Page 6 of Cry Havoc

Tom would never know if he heard movement over the ringing in his ears or if a gut instinct caused him to turn to his left. When he did, he found himself less than 15 feet from a man in a loincloth carrying an AK.Pathet Lao?Had it been an NVA soldier Tom knew he would already be dead.

The Pathet Lao in Laos were the equivalent of the Viet Cong in Vietnam. Not highly skilled or trained like professional soldiers of the NVA, both the Pathet Lao and Viet Cong were expendable insurgents, bodies to throw against the Americans.

There was no time to throw a grenade and sink back into the protection of the thick brush. It was time to go to the gun.

The RPD had two settings—safe and fire—and was designed so a shooter’s finger could sweep seamlessly from the selector to the trigger, which was what Tom Reece did.

The man swung his AK toward the American.

He never made it.

Tom’s five-round burst stitched him up from his pelvis to his heart. Another five rounds tore through what was left of his chest. As he crumpled to the ground his head caught in the Y of a teak tree, which arrested his fall, leaving his soulless body upright; a human scarecrow hung in effigy.

AK fire exploded from the jungle, only muzzle flashes visible through the dense vegetation. Havoc had already turned toward the contact and was sending rounds into anything that moved.

Another loinclothed figure was cut to shreds as he charged toward the SOG Team, screaming and holding a ChiCom stick grenade that dropped to his feet as Havoc’s 5.56 and 7.62 rounds sent him to the afterlife.

The grenade detonated and propelled one of his dismembered legs past Tom’s head.

Are the NVA using Pathet Lao as some sort of shock troop force or suicide bombers?

They sacrificed the VC during the Tet attacks. Maybe they are doing the same in Laos?

The jungle behind them came alive with gunfire.

That’s NVA.

How did they counter us so fast?

Not now, Tom.

Now it’s time to kill your way to extract.

He pulled a grenade from a pouch and slid his RPD back under hisarm just far enough to allow him to hook the ring of the safety pin on his front sight, a trick he had learned in the Mekong Delta. This allowed him to stay on the gun and more efficiently make use of his grenades in a firefight. He then made sure that the ball of death wouldn’t careen back on them after bouncing off a nearby tree. The path was clear, so he sent it flying.

Tom lay down another burst from his RPD into an NVA soldier as he heard the grenade detonate. The accompanying screams told him he had hit his mark.

We’ve got to move.

As he turned, he saw Sau, his tail gunner, writhing on the ground.

“Phe—cover!” he yelled to the Montagnard who was next in the line of march.

Phe turned back and took a knee next to his wounded comrade as Tom pulled a claymore from the ’Yard’s pack and attached a two-minute time fuse. He then threw Sau over his shoulder and slapped Phe on the back before turning to follow Quinn into the depths of the jungle. Phe sprayed an eighteen-round magazine on full-auto toward the enemy to the rear, changed magazines, and then threw a grenade before following his squad leader.

Tom charged ahead, following the ’Yard in front of him.

Move, Tom.

A little over a klick to the river, then south another klick to a possible LZ. Then home to Phu Bai.

You need to get there before darkness falls or you will disappear just like so many other SOG Teams have recently.

Imprisonment, torture, and death awaited at a prison camp in Laos or North Vietnam if he or any of his teammates were captured.

No fucking way.

His legs and lungs burned with an intensity that had become the norm on missions across the fence.