The Return of the Marines Trilogy

by Jonathan P. Brazee

  Pete flopped back down as Sgt McNamara somehow made it up to the building, back up against the wall. He took a grenade, pulled the pin, then stepped out a pace before lobbing it up to the roof. A second grenade followed before the first one detonated. Both explosions sounded muted, almost inconsequential, but the firing from the rooftop ceased.

  Sgt McNamara looked back at Pete, then shrugged. He was committed now, and running back was probably more dangerous than staying where he was.

  Chapter 22

  Pagasa Island

  When the explosions sounded, screams filled the rec center and people dove to lay flat. Not everyone dove down, though. As the Chinese soldiers spun around to look out, groups of men jumped up to take them on.

  Analiza was trampled by one man as he joined the rush to get to the nearest soldier. Either through complacency or because he was focusing on the fighting that had broken out outside, the soldier didn’t see the group that gang-tackled him.

  A shot rang out inside the community center, then another. One of the soldiers was not so complacent, and he fired into the men rushing him. It didn’t stop the wave of angry men, but two went down before the soldier disappeared beneath the mass.

  Analiza jumped up. Three Chinese soldiers were down. But the planning had not been enough. One soldier had not been rushed, and now he faced the 200 + people in the center, weapon pointing at them. They could take him down, but at what cost?

  Almost with a communal mind, the growing mass of people took a step closer to him. Analiza expected his weapon to open up, spewing death.

  Suddenly, the soldier placed his weapon on the floor and said “Ako ang iyong bilanggo” in perfect, if accented, Tagalog. “I am your prisoner.”

  Several men rushed him, dragging him up against the wall. One man, Philip Ramos, grabbed the man’s rifle, and thrust it under the soldier’s chin.

  “I’m going to blow your head off,” he threatened.

  “Stop that,” Analiza shouted, bulling her way up and pushing the muzzle of the rifle down.

  “He could have fired upon us. But he chose not to. We are not animals here.”

  “They took our island. They killed our soldiers. I’ll fucking kill him if I want,” Philip yelled back.

  “That’s not for you to decide,” she yelled, the strength of her will forcing Philip to take a step back. “For all they’ve done, they have treated us as well as could be hoped for. They haven’t abused us. No rape, no murder. We are Christian people. We are God-fearing. And this is how you want to act? This is how you want your children to see us?”

  That seemed to back down the crowd. The fierce firing outside seemed to fade a bit as the adrenaline faded back a notch.

  “OK, tie him up, along with the other two,” Val Williams said.

  Analiza looked around. Two other soldiers, looking worse for wear, were also being held by groups of men. She then spotted the fourth soldier. He had been the one who had gotten off two shots, and he had paid the price for that. His bloody body lay still on the floor.

  Analiza backed down as Val began to organize. Their own soldiers were released, then the four Chinese rifles given to them. Without knowing just who was fighting outside, the decision was made for everyone to stay put. The Filipino soldiers would protect them but not leave to join the fighting going on outside in the town.

  Chapter 23

  Pagasa Island

  Sgt Jay McNamara stood with his back alongside the building. He wasn’t sure what had made him jump up and make the run. It had been instinct, not conscious thought. He trembled a bit at the thought. He wasn’t sure how he had made it through the friendly fire to make it to the relative safety of the building.

  He had thrown the two grenades blindly, but at least one of them seemed to have taken effect. The sniper seemed to be out of commission.

  He looked back at Lt Van Slyke, who was now flopped down in the open, and shrugged. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do next. Running back seemed to invite more fire. If he moved to the north side of the building, then First Platoon might mistake him for a Chinese and take him under fire. Then there were the Chinese. He could hear them shouting inside. If they realized he was there, they could simply shoot through the walls and probably hit him.

  The building he was up against was the one on the far west side of the community, which seemed logical as a building with noisy pumps and generators would be located further from the living areas. Most of First Platoon would be focused on the government building, but he had to assume that someone would be assigned to this one. It sucked not having comm. He should be able to contact the other units and coordinate something.

  He got down low and began to creep forward. He wanted to peek around the front of the building and see what was happening. Just as he was passing beneath a window, a rifle came poking out. He froze, not moving a muscle. If the rifleman came forward just a bit and looked down, he would be spotted.

  His team must have seen that as well as they opened up on the window, splinters of wood raining down on him. The rifleman opened up, spraying rounds back into the tree line. This soldier was not a coward, Jay had to admit.

  He felt down into his pocket. Two more grenades left. Rolling over, he took one, pulled the pin, and motioned back to his team to cease fire. Once they did, he took a deep breath, then stood up, hand grabbing the rifle barrel, forcing it up as the soldier continued to fire a few rounds. With his left hand still grabbing the barrel, he threw the grenade into the room, just getting it past the startled face of the Chinese soldier. In one more motion, he reached down, grabbed his Colt, and fired two rounds into the base of the soldier’s neck. The man dropped, and he could see motion as two or three other soldiers shouted and started to swing their own weapons toward him.

