Cambodia

by Nick Carter

  It was not part of my job. My job was to find out about some Society. But as I searched through the village, that Society seemed like part of another life. I was surrounded by the most horrible kind of death I had ever seen. And I wanted to cause death at least as horrible.

  And then somehow I was standing in the center of the village with the Luger in my hand. The sun was peeking over the jungle. Nam Kien walked toward me looking from side to side.

  "They were looking for you," he said. "They came here because the village was next, it is where we were coming, it was where we were going to rest."

  I looked at him through narrowed eyes. "Are you telling me all this was done because I am here?"

  He nodded grimly. "It was done as an example so other villagers will know. We will have no help from now on. None of the villagers can be trusted. They are afraid."

  I put Wilhelmina back in the holster. "Nam Kien, you talk as though you have seen something like this before."

  He looked around keeping his face away from me. I saw his eyelashes blinking. "Once," he said softly. "Yes, once I saw something like this. When my son was murdered."

  I moved around so that I stood in front of him. His eyes had misted slightly. "Are you telling me this Society operates like this?" I asked.

  Nam Kien sighed deeply. "It is two hours to the next village. If the North Vietnamese are looking for you, daylight will make it easier for them. We must be very careful as we enter villages now."

  I looked around at the carnage. "What about them?"

  "They will not mind our leaving. You find this barbaric, leaving the bodies open to the elements? Is it less barbaric than staring through an open casket at a body? I understand in your country friends and relatives actually stand in line to see a body."

  "All right," I said. "Let's go."

  Before we were completely out of the village I found myself thinking Nam Kien had been right. It would have taken us days to bury all those people, days I didn't have. But I wondered how smart it was for us to hide from those six young men. Maybe we should have waited and popped them off, as they came by. They were ahead of us now, entering the villages before we got to them. Maybe, like Nam Kien said, they hadn't tried anything in that last village because they would have lost face. But they could make their move anytime now.

  They could do one of two things. They could wipe out each village as they came to it, hoping to starve or scare us off. Or they could wait anywhere along the trail and take us out as we came by. Either way I looked at it, they had the advantage.

  As I moved behind Nam Kien I found myself searching the jungle around me. With the sun had come the insects. I slapped at mosquitos and other larger biters. Nam Kien stepped lively, like a man with a purpose. It was almost as though he expected something. The sun could not touch us in the jungle. But as the sun lifted, the air felt as though we were passing through a sauna. The sweltering heat sapped my strength and drained it right out through my aching legs.

  I kept going because Nam Kien was going. But as the morning crept by I saw that he too was feeling fatigued. His movements were jerky, clumsy. As he marched on, he was tripping more often. Small obstacles like branches across the trail became devices to stumble over. But he wouldn't stop to rest. And I kept right behind him. I had to keep wiping my eyes because the sweat closed them. The back of my neck was welted with mosquito bites. My clothes were soaked and sticky. I could have sworn someone was walking behind me loading rocks in the pack as we went.

  I lost track of time. It seemed we had been in the muggy heat for almost two weeks or longer. It had become a permanent part of my life. If I had ever been cold I couldn't remember when. But I trudged along, stumbling when Nam Kien stumbled, tripping when he tripped. Then at last he raised his hand for a rest break.

  With great effort Nam Kien pushed the straps of the pack off his shoulders. As the pack sunk to the ground he quickly followed it. His head laid back on it, his eyes closed, his mouth open and puffing.

  I was on my knees when my own pack dropped from my shoulders. I had managed to make it close to him. When I leaned back, I fished for my cigarettes. Most of them were soggy with sweat. Way in the back of the pack I found two with the ends dry enough to fight. Nam Kien took one, then cupped his hand over mine while I lit it.

  "The village is not far," Nam Kien said in quick panting words. Even to talk was an effort.

  "What do you think we'll find?"

  "Who knows?" He shrugged, but I could see the worry in his eyes. It did not look good. Neither one of us liked those North Vietnamese kids in front of us.

