Ride the Tiger

by Lindsay McKenna

  Her heart slamming into her throat, Dany turned. Four more mortar explosions shattered the stillness. More rubber trees fell. The closest shell exploded with deafening impact near the perimeter of the backyard, and the concussion shattered the kitchen windows. Dirt, clods of grass, and shrubbery peppered the kitchen like projectiles. Dany was thrown off her feet. She heard Tess groan.

  Rolling onto her stomach and hugging the tile floor for safety, Dany looked around. The blast had knocked Tess against the wall. Semiconscious on the floor, she was weakly trying to move. Blood was flowing from her nose.

  Just then, Marine Lance Corporal John Heath, who’d been loading the truck out front came running into the kitchen. His eighteen-year-old face was flushed, his eyes wide with fear.

  “The VC are attacking! They have the road blocked,” Heath gasped, looking around. “We’ll need help. I’m gonna radio Marble Mountain from my truck for gunship protection, and then I’ll come back and help defend you. Just hang on.”

  Tess crawled shakily to her hands and knees. “Hurry!” she said.

  The lance corporal nodded jerkily and ran out of the room, his heavy combat boots clunking loudly down the hall.

  Tess jerked her head toward Dany. “Stay down!” she ordered.

  Voices! Dany heard angry, high voices. Binh Duc! Gripping Tess, she hauled her beneath the huge butcher-block table in the middle of the kitchen. Crawling over to the back door on her hands and knees, Dany quickly locked it. Would the young marine be able to call the base for help? Binh Duc was attacking her plantation!

  “We need weapons,” Tess rasped from beneath the safety of the table. “Those guys out there mean business, Dany. We’ve got to hold them off until the gunships and marines get here. You got any rifles? Pistols?”

  “Yes. I know where they are,” Dany gasped. “Stay here. I’ll get them.” Crouching low, she ran out of the kitchen and toward her father’s little-used den. More mortar shells rocked the area. Dirt, rocks and trees vomited upward outside the window as Dany entered the dimly lit room deep in the center of the house. With trembling hands she pulled open a small drawer in the teak desk and drew out a key. Her father had been an avid hunter. On the wall in a glass case were ten rifles and small arms.

  Her hands shook so badly that she had trouble unlocking the gun cabinet. Finally she got it open. Grabbing two rifles, she heard the front door slam shut. It was the marine.

  “I’m in the den,” Dany called out, her voice high, off-key.

  Heath appeared at the doorway, his M-14 rifle clutched in his hands. He was breathing raggedly, sweat dotting his strained features.

  “I got through, Miss Villard. The gunships and marines are on their way. They’re gonna send helicopters in to soften up the area, and once we’ve got an LZ, a landing zone secured, they’ll land and off-load the grunts right here on the grounds of your plantation. It’ll be at least twenty minutes before they get here. We gotta keep down and defend this place till then.”

  “A-all right. Tess and I have the back door covered.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll take the front door. Those are the only entrances?”

  “Yes.” Dany balanced the two rifles with several boxes of ammunition in her arms.

  “Good,” the lance corporal whispered unsteadily. “Man, I’ve only been over here a week. This is hairy.”

  Dany tried to smile. “Just do the best you can.”

  “Will you ladies be okay back there?”

  Touched by Heath’s concern, Dany nodded. “We’ll be fine. Just guard that front door and stay safe.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Dany ran back toward the kitchen. Tess was sitting up beneath the table holding her head with her hands. The floor was showered with dirt and shards of glass. Dany crouched down at the doorway and made her way over to Tess.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “Naw, just shook up. A lot of glass in my hair, is all.”

  “Thank God. Here,” Dany quavered. “Rifles and ammunition. Do you know how to work one of these things?”

  Tess glanced ruefully at Dany. “Texas born-and-bred—I was raised with a rifle in one hand and a knife in the other.”

  “You’re better off than I am, then,” Dany said, loading the rifle, “because I hate guns. My father tried to teach me to use one of these things a long time ago. Now I wish I’d paid more attention. We’re going to have to defend ourselves until the marines get here.”

  Getting to her knees, Tess expertly slid the cartridges into the rifle she held. “Did Heath call the base?”

