Savage Sniper

“Besides, you saw yourself what kind of treatment the prisoners are getting here. I’m not leaving those men in those conditions one hour longer than necessary. The Japanese have already put enough of them in that boneyard.”

“Let me start shooting a few of them, Honcho,” Deke urged. “I can even up the odds.”

The lieutenant shook his head. “Much as I’d like to turn you loose, Deke, I just can’t do that. If the Japanese think they are under attack, there’s no telling what they might do to the POWs. I’m willing to bet that they don’t plan on leaving any of the prisoners alive.”

Deke nodded, as did everyone else. They had already been briefed by Major Flanders back at division HQ about the fate that had befallen POWs at other camps. Vengeful enemy guards had simply executed them rather than see them freed.

“Then what do we do, Honcho?” Philly asked.

“We watch, observe, and figure out a plan.” The lieutenant paused. “Hopefully we’ll figure something out by tomorrow morning at the latest. The longer that we sit out here in the woods, the better our chances of being detected. If that happens, I don’t like to think about what the Japanese might do to the prisoners.”

* * *

They sat out the rest of the day, watching and waiting as Lieutenant Steele ordered. The prisoner-of-war camp seemed to be a forgotten outpost, because no one came or went. There were no trucks arriving with supplies, no messengers leaving. The camp commandant almost certainly possessed a radio of some sort to keep in touch with the rest of the Japanese forces, but there was not much activity beyond the work detail and calisthenics for the guards not overseeing the work detail. It was apparent that strict discipline was being maintained even at this remote camp.

Fortunately, the Japanese still didn’t seem to have any inkling that there were enemy troops on their doorstep, although it was an open question how long that could last. For the moment, there didn’t appear to be any extra activity, no guard posts along the fence, and no patrols came along the jungle road. The machine gunner in the watchtower seemed to be their main defense and lookout. One machine gunner armed with a Nambu was more than adequate.

Later in the day, there was weapons inspection for the garrison. They could see the man who must be the camp commandant, tall for a Japanese, going over his men’s weapons and uniforms. He moved with a ramrod stiffness and appeared to have what looked like a bow and quiver slung across his back. This strange choice of weapons caught Deke’s eye.

“What the hell?” Deke wondered, watching through his rifle scope. “I know for a fact that the Nips haven’t run out of rifles.”

The bow and arrows remained a puzzle. However, the commandant clearly took his duties seriously and ran a tight ship, which did not bode well for the mission.

Part of their frustration was that they had no way of communicating with the prisoners inside the compound. The POWs didn’t know they were here. Ideally, there would have been some way to let them know that their situation was no longer helpless. The POWs might even have been able to help them from the inside and organize an escape. But for now there didn’t seem to be any hope of that.

Once darkness arrived, they crept forward to test the fence up close. They were seeking a weak spot where they could snip through the wire, out of the direct line of sight of the machine gunner in the tower.

Philly reported back, “Honcho, that fence is tighter than a nun’s knickers. Nobody is getting past that.”

The priest’s eyes widened at that metaphor.

“Apologies, Padre,” Steele said. He turned back to Philly. “What else have you got? And leave the nuns out of it this time.”

“You got it, Honcho. The fence looks rusty from a distance, but they’ve also got concertina wire all along the base that we’d have to crawl through. Honestly, if we had some sort of vehicle, our best bet would be to ram through the front gate.”

“We’re out of luck there, unless one of you has a tank in your back pocket that you’re not telling me about,” Steele said. “All right, we can’t risk camping out here much longer. We’ve got to think of something, and fast.”

Like the others, Deke had been busy getting the lay of the land. A plan was already beginning to take shape in Deke’s mind, although he didn’t like it the least little bit.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“No way,” Lieutenant Steele said after hearing Deke’s plan. “Absolutely not. And just in case I wasn’t clear, no way in hell.”

“I don’t like it any better than you do, Honcho,” Deke admitted. “But have you got any other ideas?”

“No, I don’t,” Steele admitted reluctantly. “It’s still just about the worst plan I’ve ever heard, but goddammit, it’s so idiotic that it just might work.”

As commander of the guerrillas, Father Francisco had been invited to hear Deke’s plan. He didn’t like it, either, and made a suggestion of his own.