THE RECRUIT
By; Gerald A. Polley
Chapter 15
They came under no fire whatsoever. At the proper place Young
peeled off and went to set up her nasty little surprise. Imal's
people found no sentries at the tanks. They quickly performed
their task. When all their charges were in place they hurried
back to Young. Imal checked his watch. The charges were all
timed to go off simultaneously. "Five, four, three, two.." he
went. When he hit zero all hell broke loose! They started
lobbing in mortar rounds, and each man fired on anyone he saw moving in
his area. Suddenly their radios began to emit a trouble signal.
"Unit four's in trouble!" a burly Chinese sergeant called.
"All my people!" Imal cried, "GO!"
"Squad 2!" Young cried, "GO!"
Imal considered it a good decision. With as little resistance as
they were facing, they didn't need that many men. Finally, Young
cried, "Nobody's going to be coming after us for some time. Let's
get out of here!"
All the troops turned to
leave. Imal and Young laid down a little bit more fire just to be
sure nobody got heroic, then started after the others. There was
a sudden whooshing sound. Imal felt a thud. He went to his
knees and looked down to his chest. There was something sticking
out of it! "Damn! That's gotta hurt!" a voice remarked.
From the fires behind him Imal could see a
shadow. There was another shadow combined with his. A
winged being was standing behind him. "Don't move!" the being
commented. Suddenly a blue light surrounded Imal. He felt a
jerk and the thing in his chest was gone. "Sons of bitches!" the
voice commented. "This thing's bio tracking! Better give this to
ordinance. A simple coil emitting a magnetic field should jam
them. Oh, help her. I don't have time!"
Imal was aware the being was gone. He looked to his right. There
was Young, one of these things through her throat. Imal got up, dashed
over and took ahold of it. The blue light surrounded her. He pulled it
out, she coughed up a mess of blood, and got up.
It was then that Imal looked up to see that one of the Chinese soldiers
had returned. "You didn't see anything! Do you understand?"
"Dragon!" the man muttered, "Dragon!"
"No dragon!" Imal insisted, "Understand? No dragon!"
The man nodded. "We gotta move!" Young snapped. "God, my neck hurts!"
"Little wonder!" Imal thought.
They got to the rest of their people. They were gathered around
Roseanne. A medic was working furiously.
"I've got to use coagulant!" he remarked, "Got to stop the bleeding!"
"NO!" Imal screamed. "She's pregnant! It will kill the baby!"
The burly Chinese sergeant grabbed the medic's arm and pulled the
injector away. Imal knelt down. "Nobody sees this!" he
snapped.
He held his hand over the
wound. The blue glow appeared and the bleeding stopped.
"Wow!" the medic gasped. "But she's lost an awful lot of
blood. I don't think plasma is going to be enough."
"What's her blood type?" Imal asked.
"B negative," the medic answered.
"Good!" Imal responded, "I'm B negative! Start pumping!"
The medic got out equipment. "We need a vehicle!" Imal cried. "Now what in the hell happened?"
"They came out of nowhere!" a North Korean soldier answered, "They were
all over us! Somehow she got outside of the circle, and charged
them, by herself! She emptied her clip then went after them hand
to hand, kept them off us until we could manage a defense. One of them
got her with a bayonet. She took him out, though! We were
dead meat!"
"It will be reported!" Imal snapped.
A truck came rushing down the road. Imal called to Young. "I
gotta go with her out on an evac plane. Bring the rest out in the
gliders. Tell operations what has happened."
Young nodded, rubbing her neck. "Don't report it!" Imal cautioned. Young smiled.
It was a harrowing ride back to the airport with a medic continuing to
pump blood out of him. The plane took off. There were more
Chinese troops on the plane, and, some prisoners. One of the
prisoners was in a bad way. She had a bandage around her head
covering one eye.
"That's all I can take from you," the medic answered, "but she needs more." Anybody B negative?"
Everybody on the plane checked their dog tags and shook their
heads. One of the female prisoners said something to the officer
with her. He looked at her dog tags. "She's B negative," he
remarked. "She'll help."
"We've killed a lot of your people tonight," Imal remarked.
"We've killed a lot of yours!" the Russian answered. "We would've
killed a lot more if you hadn't hit us first! Somebody back home
is going to be out of a job! I just wish there was something that
could be done for Romina." He nodded to the woman near him.
Imal sighed and went over. He whispered to the Russian.
