One Man's Island

by Thomas J. Wolfenden

  “Yeah?” Tim said, grip tightening on the wheel.

  “The Aussies never had to worry about the Cold War, so most of their shit was never hardened for EMP, what I think zapped all the electronics. Anyway, there’s a group of about twenty-five Aussies led by some naval officer down there in Darwin trying to get a warship ready to sail because all their shit was fucked, and they want a piece of this fucker.”

  “Really, that’s interesting. How long before they can sail?” Tim asked.

  “I’m not sure, but I think they’re almost ready, and it would be nice to work them into the plan.”

  “Jerry, remember how it was in the Ranger Regiment?”

  “I do.”

  “We’ll, it’s going to be like that all over again. A bunch of really pissed off eighteen and nineteen year olds, armed to the teeth, and absolutely no adult supervision!” Tim grinned. But then again, he thought, we aren’t eighteen and nineteen year olds anymore. He started to whistle ‘Waltzing Matilda’ as they drove through the front gate.

  Chapter 20: The Island

  Tim and Jerry pulled up in front of the hangar, and went inside to find Robyn, Holly and Jimenez taking a break by the Hercules they were cannibalizing, drinking warm sodas. They were surprised the see Williams, but after Tim made the introductions, they settled down. When he had everyone’s attention, he gave them a full briefing on everything Jerry had told him. When he was done, he lit his pipe and puffed away, looking right at Robyn, who had her head down and was looking at her hands.

  She looked up, and with tears in her eyes said, “Daddy, I’m so sorry.”

  “Robyn, I am very angry with you. But it wasn’t entirely your fault. Like Sergeant Williams said, this guy played you like a fiddle.”

  “Tim,” Holly said, “if all this is true, we don’t have to do this. We can just fly back to Arizona.”

  “Yeah, I’m all for that!” Jimenez said excitedly.

  “No, we’re not. I’ve got a plan, and Robyn?” he said, and she looked at him, about to break out in tears. “You’re the key in this.”

  “Me? How am I the key? I screwed everything up!” she said, trying hard to hold back tears.

  “Let me ask you this. Have you talked to this ‘Jimmy’ fuck since we’ve left the house?”

  “No, I brought my radio so I could, but I haven’t had the chance ‘cause we’ve been working on the plane.”

  “Perfect. Taco, you said the bird will be fixed in a few days?” he said, turning to Jimenez.

  “Yeah, Sar’ Major. We’ve already got the hydraulic lines and the wiring harness swapped out. Now I’ve got to change out these struts and tires. That’s the heavy part, and I can’t do it alone.”

  “I can help with that,” Jerry said.

  “So if you have help, how long?”

  “A day, day and a half maybe, and it’s Jimenez, Sar’ Major.”

  “It’s easier to say Taco than Jimenez so now you’re Taco,” he said, turning back to Holly. “Here’s what I’ve got planned. Robyn here will tell this Jimmy fuck that we’re still in Arizona, but have found a plane, and we’re heading to this island for good. She’ll tell him we’ll be there in, oh I don’t know, two, three weeks maybe?” he said, looking at Williams, who nodded.

  “And then what?” Holly asked.

  “In the meanwhile, we get this bird fixed and with about ten of Sergeant Williams’ men, we fly down there as fast as we can, set up an ambush and wait for the Good Ship Lollypop to show up.”

  “That’s crazy!” Jimenez said.

  “How do you know he’ll show up?” Robyn asked.

  “I think he will.”

  “But won’t he see the plane on the runway and know something’s wrong?” Holly asked.

  “They won’t see the Hercules because it won’t be there!” Williams said.

  “Won’t be there?” Holly echoed.

  “After you drop us off, you and Robyn will take the plane somewhere else. Our island is directly between the Marshall Islands and Kiribati. Howland and Baker islands are southeast about a thousand miles, and Palmyra Atoll is about fifteen hundred miles due east. You’ll refuel at Volivoli, fly to one of those islands, and wait to come back and get us,” Tim explained.

  “And how will we know when to come back?” Holly asked, with concern on her face.

