I had told Jiao that even if the Chinese, or the traitor that sold out the location of the safe house, found our hidden valley, it would take at least two, or probably three weeks.
It actually took 13 days.
We had just finished breakfast one morning when Jiao suddenly jumped up. Her face turned white as snow, and she blurted out, "They're here!"
I didn't even bother asking who "they" were, or if she was sure, rather I only asked "How many?"
"A bunch of men," was all she could offer.
About 30 seconds later, the alarms started sounding from the computer room.
We ran into the computer room just in time to see three SUVs pull up to the chains blocking access to the property.
Five guys got out of each vehicle, and 14 were Chinese, while one was white. The white guy was about six feet, four inches tall, and probably didn't weigh more than150 pounds.
Thanks to the cameras, and parabolic microphones, we could see and hear everything they were discussing.
A couple of the Chinese guys wanted to cut the chains and drive on, while some others were concerned if they did that, we might be able to hear them coming -- especially considering how badly rutted the road was. An SUV driving over the ruts was going to make a lot of noise, so it was a legitimate concern.
They finally decided to walk, but would take everything -- including all the plastic explosives -- they had brought with them.
I looked at Jiao, and she was looking back at me.
We had actually discussed this very possibility a few days earlier when she asked me just how safe our hideout was.
As I told her, while it might actually be able to withstand the blast from a near direct atomic explosion, thanks to modern weapons of warfare, it could probably be breached in a matter of hours.
Modern plastic explosives were infinitely more powerful than anything that had existed when the basement had been built, other than a nuclear explosion.
If they started using charges against the ceiling of the basement -- well it would hold for a while but not forever. Especially if they knew how to shape the charges so the blast would be more directional.
Jiao and I had discussed the best defensive positions, and I will admit I was somewhat conflicted. The road the Chinese men were on gradually narrowed, and both sides of the ground starting quickly getting higher. Just before they reached the valley, the passage the road and creek ran through was only about 75 feet wide, and on one side the mountain was several thousand feet high, while the other side was about 1,000 feet high.
They would find themselves coming through a bottleneck, and I could probably take out half of the force, but there weren't a lot of secure firing positions for me. I would be at my most vulnerable if I tried to take them on at the bottleneck.
If I let them come on into the valley, then I had hundreds of well-concealed firing positions, but they also had a valley that was almost half-a-mile wide to hide in.
Earlier I had made the statement that there was no way one man, no matter how good he might be with a sniper rifle, could take on a large group of well-armed men, especially if he was on unfamiliar ground.
Well, number one I was now on ground that I was very familiar with.
And number two, I wasn't alone. I had Jiao who could follow the movements of all the men through the extensive system of cameras, and could even hear their conversations if they were fairly close to the camera.
The most important thing was to hit them hard at the beginning, and then keep them off balance.
I grabbed my sniper rifle, my silenced Beretta, and my Heckler & Koch UMP pistol, and Jiao went up with me to the cabin. Before leaving she kissed me, and told me if I didn't come back safe and sound she would make my afterlife miserable!
Oh, and before we left the basement I sent an e-mail to Colonel James, and gave him our coordinates. In the e-mail I wrote that we were under attack by a large force of Chinese men, and one very tall and skinny white guy.
I climbed the sides of one of the mountains encircling the valley, and made sure I was completely concealed. Jiao was very helpful in that regard since she could see me from a number of cameras. She was also keeping me informed of the movements of the MSS men.
I was heartened to hear Jiao tell me they only had two men walking about 50 feet in front of the others, and the others were all in a group. If they were being that sloppy, or overconfident, then it only made my job easier.
Jiao had provided a running commentary on their movements, so I was not surprised to see the first two men come out of the woods by the same path Jiao and I had first used. After they had spread out some, the main body of men came out of the woods, and they were walking close together.
Many, many years earlier I had watched an old, old movie about Sergeant Alvin York starring Gary Cooper. Sgt. York had been awarded the Medal of Honor for leading a handful of men during World War I and capturing 32 machine guns, killing 28 Germans, and taking 132 other Germans prisoner. The name of the movie was simply, "Sergeant York."
I didn't know how historically accurate the movie was, but in one scene Sgt. York sees a line of German troops firing on his men from a trench. The trench angled backward, so the first man was about a foot in front of, and two or three feet to the side of the next man, and so forth all the way to the end of the trench. That meant the first man in the trench could not actually see the person closest to him, and the second man could not see the third man, all the way back.
York was an excellent marksman, and he started returning fire, but deliberately started firing at the rear most end of the trench. Since the next guy did not know his buddy to his left had been shot, he just kept shooting. Eventually York killed nearly all the Germans.
Finally, however, the Germans who were left threw down their weapons and surrendered.
I had often wondered if such a thing was even possible, and now I had the opportunity to try.
Just as I was about to start shooting, Jiao said, in an incredibly realistic Clint Eastwood voice:
"Get three coffins ready."
That, of course, is from the movie, "Fistful of Dollars."
Like Sgt. York, I began with the furthermost guy to the rear, then as each was shot, moved forward. In the first nine seconds I hit six of the Chinese.
Most of the remaining men dropped to the ground, but two started running. One guy was running back the way they came, so I quickly dropped him, then shot the other runner. Since he was running, I had to lead him slightly, but he also fell.
Less than 30 seconds into the fight, and I had killed or wounded over half of the attacking force.
After that, all I had to do was be patient, and wait for Jiao to tell me where the MSS men were moving.
In the next 15 minutes, I had two more hits, and was waiting for another man to move out from behind a rock. Jiao had told me exactly where he was hiding, "behind Pussy Lips," but all I could see was the toe of one boot.
After waiting for him to move, well, hell, I shot him in the toes.
No doubt shocked, he stood up -- and quickly fell down from a bullet to the brain.
By now, 11 combatants were down, with five more to go.
Three of the men tried to make a run for it, back the way they came, but before any of them had run 50 feet, all three were down.
That left two, including the white guy.
Now, the white guy and one of the Chinese guys threw out their weapons and raised their hands over their head.
