THE TOCABAGA CHRONICELS: (BOX SET PART II - BOOKS #6-8)

by Thomas H. Ward

  “We should snipe them,” Tommy answered.

  “I agree,” Army Mike concurred. “We let them come to us. They can’t go south because it’s a peninsula. They can’t swim anywhere. They have to come north sooner or later.”

  I replied, “Yeah, and chances are they’ll run into some Free Roamers in the area and have a gun fight with them.” We all started to laugh because the Free Roamers were ruthless killers. They were most likely hidden all over Pass-a-Grille.

  We could still hear rifle fire coming from Tocabaga. It seems some commies were still alive, trying to swim away from our shooters.

  I continued, “Ok, let’s think this thing out. I don’t want anyone getting killed today. We know there’s only one road out. Since they’re on foot they could move down the beach or the channel side. If I were them I’d go down the beach since it is further away. In any case we need to cover all three zones, the street, beach, and channel side.”

  Mike suggested, “Let’s set up two man sniper teams. Two men to cover the beach and two men watch the channel. That leaves four men to cover the street along with the two Hummers. The Hummers can move in for the kill if the sniper teams spot them.”

  “Alright that sounds like a good plan. I suggest we set up the teams about 50 yards south of the pink hotel. That’s the narrowest part of the peninsula. We can put two men watching the street, two on the beach, and one with each Hummer. We’ll keep the trucks hidden out of view. Everyone agree?” All the warriors nodded yes in approval.

  Tommy spoke up, “Jim Bo and I will cover the beach.”

  “Ok, I’ll take Bill and cover the channel side,” Mike responded.

  I commented, “That leaves Maggie, Steve, Rick, and I to cover the street. Maggie and I will take the street. Steve, you and Rick, each take a truck. Hide them off the road and sit tight. If there aren’t any questions let’s move out.”

  No one had a question so we mounted up in the Hummers and drove to our location. The sniper teams spread out to find good cover. Each team had one M249 light machine gun. Steve and Rick did a bang up job hiding the trucks behind some high bushes. Maggie and I took positions covering the street.

  We hunkered down between some Azalea bushes which provided a good view of the street. We were well hidden. Sitting next to me, Maggie asked, “Which way do you think they’ll go?”

  “If I was them I’d take the beach. They have no place to go but north. Maybe they have a radio and can contact a boat but I think they’re too far away for a hand held radio. It might be possible to contact a boat if they can get to a high spot, like the top of the hotel.”

  We heard faint automatic weapon fire coming from downtown Pass-a-Grille. I could tell they were AK47s. Then we heard an explosion which sounded like a hand grenade. It was clear that the Chinese Marines had run into some Free Roamers. Free Roamers might be cutthroat killers, but they’re still Americans. They don’t like being told what to do and certainly won’t take kindly to seeing Red Chinese troops here.

  I got on the radio, “If anyone spots someone let me know.”

  The radio hissed. “Should we shoot Free Roamers?” Tommy asked.

  “Yes, of course. They’re all dangerous.”

  Maggie said, “Fire ants are biting me. They’re all over this area.”

  These tiny little ants bite the shit out of you. The bites itch and turn into a red welt, like a typical bug bite. Then after several hours the red welt gets a tiny white head in the center. If you scratch it they become infected.

  “Yeah, let’s move.” We got up to relocate and brushed the ants off of each other. Maggie and I were going to feel some pain from all the ant bites. I wanted to take off my clothes and rinse off the bites.

  Sitting down again I asked, “Maggie, you ok now?”

  “Yeah, but a shower would be great. Maybe we can take a dip in the Gulf later.”

  “A nice skinny dip sounds good to me.”

  Maggie smiled while looking at me and said, “Yep, that’s exactly what I had in mind.”

  “How’s it working out with Lisa?”

  Lisa was Rico’s girlfriend who just came to live on Tocabaga the other day. She’s staying with Maggie while she learns the ropes.

  “Lisa is doing great. She really knows how to knife fight. She’s pretty good with a gun also. There’s only one problem.”

  “Oh, what’s that?”

