Red Phoenix (52 page)

That reminded him to look at the dead American colonel. Grabbing a small bag that had belonged to the officer, he hiked over to a spot under the trees. They had dumped all the bodies there, covering successive layers with snow. As he approached his bloody handiwork, Yi was glad that this was not a summer offensive.

Yong had just finished searching the dead officer. “Nothing, sir. He was a minor staff officer for American Second Infantry Division. All he had were these travel orders, and an agenda for a ‘Morale Conference’ tomorrow at Chonju.”

Yi tossed him the bag. “Search this, too.” But he didn’t expect to find anything. His disappointment showed in his tone. Their first lieutenant colonel, and he had been a nobody.

OVER HIGHWAY 21

They had been aloft for about twenty minutes, flying north at sixty miles an hour, two hundred feet off the ground. Tony was torn between professional
interest and personal frustration. He normally didn’t fly this low or this slow, except when he was landing. It was easy to search at this speed.

This hadn’t let him find Anne, though. They had seen almost no military vehicles, and the few they had seen were clearly not the group of trucks they were looking for.

Both John and Tony were looking while Chips piloted, following the two-lane road. Up ahead in the distance they could see the highway narrow to one lane as it crossed a bridge. Tony half-expected to see the convoy pulled up, waiting for its turn to cross. It wasn’t. He was looking farther up the road when Hooter called him.

“Hey, Saint, there’s a bunch of trucks pulled up off the road to the right. Looks like we found them.”

Chips heard Hooter’s comments and immediately swung over to take a closer look at the vehicles. Tony had swung his binoculars over at once to look for Anne, but he could see no movement near them. He saw two covered cargo trucks, but also an open flat-bed, a tanker truck of some sort, a jeep …

“Hooter, this isn’t Anne’s convoy. They aren’t the right vehicles, and there aren’t any people around.”

“Picky, picky. I don’t know, Saint, this is the closest thing to a convoy we’ve seen. Do you want to set down and check it out?”

Tony wanted to be sure this wasn’t their convoy. “Chips, can you take us down for a closer look?”

The craft slowed and circled, approaching the vehicle park at a slow walk. Tony scanned the collection. Maybe it was Anne’s convoy and some other trucks mixed together. Some sort of rest stop?

One vehicle caught his attention. Its top was ragged and looked as if it had been camouflaged.

Hooter was scanning the rest of the area, already convinced that this was a waste of time. He was about to tell Tony that when he spotted a dark patch, growing as the snow covering it was blown off.

“Saint, look over to the right.” His tone was confused, and concerned. Tony moved across the cabin and focused on the area. The patch quickly resolved into shapes, but he kept on looking at them, hoping he was wrong.

Yi and his men watched from the road as the helicopter circled, then descended out of sight. It was obviously the enemy. Running ahead, he waved his men into the trees. They heard the craft and saw it again, lower, almost stationary over the abandoned vehicles.

Quickly he dashed from tree to tree, keeping the trunks between himself and the aircraft. His men followed his movements, stalking the helicopter as if it were a living thing. The snow it blew around helped hide them, but that was also his downfall.

They saw the aircraft hover, then pivot to face the spot where they had dumped the bodies. There could be no doubt.

He called out “Fire!” and raised his own rifle, aiming for the cabin.

Chips, Tony and Hooter all stared at the bodies. They were piled on top of one another, rather neatly, Tony thought absentmindedly. The longer they hovered there, the more snow was blown away and the more corpses became visible.

Hooter had been counting out loud, punctuating the litany with exclamations: “… thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, Jesus, sixteen…”

There was a
zing!
sound, and reflexively Tony turned toward it. It was followed by a few more, and a
zingzingzingCrack
as the window crazed on the port side door.

Chips didn’t wait for an analysis. He pulled hard on the collective and pushed the nose over, not waiting to climb. As soon as the Huey was moving forward, he started to slew the tail left and right, steering as evasive a course as his speed and height allowed.

Tony was not buckled in and found himself hanging on to a bracket. Reaching for one of the seat belts, he was knocked loose from his hold by a sudden shock. The helicopter shuddered, and there was a screeching sound. The floor under him was canted to the left, and he finally had to pull himself hand over hand to his seat.

