Con reacted gratefully.
Carla hid a genuine amusement. In a way it was nice for her to know that someone else was looking out for Con. But men never really probed to see what a woman really thought or felt. They were too concerned with their own feelings to seek that. That’s why women were mysterious to them, she laughed inwardly, and all the while the mystery is their own.
The days fled like a falling object that gathered momentum. The first day they had taken the Express to Agra and visited the Taj Mahal and at night stood outside its barriered gates and looked at its still, white dome in the quiet moonlight and talked of the great tragedy that lay within its beauty; the fifty thousand men who had died of disease and bondage erecting a monument to a love.
On the second day they returned. The Colonel had left a message that he had taken off for Calcutta and that he had taken Doc Travis with him for some personal briefing.
Con and Carla visited the bazaars in the day and he bought her many things she would never use; multicolored shawls, and earrings, and bracelets and he told her about his little sister and what she was like, and of her being crippled from a horse fall, and what American girls were like at his sister’s age of fifteen. She helped him select things for her; bolts of cashmere and an ivory elephant and dog and she said she would pack them carefully after he had left and send them on to America.
Con located a prominent L.A. oculist at the American medical pool and they took him out to see her ayah’s mother. He had come to India several years before to study and had written a rather profound paper on senile cataracts for the Journal of the American Medical Association. He was genuinely glad to be rid of his idleness and promised to help her and refused payment. The ayah went into her obsequious, wailing act with Con and the L.A. Doctor but Carla stopped her quickly with the pigskin routine.
They discussed where she would live and it was decided Ceylon, on the seashore near Mount Lavina up the coast from Galle Face on the Arabian sea. It wasn’t very far from Columbo and Gus and Nickie were moving there and she would be seeing them from time to time. Gus, she told Con, through his various connections was trying to contact her daughter in Europe and she wanted to keep in touch. Somehow Con was glad she would be seeing Gus but he didn’t know why. He had asked her what she knew about him but got only vague replies. The refugees called him Zaharoff of the Orient.
In the false dawn of the fourth morning she waved his plane away. She wondered how he must feel being here today and tomorrow at war in the jungle and the hills.… Standing in the half dark she recounted the years. It was the fifth year of war. For a moment she thought of her daughter in Europe. Then for the first time she realized there were two distinct wars and that she lay somewhere in the middle of both of them. In the half-light she could see the outlines of the planes on the field and hear the motors tuning up and another plane taking off. In front of her a plane taxied round and the propeller wash blew dewy morning air across her face. Instinctively she came extremely erect and turned walking loose-swinging toward the taxi. It was good to live, she felt. She did not think it.
CHAPTER XXIII
The first thing that Con saw at the Assam base was the money making machine. It printed genuine Japanese occupation rupees. One of the new sub-operations of the guerrilla force was to circulate this money, paying twenty and thirty times value for articles and property. The theory was that the resultant inflation would devaluate the money until it became worthless. The people would lose faith in the Japanese occupiers. And when the Allies came in with a pure silver exchange the Burmans would side with them. Con was taking fifteen million for a starter.
He left the base after only one day. He had decided to parachute into the training area behind the lines. They had a light plane strip there and Doc Travis was flying in later in the morning. But Con had not jumped in several months and wanted to keep his jump-status and the extra pay that went with it.
Now as the DC-3 approached the drop area, which was the light plane strip, Con stepped back from the open doorway and told the jumpmaster to have the pilot circle the area several times. Finally he detached his jump cord and went forward and directed the pilot for fifteen minutes as he studied the surrounding terrain. Then they made another pass over the field and he jumped.
The Kachins, as fascinated as ever with a jump, cheered and crowded round him. He hardly had time to dump the air from his chute when Billingsly, his number one boy, and chief parachute hoarder, was cutting it right off his back and gathering it up.
“Vas a niiice jump, Dua, very niiice,” he heard Billingsly say.
“You keep what you need of this chute for supply,” Con said getting up, “but remember what I told you about selling it. What’s left over you divide.”
“Me one hundred percent honest Kachin,” Billingsly grinned. “Goddamn niiice jump, Dua,” he said authoritatively.
Con waved and kidded with the Kachins, really overwhelmed at seeing them again, and took two packs of cigarettes from his pocket and distributed them around. Then he spotted the priest and the Subadar Major. Con shook hands with them both and after dusting the seat of his pants with his bush hat they began to walk towards headquarters.
“You look fine, lad. Rested,” the priest said.
“The Dukaba has put on weight,” Subadar Major La Bung La grinned whitely.
“Who picked this camp site?” Con asked.
“It was my own suggestion,” the priest said proudly.
“Well it’s piss-poor,” Con said menacingly. “There’s unoccupied high ground to the north. Open ground on the high China side. The river is raging in the valley to the south. If they take the ground north and hold that and attack from the Road you’d be a dead duck. They’d cut you in half strafing if you went to open ground and ambush you if you went toward the river. Subadar Major,” he said turning to La Bung, “get the men to start packing up. We’re moving.”
“But we have the training field made, Dua, and the airfield.”
