“Hold them off for as long as we can and wait for that Aussie ship to show up.”
“But, Tim, they won’t be here for another two days!” Holly said, her face pale.
“Well, there’s a lot less of them now than there was a while ago. We’ve just got to keep thinning them out.”
“I guess if you say so,” Holly said.
“It’ll be like Corregidor. We just have to hold out a little while.”
“That’s a really bad analogy, Tim. No one ever came to the rescue on Corregidor,” Holly said, starting to feel sick.
“The Alamo, maybe?”
“Dad, they lost at the Alamo,” Robyn whined.
“Look, we’ve just got to do what we have to do. We’ve given them a black eye and they’re hurting. We just need to hold them off and keep on thinning them out.”
“I’m really happy you’re so optimistic,” Holly said in exasperation.
“No sense worrying about it now.” He heard a whistle from atop the bunker and looked up. The man up there pointed to his eyes, then back down the road. Tim gave a thumbs up to him and picked up his carbine. “You two stay here, and I’ll come back for you. See anyone you don’t recognize, put a bullet in their melon.”
Holly kissed him and rubbed his cheek. “You come back to me, you hear?”
He kissed her back and left, going back to find Williams. Sliding up behind him, he low crawled to his side. “You know, Jerry, I’m getting too old for this shit. What have you got?”
“About twenty of them, be-bopping up the track like it was a walk in the park. Only two of them in front have their weapons ready. It’s like taking candy from a baby.”
Tim watched them come into sight. Yep, they were clueless. When they got to the middle of the kill sack, they stopped and looked around.
“Easy, easy. Nobody fire until I trip the claymores,” Jerry whispered on the radio. Just then, one of them, looked like an African to Tim, bent down and picked up one of the claymores, its bright yellow detcord exposed and trailing off in either direction from the mine in his hands.
“Oh fuck! Would you look at that?” Tim said. The man holding the mine called out to one of his buddies. They were conferring; apparently they didn’t know what it was. Tim looked over to Jerry, who was smiling broadly.
“You know that curiosity killed the cat.” He snickered. “Gee, can I, dad?” he asked gleefully.
Tim stifled a laugh. “By all means, be my guest!”
Jerry picked up the detonator, slammed the handle three times, and all seven of the mines detonated, sending out several thousand stainless steel balls at several thousand feet per second. The unfortunate man holding one of the mines never knew what hit him, and was completely vaporized by the three pounds of C4 explosive he unwittingly held in his hand. As soon as the mines went off, all hell broke loose as the M60 began to chatter, and all of the riflemen fired into the mass for over a minute, raking the whole kill zone with lead. Jerry let it go on for about that long, and finally yelled out, “Cease fire! Cease fire!”
The small arms fire rapidly dwindled and fell silent. Now only the moans of the wounded were heard from the carnage. It had always amazed Tim that even after all of that devastation, some people were still alive. He saw several of the men from the ship running as fast as they could back the way they came. One of Williams’ men decided to fire a few rounds after them, and Jerry quickly put a stop to it. Tim and Jerry both stood and walked to the center of the road. Tim looked back and saw Holly peering around a moss covered concrete wall before disappearing back behind the cover.
One of the men came out of the weeds and over to Williams. “Everyone is accounted for, no injuries. Shall we go and take care of them out there?”
“Yeah,” was all Williams said, with a curt nod to Tim as he watched three more men step out of the weeds and walk to the wounded men from the ship. As they got to each one, they pulled pistols out, and put a bullet in each of their heads.
“I told them no prisoners,” Jerry said.
“Good,” Tim said. “Now what?”
“We wait, and see what shit they pull next.”
***
Cmd. Wright leaned out over the railing and watched Stevens motor up to the ship in the whaleboat. When he was alongside, he called down to him. “What’s the story, Stevens? Do you have the codes?”
“No, sir. There’s a lot more of them than we thought. They had an ambush set up for us, and were waiting about halfway around the island. I don’t know how many we lost, but it was a shitload.”
