{"id":3581,"date":"2026-01-03T23:34:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T23:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/rendezvous-demille-nelson\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T23:34:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T23:34:57","slug":"rendezvous-demille-nelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/rendezvous-demille-nelson\/","title":{"rendered":"Rendezvous – Demille, Nelson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Book Preview<\/h3>\n
\n

A<\/span>s I learned in high school biology, the female of the species is often more dangerous than the male. Maybe that was true in the animal kingdom, I remember thinking, but with human beings, the male was more dangerous.<\/p>\n

I changed my mind about this when I crossed paths with a very deadly lady with a rifle, who was intent on killing me and everyone around me.<\/p>\n

I was a young infantry officer doing a tour of duty in Vietnam in 1971\u201372. After a few months of combat, I mistakenly volunteered for a crappy job. I found myself leading a ten-man Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol, known as the Lurps.<\/p>\n

I was near the end of my tour, with twelve patrols under my belt, and all I could think about was getting home alive.<\/p>\n

We were patrolling near the Laotian border west of Khe Sanh, a hilly area of dense, semitropical rainforest broken up now and then by expanses of head-high elephant grass and bamboo thickets. The local population of indigenous Montagnard tribespeople had long since fled this free-fire zone for the safety of fortified compounds to the west.<\/p>\n

I had the feeling\u2014which was total illusion\u2014that I and my nine men were the only human beings in this Godforsaken place. The reality was that there were thousands of enemy soldiers moving around us, but we hadn\u2019t seen them, and they hadn\u2019t seen us, which was the name of the game.<\/p>\n

Our mission was not to engage the enemy, but to find and map the elusive Ho Chi Minh Trail\u2014actually a network of narrow roads used by the enemy to infiltrate troops and supplies into South Vietnam. We were also to report such movements via radio so that American artillery, helicopter gunships, and fighter bombers could deliver appropriate disincentive to the enemy.<\/p>\n

It was July, it was hot, humid, and buggy. Snakes and mosquitoes loved the weather. At night, we could hear the chattering of monkeys and the growl of tigers.<\/p>\n

Long-range reconnaissance patrols usually lasted about two weeks. Beyond two weeks, the carried rations ran low and the patrol\u2019s nerve ran out. You can only take so much time in the jungle, deep in enemy-controlled territory, outnumbered by hostile forces, who could snuff out a ten-man patrol in a heartbeat if they discovered you.<\/p>\n

We carried two radios\u2014PRC-25s, called Prick Two Fives\u2014so that we could keep in contact with our headquarters far, far away, to make reports, call in artillery or bombs, and ultimately arrange our extraction by helicopter when the mission was completed, or when the mission was compromised, i.e., if and when Charlie was breathing down our necks.<\/p>\n

Radios sometimes fail. Or get damaged. Radio frequencies sometimes don\u2019t work. Sometimes Charlie is listening to you on his<\/em> radio, so there is a contingency plan if the radios are no longer an option. There were three prearranged pickup sites marked on my terrain map, with three prearranged times of helicopter rendezvous. These are called Rendezvous Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. If you don\u2019t see your helicopter at Alpha at the designated time, you move to Bravo, and if that meeting fails, you move to Charlie. If that fails, you move back to Alpha. Then you\u2019re on your own. And as our Viet friends say, Xin Loi<\/em>. Good luck.<\/p>\n

Things that caused a missed prearranged rendezvous were weather and enemy activity in the area. So far, the weather was clear, and we hadn\u2019t seen or heard the enemy. But he was there. We saw fresh ruts and footprints in the network of trails, and we came upon recently abandoned camps, and we smelled cooking fires at night. He was all around us, but he was invisible, and so, too, I hoped, were we.<\/p>\n

That all changed on Day Ten.<\/p>\n

We were patrolling an area that gave me some concern; it was a place that had once been lush woodland, but was now an expanse of napalm-charred tree trunks, compliments of the U.S. Air Force. Our job here was to report on the effects of the recent air strike, and I was trying to comprehend and evaluate what I was seeing: black ash, charred trucks, and dozens of grotesquely contorted and incinerated bodies, white teeth protruding from charcoal faces. We needed to do a vehicle and body count.<\/p>\n

The problem with this place, other than the obvious, was that it offered little or no cover and concealment to me and my men.<\/p>\n

I spoke in a whisper to my radio operator behind me, a guy named Alf Muller. \u201cRadio.\u201d I put my hand out behind me to take the radiophone, but it wasn\u2019t slapped into my hand as it should have been.<\/p>\n

I turned to see Alf lying facedown in the black ash, his radio strapped to his back and his arms thrown out from his sides, one hand holding the phone at the end of the wire.<\/p>\n

It took me half a second to realize he\u2019d been hit.<\/p>\n

I yelled \u201cSniper!\u201d and dove to the ground and did a roll in the ash with everyone else. We lay there, hoping to look like something inanimate among the blackened debris of the blasted earth.<\/p>\n

Sniper<\/em>. The scariest thing on the battlefield, where scary things abound. I hadn\u2019t heard the shot, and I wouldn\u2019t hear the next one either. Nor would I see the sniper even if I was still alive after the next shot. The sniper operates from a long distance\u2014about a hundred or two hundred meters\u2014and he has a very good rifle, equipped with a telescopic sight, a silencer, and a flash suppressor. He wears camouflage clothing and his face is blackened like the ash I was lying in. He is the Grim Reaper who harvests the living.<\/p>\n

No one moved, because movement meant death.<\/p>\n

There was no way to tell where the shot had come from, so we couldn\u2019t get behind something because we could actually be putting ourselves in the direct line of fire. We couldn\u2019t run because we could be running right toward the sniper.<\/p>\n

I turned my head slowly toward Alf. His face lay in the ash, and there was no sign of breathing.<\/p>\n

To the extent that I had any thoughts at all except terror, I wondered why the sniper had taken Alf, the radio man, rather than me; the guy next to the radio man is the officer or the sergeant, who is the prime target in combat, like taking out the quarterback. Strange. But I wasn\u2019t complaining.<\/p>\n

There is no best thing to do in this situation, but the second best thing to do is nothing. My guys were trained, and they knew to keep their nerve and stay motionless. If the sniper fired again, and someone got hit\u2014assuming we knew someone was hit\u2014then we\u2019d have no choice but to scatter and take a chance that the sniper could only hit so many moving targets before some of us were out of range.<\/p>\n

