Retreat, Hell! Part 57

"From Big Daddy. Killer will proceed Sasebo ASAP. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledge proceed Sasebo ASAP. What's up?"

"Little Daddy is in Sasebo. Lady Friend bought farm. Fat Kraut carrying bad news."

"Say again?"

"Fat Kraut carrying bad news, Lady Friend bought farm, to Little Daddy in Sasebo."

"Understand Lady Friend bought farm. Where's Beaver?"

"Beaver here."

"Send Beaver Korean Marine. Wait for me. Acknowledge. "

"Acknowledge Beaver to wait for you at Korean Marine."

"Contact Wild Bill Junior. Arrange transportation for me Seoul Sasebo. ETA Korean Marine 1200. Acknowledge. "

"Acknowledge Killer ETA Korean Marine 1200. Wild Bill Junior to arrange transportation Seoul Sasebo."

"What happened to Lady Friend?"

"Gooney Bird went in on way to Wonsan."

"Advise Big Daddy I'm en route Sasebo. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledge advise Big Daddy Killer en route Sasebo."

"Send replacement crew for Wind on Beaver. We took two KIA, three WIA. Acknowledge."

"Acknowledge replacement crew on Beaver. How Killer?"

"Killer fine. Mind the store, Car Salesman. Flying Fish out."

"Fishbase clear."

McCoy laid the microphone on the desk and took off the headset.

"About the only thing I understood about all that, Major McCoy," General Almond said, "was 'Killer fine.' And that's just not so. You're bleeding all over the linoleum."

He pointed. There was a small puddle of blood on the linoleum under McCoy's chair.

"Can you make it to sick bay under your own power? Or shall we get you onto a stretcher?" Almond asked.

"I've got to get to Wonsan, sir. I'm all right."

"You're not going anywhere until they have a look at your leg. Clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, there's nothing in there," Lieutenant Warren Warba.s.se, MC, USNR, said to Major McCoy, who was lying p.r.o.ne on a medical table in sick bay. "And no serious muscle damage that I can see."

"They got lucky," McCoy said. "Hitting something with a mortar from a small boat under way isn't easy. I think I actually saw the round coming in."

"A half inch the other way, and what sliced your thigh would not have bounced off," Dr. Warba.s.se said.

"Four inches the other way, and I'd be a soprano," McCoy said.

"The sutures I'm going to put in will disappear," Dr. Warba.s.se said. "There is a danger of infection, of course. The penicillin I'll give you will probably take care of that. You need a day on your back, and when you get up, it will hurt like h.e.l.l every time you put weight on it."

"I don't have time to spend a day on my back. Can you give me something for the pain that won't turn me into a zombie?"

"I can give you something-reluctantly-that will handle the pain," Dr. Warba.s.se said as he started the first st.i.tch. "The more you take of it, the more you'll become a zombie."

"Fair enough," McCoy said evenly, then: "Jesus, that hurt!"

"If I don't put these in right, they won't stay in. Understand? "

"May I come in?" Major General Almond asked from the doorway.

Dr. Warba.s.se looked up from McCoy's thigh.

"Yes, sir," he said.

"How is he?"

"He was very lucky," Dr. Warba.s.se said. "And what he should do is spend at least a day on his back."

"Unfortunately, Major McCoy is not subject to my orders, " Almond said.

Almond held an olive-drab s.h.i.+rt, and trousers and a field jacket, in his hands.

"A present from Al Haig, McCoy," he said. "You're pretty much the same size."

"Thank you, sir. Tell him thank you, please."

As Almond watched, Dr. Warba.s.se finished the installation of the last of half a dozen sutures, painted the area with a purple antiseptic, covered the sutured area with an adhesive bandage, and then wrapped the leg with gauze.

"If you get off that table, Major," Dr. Warba.s.se said, "you are doing so against medical advice."

"Thank you, Doctor," McCoy said, and sat up.

Dr. Warba.s.se prepared a hypodermic and stabbed McCoy three times, twice in the thigh and once in the arm.

"With that much of this stuff in you, if you were so inclined, Major, you could carouse all night with little chance of acquiring a social disease," Dr. Warba.s.se said. "I will now go get you a bottle of zombie pills."

"Thanks," McCoy said.

When he left the treatment room, Dr. Warba.s.se left the door open. Almond went to it and closed it.

"You want to tell me what's happened, McCoy?" Almond said. "Officially, or otherwise?"

McCoy did not immediately respond.

"Where were you when this happened?" Almond asked.

"A couple of miles offsh.o.r.e of Chongjin," McCoy said.

"You had been ash.o.r.e?" Almond asked.

McCoy nodded.

