Red Phoenix

by Bond , Larry

  Kevin shook his head impatiently. “It’s not that easy, Sarge. They’ve almost certainly got MGs sited to fire down that cross-street. Anybody lugging stuff across is gonna get spotted and hit.” He paused. “But even if we can get resupplied, Bravo Company can’t. Inhyo’s their lifeline to the rear. Every other path out of that train station is under enemy observation and fire. So either we clear that apartment building or Bravo eats it. And Major Donaldson doesn’t view that as an acceptable alternative.”

  McIntyre looked angry. “Christ, screw the major, L-T. Why doesn’t he use those guys from Foxtrot to do this? Why should we get all the shit jobs?”

  “Because we’re all that’s left, Mac.” Kevin rocked back on his heels. “Brigade took that last Foxtrot platoon away earlier this morning. They needed it to plug a gap somewhere west of here.”

  There were deep frowns on every face in the command group. Things were really getting bad when nobody had any reserves held out of line. Plus, anybody with half a brain could see that NK-occupied building was going to be a tough nut to crack. Damned tough. They fell silent looking at the map.

  Rhee broke the silence. “When do you want me to attack, Lieutenant?”

  Kevin grimaced. He’d known it was going to come down to this, but he hadn’t wanted it to. Rhee was a friend—a last link to the past, to days before the war had turned everything upside down. Hell, Rhee was more than that. The dapper, ever cheerful South Korean had saved his life. Was this how he had to repay his friend? By sending him into the NK meat grinder any fool could see waiting for the assault force?

  But Rhee was also his best platoon leader. He had the tactical sense and, more importantly, the sheer guts needed to pull this stunt off. Maybe there wasn’t really much choice after all. The mission had to come first, ahead of any considerations of friendship or risk.

  “You’ll attack in fifteen minutes, Lieutenant,” Kevin heard himself saying. “Take one of your squads and one of McIntyre’s. Battalion’s promised us priority on a smoke mission, so you’ll have that at least.”

  The South Korean grinned. “Very good, sir.” He stood. “With your permission, I’ll leave now to get my force ready to go in. There’s no sense in making the communists a gift of time.”

  Kevin forced himself to match Rhee’s smile. “Right. Good luck, Lieutenant. We’ll watch your back for you.”

  Rhee nodded and then looked squarely into Kevin’s eyes. He held out a hand and spoke more softly. “I would like you to know, Lieutenant Little, that it has been an honor serving with you.”

  Numbly, Kevin shook hands and watched as the South Korean bounded down the stairs to assemble his troops.

  ECHO COMPANY, WEST OF INHYO STREET, TAEJON

  Kevin thumbed the transmit button. “Kilo November Seven Two, this is Echo Five Six. I have a priority smoke mission. Coordinates Yankee Delta three eight seven one nine zero. Over.”

  The artillery officer’s voice crackled back over the speaker. “Understood, Echo Five Six.”

  There was a five-second pause, and the voice came back on the radio. “Shot, out.”

  Kevin craned his neck to get a better angle on the silent apartment building less than thirty meters away. He felt naked, completely exposed to any NK sniper watching for a target. Seconds ticked away. C’mon, c’mon, where’s the arty?

  A single shell screamed down out of the sky and burst on the street, spewing gray smoke in all directions. Kevin yanked his head back around the corner. “November Seven Two! On target! Fire for effect!”

  More shells rained down around the North Korean—held building, and he watched the smoke screen rising, billowing above the rooftops.

  “Go! Go! Go! Move out!” Rhee’s shouted commands brought the men of the assault force to their feet. With the South Korean in the lead, they ran forward and disappeared into the gray mist.

  Suddenly the lower edge of the mist winked red in a dozen places as the North Koreans fired. Hundreds of bullets cracked down the street at supersonic speed, shattering brick, chewing up concrete, and puncturing flesh. High-pitched screams echoed above the chattering machine guns and assault rifles.

  Kevin sat motionless, instantly aware that the attack had failed. The smoke screen hadn’t been worth a damn. The NKs were too well sited. They’d positioned their weapons to cover every possible approach. The bastards didn’t need to actually see anyone coming. All they had to do was pull their triggers, confident that every bullet fired was going into a carefully calculated kill zone. The zone Rhee and his men had just entered.