I get paid to make decisions, so I decided that the sniper was too far off to hear us. I needed a head count, and I called out, \u201cDawson. Report.\u201d<\/p>\n

My patrol sergeant, Phil Dawson, called back, \u201cLandon is hit. He was moving, but I think he\u2019s dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The patrol medic, Peter Garcia, called out, \u201cI\u2019ll try to get to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d I shouted. \u201cStay put. Everyone report.\u201d<\/p>\n

The men reported in order of their assigned patrol numbers. \u201cSmitty here,\u201d then \u201cAndolotti here,\u201d followed by \u201cJohnson here,\u201d then after a few long seconds, Markowitz and Beatty reported.<\/p>\n

Sergeant Dawson, whose job it is to count heads, reported to me, \u201cNine accounted for, Lieutenant. You got Muller with you?\u201d<\/p>\n

I called back, \u201cMuller is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShit,\u201d said Dawson.<\/p>\n

So we had the two radio operators dead, which was not a coincidence. But it was puzzling.<\/p>\n

I needed to get on the radio and ask for observation helicopters and gunships to form a ring of fire around us and maybe flush out the son of a bitch. I glanced toward Muller, who was about five feet from me. He had the radiophone in his right hand, which was farthest away from me.<\/p>\n

Well, I thought, we could stay here and get picked off one by one, we could wait until sundown and hope the sniper didn\u2019t have a nightscope, or I could earn some of that extra combat pay. I had a thought, based on a year of this kind of crap, that the sniper was gone. I thought this because all this possum playing didn\u2019t amount to much, considering how exposed we were in this burned-out terrain. So, if the sniper was still there, he\u2019d have taken a few more shots by now. I called out, \u201cReport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone who was alive a few minutes ago was still alive.<\/p>\n

I took a deep breath and rolled twice, then a third time over Alf\u2019s body and came to a motionless stop on top of his outstretched arm. I snatched the radiophone out of his stiffening fingers and put it to my ear, waiting for the shot that would blow my brains out. I squeezed the send button and said in the mouthpiece, \u201cRoyal Duck Six, this is Black Weasel.\u201d I released the send button, and I pressed the earpiece hard against my ear, but there was dead silence. I tried again, but there wasn\u2019t even a radio hum or the sound of breaking squelch coming through the earpiece. The radio was as dead as Alf Muller.<\/p>\n

I waited for the impact of a bullet somewhere in my body. I could almost feel the hot steel tearing into me.<\/p>\n

I waited. I got pissed off. I stood and called out to my patrol, \u201cIf I go down, you scatter!\u201d<\/p>\n

I stood there and nothing happened.<\/p>\n

I ordered again, \u201cReport.\u201d<\/p>\n

The seven other survivors reported again.<\/p>\n

I looked down at Alf Muller and saw now the bullet hole in his radio. I walked along the line of the patrol and saw my men lying in the black ash, their heads turning toward me, and some of them saying, \u201cGet down, Lieutenant! You crazy?\u201d<\/p>\n

You get this sixth sense that it\u2019s not your turn that day, that you\u2019re okay now, that fate has spared you for something worse later.<\/p>\n

I found Landon facedown like Muller, and like Muller there was a single hole in the top of his radio. The battery is in the bottom; the guts are in the top. The sniper knew that and was able to put a single round through the electronics and into the spine of both radio operators.<\/p>\n

What I didn\u2019t understand was why the sniper didn\u2019t take out at least a few other guys. He certainly had the time, had the range, had a clear field of fire, and obviously was a good shot.<\/p>\n

Actually, I knew the answer. This guy was playing with us. There was no other reason for his actions. A little psychological warfare, played with a deadly rifle instead of propaganda leaflets or Radio Hanoi broadcasts. A message to the Americans. And the game wasn\u2019t over.<\/p>\n

Snipers think and act differently from normal people, and our own snipers, some of whom I\u2019d met, liked to play games, too. It gets boring waiting for hours or days or weeks for a target. The sniper\u2019s mind does weird things during the long, lonely waits, so when a target finally shows up in the telescopic lens, the sniper becomes a comedian and does funny things. Funny to them, not to the targets. An American sniper once told me he\u2019d shot the hashish pipe out of an enemy soldier\u2019s mouth.<\/p>\n

I thought about sharing these thoughts with my men, but if they hadn\u2019t figured it out already, then they didn\u2019t need to know, or they\u2019d know soon enough.<\/p>\n

Decision time. I said, \u201cOkay, we\u2019ve got to leave these guys for a body recovery detail. Strip the bodies, and let\u2019s get moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

There wasn\u2019t a lot of enthusiastic movement until finally Sergeant Dawson stood and said, \u201cYou heard the lieutenant. Move it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone got up slowly, heads and eyes darting around like cornered prey. The men stripped the bodies of the two dead radio operators, removing anything that could be of use to the enemy: rifles, ammo, canteens, dog tags, rations, compasses, boots, rucksacks, and so forth.<\/p>\n

Dawson asked me, \u201cHow about the radios?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s take them,\u201d I replied. \u201cMaybe we can make one good radio out of two.\u201d<\/p>\n

We moved quickly out of the deforested area and into a thick growth of bamboo that offered some concealment, but gave us away by the movement of the tall, leafy shoots as we macheteed and moved our way through.<\/p>\n

We spent the night in the bamboo, forming a defensive perimeter, and we allowed ourselves the belief that we\u2019d shaken the sniper.<\/p>\n

A few of the guys tried to make one live radio out of two dead ones, but the guys who knew about radios were six kilometers back and not in a position to help.<\/p>\n

By dawn, we\u2019d given up on the radios, and we buried them with our entrenching tools so as not to give anything up to the enemy.<\/p>\n

We hadn\u2019t been able to call in our situation report during the night, so now our boss, Colonel Hayes, also known as Royal Duck Six, knew that his patrol, known as Black Weasel, had a problem. A radio problem, he was thinking, or maybe a got-captured problem, or a got-killed problem. These things happen with long-range recon patrols. One minute you\u2019re there, and the next you\u2019re gone forever.<\/p>\n

We saddled up and moved toward the grid coordinates on the map that was Rendezvous Alpha.<\/p>\n

