FIREFIGHT: A Viet Nam War Novel by David Allin

Author:David Allin
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-08-18T23:00:00+00:00

*****

Lieutenant Carr took a long drink from his canteen, idly wondering why he was so thirsty, with all this rain. He slid the canteen back into the metal cup and snapped the cover shut, and was about to ask Eberhart a question when he heard the shots. It was a rapid mix of M-16 and AK-47 fire, and came from somewhere in front of the chapel, and not too far away. The scattered low conversations inside the chapel immediately halted, and the men at the door and windows came to high alert. Carr could hear the clicks of selector switches going off SAFE.

The exchange of gunfire ended almost as quickly as it had started, and Carr tried to analyze the sequence of sounds to determine what had happened. It seemed like the last shots fired had been the 5.56mm of M-16s, but he wasn’t sure that really meant anything. Countless scenarios jumped in and out of his consciousness, and he contemplated sending out some sort of reaction force, but worried he would just risk more lives in the process. Amidst the total silence inside the room, Carr edged over and stood behind Pastorini, staring out the doorway into the inky night in the vain hope he would see something that brought clarity to the situation.

“What’s happening?” Crosby whispered, his voice quivering.

“Sh!” Carr reprimanded him. He was straining to hear something besides the constant drum roll of rain on the roof. Over in the corner the Japanese girls were totally silent, for what seemed like the first time since he’d met them. In the back of the room he heard a feminine voice start to speak, only to be shushed by someone else. Everyone waited. A minute, two minutes, the time dragged by, and then Carr heard the shout in Vietnamese. It sounded like someone calling out, seeking information. There was no response, and Carr chose to take comfort in that. If no one answered, then either the other gooks were dead, or they were afraid to reveal themselves, which, in either case, meant Samples and Reyes were probably still alive. He hoped.

More waiting, and Carr was as tense as a rubber band stretched to its limit. Then he heard the thrashing out in the woods, and a muttered curse. He sensed Pastorini, kneeling at his feet behind the M-60, take a deep breath and prepare to fire. He reached down and put his hand gently on the big man’s shoulder. “Not yet,” he cautioned quietly.

“Make a hole!” It was Reyes’ voice, and Carr made out the vague shape of two men, very close together, approaching the front of the chapel in a controlled stumble. Pastorini had seen them, too, and lifted the machine gun up as he rose to step aside. There wasn’t time to move the heavy cabinet, because suddenly Reyes and Samples were right there, with Reyes pushing Samples onto the top of the cabinet. “Pull him in,” Reyes shouted.

Carr and Pastorini both grabbed Samples’ arms and pulled him over the cabinet and laid him down on the floor inside.

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