The sergeant returned shortly with the lieutenant. "That"s him," he said, pointing to Wims.
The lieutenant glanced at the green bar. "Are you sure you got that message straight?"
Wims looked at the menacing sergeant. "Yes, suh," he said, swallowing.
"Somebody is crazy," the lieutenant muttered. "Sergeant, tell Lieutenant Haas to cover my platoon. I"m going back to the CP to see Captain Blair about this message. I"ll try to be back before the attack starts to either confirm or cancel the order, but, if not, Haas is to hold his fire until he spots the white flare, or the Blues are right on top of us; whichever happens first."
The lieutenant hustled up the hill and the sergeant went off to find Lieutenant Haas, leaving Wims alone with the machine gun and the still unconscious gunner. The distant machine-gun firing had stopped and the white smoke of a screen laid down by the Blue attackers started scudding thickly across the face of the hill, hiding them as they charged.
"Pickets are back," the sergeant yelled at Lieutenant Haas. "The Blues"ve crossed the road an" are in the gully at the bottom of the hill."
"How the devil can I possibly see a signal flare through these trees and all this smoke?" Haas muttered to the sergeant. "I think we"ve got a first-cla.s.s snafu. Let"s go check the machine-gun position; if it"s still there."
A whistle sounded and the Blue company surged up out of the ditch and swarmed up the hill. As had been ordered, not a defending shot had yet been fired. Wims opened the breech of the machine gun to see if the ammunition belt was properly engaged. He had a difficult time forcing it open and when he succeeded he found the webbing twisted and a couple of cartridges jammed in at impossible angles. As he was trying to clear it, the unconscious gunner revived, glanced at the advancing Blues and made for the gun which Wims had already commenced to take apart.
"Whaddaya doin"?" the gunner yelled. He pushed Wims aside, causing him to release his hold on the powerful spring. The bolt shot out of the back of the gun and struck the approaching Lieutenant Haas above the left ear just as he was opening his mouth to give the order to return fire. He fell to the ground with the command unspoken and the sergeant knelt to his aid. At the same moment Wims recognized some members of his platoon charging up the hill and realized for the first time he was behind enemy lines. In sheer embarra.s.sment he slunk away, hoping none of his comrades would notice.
The lieutenant who had gone to confirm Wims" message now came running down the hill shouting at his men to return fire. He had his captain with a lieutenant aide in tow and when they reached the machine-gun nest and the fallen Haas the lieutenant looked for Wims.
"I tell you he was here," the lieutenant said. "The gunner and the sergeant can bear me out."
"And I tell you," the captain said excitedly, "I did not issue any such bird-brained order."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
A lieutenant referee tapped the captain on the shoulder. "Sir, would you gentlemen please leave the field," he said, indicating the lieutenant, the captain and his aide, the sergeant, the gunner and the unconscious Haas. "You are all dead."
The captain looked around to discover that their little group was the target of the blank fire of several advancing Blue infantrymen. "But we"re trying to straighten out a mix-up here," the captain protested.
"I"m sorry, sir, but you"re all standing here gossiping in the middle of a battle. Theoretically you are all Swiss cheese. Please leave the area."
"We WON"T leave the area!" the captain shouted. "I"m trying to tell you we wouldn"t be dead if some idiot hadn"t gotten in here and bollixed up this training exercise and--"
"... It was a brilliant demonstration of infiltration and diversionary tactics by Dolliver Wims," said General Fyfe, striding forward.
The captain rolled his eyes heavenward in supplication before turning to face the general. "Sir," he inquired acidly, "What _are_ dolliver wims?"
"Private Wims is the embodiment of the initiative and resourcefulness we are trying to inculcate in all our soldiers. I observed the entire operation and he has demonstrated a great potential for leadership."
Fyfe hesitated and for a moment a shadow of repugnance darkened his features as if, for purposes of camouflage, he were about to perform the necessary but distasteful task of smearing mud over his crisp, shining uniform. "I am recommending Private Wims for a battlefield commission."
"A battlefield commission during a training exercise?" the captain screeched incredulously.
Fyfe looked at him severely. "Captain, if you are unable to communicate except in those high tones, I would suggest a visit to the base hospital for some hormones." The general paused and looked around. "It seems, captain, you"ve lost the hill." He glanced at his watch. "And in record time, too."
"Sir," the captain said, "I won"t accept that. This is a limited training exercise conducted without benefit of full communications, weapons or elaborate tactics. Blue company had no right to send a man behind our lines to--"
"Captain," Fyfe said with annoyance, "you are the most argumentative corpse I have ever encountered. I"m leaving now to get that recommendation off to Washington. In the meantime, have someone tell Captain Aronsen to see that Wims is not a.s.sa.s.sinated before we get him his lieutenancy."