We got out of the bamboo and into a nice thick growth of forest. We came to a rocky stream that we had to cross and we halted. Streambeds are like shooting galleries. Dawson volunteered to go first, and he bolted across the knee-high stream and scrambled up the opposite bank, dropping into a prone firing position, sweeping his M-16 rifle up and down the stream.<\/p>\n

Two riflemen, Smitty and Johnson, went next and made it to the far side. Next, the medic, Garcia, carrying his big medical bag on his back, charged through the stream and was helped up by the other guys. The guy who carried the grenade launcher, Beatty, took a deep breath and moved so fast I thought he was walking on water. Another rifleman, Andolotti, waited five seconds, then ran so fast he almost caught up with Beatty.<\/p>\n

Markowitz and I were left on the stream bank, and I said to him, \u201cYour call.\u201d<\/p>\n

He smiled and said to me, \u201cHe\u2019s waiting for you,<\/em> Lieutenant. Your call.\u201d<\/p>\n

I replied, \u201cI\u2019ll bring up the rear. Good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Markowitz said, \u201cSee you on the other side.\u201d He charged into the stream and about halfway across, he slipped and fell. I waited for him to get up and get going, but he didn\u2019t seem able to get his footing. Then I saw the water turning dark around him. He fell again and lay there, submerged, but still moving.<\/p>\n

\u201cSniper!\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia, the medic, and I charged simultaneously from opposite stream banks toward Markowitz. The guys on the far bank opened up with automatic weapon fire, raking and blasting the tree lines up and down the stream.<\/p>\n

Garcia and I reached Markowitz at the same time, and we each grabbed an arm and dragged him as we ran toward the far bank. I glanced at the wounded man and saw white frothy blood running from his mouth.<\/p>\n

We were about four meters from the trees growing along the bank when Markowitz\u2019s wrist jerked out of my hand. I turned and saw Garcia lying faceup in the rocky stream, a huge gaping hole in the left side of his head, meaning an exit wound, meaning the shot had come from the right.<\/p>\n

I dropped face-first into the stream and scrambled to a small rock that gave me a little cover if I got real small.<\/p>\n

I looked upstream in the direction the shot had come from, not expecting to see anything, but there, on a jutting bend in the stream about a hundred meters away, was a black-clad guy kneeling among the rocks. I stared, and the guy seemed to be staring back. From where my men were in the scrub brush, they couldn\u2019t see what I could see from the stream.<\/p>\n

Slowly, I took my field glasses from their case and focused on the guy. He didn\u2019t seem to have a rifle, which was good, and he was wearing the traditional Vietnamese black silk pajamas. I focused in tighter and saw that it wasn\u2019t a guy; it was a woman with long black hair. A young woman, maybe early twenties, with high cheekbones and big unblinking eyes, looking right at me.<\/p>\n

I had two totally contradictory thoughts: This was the sniper; this couldn\u2019t be the sniper. Just to be on the safe side, I unslung my rifle, but before I got it into a firing position, she shook her head and stood. I could now see a rifle in her hand, a long gun, probably a Russian Draganov sniper rifle, mounted with a telescopic lens.<\/p>\n

I stared at her through my field glasses, and I knew if I moved myself or my rifle, that Draganov would be in both her hands, and I\u2019d be dead. She had the range, as Markowitz or Garcia would attest to if they could, and she damned sure knew how to shoot.<\/p>\n

The guys on the stream bank were still firing blindly, and through the fire I could hear them yelling at me, \u201cCome on, Lieutenant! Get out of there! We got to get the hell out of here! Come on, come on!\u201d<\/p>\n

I looked one more time at the woman standing on the high bend in the stream, and she seemed very nonchalant. Maybe she was disappointed that we weren\u2019t much of a challenge to her.<\/p>\n

I stared at her. She held up her hand with four fingers extended, then clenched her fist and pointed at me. My blood ran cold. She turned and disappeared into the brush behind her.<\/p>\n

I jumped to my feet and ran through the stream and up the muddy bank, pulled along by outstretched hands into the brush.<\/p>\n

I gasped, \u201cSniper! I saw her! Upstream. Let\u2019s go!\u201d I began running on a path parallel to the winding stream toward where I\u2019d last seen her.<\/p>\n

Dawson ran up behind me and jerked me back by my rucksack. He said in a loud whisper, \u201cWhat the hell are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw her! It\u2019s a woman! She\u2019s upstream. About a hundred meters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other four guys caught up to us, and I explained quickly what I\u2019d seen. I must have sounded a little nuts or something because they kept shooting glances at each other. Finally, they got it.<\/p>\n

As I said, they\u2019re pros, and a pro\u2019s instinct for survival doesn\u2019t mean running away; it means running toward what\u2019s trying to kill you so you can kill it first.<\/p>\n

In any case, we needed to run because we\u2019d given away our positions with all that firing, and we were deep in enemy territory, so when you fire, you\u2019ve got to get the hell away fast.<\/p>\n

No one likes leaving dead guys behind, but this wasn\u2019t regular combat stuff where you recover dead and wounded at all costs; this was long-range recon and getting left behind is definitely a possibility.<\/p>\n

We ran about a hundred meters along the path, and Andolotti called out, \u201cWe could be running right into an ambush.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dawson replied through heavy breaths, \u201cI\u2019d rather do that than get picked off later. Move it!\u201d<\/p>\n

We came to the bend in the stream, and I ran out to the edge of the bank where I saw a brass cartridge sparkling in the sunlight. I picked it up and saw it was a 7.62 millimeter, most probably from a Draganov. I didn\u2019t need evidence, but somehow finding the cartridge made me more certain that I hadn\u2019t been hallucinating. I put the cartridge in my pocket.<\/p>\n

We moved quickly back to the path, where we saw a few footprints in the damp soil. Reluctantly, but with the knowledge that it was her or us, we pressed on.<\/p>\n

We moved at a half trot for about an hour, but by then, we knew we weren\u2019t going to find her. She would find us.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d been moving away from Rendezvous Alpha, which we could make in the three days left before our dawn rendezvous time, if nothing went wrong.<\/p>\n

You never go back on the trail you took in, so we headed into the woods and chopped our way through brush until we intersected a trail that headed in the general direction we needed to go.<\/p>\n

We moved as quickly as we could, but the heat and fatigue, and fifty pounds of gear, was slowing us down.<\/p>\n

