Pacific Sniper

Sure enough, the Japanese squad started after him. More bullets flicked through the air like angry bees. The country here was getting rougher, and he descended another steep hillside. He splashed into a small creek, stopping to get his bearings, and was instantly besieged by swarms of mosquitoes that attacked his neck and face, but he didn’t dare slap at them for fear that it would give him away—the enemy was that close. He could hear their feet pounding down the red dirt path behind him.

Keeping low, Deke crept out of the creek bed, then dropped out of sight behind another hillock. He was breathing hard, but he held his breath a moment to make sure that the Japs were following him. He could hear them talking to one another. Satisfied, he crept away, back in the direction that Patrol Easy had taken. With any luck, the Jap soldiers would continue in the wrong direction.

He now found himself on another steep hillside leading down into a valley. This time, there was no trail, but a weird landscape that resembled an egg carton. The soil had eroded badly, except where the jungle trees stood on humps of earth that had been held in place by their roots.

Deke paused, listening, every sense on high alert. He even sniffed the air. Anyone seeing him now would have been reminded of a hunting wolf. He could vaguely hear the Japs somewhere off to his left, still excited about the prospect of hunting an American soldier. But where had Patrol Easy gone? The only answer was down the hill. Keeping his rifle ready for any surprises, Deke headed in that direction.

The slope took a final plunge that sent him slipping and sliding. He caught himself just in time to keep from going over the edge of a cliff. Thirty feet below, he spotted a pool of still water and the source of the roar that he’d heard earlier. A waterfall plunged over an even higher cliff above and cascaded down into one end of the pool. Dappled with sunlight, the surface of the pool glittered with shades of blue and green. Mist from the waterfall caught the light so that a rainbow hovered above the water. A shallow cave had been carved into the base of the cliff, near the base of the waterfall. The entrance was wreathed in massive pink flowers.

Deke was a little awed despite the peril that he was in. He had stumbled across a tropical paradise. He was so captivated by the scene that it took a shout from below to get his attention.

“Deke, quit pussyfooting around and get down here!” He looked down to see the familiar figures of the guys from Patrol Easy emerge on a ledge at the edge of the pool. Philly was waving at him.

He raised a hand in acknowledgment, a little embarrassed that he hadn’t seen them sooner, then picked his way down the slope to join them.

“What happened to you? You’re the last person I figured to get lost,” Philly said.

“He didn’t get lost,” Steele said. The lieutenant looked as haggard as ever. He was swaying on his feet, like a tree in the wind, but not so much as a breeze stirred the air in the waterfall valley. “He hung back to deal with the Jap squad traveling with that tank.”

Yoshio was staring at Deke in awe. “What did you do, shoot them all?”

“No, but I reckon I picked off a couple, then sent them hunting for us in the wrong direction.”

“Nice work, Deke. That was stupid to do on your own—but you saved our bacon.”

Deke was still thinking about the disastrous ambush. He wasn’t sure that he could ever make up for that.

“Listen up,” Lieutenant Steele began. “Keep your voices down and no shooting—no sense making it any easier for the Japs to find us.”

“Let’s get into that cave and out of sight. We can rest there until we get our bearings.”

Nobody argued with that plan, except for Philly.

“Just great. Another cave.”

“You want to stay out here and take your chances with that Jap patrol that’s looking for us?”

“All right, all right. At least there won’t be any Japs inside. What the hell, I’ll even go first.”

Outside the mouth of the cave, Whoa Nelly had begun barking furiously. Egan was working to hold her back. “Easy, girl.”

“What’s she going on about?”

“She smells something in that cave.”

“Hell, I smell something out here. Philly ain’t had a bath in at least a week.”

“Very funny.”

“Toss in a grenade.”

“And let every Jap around know where we are? Besides, Nelly’s probably barking at some critter in there.”

“Only one way to find out.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

They headed inside the cave, with Philly leading the way. To show his bravado, he had simply walked right through the cave entrance. The others followed.

“Anybody got a light?”

Lieutenant Steele obliged by clicking on a flashlight.

Instantly, two Japanese soldiers appeared in the glare of the flashlight. They all froze.

The two groups stared at each other, not sure what to do.

Then with something like a snarl, one of the Japanese started to raise his rifle. The last thing they needed was a gunshot to attract the other Japs in the area—not to mention getting shot.