The Howling Cliffs

Chapter 4

Chapter 4Sara rose from her knees, stuck her fingers into her mouth and whistled shrill enough to scare away any marauding forest creature. “Hey! Get the dogs over here!” Then she spat out the taste of bug repellant from her fingers.

As soon as Huxley and Palmer saw what lay on the ground, they exchanged slow wide-eyed stares. Sara's intuition read more into those secreted looks than she would speak at that moment.

Finding remains of anything had started adrenaline flowing.

“Clear the area, please, everyone.” But Huxley didn't move. Instead, he clasped his hands tightly, interlacing his fingers, and brought them to his face and bowed his head. It seemed he was the one who couldn't move.

Huxley had been the initiator of the continued searches for this particular group of MIAs, driven by the fact that Rockford was among them. Sara stepped forward again and wrapped an arm around his waist. Only then did he return into the moment and himself step aside and wipe his eyes.

The others had watched, caught up in a moment for which each lived and breathed; that of possibly locating another of the group of eleven kidn*pped nurses, of which four had been women.

Laka, the metal detecting canine, sniffed the piece of gleaming gold and sat down, panted and wagged his tail frantically. This time no one needed a dog to tell them what was found. The gold fragment looked to be nearly two inches of links from a heavy chain necklace for a man. It looked to be in good shape. Surely, it was real gold. But why would anyone fighting a war wear a gold necklace? Many years had passed and it was possible someone else using the trail had lost a valuable piece of jewelry.

All GIs wore standard issue stainless steel beaded chains that carried two embossed dog tags. They had edges, bound with rubber silencers to keep them from clinking together and making noise. Silence was of utmost importance in battle situations. Surely, someone using the trail through the years had not haphazardly discarded a broken chain. Would anyone actually cast aside something as valuable as gold?

They kept an eye on the canines. Iwi wandered down the embankment and along the side of the stream. Just as Sara hoped him to be following a scent, he began wandering aimlessly, a sign of detecting nothing. When Laka was led away from the gold fragment, he pulled against his leash. Laka kept his nose to the ground easing down the shallow rocky embankment a couple feet to where some shrubs struggled to thrive. He sniffed over one small area, pawed, then sat down and waited. Again, his tail frantically flipped back and forth as his entire body squirmed in excitement. That meant more metal lay beneath the surface. Thanh threw a biscuit into Laka's mouth and led him away to continue searching nearby areas.

Iwi was brought back by the second handler in hope of him detecting human remains. He never once sat down. Finally the film team, who kept cameras rolling, stepped up to photograph the piece of gold linkage where it lay and the area over the embankment. Filming continued as the area was marked off for digging before the first speck of dirt was brushed away.

The main players on this team had long ago been instructed about how to turn the soil or clear the dirt from a find, dust speck by dust speck, inch by inch. Esmerelda sat on the ground and used a sifter to shake the moved dirt through, looking for more metal. She was methodical. Not a speck of dirt missed her scrutiny. Every clod of dirt was broken down. Every speck of dirt was pored over for shards of bones, not that Iwi had indicated any were present. Anything that sparked interest would be photographed and then bagged to take back to the United States for examination.

The digging and sifting of soil continued from the gold links to where Laka sat down a second time just over the embankment. One of the vets was down on his knees on the incline. He moved more dirt and suddenly gasped. “More gold!” By this time, most in the search team had crowded in as close as possible. The vet climbed the embankment and nervously stood aside for the filming. Then the piece was brought out of the ground.

Huxley got down on his knees and measured off the distance between where the first links were found and the second. Slowly, he straightened, holding the piece in his gloved palm. “Something broke this chain.”

Palmer reached with gloved hands to hold the piece. “Could have been animals.”

It was quite possible that if the gold wasn't discarded by a local person but worn by a G.I., after the person fell and died, animals could have ravaged the body. But would animals actually pull on the sturdy necklace so hard as to rip it apart and open those links at the breaks? It was also possible that a prisoner could have been brutalized and, while struggling with the attacker, broke the attacker's necklace.

Sara cringed at the thought of what might have happened that broke the neck chain. Once dead, the body could have been thrown into the rushing water and washed away as it decayed. Who knew how many and where bodies might have lain in water, surely tainting it. Wise old Esmerelda's changing expressions said she might be having similar thoughts.