Lieutenant Wims unfolded out of the jeep into the jungle mud. The driver pointed to a cl.u.s.ter of tents sagging under the weight of the streaming rain. "You"ll find Major Hecker in there."
"Thanks fer the ride," Wims said as he wrestled his gear out of the jeep. He located the headquarters tent and an orderly brought him in to the major. "Lieutenant Dolliver Wims reportin" fer dooty, suh," the saluting Wims said crisply.
Major Hecker"s hand slid wearily to the vicinity of his fatigued and unshaven face in return salute. "Welcome, lieutenant, to Hlangtan, Burma"s foremost nothing." Wims handed his orders to the major who said as he accepted them, "You"ll be taking the third platoon of A company.
They lost their lieutenant two days ago." The major glanced at the orders and exploded. "What do they mean, "attached to your command as an observer"? I need a platoon leader! What are you supposed to observe?"
Wims shifted uneasily. "Ah cain"t rightly say, suh." The truth of the matter was that Wims didn"t really know. His commission had been virtually thrown at him. In Washington he had been vaguely briefed that he was to be sent to the front in Burma on a mission of the utmost importance and not to breathe a word to anyone. It was only when he alighted from the plane in Rangoon that he fully realized that actually no one had breathed a word to him about what exactly he was to do. His orders merely stated that he was to get as close to the enemy as possible and observe.
The major regarded him nastily. "What"s that insignia you"re wearing?
They look like question marks."
"Ah guess they do," Wims replied unhappily.
"Well are they?" the major inquired with a soft shout.
"Ah guess they are, suh."
"You guess!" The major now regarded him with open animosity. "And I suppose you don"t know what they stand for."
"Well, suh, Ah tried to find out but somehow Ah couldn"t get a straight ansuh."
"O.K., O.K., Lieutenant Cloak and Dagger, but if you don"t want questions why wear the things? If the Commies know you"re a special and catch you--"
"But Ah"m not no special nuthin". Ah"m jus"--"
"Yeah, sure." The major poked a grimy finger at the paper before him and grinned almost savagely. "It says here you"re to operate with our most forward units. That"s just fine. I"ve got a patrol going out tonight.
They will take you close enough to sit in their ever-lovin" yellow laps."
As Wims was leaving the major suddenly called after him. "Say, lieutenant, since you"re some kind of special agent you probably have an "in" at the Pentagon. Will you pa.s.s the word that I need a looey replacement? One that doesn"t wear punctuation marks."
The patrol had not been out twenty minutes before it fearfully decided it had better ditch this boy lieutenant who, with each step, sounded as if he were setting off a room full of mousetraps. At a whispered signal from the sergeant in command, the patrol slid noiselessly off the trail and dropped to the ground as the groping Wims went clattering by in the darkness. Within the hour Wims tripped over a Chinese patrol that lay cowering in the ferns as it listened apprehensively to what it thought was an approaching enemy battalion.
The next several days were confusing ones for Wims. With little food or sleep he was hustled from place to place and endlessly questioned by officers of increasing rank. He was pa.s.sed up to the divisional level where he was briefly interrogated by a Russian officer-advisor to the Chinese headquarters. There seemed to be some disagreement between the Russian and Chinese officers concerning Wims and they were almost shouting when he was pulled from the room and thrown back into his cell.
In the chill, early hours of the following morning he was yanked out of an embarra.s.sing nightmare where he dreamed he went to a hoedown in his briefs. He was squeezed between two furtive men into a shade-drawn limousine with unillumined headlamps and after a frenzied ride the vehicle screeched to a halt. He heard a roaring and in the darkness he was dimly aware that he was being shoved into an airplane. After that he was certain of nothing as he plunged gratefully back into sleep.
Wims was back at the hoedown only this time without even his briefs. And all the interrogators had stopped dancing and were circled around him, glaring and demanding to know what he was hiding. As they closed in upon him he was s.n.a.t.c.hed from the dream by two guards who prodded him out of his cell, down a bleak corridor and into a large room. The windows were hidden by drawn, dark-green shades and two low-hanging, unshaded electric-light bulbs provided a harsh illumination. The chamber was spa.r.s.ely furnished with a splintered desk, several battered chairs and half a dozen Russian MVD officers.
A man, so thick and heavy in appearance and movement that he was obviously a concrete abutment come to life, stepped up to Wims. The man"s stony visage cracked in a slow, cold smile as he rumbled in English, "Welcome to Moscow, Lieutenant Dolliver Wims. I am Colonel Sergei Bushmilov. I am your friend." The word "friend" sounded rather squeaky as if it had not been used in years and needed oiling.
Wims glanced around the room. These people were like unshielded reactors throwing off hard radiations of hostility. "Ah sure could use a friend,"
he said with utmost fervency.