  Rounds came through the window and the walls themselves as Jay dropped to the ground. As the grenade exploded, shrapnel also went through the wooden walls. If he had remained standing, his own grenade might have taken him out.

  A chattering of an automatic weapon opened up, sounding like it was coming from the far side of the building. There was still at least someone left alive in there, someone firing at their fellow Marines. Whoever it was had to be stopped.

  He glanced back towards his team, and he was surprised to see Cpl Holleran and LCpl Maus pelting towards him. They had moved forward, and by doing so, when they left the tree line to join him, the building itself had masked them from Third Platoon, keeping them out of sight. Jay realized that he should have done the same thing.

  It only took a few moments until both flopped down beside him.

  “The lieutenant sent us to join you,” Holleran breathlessly told him. “We need to clear this building, then hold it until Kilo can link up with us.”

  Another burst of the automatic weapon inside was an exclamation mark on the need to clear the building.

  “OK, wait a sec.”

  Jay popped up, glanced inside the window opening, then fell back immediately.

  “I think there’re three inside here, but they look to be down. Give me a boost, and I’m going in. Then you, Maus, you’re smaller. You can cover me while I pull you in, Holleran.

  “OK, push hard. I want to fly through the window,” he told them.

  The two Marines took him as his word, almost bodily lifting the big sergeant and throwing him inside the building. Jay hit the dead body of the soldier he had killed, then rolled on the floor, bringing his M4 to bear.

  Another soldier lay facedown, motionless, blood pooling underneath him. The third soldier in the room was sitting, but he was obviously in bad shape. Part of his jaw was gone, and below his flak jacket, his thighs were bloody. His rifle was out of a few feet from him, and he was feebly trying to reach it. Jay started to pull his trigger, but something stopped him. He stood up and kicked the soldier’s weapon away. The man let his hand fall, then looked up, resignation in his eyes.

  Jay simply turned away, then reached out the window to help LCpl Maus in.


  “Watch him,” was all he told the younger Marine as he helped the bigger Cpl Holleran in through the window.

  Cpl Holleran raised his eyebrows when he saw the still-living Chinese soldier.

  Jay picked up all three Chinese weapons and tossed them out the window.

  “If he makes it, he makes it. He’s no threat to us now. Come on, we’ve got to put that machine gun out of commission.”

  The room they were in looked to be some sort of store room. Going right by the book, the three of them might as well have been training back at combat town, clearing the building step-by-step. They made their way quickly through the machine shop, through the generator room. The machine gun sounded up ahead in what was probably the building’s office.

  There was a loud explosion that seemed to shut down the automatic weapon, but after a pause, it opened up again. Whatever their fellow Marines had just tried, it hadn’t worked.

  They got up to the door of the office. The Chinese soldiers were counting on their fellow soldiers to cover their rear, but they would still be on the alert for an attack from that direction. The three Marines needed to hit them hard and fast. Cpl Holleran sidled to the far side of the door. Jay was going in high, Maus low.

  He held up one hand, then signaled a countdown: three . . . two . . . one.

  On one, both he and Holleran moved forward, kicking in the door. All three Marines opened up, taking the two Chinese soldiers under their sights, likely before the soldiers’ brains even registered what was happening. The two Chinese soldiers probably never realized that they were under fire before three bursts cut their lives short.

  They stood there for a moment, staring at the two soldiers. Two men, who a moment ago, and been breathing, hearts beating. Now they were just meat.

  “Well, fuck them, too.” Holleran said.

  Jay didn’t quite know exactly what that meant, but he never-the-less wholeheartedly agreed with the corporal.

  A few rounds came in through the window, sending them scrambling back out the door.

  “Maus, go find a white sheet or something. We need to let the rest of the Marines know this building is secure.”

  It wasn’t until he said it that it hit home. The building was secure. It was no longer in Chinese hands. It was now in the hands of the US Marine Corps.

  Chapter 24

  Beijing

  “So where is the Jinggan Shan now” asked General Chen.

  “This is the ship, General,” the technician responded, pointing to an icon on the screen. “It should arrive off of Thitu in approximately two hours.”

  “And when will the repairs be made on the Changbai Shan?”

  “Senior Captain Chou reports that it will be at least 24 more hours” interjected Commander Hung.

  General Li tried to look calm, but inside, his anxiety was rising. General Chen had decided he wanted to see the command center and had brought along with him Major General Guo from the Fourth Department and Admiral Ding, the Chief of Staff of the PLA Navy. Li had no issue with Admiral Ding, but he knew that his actions with regards to cyber-warfare and communications would have rubbed the major general the wrong way, causing a loss of face. His little operation, after all, had made the Fourth Department look like fools, a price he had been willing to pay at the time, but that he now hoped wouldn’t come back to bite him.

  General Chen looked at the screen for a moment, then turned to Li and ordered, “I want the Jinggan Shan to hold in place for the moment while I absorb the entire situation. I don’t like making a piecemeal assault, and I would rather have both ships able to assault in unison to keep the enemy from focusing their forces. I have already ordered General Li to begin preparing the air assets should I give the OK, but before I do that, I must ensure that your plan will not only work, but work with a minimal loss of life.”