  Trying to control her shaking, Dany nodded. “Yes. They’re sending marines by helicopter. They should be here in twenty minutes.”

  Stumbling to her feet, Tess crouched by the splintered door, which barely hung on its hinges. She lodged her back against the refrigerator so she had a clear view of anyone trying to attack the back of the house. “Good, because if we don’t get help, we’re dead. Take a look.”

  Her heart pounding wildly in her breast, Dany quickly made her way to Tess’s side. “Oh, no,” she whispered. There, no more than five hundred yards away, coming in a long, broken line, were at least forty Vietcong. “It’s Binh Duc and his men,” Dany hissed angrily. “The bastard!”

  “You’d better find yourself a window to defend,” Tess warned her grimly. “I can handle the door, but some of those VC are liable to try and get in through the windows.”

  “I’ll take the north side of the house. It’s the easiest route if they want to slip in a window.”

  “Okay.”

  “If you need help, just yell.”

  Tess patted the two boxes of ammunition next to her on the floor. “You’ve called the marines. That’s all we’ll need. Just hang on. Things are going to get messy in a few minutes.”

  “I know.”

  Tess eyed her. “You know how to shoot a rifle?”

  “Not really…”

  With a shrug, Tess returned her attention to the rear door and positioned her own rifle. “Just point it and pull the trigger. Try to squeeze, not jerk, the trigger.”

  “Okay.” Dany left Tess, feeling completely inadequate for the job in front of her. She remembered Gib telling her that everyone in the Ramsey family could shoot a rifle and hunt. Now, as she ran from room to room, rifle and ammunition boxes in hand, Dany wished she’d at least fired her father’s rifle when he tried to teach her so long ago. More mortar shells exploded. Glancing out a window that had yet to be broken by the blasts, Dany saw five more rubber trees slowly arcing and falling groundward. All the hard work she and her father had put into the plantation, the care and love, were being systematically destroyed by Binh Duc.

  Crouching by a window, Dany broke the glass pane and lifted the muzzle of the rifle to the sill. In the distance, between the dust and smoke of the exploding mortars, she could see the advancing line of VC. Dany didn’t want to shoot at them. She’d never killed anyone, and she didn’t want to start now.

  Blinking back the sweat that stung her eyes, she crouched tensely by the windows. If only the marines would land in time! The line of VC was moving closer. Where was Binh Duc? Dany couldn’t see him. To her horror, she recognized her foreman among the advancing line. Swallowing hard, she pressed her hand against her mouth. She couldn’t kill him! The man had six children and a wonderful wife. Why had he switched sides and joined Duc?

  Sudden gunfire erupted from the front of the house and Dany jumped. It had to be Heath firing his weapon. Then she heard the huge boom of a rifle in the rear. Tess was firing hers, too. Anxious, Dany waited and watched for someone to appear on the north side of the house. Could she actually pull the trigger? A war of emotions plunged through her as she knelt near the window, torn by indecision.

  With a crash, the window to her right shattered. A Molotov cocktail flew through the opening, the bottle filled with fuel smashing against the carpet, spilling and exploding into a ball of fire. Crying out, Dany dropped the rifle and threw her hands up to prot
ect her face. She fell backwards, off-balance. Heat singed her skin. She could smell the acrid odor of her hair, also singed by the ball of fire. Choking and coughing in the smoke roiling through the room, Dany picked up the rifle. Blinded by the smoke, she stumbled into the hall.

  Rifle fire erupted from the kitchen again. Tess! Dany ran jerkily down the hall, her knees dangerously weak. Suddenly bullets pinged and ripped through the walls. With a cry, Dany dropped to the floor on her belly, the rifle clattering away from her outstretched hand.

  Dany heard another window shatter on the south side of the house. Someone had broken it and was climbing in. She could hear VC voices drifting down the hall! Her heart pounding hard in her throat, she recaptured the rifle and crept closer to the room. She could see four VC climbing through the broken window. Gripping the rifle, Dany stood there, torn. From above, she could hear the distinct whap, whap, whap of approaching helicopters. Her breath jammed in her throat as she wondered if Gib was one of the pilots. Biting down hard on her lower lip, Dany backed away from the room into another one and took a quick look out the window. At least ten dark green Sirkorsky gunships were speeding toward the plantation at less than a thousand feet. It would be moments before they arrived.

