Hamlet (Vietnam Ground Zero Military Thrillers Book 14) by Eric Helm

Author:Eric Helm [Helm, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2021-03-23T22:00:00+00:00

The patrol didn’t use the rice paddy dikes, though that would have been the quickest way to the tree line. Instead, they walked through the center of the paddies, stepping on the plants to keep their feet from sinking deeply into the muck. As they neared the tree line, they fanned out in a row, then swept forward rapidly, not giving the enemy a chance to set up an ambush.

At the edge of the trees, Tyme halted, as did the others. He crouched there, searching the light brush for signs of the enemy, searching for signs of the mortar tube. It was quiet in the trees. There were no birds squawking and no monkeys chattering. Both were bad omens, suggesting the enemy was near.

Tyme stood, then moved forward, avoiding a small fern and a larger bush with thick, green leaves. He stopped next to a coconut tree, his rifle at the ready. Around him the line began to collapse inward as the men pulled together to support one another in the jungle.

Tyme glanced to his right. Fetterman was anchoring the line there, but Tyme couldn’t see him. Two soldiers were visible, but now they were in the field, they seemed to understand what they were doing. Their noise discipline was good, and they held their weapons at the ready as they searched for the enemy.

The left side was doing the same, anchored by the platoon sergeant. The men were all working together in a coordinated fashion. If someone took the time to teach them a little military discipline at the camps, they would turn into a crack unit. Then Tyme drove those thoughts from his mind, and began the search for the enemy tube.

In three minutes, he found the firing site. The enemy appeared to have been there for most of the night; the grass was flattened, suggesting they had slept there. They found a single AK round and nothing else.

As he entered the zone, Tyme touched the shoulders of the men closest to him, establishing the security. When Fetterman appeared a moment later, there was nothing for him to do but examine the ground where the mortar tube had been positioned.

“I make it no more than five minutes,” he said.

Tyme nodded his agreement and pointed to the west. “Went that way.”

“Down the long axis of the tree line, of course,” said Fetterman. The foliage wasn’t thick, not as it could be elsewhere in Vietnam, but it provided cover for the enemy. He could see no signs of them moving, but that only meant they were at least a hundred yards away. If they hadn’t gone more than a klick, Fetterman was sure they could catch them.

“Of course, there’s the possibility of ambush,” said Fetterman. It wouldn’t be the first time the enemy had dropped a few rounds into an area to entice a counter-mortar patrol out to ambush them.

“Want me to take the point?” asked Tyme.

“No,” Fetterman said. “I think all we’ll do here is search the immediate area and then return to the hamlet.

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