"You didn't see this! It didn't happen." Imal removed the
bandage, put his hand over the woman's eye. He felt something and
pulled it out, a large piece of shrapnel. "There!" he comforted,
"That's going to feel a lot better now! I'm sure the doctors are
going to be able to help now. I didn't do that much, understand?"
"Yes," the woman answered, in perfect Spiritist.
They landed. Imal went to meet his own troops, turned the devices over
to ordinance. He was standing there talking to the officer when
everything went black! A while later he woke up in the hospital
on a cot between two other beds. The Russian officer from the
plane was sitting in a chair at his feet. "What the...?" Imal
asked.
"Nothing serious!" the officer
explained. "Just exhaustion. You did too much too fast. Of
course anybody would've had."
Suddenly Imal
realized the officer was wearing a Republic uniform. Behind the
insignia of his rank were three golden Ss. "Secret Service?" Imal
moaned.
"Yes sir!" the officer
answered. "The lady up above you that's sleeping peacefully also
is. Do you know the bind you have put us in by telling us not to
report what occurred?"
Imal sighed. "Yes," he answered,
"but I'd still appreciate it very much if you not. Would it
really in any way, interfere with your mission?"
"No," the officer answered. "you saving my associate probably
guaranteed the success of our mission. We've brought back
unquestioned evidence that they were going to attack. They're not
going to be able to claim it was exercises. We have video of
officers discussing it, and, hand written instructions."
The man sighed. "I'll agree if you tell me one thing. What
made that mark on your back and the other one on your chest?"
"One of those bio weapons," Imal answered. "I should be dead right now!"
"Jesus!" the officer moaned. "Very well, I have given my
word. Our officer was not wounded as severely as we
thought. The doctors were able to save her vision." He got
up. "Get some sleep! They're not gonna let you out of here
until they're sure you're not gonna collapse again. I've heard
that you say all you wanna be is just a good soldier," the officer
continued. "I think you're gonna be far more than just good!"
He smiled and departed. A nurse came
in and gave Imal a shot. He was out for several hours.
Finally he got to debriefing, gave his report, and headed home.
Rosanne was resting in her room. Imal went in.
"I'm very, very angry with you!" he snapped. "There is never to
be a breech of protocol like that one again!"
"I didn't know!" Roseanne answered, "I wasn't sure. I was waiting for the doctor's report."
"I'm sure you suspected!" Imal answered. "It's out of our hands
now. Our superior will take no direct action. But I'm
damned tempted to give you a good old fashioned spanking when your
wounds are sufficiently healed!"
"If that
is your wish," Roseanne answered, "I would fully understand why that
discipline was being applied."
Imal smiled. "Get
some rest!" he snapped. "We've still got work to do! These
nasties may try something else. We've only got a few days before the
execution. I think you better stay in bed, no duty whatsoever
until the doctor approves it!"
Rosanne nodded. Imal found his wife. "How do you apply for The Medal Of Valor?" he asked.
"Form was already sent this morning," his wife answered. "Base
commander signed it, along with several others."
Two days later they were called to the commander's office.
Instead of being taken to his office they were taken to the parade
grounds and ushered up onto a platform. All the troops involved
with the operation were gathered before them.
"Rosanne Imal!" the commander snapped, "It has been requested that some
punishment be given you for your violation of regulations. That
by going into combat conditions you threatened the life of your unborn
child. This is a serious matter! Therefore, I sentence you
to two years probation under the leadership of your current
commander. That done, there is the matter of your actions on this
operation. A petition has been sent to The Dragon. They
have unanimously approved it, and The First Speaker has signed
it. Roseanne Imal, I at this time, raise you a grade in rank and
present to you The Medal Of Valor. Let all present give cry!" As
the commander hung the medal around Roseanne's neck, the assembled
soldiers took off their hats, waved them above their heads, and cried
"Yah! Yah! Yah!" The commander motioned Roseanne
forward. "Company," he cried, "Attention! Company salute!"
The soldiers saluted. Roseanne returned the salute. "Beer
is permitted in the mess hall!" the commander remarked. "I will
expect moderation. Dismissed!"
The
soldiers cheered again. Roseanne and Imal spent some time in the
mess hall receiving everyone's good wishes, then headed home.
Imal had to slip away. He had to get ready for a special duty, and also
the American president wanted to greet him quietly. Imal
shivered. The president from The United States wanted to have a
quiet, private meeting with him! How far he had come from that
scared boy who had joined a band of pirates. How lucky he had
been! He prayed his luck didn't run out!