The speed with which he put a tree between himself and the incoming rocket surprised even him. Even so, the blast swept around him, throwing him fifty yards.

The jet’s engine note changed again, to the roaring snarl of its hover mode, and he could see it out about two klicks and at an altitude of a couple of thousand feet, turning on its own axis as the pilot repositioned.

Then, another note—the other jet, coming in at five hundred miles an hour six inches above the treetops, and he knew it would unload napalm. The initial rocket attack had been a trick, Gina knowing that she had to distract him.

Therefore, her plan had a weakness that she was aware of. What was it? He ran along a ridgeline, then saw what was worrying her: cave entrances below him. He dove off the ridge, letting his body limp out as it crashed into the tangle of brush and roots that choked one of the black openings.

If it was deep, he might survive. If it wasn’t, when they unloaded the napalm, the breath would be sucked right out of him. Like the Japanese in World War Two in their caves on Saipan and Tinian, or the Vietcong in the Chu Chi tunnel complex, like that.

As he dove into the nearest cave, white light erupted behind him. With it came searing heat. He threw himself down, coming to a stop against a damp limestone wall. Air rushed past him, dank but breathable, rising from deeper in the cave.

A blast above shattered the limestone around him, dropping large blocks against his back, sending him flying into the far wall. Ignoring the pain as best he could, he crawled out from under the mass of rock and began going deeper. Blast after blast ravaged the tunnel behind him.

As the sounds grew less and the darkness more profound, he cracked a light stick. As it created a glow rather than cast a beam, its light was less easily noticed.

In its blue-green glow, he saw at once that he was in a significant cave complex. Before the mission began, he’d studied his terrain carefully, including its geology. There had been mention of caves in the area, but no indication of their extent.

Around him were well-developed stalagmites and stalactites, indicating that this cave was old and well established. He could feel a slight breeze against his face, so another opening was somewhere ahead. Useful, or too small? He moved toward it.

Fifty feet along the tunnel, he stopped. Now, this was strange. There were no stalagmites here. Holding the light stick up, he could see drill grooves along the walls.