Sor (Voodoo Guardians #29)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Sor? You good, brother?” asked Kiel.

“I don’t know. I’m running this shit through my head, wondering if I missed something with DeWitt. He always seemed on the straight with me.”

“You can’t second guess the past, brother,” said Joseph. “Men turn for all kinds of reasons that we can’t fathom. Money is a powerful motivator. Was he married? Kids?”

“No. No, not that I knew of. I mean, he would have told me had he been married, right?” frowned Sor.

“Actually,” said the voice behind them.

“Shit!”

“Damnit!”

“Seriously, Hiro, I will fucking shoot you!”

“That’s funny coming from the son of the man who is the quietest person I’ve ever known,” grinned Hiro. “Your father taught me a few tricks. Anyway, DeWitt was married twice. Divorced twice. No kids, but the court records were closed.”

“Were?” grinned Sebastian.

“Were. Both women filed suits of domestic abuse but agreed to keep it out of public record to preserve his military career if he granted the divorce without protest. They walked away with about twenty-five thousand in cash each but nothing else. It must have been bad for them to do that.”

“Damn,” muttered Sor.

“Look, Sor, we can’t know what’s in the heads of our teammates all the time,” said Cade. “As much as we’ve all been able to hold it together, not everyone can. We all have demons. Some of us are able to control those demons. Others have no luck at all. DeWitt obviously has demons that we’ll never understand. And frankly, don’t want to.”

“I know you’re right. I just want explanations since he involved Nell and all of you. But I do think Bach is right. There has to be someone behind all this financing the projects. We know that in Cambodia, it’s most likely government officials.”

“It could be the same everywhere,” said Leif. “U-Jin, have you had any experience with the people of Cambodia?”

“Some,” he nodded. “I understand their language, which might help with the children. You must understand their history. Their president was displaced after a coup led by his own son and prime minister in 1970. The king wasn’t happy about that since they were kicking out the communists of Vietnam. He urged a civil war to regain control of the government. Tens of thousands were killed during the bombings by the U.S.

“ Khmer Rouge rebels began using him to gain support. The Cambodian communists became known as the Khmer Rouge. According to the Soviets, the North Vietnamese attempted to overrun Cambodia at the explicit request of the Khmer Rouge.

“Many historians speak of genocides around the world, but what the Khmer Rouge did was an atrocity of epic proportions. At the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum , thousands of photos taken by the Khmer Rouge of their victims are on display. Estimates as to how many people were killed by the Khmer Rouge regime range from approximately one to three million, about a quarter of their population.”

“Holy shit,” muttered Nathan.

“This is when the term ‘the killing fields’ began to be used. Hundreds of thousands fled across the border into neighboring Thailand. Most of the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime were not ethnic minorities but ethnic Khmer. Professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers, were targeted. Anyone wearing glasses was targeted.”

“Wearing glasses?” frowned Cade. “What do you mean?”

“It was seen as a sign of intelligence.” U-Jin let that sink in with the team, then continued. “One reason that they used the unalome symbol could be because, during this time, almost ninety-five percent of Cambodia’s Buddhist temples were destroyed. Someone could be playing with politics.”

“Shit,” muttered Sor. “This just got a lot bigger than we thought. If someone is trying to bring back an old regime, we might find ourselves right in the middle of their treasury. The caves.”

“All the more reason to get in and get out,” said Conor. “We’re all experienced swimmers and divers, but we know that these caves are dark and possibly full of venomous snakes. G.R.I.P. has developed the new dive suits to rival our stealth suits. They’re thin and provide small tubes filled with oxygen within the suit that will help us underwater. This will prevent the need for large oxygen tanks which might not fit.”

“Let’s get our shit in order,” said Dom. He tapped the remote for the television, and a strange-looking map came up on screen. “This is what we think the caves look like beneath, thanks to our scans. You can see multiple tunnels through the caves. We could easily get lost. Stay together, and we head here.”

He pointed to a large open cavern at the end of the long tunnel system.

“Why there?” asked Sor.

“We think this would be the place where they are working. Geological surveys indicate that this might be where the gold and gems could be.”

“Do we have any heat signatures indicating kids?” asked Joseph.

“No. It’s too far below the earth.”

“Then we do what we do best,” said Tobias. “We go in without anyone seeing us. We get those kids out and to a safe place, and we come home. We’ll find DeWitt, but after the kids are out and safe.”

“Team, you read?”

“We read AJ,” said Dom.

“Two caves in Cambodia. That’s your only concern. All the others are being handled within their respective countries.”

“Are they really being handled or is that a line of rhetoric bullshit?” asked Cade.

“ No way to know for sure, but Cam, Luke, and the seniors agree. We focus on this one. Gather as much evidence as you can. Take photos and get the hell out of there.”

“Roger that, AJ. Roger that.”