The North Korean lieutenant stood and used hand signals to gather his troops. They formed on him and the whole column moved off down the street at a fast walk.
“L-T?”
Kevin looked up from his half-eaten breakfast. “Yeah?”
“India One Two’s on the horn, sir. He wants to talk to you direct.”
“Coming.” Kevin shoved the ration bag off his lap and took the stairs two at a time. Montoya had finally rigged an antenna from the third floor up onto the roof itself so that no one had to risk getting shot just to talk on the radio. He took the handset offered by the RTO. “Echo Five Six here.”
“What’s your situation, Kev?” Donaldson sounded exhausted and a lot older.
Kevin listened carefully to the sounds around him before answering. Desultory firing from the left, over by Rhee’s position. Complete silence in the center. A single rifle cracked nearby, from one of the second-story rooms, answered at once by a heavier-sounding AK burst from across the street. “It’s quiet, Major. Skirmishing only. I think we bloodied ’em pretty bad yesterday and last night.”
“That’s great. Look, Kev, I’ve sent some ammo resupply up to your position, and I want to make sure the guys humping it don’t get shot up by mistake. Can you see down Inhyo Street from there?”
Kevin moved to a rear window near the staircase. Somebody had knocked out the glass, leaving an unobstructed opening with a view south along the street. “Affirmative, Major.”
“Well, that’s the way they’re coming, so have somebody keep an eye out for ’em. And no poaching to make up your losses. Those boys are all I have to run errands for me. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.” Kevin felt himself smiling and wondered that he still could. “Hell, if they’ve got ammo for me, I’ll even send them back to you in a Rolls-Royce.”
“On foot is good enough, Kev. India One Two out,” Donaldson signed off.
Kevin decided to handle the job of watching for the ammo carriers himself. His troops were either needed on guard or busy trying to get some badly needed sleep. He leaned against the wall and eyed the street outside.
The Inhyo-ro was a study in desolation. The cars and people who would normally have filled it were gone. In their place were ragged-edged shell craters visible now and again through the gray smoke pall left by the hundreds of fires burning out of control across Taejon. The street looked utterly abandoned and alien.
He shivered slightly and blamed the chill he felt on the bad weather.
Men appeared at the edge of his vision, coming closer. Kevin raised his binoculars to get a better look. Several pairs of soldiers, each pair carting a box of precious ammo. Sweat-streaked faces. Young faces, pale and tight-lipped. Scared by this close approach to the real war.
“Jesus!” Kevin heard machine guns open up and watched in horror as the ammo carriers were mowed down, thrown dead en masse onto the pavement. He swiveled the binoculars and saw flashes winking in windows several buildings down. The guns fired for a moment longer, making sure of their victims, and then fell silent.
He spun round and saw Montoya standing openmouthed beside him. “Get Donaldson for me! Now! And tell all the platoon leaders I want them here yesterday! Go!”
He turned back to the window and stared at the tangle of bodies heaped on the street. Things had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.
Sohn spotted the wounded young American crawling and aimed carefully, bracing his assault rifle on the windowsill. Satisfied with his aim, he squeezed the AK’s trigger lightly and smiled as the man jerked once and lay still in a pool of spreading blood.
“An excellent shot, Comrade Lieutenant.”
Sohn turned to face the speaker. Sergeant Yi was an ass-kisser, but at least he was a competent ass-kisser. “Is everything ready?”
“Yes, Comrade Lieutenant. We’ve barricaded all the first-floor entrances and windows. Every possible approach is covered by cross fires. It will take a battalion to force us out of this place.”
Sohn favored the sergeant with an approving nod. “Splendid, Yi. Take your post. The Americans know we’re here now, so we can expect them to test your arrangements at any moment.”
Yi saluted sharply and left the room.
Sohn settled down to wait. He felt sure the enemy’s response wouldn’t be long in coming.
Kevin jabbed the street map with his grease pencil. “That’s the target, guys. Unless we can take that building back from the NKs, the whole battalion is well and truly fucked.” He looked closely at his platoon leaders to make sure they were following along.
Rhee nodded his understanding, but both Geary and McIntyre looked unconvinced. The burly 2nd Platoon leader spoke first. “Hell, Lieutenant, why try to take it away from ’em at all? Let the NKs sit there. We can resupply up one of these other streets here.” His stubby finger traced an imaginary line to the west of the enemy-held building.
Kevin shook his head impatiently. “It’s not that easy, Sarge. They’ve almost certainly got MGs sited to fire down that cross-street. Anybody lugging stuff across is gonna get spotted and hit.” He paused. “But even if we can get resupplied, Bravo Company can’t. Inhyo’s their lifeline to the rear. Every other path out of that train station is under enemy observation and fire. So either we clear that apartment building or Bravo eats it. And Major Donaldson doesn’t view that as an acceptable alternative.”
McIntyre looked angry. “Christ, screw the major, L-T. Why doesn’t he use those guys from Foxtrot to do this? Why should we get all the shit jobs?”
“Because we’re all that’s left, Mac.” Kevin rocked back on his heels. “Brigade took that last Foxtrot platoon away earlier this morning. They needed it to plug a gap somewhere west of here.”
There were deep frowns on every face in the command group. Things were really getting bad when nobody had any reserves held out of line. Plus, anybody with half a brain could see that NK-occupied building was going to be a tough nut to crack. Damned tough. They fell silent looking at the map.
Rhee broke the silence. “When do you want me to attack, Lieutenant?”
Kevin grimaced. He’d known it was going to come down to this, but he hadn’t wanted it to. Rhee was a friend — a last link to the past, to days before the war had turned everything upside down. Hell, Rhee was more than that. The dapper, ever cheerful South Korean had saved his life. Was this how he had to repay his friend? By sending him into the NK meat grinder any fool could see waiting for the assault force?
But Rhee was also his best platoon leader. He had the tactical sense and, more importantly, the sheer guts needed to pull this stunt off. Maybe there wasn’t really much choice after all. The mission had to come first, ahead of any considerations of friendship or risk.
“You’ll attack in fifteen minutes, Lieutenant,” Kevin heard himself saying. “Take one of your squads and one of McIntyre’s. Battalion’s promised us priority on a smoke mission, so you’ll have that at least.”
The South Korean grinned. “Very good, sir.” He stood. “With your permission, I’ll leave now to get my force ready to go in. There’s no sense in making the communists a gift of time.”
Kevin forced himself to match Rhee’s smile. “Right. Good luck, Lieutenant. We’ll watch your back for you.”