Con just stared at him for a moment. “We won’t be moving until a little after the sun noon. We’ve a Du Doctor coming in on a light plane. I’ll go up in the plane and look for a spot. I think that north ground will do. If we don’t hold that it will have to be a long move to somewhere.”
“But the Kachins that are coming to enlist, lad. They’re coming; here they are.”
“Move off,” Con said to the Subadar Major.
La Bung La saluted rigidly and stalked off murmuring.
“Who’s operating the radio?” Con asked the priest.
“I am, lad.”
“Who’s coding?”
“The new man is; Ringa.”
“Who’s ordering supply?”
“Nautaung.”
“Who’s patrolling?”
“Lau’rel. He’s due in today, he is.”
“Danforth’s training then?”
“Ay. A good job, too.”
“Where’s Danforth?” The priest told him. “I’ll go see him. He can go out this morning on the empty plane. Lau’rel was supposed to go and Danforth tomorrow but it doesn’t make any difference.”
He met Danforth on the edge of the airfield coming in his direction.
“What’s this about moving?” Danforth greeted contemptuously. “Christ I built a firing range and a grenade pit. It’s all set up.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Con said. “You don’t have to move.”
“But the Subadar Major said.…”
“Go pack up,” Con said. “You’re going on leave this morning.”
The black, half-Indian eyes always baleful, showed suddenly a white rounded awe. The handsome Indian grinned. “No shit,” he said.
“The plane will be here in an hour,” Con said.
“Where do I go?”
“Calcutta, Delhi, Darjeeling, wherever you want?”
“Where did you go?” he asked eagerly.
“Up north to a small town in the mountains.”
“Where’s best
?” he asked enthusiastically.
“Niven will be in Calcutta in a couple days. If I were you I’d go there first, and have the Calcutta office write you new orders. Calcutta and Darjeeling, and Delhi are getting full of Americans. And M.P.s. If you want to really cut loose go somewhere else. Madras, maybe. And you might thank the Colonel, he’s having your orders cut to read special duty where ever you go. That’s seventy-fifty American per diem. That will take care of your expenses.”
“I got money,” Danforth said. “Plenty.”
“Sure,” Con said. “Incidentally when you come back you’ll be with Danny’s outfit.”
“That’s fine with me. He’s a good man. The best commander down here,” Danforth said.
“I agree,” Con said. “And if you stay off the booze, boy, you might get somewhere now.”
“I can handle myself,” Danforth said his hand going absently toward the knife on his hip.
“I’ll see you at the field,” Con said.
He turned and went looking for Nautaung. They greeted almost bashfully.
“We move,” the old man said.
“Yes.”
“I study the radio now,” the old man grinned. “We are on the same frequency. I do not like this valley.”
“Who would? It’s a death trap.”
“Something else, too,” Nautaung said. “How is the Dua Danny?”
“He’ll be back soon. It was touch and go.”
“I know. I had a dream. It was serious.”
“I’m serious,” Con said. “We’re going to train like hell, old man. They won’t like it.”
“I know. But it is good. I am for it. And you will have the help of the Subadar Major. You will be surprised. That is where he shines as a soldier. To train hard and tough. To regiment.”
“I never thought of that. How are the recruits?”
“Some quick. Some slow.”
“Then watch for the ones to weed out. I have a theory that it will be better to be hard, fast, and smart than too many.”
“A good thought. We have a big job then?”
“An important one. We’ll talk later.”
“Yes, Dua. I will get the mules ready to move,” he smiled. “You know I begin to have great affection for those mules.”
“We need more,” Con said. “Forty or fifty more.”
“Easy.”
“All right, old man. Dinner tonight. Tell Billingsly some monkey stew if he has it. Monkey stew in the open by the fire. I think I’ve missed it and didn’t know it.”
The Doctor came in and Danforth went out. Con had gone up in the small plane and located suitable ground to the north and from where they could hold the high ground and have water. They moved out and left a small compliment in the old area to direct the incoming patrols to the new area, and to inform the Kachins that had come to enlist.
They built a fine training area with a rifle range, grenade pits, and a mortar range, and airstrip. Doc Travis’s feet had blistered on the march to the new area and Con sent him on nine consecutive patrols over fifteen miles apiece. At times the Doctor hated him. Con took all the shoes away from the Kachins who had not worn shoes before this army and held inspections where the men were stripped of extra blankets and equipment and marched and trained them relentlessly. At the beginning there was much bitching in the camp and little laughter but soon the laughter returned but more bitching also. Subadar Major was a human dynamo in the training of the men and Con gave him more responsibility and much encouragement. La Bung La was an excellent shot and an even better instructor and had great patience in the teaching of correct usage of arms.
Lau’rel had come in from patrol the second day in the new camp. He had made a successful crossing of the Road and had given a fine intelligence report. He had to wait two days for the strip to be completed and before he could be flown out on his leave. Con had mentioned to him once that he had met a halfcaste and now knew what Lau’rel meant by a halfcaste having the most beautiful hands in the world. Neither had mentioned any names. And Lau’rel who had been quite quick, even gay the day he returned from patrol was again sullen before he flew out.