  “She is a sex maniac. All she ever talks about is sex and you. Jack, do you have some kind of relationship with her? I wouldn’t blame you if you do, because she’s pretty hot looking. I think she’s in love with you.”

  “She looks at me like a father figure.”

  “Oh, I don’t’ think so. You should hear her talk about you.”

  “What does she say?”

  “She says stuff like, I love Jack. I wish he’d come over alone, so I could prove it to him. Are you sure you’re not involved with her.”

  “I like her alright, but she’s just a good friend. She’ll get over me and find someone on Tocabaga. Maybe Sergeant Willis would date her.”

  Maggie looked at me to see if I was telling the truth. She’s known me a long time so she could tell if I was lying. I lit up a smoke and sat back trying to take the edge off.

  “Lisa told me she danced totally nude for you. Do you expect me to believe you didn’t do anything with her dancing around naked?”

  “What are you? My wife? Lisa didn’t tell you the whole story of what really happened.”

  “Oh! She told me alright. She told me a lot.”

  I took another puff off my smoke and looked at Maggie’s face. She looked angry and frustrated. Off in the distance I heard more shots. They seemed to be getting closer.

  “Maggie, if I didn’t know better … I’d think you were jealous.”

  Maggie started to laugh and then suddenly stopped. “You’re right, Jack. I am jealous. I never told you this before but after Robbie was killed you were the only one that helped me out. You made me feel better by giving me the farm to run and making me a Captain of the Amazons. You gave me hope and something to live for. Now I’m helping the whole island. I owe you big time.”

  Maggie reached over, grabbed me by the shirt, and pulled us together. She kissed my cheek and gave me a tight hug. Maggie is a woman in her late thirties and used to be the best looking woman on Tocabaga until Lisa came along. She has long dark brown hair and a perfect body which she keeps in tip top shape. I give her a ten, but it’s not her looks that matter so much. It’s the way she acts and moves. She’s just plain sexy and tough as nails.

  “Maggie you don’t owe me anything. You’ve worked hard and risked your life. There are only three women I trust to cover my back, my wife, my daughter, and you.”

  “What about Lisa? You don’t trust her to cover your back?”

  “No, not yet. I don’t know her well enough. Hey, that’s enough woman talk. Let’s concentrate on our job.” Suddenly, we heard shots a few blocks away. “Stay alert Maggie, they’re getting closer.”

  I looked at my watch and it was now almost two in the afternoon. Chances were the Red Chinese are waiting for dark to move down the beach off of Pass-a-Grille. We sat there on full alert. Every noise we heard Maggie raised her weapon and looked thought the rifle scope.

  I clicked the radio and asked, “Everyone still there?”

  “Beach team, ok.”

  “Channel team, ok.”

  “Hummer one and two, ok.”

  Maggie asked, “You got any food, Jack? I haven’t had anything to eat all day.”

  “Yep, I have some energy bars.” I tossed her a couple and opened one up for myself. “Bon appétit.”

  The energy bars were given to us by the Army Rangers. One bar is like eating a full meal. It keeps you powered up for about four hours. The only problem is they don’t taste so great.

  It was a typical hot summer day and the humidity was higher than normal due to the rain last night. Maggie and I were both drenched in sweat. I took
my boonie hat off, filled it with water, and dumped it over Maggie’s head to cool her off. We both laughed as she returned the favor. I knew that when night came, we would get ate up by mosquitoes. They were already biting my hands and face.

  “You got any bug spray, Maggie?”

  “Nope, but I wish I did. I’m getting bit up.”

  Mosquitoes are the worst bugs. The little blood suckers carry all kinds of diseases like, West Nile Virus, Meningitis, Malaria, Yellow Fever, Dengue Fever, Encephalitis, and Chikungunya. Chikungunya is a new one that came from Africa. It causes a fever and excruciating joint pain for several weeks which totally knocks you on your ass.

  “Maggie, let’s cover our faces with mud and that will help prevent bites.”

  “Good idea, I need a facial anyway.” We made some mud and covered each others’ face. When the mud dried it would provide some good protection.

  It was getting dark. I stood up, walked over to a bush, and took a leak. Maggie said, “Now you did it.”