We took a few minutes\u2019 break every hour and pushed on until dusk, not saying much, but I\u2019m sure everyone, myself included, was thinking about why the lady hadn\u2019t blown me out of the water. I had a few answers to that, and it had less to do with a sudden feeling of compassion on her part and more to do with fucking with our heads.<\/p>\n

The sun had sunk into Laos, and the enemy moves at night. We heard trucks and tanks rumbling somewhere to our right, then heard men chatting and laughing not far away. If I\u2019d had a radio, I would have called in artillery on them. Actually, if I\u2019d had a radio, I would have called in choppers to get us the hell out of there right after Muller and Landon got hit. But the lady had left us mute and deaf to the outside world.<\/p>\n

We moved more quickly away from the enemy troop movements and about an hour later, we found a small hill covered with tall elephant grass where we set up a defensive perimeter, for what it was worth. We were six lightly armed guys, surrounded by massive numbers of enemy troops. Plus, one sniper, who knew we were there, but who wanted to keep us for herself.<\/p>\n

We ate some dehydrated rations reconstituted in their pouches with tepid canteen water. No one said much.<\/p>\n

About midnight, we took turns sleeping and keeping watch; two up, four down. But no one slept much. Near dawn, I was on guard duty with Sergeant Dawson, an old guy at thirty, who was on his second tour, and probably his last.<\/p>\n

He said to me in a quiet voice, \u201cYou sure it was a woman?\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded and grunted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sure? You saw tits and stuff?\u201d<\/p>\n

I almost laughed. I replied, \u201cI saw her in my field glasses. It was a woman.\u201d I added, \u201cThey make good snipers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded. \u201cHad one in Quang Tri once. Killed four guys before we blew the shit out of her with rockets.\u201d He added, \u201cWe found her head.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t reply.<\/p>\n

He asked the obvious. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t she nail you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s like \u2026 maybe there\u2019s a two-guy-a-day limit on her hunting permit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Not funny.\u201d He asked, \u201cYou think we gave her the slip?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMe neither.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that was the end of the conversation.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

We moved out at first light and headed south toward Rendezvous Alpha.<\/p>\n

About noon, we got to believing that we might make it. There were no more big streams to cross, just a few little brooks that were choked with good covering brush, and there were no open areas on the map that we couldn\u2019t avoid. But then we noticed that the trees and the brush started to look a little sick, and within half an hour, we realized we were in an Agent Orange defoliated area that wasn\u2019t marked on the map.<\/p>\n

Pretty soon we were moving through a dead zone of bare trees and brown, withered brush that offered no concealment. Dawson said, \u201cLieutenant, we got to go back and around this defoliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

I replied, \u201cWe don\u2019t know how big the area is. It might be a full day detour, then we\u2019re not going to get to Alpha.\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded and looked around. He said, \u201cAt least Charlie ain\u2019t around here. They don\u2019t like the defoliated areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither do I.\u201d<\/p>\n

We took a break, spread out, and got down, as per standard operating procedure when a patrol is stopped.<\/p>\n

Smitty pulled a jungle bar out of his packet and bit off a piece of the chalky, so-called chocolate. He said, \u201cThat bitch.\u201d Meaning the sniper, of course. \u201cThat bitch could have wasted us all back there in that napalm area. She could\u2019ve wasted at least you, Lieutenant, back at the stream, and maybe a few more of us. What\u2019s her fucking game?\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t reply, and neither did anyone else.<\/p>\n

I was getting a bad feeling about this place, so I stood, put on my rucksack, and said, \u201cSaddle up and move out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone stood, and Andolotti unzipped his fly and said, \u201cHold up. Gotta take a quick piss.\u201d<\/p>\n

About midstream, he pitched backward and landed with a thump on his back, still holding his thing, which was still streaming yellow piss.<\/p>\n

We all hit the ground and lay frozen on the dead, chemical-smelling earth.<\/p>\n

I called out, \u201cAndolotti!\u201d<\/p>\n

No reply. I turned my head and eyes toward him. His chest was heaving, and I saw blood around his mouth. He gave a final heave and lay still.<\/p>\n

From the way he\u2019d been thrown backward, I knew he\u2019d been hit square in the chest, so I knew where the shot had come from. Through the dead vegetation, I could see a slight rise in the land about a hundred meters due west. I called out, \u201cFollow my tracers!\u201d I took aim from my prone position and fired a long burst toward the rise. Every sixth round was a red, streaking tracer that looked like a laser beam pointing toward the suspected target.<\/p>\n

Dawson, Smitty, and Johnson joined in with long bursts of M-16 fire, and we raked the hill, while Beatty, who had the grenade launcher, popped three phosphorous grenades at the hill, setting the dead vegetation ablaze.<\/p>\n

I shouted, \u201cOutta here!\u201d<\/p>\n

We moved back quickly in a crouch, firing to cover our retreat.<\/p>\n

Beatty slipped another phosphorous round in his grenade launcher and was about to get off a hip shot when the launcher flew out of his hands, and he went backward like he\u2019d been hit by a truck.<\/p>\n

Dawson yelled, \u201cBeatty\u2019s hit!\u201d<\/p>\n

I shouted, \u201cMove back! Move back!\u201d<\/p>\n

I was about ten meters from Beatty, and I could see he was still alive. I hit the ground and started crawling toward him, then saw his body jerk in three quick movements. A fourth shot hit his grenade launcher and a fifth shot threw dirt in my face. I got the message and got the hell out of there.<\/p>\n

I joined up with Dawson, Smitty, and Johnson. We ran like hell until we came upon a dry gulley, which we dropped into. We moved in a crouch through the gulley for a few hundred meters until I gave the order to stop. This wasn\u2019t the direction we needed to go, so I ordered everyone out of the gulley, and we moved quickly due south, toward our rendezvous point, which was still about thirty kilometers away.<\/p>\n

We got out of the defoliated area and entered a place that had been carpet-bombed by B-52s. The forest had been blasted to splinters by the five-hundred- and one-thousand-pound bombs, and craters as big as a house dotted the landscape.<\/p>\n

All around us were twisted pieces of steel, almost unrecognizable as once being vehicles. Pieces of rotting corpses lay everywhere, and the surviving trees were draped with body parts. Some sort of carrion-eating birds were feasting and barely noticed us.<\/p>\n

