W.E.B. Griffin - The Corps VII - Behind the Lines

"Not now," McCoy said. "What I'm thinking is that I'm going to let the OSS people tell him on the beach. And I don't want anybody telling the Gen-eral, either."

"Why not?"

"He's liable to order us to take him with us," McCoy said. "Fertig's got Macklin figured out by now."

[FIVE]

Headquarters, U.S. Forces in the Philippines

Davao Oriental Province

Mindanao, Commonwealth of the Philippines

1045 Hours 26 January 1943

Captain Kenneth R. McCoy, USMCR, and First Lieutenant Percy L. Everly, USFIP, marched erectly into the office of Brigadier General Wendell Fertig and came to attention twelve inches from his desk.

General Fertig looked up at them expectantly. After a very long moment, Captain McCoy saluted. A perceptible period of time after Captain McCoy raised his hand to his temple, Lieutenant Everly did likewise. General Fertig returned their salutes with a casual wave of his right hand in the general direc-tion of his forehead.

"Am I missing something here, gentlemen?" Fertig asked. "It looked to me as if you were making up your mind whether or not you were going to offer me that hoary gesture of recognition between warriors."

"General," Captain McCoy said, "Marines do not salute indoors unless underarms."

"Fascinating. I learn something every day," Fertig said. "I take it that dagger strapped to your wrist falls in the category of 'dagger on arm' rather than anything else?"

"We left our carbines outside, General."

"I was hoping to have a word with you before you left, Ken," Fertig said. "This is as good a time as any."

"General, that's why we're here," McCoy said.

"You looked serious," Fertig said. "OK. Let's have it. What's gone wrong?"

"The thing is, Sir, there's a hundred things that could go wrong. The odds that we can make it to the beach without a half-dozen serious things going wrong aren't very good."

"When you have something unpleasant to say, say it," Fertig said. "You think that your priority is to make it onto the Sunfish, and you can't do that with the civilians and the wounded? I have been considering that myself, frankly."

"Everly and I have an idea-" McCoy said, and then quickly interrupted himself. "General, we weren't thinking about not taking the civilians and wounded with us."

"Let's have it," Fertig said.

"The problem is transporting them forty-five miles from here to Site Sugar," McCoy said. "With all the bearers, we'll be nearly a hundred peo-ple."

"One hundred two, if memory serves," Fertig said. "Are we back to not taking the wounded and civilians with you?"

"No, Sir, I'm just trying to make the point that I think we have almost no chance of moving that many people, that slowly, that far, without being de-tected."

"Almost no chance? If you've got a point, Ken, let's have it."

"Can I lay my map on your desk, Sir?"

"One of the things I wanted to talk to you about is that map. Could you leave it with me?"

"Absolutely. We have three. You can have two of those, and I could leave the last one with Everly on the beach."

"OK. What is it you want to show me?"

"Here we are," McCoy said, pointing to the map, "and here is Site Sugar." He pointed to a spot on the coast twenty-five miles south of the prom-ontory off which the Sunfish had first surfaced.

"If we leave in the morning, it will take us nine days to make the trip, if nothing goes wrong. Maybe eight. But nine to be safe. That's 5 and 6 Febru-ary."

"We've been over this," Fertig said.

"We can make it from here to here in a day and a half," McCoy said, pointing to a spot on the coast five miles north of Tarragona.

"And how do you propose to get from there to Site Sugar?"

"Steal a couple of trucks," Everly blurted.

Fertig's eyebrows rose.

"The idea, General, is that instead of using the ninety-odd people as bear-ers, we use them to delay the Japs."

"You're getting ahead of me, McCoy," Fertig said.

"The Japs are not sending anything out on that highway alone. They send at least three trucks, most often four. We ambush their convoy two miles out of Tarragona. Take the two best trucks, burn the others, and drive here, where the civilians will be waiting. We then drive to Site Sugar."

"Thirty minutes after you ambush the convoy, the Japs will know about it, and start after you."

"Every time there's a curve in the road, we will have a guy in the bush. He fires a couple of shots at the lead truck, and then shags ass out of there. We figure the Japs will stop and send out a patrol. That'll take fifteen minutes. They don't find anything-our sniper is long gone-so they get back in the trucks and start after us again. Next curve, another sniper."

"It won't take them long to figure out what you're doing," Fertig said. "They won't stop, they'll just keep going when you shoot at them."

"That's what Everly said," McCoy said. "I think our snipers can take out drivers two times out of three."

"They'll still come after you."

"As long as they don't catch us, let them come. We'll send people to reconnoiter near Site Sugar, and find someplace where we can get rid of the trucks. With a little luck, we'll put them in the woods where they won't be seen, but if necessary, just burn them on the road."

"By this time in your plan, the Japs will have reconnaissance aircraft all over the area. You'd be putting the Sunfish at grave risk."

"The Sunfish won't be there," McCoy said.

"Excuse me?"

"We'll leave for Tarragona tomorrow, ambush the convoy the next day, if we're lucky, or the day after that, or the day after that. That way we know there will be a convoy to ambush. And then the Sunfish comes on 5 February as scheduled."

"And where will the civilians and wounded be..." Fertig began. "Of course, at Site Sugar."

"That's the risk, General," McCoy said. "That the Japs will find us at Site Sugar, or near Site Sugar. If the Japs find them there... well. But there is less risk of being discovered if we're trying to hide twenty-five people in one place than if we're trying to move 102 people around for days."

Fertig stood up suddenly and left the room. He came back a moment later with a bottle of Famous Grouse and three glasses. He put everything on his desk and started, carefully, to pour the whiskey.

"I have an interest in getting the wounded and the civilians to Pearl Har-bor that is not entirely altruistic," he said as he poured. "There will be a cer-tain interest on the part of the press in these American civilians snatched from the claws of the Japanese, and in the brave men grievously wounded fighting the Japanese against terrible odds. Once these people get out, it will not be nearly as easy for certain people to pretend United States Forces in the Philip-pines does not exist."

He walked to the door, raised his voice, and called, "Sergeant!"

His Filipino sergeant appeared almost immediately.

"Please pass the word that an officer's call will be conducted here imme-diately," he said.

"Yes, Sir."

He walked back to the drinks and handed McCoy and Everly a glass, then picked up his own.

"Before the others join us," he said, "I think we should raise a glass to your successful evacuation. For the first time, I'm beginning to think we can get away with it."

[SIX]

Headquarters, U.S. Forces in the Philippines

Davao Oriental Province

Mindanao, Commonwealth of the Philippines

1305 Hours 26 January 1943

Captain Kenneth R. McCoy, USMCR, took a U.S. Rifle, Caliber.30-06, Model 1903, from Lieutenant Percy L. Everly, USFIP, held down the catch, and removed the bolt. He put his thumb into the action, raised the muzzle to his eye, and then turned his body until the rays of the sun reflected off his thumb-nail and illuminated the interior of the barrel.