by Doug Houser
Peeps was up front with Cooley and Cornel. Cooley was due for R & R and Peeps figured it would be better to train a new point man than to man the point himself, while Cooley was gone. Cornel had been with Peep’s team for four months and in this type of work, that was an eternity. Peeps had been keeping a watchful eye on Cornel and had determined that he possessed the requisite capabilities to one day succeed Cooley.
I was settled in about sixty feet behind the point trio. We could only maintain about fifteen feet separation due to the density of the jungle. It was definitely not an enjoyable walk in the woods, but the fact was that the three up front were doing the hard work of trying to get us to our objective as soon as possible without getting us into any trouble. We stopped for a quick fifteen-minute break just after one in the afternoon. So far, we had seen no signs of recent NVA activity. I was beginning to think that they were a lot smarter than we were. With the steep uphill climbs, this terrain was as miserable and unforgiving as any I had encountered. Add to that the heat and humidity (now about 105 degrees, 95 percent humidity) and you’ve got an area that sane people would do anything possible to avoid. The only consolation was that it beat rappelling onto the bank of the Ben Hai River. Or, maybe it didn’t.
Our fifteen-minute break was over in what seemed like two minutes and we set off toward our objective, once again. It continued to get hotter as we steadily moved toward the Ben Hai. I found myself wondering if the three guys up front were still maintaining one hundred percent concentration in these conditions. But I knew that Peeps had great stamina and unbelievable mental strength. If Cornel could be able to learn from Peeps and Cooley in this environment, he would do just fine. We pressed on throughout the afternoon. About five o’clock, the terrain began to even out a bit and I checked my map. Sure enough, it looked like we would experience a very gradual decent all the way to our objective. Although the vegetation was no less dense, this less mountainous terrain brought with it the increased possibility of encountering NVA. As I was having this thought, I sensed that our pace was slowing, slightly. The guys up front must be having the same thought. After another hour, we began climbing what seemed to be a small hill. We formed a rather tight three-sixty perimeter with the top of the hill in the center. Peeps joined me and we studied our maps. About half way between our current location and the objective, there was a small hill very similar to the one we now occupied. Peeps thought that if we started out at seven in the morning, traveling very carefully and slowly, we could make it to the small hill by mid-afternoon. His plan was that on the day after tomorrow, we would move even more slowly and arrive at the river by dark. That appeared reasonable to me, too. It was now time to rest up, clean weapons, eat and sleep.
We arrived just south of the Ben Hai after two days of slow, careful and uneventful progress, just as we’d planned and hoped for two nights previously. We settled in well back from the riverbank and waited for darkness. Up until now, the weather forecasts had been accurate. The skies had remained clear at night and, of course, even the weathermen couldn’t get the moon phase wrong. We began the usual evening routine of weapons cleaning, eating and resting. When it finally got dark, Peeps sent Cooley and Cornel to the edge of the river to watch for crossing NVA. Around midnight, Cooley radioed back that there was a large contingent of NVA crossing the river just east of his position.
Peeps told him to stay there with Cornel and we would join them at their position. We saddled up and moved out to meet up at the riverbank. We found Cooley and Cornel about fifteen minutes later and there were still enemy soldiers in the river. We waited until there was no more movement in the water and then headed east to follow the NVA who had just crossed into the South. It soon became apparent that the NVA didn’t think anyone else was in the area. They moved noisily and quickly. Frequently, we heard them talking. The jungle was so dense that it was impossible to determine whether or not they were using lights, but I suspected that they must have been because it was so dark. It didn’t make any difference because they made enough noise to make it easy to follow them. When I say follow, I don’t mean from behind, but on a parallel course. Tracking a unit from behind opened up the possibility of walking right into an ambush. And a well-set ambush would be impossible to detect in this environment. So we pursued them off their right flank, just at the edge of hearing distance.
We continued in this manner for a couple of hours. Then, word was whispered back that the NVA had stopped. I moved up to join Peeps. He whispered that the last sound he heard had been movement to our east about twenty-five yards from our position. Just as he was telling me this, it got even darker than it already had been. The only reason for the increased darkness that I could think of was that there were some clouds rolling in. I told Peeps that we had better get closer, now, because if it got any darker, we wouldn’t be able to see anything at all. The way I figured, we might not get another opportunity with these guys, so we’d better make the most of this one, even if it wasn’t optimal. Peeps agreed, so we began to move toward where the last sounds had come from.
By the time we got near where Peeps had last heard movement, it had gotten as dark as dark gets. We couldn’t see anything. We couldn’t even see our own hands as we crawled on all fours. It reminded me of Carlsbad Caverns where they take you deep down underground into the caves and then turn out the lights. That’s how dark it was. It seemed that all we could hope for was that someone would make a noise. If a person were at all claustrophobic, this total lack of any light would drive them crazy.