  Damn it. He couldn’t stand just hearing it. He had to see it. Kevin rolled out onto the street, flat on his stomach below the stream of bullets snapping past low overhead. The screams were dwindling now, fading into low sobs and moans. The North Korean fusillade fell away as well, shrinking to a spattering of single shots and small bursts.

  Something scraped on the pavement ahead of him, and Kevin lifted his head to look. Two men came out of the smoke, crawling, dragging a third man behind them. A fourth staggered blindly after them, weaponless, his hands clutching at a spreading red stain on his stomach. The first two crept past him and Kevin’s stomach lurched. The man being dragged was Rhee. He waited for other survivors to follow, but there weren’t any.

  He inched back into cover and sat up, staring deliberately away from the already blood-soaked patch of pavement where Echo’s medics were working frantically on the wounded. On Rhee. He closed his eyes, not wanting to think or feel anything. Not anything. This wasn’t his fault.

  But it was his fault and he knew it. Twelve men had gone down that street. In the blink of an eye, eight had been killed or mortally wounded. He should have anticipated the disaster. Planned for it. Avoided it. Instead he’d hoped for a miracle and it hadn’t come. Well, Rhee had paid the price for his mistake.

  “Hey, L-T?” It was Montoya. “Kilo November wants to know if they should keep firing. What should I tell them?”

  “Tell them…” Kevin gagged, fighting not to throw up. “Tell them to knock it off. It’s over.”

  “No.” A hoarse, pain-filled voice protested.

  He opened his eyes. Rhee had pushed himself up off the pavement despite the medic’s best efforts to make him lie still. The South Korean was a horrifying sight, shot at least twice in the chest. Kevin could see blood still welling from one of his wounds.

  “You must not… abandon… the attack,” Rhee gasped out, struggling for breath. One of his lungs must have collapsed. “Take them, Lieutenant… kill the bastards for us.” He fell back, completely spent.

  Kevin crawled over to where the South Korean lay sprawled. His friend’s eyes were closed, but he was still breathing, if only in short, panting gasps. The medic pulled a syringe out of his kit and jabbed it into Rhee’s arm. Kevin grabbed the man’s arm. “Will he make it?”

  “Jeez, L-T, I don’t know.” The medic winced as Kevin’s fingers tightened involuntarily. “He needs evac right away, though. All I can do is try to keep him breathing for a while.”

  “Oh, Christ.” They couldn’t evacuate any of the wounded, not while North Korean fire blocked every route to the rear. Either he took that building or Rhee would die, almost certainly with most of Bravo Company and a lot more of his own men. But that damned apartment building was too heavily defended. It couldn’t be taken, not without more firepower than Echo Company had. He’d need a tank to blast the place open.

  A tank. Kevin felt the seeds of a plan growing in his mind. It was what he should have done the first time out. He couldn’t get a tank, but maybe he already had the next-best thing. He pushed himself upright and gripped his M16. They weren’t finished. Not by a long shot. “Montoya!”

  “Yes, L-T?”

  “Tell McIntyre I want a fire team in one of those houses next to the objective. They’re to lay down a suppressive fire on my order. Then get Geary on the horn and tell him I want Reese and his squad here ASAP. And have ’em bring a LAW for every man in the squad. Clear?” />
  Montoya nodded vigorously and started whispering into his set.

  Kevin turned away and went back to sit by Rhee.

  ASSAULT GROUP 2

  Sohn rubbed his watering eyes, thankful that the American smoke screen had at last drifted away. He smiled at the carnage visible on the street outside. The smoke had been an inconvenience, but it hadn’t prevented his troops from cutting the imperialist assault to pieces. He counted the bodies and laughed out loud in triumph. At least eight enemy dead! And not a man of his even slightly wounded. These Americans might know how to defend, but they were pathetic on the attack.

  A nearby explosion wiped the smile off his face. Another attack so soon? He heard more shells bursting in rapid succession.

  “Comrade Lieutenant!” Sergeant Yi skidded into the room. “Another smoke screen. This time to the north!”

