"Oh, shit," McCoy said.
Movement of any kind through the area was difficult. The temperature and humidity were high, and the terrain steep, uneven, and slippery.
Military efficiency would dictate that those making the journey carry as little individually as possible-a carbine, four fifteen-round clips, a canteen, a change of socks, and dry rations-and that communal property, the carrying of which would be shared, be limited to the absolute essentials: a radio, batteries, a small quantity of ammunition and hand grenades, and emergency medical supplies.
The decision had been made, however, for a number of reasons, to evacu-ate nine seriously ill and/or wounded personnel who would almost certainly die if they could not receive the attention of a general hospital.
Since they could not walk, they would have to be carried. That meant four bearers for each evacuee. Even by alternating bearers, the pace would be con-siderably slower than otherwise. And since carrying both a sick man and weap-ons would be impossible, other bearers would be required to carry the bearers' weapons and food. The larger the party, the greater the risk of detection by the Japanese. That would mean additional bearers to carry additional ammunition and hand grenades in case of a confrontation with the Japanese.
And now there were civilians to be evacuated.
"Did you pick up on that 'augment repeat augment' business, Ken?" Lewis asked.
"What?" McCoy asked, having been dragged back to the present from his consideration of the ramifications of adding an unknown number of civilians in unknown physical condition to the original evacuation party.
"Did you pick up on the word 'augment'?" Lewis asked.
"Yeah. It looks as if Macklin stays, doesn't it?"
"You going to tell him?"
"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."