The sun was sinking, and we were near the end of our physical limits and our mental endurance, so I ordered everyone into a bomb crater. We lay along the sloping earth walls of the crater, caught our breaths, and drank from our canteens. The place stank of rotting flesh.<\/p>\n

Dawson grabbed an arm and flung it out of the crater, and then made the standard joke and said, \u201cSo, we count the arms and legs, divide by four, and we got a body count.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one laughed.<\/p>\n

He finished a canteen of water and informed us, \u201cTwo bad things about bomb strike zones. One, Charlie comes looking for salvage and pieces of people to bury. Two, the B-52s sometimes come back to the same place to get the guys looking for stuff.\u201d He added, unnecessarily, \u201cWe gotta get outta here.\u201d<\/p>\n

I agreed and said, \u201cTake five, then we move.\u201d I took out my map and studied it.<\/p>\n

Smitty said to me, \u201cHey, Lieutenant, why\u2019s she always missing you?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t reply.<\/p>\n

Johnson asked me, \u201cYou think she\u2019s still on us?\u201d<\/p>\n

I kept looking at the map and replied, \u201cAssume she is.\u201d<\/p>\n

I climbed to the rim of the crater and looked through my field glasses. I swept the area in a 360-degree circle, pausing every ten degrees to focus on any possible movement, any glint of metal, or a wisp of smoke, or anything that didn\u2019t look like it belonged in its surroundings.<\/p>\n

I was a sitting duck, but I\u2019d developed a fatalistic attitude in the last few days; she was saving me for last.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d get Smitty and Johnson in whatever order she wanted, then Sergeant Dawson, whom she had identified as a leader, then me.<\/p>\n

I pictured her stalking us, like a big cat, slow and patient, then she struck. The survivors ran, and she ran after us. She was very fast, sure-footed, and quiet, and she knew just how close she could get without getting too close. The chances of us setting up an ambush were not good. All we could do now was run.<\/p>\n

I slid back down into the crater and said, \u201cLooks clear.\u201d I checked my watch. \u201cThirty minutes until dark.\u201d I unfolded my map and studied it in the dim light. I said, \u201cOkay, if we hustle, we can do five kilometers before dark and that will bring us to a rock slide area where we can spend the night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone nodded. Rocky areas were like natural fortifications, giving both cover and concealment, and usually good fields of fire. An added bonus was that Charlie avoided open rocky terrain because of our scout choppers so we weren\u2019t going to meet him there. And with luck, our guys might see us from the air.<\/p>\n

The one downside was the lady with the gun. She had a map, or she knew the terrain, and she was smart enough to know where we\u2019d be heading. Even if we\u2019d lost her, she could guess where to find us. I mentioned this privately to Dawson.<\/p>\n

He replied, \u201cMaybe you\u2019re giving her too much credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe you\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shrugged. \u201cI like rocks around me, and I like choppers overhead who can see us and get us the fuck out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay \u2026 saddle up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone slipped on their rucksacks and in ten-second intervals, we climbed out of the crater at different points and assembled quickly on the south side of the hole, then began double-timing away from the bomb-blasted area.<\/p>\n

A half-hour later, the ground began to rise, and flat white rocks stuck out of the damp brush-choked earth, like steps leading to an ancient jungle-covered temple.<\/p>\n

Ten minutes later, we were in a rock slide area with sparse vegetation. To the west were high hills and a ridgeline that had collapsed some time ago and created the rock field.<\/p>\n

We found a high point surrounded by good-sized slabs of stone and set up a small, tight defensive perimeter. Truly, you could hold off an army from here if you had enough food, water, and ammunition. We had extra food, water, and ammo, thanks to Muller and Landon.<\/p>\n

We settled in for a long night. We couldn\u2019t light cigarettes, and we couldn\u2019t light heat tabs to boil water for the dehydrated rations. So we mixed the stuff with canteen water and Dawson and Johnson, who were smokers, got their fix by chewing the tobacco from their cigarettes.<\/p>\n

About midnight, I took the first watch, and the other three guys slept.<\/p>\n

I took my starlight scope from my rucksack and scanned the higher ground to the west where the ridgeline ended. The starlight scope is battery-powered, and it gives you a green-tinted picture by amplifying the ambient light of stars and moon.<\/p>\n

I noticed a small waterfall cascading over the rocky ledge a hundred meters away. Then I saw a movement, and I focused tightly and held my elbows steady on the flat rock in front of me.<\/p>\n

She was crouched on an outcropping beside the waterfall, and she was easy to see because she was completely naked. She was drinking from cupped hands, then moved closer to the waterfall, and let the cascading stream run over her body as she ran her hands through her hair, then down her sides and legs, then back up to her rear end, then her crotch.<\/p>\n

I stared, transfixed at the sight. It was very sensual out of the context, but within the context it was grotesque, like watching a tiger languidly licking itself after a meal.<\/p>\n

I reached behind me and pulled my M-16 rifle onto the rock, took one last look, then brought the starlight scope and rifle together. By feel, as I\u2019d been taught, I mounted the scope on the rifle and took aim.<\/p>\n

She was still there, and she had put her right foot under the stream of falling water and kept it there for a few seconds before switching to her other foot.<\/p>\n

The four-power starlight scope made her look twenty-five meters away, but the actual distance of a hundred meters was a stretch for the M-16 rifle, which is made to spray bullets at shorter ranges.<\/p>\n

I put her in my crosshairs and steadied my aim. I was only going to get one shot. A very loud shot, since I didn\u2019t have a silencer. Hit or miss, we\u2019d have to get the hell out of there.<\/p>\n

She turned from the waterfall, and I could tell she was slipping her feet into her sandals. She stood there full frontal nude, my crosshairs over her heart.<\/p>\n

For some reason, I needed to look at her face again, to commit it to memory, to burn it into my mind. I looked slightly over the crosshairs at her face and saw that same disinterested, faraway look that I\u2019d seen on the stream bank.<\/p>\n

She reached back and brought her long black hair over her right shoulder and squeezed the water from it.<\/p>\n

I focused again between her breasts and squeezed the trigger, just as she bent over to gather her black pajamas.<\/p>\n

The blast of the rifle sounded very loud in the quiet night, and the report echoed through the stones. Night birds and animals started squawking, and the three guys behind me were on their feet before the sound of the shot faded into the distant hills.<\/p>\n

