The Bird of Time by John Isaac Jones

Author:John Isaac Jones [jones, john i]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John I. Jones
Published: 2022-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

***

Early that afternoon, members of Platoon C, under the command of Col. Carnage, were in a convoy of three Huey Helicopters headed once again to the rugged mountains near Do Lung. This time, rather than landing on the mountain opposite the bridge and marching to the target, Col. Carnage ordered the Hueys into the narrow valley floor directly below the target. Once the choppers were on the ground, our new commander took charge.

“Follow me, men!” he shouted, jumping out of the chopper and waving his charges forward.

Moments later, Jesse and I and the other members of Platoon C were on the ground. Only moments after we were out of the helicopter, we heard the sounds of a machine gun from somewhere along the base of the mountain.

“Take cover, men!” the colonel yelled.

Instantly, members of Platoon C ducked behind nearby trees, boulders and undergrowth. Around us, we could hear machine gun bullets whizzing through the air. Col. Carnage, with Lt. Greene at his side, was crouched behind a huge, grass-covered boulder for cover.

“Lieutenant!” the colonel yelled. “Hand me the heat-sensitive binoculars.”

Lt. Greene located a brown leather case among the equipment and handed it to the colonel.

“These little bastards won’t hide from these,” he said as he opened the case and withdrew the special field glasses. “These babies will locate each and every one of them by their body heat.”

For a moment, he adjusted the binoculars, then trained them on the mountain ledges high above the gorge.

“There’s the new bridge,” he said. “I can see at least eight or nine guards on the north end. The south end is unprotected.”

Carefully, he adjusted the binoculars.

“Also, there is a machine gun nest in some coconut palms just below the north end.”

Quickly, he lowered the binoculars and picked up the field telephone.

“Captain Marvel to Lame Duck!” he said. “Captain Marvel to Lame Duck!”

He listened.

“This is Captain Marvel at target #786,” he said. “We need three helicopter gunships.”

He listened.

“Ten minutes?” he said. “We’ll be waiting.”

Col. Carnage hung up the field telephone.

Meanwhile, above us, machine guns continued to spray the trees and boulders around us.

“Listen to that machine gun!” Lt. Greene said. “That’s not a standard VC or NVRA weapon. That’s a US-made .30 caliber machine gun. I can tell by the sound. Where did they get that?”

“They’re using captured weapons,” Col. Carnage said. “But we’re going to blow them and the machine gun to kingdom come.”

Some ten minutes later, me and the other members of Platoon C looked up and saw three helicopter gunships coming around the side of the mountain. Instantly, the colonel was back on the field telephone.

“Captain Marvel to Little Lulu!” he said. “Captain Marvel to Little Lulu! Do you read?”

He listened.

“The target is at two o’clock from your present position,” he said. “The machine gun emplacement is about twenty yards below the target among the coconut palms.”

He listened.

“What do you mean you can’t see the machine gun nest?” he said, a note of irritation in his voice. “You have defoliant, don’t you?”

He listened.

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