Peeps had started out to my right and I was almost ready to go in that direction to find him, when I put my left hand on something soft and warm. It took less than a tenth of a second for me to recognize what it was and realize what I had to do. My hand was on the mouth of a sleeping NVA soldier. I could feel his nose against my index finger. He was lying on his back, with his feet to my left. Given his position and mine, I had only one sure target for the stiletto that was in my right hand. Before I weighed my options, or had any cognitive thought at all, I had clamped down on his mouth as hard as I could and slammed the stiletto into his right eye clear to the handle.
Somehow, I had known that there wasn’t any other sure target available in the total darkness. It was then that my brain caught up to my reflexes. I pulled the stiletto out about four inches, changed the angle and thrust it all the way down, again. The first thrust probably was sufficient, but I couldn’t take a chance that this guy would thrash around or make noise in any manner. I pulled the stiletto out, wiped it on his uniform and began feeling around for papers. I found some in a couple of pockets. Of course, I had no idea what they were or if they would be of any value to intelligence. His pack contained only rice. I heard a whisper to my right and realized Peeps was trying to find me. I moved in his direction and found him after moving a few yards. We then headed back toward where we had left the rest of the patrol.
Forty-five minutes later, I turned the radio on and keyed the handset a couple of times to inform the patrol that we were headed to their position. An acknowledgement keyed on the other end. The word would be passed and hopefully, no one would shoot us in the pitch darkness as we approached. We rejoined the rest of the patrol, uneventfully, in another fifteen minutes. They were saddled up and ready to go, so we immediately headed out in a southwesterly direction.
It wasn’t long before it began to get light. It was quite a relief to be able to see again. Peeps and I finally had a chance to talk. It turns out he had also found an NVA soldier, although not in such an unsuspected manner as I. He said he was just about to turn left to try to find me when he smelled cigarette smoke. There was no wind, so it was easy to find the source of the smoke. It was so dark that even though the NVA soldier was cupping his cigarette, the glow was easy to spot. Peeps had no trouble sneaking up, killing the NVA soldier and searching for letters or orders. Peeps took out what he had found, and sure enough, there was an envelope that appeared to have a unit designat
ion in the address. A translator back at G2 would figure out what it was.
We’d done what General French wanted us to do.
Chapter 23
Frank Stone exhaled long and slow. “That’s quite a story, KC.”
KC replied, “For a couple of weeks after that mission, I kept thinking about stabbing that NVA soldier in the eye. I knew that on a rational basis, given the circumstances, I had no other safe entry point for my stiletto. I also knew that soldier never knew what happened to him. It was just that it seemed to me that eyes were somehow inviolable, and I was a violator.”
KC paused and stared out the window. Clearing his throat, he continued, “Anyhow, after a couple of weeks I put it out of my mind. But when you told me about Keisha, that event flashed back right through me. I had felt uncomfortable about what happened in a pitch-black jungle, to an enemy soldier, in the middle of a war. And here, some rotten son of a bitch has attacked the eyes of his fellow American, right on the street, after church, because she was black. I don’t get pissed off too often, but this pisses me off so much that I can’t even sit down. Frank, I guarantee you that we’ll find this guy.”
“You can’t kill this guy, KC.”
“I understand that. We won’t kill him, but he will pay for what he did to that girl.”
“What about the witness problem?”
“We’ll come up with something. When we do, do you want me to run it by you before we head south?”
“No, but do you want me to let Lou know you’re going to be working on this?”
“I imagine that the bastard who did this or hired someone to do it is a highly respected, influential member of the community and this wealthy congregation. I didn’t know Lou very well and I have no idea how he, his detectives or the DA’s office would react if they find out whom we’re going after. I mean, for all we know it could be Lou’s cousin or brother-in-law. Another problem is that there is still resentment among some southerners about the “northern agitators” who went south during the voter registration drives and the other activities of the civil rights movement. And you know how protective cops are of their jurisdictions. So, no, don’t mention us to Lou. We’ll do this just the way we are used to doing things. Very quietly.”
“Do you need Jasmine’s address?”
“We won’t have any trouble finding her, but thanks. For now, you can stay out of it. When we’ve determined who was involved, wrapped them up and delivered them to the locals, I’ll tell you all about it if you want to know. Ok?”
“Yeah, I guess it will depend on what happens, whether or not I’ll want to know the details.”
“That’s what I figured. Ok, thanks for coming to me with this. Now, let me get to work.”
Lieutenant Stone stood up and KC walked with him to the elevator. As soon as the elevator door closed, KC went to Peep’s desk. Peeps looked up from his computer screen and KC asked, “Peeps, got a minute?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Come on over to my office.”
“Be right there.”
Peeps poured himself a cup of coffee on the way to KC’s office. When he got there, Peeps waved the cup and asked, “Can I get you one?”
“No thanks, I’m fine. Come on in and have a seat.” Once Peeps was settled, KC began, “Peeps, Special Ops has a mission. Here’s the situation.” KC proceeded to tell the story of Keisha and Marcus just as Lieutenant Stone had relayed it earlier. By the time KC had finished, Peeps was livid.
“That goddamn son of a bitch!”
“I haven’t got anything that nice to say about him, but yeah, we’ve got to make him pay for this and also protect those kids. Any brilliant ideas come to mind?”