I took a last look, but she was gone.<\/p>\n

Dawson said excitedly, \u201cWhat the hell\u2014?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smitty said, \u201cHoly shit!\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson asked, \u201cYou get her?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe?\u201d<\/em> Dawson said. \u201cMaybe?<\/em> Maybe we should get the fuck out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight. Saddle up.\u201d<\/p>\n

We gathered our gear, and because we slept with our boots on, we were ready to move within a minute.<\/p>\n

I led the way down the south slope of the rock field. The going was slow and treacherous in the dark. A sliver of moon dimly illuminated the white rocks, and also illuminated us. I didn\u2019t hear the shot because it was silenced, but I heard the ping of a ricochet against a nearby rock.<\/p>\n

We hit the ground, then got into a low crouch and stumbled along, zigzagging, dropping, rolling, doing everything to make ourselves a difficult target.<\/p>\n

Another shot ricocheted somewhere to our right, then another and another. I pictured her kneeling naked behind something, focused through her sniper scope, looking for movement and moon shadows, trying to guess our line of movement, and now and then popping off a round from her Russian rifle just to let us know she was thinking of us.<\/p>\n

We came to a place where the rock slide entered a tree line, and we ran at full speed into the concealment of the forest.<\/p>\n

I took the lead, and we moved as quickly as we could through the pitch-black woods.<\/p>\n

We came to a wide trail over which a great many tires, tank treads, and rubber sandals had passed recently. Counterintuitively, I turned in the direction of the enemy troop movement, and we followed the trail south.<\/p>\n

About an hour later, I could hear the throaty sound of a big diesel engine up ahead, and the clank of tank treads.<\/p>\n

We slowed to a walk and followed at a distance, hoping they didn\u2019t stop for an unexpected break.<\/p>\n

We traveled through the night, following the enemy army, who kept up a moderate pace. Before dawn, I knew, those vehicles and men would scatter into the jungle to hide from our aircraft and helicopters. We needed to make a detour around their day camp so I led my patrol east through the forest. We found a trickling brook that flowed down from the hills toward the coast, and we followed it for an hour, then cut south again, hoping to skirt around the bad guys, who were by now scattering into the triple-canopy forest.<\/p>\n

At dawn, we stopped in a bamboo thicket and rested. In fact, we were so exhausted, we just lay where we stopped and fell asleep among the bamboo and the bamboo vipers.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

The midmorning sun and heat woke me, and I sat up, sweat running from my face and neck.<\/p>\n

Sergeant Dawson was also awake and was drinking what looked like instant coffee from his canteen cup. He asked me, \u201cHow\u2019d you miss her? And why\u2019d you shoot?\u201d<\/p>\n

I replied, \u201cI missed because I missed, and I shot because I made the decision to shoot. You got a problem with that?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shrugged.<\/p>\n

I studied my terrain map, and Dawson asked me, \u201cHow far are we from Alpha?\u201d<\/p>\n

I put the map away and said, \u201cI don\u2019t know where we are, so I don\u2019t know where Alpha is.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t like that answer, so I said, \u201cWhen we get moving, I\u2019ll find some terrain features and locate us. Don\u2019t worry about it, Sergeant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

You need to establish who\u2019s in control if you\u2019re going to survive, so I said, \u201cGet the men up and moving. Eat on the march. We\u2019ve been here long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sergeant Dawson got Smitty and Johnson up and within a minute, we were moving south through the bamboo, which gave way to scattered trees, then a thick subtropical growth of palm brush that cut our arms, hands, and faces.<\/p>\n

Within an hour, I was able to locate us on the map, and I announced, \u201cRendezvous Alpha is about twenty kilometers south and west. We won\u2019t make it in the daylight, but we need to be there for our 0600 hours rendezvous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone nodded, if not enthusiastically, then at least with a little optimism. One more day and night of hell, and by first light, we\u2019d be on the magic carpet, and half an hour later, we\u2019d be in base camp on the coast, showering, eating real eggs and bacon, and getting debriefed, not necessarily in that order. Maybe all at once, if I had my way.<\/p>\n

I had exactly twenty-nine days to go in this shithole, and by custom, you didn\u2019t go out on patrol with less than thirty to go. This was my last patrol, one way or the other.<\/p>\n

We moved into a triple-canopy jungle where the lack of sunlight kept the brush at a minimum, and we should have been able to make good time, but we were barely able to put one foot in front of the other. We all had heat rash, crotch rot, jungle sores, festering cuts, and foot blisters big as onions. I had the sense that we were making barely two kilometers an hour.<\/p>\n

It got darker in the triple canopy long before sunset and by 1900 hours, when it should have still been light, it was getting murky, though now and then sunlight would slant in from the west.<\/p>\n

We pushed on, me, Sergeant Dawson, Smitty, and Johnson, the survivors of the radioless patrol known by the radio call sign of Black Weasel. We\u2019d located troop movements, but were unable to report them. We\u2019d evaded large numbers of the enemy, but couldn\u2019t evade a single woman who\u2019d taken an obsessive interest in us. If, in fact, I found myself eating scrambled eggs while being debriefed by Royal Duck and the intelligence types, all I could think to say was that they\u2019d better send a good antisniper team in before they sent anyone else. And don\u2019t be surprised if you never hear from the first couple of teams that go in.<\/p>\n

We moved into a long patch of sunlight that was contrasted with a dark shadowy area up ahead, and my senses went into high gear. I was about to say, \u201cSpread out and find shadow,\u201d when a movement up ahead caught my eye.<\/p>\n

Even with her flash suppressor, I saw the spit of fire high up in the triple-canopy jungle, not more than seventy-five meters away. Johnson let out a loud grunt behind me, and I heard him hit the ground.<\/p>\n

I dropped into a kneeling firing position and emptied a full magazine where I\u2019d seen the muzzle flash.<\/p>\n

As I was firing at where she was supposed to be, I caught another movement to my left and turned. I was aware of a long vine swinging in an arc back toward where I was spraying bullets. She wasn\u2019t on the vine, but she\u2019d been on the vine and was now in a tree somewhere to my left.<\/p>\n

Dawson and Smitty had been firing bursts where I\u2019d directed my fire, and before I could shift my fire to where I thought she\u2019d ridden the swinging vine, Smitty screamed out in pain, then stood, stumbled a few feet, and collapsed facedown. I saw his body jerk like he\u2019d been hit again.<\/p>\n