  “Did what?”

  “You took a leak. Now, I have to take one.”

  “Well, go ahead, don’t let me stop you. I won’t peek.”

  As Maggie got up and walked past me she replied, “Ha Ha, Jack.”

  “Hey, don’t wander off too far. The bogie men are out there.” It was almost dark and all you could see were shadows. Maggie moved off through the bush and out of view.

  It was calm and you could hear a pin drop. She was gone about five minutes when I heard a twig snap over in her direction and then another. Someone definitely stepped on a twig. Someone was moving in the jungle and it wasn’t Maggie.

  I stood up and started to move towards her direction, but stopped when I heard a rustling sound from bushes about 60 feet away. I didn’t dare call her name because it might not be her. It could be Free Roamers or the Reds.

  I knelt down, raised my M4, and looked through my FLIR night scope. I saw two men sneaking up behind Maggie. Just as she stood up and reached down to pull up her pants they jumped her. One man put his arms around her from behind and covered her mouth. The other picked up her gun and hit her in the face. I saw her slump, she was out cold.

  I couldn’t fire because of all the dense foliage. My bullets could be deflected and I might hit Maggie by accident. I moved around them to obtain an open shot.

  I could hear them softly speaking. They were Free Roamers. One man said, “Look what we got.”

  “Yeah, she’s a cutie. I haven’t had a piece of ass in months. Let’s do her.”

  The other guy said, “Do her right here? No, let’s tie her up and take her back to camp. We can all have some fun.”

  “No, I wanna do her right now!” I watched him pull Maggie’s pants down to her ankles. I saw the jerk lay his gun down and unbuckle his pants. The other dirtbag stood there watching holding on to his AK. I had to act fast.

  I slowly moved closer being very careful not to make any noise. I spotted a rock about the size of a baseball, as they came into view, so I picked it up. I threw the rock over their heads to make them turn around and look in the opposite direction. Thud … it hit the ground; they quickly turned around to see what made the noise.

  I jumped out from behind the bush and fired my silenced M4 hitting the man holding the gun twice in the back. He dropped dead as a door nail to the jungle floor. The other dirtbag darted for his rifle, but tripped falling to his knees while trying to pull up his pants.

  Sitting on the ground he looked at me, and then at his gun, trying to decide if he had time to grab his AK47 before I shot him. I said, “Go ahead dork, make my day.”

  He didn’t listen to me and I kept walking closer to him. “I told you to go for your gun.”

  He held his hands up in the air. “Mister, please don’t kill me. I didn’t mean any harm.”

  Without saying another word I pulled the trigger … POP! I placed one shot right between his eyes and he slumped over dead.

  “I didn’t mean any harm,” I told his dead body. I must admit it made me feel good killing two disgusting dorks that were going to rape Maggie.

  Bending down I splashed some water on Maggie’s face and shook her. She had an ugly welt on her left cheek, but other than that she appeared fine. “Maggie wake up.”

  As I held her head in my lap she slowly opened her eyes and asked, “What happened?”

  “Free Roamers jumped you.”

  Maggie sat there stunned for a few moments. She noticed her pants were pulled down to her ankles. She looked around and saw the two dead dorks. Maggie asked, “Did they do anything?”

  Holding her head up I gave her a drink of water and said, “Do you think I’d let any shit heads touch you.” Using my wet bandanna I gently wiped off her face. “You’ll have a sore jaw for a while, but you’ll be ok.

  I held up two fingers and asked, “How many fingers?”

  “Two.”

  “Is your vision blurry?”

  “No, I can see fine.” Maggie touched her jaw and felt the large welt on her cheek. She winced a little from the pain. Regaining her senses she stood up, pulled up her pants, and brushed off the dirt. “Thanks for saving my life.”

  “You don’t need to thank me.”

  “When they first jumped me, I thought it was you fooling around.”

  “Maggie, you know I don’t fool around.”

  “I know, but sometimes, just sometimes, I wish you would, Mr. Perfect.”

