Chapter 6
"He said, "the man who rescued us says for you to
come quickly. He does not know how long he can last. He has been
stabbed in the stomach. I am a doctor. You have medical
equipment?" I screamed "Medic!" Our medic ran up.
I told him to stay with this man, and to bring him up when we had
this area secure. Then I cried "Yo! Marines!"
We went inside, found the captain still on the heavy machine gun
blasting away. With his fire to cover us we made quick work of
the Iraqis. There were thirty-six of 'em and the captain had
killed seventeen himself. When I got to him he was pretty bad.
The doctor and the medic got there. The captain told me to take
command. I wanted to move him immediately to the pick up zone,
but the doctor said if we did he'd die. He needed ten minutes to
stop the bleeding.
I called air cover, asked them if they could keep The Iraqis off
us that long, and they said they would. Those were tense ten
minutes. Our guys sat their charges and waited for my signal. As
soon as the doctor finished what he was doing and the captain
wrapped in a fresh bandage we moved blowing the communications
center as we went.
We got to one pick up point. When the helicopters came down we
crammed the Kuwaiti women on board, and the captain told them to
get them to safety, then come back for us, the pilot commander
screaming bloody murder, but finally took off.
We kept moving with the air cover telling us which way to go.
Finally, the helicopter came back with enough ships to take us
all and we got out of there. When we were unloading our
commanding officer suddenly ran up, said "Get your men in
ranks! Hurry up! The commanding general's here!"
The general appeared, told us to stand at ease, then just came up
and shook my hand, and said "I just had to come down and
just had to welcome you back. Well done, sir, well done!" He
greeted each marine then came back to me. "Anything I can do
for you, sir?" he asked. "Sir!" I snapped, coming
to attention, "I would like to recommend my commanding
officer for the medal of honor, for I well believe what he did
was above and beyond the call of duty!" The general nodded.
"You get the papers made out, sir," he snapped,
"you get them to me. Thank you again, gentlemen! We're
rolling over them. They're in total confusion! Your effort was no
small part of this endeavor. God bless you all!"
He hurried to his helicopter and whisked away. That handshake,
that was worth more to me than any other honor I ever got. The
captain recovered. We saw a little more action, but he was flown
home. The president made mention of his incredible ancestry when
he gave him the medal. "Here is a true American," he
said, "he bears the blood of Europeans, Native Americans,
Asians and, Africans, and the attributes of all those races have
been blended together to make one fine American!""
Trivette whistled. "He looks pure white!" he remarked.
"His other ancestors must e quite a ways back."
"Our great, great grandfather brought people from everywhere
to his community. Over the years many of the people there have
picked up the heritage of many races."
"You said OUR great great grandfather," Trivette
questioned.
Twenty Arrows smiled. "William's ancestor also fathered a
child with the Apache people. I am descended from that child!
That is why he lives on the reservation. His children go to the
reservation school. No one bothers them there."
"Quite a man!" Trivette remarked.
"Indeed!" his companion answered.
They got to the garage, and as the mechanics went to work
Trivette called Cordell. The prisoner wasn't being very
cooperative, but he had let it slip that Shakona would shortly be
arriving in Dallas, and that the brothers had promised him some
really good artifacts to take home. But so far everything seemed
safe.
"As soon as you get your windshield replaced," Cordell
insisted, "Get over to the safe house. "
Gage and Cooke were already there. They would be along in an hour
or so and then probably head for CD's for supper. Cordell planned
on bunking at the safe house until this operation was concluded.
"Take it easy, Trivette!" he cautioned. He hung up the
phone, peeked in the interrogations room, and saw that William
was still working on their reluctant guest with another ranger to
bear witness. As he stood there another marshall walked up.
"Ranger Walker," he announced, "Marshal Rivermore.
How's it going?"
"Fine!" Cordell answered.
"Might we have a moment alone?" the marshall asked.
Cordell nodded and led the marshall into another interrogation
room. "Listen, ranger," the marshall continued,
"this isn't easy, but it has to be said. While you're
working with Marshall Walker, we would like you to keep your eyes
open for anything beyond regulations. Marshall Walker is one of
the best men we have, but there is also a problem with him. Many
of those he is sent to arrest end up dead, usually by some
strange circumstance. They are usually people that it is very
hard to convict, because they have very prominent connections. We
are not saying that Marshall Walker is doing anything wrong, but
if you should see any inappropriate actions we would appreciate
you informing us. A good man can sometimes go beyond the law,
when he is pushed too far. And God knows, William Walker has been
pushed pretty far! We would appreciate you not telling Marshall
Walker we have asked you to observe him."
Page 8