  A machine gun chattered nearby, followed by the softer rattle of American M16s. The Yankees had shifted their axis of attack.

  Sohn brushed past Yi on his way out the door. “Pull half the men to the north! And join me there!”

  He ran down the hall, unslinging his AK as he ran.

  ECHO COMPANY

  Kevin heard the firing from McIntyre’s diversionary attack, took a deep breath, and released it in a yell: “Now! Hit the fuckers!”

  Half a dozen LAWs flashed from concealed positions on both sides of the street, reaching for the barricaded windows of the North Korean-held apartment building. They exploded on target, bursting in brief showers of orange flame.

  Now. Kevin lunged outside onto the street and raced toward the apartment building. He heard men running behind him and heard them yelling. A wild rebel yell rising in pitch and volume, bouncing off the high, concrete walls all around. He fired from the hip, felt the M16 bounce in his hands, and saw sparks fly around one of the shattered, smoking windows.

  Suddenly he realized that he was yelling with all the rest.

  In! He hurled himself headfirst through the empty window and rolled to a stop in a tangle of gear. A North Korean writhed in agony in one corner of the small room, bleeding from half a dozen splinter wounds. One hand clutched a rifle. Kevin shot him and reloaded.

  Reese crashed in through the same window and sprawled, covering the open door.

  “Take your squad and clear this side! Move!”

  The black corporal nodded and got to his feet. He risked one glance through the doorway and then bolted through it.

  Kevin followed him into the hallway and turned the other way, moving toward a bend. He heard running footsteps from up ahead and ran faster. He had to make it around the bend first.

  He did it and turned the corner ahead of the North Koreans. There were four or five of them just meters away. Kevin saw soot-blackened faces, waving assault rifles, and eyes widening in shock at his sudden appearance.

  “Eat this!” He clicked the M16 to full automatic and held the trigger down, pumping a whole twenty-round magazine into the NKs. They were thrown against the wall in spray of blood. An AK cracked once and Kevin felt something tug at his sleeve. A bullet. His rifle clicked empty and he ducked back around the corner, hearing only moans from his victims. He pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it.

  WHUMMP! The corridor shook and dust swirled. Silence, followed by more muffled explosions from behind him as his men cleared the lower floor room by room.

  He risked a quick peek around the corner. No signs of other NKs moving to the attack. They’d have to be dug out one at a time. Kevin settled back to wait for reinforcements and snapped a new magazine into his M16.

  ASSAULT GROUP 2

  Sohn couldn’t understand it. The wheel had turned so quickly. How could the Americans have broken in? How could he have let that happen?

  He shook his head in dismay and turned to Yi. The sergeant looked like a wreck, with his uniform ripped in a dozen places and a jagged cut across his forehead. He still seemed stunned by the rocket explosion that had so nearly killed him. Sohn frowned. The man was useless in that state.

  More shots sounded from down the corridor, closer this time. They were followed by another explosion. The Americans were advancing steadily, eliminating his troops as they lay pinned by fire from the outside. They held the initiative on this floor.

  Sohn made a quick decision and wheeled to face Yi squarely. “Get every man who can walk to the second floor. We’ll murder them on the staircases!” He forced himself to sound calm and confident and was pleased to see the sergeant seem to take heart from his orders.

  They could still win this battle.

  ECHO COMPANY

  “Grenade!” Reese screamed, and threw himself away from the staircase. Kevin flattened and heard fragments whine overhead as the NK grenade exploded. He crawled to where Reese lay patting himself to check for wounds.

  “You hit?”

  The big corporal smiled thinly. “Nope, L-T Guess they just wasted some more ammo.”

  “Maybe.” Kevin coughed in the dust-choked air. “What’re your casualties?”

  The smile disappeared. “Two dead. Watkins and Lonnie Smith. A couple more wounded. None bad, though.”

  Kevin frowned. Four gone out of the men he’d brought in. That left only five men, plus him. Not enough. He ducked as a new burst of AK fire from above tore up the bottom of the staircase. He looked at Reese. “Any chance of a rush up those stairs, Corporal?”

  The man considered it for a second and then spat onto the dust-coated hardwood floor. “Not a chance in hell, L-T. They got it covered too well.”

