Her visit was a surprise to Eddie. He was sitting in the Thai restaurant sipping an ice tea when a Security Police patrol walked in the door with Elaine.
“Elaine! What are you doing here?” he asked as he jumped up and wrapped his arms around her.
“Oh! Eddie. Teresa told me you weren’t doing anything until your orders came, so I came up to see you. I miss you so much.”
“I’m glad you’re here.”
They sat and talked for most of the afternoon, then Eddie decided that he had to find a place for Elaine to stay. He called an American missionary woman in downtown Ubon. She was an older woman who was single and lived alone. She told Eddie that she would be very happy to have a Christian house guest stay with her for a few days.
During Elaine’s stay in Ubon, she and Eddie visited the orphanage, the hospital, toured several of the Buddhist temples, and ate at the various restaurants in town. It seemed to Eddie that the war was really over. He was very relaxed.
One afternoon at the Tower Wat, a Buddhist temple outside of town, Eddie and Elaine were looking at the large gold covered Buddha and the flowers. Elaine walked around the corner while Eddie was looking at an inscription on the wall.
Suddenly he heard shoes on the polished marble floor. It was disrespectful - and illegal - to wear shoes inside the Buddhist wat. Eddie turned to see a Vietnamese woman wearing black pajamas and sandals walking toward him. He looked at her feet, wondering why she would wear sandals in a holy place, when she stopped walking. He looked back up at her face and saw that she was looking at him. Her face was familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Suddenly the scar on her cheek brought back the memory. He had last seen her in the hospital the night she escaped. Now this Viet Cong nurse had finally found him. He glanced down to see an automatic pistol in her hand pointed toward the floor.
Eddie was trying to read something in her face when Elaine came back around the corner.
“Eddie, come look at this,” she was saying as she walked up to him.
“No, Elaine, just stay over there,” Eddie found himself saying mechanically as he stared at the woman.
Elaine walked up to Eddie and grabbed him by the arm. “Come on and look at this. It’s really beautiful.” She pulled Eddie toward something she wanted him to see. As they walked around the corner Eddie glanced back. The woman stood there and watched them until they were out of sight.
Eddie reached back and put his hand on his little revolver, but did not pull it out. He slowly walked back around the corner, but the woman was gone. A few minutes later he told Elaine that they had to leave and walked back to where their taxi was waiting.
That evening Eddie and Elaine had dinner with Ray and Dr. Li at a nice restaurant in town. As the two women talked, Eddie took Ray to the side and told him about his encounter with the Vietnamese nurse. Eddie was still shaken by it.
“That’s twice she’s had you, pal. Why didn’t she blow you away?”
“Elaine walked up - right between us - and dragged me around the corner to look at some flowers. By the time I got back around the corner to see where she had gone, she was gone.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to kill us, just scare the fuck out of us.”
“Well, if that’s her goal, she’s doing a real fine job of it. I just hope she leaves Elaine alone.”
“I think she will. She doesn’t know who Elaine is.”
“Ray, you better be careful. She’s probably already figured out that Dr. Li works for you. She may not be as willing to let Dr. Li stop her from killing you. In fact, Dr. Li just might be one of her targets, too.”
“That would really stir up a hornets nest in Vietnamese Village.”
“Yea, but this woman is really crazy. She’s taking this war stuff real personal.”
“Thanks for the warning. I’ll keep my guard up. You can count on it.”
They had a pleasant evening at a quiet nightclub listening to Thai singers trying to sing the latest American songs that were ten years old. It was nearly midnight when they left.
Eddie dropped Elaine off at the missionary’s home, and he returned to the base for the night.
RAY’S BUNGALOW
10 June 1975
Ray lay on his back on the bed allowing the ceiling fan to cool him. Their love making left him feeling relaxed and satisfied. Li was down the hall. She had finished her shower and was now in a small side room fixing medications that she would need for her patients in the morning.
He heard the soft footsteps enter the bedroom beside the bed. The hand softly touched his chest and began to slide down his stomach. The realization that the hand was not Li’s hit him hard. Li’s hand was soft. This hand - though a woman’s hand - was rough to the touch and had thick muscles.
Ray’s body jerked up and his hand shot forward to grab her. Her right hand dropped to his crotch and clamped down hard on his testicles while her left hand slammed something hard across his right jaw so hard it knocked his head to the side. The pain to his crotch almost paralyzed him. But his left hand had found her throat and he began to twist and squeeze.
As he turned his face back to her he saw that she had hit him with the handle of a short knife. That knife was now drawn back with the blade pointed toward him. As it came forward he was able to get his right arm out behind the knife and lock it around her knife arm, pinning her knife arm under his arm. With the knife against his back, he rolled off the bed on top of her, onto the floor.
She twisted his testicles, which drew a groan of pain from Ray. But the adrenaline was now flowing and he slammed his knee into her crotch. Her red face was a mask of fury. This must be the Viet Cong woman, Ray thought. His choke hold on her would soon cause her to pass out, if he could just hang on a little longer.