“You wait right there, don’t you dare go anywhere!” he screamed down to him. He turned to Major Paleen, who had just walked into the bridge. “You! Grab as many men as you can fit into your helo and fly them across the lagoon to the other side! Have them come in from the beach on the other side, and we’ll squeeze these simpletons like a teenager’s zit until they pop.”
“Yes, sir! Very good, sir!” Paleen said excitedly, and hurried off. Wright then leaned back over the railing, and called down to Stevens. “I’m coming down! I’ll bring more men with me. It seems like if you want the job done right, you’ve got to do it yourself.”
***
Tim and Jerry went back to where Holly and Robyn were and sat down, drinking water from their canteens. About an hour passed when suddenly the radio came to life. “There are more of them, coming up the beach!” someone called over the radio.
Tim picked up his handset, and keyed it. “How many do you think?”
“Looks like about twenty-five, maybe thirty.”
“Okay, let me know when they start into the trees,” he said into the radio, and then set it down. “How many of these fucks does he have?” he asked rhetorically.
“Your guess is as good as mine, Tim. It looks like we’ll be busy again here shortly.”
“Great.” He looked up at the sky. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” Jerry asked.
“Sounds like a Blackhawk,” Jimenez said.
“Yeah, now I hear it. That’s just fucking wonderful. Now the fuck has a chopper to go around us,” he sighed.
“I wish we had a Stinger or two,” Tim said.
“I looked right at them at Schofield, and decided we didn’t need them,” Jerry said.
They could hear the sounds of the engine getting louder, and Tim and Jerry walked through the trees carefully to get a better look out across the lagoon. They could see the helicopter taking off from the rear of the ship, its doors open, and he could see men inside.
“I’m going to ask again. How many people does this fuck have?” Tim said angrily.
“I don’t know, but I bet you any amount of money he’s trying to get some people behind us.”
Holly came running up to them at this point, and looked at the aircraft gaining altitude and heading their way.
“It’s a Seahawk, your Navy’s version of the Blackhawk,” she said.
“Does it have rockets or guns?” Jerry asked.
“Not that I know of, just anti-submarine warfare stuff,” she said.
They watched it cross the lagoon, and then suddenly burst into flames and white streaks, with a loud bang that made them all jump. It split in two, and then nose-dived down to the lagoon, the still spinning rotors slamming into the turquoise water and disintegrating. It sank in seconds, only leaving a dark smudge on the water and a black cloud of smoke rapidly dissipating in the air.
“Now what do you suppose caused that?” Jerry asked.
“Beats the fuck outta me, but I’m not complaining,” Tim said. He heard a loud crump! come from down the road and saw a fireball rise up over the palm trees, then heard screams of agony. “Well, I know where they are at now. I left another little surprise for them. Let’s get into position. Holly, you go back to Robyn.”
They ran back to their positions in the trees between the bunkers and waited. Just then, one of the men came up. “Sarge! We got a present for you!”
“What?” Williams a
sked, and turned to see one of his men holding three men at gunpoint. Two obviously white men, bare chested and wearing soaked trousers, their feet bloody and raw, obviously from walking over the reef. With them was a similarly clad diminutive Japanese man.
“I thought I told all of you no prisoners!” he said, and the looks on the three men’s faces turned from relief to horror.
“Now wait a minute,” the tallest of the three said plaintively. “We gave ourselves up. We were getting away from him!”
“Who the fuck are you?” Tim asked, standing up and pulling them all behind the bunker into cover.
“I’m Ensign William Johnson, United States Navy.”
“And I’m Petty Officer First Class, Harry Suplee, US Navy,” the second one said. “This one’s Mr. Nakamura. His English isn’t so good.” The Asian man smiled and bowed.
“Okay, Mr. Johnson. What’s your claim to fame?”
“Look, Sergeant, we’ve all basically been his prisoners since everything happened. We were sick of what he was doing, but couldn’t get away for so long. When we got here, we figured it was now or never to jump ship!”
“Was that you with the chopper?” Tim asked.