  Several VC voices rose with furious authority, and terror snaked up Dany’s spine. She stood at the entrance to the room. Fear seized her. What if the VC fired at Gib and his men? The punctuating beat of the helicopters shattered the air and mixed with the explosion of mortar shells that danced around the house. The marine aircraft were like angry hornets. Their rockets fired, and the violent, hammering explosions reverberated through the house, pounding at her eardrums. More ground fire swelled, and Dany scrambled to the end of the hall, next to the kitchen. She sat down, her back against the wall, the rifle pointed toward the doorway of the room the VC had entered. They’d have to appear there when they left the room. How many of them were in the house?

  Dany gasped for breath as smoke rolled ominously down the hall and flames licked out of the room where the Molotov cocktail had landed. Dany waited, her heart in her throat. Then, her focus narrowing, she saw several men clad in black, wearing bamboo hats, swing into the hall, their weapons pointed in her direction.

  Dany screamed out a warning for them to leave, but the three VC stared at her, gray shadows in the murky smoke. Just as the first one raised his rifle to kill her, Dany fired. The shots went wild, but it was enough to force them back into the room. Seconds later, a hand grenade was tossed down the hall toward her.

  With a cry, Dany scrambled to her feet and dove into the kitchen. Everything slowed to single frames for her as she landed hard on her belly. Tess was at the rear door, firing deliberately at wildly running VC who were being trapped by the furious helicopter assault from above.

  “Tess!” she shrieked, “grenade!” Dany lunged to the farthest end of the room, away from the grenade she knew would explode any second now.

  The entire house shook with the explosion, fire and shrapnel bursting into the room. Dany threw her hands over her head. Tess screamed. Scorching heat rolled over them. Hundreds of wood projectiles acted like bullets, flying into the walls and out the shattered windows.

  Dazed, blood dribbling from her nose and mouth, Dany got to her feet. She made her wobbly way through the dust, smoke and debris in the kitchen. Tess had been thrown to the floor, with many lacerations on her hands and arms. Dany grabbed her and hauled her to her feet. Any moment now the VC would come down the hall and finish them off.

  “Come on!” Dany pleaded as Tess groaned and leaned heavily against her. “We’ve got to get out!” The house was on fire, the flames spreading rapidly.

  Blindly, choking on the smoke, Dany shoved open what was left of the back door with her foot and they tumbled out onto the lawn, so freshly churned that it looked like a furrowed field. Overhead, more gunships were arriving. Only now they were landing and troops were off-loading. The marines had arrived! Dany swayed and steadied the semiconscious Tess. Men, gunfire, flames and cries surrounded them.

  The last aircraft to land unloaded seventeen more well-armed marines. One of the men, a sergeant, headed directly toward them, gesturing sharply for them to hurry up and come to him. Dany got a better grip around Tess’s waist. It was a two-hundred-yard run to the nearest helicopter, and Dany knew they could be killed by either friendly or enemy fire. Bullets were singing back and forth like angry bees.

  Dany knew if they were to have a chance of surviving, they had to make a run for the helicopter. Tess was recovering enough to understand the danger of their precarious situation. Crouching, they both ran on wobbly legs toward the marine gunships. Halfway across the rutted earth, Dany heard a tremendous explosion just to the left of her. Jerking her head up, she saw a huge ball of fire engulf one of the helicopters, until the entire front of it was consumed in flames. The aircraft staggered midair, then slowly nosed over toward the stand of rubber trees.

  “Gib!” Dany shrieked, frozen to the spot. In horror, she realized that it was his helicopter that had been hit by ground fire. She had seen that eagle painted on the fuselage the day she’d visited Vinh at the base in Da Nang. She pressed her hands against her mouth as she watched the olive green aircraft slowly bank and sink downward, the screech of the turbine engines high and off-pitch. The helicopter struck the rubber trees, hung suspended for a moment, then slowly fell to the ground, burning furiously.

  “Hey!” the sergeant yelled, grabbing Dany by the hand. “Come on! You crazy or somethin’? We gotta get outta here!”

  Nearly yanked off her feet, Dany sobbed. The sergeant literally threw her and Tess into the rear compartment of the helicopter.