  “We’ll let you know by radio.”

  “Eh, Sar’ Major, you said the lieutenant and Robyn fly out. Who’s going to help them refuel at those other islands, or fix the bird if she breaks? They need me to go with them,” Jimenez said nervously.

  “No, they’ll be fine. They’re big girls and can figure out how the get JP5 into the fuel tanks.”

  “But I’m just a jet engine mechanic!” Jimenez said. “I should stay with the plane!”

  “Taco, what is it that I’ve been hearing for years and years about you jarheads? Oh, I remember now. It’s how every single last swinging dick is a rifleman first, no matter if he’s a cook or mechanic. Time to show me how fucking great you jarheads are,” he said with a smirk. “Now get back to work fixing this thing.”

  Jimenez said nothing, but was visibly shaken. Robyn walked up to Tim. “Daddy. I’m really sorry I caused all this mess. But I can’t go with Holly. I’m staying with you. I want a chance to get at this Jimmy guy too!”

  “That’s not happening. You are going with Holly when she takes the plane out, and there’s not going to be any arguments over it.”

  “But I’m just as good as Sergeant Williams’ guys! You taught me everything you know!”

  “That I did, but this is a little different. I promised you a long time ago that I’d always protect you, and having you far away from this when it starts is the best way I know how.”

  “But I want to help!”

  “And you will be helping, baby. You’re going to be the one who sets the trap,” he said with a big grin.

  “But—”

  “End of discussion. I’m not going to change my mind. Now go and help Taco, and if he tries to get cute again, remind him I promoted you to corporal so he didn’t outrank you, and if he persists, cut his nuts off.”

  She grumbled her complaints and stalked off.

  “She’s got spirit, I’ll give her that. Hard to believe that’s who was behind that Morse key. The girl is fast!” Williams said.

  “You’re telling me! Now let’s go hash out some details. Holly, do you still have that photograph?”

  “It’s in my flight bag.”

  “Good, let’s all three of us go into the back and look it over.”

  They went to the break room in the back of the hangar and sat down at the table. Jerry looked over the photograph, and smiled. “Yeah, this has a lot of potential. There are plenty of spots along here where all the bunkers are.”

  “What kind of firepower do you have?” Tim asked.

  “I can get everything that the 25th Division has.”

  “Be nice if we could put a Bradley on the bird,” Tim sighed. “But they’re too heavy. Could you get a few TOWs?” Tim asked, meaning ‘Tube launched, Optically sighted, Wire guided’ anti-tank missile.

  “That’d be about the biggest we could come up with. Everything else is too big to be man-portable. And we could put a nice hole in the ship’s hull with it.”

  “If this place is a Pre-Position Depot, there should be plenty of things already there we can use too,” Tim added.

  Williams stood up. “Well, I’d better go and talk to the men, then head over to Schofield for a little shopping trip.”

  “I’ll go with you. I’d like to meet them also, and talk to them. I’m the one who’ll actually be asking them to risk their lives, and I’d better let Izzy know what we’re doing too.”

  Holly came over to Tim, hugged and kissed him. “You be careful, Tim.”

  “I will. Be back soon,” he said, and he and Jerry walked out to the Hum-Vee. They got in, and drove off towards the main gate again.

  “Sar’ Major,” Jerry
said, “I know this may be none of my business, but you were a lot more ‘friendly’ with the lieutenant than what’s normally accepted.”

  Tim laughed and lit his pipe. “Let us just say, Jerry, the Leftenant and I have been fraternizing in an unlawful manner according to the UCMJ for some time.” (The Uniform Code of Military Justice, UCMJ, states unequivocally that enlisted personnel should never, ever, have any kind of personal relations with the officers.)

  “She is a looker, I have to say,” Jerry said appreciatively.

  “That she is, and one hell of a pilot. You saw that little coral strip on the island?” Tim asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well she landed a C-17 on it, at night, with no instruments.”

  “No shit?”

  “And the landing we made here, before we hit that bomblet? She kissed the runway so smoothly, that if you were standing in the middle of the cargo hold, holding onto nothing but a gin and tonic, you wouldn’t have spilled a drop. That’s how good that lady is.”

