been
through. We’ll have to carry
her.”
“I’ll rig up a litter,” Jia
Li said. She busied herself cutting
lengths of bamboo while the other women stood
guard.
Ayashe noticed that both Amy and Melissa were
already armed, no doubt with plundered
rifles. With the two Jia Li had
brought they had four rifles among them; not enough to deal with the Japanese
if they were discovered. However,
the dark was on their side. She
doubted that the Japanese would try following them until morning even though
the noise in the Japanese camp had died down, indicating that order had had
been restored
Ayashe noted that Jia Li seemed to have some
skill in litter construction. It
took her only a few minutes and then it was
ready. They loaded Lisha onto
it and headed off through the forest.
Ayashe wondered where they were going until
they came to a thick stand of bamboo and two children came out of
it. She recognized Larra’s
two children at once. There was
a rather subdued reunion, especially when the two children saw how badly
battered most of the women were and then the entire group moved
off.
In spite of what she had been through, Ayashe
almost felt happy. They had found
Jia Li and Larra’s children, or rather, Jia Li and the children had
found them. Now there was just
one question remaining. Where
was Larra?
PREVIOUS
CHAPTER WIZARD'S
LAIR MAIN PAGE
L'ESPION'S
STORY
PAGE