  General Li inwardly groaned, but he let none of that show. The stupid chief of staff was going to waste the opportunity with his cautious approach. He thought to Sun Tzu’s dictum:

  Those who arrive early at the place of conflict

  will be in a position to take initiative.

  Those who arrive late must hasten into action troubled.

  Thus, those are skilled in conflicts will make the first move to

  prevent others from taking initiative.

  General Chen was going to let the Americans become entrenched, and that could essentially end the operation before it really got started. He wished he knew what the situation was on Thitu, but he hadn’t the opportunity to ask Sung Wenyan for an update, something he wanted to receive in private.

  “So with the Jinggan Shan holding for the time being and the Changbai Shan making repairs, we have a moment to use all our assets to bring about a positive solution. Major General Guo, I want you to leave some of your best soldiers here at this command center to ensure we do not waste our superior cyber-warfare capabilities. Admiral Ding, please have someone assist Commander Hung here in the command center. He is doing a fine job, of course, but the better staffed we are, the better our chances at success.”

  General Li noticed the deft handling of that. General Chen obviously wanted his own men present in the command center, but he also knew who Hung’s father was, and if things didn’t go well, he didn’t want to be at odds with any of the high-ranking PLA generals and admirals if it came to finger-pointing time. Chen might be too cautious now, but the man was the quintessential politician.

  As General Chen looked back at the screen, Li sidled aside, motioning with a quick nod of his head for Sung Wenyan to join him.

  Without looking directly at him, he asked in a low voice, “Mr. Sung, what is the situation on Thitu now?”

  Sung glanced at his boss before looking straight ahead and responded, “Communications remain spotty, but the island has fallen to the Americans.”

  “Fallen? Completely?” he whispered, surprise making it hard to keep his voice down.

  “Yes, General. Our forces have been neutralized.”

  General Li was shocked. Major Ching was one of the best young field officers in the entire PLA. Even if he was outnumbered, he could have kept the fight going for days in the dense jungle on the island. It was inconceivable that the man would surrender or be defeated in such a short amount of time. This made the situation even more desperate. The entire operation was slipping away. They could not afford to waste any more time.

  “Mr. Sung. Order Senior Captain Chou to commence the assault on Thitu. The island will be taken, and taken now.”

  Sung Wenyan said nothing. Li could feel the anger begin to build. He knew exactly what Sung was doing. He was weighing his options, wondering with whom he should hitch his wagon. And even if he decided to go along with his orders, Sung wanted him to realize that he had options.

  “And General Chen’s orders?” Sung asked, his voice a whisper.

  “With our current communications problems, General Chen’s most recent orders could not be received, I believe, when we most assuredly tried to relay them.”

  “But we have no communications problems with the ships, only with Major Ching’s forces, general.”

  “You are a bright man, Sung Wenyan. You have capabilities, for which you have been rewarded. I am sure you will find a reasonable solution for this issue.”

  “Yes, I have been rewarded, to an extent, that is…”

  Li felt filthy bargaining like this. Duty and patriotism brooked no question, no grasping for personal rewards. But he would do what he had to do to ensure the mission’s success.

  “Yes, and many more will come to you, Sung Wenyan. Remember, I answer to higher authority on this, and they have much more leeway in expressing their gratitude for services rendered.”

  They stood there, side-by-side, neither looking at the other while General Chen spoke with Major General Chou and a young captain, gesturing at the status of forces screen.

  Finally, he heard the words he wanted to hear.

  “I believe that the communications pr
oblems have spread to our capital ships, general. I will ensure that they receive the correct and most worthy orders.”

  General Li did not let the relief he felt show in his face or posture. He wished he could have those air assets now, but it would be better to launch immediately before the Americans could get more assets to the island. This operation had to be completed, and completed now. Taiping may be out of the question at the moment, but Thitu could be back in Chinese hands by the end of the day.

  Chapter 25

  Pagasa Island

  Sergeant Harrington Steptoe sat to the side, along with Lt Van Slyke and 1stLt Landon Gaines, the Third Platoon commander, while the skipper, the XO, and the first sergeant spoke with the Chinese captain. One of the Marines from Second Platoon spoke Chinese, but only to an extent, so it was a relief to discover that the captain spoke excellent English.

  His arm had been bandaged, and he didn’t seem too reluctant to talk. He seemed more surprised than anything that the Americans had gotten involved. From his point of view, the Filipinos had instigated the conflict by arresting and holding Chinese fishermen, and their orders had been to finally take back territory that had been Chinese for hundreds of years.

  Captain Dan something-or-other had been the second-in-command, but on the first pass of the Osprey, their commanding officer had taken a round that had shattered his helmet and killed him.

  Capt Niimoto had remarked that he was surprised that the Chinese had chosen to defend the buildings, something that fixed them in place. So Steptoe wondered if that lucky volley from the Osprey had changed the course of the fight. Perhaps a more seasoned commander would have retreated into the dense vegetation that covered the northern 2/3’s of the island.