  If we found another village like the one we had just left, I think I would have made a point of hunting those young soldiers down. I could build up a good case for letting everything else go to hell. I leaned back, smoked and looked up at the greenery blotting out the sky. In a voice that did not sound like my own, I said, "Do we walk straight into this village like we did the last one?"

  "No. The village is very near. Even now I can smell rice cooking. Perhaps they have guards who already know we are here. No, we shall go in separately. I will go in directly along the trail. You will be twenty to fifty feet on my right. If it is a trap it will be an American they are looking for. I will see it as I go in and warn you."

  "And what happens to you?"

  "No harm will come to me," he said.

  I had just about given up trying to learn anything about the Silver Snake Society from him. I respected Nam Kien as a man, and I guess in a strange way I even liked him. Although he didn't come right out and say it, what happened to his son and what he knew of the Society was simply none of my business. If I had problems with the Society that was between me and them. It didn't concern Nam Kien, and he wasn't going to become part of it. His attitude irritated me, but I wasn't going to break him down and I knew it. That fact in itself was probably why he earned my respect.

  As though Nam Kien had just been shot with an overdose of energy he stomped out his cigarette and rocked to his feet. He lifted the pack and started to push his arms through. "We go now," he said.

  I climbed to my feet. By the time I had my pack on he had already started marching off. I knew he was every bit as tired as I was. We had been traveling all night and most of this morning. And we hadn't eaten anything since the first village we had come to.

  Nam Kien was right. We hadn't gone for more than 15 minutes when I too could smell the rice. I wondered why he rested just outside the village. Then I knew he was expecting trouble. He wanted to be as fresh as possible when we actually came to the place.

  As with the other villages, the jungle thinned and well-worn paths crisscrossed all around. I cocked my head, listening, but there were no sounds. We could see the thatched roofs now. Three old women were bent over a cooking pot. Two men lounged in front of the door of the first hut. Nam Kien motioned me away with his hand. I trotted 30 feet off to the right. There was one hut separating me and Nam Kien. We entered the village at about the same time. I kept my eyes on him and moved behind the hut to the next one. He nodded at the two men in a form of greeting. They talked in Vietnamese. I couldn't understand the words but the men seemed nervous. I let my eyes sweep around the village. No children were playing. No other men or women were in sight, just those in front of the first hut.

  Across from where I was standing a small toddler wandered out of a hut. It was a naked girl, less than two years old. She wandered about aimlessly, crying. Her little fists kept pushing in at her eyes. She seemed to be looking for another hut. Suddenly a young girl of 13 or 14 charged out of the same hut. She ran up to the baby, snatched it off the ground, gave one fearful look around, then ran quickly back into the hut.

  Something was not right here.

  I pulled Wilhelmina from its holster. Neither the two men lounging in front of the hut nor the three women huddled over the pot could see me. I moved along the side of the hut. When I was close to the front I shrugged out of the pack and eased it to the ground. The two men
were shuffling toward the door of the hut. Nam Kien watched them warily as he spoke to them. I guessed he was asking for the village chief, and he wasn't getting any satisfaction from these two. I raised the Luger. I was waiting for something sudden, and I was expecting it. I figured I could squeeze off two quick shots killing both men before they jumped into the hut. I was waiting for either one of them to make a sudden move.

  The conversation ended. Nam Kien took a step backward, letting his eyes jump around the village. The two men shuffled closer to the hut door.

  When the movement came, it came quickly and from an unexpected source. One of the three old women suddenly straightened and raised her hand high. There was a long dagger in the hand. The other two then straightened and raised daggers of their own. Nam Kien took another step backward as the three advanced. I saw that they weren't old women at all. One of them was one of the insolent teenagers I had seen in the first village. He was the nearest to Nam Kien.