Suddenly, a knee to his right side and a leg against his left knee dumped him against the wall and onto the floor. That knife was again free and swinging toward him. He blocked the first knife strike, but it took two hands to get control of the knife. She wiggled around until she was now on top of him and was chopping at his arms with her bladed right hand. Each blow stunned and weakened his arms. He was quickly losing this battle, and he lay on his back looking up at the knife just inches above his throat.
All of the woman’s fury was directed at Ray Metson. This was a CIA man, and he had to die. Everything she lived for and trained for was going into this very moment. She was concentrating only on driving her knife into his heart.
The sharp pain of the needle entering her shoulder broke her concentration. At first she tried to ignore it, but then she felt the warm fluid rushing into her body. What was this? She slammed her right elbow around until it hit the wall. There was no one there. Then she reached over her left shoulder and pulled it out. For a quick second, she stopped to look at the empty syringe.
Ray saw the syringe and immediately slammed his knee into her crotch again. This time he knocked her head up against the dresser and she rolled on her right side. For several seconds they both lay on their sides struggling for the knife while trying to knee each other in the crotch. Finally, the woman lost her grip on the knife and it bounced under the bed.
She found herself getting very weak. Ray was soon on top of her holding her legs down with his while keeping her hands pinned to the floor with his hands. She struggled a little, but the fight seemed to have left her. Ray was still tense, but was catching his breath.
After what seemed to Ray to be an eternity, Dr. Li reached over and began pressing something on his back. “What are you doing?” he panted.
“Trying to stop the bleeding,” she said. “She cut your back with the knife, but it does not appear to be very deep.”
It was only then that Ray noticed the trickle of blood running down his right arm.
This fierce little woman had now stopped moving. She just lay there under Ray, staring at him with her hate filled eyes.
“I can’t let her up. Not now.”
“Yes, Ray. Come. Let her go.” Li pulled Ray by the arm and he slowly lifted himself off of her. But she just lay there, not moving. Ray sat on the bed and placed his feet on the woman’s chest and stomach. He was shaking uncontrollably, but she wasn’t moving. Only breathing heavily.
Li handed Ray a pair of under shorts, and he slipped them on.
“What did you give her?”
Li stood looking at her. “You better get dressed and go back to the base. It will wear off in about twenty minutes.”
“It’ll wear off!? Can’t we make it permanent? I like her better this way.”
“Ray, I am a doctor. Just go. Please.”
Ray was still breathing hard. He looked at Li and said, “Can you get me some pain pills while I get dressed? My back is starting to hurt.”
“You’re such a baby, Ray,” she said, but she turned and walked out.
When she returned with the pills she found Ray still sitting on the bed in his underwear with his feet on the woman. “Get dressed, Ray,” she said. Then she looked at the woman. Her eyes were wide and empty of life. The short knife was buried in her throat.
Li reached down for her, but Ray grabbed her by the arm. “No,” he said firmly. “I’m the soldier and this is my job. It’s done. Just forget it.”
Li jerked away from Ray. “Soldiers you kill, Ray. She was helpless. This was murder. This was wrong. You were wrong to do this, Ray.”
“I don’t think so,” he said, reaching for his clothes. “But I’ll go have a talk with Colonel Suwit about it and see what he says.”
As Ray was walking out the door, Li called out to him, “I do not care what Colonel Suwit says. You were wrong to do this bad thing, Ray. You were wrong.”
It was 2:00 a.m. when the phone rang next to Eddie’s head. He answered it and heard Mack Klevenger’s voice. “Put your police hat on, Eddie. Your buddy, Ray, is in trouble downtown.”
“What’d that goof-ball do this time?”
“Killed a woman.”
“Dog gone,” Eddie muttered as he jerked back the covers.
Eddie and Mack walked into Ray’s bungalow and found Colonel Suwit and Ray there looking at the body of the Vietnamese woman. Dr. Li had some angry words with Colonel Suwit when he arrived and had left.
“What happened, Ray?” Eddie asked.
“I was laying in bed when she came in and attacked me with a knife. I got cut on the back and ended up dropping the knife in her throat.”
Eddie looked at Mack.
Mack shrugged and said, “Sounds like simple self-defense. Justifiable homicide.”
“There’s a little more to it than that,” Colonel Suwit said. “She was winning the fight, according to Dr. Li. The good doctor loaded her up on a certain drug that left her paralyzed. Seems Ray added the finishing touch when she was unable to move.”
Mack made a face, but Eddie shrugged. “So what? If it wasn’t permanent, she would get back up and attack him again. She’s VC. Who cares how she ended up dead, so long as she ends up dead.”
Ray nodded in agreement.
Colonel Suwit shook his head. “I can take care of our people, but that drug in her system is going to be a problem for Ray with the military.”
Mack again shook his head. “I think you’ve got a problem here, Ray. With that drug in her body and the knife in her throat, it’s sure going to look a lot like murder.”
“Well, shit,” Ray said. “I got the bitch before she got me, and I still may swing for it. Now ain’t that a crock a shit.”
The others all nodded in agreement with Ray.