His headset had ripped off when he fell across the cabin. As he strapped in, he looked forward to see John motioning for him to put it on.

As soon as he complied, he heard Chips’s voice. “The left engine is out!”

Hooter broke in, “We’re clear. No more firing.”

Chips was a busy man. The helicopter was lightly loaded, so the remaining engine could provide enough power to keep them airborne. Barely. The question was, what else had been shot off?

Tony was in the unusual position of being in a broken aircraft but not at the controls. All he could do was trust Chips and hang on. The Army pilot quickly scanned the controls and tried to listen to the remaining engine. “We’re airworthy, but I’ve got to set it down soon. Temperature on number two is a little high.”

Tony was more worried about what they had seen. “Those have to be North Koreans back at the bridge. Call on the guard frequency and put out a warning.”

They continued north while Hooter used the radio.

TAECH’ANG

It was just a small village on a two-lane road. Since the principal industry
was farming, it looked asleep in winter, even during the day. Surrounded by now-frozen rice paddies, they were through it in a few minutes.

Anne welcomed it, seeing it as another milestone. Each landmark passed meant that they were that much closer to Kunsan. It was ten-thirty. If there were no more interruptions, they would be in Kunsan by lunchtime.

AT THE CHOSAN RIVER BRIDGE

Yi tried to be fatalistic, but he couldn’t. Curse whatever luck had let the helicopter see the bodies. They had emptied their rifles at it, but M16 rifles just didn’t have the range or hitting power to bring down an aircraft. Still, they had crippled it, which wouldn’t prevent it from sending out a warning.

The helicopter would radio a warning, and enemy troops would show up. They would attack his position, and he would kill as many fascists as he could, and then he and all his men would be killed. There had never been any question of how the mission would end, just how long it would take. And they weren’t the only special forces unit in the North Korean Army.

Their mission had already succeeded. Because they had interdicted this bridge for a while, the guards on all the bridges would have to be increased, and also on tunnels, junctions, any choke point. Any South Korean soldier would be suspected of being a North Korean saboteur, and no truck driver would be certain of reaching his destination.

“Sergeant!” Yong came running up. “Are the charges to the bridge wired?”

“Yes, sir. And the vehicles and bodies are both booby-trapped.”

“How about the rest of the explosives?”

“Being wired now, sir. Another five minutes at the most.”

Yi looked grim. “We are ready. Tell Corporal Soo to watch the bridge and to blow it if he sees anything approach from the south. Who were you going to put in the outpost?”

“Private Suh, sir. He’s very reliable.”

“I know. Get him up there. Everybody not on ‘sentry duty’ should be watching for the enemy. Otherwise, let’s continue as before. We’ll kill as many of the enemy as we can.”

TWO KILOMETERS SOUTH OF TAECH’ANG

Chips stomped around on the frozen ground. “How long before those troops get here?”

Hooter answered. “Half an hour, tops. They have to come from Taech’on. Counting time to saddle up, that’s pretty quick.

“Yeah, well, it’s damn cold, there’s enemy commandos in the area, and I’ve got a busted helo to explain.”

Hooter was unconcerned. “When they hear how you detected that North Korean outpost while flying an emergency medical mission, you’ll probably get a medal.”

Tony had to ask, “ ‘Medical mission?’ ”

“Sure, Saint. If you had missed your girl, you would have had a broken heart.” He turned to Chips. “They’ll believe anything. Don’t worry.”

All they could do was wait. They passed the time checking the damage to the helicopter, trying to stay warm, and waiting to see who came down the road first.

Tony heard them first. “Listen, engines.” They were coming from the north.

Anne was trying to tear the envelope of an MRE open. She had planned on skipping breakfast, but hunger and Hutchins’s lecture about “eating when you can” had won her over. Her teeth proved inadequate to the task, and finally she borrowed Bell’s bayonet again.

The convoy, with her truck still in the lead, came around a bend in the road. There was a clearing on the right with a helicopter in it. Hutchins told Bell to slow down, and she spotted three men by the nose of the craft, waving at them.

The captain ordered Bell to pull over and stop, and they all climbed out. Anne stepped out and saw—TONY?—and two other men coming over.

