Jolo Island, Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindinao
Sergeant Major Jubal Mariano appeared as he intended as he left the village store carrying a nylon-mesh bag full of fresh fruit, a carton of local smokes and a few other items that might be in short supply on a fishing boat anchored offshore. Unless you knew better or suspected something unusual, the man strolling away from the village was just another of the local fishermen who visited the merchant occasionally to restock supplies before heading back out for the deep-water fishing areas south of Jolo.
Mariano was an old hand at this kind of dicey undercover work. He’d even gone so far as to smear himself with fish oil before heading for a meeting with his source in the village so he’d smell like a working fisherman. Apparently the ragged