UBON RTAFB
16 June 1975
Dr. Li was not talking to Ray, so he was back living on the base. He was heartbroken over that. And depression was setting in because he elected Carl Lavinder as his defense attorney. The man was lazy and did not appear very interested in Ray’s pending charges. “When we see the charges then we can do something,” Carl would tell him. The case had been sent to experienced lawyers at Clark Air Base in the Philippines to prepare for prosecution. Ray just knew it was going to be very bad.
Elaine was preparing to return to her school. She would have only one more day with Eddie. She had heard that something had happened with Ray, but no one was willing to explain to her what it was. She enjoyed spending time with Eddie, but still felt as if she were intruding on everyone.
While they were having lunch at the Thai restaurant, Carl Lavinder walked over to Eddie and said, “I need to see you in my office. Just as soon as you finish lunch.” Before Eddie could say anything more, Carl turned and walked off. There were bad feeling between Carl and everyone else on the base.
“Who’s he?” Elaine asked.
“A snake in the grass,” Eddie muttered.
Just after 1:00 p.m. Eddie left Elaine sitting on a bench in the inside courtyard at the headquarters building. He walked into the lawyer’s office and dropped into a chair in front of his desk.
“I guess they finally decided to go General Court on Ray Metson,” Eddie said.
Carl pulled up a large envelope and answered, “No. This is good news. At least for you.” He then tossed the envelope onto Eddie’s lap.
Eddie slowly opened it and looked through the pages. “This is…?”
“Your divorce decree. She signed it. So, congratulations. You’re now divorced.”
“Wow! Carl, that’s great! How did you do it? I thought she wasn’t going to agree to anything.”
“When you didn’t show up at her trial, it really rocked her boat. When you asked for a divorce, she dug her heels in. So, I told her lawyer that when her sentencing comes up that you planned on being there to testify against her as to her bad character.”
“I never agreed to that.”
“Okay, so I’m a sleaze-ball lawyer and I lied. If she agreed to sign the divorce papers - and she keeps the property that she has -, you won’t testify against her at her sentencing. Presto, she signed and you’re off the hook.”
“What’s she looking at in the way of a sentence?”
“Without your testimony against her, probably thirty days in jail and a fine. If you would have testified that she was a habitual user or a dealer, she could have gotten some hard time.”
“Carl, you are a sleaze-bag, but you did a great job on this. Thank you.” Eddie stood up and shook Carl’s hand.
Eddie and Elaine walked back over to the Thai restaurant. Eddie was silent most of the way over. At the restaurant, they settled into a quiet booth by the window.
“What’s in the envelope?” she asked.
“A problem I’ve had. Something that has made our future very uncertain. It is now neatly tucked away. So, you probably don’t want to open it and let it create a problem for us again, do you?”
Elaine started to say something, then caught herself. “No, Eddie. If you’re happy that the problem is locked in that envelope, then we can just leave it in there.”
“Good. My next question is,” and he started drumming his thumbs on the table in a drum roll. Elaine smiled excitedly. He reached out and took her hands. “When do you want to get married?”
She giggled. “Oh! Eddie! You really do want to marry me. Teresa said she thought you were just stringing me along.”
“Problem solved,” he said, banging his hand on the envelope. “Tell me when.”
“Eddie,” she said, hesitating, “I really have to talk to my mom and dad first. You see, they’re missionaries, and they don’t have much money and…”
“I don’t care, Elaine. Talk to them. Plan it for several months from now. Just plan it. Let me know when and where. I really want to be there.”
“You better
be there,” she said, with a wide grin. “And I really do love you, tough guy.”
UBON RTAFB
26 June 1975
At 11:00 a.m. Staff Sergeant Ray Metson and Sergeant Bobby Brown marched up to the flagpole in their short sleeve blue shirt uniform combination. As the music played they slowly lowered the United States flag for the final time at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base. They then carefully folded the flag, marched out to the street, and stopped before General Bellford. Ray saluted and said, “Sir, the colors are retired.” General Bellford returned the salute and accepted the flag from Bobby Brown. Both sergeants then did an about face and marched off.
As Ray was walking toward the personnel office one of the guys from the communications center ran up to him.
“Hey, Ray. Let’s get over to the Comm Center right away. There’s something I gotta show you.”
“I have to get over to Personnel first.”
“BULL-shit!,” he said, shaking his head. “See what I got first, man.”
Ray stopped and looked at him, then nodded his head. “Yea, man. Let’s go.”
At the Comm Center he was shown a message that had just come in. He was to be placed on international hold, sent to Bangkok, and tried for murder.
The other guy in the Comm Center said, “When are you due to get out?”
“Today. I’ve got to go sign my extension papers today.”
“Look man. Here’s what you do.”
Ray walked into the Personnel Office and the sergeant laid the extension papers out on the desk. “Sign here and here on the X’s,” the sergeant said, laying a pen on his desk.
“No, Sarge. I quit.”
“Ah, fuck, man. You can’t do that. I have these extension papers made up. Your last day is today.”
“So, at midnight I become a civilian. Where do I sign?”
“You son-of-a-bitch, that’s two fuck’en hours of paperwork I have to do, plus the separation physical, and set up the transportation back to the world.”
The Wrong Side of Honor Page 22