“All right, here’s the deal,” Deke whispered. “I’m part of a patrol that was sent here to break everybody out. I let myself be captured so that we could get word to you boys on the inside. Tomorrow night just after midnight, the plan is for them to cut a hole in the fence, and we all skedaddle. We’ve got a little more than twenty-four hours.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be quite as easy to walk out of here as you make it sound,” Faraday pointed out. “Have you seen that guard tower with the machine gun?”
“They’re going to cut the hole in the fence on the west side of these barracks. We figure there’s just the smallest blind spot, or at least it will be hard for the machine gun to get a clear shot. If they have to, they can take out the guard tower, but they’d like to keep things quiet.”
“Why take the chance? You’ve met Colonel Yamagata. He’ll shoot every last one of us if he gets the excuse. He and that toady of his, Sergeant Matsueda. We call him Mr. Suey, but not to his face, believe me. The only one of the bunch that has a bone of decency in him is Lieutenant Osako.”
“Eyeglasses?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. He can be all right when he’s by himself. But he can’t go against his commanding officer, of course, and I think he’s half-scared of Mr. Suey.”
Deke was surprised. “You know all their names?”
“It’s best to know your enemy,” Faraday said. “Anyhow, why not just wait out the end of the war here on Leyte? It can’t be more than a few weeks off.”
“Maybe weeks, but maybe months. These Japanese are a tough nut to crack.” Deke paused, not sure if he should continue.
Faraday and the others sensed his hesitation. “So what’s the rest of the story? It sure seems like there’s something that you don’t want to tell me.”
Deke hadn’t been sure how much to tell Faraday, but he decided that the man deserved to know what he and the other POWs were up against. “We were sent here because the Japanese have been killing off their POWs in other camps rather than free them. The orders came right from the top, General MacArthur himself. He wants every last POW camp liberated before the Japanese can do something drastic.”
“Killing our guys for no good reason? Bastards.”
“Yeah.”
“I can one hundred percent see the camp commandant here doing something like that. Let me tell you something about Colonel Yamagata and that bow of his. Every now and then he lines us all up in the prison yard and orders that the gate be opened. If any man wants to make a run for it, they’re welcome to do it. They just have to outrun his arrows.”
“Son of a bitch. Has anyone ever taken him up on it?”
“Sure, a few guys liked their chances. They didn’t make it.” A shadow crossed Faraday’s face as he said this. “There were a few Filipino prisoners that weren’t given a choice — they were told they had to make a run for it. They didn’t make it either. I’m telling you, Colonel Yamagata is sadistic. He’s a murderous bastard.”
“What about you, Faraday? How long have you been in this place?”
“Just a couple of months. That’s why I’ve still got some meat on my bones.”
“What happened?”
“My plane got shot down. Only two of us got out. The pilot was sitting right next to me, but he was pinned in his seat. The other guy who got out was captured with me, but he was one of those who tried to make a run for the gate. Yamagata put an arrow through him.”
“Holy hell. I’m sorry.”
“That’s war for you, I guess. There’s nothing fair or right about it. The problem is that the Japanese hold all the cards. I’m sick and tired of it.”
“All we’ve got to do is hold out until tomorrow night, and then we get everybody the hell out of here,” Deke said.
“Twenty-four hours is like twenty-four years in this place,” Faraday said. “The trick will be not to get caught between now and then.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem if the rats don’t talk.”
“I’m not that worried about the rats,” Faraday said. “We’ll keep this plan on a need-to-know basis right up until the last minute. No, I’m more worried about you. You’ve got that look in your eye.”
“What look?” Deke wondered.
“The one that says you despise every Japanese you’re looking at. You kind of squint at them like you’ve got them in the sights of a rifle. That makes them nervous.”
“Huh.” This was all news to Deke.
“It’s no wonder they beat the hell out of you. Do us all a favor. If you want to last twenty-four hours, keep your head down.”
For Deke, that wasn’t going to be so easy.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The next morning before dawn, Deke was roused with the other prisoners to take part in a work crew. He had slept fitfully, to say the least. Being a prisoner of the Japanese was not conducive to a good night’s sleep. Hopefully he would not be a prisoner for much longer.
He ached all over, but he did not complain. He just knew that he had to somehow survive this day and make it to midnight, when the escape from the prison compound would be set into motion.
To his surprise, there was no breakfast to speak of aside from more water. Faraday encouraged him to drink his fill. “It’s best to have something in your belly, even if it’s water.”
“I didn’t expect fried eggs, hash browns, and scrapple,” Deke said. “But I’d settle for a scrap of bread.”
“The Nips only feed us once a day,” Faraday explained. “Don’t expect much — we usually get a broth with just enough vegetables in it to turn the water a little green. A handful of rice now and then.”
“Sounds delicious.”
“I’ve seen men fight over it. It’s not enough to keep a child alive, let alone a grown man.”
It was fair to say that to the average American male who believed that nearly every meal should involve meat and potatoes of some kind, a Japanese diet would have seemed to be lacking even under normal circumstances. Most Japanese ate rice, vegetables, and fish. When they did have meat, it was only a small portion. After a traditional Japanese meal, most Americans would have been left wondering where they could find the nearest hamburger.
The men assembled in the prison yard, lining up for inspection. It was time for the morning head count. Bleary eyed and aching, Deke had no choice but to join them. The mood was not improved by the fact that the stink of the prison latrines clung to the humid morning air.
A couple of men were too weak to report for the roll call. For these men, under these conditions, Deke realized that there was little hope of recovery. There would be no medicine or nourishing food. Their next stop would likely be the boneyard out back. Escape from the prison camp seemed more urgent than ever.
Mr. Suey entered the prisoners’ barracks to check on the weakened men, which involved kicking and punching them to ascertain that the men were not fit to work. Deke could hear the sergeant’s blows landing from where he stood in the prison yard. He was starting to hate the Japanese sergeant even more, if that was possible.
By the time that the sun was poking through the treetops, the men were marching out of a smaller side gate to begin the day’s labor. First, they had to retrieve the yokes with the empty buckets that were being used to haul rocks from the riverbed near the prison camp. A few men also picked up shovels. Deke eased one of the yokes across his shoulders, sucking in his breath at the pain that the touch of the wood prompted in his sore body.
He saw Mr. Suey watching him, a sadistic smile playing across the Japanese sergeant’s lips, and tried not to let his own face betray any emotion. He kept Faraday’s warning in mind about provoking the Japanese. He reminded himself that he had to get through only one day of this, while many others had been here for what must have felt like an eternity.