  “Grenades, then?”

  Reese shook his head slowly. “They’d just toss ’em back down at us. That’s how Lonnie bought it.”

  Kevin took another grenade off his combat webbing and stood, careful to stay flattened up against the wall. “Get your boys together, Reese, and I’ll show you a little ol’ trick I once heard about from a sergeant I knew.” He felt himself starting to sweat.

  With the squad backing him up, Kevin edged closer to the staircase. He stopped, inches away from the opening, and listened. Footsteps and whispering voices wafted down the splintered stairs. Then he lifted the grenade and pulled the pin, counting the passing seconds silently. One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand three.

  “For Christ’s sake, L-T. Throw it!” Reese sounded shaken.

  Kevin shook his head while counting. One thousand five. Now. He stepped to the opening and lobbed the grenade up the stairs.

  ASSAULT GROUP 2

  Sohn saw the grenade bounce off the bannister and roll toward him. He reached for it. Another weapon to hurl back in the imperialists’ faces. The thought brought a thin-lipped smile to his face as his fingers closed around the grenade.

  It exploded.

  ECHO COMPANY

  Kevin used the tip of his boot to roll the dead North Korean officer over and winced at the sight. The man must have taken the full force of the explosion at point-blank range.

  “L-T?”

  He looked up. Reese was standing nearby, breathing hard.

  “We got ’em all, sir. The building’s cleared.”

  Kevin nodded and felt the fatigue he’d held at bay starting to rush in. “We lose anybody else?”

  The corporal shook his head. “Not a one, L-T, thank God.”

  “Yeah. And a sergeant named Pierce.” Kevin sank to his knees.

  “You all right, L-T?” Reese sounded worried. “You ain’t hit, are you?”

  It took an effort to answer. “No, just used up.” He straightened his back. “Look, go find Montoya and tell him to contact Battalion and let ’em know it’s done.”

  Reese stood still for a second and then saluted. Kevin nodded wearily and closed his eyes, listening as the corporal’s boots clattered downstairs. They’d won.

  JANUARY 14—HILL 435, JUST SOUTH OF TAEJON

  McLaren glanced at his watch. Just after midnight. He picked up his binoculars and focused them on the scene to the north.

  Taejon lay bur
ning, eerily illuminated by flares. Shells burst brightly in the center of the city, and he could hear the clatter of automatic weapons clearly—even at this distance. Tracers floated lazily through the air, reaching for unseen targets.

  He turned to the South Korean major general standing next to him in the foot-deep snow. “Well, General, can you hold?”

  The other man didn’t move, staring intently at the ruined city. “Yes, we can. My troops have already shattered three of the communists’ best divisions. Their dead are stacked like cordwood in Taejon’s streets.”

  A helicopter roared low overhead, carrying wounded to the field hospital at the foot of the hill.

  “And your own casualties?”

  The major general shrugged. “They are very heavy, too. Around fifty percent.” He paused. “We could use reinforcements, General. These men have fought hard. They deserve a short rest.”

  McLaren nodded. “You’ll get them. But only a brigade. I need every other man elsewhere.”

  “A brigade is sufficient. We will hold them here.”

  “Excellent, General.” McLaren turned back to watch the fires burning their way through Taejon. More flares popped above the city, and the sound of gunfire rose higher. Another North Korean attack going in, more men dying, he thought. “Doug!”

  Hansen came out of the shadows. “Yes, sir?”

  “Signal all commands. Let’s get Thunderbolt ready to go.”

  The sacrifices made at Taejon would not be in vain.

  ALONG HIGHWAY 38, IN THE MOUNTAINS AROUND CH’UNGJU

  The long convoy rumbled slowly along the winding road, moving at a walking pace through the darkness. MPs stationed beside the road with shielded flashlights guided the intermingled, kilometers-long column of tanks, trucks, and self-propelled guns. Whenever a vehicle broke down, teams of engineers, mechanics, and combat soldiers were quickly mustered to shove it out of the way and into cover. The column could not let anything delay it. It had to be dispersed and under camouflage before the next Soviet spy satellite swung high overhead.