1945

"Get ready," Orlando yelled through the cracked hatch, "and get your men spread out, Lieutenant."

Seconds later, the Sherman's gun fired, then fired again shortly after. When the dust and smoke cleared, they could see the rear of the enemy tank where the shelling had blown away the back of the bunker. One more shot and the Jap tank shuddered and began to smoke. The soldier with the flamethrower ran to the hulk and fired a stream of liquid fire onto the Jap tank, where it stuck to the exposed metal and began to blaze with an insane fury.

"Migod," Paul said as he recoiled from the suddenness of the flamethrower and the heat it was generating. Within a few seconds the Jap tank began to rumble and then it exploded, filling the hill with a small fireworks display as ammunition and fuel blew up. Last, there was one big explosion and the turret of the Jap tank flew through the remaining earthen cover and several feet into the air before coming to a rest a little ways down the hill, where it lay like a child's broken toy.

Paul heard an animal howling and realized it was coming from his throat as he and the others cheered their little victory. The Sherman's hatch opened again and Sergeant Orlando climbed out and shook Paul's hand. "Hot damn," Orlando said, laughing. "My first time in combat and I got me a Jap tank."

"Excellent!" Paul exulted. "Now what about that other machine-gun nest?"

As he said that, Sergeant Collins ran up to them from the other side of the bunker. "Gone, sir. They saw what happened to their buddies and bailed out."

"Look out!" Paul exclaimed, wide-eyed, and fired in Orlando's direction.

A lone Japanese gunner clutched his heart and fell.

"Guess not all of them," Collins said. "We'll do a clean sweep."

Thanks to Orlando's tank, Paul's men had taken the hill, wiped out a bunker with a tank in it, destroyed a machine gun nest, and done it with no additional casualties. Better, they'd caused some Japs to break and run away, which they rarely did.

Now he could send his wounded back to the rear without fear of more casualties, and they could get medical care. "Staff Sergeant Orlando, you and yours got anyplace in particular to go right now?"

Orlando shrugged. "Home, but they won't let me. Why?"

"I think we work well together. You want to stick around?"

"And be your mascot, sir?" Orlando grinned infectiously. "Sounds good to me. Besides, I owe you."

Laughter rang out, a welcome and rare sound.

CHAPTER 39

KYUSHU, EAST OF NAGASAKI

OSS field operative Joe Nomura performed an awkward pirouette in front of the small fire, bowed, and laughed at the thought of a kempei officer behaving in such a manner. Dennis Chambers smiled and shook his head at the incongruous sight.

"Dammit, Joe, you look real enough to scare anyone when you just stand there in that toy-soldier outfit, but the shitty little dance you did kind of kills the effect."

Nomura laughed. "I never could dance, that's why. How does the uniform look without the arm?"

"Hell, it looks great, particularly without your arm. It makes you look sinister, like some old-time warrior who's survived a hundred battles and come back a war-wise hero. You'd make a tremendous samurai."

Joe took the compliment with a smile. After a number of false starts and experiments while the two men taught themselves the art of sewing, they'd successfully cut the dead kempei captain's uniform down to where it fit Joe fairly well. It wasn't perfect, but both men felt it would pass casual observation as most uniforms worn by the Japanese military were even more ragged and ill-fitting than they usually were.

Unlike Germany's Gestapo, who had their own distinctive uniforms, kempei officers wore the standard Japanese officer's uniform, but with a distinctive armband displaying the Japanese characters ken and hei, which translated as "law soldier." Usually, as in this case, the characters were black on white, and they made the wearer of them a minor god with enormous power over other people's lives and well-being.

According to his papers, the dead soldier, Capt. Shozo Onichi, had commanded a buntai, or section, in the area. Based on Onichi's rank, the two men guessed that a section would be about a hundred men. Logic also said these would be scattered about Onichi's area of control, which they presumed to be fairly large, but that the men would know who Onichi was and what he looked like. This meant that impersonating Onichi was out of the question. Joe would have to use another identity if he was to wander around in the uniform.

Kempei officers carried a sword and a pistol. Joe kept the pistol but discarded any thought of carrying the sword. For one thing, a one-armed swordsman looked out of place, and for another, the sword had been made especially for Onichi and had been engraved with his name. Joe's possession of it would be extremely difficult to explain.

"Okay, buddy, now what?" Dennis asked. "What're you gonna do? Halloween was months ago."