"Enemy officer" caught the ear of a major who had been standing talking to a sergeant on the other side of the sand-bagged entrance. He walked over to the Jeep.
McCoy saluted.
"Enemy officer?" the major asked, then "Marines?" and finally, "War correspondent?"
"Yes, sir, three times," McCoy said.
"The only thing I can do for you is advise you to get back to Division," the major said. "We've just been advised to expect an attack anytime from darkness-which means just about now-`til 0300."
"Yes, sir, we know," McCoy said.
"This is no place for you, ma'am," the major said to Jeanette.
"Jeanette Priestly, Chicago Tribune" she said, with a dazzling smile, and offered the major her hand.
"We have a Korean sergeant who speaks some English," the major said to McCoy. "I'd like him to talk to your pris-oner." Then he had a second thought: "Public relations? What are you doing with a prisoner?"
Here we go again.
"Sir, Gunner Zimmerman and I are not public relations," he said, and handed the major the "Dai-Ichi" orders. "I found it necessary to commandeer her Jeep when Eighth Army didn't have one for us."
The major read the orders, his eyebrows rising as he did.
"I think we'd better go see the regimental commander, Captain," he said.
The regimental colonel was a slight man with a mustache. Somehow he had managed to remain dapper despite the heat, the dust and everything else.
"I don't want to seem inhospitable, Captain," he said, looking up at McCoy after he'd read the orders. "But we're a little busy here. Can we cut to the chase? What are two Ma-rine officers doing here with a female war correspondent?"
He, too, had a second thought.
"Fred, ask the lady and the other officer to come in here," he said to the major. "And bring the prisoner." He looked at McCoy. "We're expecting an attack at any time; there will certainly be artillery."
"Yes, sir," the major said, and went out of the sand-bagged CP.
"That information came from the prisoner, sir," McCoy said.
The colonel looked at him, waiting for him to go on.
"He's a major attached to the 83rd Motorcycle Regi-ment-probably their G-2. He was making a reconnais-sance when he was captured by a squad from the 34th Infantry doing the same thing."
"How do you know this?"
"He told me."
"You speak Korean?"
"Yes, sir."
The colonel's eyebrows rose.
"How'd you get him to talk?"
"I told him that since he was an officer wearing a pri-vate's uniform, he was subject to being shot as a spy."
"I'm starting to like you, Captain," the colonel said. "What else did he have to say?"
"He said the attack will start at 0300, with the 83rd Mo-torcycle Regiment and the 6th Division."
"And you believe him?"
"I told him if it doesn't happen at 0300, I'll have him shot. If it does, I'll take him to the 24th Division Head-quarters and see that he's treated as an officer prisoner."
"So you're not a two-man Marine bodyguard for a fe-male war correspondent?" the colonel asked, smiling.
"No, sir."
"With those orders, you could be anything. What is your `mission'? Your orders are a little vague about that."
`To see what's going on here, sir."
"For General Almond himself?"
"Actually for General Pickering, sir."
The colonel, as the 34th Regiment's commander had done, searched his memory back for "Pickering" and came up blank.
"In the Dai-Ichi Building?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Where does the lady fit in?"
"Eighth Army didn't have wheels for us, sir. So I com-mandeered hers."
"And brought her along?"
"Yes, sir."
"Okay. I'll tell you `what's going on,'" he said. "Appar-ently largely based on your intelligence, we expect an at-tack sometime between right now and 0300. The only signs we've had of anything are reports-half a dozen re-ports-of small groups of North Koreans trying to wade across the Kum River"-he turned to his map and pointed'-"in this area."
He turned back to face McCoy.
"Small groups," he said. "I think they know we're short on artillery. You heard about the 63rd Field Artillery get-ting overrun?..."
McCoy nodded.
"... and are reluctant to fire what little we have on groups of five or six men. And they're also aware of the location of our positions. As a ballpark figure, my regiment is holding three times as much line as I was taught was the absolute maximum at Leavenworth, (Graduation from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College is a prerequisite for promotion to colonel and being given command of a regiment.) and there are holes in it. The North Koreans are wading across where, in many cases, it is impossible for us to bring small-arms fire to bear."
"Can you give us a guide to some of these positions?"
"Why?"
"I'd like to try to get another prisoner or two, sir."
"I'd like another one, too," the colonel said. "Particu-larly since you speak Korean. I can send you up here"- he pointed at the map again-"with Major Allman, my G-3, and one of his sergeants. It'll be really dark in an hour..."
"Thank you, sir."
"... which means that you and the lady will have to re-main here for the night. Which means that you had better hope we can hold out until first light, because you won't be able to get out of here before then."
"I understand, sir."
[FIVE]
Five minutes after Major Allman, Captain McCoy, and Master Gunner Zimmerman had started out from the regi-mental command post for the outpost positions of Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry, a female voice called out, "Hey, guys, wait for me!"
"Miss Priestly," Major Allman said, dryly, "has appar-ently chosen to ignore the colonel's suggestion to remain in the CP."
"Escaped from the CP is more like it," Captain McCoy said.
"Fuck her," Master Gunner Zimmerman said.
"That thought has occurred to me," Major Allman said. "But this isn't the time nor place. The question is what do we do about her, here and now?"
"The light's failing," McCoy said. "We don't have time to take her back."
"Your call, Captain," Allman said.
"I don't see where we have a choice," McCoy said.
He started walking again.
Three minutes later, the war correspondent of the Chicago Tribune caught up with them. She had a Leica III-c 35-mm camera hanging around her neck, and was carry-ing a.30-caliber carbine in her hand.
"You're supposed to be a noncombatant," McCoy said.
"I should use it on you, you son of a bitch," Jeanette said, conversationally, "for leaving me back there."
Five minutes later, they reached the Baker Company CP-which was nothing more than a sandbag reinforced shelter on the military crest (The military crest of a hill is just below the actual crest, and therefore is not under enemy observation.) of a small hill overlooking the river.
The company commander was not there; the first ser-geant said he was out checking positions. He showed them-on a hand-drawn map-where they were, on the other side of the bill, overlooking the river, and thus visible to the enemy.
`This is as far as you go, Jeanette," McCoy said. "If nec-essary, I'll have you tied up."