“The best thing we could do is figure out a way to get Marcus to identify the attacker.”
“A kid might feel safer opening up to a woman. How about Cheryl? Do you think Marcus would talk to her? She’s ready for the field.”
“Maybe. I just don’t know under what circumstances.”
“Here’s my thought. Marcus doesn’t trust the police to protect him if he identifies the attacker. What we need to do is convince him that we’re trustworthy and that we have the ability to keep this guy away from him and Keisha. Who on our staff would look the most intimidating to a twelve-year-old kid?”
“Black or white?”
“I think I know the right answer to that, but let’s talk with Cheryl. I want to determine if she’s capable of playing the role I’ve got in mind and get her opinion on who would be our most effective intimidator.”
An hour later, Cheryl was sitting across from KC at his desk. She was in her mid-twenties, petite and pretty with unblemished skin the color of dark chocolate. Her smile was bright and friendly. She wore her hair straight and cut short with bangs. Cheryl had been an outstanding high school athlete and additionally, did very well in the classroom. She was the high scorer on the girl’s water polo team, played point guard in basketball and was a sprinter and long jumper on the track team. She delivered the salutatory at her commencement. In college, she majored in criminal justice while specializing athletically in water polo. After college, she was lukewarm to the idea of becoming a police officer and equally dubious about applying to the FBI. Somehow, the Marine Corps caught her attention and she applied to and was accepted into Officer Candidate School.
After being commissioned and graduating from Basic School, she selected an MOS of 5803, Military Police Officer. She thrived in the training and served for most of her enlistment as a leader of Marine Corps Military Police.
At the discharge center, the NCO in charge gave her Top’s number in Kansas City and recommended that she give him a call. She did. And now she sat in KC’s office ready for her assignment.
KC picked up the phone, dialed Peeps on the intercom and told him to come into his office in about fifteen minutes, the time it would take to tell the story to Cheryl. KC relayed to Cheryl what Lieutenant Stone had told him. When he finished, Cheryl exclaimed, “That goddamn son of a bitch!”
Just then Peeps arrived at KC’s doorway. KC nodded to him. “Come on in. I just told Cheryl the story and I think we have a consensus on a name for this guy.”
Cheryl nodded.
KC continued, “I’ve committed us to finding this goddamn son of a bitch. Cheryl, we’ve asked you here to talk about the possibility of you being a part of this mission. If you don’t mind, first, I’d like to ask you some questions.”
“Sure, please go ahead.”
“I know that it’s difficult to generalize, especially since we don’t personally know the individuals involved, but I’d like your opinion anyway. Who do you think Marcus would more likely trust to protect the two of them - a big, mean looking white guy or a big, mean looking black guy?”
After thinking for a few seconds, Cheryl began, “I don’t know if you’re going to like my answer, but I’d say, from what you just told me, neither. Each would have advantages and disadvantages in attempting to gain Marcus’ trust. I think that the only way to convince him that we could protect him and his sister would be if we provided both.”
“Well, Cheryl, either we’re both right or both wrong because that’s what I was thinking, too. Peeps, please speak up if you disagree.”
“I was thinking about it too and that’s the conclusion I came up with.”
“Ok, good. We’ll get back to that. Now, Cheryl, based on what you know so far, what do you think the chances are of getting Marcus to identify the attacker for us?”
“Since I’m sitting here with you guys, I assume you’re asking me if I think I could convince Marcus to talk to us. Based on what you told me, it seems that the police have been trying for about ten days now to get him to open up to them. Since he hasn’t agreed to identify the attacker in that length of time, it’s obvious that he’s determined to stay quiet. I don’t want to simplify, but it seems t
hat Marcus has decided that it’s safer to stay quiet than to talk.”
KC and Peeps both nodded.
Cheryl continued, “I’d have to convince him that it’s actually safer to talk to us than not to. I’d detail the bad things that could happen if he and his sister didn’t have our protection. I’d assure him that if he let us deal with this, the police would not be involved and that once we caught the guy, he wouldn’t have to testify in court unless we were totally convinced it was safe and he agreed. I think the most important thing of all is that I wouldn’t ever give up on solving this, no matter what happens or how difficult it might be.”
KC nodded and said, “Peeps?”
“I think we’ve got the right Marine for this job. Cheryl, it sounds like you want to be part of this mission, am I correct?”
“You bet.”
KC said, “Ok, let’s get back to our mean-looking guys. What do you two think about Hopkins and Robinson?”
Cheryl responded, “Hopkins, for sure. But I think Robinson looks too nice. What about Davis? He’s got all hard edges.”
Peeps continued, “KC, you’re out voted on this one. I agree with Cheryl. Davis is a better fit.”
“You’re both right about Davis. I don’t know why I didn’t think of him. Ok, we need another girl. She’s got to look like a potential worshipper for the church that Keisha was attending. You know, shops nowhere less fashionable than Nordstrom’s. Yuppie type. Who’ve we got that would look credible dressed like that?”