“Yeah, pretty cool, eh? Mr. Johnson said he saw it in a movie once. Put a white phosphorous grenade in the helo’s fuel tank with tape on the lever thing,” Suplee said.
“Is that so?” Tim said.
“What about those cruise missiles on Oahu?” Jerry asked with a glare.
“I targeted them into the jungle. I couldn’t bring myself to target the city or the Arizona, which he wanted destroyed. I did let one go into Hickam, just so he could see some smoke.”
“What’s his story?”
“The skipper you mean? He’s gone mad. Thinks he’s the Big Kahuna, and has the nukes to prove it. He got ten BGM109As we got in Pearl, and now he’s after you because you have the codes,” Ensign Johnson said, hanging his head.
“He’s not mad, he’s completely batshit fucking crazy is what he is!” Suplee piped up.
“Okay. He’s nuts. How many men does he have?”
“About seventy, I think,” Johnson said, and Jerry and Tim looked at each other.
There were so many questions Tim wanted to ask, but there was no time. “Take these three back to where Holly and Robyn are, and if they get squirrelly at all, kill them,” Tim said to the man who brought them, who moved them to the rear at gunpoint.
“You know, even if we’ve got a third of them already,” Jerry said, “that’s still almost a platoon’s worth of guns coming at us.”
“I know. Listen, we’ll do our best and hold them here for as long as we can. When it gets too bad, or looks like we can’t hold them any longer, I want you to take everyone to that derelict car carrier on the reef. There’s got to be lifeboats or something you can get on from there, and I’ll keep them away as long as it takes.”
“But wouldn’t you need power to lower the lifeboats?” Jerry asked.
“Probably not, they most likely have a manual feature in case the ship is sinking and loses power. Like a safety feature or something.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be along right behind you guys. Just do as I say when the time comes. Trust me on this. I’ll buy everyone a little time to get away.”
“If you say so, Sar’ Major,” Jerry said, and keyed up his radio. “Listen up people. They’re coming at us again. Conserve your ammo. One shot at each target. When you run out, we don’t have anymore. When that happens, rally behind the second bunker from my position, and we’ll take it from there.” He got several ‘clicks’ in return as acknowledgment.
They sat and watched down the tract, and finally they saw the first man appear, holding an AK47 at the hip and walking cautiously. Tim raised his carbine, squeezed the trigger, and saw the man crumple and fall. It was the impetus of pure bedlam after that. Full automatic fire was heard in the front, and then the M60 started barking. He heard screams and yelling, and every time he saw a man in front of him, he fired a round. Several grenades went off in between the shooting, and the whole area was beginning to be covered in a blue haze of cordite smoke. One by one in front of him, one of his men popped up out of the weeds, and made a hasty retreat past him and Jerry, who was also firing away at targets that Tim couldn’t see. Tim’s bolt slammed back and locked on an empty magazine, and he reloaded his carbine with his last thirty rounds. He pulled his rucksack around so he could use it as a rest, went down to the prone position, and scanned ahead of him for targets.
Behind Tim at the next bunker, Holly and Robyn were crouched down with the three men from the ship, and two more of William’s men. Jimenez was on the other side of the road, using a bunker’s concrete wall for cover and firing his rifle down the road. Robyn looked over at him, and as she did, saw two men with AK47’s come around the rear of the bunker, and take aim at him.
“Taco, behind you!” she screamed, and raised her M4 to her shoulder, rattling off four three-round bursts, killing both men instantly. Jimenez looked behind him at the two bodies, and then over to Robyn, who was lowering her smoking carbine. She smiled at him, and he shook his head. He fired two more rounds down the road and made a mad dash over to where the others were, sliding to a stop in the dirt next to her.
“Thanks. I owe you one!” he said breathlessly. “And it’s Jimenez.”
“Whatever, Taco,” she said, leaning around the bunker and firing off another burst.
Ahead of them things were getting a little hairy. Williams fired off his last burst, and the bolt slammed back, locking on an empty magazine.