I shifted my fire to where I guessed she was, but Dawson kept firing at her last location, and I shouted to him, \u201cMonkey vine!\u201d<\/p>\n

He got it and shifted his fire to intersect mine. Red tracers sliced through the jungle canopy, and leaves, branches, and palm fronds fell to the ground.<\/p>\n

We backed out in a crouch, firing as we went, and regrouped about fifty meters back down the trail, then scrambled into a thicket of brush.<\/p>\n

Dawson was visibly shaken for the first time since I\u2019d known him. He kept saying, \u201cJesus Christ. Oh, God. Oh, God.\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cQuiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

He sank cross-legged on the ground, then began rocking back and forth, mumbling something.<\/p>\n

I said softly, \u201cGet it together, Sergeant. Get it together now.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t seem to hear me, then suddenly he brightened and said, \u201cWe got her. I know we got her. I saw her fall. We wasted that bitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t think so, but it was a nice thought.<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cGet up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stood.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

I led us a hundred meters away, found another thicket of brush and said, \u201cWe stay here until midnight, then we move toward our rendezvous. Understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded.<\/p>\n

We sat very still until dark, then drank some water and ate a few cookies from home that we\u2019d found on Landon\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

Sergeant Dawson had gotten himself under control and to make up for the lapse of cool, he said, \u201cLet\u2019s go out and get her. You got the starlight scope. She don\u2019t have a nightscope. Right? We can see in the dark, she can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

I listened, as though I was considering this insanity, then I replied thoughtfully, \u201cI think our best course of action is to stay put for now. I think I can find Alpha from here even in the dark. If we go out after her, we\u2019ll get disoriented and miss our rendezvous. What do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n

He pretended to think about this, then nodded. \u201cYeah. We need to get back and report what happened. They need to get some antisnipers on this bitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight. Let the pros handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can go along and give them some tips.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t reply for a while, then said quietly, \u201cWe\u2019re not going to make it, Lieutenant. You understand? She\u2019s too good. She\u2019s not gonna let us make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I stayed silent for a while, then gave him some good news and some bad news that I knew I\u2019d be sharing with him eventually. I said, \u201cOne of us is going to make it. She wants one of us, the patrol leader, me, or the patrol sergeant, you, to go back and tell them about her. Otherwise, all her fucking bullshit was for nothing. She could have wasted all of us at any point since day one, but she didn\u2019t. She made us piss our pants, tighten our assholes, sweat cold and run hot. She risked her own life to wow the shit out of us, and she didn\u2019t do that for a totally dead audience. One of us\u2014you or me\u2014is going to get on that chopper at dawn. And if it\u2019s you, I want you to report very accurately and very professionally what happened here. And you make sure you make the dead look good and bring honor on them. Then you\u2014or me\u2014volunteers to come back here and settle the score. Understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t reply for a long time, then said, \u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood.\u201d I put out my hand, and we shook.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

We moved through the night, and I navigated as best I could, using my compass and keeping track of our paces.<\/p>\n

An hour before dawn, the land sloped steeply downward, and I knew we were in the vicinity of Rendezvous Alpha, which was a bowl-shaped depression about a kilometer across, thick with elephant grass.<\/p>\n

We had less than twenty minutes to get to the approximate center of this place, and it should be easy, if we just kept going downhill until we started going uphill. Very simple, said Royal Duck. How can you miss the bottom of a bowl, even in the dark?<\/p>\n

I looked at the luminescent glow of my watch. It was a few minutes to 0600 hours, and I didn\u2019t hear a chopper, and I didn\u2019t know if I was at the very bottom of this depression.<\/p>\n

Normally, it wouldn\u2019t matter if we were even a hundred meters off because we could use a signaling mirror, or pop a smoke canister as a last resort. But the geniuses who picked this place hadn\u2019t taken into account the morning ground mist that had settled in the depression. The good news was that the lady with the gun, if she was anywhere on the rim of this depression, couldn\u2019t see us. We might both make it out.<\/p>\n

Somewhere above the mist, the sun was rising and from the air, the terrain would be light enough for the choppers to find this bowl of pea soup.<\/p>\n

Dawson and I decided we\u2019d gotten to a place where the terrain was rising on all sides, so we stopped and listened for the beating chopper blades, which we hoped we could hear over our heavy breathing.<\/p>\n

We waited. It was ten minutes after rendezvous time, but that wasn\u2019t a worry. The chopper pilots were always wary about these pickups in the middle of nowhere, and they tended to dally and recon a lot. There would be two Hueys to pick up ten men, though there were only two of us, and there\u2019d be two or more Cobra gunships flying cover. If they drew fire, they\u2019d try to suppress the fire, and sometimes they\u2019d come in under fire. But not always.<\/p>\n

It was now fifteen minutes past rendezvous time, and Dawson said, \u201cThey\u2019re not coming. They didn\u2019t hear from us, so they\u2019re not coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

I replied, \u201cWe\u2019re here at the prearranged spot because<\/em> they didn\u2019t hear from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not going to leave us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I know \u2026 but \u2026 maybe we\u2019re in the wrong place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can read a fucking map.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah? Let me see the map.\u201d<\/p>\n

I gave him the map, and he looked at it intently. Sergeant Dawson had a lot of good skills, but land navigation was not one of them.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cMaybe we should go on to Bravo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe the choppers saw gooks on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless they\u2019re getting shot at, they\u2019re coming in. Take it easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

We waited. Dawson asked, \u201cYou think she\u2019s out there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll find out.\u201d<\/p>\n

We waited and we listened. At 0630 hours, we heard the distinct beating of helicopter blades against the cool morning air. We looked at each other, and for the first time in a long time, we managed a smile.<\/p>\n

We could hear the choppers get closer, and I knew the pilots were worried about putting down in a mist-shrouded area where they couldn\u2019t see the ground. But they\u2019d been briefed that it was elephant grass, easy landing, and the downdraft would clear the mist for them. Still, we had no radio contact so they wouldn\u2019t know who was waiting for them on the ground. I thought about popping a green smoke canister, which meant all clear, or a yellow that meant caution. That would tell them we were waiting, although it would also announce our presence to people who didn\u2019t need to know we were there.<\/p>\n