  “That’s pretty damn smooth.”

  “And to think, I almost shot her down,” he said with an evil grin.

  “Oh? How so?” Jerry asked, and Tim told him the story of Iraq, and Jerry almost wet himself laughing.

  “Oh, shit that’s funny!”

  “She didn’t think it was all that funny at the time.”

  “And to figure you guys met up after all this time.”

  “Yeah, it is. But don’t let on you know that story. I think it may still be a sore spot for her,” Tim said. “So what’s your story?”

  “Not much to tell, Tim. I’m originally from New Orleans and enlisted right out of high school. I got orders for Schofield right after my last tour over in the sandbox, and was here for about eighteen months before everything went to shit.”

  “What then, after that?” Tim asked.

  “I thought I was alone for a while, and then I started to meet up with others, one or two at a time. A few others and I started getting things organized, getting the power on and making sure everyone had food. Once we got the transmitter set up, we found others all over the Pacific. That’s when we got word on the ship, and what they were doing. I put together a little reception committee for them for when they got here.”

  “That was pretty effective,” Tim said.

  “Yeah, but this whole thing puts a new twist onto everything. Do you really think we can pull it off?”

  “I hope so, for everyone’s sake,” Tim said, not sounding all that sure.

  They drove on to Mary’s house, and went inside. Tim found Izzy drinking a cup of tea with Mary in the living room.

  “So how’s the boy?” Tim asked when they walked through the door.

  “He’s still very sick, Tim. I’ve got him filled with antibiotics right now, and I hope they’ll work, having been around so long, way past their expiration date.”

  “Iz, we’re going to be leaving here in a few days for the island. It’s going to be a lot more dangerous than we thought. I just wanted to ask you if it’s okay, that you just stay here with the boy and make sure he gets better.”

  “Yes, I figured as much. Mary’s told me about the ship. So you are going to take care of him? The captain of that ship that is?”

  “Yes. I figure you’d be better off here taking care of the kid, if that’s alright with you,” Tim said, feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

  “Tim, don’t worry. I need to be here for at least a week to see to the boy. And it is nice to have a patient again. If I was thirty years younger, I’d be taking your grease gun and coming along with you, because a man like that needs to be taken care of. He’s a disgrace to the US Navy,” he said, looking at the floor and shaking his head. “But you go and you take care of yourself. Robyn and Holly need you.”

  “I will, Iz. You take care of yourself, and get this kid better, okay?”

  “You got it, Sergeant Major!” Izzy said, shaking Tim’s hand. He pulled Tim close and gave him a warm hug. “You bring Holly and Robyn back to me, you hear?”

  “I will, Iz.”

  “Shalom! Now get out of here!”

  “Shalom, Iz,” Tim said, and walked outside with Jerry. Getting back into the Hum-Vee, they drove a few miles and stopped at another house. There were several men standing around outside. Jerry gathered them all together, introduced Tim, then went on to explain what they were going to do. When he was finished, he asked, “Anybody want out?”

  There were no dissenters. One dark skinned man in the back spoke up. “I had a mother and sister in Papua, New Guinea. I hate to think what that fucker’s done to them if they’re still alive. Fuckin’ A, bro! I’m in!”

  Tim welcomed them all on board and did a head count, twelve of them. Plus Jerry, himself and Jimenez made fifteen. He hoped it was enough to go against an Aegis destroyer. Williams gave one of them a shopping list, and half departed for Schofield barracks. The others volunteered to go to the base and help with the repairs to the plane. Tim sat down on the lanai and lit his pipe.

  “What do you think, Tim?” Jerry asked him.

  He laughed. “I’m thinking have I lost my mind?”

  “I’m thinking the same thing, Tim. We must be mad to be doing this, but I think it needs to be done.”

  “Yeah, I feel the same,” Tim said.

  A man came out of the house and spoke to Jerry for a few minutes, and he turned to Tim to fill him in. “It seems like the Aussies are ready to sail at the end of the week. I sent them the coordinates to the island and they said they’d be there in about seventeen to twenty days.”

