Hunter Sniper

But the ground was climbing quickly, rougher and rocky, so that the tanks were becoming less effective. Rocky outcroppings and large trees halted their forward motion. The tanks moved to the flanks, where the ground was flatter, searching for a way around the ridge ahead. Deke and Danilo would have to be the unit’s ears and eyes now.

Deke didn’t mind. He was feeling much better today after the bout with fever had left him weakened. I’m almost feeling like my old self, he thought. In the distance, a Japanese sniper rifle cracked. Yessiree, feeling better just in time to get myself killed.

Despite the fact that a rough, unpaved road ascended the slope, the ridge ahead posed a serious obstacle. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that the ridge was almost without trees toward the peak as it emerged from the forest, like a full head of hair with a bald spot on top. Shouldn’t they follow the lead of the tanks and go around it? After a brief confab of the officers and scouts, Captain Merrick made it clear that he wanted to climb the ridge.

“If anyone is going to take the high ground around here, it’s going to be us, not the Japanese,” he said. He turned to Lieutenant Steele. “I know I can count on you and your snipers to make that happen.”

“Will do,” Honcho said.

Deke was studying the ridge. “We best go ahead and take a look-see before everybody else,” he said. “Ain’t no telling what’s on the other side.”

“All right,” Steele agreed. “Take Philly and Danilo with you.”

“You got it, Honcho,” Deke said.

Together, the three scouts scrambled up the steep slope, trying to be quiet and feeling exposed as the trees fell away into an open landscape of brush, shrubs, boulders, and clumps of kunai grass that offered perfect concealment for any enemy sniper. The road that they had been following seemed to run out of energy and ended at a terraced field that some farmer had carved out of the slope, whatever crop had grown there long since given over to weeds.

They bushwhacked their way forward. The ridgeline itself had been hit by naval artillery shells, leaving it looking like a badly plowed field. At the same time, all those shell holes created perfect defensive positions.

“I tell you what, I sure hope that the Japanese didn’t get up here ahead of us,” Deke whispered. “If they did, they can just throw rocks down on us.”

Danilo grunted as if he understood and agreed, although Deke still hadn’t puzzled out just how much English the Filipino understood. The Filipino guide’s eyes never wavered from the landscape ahead, where any number of enemy troops might be hiding.

The navy had done a spectacular job of lobbing shells ahead of the Ormoc landing. As usual, it had been quite a show, but it didn’t appear that the naval bombardment had done much more than blow hell out of this hilltop and surrounding patches of jungle. It would have been nice to have the support of those big guns now, but the fleet had pulled back out of sight of land for fear of Japanese planes and ships. The fleet didn’t want to be penned in by the confines of the bay, where its ships couldn’t maneuver effectively if they came under attack.

“What do you think, Deke?” Philly asked quietly as they made their way up the slope, ever so cautiously. Slowing their progress was the fact that all three of them were trying to keep their rifles at the ready, but they kept having to sling their weapons in order to scramble across the larger spills of boulders or up and down shell holes.

“I don’t like it,” Deke replied. “Something doesn’t feel right, like I can almost feel a Japanese soldier holding his breath up ahead. But come on, we’ve got to check it out.”

Their pace slowing, all three of them were breathing heavily by the time they reached the top of the ridge. It was almost knifelike up there, no more than just a few feet wide. The company would have to scramble across that ridge before coming down the slope on the opposite side, which by all appearances was equally as steep.

Considering that their orders were to keep moving rather than hold any ground, Deke wondered at the wisdom of crossing the ridge at all, other than the obvious necessity of making sure that there weren’t any Japanese troops up there. So far they hadn’t seen signs of any.

All three men lay on their bellies and edged forward. Philly seemed content to let Danilo take the lead, but Deke slithered faster until he came even with the Filipino.

The two of them peered down the opposite slope, and what they saw made them both freeze.

Philly was slightly behind Deke, who held up a hand, indicating for him to stop. Philly started to ask a question, but Deke signaled for him to be quiet.