Dawson said, \u201cI\u2019m gonna pop smoke. Pick a flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWait. They need to get closer. They don\u2019t want more than three minutes between smoke and pickup, or they get pissed off and go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

I listened to the approaching choppers, counted to sixty, then popped a yellow smoke canister. The billowy plume sat on the ground in the damp, windless air, then began to rise into the mist. At some point, it must have broken through the top of the gray fog because very quickly the sound of the choppers got very loud. A few seconds later, I could see a huge shadow overhead, and the mist started swirling like a tornado was coming through.<\/p>\n

The first chopper was twenty meters away looking very ghostly in the gray mist as it settled toward the earth. The second was about twenty meters farther.<\/p>\n

Dawson and I sprinted toward the first chopper, making hand signals toward the crew to make them understand there were only two of us, and waving the other chopper off. Someone understood because the second chopper lifted off before we reached the closest one. Our chopper hovered five feet off the ground, and I slapped Dawson\u2019s ass indicating he was first. He reached up and grabbed the hand of the crew chief. His feet found the chopper skid, and he was in the cabin in about two seconds. I was right behind him, and I think I actually high-jumped into the cabin, calling out above the noise of the blades and engine, \u201cOnly two! Eight dead! Go! Go!\u201d<\/p>\n

The crew chief nodded and spoke into his radio mouthpiece to the pilot.<\/p>\n

I sat cross-legged on the floor as the chopper rose quickly through the mist.<\/p>\n

I looked at Dawson, who was kneeling on the floor of the cabin and already had a cigarette lit. We made eye contact, and he gave me a thumbs-up. Just as the chopper lifted out of the misty depression, Dawson\u2019s cigarette shot out of his mouth, and he pitched forward, his face falling in my lap. I shouted, \u201cFire!\u201d as I grabbed Dawson\u2019s shoulders and rolled him on his back.<\/p>\n

He stared up at the ceiling of the cabin, blood running from the exit wound in his chest.<\/p>\n

Both door gunners had opened fire with their machine guns raking the forest below as the Huey shot forward away from the area. The Cobra gunships fired their rockets and Gatling guns into the surrounding terrain, but it was mostly for show. No one knew where the shot had come from, though I did know who fired it.<\/p>\n

I got down close to Phil Dawson, face to face, and we stared into each other\u2019s eyes. I said, \u201cYou\u2019re okay. You\u2019ll be fine. We\u2019ll go right to the hospital ship. Just hold on. Hold on. A few minutes more.\u201d<\/p>\n

He tried to speak, but I couldn\u2019t hear him above the noise. I put my ear to his mouth and heard him say, \u201cBitch.\u201d Then he let go and died.<\/p>\n

I sat beside him holding his hand, which was getting cold. The crew chief and the door gunners kept stealing glances at us, as did the pilot and copilot.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

The magic carpet landed at the field hospital first, and medics took Sergeant Dawson\u2019s body away, then the chopper skimmed over the base camp and deposited me at the landing zone of the Lurp Headquarters.<\/p>\n

The pilot had radioed ahead, and Colonel Hayes\u2014Royal Duck\u2014was there to meet me in his Jeep. He was alone, which I thought was a nice touch. He said, \u201cWelcome home, Lieutenant.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded.<\/p>\n

He asked me to confirm that I was the only one left.<\/p>\n

I nodded.<\/p>\n

He patted my back.<\/p>\n

We got in his Jeep, which he drove directly to his hootch, a little wooden structure with a tin roof. We went inside, and he passed a bottle of Chivas to me. I took a long swig, then he steered me to a canvas armchair.<\/p>\n

He asked, \u201cYou feel like talking about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLater?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. Yes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood.\u201d He patted my shoulder and went toward the door of the single-room shack.<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cWoman.\u201d<\/p>\n

He turned to me. \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFemale sniper. A very dangerous woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight \u2026 take it easy. Finish the bottle. See you when you\u2019re ready. In my office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going back to get her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay. We\u2019ll talk about it later.\u201d He gave me a concerned look and left.<\/p>\n

I sat there, thinking about Dawson, Andolotti, Smitty, Johnson, Markowitz, Garcia, Beatty, Landon, and Muller, and finally about the sniper.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

After I made my report, the Air Force carpet-bombed the area of my patrol for a week. The day the bombing ended, we sent three two-man antisniper teams into the area. I wanted to go back, but Colonel Hayes vetoed that. Just as well, since only one team made it back.<\/p>\n

We kept people out of the area for a few weeks, then sent in an infantry company of two hundred men to locate and recover the bodies of the eight guys left behind, and also, of course, to look for the lady with the gun. They never found the bodies; maybe the bombs and artillery obliterated them. As for the lady, she, too, seemed to have vanished.<\/p>\n

I went home and put the whole thing out of my mind. Or tried to.<\/p>\n

I stayed in touch with a lot of the Lurp guys who were still in \u2019Nam when I left, and they\u2019d write once in a while and answer the questions I always asked in my letters: Did you find her? Did she get anyone else?<\/p>\n

The answer was always \u201cNo\u201d and \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

She seemed to have disappeared or gotten killed in subsequent bombings or artillery strikes, or just simply quit while she was ahead. Among the guys who knew the story, she became a legend, and her disappearance only added to her almost mythical stature.<\/p>\n

To this day, I have no idea what motivated her, what secret game she was playing, or why. I speculated that probably she\u2019d had family killed by the Americans, or maybe she\u2019d been raped by GIs, or maybe she was just doing her duty to her country, as we did ours.<\/p>\n

I still have the brass cartridge I\u2019d picked up on the riverbank, and now and then I take it out of my desk drawer and look at it.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want to obsess on this, but as the years passed, I began to believe that she was still alive and that I\u2019d meet up with her someday, someplace, though I didn\u2019t know how or where.<\/p>\n

I knew for certain I\u2019d recognize her face, which I could still see clearly, and I knew she would recognize me\u2014the guy she let get away, to tell her story. Now the story is told, and if we do ever meet, only one of us will walk away alive.<\/p>\n

The End<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Read the full book by downloading it below.<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD EPUB<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Preview As I learned in high school biology, the female of the species is often more dangerous than the male. Maybe that was true in the animal kingdom, I remember thinking, but with human beings, the male was more dangerous. I changed my mind about this when I crossed paths with a very deadly … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-3581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-nelson-demille"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epub-book.com\/download\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}