Ricks took a breath again. This clandestine stuff was for the birds. He was just as happy shooting the guy and being done with it, but the addition of children prevented that. He noticed Dickson freeze and hold up his hand.
Dickson looked into the next classroom and found it had been turned into a barracks. Six men were inside sleeping on cots. He raised three fingers, then raised them again before pointing at the room. Looking back down the hall, six men had entered besides him and Ricks.
Ricks motioned for two men to come up. They eased around the lockers and joined them at the door with their silenced pistols in their hands. Dickson held up the six fingers again, then pointed at the gun and gave a cut sign across his throat. Both men nodded in understanding. They gently opened the door and walked inside. There was a soft sound almost as if some drops of rain had hit the floor, then the two men eased back out of the room.
The team continued to make its way silently up the hall looking into each room. They reached the end of the hall and peered around the corner. One man was walking up and down the long hallway while another was sitting at a small table reading under a lamp. At the far end of the hall were four other men just standing around.
This was getting complicated. The targets were too far away for the pistols and with the small light on, there was a chance they might be seen. Dickson felt a tug on his arm. It was Miller.
“Let me get my guys up here. We can get the ones at the end and by the light. Wait till the guard comes this way and one of you can take him out,” he whispered only loud enough to be heard by Dickson.
Dickson nodded in understanding and gave another thumbs up. Miller and his men spread out across the hall behind some lockers and took a bead on the targets at the far end. They waited as the one guard slowly made his way toward them.
The guard was tired. It was an hour into his watch and he was already bored to death. His place was out killing Americans not nursemaiding children. His rifle was slung over his shoulder as he slowly walked down the hall. It was bad enough they spent all day lugging the guns up the stairways and getting them set up, but to spend half the night wandering the halls was beyond reason. The officer took the only chair available. He was sitting reading Mao’s Little Red Book while the soldiers kept watch. The further up the hall he got the darker it became. The building was just over 100 yards long from end to end. That light in the middle made it worse. Twice he had tripped on something left on the floor. As he neared the end of the hall something didn’t look quite right. Usually the lockers made a straight line shadow in the dim light that he watched for to make sure he didn’t hit them. This time it did not. He reached for his gun when he saw a very small flash.
All the targets dropped at once as the snipers fired. A slight clatter was heard at the other end as a couple of rifles hit the hard floor. Miller took one more shot and snuffed the lamp, sending the hallway into total darkness. A little more quickly the men moved down the hall, glancing into the rooms and making sure no one else was around.
A small light came from one room. The radio operator had his headset on and was intent on listening to something. One shot from Ricks’ pistol took care of business. He lowered the man back on the table to look like he was sleeping and placed a helmet on the man’s head. Picking up the headset, he put it to his ear. The man had been listening to South Korean Rock and Roll. By the time he came back out the door, the others were pulling the bodies out of the hallway into a classroom.
Some shouts could be heard from the upper floors and, in the distance came the sound of a diesel engine. Some soldiers on the upper landings were talking and moving around. No one came down the stairs. They were too intent on watching the roads.
Looking into the large doors at the end of the hallway, Dickson found what they had been looking for. The cafeteria floor was lined with sleeping children. There were two men inside as far as he could see. One was sitting behind a machine gun at one corner; its muzzle aiming towards the children. He was about to signal the others when someone he hadn’t seen turned the corner and walked toward the doors. Dickson backed quickly away and waited for the man to come through. Oblivious to what had occurred outside, the man slapped the doors open and walked through allowing them to close behind him. Dickson raised his pistol and put a round through the soldier’s left ear. He watched the already dead body tumble like a rag.
Thinking fast, Dickson motioned for Ricks to join him. He grabbed the man’s rifle and slung it over his shoulder like the dead man had carried it, then pulled the blood stained hat over his head. He and Ricks casually opened the doors and walked into the gym. Dickson walked to a position behind the man on the machine gun and leaned up against the wall. Ricks did almost the same, walking farther down the wall toward the second soldier standing guard over the kids on the other side. Ricks pulled up a chair and sat down. Both had a clear shot. Ricks saw Dickson raise his pistol and he did the same. The shots went off almost at the same time.
Ricks sprinted to the opposite side of the room and glared into the kitchen. It was empty. He gave a thumbs up to Dickson who called in the rest of the troops.
More than 100 children were in the cafeteria. At first Dickson wasn’t sure what they would do with them all, but one child raised his head, wondering what was going on. One of the soldiers nearby came over and pressed a finger to his lips and shushed him. Then, one-by one, the soldiers began waking the children and telling them in both English and Korean to keep very quiet. To Dickson’s surprise, none of them screamed or cried out, although a few wanted to start talking. He motioned to Ricks to come over.
“If we try and go out the kitchen, the people on the other floors might see. It’s the shortest wing. Let’s get them down the hall and back out where we came in. Have six of the guys lead the kids to the trucks and hold them there while we search the other floors,” he said.
Ricks nodded and got things going. Very quietly the children began walking down the halls. Unfortunately the sounds of little feet were hard to mask and Dickson and the others cringed at the noise. But no one came down the stairs at the end of the halls or at the main entrance.
Outside the building, first one, then another tracked vehicle came down the street several hundred yards away. Ricks could hear orders being given on one of the upper floors and weapons being loaded.
Scanning the courtyard and the streets around the building, the coast was clear and the children were quickly led around the retaining wall to a building at the far side of the street out of sight.
Dickson turned back to Ricks. “OK, now for the fun part. You ready to go up a flight?” he asked in a whisper.
“Do we have a choice?”
Dickson stifled a laugh. “Let’s go.”
The men walked down the first hall again and half the unit went to the stairwell at one end with Ricks while the rest stayed with Dickson. As the men quietly ascended the stairs, a loud bang resounded as one of the guns opened up on the parading Bradleys. Along with the shouts by the soldiers were the screams of more children. Dashing up the final few steps, Dickson looked around the corner of the stairwell.
The hall had several men walking around going between rooms in the center of the hall. Making his way, Dickson saw that the end classrooms were vacant, but the second one had children inside. He saw no guards. Checking the door, it was locked.
He motioned for his men to come ahead and begin going from room to room. Looking back in the door window, he saw that no children were near the door itself. Aiming his pistol at the lock, he pulled the trigger twice. The door opened and he stepped inside to a scream. Some of the girls thought he was there to kill them. He motioned for them to quiet down, but they kept it up. Suddenly the light was flipped on and he turned to see a North Korean soldier standing in the doorway. He raised his pistol and fired before the man could spread the alarm, spinning the soldier around and slamming him to the floor. A second soldier appeared wearing an American uniform and the night vision goggles. He snapped the lights back off before firing one more into the North Korean.