Page 150 of Cry Havoc

Quinn against the tree. The disemboweling.

Use it as fuel, Tom.

From the door, he saw a shadow of a blacked-out Cessna O-2A Skymaster Covey aircraft pass by and wave its wings. Its job was to mark the one known AA site for the fast movers or AC-130 gunship overhead.

This just might work.

A few minutes later, the Kingbee popped up and rapidly gained altitude.

Here we go.

The night was abruptly illuminated as A-6 Intruders from the USSKitty Hawkdropped their ordnance, the napalm lighting up the night. They were followed by the Huey gunships who obliterated the guard towers with their rockets and miniguns.

Hold on!

No matter how many times Tom had done it, the Falling Yellow Leaf maneuver never failed to convince him they were going to crash. From altitude, the Kingbee pilot adjusted the aircraft so that the right-side door was facing the ground. He then set the engine to idle and began a terrifying autorotation toward the target, spiraling down from the heavens. It was the fastest way to put a team on the ground.

Tom was always astonished with how quiet it was, and by the fact that everyone didn’t tumble out the door—some principle of physics he supposed. It was what he imagined it would be like to fly in a glider, but instead of floating on wings, the Kingbee corkscrewed downward. Tom felt the wind in his face and wondered if they would actually crash this time. At the last second, the Kingbee pilot revved the engine and flared into a landing.

Tom bailed out the door, his CAR-15 and an L-shaped green military flashlight in hand.

He took a knee as RT Idaho disembarked behind him, the helo quickly lifting off to make room for the second Kingbee. The rotor wash threatened to blow them off their feet as they stood and broke into two groups, sprinting to their target building, the structure that had housed Hiep and the three other Americans. RT Idaho carried axes, sledgehammers, and crowbars for mechanical breaching. The door to their targeted hooch was open.

Tom entered first. He could hear the second helo taking off to make room for helo three as he burst through the door.

Fighting in the jungle was often done at close quarters, and every SOG operator was adept at point shooting from the hip. Tom entered the hooch and moved to the left, making room for the man behind him to go right. He thumbed the button of the flashlight, sweeping the room from left to right.

Six straw mats were arranged on the floor, three on each side of the hooch. They were empty.

Tom turned and ran to their secondary target building. Tilt beat him to the door. They entered with Tilt going left and Tom going right. Four straw mats were on the floor. A round table and three chairs were against the far wall. The vacant room smelled of pungentthuoc laotobacco.

Tom looked at Tilt, who shook his head.

The SEAL rushed back outside and saw the other RTs moving to their secondary buildings and vacating with the same sullen looks.Empty.

They were too late.

Tom looked across the compound where the cargo trucks that he destroyed still rested, now just useless heaps of metal. As the other One-Zeros exited their buildings they looked to Tom and shook their heads.

Dry hole.

Hiep and the Americans had been moved.

You failed again, Tom.

He saw the RTs start to converge on a tree in the compound’s center. Before he saw it, he knew what it was. The Soviet advisor had left a message.

As Tom approached, he could hear the whispers and prayers of his SOG teammates.

A body was strapped to the tree. Barbed wire held it in place, running under the arms and across the chest. A pile of burnt intestines was on the ground nearby.

Tom swallowed and kept moving toward the body. His friend was missing his head.

The SEAL stood before what was left of his teammate.

Quinn’s head had been chopped off at the neck and stuffed inside his stomach cavity. The head rested there, face looking out, a face that had the eyes pecked out by birds. Parts of the lips and nose were missing, also gone to creatures of the jungle.

If any of the SOG operators said anything, Tom could not hear them.