"Doing?"

"Listening to Red Army low-echelon radio chatter," McCoy said.

"And?"

"I don't think the Russians are going to come in, at least now," McCoy said.

"And the Chinese?"

McCoy didn't answer.

"Why do I suspect your a.n.a.lysis of the situation is again not in agreement with that of General Willoughby?"

"The Chinese are going to come in, General," McCoy said. "I think there's probably as many as fifty thousand of them already in North Korea, and I now know there's five, maybe six times that many just across the border waiting to come in."

"Waiting for what?"

"Waiting for the Americans to get close to the Yalu," McCoy said.

"You have anything to substantiate that belief? Something hard?"

"No, sir."

"Nothing that would get General Willoughby to reconsider his a.n.a.lysis?"

"No, sir."

"Inasmuch as General Walker is about to, or already has, taken Pyongyang, the initial purpose of X Corps landing at Wonsan and striking across the peninsula is no longer valid. Under those circ.u.mstances, I suspect that I will get orders to strike with all possible speed toward the border. You think there will be Chinese intervention when we get close?"

"Yes, sir. That's what I think they'll do."

"Who have you told of your a.n.a.lysis?"

"I will tell General Pickering when I see him at Sasebo, sir."

"What's he doing at Sasebo?"

"I don't know, sir. Captain Dunwood just told me he's on his way there. It probably has to do with Major Pickering, sir. I think they moved him to the Navy hospital there."

"Who's Captain Dunwood?"

"He commands the Marines we borrowed from First MarDiv, sir. He's at a little base we have at Socho-Ri, on the coast."

"What was that business about a lady?"

"I didn't pick up much more than Major Pickering's girlfriend, the war correspondent, Jeanette Priestly? . . ."

"I know her."

". . . was killed in a plane crash on her way to Wonsan. One of my officers-Master Gunner Zimmerman, 'Fat Kraut'-was somehow involved in finding that out, and went to Sasebo to tell Major Pickering."

"That's tragic," Almond said. "The poor fellow. All that time . . . and when he's finally out of it, they have to tell him . . ."

"Yes, sir. It's a b.i.t.c.h." He paused, then added: "I suspect-I don't know-that's why General Pickering is headed for Sasebo."

"And why does he want you there?"

"I don't know, sir. But he wouldn't have sent for me unless he thought it was important." He reached for Al Haig's trousers and s.h.i.+rt. "Which means, sir, I have to get back aboard the Wind of Good Fortune. Wind of Good Fortune."

"That's that powered junk?"

"Yes, sir. And head for Wonsan. We have a Beaver that will pick me up at the Capital ROK Division airstrip and take me to Seoul. I'll catch a plane there. Maybe a direct flight to Sasebo, if not through Tokyo."

McCoy pushed himself off the surgical table. There was pain, and he winced. He turned his back to Almond and slid the black pajama trousers down, and then, with effort, put his leg into the Army trousers.

"What happened this morning, McCoy? How did you take the hit?"

"Bad luck, sir. We had just gotten aboard the Wind of Good Fortune Wind of Good Fortune when all of a sudden there was a floodlight on us, and a North Korean-or maybe a Russian-patrol boat out there. We had .50 Brownings fore and aft, and we shot it up pretty quickly. But not until after they got their machine gun-and the d.a.m.ned mortar that got me-into action." when all of a sudden there was a floodlight on us, and a North Korean-or maybe a Russian-patrol boat out there. We had .50 Brownings fore and aft, and we shot it up pretty quickly. But not until after they got their machine gun-and the d.a.m.ned mortar that got me-into action."

McCoy put on Captain Haig's s.h.i.+rt, then tucked it into the trousers.

"Tell Al thanks, please, sir," he said. "I really didn't want to have to go find a uniform somewhere."

"He will be pleased he could help," Almond said. "You're sure you're all right to get back on the junk?"

"Once I get aboard, I'll be all right, General. I was thinking maybe they could rig a bosun's chair and lower me into her."

"I'm sure they can," Almond said. "Thank you, McCoy."

"No thanks necessary, sir," McCoy said. "I'm just glad they don't shoot the messenger with the bad news anymore."

Ten minutes later, McCoy was lowered without incident in a bosun's chair onto the forecastle of the Wind of Good Fortune. Wind of Good Fortune. As soon as he was aboard and out of the chair, she turned away from the As soon as he was aboard and out of the chair, she turned away from the Mount McKinley Mount McKinley and headed westward toward Wonsan. and headed westward toward Wonsan.

"Admiral, how much trouble is it going to be to get a message to the commanding officer of the hospital at Sasebo?" General Almond asked of Rear Admiral Feeney.