  “That is good news. They know of the plan?”

  “Not all of it. I told them I’d message the rest once we got set up on Volivoli,” Jerry said.

  “Good. I hope they can get there in time.”

  “Agreed. Why don’t you head back to the base? I’ll get everything organized and meet you back there, say, around 1830?”

  “That sounds good. Thanks for everything, Jerry. You don’t have to do this.”

  “No problem. It feels good to be going out and doing what I was trained to do again. And besides, that bastard needs to be dealt with, and I’m more than happy to be a part of it.”

  “Let’s just hope we can pull this fucked up abortion off,” Tim said. He shook Jerry’s hand and got into the Hum-Vee, driving back to the base. When he got there and approached the plane, he saw it up on jacks and a whole gang of men working on it. He pulled up, and they ignored him, continuing to work under the direction of Jimenez.

  “They came pulling up about an hour ago and frightened the hell out of us,” Holly said. “Then they said they came to help, and with Jimenez’ direction, got right into it. They should be done in about an hour.”

  “Outstanding! So much for Taco’s two to three day estimate he gave us.”

  “Aye, I know. We should be able to leave first thing in the morning,” Holly said, taking his hand. They walked together to the side of the hanger where they had sat the day before. They sat down with their backs against the wall.

  “Tim, I’m really worried about this.”

  “So am I, but I have to do it.”

  “Somehow I think this is my entire fault. Once we met you and Robyn, we should have just stayed put at your place. We were all safe there.”

  “Eh, what do we need with clean sheets, running water and electricity anyway?” Tim said with a wry smile.

  “I mean it, Tim. I’m not ready to lose you.”

  “You were ready to walk away in Arizona,” Tim said flatly.

  “Aye, but you were ready to let me go.”

  “I felt like Rick at the end of Casablanca,” he said and Holly laughed. “It’s like this, Holly. I feel this is bigger than you and me. If we pack up and go home, these people here will never be safe. The whole Pacific will never be safe, unless we do something to get rid of this guy. We’ve done that far too many times in the past, left people who thought we were friends hang out to dry as we pulled up st
akes and left. This time we play by our own rules, there won’t be any politicians in Washington or London setting the rules that only one side will abide by.”

  “And what rules will you have?”

  “There won’t be any rules.” He kissed her head and sighed, and looked out over the dead base.

  “I just want you to come back to me.”

  “I will. I’m too goddamn ornery to kill,” he said.

  Two military trucks were pulling up, M35’s, or ‘Deuce and a half” trucks. Tim and Holly got up and walked over to see the rest of Williams’ men unloading crates and cases.

  “And what kind of goodies do you have there, Sergeant?” Tim asked Jerry.

  “Oh, shit Sar’ Major! I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. We got all kinds of good shit. Ammo for the M4’s, got an M60, frags, and claymores. Can’t have an ambush without claymores, can we?”

  “It would be unheard of, Sergeant. claymores add dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl! Did you get a TOW?”

  “We found a few TOW launchers, but oddly enough, no TOW missiles. That was fucking odd. But we did get a few AT4s,” he said, meaning Anti-Tank 4 rocket, a small man-portable rocket launcher that replaced the M72A2 LAW rocket in the late 1980s.

  “That will have to do.”

  “We’re ready to go as soon as the lieutenant says the bird is ready,” Jerry said, looking at Holly.

  “Jimenez says it should be ready in a few hours. It’s too late to fly out this afternoon. We’ll just get her ready and fueled, and fly out first thing in the morning,” Holly said.

  “What about the Hum-Vees?” Williams asked.

  “I think we just take mine with the Ma Deuce and leave the other one here.”

  “Okay, Sar’ Major, now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go see to the preparations and get everything set for tomorrow.”

  “Roger that, Sergeant. And if you see my wayward child, tell her to come see me,” Tim said, and Williams nodded before going off to his men. Tim looked at Holly. “See? I’m in good hands.”

  “Aye, I’m happy to see you now have adult supervision.”

  They walked into the hangar and back to the break room, where he found Robyn putting away her radio.