Hutchins couldn’t understand. Miss Larson had seemed like a reserved woman, certainly not the type to display affection for complete strangers.

Hooter and Chips explained the situation to Captain Hutchins and his men while Tony and Anne strolled off to talk. After an initial explanation, Anne’s head was whirling. She didn’t know what to talk about first. His trip to see her, the attack by the commandos, or her trip from Seoul. So she didn’t talk about any of these things. She just listened and looked at Tony.

Their wanderings had taken them back behind the Huey, out of plain sight of the convoy. He was pointing out the damage to the aircraft when he stopped and changed the subject.

“Anne, I was really worried when I heard about the attack on Seoul airport. I… it’s hard to explain.”

She smiled. “Don’t try. I think I understand.”

“No, Anne, I have to tell you how scared I was when I learned about the attack on Kimpo.”

He paused and looked into her eyes. “I thought I’d lost you.” She looked down at the ground, avoiding his gaze, but he continued, “I don’t want to ever lose you, Anne. I love you.”

She looked up at him and smiled. “You sure proved that. A helicopter?”

“Anne, I had to see you.” He explained about the timing.

“Tony, I’m glad you came, but I don’t know how I feel yet. I haven’t got my feelings sorted out.”

“Mine are definitely sorted, but I understand. I just had to tell you where I stood.”

“Well, I kind of like where you’re standing. But a helicopter?” She peered at the machine. “It looks damaged.”

“I’m hoping I can hitch a ride with your convoy after the bridge is cleared. I don’t have any way to get back to Kunsan.”

“I’m glad. We’ll have time to talk.”

“Hey, guys!” Hooter’s call invaded their world. “The Army’s here.”

They walked back to the road. Pulled up next to Anne’s convoy was a new group, four vehicles crammed with Korean soldiers and weapons. Hooter and Chips were talking with a burly-looking captain, who stood lopsidedly. Hutchins and Evans were still deploying their men around the area, in case there were any commandos nearby.

“Tony, this is Captain Cha.” Cha saluted briskly. “Chips and I have been filling him in on what we saw.”

Cha picked up the conversation. “Yes, sir. It’s almost certainly a group of enemy infiltrators. My men and I will clear them out. It cannot be more than a few men, and I have a reinforced platoon.” He looked at the three pilots. “Would you like to accompany us?”

The Americans exchanged quick glances and simultaneously said, “No thanks.” Tony added, “I’ll leave ground combat to the professionals.”

Cha actually looked disappointed, seemed about to try to persuade them, but changed his mind and boarded his jeep. “We will drive up closer to the bridge and then deploy. This shouldn’t take too long. We will send a messenger back when the road is clear.” Saluting, the captain and his troops roared off.

AT THE CHOSAN RIVER BRIDGE

Captain Yi knew that there would be some sort of attempt to clear the bridge, and he was going to make them pay dearly for this piece of territory. They would never get the bridge back, and even the ruins would be expensive.

Private Suh waited in a camouflaged spider hole three hundred meters up the road. He was isolated from the bridge by a small rise, and his hole was dug into the edge of a copse of trees. He had found the time to line his hideout with pine boughs, and outside of the cramped quarters, it was moderately comfortable.

He had been waiting for over an hour, ever since the American helicopter had escaped. He heard the engines, and his rush of excitement and fear at the approach of the enemy was mixed with relief.

A jeep appeared first, then three trucks. The lead jeep held an officer and had a machine gun over the back. As he watched, it pulled off the road, with the officer motioning to the vehicles behind. It slowed and stopped, exactly where his captain had said it would.

The waiting was hardest. If they had dashed off quickly, he might have been helpless, but they were in no hurry to unload. As soon as the last truck had come to a stop, he pushed the plunger.

Claymore mines weighed about ten pounds. They were the size and shape of a telephone book and were not supposed to be buried in the ground. They had two prongs that a soldier could push into the ground. The prongs allowed them to sit on one edge, while wires ran back to electric firing switches. One side of each mine said “Place Toward Enemy.”

They were directional mines. On detonation, plastic explosive fired hundreds of steel balls several hundred feet in a fan-shaped pattern. And the North Korean commandos had planted five of them in an arc, facing the road.