  I shot him just behind the ear. As his head snapped forward with the rest of his body following, the other two looked around confused. I could smell the burned gunpowder from the Luger. I fired again and a second man twisted around clutching his side. Then loud rifle shots came from the jungle around the village. The dirt at my feet kicked up as bullets plowed into it. Nam Kien had raised his foot high, kicking the dagger out of the third man's hand. They were rolling together on the ground. The two nervous men lounging outside the hut had scrambled for the door when I fired my first shot. They would never know how close they came to getting themselves killed.

  I was running now, streaking back to the jungle. It seemed the closest cover. Rifle bullets plunked all around me. I ran a zigzag pattern, jumping and ducking as I moved. When I reached the first greenery of the jungle I dove into it, rolled three times and got back to my feet. I cut to the left and took off again, skirting the village. Through small open clearings I could see the village. The rifle shots became small cracklings. Then I realized that I wasn't the only one the rifles were aimed at. I saw the youthful girl come running from the hut with the small baby in her arms. The hut had somehow caught on fire and others followed the girl out. She was the first to catch it. The bullet ripped away one side of her face, yet as she fell she tried to cushion the baby's fall with her own body. The baby started to scream with fear. Another woman running right behind the girl bent to scoop up the baby as she ran. As I ran I saw a man cut down as he ran across to another hut. I was trying to see where all the shots were coming from. They seemed to be scattered around the village. Whoever they were they were shooting from the jungle and seemed to be well-hidden. I wanted one of them. I wanted all of them.

  I was getting worried about Nam Kien as I reached the end of the village. The only thing to do was to move from hut to hut. In the jungle I couldn't locate the rifles, but if I could fire from the village I might be able to hit one or two of the snipers. I cut another left taking me directly back to the village. Then I pulled up.

  A man lay across my path. He was naked and the lower part of his body had been mutilated horribly. He had the markings of a chief. His eyes and mouth were open wide with horror. A rifle fired very close to me. I saw the bullet hit the old woman who had just come out of the burning hut. I looked up, carefully watching for movement of any kind. Another shot came, and I had the spot pinpointed. I couldn't make him out clearly, which was all right because that meant he couldn't make me out either.

  I raised the Luger at some rustling leaves and fired twice. The height had been about ten feet. The rifle came down first. It bounced through branches and then on to the floor of the jungle. The sniper followed his rifle. I didn't have to check to see if he was dead. He struck the ground with his head and was bent over like a cannon ball off a high dive. There were still rifles firing from the jungle. I listened in a crouch trying to figure how many. I guessed at three more.

  There was a hut 20 yards from me. I stepped over the dead chief and ran for it. When I reached the door I looked farther down inside the village where Nam Kien had been. There was no sign of him or the third man.

  A rifle was firing directly across from the door of the hut. A bullet from it ripped a piece from the shoulder of my shirt. In anger I got off four quick shots in the direction the bullets had come from. I heard a high, piercing scream. The firing stopped.

  I moved out from the hut. There was still no sign of Nam Kien. Almost all the huts were burning. Smoke hugged the ground, limiting visibility. As I walked in a semi-crouch into the swirling smoke, I came to realize that the man I had shot from the tree was no teenage kid. It looked like the kids had picked up some help along the way. I suddenly shivered. There seemed to be a wind blowing at my back. But in that humid heat I knew there was no wind. It was some kind of force coming at me. I turned swinging the Luger with me.

  The kid dove from three feet away. He had been running at top speed for I don't know how far. But his feet had left the ground and he was coming at me head first. At that speed I knew I couldn't stop him. My eyes were burning from smoke. He was almost on me before I saw the glint of a long dagger in his hand. His young face showed a look of surprise-surprise that I had seen him I guess.

  I dropped on my hands and knees and quickly rolled to my back. When the force of his hurtling struck me, I let the bulk of his weight land on my feet, then I just kept my legs moving, using his momentum to push him over me and down. But even before I stopped him, the arm with the dagger was raised for a throw. I managed to pick up Wilhelmina, fired quickly, missed and fired again. His head snapped back; the bullet had hit him through the center of the forehead. The dagger fell from his hand, then he simply toppled over backward.