  “Come on, let’s cover up these bodies and get back to our position.” We covered up the bodies with big fallen palm fronds. I was concerned that some wild dogs or coyotes would smell the blood and come over for a free dinner. I didn’t want any rabid dogs roaming around near us.

  Sitting at our post we heard gunfire over by the beach. It sounded like AKs’ on full auto. My radio hissed, “We got someone firing on the beach. It looks like the Chinese and the Roamers are fighting. They’re headed this way,” Tommy advised.

  Clicking the radio button I asked, “Can you see anyone?”

  “Negative, not yet. I think they’re skirting the fringe of the beach using the bushes for cover.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense. How far away are they?”

  “I guess 200 yards and closing.”

  “We need an ambush plan. You got any ideas.” Tommy didn’t reply right away.

  We knew there were 18 Chinese, but we didn’t know how many Free Roamers they were fighting. I thought it was great they were killing each other, making our job easier.

  I added, “Tommy, what if we back off and just watch these guys kill each other?”

  “Yeah, we could do that but we run the risk of some of them escaping. I was hoping we could find an officer alive and grill him for information. Put him on the hot seat so to speak.”

  “I see your point. So what do you wanna do? We’re running out of time.”

  “Ok, everyone listen up. We’ll do an “L” shaped ambush. Jim Bo and I will be behind a big sand dune here. We’re the small part of the L. Put one Hummer at one end of your leg and another one at the other end. Space them about 100 yards apart to create a machine gun cross fire.

  “The rest of you space out 20 yards apart in between the Hummers. Stay undercover about 30 yards from the beach. Our beach fire should drive them towards you. When you spot them, open fire. Anyone got any questions?” No one answered.

  I directed the Hummers into position. Mike and Bill came over and we made a defensive line in between the two gun trucks at 20 yards apart.

  We looked for trees or logs to hide behind. Maggie was on my right and Mike was on my left. I had visual contact with Maggie and could see she was well protected behind a big old palm tree.

  I hunkered down, on the ground, behind a dead tree. I had just laid down when I heard the distinct sound of a rattlesnake. There’s no mistaking the sound of a rattlesnake. I’ve heard them many times. I tried not to make any sudden moves. The snake sounded very close to my left side. I slowly turned to look and there it was thr
ee feet away. It was coiled ready to strike. Judging by the size of the rattle, sticking up in the air, it was a big snake.

  If I made any sudden movements it would strike. I couldn’t swing my M4 around for fear the movement would set off the snake. I couldn’t use my hand gun because it didn’t have any noise suppression. The shot could give us away.

  I slowly took off my boonie hat and tossed it right on top of the snake’s head as it struck. It struck the hat two times. I jumped up and shot it six times with my M4 making sure it was dead. I hate snakes and that scared the shit out of me. Picking it up by the tail I threw it into the weeds, hoping there weren’t any more crawling around. I tossed my hat into the weeds because there maybe venom on the fabric and you don’t want that in your eyes.

  I heard radio static and Tommy came on. “They’re getting closer. As soon as they’re all in the ambush zone we’ll open fire. Using my night vision I can see your Hummers. You guys all set up?”

  I replied, “Roger that. How many men do you see?”

  “I see ten Chinese and six Free Roamers. That means eight Chinese might have been killed or they’re still out there.”

  “The Roamers did a good job for us.”

  We could see the flashes from the gun barrels right in front of us. Looking through my scope I counted five men, then eight, then ten, and following close behind them, taking pot shots, were the Roamers. Everyone was now in our ambush zone.

  I clicked the radio, “Everyone is in our zone. Open fire.” I squeezed the trigger and so did everyone else. The plan went kind of backwards, but it still worked out. Since my group fired first that forced the enemy to run out onto the open beach making them easy targets for Tommy and Jim Bo.

  I heard our beach guns open up. Looking through my FLIR I saw the Roamers start to run back the way they came. I saw a few of them fall as our machine guns spit out fire and death from their barrels. The foliage and bushes in front of us were blasted away by the wall of bullets giving us a more-or-less an open view of the beach.

  Tommy yelled on the radio, “Cease fire! Cease fire! They’re flying a white flag and want to surrender. Pull the Hummers out on the beach to cover these guys.”