  “Lift off!” the sergeant screamed at the pilots. “Lift off!”

  Bullets slammed into the aircraft. Dany and Tess hugged the metal deck, frozen in fear. The crew chief manning the machine gun at the entrance fired back, the deep-throated staccato growl of gunfire enveloping the area, the aircraft shaking from the power of the weapon.

  The helicopter moved slowly upward, its huge thin blades reaching for altitude as the engine shrieked and labored. Dany lay there, her eyes narrowed, clutching at the metal deck as the pilot brought the straining bird up and then pitched it over into a steep bank to avoid more VC ground fire. Still, bullets stitched through the thin skin just behind the door. With a cry, Dany curled up in a fetal position next to Tess as more bullets tore through the main cabin.

  How long Dany remained huddled against Tess, she didn’t know. Finally, the noise from the firefight dissolved and all that was left was the shaking, shuddering flight of the noisy Sirkorsky itself. Opening her eyes, Dany looked around. Humid air whipped through the open doors, slapping her bodily. Shakily, she looked over at Tess. Except for a large number of bloody scratches and minor lacerations, they both appeared to be uninjured.

  Gib. What about Gib? Dany tried to communicate with the two pilots in the cockpit, but they couldn’t hear her. The flight back to Da Nang was the longest in Dany’s life. She wondered grimly if Tess was even aware that it had been Gib’s aircraft shot from the sky.

  Landing at Da Nang, Dany and Tess were hurriedly taken from the helicopter. As they stood on the landing pad, the aircraft took on another load of marines and lifted off to fly back into the fray. Wind whipped around them, sending up huge dust clouds. Dany turned and ran toward the tent that had Ops written on the door, and Tess followed at her heels.

  Inside, both women stood staring at the men behind the desks.

  “Miss Ramsey,” Sergeant Masters whispered in a shocked tone, coming around his desk. “My God, you’re hurt. Don’t tell me—” He stopped and stared at them with an open mouth. “You were both at the plantation when the VC attacked?”

  Gulping, Tess nodded and tried to push her grimy hair off her brow. “Yeah, we were there, Smitty. Listen, can you get us some medical aid? Dany has an awful cut on her arm.”

  Dany blinked, belatedly noticing the injury Tess was talking about. He
r left arm was covered with blood. Her mouth dry, she let out a little croak. The sergeant grabbed her and aimed her at the nearest chair.

  “Better sit down, Miss Villard.” Smitty looked over at another gawking marine. “Johnny, get someone from the nearest MASH unit over here. Pronto!”

  In shock, Dany shook her head. “No, sergeant. Gib—Gib was shot down.”

  “What?” Tess whispered, crouching down, her hand resting on Dany’s knee. “What did you say?”

  Tears stung Dany’s eyes. “Oh, God, I hope I was wrong, Tess, but as we were running for the helicopter, Gib’s aircraft was shot down. I—I saw it fall into the rubber grove.” She pressed her hands against her face, an awful feeling working its way through her. Dany felt the sergeant’s hand on her shoulder, and it was the only thing that gave her any sense of reality.

  “No,” Tess whispered, straightening. She looked at the sergeant. “Find out, Smitty. Find out right now. Have them raise Gib on the radio!”

  “Yes, ma’am!” He turned to Private Harner at the rear of the tent. “Harner, raise Major Ramsey.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Dany had begun to shake in earnest, the adrenaline beginning to leave her bloodstream. She watched dazedly as the radio operator made the call. Over and over, they tried to raise Gib.

  The radio crackled to life. The noise, the voices, the curses and screams filled the tent. It was hard for Dany to make sense of any of it. Yet Tess gave a little cry. Dany looked up at her in shock as Tess’s face drained of color. “What?” Dany demanded. “Tess, what is it? What did he say?”

  Tears glittered in Tess’s eyes. “You were right,” she said hoarsely. “Gib’s down. They’re medevacing the survivor of the crash to Da Nang right now. Only one person’s alive. They don’t know who it is….”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Gib’s alive.” Tess spoke the words hoarsely. Dany was sitting on a gurney in the Da Nang MASH unit.

  Dany reached out with her right hand. Her left arm was bandaged and in a sling. The last hour had been filled only with the utter hell of waiting. “Thank God,” she whispered.