  All the huts were burning now. I was starting to cough from all the thick smoke. I got to my feet. There were no more rifle shots. I hoped Nam Kien wasn't in the jungle with one of them. There had originally been six youths. So I figured they had picked up one other, maybe someone older, like a leader. That meant there still were two roaming around. Nam Kien was tangling with one when I left him. There was still one more to go.

  People were streaming from the burning huts. Confusion reigned. Everyone was bumping into everyone else. Some of the older, wiser men had taken charge and were leading women and children slowly between the burning huts and out of the village. There was a great deal of crying. I was doing a little myself.

  I waded through them, trying not to run any of them down. I made my way along one side of the village and headed for the end where we had entered. The combination of wet, sweltering heat and eye-searing smoke was almost unbearable. Only the insects stayed away.

  As I moved I let my burning eyes search all areas of the village. I was halfway along the circle of huts when I saw something across the clearing and between two other burning huts. At first it looked like a small clump of rocks. I went toward it, and as I drew close, I saw it was three men, two standing and one lying on the ground. I started to run. The two standing were young, one still had on the old-woman-over-the-boiling-pot outfit. Both had long knives.

  I knew who was on the ground, Nam Kien.

  I aimed the Luger. On the run I figured I might need four or five shots to kill the two men. In that time they could have Nam Kien's limbs amputated. The two were doing something to him, but I couldn't see what. At least Nam Kien was still alive. His arms were flailing, striking the men's legs, trying to get away from them. His face was covered with blood. The smoke between us wasn't quite so thick now. My breath came in pants. I jumped over two dead villagers without slackening speed.

  I was getting close. I aimed loosely and fired two quick shots. Both shots slammed into the man with the dagger. The first hit his shoulder and the second one took a chunk of meat from his left cheek. He jumped like a child skipping rope. He actually attempted to run. But after two steps, his knees buckled like a football halfback hit from behind. He rolled against a burning hut and lay still. The second man immediately dropped the pant legs he was tugging on. He fell to one knee, an
d when he rose, he had a long dagger in his hand. Nam Kien was reaching out for a rifle that lay beside him. He was kicking at the man trying to get him away from him. The man was raising the dagger high to plunge it into him. I fired and hit the man in the leg. He twisted in a half-turn facing me. His face looked quite young, not more than 17. He appeared wide-eyed, like a man running from a pursuer. I was less than ten feet away and ready to leap on him. The dagger came high. Nam Kien got his hands on the rifle. I fired, hitting the youth in the chest.

  He gave one piercing scream as I reached him. "Death to all Yankee invaders!" he cried. He fell downward, pushing out at me just as I hit his side.

  The blow was enough to keep me rolling. I didn't have a good grip on him, and he twisted out of my grasp as he went down. Nam Kien swung the rifle barrel toward the youth's mouth and pulled the trigger. The shot blew half the teenager's face away, but not before he had plunged his dagger all the way to the handle into Nam Kien's chest.

  Six

  When I got to my feet, the youth already had stiffened and fallen backward. I shoved my Luger back in its holster and stood frozen as I watched what Nam Kien was doing.

  He had his hand on the handle of the dagger. He grimaced with pain as his powerful body gave one mighty jerk, and then the blade was out of his chest and dripping with blood. Nam Kien threw the dagger away in disgust. He fell on his back and put his forearm across his eyes.

  I took off at a run. When I rounded the ruin of the hut where I'd been earlier, I snatched up my pack and raced back to where Nam Kien was lying. Kneeling beside him I pulled the first-aid kit from the pack. But when I looked at the wound I knew that wasn't going to do it.

  "It is bad?" he asked in a weak voice. He saw the look on my face and he knew.

  "If we could get you to a hospital…" I said weakly.

  He snorted and closed his eyes. We both knew there wasn't a hospital within a hundred miles from where we were. I dressed the wound with what I had. Even when there is no hope you are supposed to pretend there is. A lung and some arteries had been pierced. There was no way I could stop the internal bleeding. His eyes were getting to be a milky color, and his breathing sounded gurgling and liquid.