The priest flew out and across the Road to Danny’s. Ringa became Con’s right hand. Ringa was quiet, competent, thought for himself whenever possible, and worked hard always. He had the knack of doing a thing the easy way. He learned to operate the radio in three hours and studied the manual on it daily.
Con was a man possessed. He was all over the camp. He slept little, ate on the run, paid hardly any attention to his monkey. The monkey sulked, screamed when she saw him, became meaner than ever.
The Doctor had all adequate medical supplies flown in from base. His own equipment required four mules and two more for plasma. Con got three of the extra mules by cutting down on pots, pans, and other equipment that headquarters had accumulated.
The men loved and hated him. The force swelled to ninehundred. They made competition out of who was to be cut. It became almost a disgrace to be on the doubt list published weekly.
They taught them first order drill. They double timed them and marched them and deployed, assembled and redeployed them. He sent patrols to anywhere stressing only speed. Speed became the by-word. Speed. Speed. Speed.
A company would be awakened at two in the morning. The two hundred men would be given ten minutes to pack up and move out. Con would personally march them fifteen or twenty miles, forced march, and back. The next night after his return he would take a radio unit. Then headquarters supply. No one knew who was next.
The leaders were taught to preach only speed and alertness, conformance to basic principle, instantaneous reaction to command. Con had the most highly respected village elders called in to lecture to the men. Many were old soldiers and believed in what Con was doing. He hired seven of them to distribute Japanese occupation money, giving them a million rupees each.
A month passed quickly. Lau’rel and Niven returned. Another radio operator, a tall, blonde very young American Bill Goodwin joined the outfit.
Con reshuffled the command. Ringa with 1st Company. Niven 2nd Company. Nautaung 3rd Company. Lau’rel Supply. Weapons attached to each.
Con was called to base. The American trained Chinese were deployed. Wingate was about to make military history by flying his contingent in gliders behind Japanese lines to an unknown rice paddy named Broadway. Merrill marched down the Ledo Road with the first Americans to fight a full scale war in Asia. On the Arakan the British 14th Army’s artillery began to rumble.
Con met with Stilwell, Merrill, Colonel Sun Li-jen, and Colonel Pearson. Vinegar Joe was ripe-wired, edgy, anxious.
Objective Walawbum.
Con returned. He left three hundred of the men with picked Subadars and Lances for further training. With five hundred he started south.
It was February 27, 1944. The moon was almost full.
CHAPTER XXIV
Con raced the guerrilla force along the high ground that paralleled the east, or China, side of the Hukawng valley. They marched at the rate of over twenty miles a day over narrow trails in steep, tricky terrain where the earth was damp and the footing slippery. They marched as a unit, by companies and dispersal groups; a new order of march each day. The unit in turn was scouted by three groups of their own soldiers about three miles in advance, one group on the main trail and one on each of the two trails that paralleled the main trail. Each group contained five soldiers, two women, one donkey, and several sacks of rice. They were all dressed in brilliant colored native dress, simulating peaceful civilians. They carried no arms except for the two Kachins who brought up each patrol twenty paces rear. The two were picked men and carried Thompson sub-machine guns under their bright cloaks.
The third day out the civilian-scouting patrol on the main trail ran into a small column of Japanese. Upon contact the two scouts bringing up the rear disappeared off the trail into the jungle. One was the getaway man and the other covered the three remaining Kachins, two women, and mule. Bec
ause of the finery of their dress the Japs readily believed they were on their way to a manau. The Kachin leader told the Japanese commander he thought the Japanese patrol looked hungry, could they fix them something to eat. The Japs were all smiles but eyeing the women. The Kachin leader had two goatskins of laku and offered that and the Japs sat down to drink while the women began to prepare the meal. The Kachin began to tell the Japanese commander how much the Kachins hated the British, and Americans, too; much to the Jap’s delight. All the while the getaway man was speeding to the rear. Con came at a half-run with forty men and arrived about two and a half hours later. He sent part of the force beyond the Japs and blocked the trail. There was a bird call and the Kachin women asked the stuffed, half-drunk Jap commander if they could take the mules and get water and wash their pots and pans. When the women had gotten down the trail to safety the moseying Kachin soldiers suddenly disappeared. Con’s forces opened up on the sleeping unsuspecting enemy from a range of not over ten yards. They got all but four and the four Japs were caught in the ambush below. Con wanted one alive but before he had a chance to stop the now wound-up soldiers they had killed all the half dead and slightly wounded. They stripped the Japanese of all papers, found they were members of the 18th Imperial Division, moved their carcasses off the trail and proceeded on without delay to the main body.
When the force got fourteen miles south and eleven miles east of Walawbum Con suddenly threw out anchor. He found a fine defensive position naturally cut out, and with water, and they dug in deep. It was ordered that the position was to be semi-permanent base and that digging would continue during all inactive hours from sun-up to sun-down. Lau’rel was named defensive camp commander.
Ringa and twenty men had been turned loose about fourteen miles south and had cut toward the Road to scout the area around Taipha Ga. Niven shot due east and a little south with thirty men to scout the area south of Walawbum. Nautaung was due to go into Walawbum but Con was holding back until the last moment so that he would know Merrill’s exact position and could deliver the latest, most vital type of intelligence.
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