“I’m out!” Jerry said.
“I got your back. Take everybody over to the car carrier now.”
“Tim, I can’t leave you here!” he screamed over the noise of battle.
“Yes you can, and you will. Do it now!” Tim said, never taking his eyes off of his sights, and cranking off another round. “Why aren’t you gone already?”
“Okay! Okay! I’m gone. It’s been a pleasure, Sar’ Major!”
“Buy me a beer next R and R!” Tim said, and pulled off another round at an unseen figure moving through the weeds.
Jerry picked up his ruck and ran back to the second bunker. He did a quick headcount. With the three from the ship, he figured only ten left, not including Tim.
“Where’s my Dad?” Robyn screamed.
“He’s back there covering us. Now come on, follow me!” Jerry said.
“No! I’m not going anywhere without him!” she screeched, terrified. Holly was a ghostly pale, but took Robyn by the hand. “Come on, love. We’ve got to go!”
“No! I can’t leave him! A Ranger is never supposed to leave a comrade behind!” she shouted over the din.
Jerry got down on one knee so he could be eye to eye with her. "Look Robyn. Tim’s covering us so we can get away. He’ll be along as soon as we’re safe!” he said, hating to lie to her like that. Both he and Holly physically dragged her away, and she was fighting them, still trying to get back to Tim. They made it to the beach and the broken up ship only lay about a hundred yards off the beach. The tide was slowly coming in, but the water was still only waist deep, and they waded single file out to the wreck. Once there, through breaking waves, they all climbed into the cargo hold, careful not to cut themselves on the twisted and jagged metal. Jerry took out an angle-head Army flashlight and lit the way. He had no idea how to get up there until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see the Japanese man, Nakamura, offering to take the light.
“I know way! I sail on this ship before. It Nissan Maru!”
“By all means,” Jerry said, handing over the light, and following Nakamura. They quickly made it all the way up to the rear of the ship where the lifeboats were. The small Japanese man quickly took charge, and in minutes had the boat ready to lower.
“Lifeboats have manual setting so we lower boat with no power.”
Everyone piled on board, he and Suplee started the hand cranks, an
d the boat got closer to the water outside of the reef on the ocean side. They could plainly hear the sounds of the battle raging, by a one man Army at this point, and they were all enraged that they couldn’t help.
“That’s Daddy’s grease gun!” Robyn said in a tiny voice as she heard the distinct sound of it firing out steady staccato bursts over the crack of the AK47s.
Jerry and Holly looked at each other, but said nothing. If Tim was using the old submachine gun, things were getting very up close and personal indeed. When the boat’s keel was in the water, Nakamura lifted the cowling of the engine and tinkered for a minute, and to everyone’s surprise, the diesel engine belched to life.
He looked up and smiled. “Good Japanese motor!”
Suplee went aft to the helm and took it after he made sure all the lines were off. “Where to, Skipper?” he asked, looking at Jerry.
“We go south. Get as far away from here as possible. There’s supposed to be an Aussie ship coming to meet us.”
“You’re the skipper,” Suplee said, and throttled up the engine, turning the helm to head south.
The sun was sinking in the west, and Holly wondered where the day had gone. She looked towards the now shrinking island with a heavy heart. Several plumes of dark, dirty smoke billowed out from the once serene image of the coconut palms, forever destroying her image of the idyllic paradise she had envisioned.
***
Back by the bunker, Tim had fired his last round from the carbine, and was now using the grease gun in short bursts. He had four more magazines for that, but that wouldn’t last him too much longer. He was rapidly running out of options. Then a thought crossed his mind. What he’d said to Jimenez earlier: If you’ve got to go, take as many of the bastards with you as you can…
Without hesitation or second thoughts, he grabbed his rucksack and ducked behind the bunker. He pulled out the laptop computer with the odd satellite antenna and opened it up. He then pulled the Skillcraft ring binder out and sat it on the ground next to it. His hands were shaking as if he had palsy, and he had to try to calm himself. He looked at the screen.
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