Red Phoenix

“Okay, Kev.” Donaldson spaced his words out carefully. “Foxtrot and Bravo are pulling out now. They’re clear of NK contact. What’s your situation? Over.”

Kevin sat up higher in the foxhole. The fire mission he’d called down had ended. There were bodies thrown all around the road, some motionless, others writhing in agony. The scattered survivors of the NK infantry company he’d spotted were in full retreat — scampering back up the road as fast as their legs would carry them.

He lifted his binoculars, looking farther up the highway toward the low, rolling hills he and his men had left behind an hour before. He could see shapes moving among the trees. Tanks and other armored vehicles forming up for another attack.

He lowered the binoculars, thinking hard. “Two, this is Six. Estimate three zero minutes before next NK push, over.”

“Understood, Kev. Start your people across in five minutes, but leave a force to cover the bridge approaches until everybody’s clear. Got it?”

Kevin acknowledged and signed off. He handed the radio back to Montoya and looked around for Rhee. The shorter man’s steadiness and absolute reliability made him the perfect choice for the task Kevin had in mind. The South Korean lieutenant had shown himself to be a damned fine combat leader — one who could be counted on to inspire his men and use them well in the heat of battle. Just as important, he’d proved that he had brains as well as guts. During the day’s fighting, the dapper South Korean had earned his assigned slot as Kevin’s right-hand man a hundred times over.

Rhee was crouched beside one of the three remaining Dragon launchers. He saw Kevin’s wave and scuttled over.

Kevin filled him in on the situation and gave him his orders, trying to use the formal tone he knew the South Korean liked. “Lieutenant Rhee, I want you to lead the boys across. Leave me one Dragon team, one MG team, and a rifle squad. We’ll follow after you’re on the span. Clear?”

The South Korean nodded.

“Okay, then. Get moving.” Rhee rose to a crouch, but Kevin stopped him with a hand. “But keep everybody out of sight as long as you can. I don’t want the NKs to know we’re going until we’re long gone.”

Rhee nodded again and moved off to get the company organized and loaded onto its trucks.

The exhausted men of Echo Company needed no urging to leave their foxholes behind and crowd onto the waiting vehicles. One by one the trucks pulled out onto the road and roared off down toward the bridge and safety.

Kevin spread his remaining eleven men out in a thin skirmish line along the crest of the hill. Montoya crouched beside him in the foxhole that served as his CP, turning every five seconds or so to see how far the company had gotten. Kevin kept his eyes on the woods to the north.

He didn’t have any illusions left. Another North Korean tank attack would sweep through this last squad as if it weren’t even there. The most they could do would be to give a little warning to the men waiting to blow the bridge.

Minutes passed. The signs of movement in the woods were increasing. The NKs could come anytime now. He glanced at his watch. Come on, Rhee!

“Echo Five Six, this is Five Four.” It was Rhee.

Kevin grabbed the handset. “Go ahead, Four.”

“We’re on the bridge.”

Kevin felt relief wash over him. He stood up and cupped his hands. “Second Squad! Let’s get the fuck out of here. Let’s go, people!”

He watched the woods while his troops grabbed their weapons and jogged downhill toward the last truck. The driver already had its engine running. Men swarmed over the tailgate, turning once they were on board to help others up.

Oh, God. Tanks were emerging from the tree line, forming up for the attack. Ten, eleven, twelve… Kevin counted them rapidly. There were at least two North Korean tank companies moving toward him.

“Lieutenant!” It was Montoya yelling at him from the truck. “C’mon, sir. We gotta get out of here!”

No shit. Kevin spun away from the oncoming North Korean tanks and sprinted hard for the waiting truck. KARRUMP. KARRUMP. Dirt kicked high behind him. NK mortars were zeroing in on the hill. He ran faster, arms pumping out from his sides.

KARRUMP. Rock fragments and splinters whined overhead, thrown by an explosion to his right. Kevin skidded to a stop, panting, at the back of the truck. Hands reached down to pull him aboard as the driver put it in gear and raced away toward the bridge. Behind them the hill they’d been defending disappeared in a sea of blindingly bright flashes as the NK heavy artillery opened up.

WHAMMM! The truck careened around a shell crater and roared onto the empty bridge. Kevin sat up amid his men as they swayed from side to side under the low canvas roof. Gray-white smoke billowed high in the air above the hill. The North Koreans were laying a smoke screen to cover their attack. He smiled crookedly. They were wasting a lot of ammunition on people who weren’t there anymore.

The truck crossed over to the south side of the Han and slowed, turning off onto an access road running along the riverbank. The driver slammed on his brakes, fighting a skid, as he turned a corner and came face-to-face with a row of concertina wire laid across the road.

“Everybody out! Out! Take cover over there!” Grim-faced combat engineers waved Kevin and his men out of the truck. They jumped down over the tailgate, some falling to their knees in the mud, and staggered over behind a snowbank.

“Blow it!” Kevin looked up at the voice and saw an engineer wearing colonel’s insignia staring intently at the bridge. He followed the man’s gaze.

WHUMMP. WHUMMP. WHUMMP. WHUMMP. Kevin covered his ears as the series of explosions grew louder and closer together, rippling across the bridge from north to south. Whole sections of the roadway buckled and then flew upward, spinning end over end before splashing into the river below. Others simply sagged and then fell over, crashing into the water in a spray of white foam and ice.

When the smoke cleared, the Haengju Bridge lay in ruins, torn and ripped into a mangled mass of twisted steel and shattered concrete, poking above the water here and there. Tanks appeared momentarily on the hill to the north of the river and then backed hastily out of sight. The North Koreans would have to find another way across.

ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT

The camera view showed a computer-generated map of South Korea, with red arrows showing the known positions of the attacking North Korean columns.

“Defense Department sources admit that, although the enemy’s advance has been slowed, it is still continuing. According to these sources, American and South Korean troops are currently engaged in what is called a ‘determined fighting withdrawal.’ Other people tell us that’s what used to be called a retreat.

“For other news of the day’s events, we go to ABC’s Karen Fuchida near the small town of Benicia, California.”

The camera cut away to an aerial view of row after row of gray-painted merchant ships riding motionless at anchor against a backdrop of flat marshland and low, rolling hills. As the helicopter moved closer and swooped lower, work crews could be seen swarming over several of the vessels.

“Civilian contract workers continued their ‘round-the-clock’ efforts today, as they pushed relentlessly to ready these ships of the nation’s ‘mothball fleet’ for sea. Once they’re ready to go, these ships will join others already carrying much-needed cargo to the troops fighting in South Korea.”

The camera view shifted again, this time to the main street of a small town nestled among snow-covered cornfields in Iowa. Men in green uniform fatigues moved purposefully around a square, brick building.

“Meanwhile, National Guard and Reserve units around the country received orders putting them on standby alert for possible movement overseas. There wasn’t a lot of flag-waving enthusiasm, just a lot of quiet determination. ABC’s John Peterson asked one Guardsman about his feelings.”

The camera cut to a close-up of one middle-aged man in full gear.

“Sure I’m hoping this thing gets settled without us. I’ve got a wife and couple of kids to think of.