After more digging and poking, nothing was found at the second spot. Laka was brought back for a final check. This time he sniffed and then began using his paws to scratch the hole deeper. He was led away. Huxley used a machete and chopped branches off the nearby bushes, clearing space to crawl around. Disregarding warnings of Agent Orange lingering in the soil, he took a turn at eagerly digging with his gloved hands. Finally, he accepted a shovel and dug a hole deep and wide, yet came up with nothing.

With the constant rains and water previously washing over the ground, soil could have built up over what it was Laka detected. They wouldn't leave the area till they found it. Clearing away a wider patch of top soil allowed Huxley to dig deeper in the center where Laka indicated. He worked feverishly, perspiration already dripping from his forehead. Huxley threw another shovel load onto a screened tray to be examined. Esmerelda and one of the Hmong gladly accepted it and sat on nearby rocks to examine it.

Just as Huxley was about to scoop out another shovelful, he paused, his foot never coming down on the shovel edge. Instead he threw the shovel aside. When Sara eagerly leaned forward to see, so did everyone else. Huxley reached into the hole and brought up a tiny piece of metal. It was the end of a dog tag!

Esmerelda asked to see it. With tears in her eyes, she picked up a tiny brush and lovingly swept away the dirt. “These fragments belonged to one of our people.” She had a way of touching things, holding things, like her valuable antiques, that told you how she felt about them. As with the gold links, everyone knew she was hoping the tag had belonged to her daughter, but gold on a military issue G.I. was implausible. The gold and the dog tag were most likely from two different people; the dog tag definitely from a service person.

Huxley dug further, searched a wider area and called Laka back again. With a piece of one dog tag found, they might find the accompanying piece or the other tag since all soldiers wore two. Nothing more was found. The sole fragment was so badly scratched and dented, what little remained of one or two original markings that would have started on the missing end were indecipherable. The partial tag represented one GI's remains. It and the gold links were all they had to go on, but somehow, they would figure out to whom the precious remnants belonged.

Huxley, Thanh and a couple of the other Vets continued to dig around the area while being filmed. Both dogs were brought back to again test the turned soil and give the entire area another sweep. Neither gave further reactions. After the findings were packaged and safely stowed, rest was in order.

A reverential hush had fallen over the group as each set about handling chores. It was late in the day and the cooks needed to start the evening meal. The Yards helped with setting up tube tents and pumping up air mattresses. The thick rubber tubes prevented mattresses from being placed directly on bare ground. The tent bottoms and the mattresses would absorb the effect of the rocks and pebbles beneath.

No other place to bed down existed unless some wished to sleep on beds of decaying leaves and twigs pungent with the musty smell of the forest floor; soft cushiony pads where snakes and other pests spent their nights.

As Sara concentrated on making herself as useful as possible, she couldn't help wondering how much Agent Orange might remain in the soil and even in the air they breathed. In any case, most in the group would die for their purpose. Sleeping on an air mattress above tainted ground remained only a passing thought at best. For safety, all tents were placed as close together as possible.

Through a break in the drifts of fog and clouds overhead, an almost full moon hung low in the sky. The tops of the trees rustled occasionally in the gentle wind, but not much breeze made it to the jungle floor.

The campfire was lit. The glowing light showed just how many insects and pests floated around them daily, and evidently into the night as well. Spotters would rotate watch while others slept, in case the fire might draw any large animals, even though it was said that only a few had returned to the area. This was a testament to the fact that animals knew the ground and foliage remained contaminated. With no animals to hunt for food, and few edibles any longer growing on trees and vines, any remaining Hmong had sought refuge in distant lands.

Around the fire, Palmer led a prayer of thankfulness for the finding of remains. Strong moonlight through the rustling branches and leaves cast flickering forest shadows across their faces. Thanh jumped up quickly and moved aside when the smoke suddenly shifted in his direction. For just a second, Sara caught a glimmer of fear in his expression when smoke enveloped him.

Ever since Huxley saw the first piece of gold his demeanor had changed. Sara and Huxley knew each other well. She had given her heart to him and he had promised his to her. Now she sensed that he knew something about the discovery but wasn't about to speak it to anyone until he had concrete evidence. That was his way and she deeply respected him for it.

Esmerelda leaned closer, as if to tell a secret. “Huxley told you about the key, didn't he?”

Sara smiled warmly, remembering. “Yes, during the first trip I made to his home in Oregon. It was the key to Rockford's girlfriend's apartment in San Francisco. She gave it to him when he shipped out. It was like a symbol of coming home again. He promised her he'd always keep it taped inside his shirt pocket next to his heart.” Sara stared at the ground. “Hux believes when remains with the key are found, or even just the key, they will have found where his brother died.”