They’ve already made a small move part of the way up the road in that direction.”
Baylor paused to let his comment sink in. “Gentlemen, that means at least six thousand Japs are headed toward an American force that is much smaller and in large part consists of civilian volunteers, along with Negro construction troops. You may not be aware, but there are no roads to Alaska, although one is being built. The engineers have been told to cut out the niceties and just plow through the trees as fast as they can so a line of vehicles, or even troops on foot, can get through before winter shuts everything down. Also, there is no rail line up there, and sending troops by ship is an obvious no-no what with the Japs controlling the ocean. And while there is an airfield up there, it is small and jammed with planes bringing in supplies for the troops who are already there, along with other support personnel who can expand the little base.
“That means we go by truck as far as we can and then we walk. Maybe that will give us a chance to improve on our recon skills which I understand are nonexistent. That doesn’t matter to the army. We are listed as recon and as recon we will go and as recon we will fight. Any question?”
Farris raised his hand. “Yeah, Major, when do we leave?”
“Two to three weeks, which will give you some time to get your men in shape and learn some basic combat skills.”
“What about our current tasks, like patrolling the beaches and walking the tracks?” inquired another company commander.
“If you can work it into your training schedule, do it. Otherwise I don’t think we can get too worked up about Japanese invaders. Saboteurs are another problem, and I’m not pleased that we’re cutting back on those patrols. Try to find some way to combine the two if you can. Smaller patrols works well for me. Any further questions? Good. Go back and give your units the good word. Farris, stay here. I want to talk to you.”
Steve waited impatiently while the other two company commanders, both first lieutenants, walked out. One glanced at him with what looked like pity. When they were gone, Baylor invited him to sit down.
“You’ve done better than well, Lieutenant, which is why I’m keeping you on as commander of A Company. We’ll get you a bump to first lieutenant to give you some credibility with the others, but I am impressed with the way you handled that burning tanker, and the shelling of Lytle’s HQ. I’ve read your reports and memos. Lytle forwarded them on to the division, probably hoping we’d use them to replace you because he thought you were such a pain in the ass. Fact was, we were going to replace him. We knew he was an incompetent lush, but we had other more important things on our plate. Sadly, we didn’t do it soon enough and good men died because of that decision.
“By the way, you were the only officer in the battalion who tried to do anything about this miserable state of affairs. All the others were quite happy to let things slide along. I will be riding a few people’s asses real hard to see who’s good and who isn’t, but I don’t think I’ll have to worry about you. Now, who do you want for a first sergeant, since that person was wounded?”
“Easy, sir, Stecher.”
Baylor made a note. “No surprise. Stecher’s short a stripe but we can take care of that, and it’s going to strip your old platoon of leaders, but I’ll juggle some bodies and make it work. Got any questions?”
Farris grinned. “No, sir.”
Baylor smiled grimly and held out his hand. “Oh, but you will, Lieutenant, you will.”
Once more unto the breach, thought Braun. Once again they were lying in wait for a train to come rolling by. Nor did it bother him that he was quoting Shakespeare. Even though he was English, the Bard was one of Braun’s favorite writers. Also, he wasn’t Jewish like so many so-called artists were, even the long dead ones.
According to the schedule, a passenger train from the town of Riverside would be along in half an hour. It was getting dark, which made their chances of success good in Braun’s opinion. Also helping them was the obvious fact that fewer Americans were patrolling the rails since the Japanese attack on the coast. If he saw someone, he would make a short piercing whistle, which would freeze Krause in place. Two and everything was all clear. Three meant run like hell.
Braun kept a careful watch as Krause crawled along the embankment with the explosives and detonator. He smiled. It was good to have Krause around to do the shit work. He was getting too old for that nonsense.
Since he knew where to look, he was able to follow Krause in the dark as he laid the explosives. Done, and the sergeant began to crawl back to Braun. In the distance they heard the sound of a train.
Once he got back, Krause grinned, his teeth white in the dark. “Damned thing is early. Less time to be discovered, eh?”
Braun agreed. They waited expectantly as the sound of the train drew closer. A few moments later, they could see the single bright eye of the light on the locomotive. Sooner than expected, the train, obviously speeding, was on them. Braun counted twelve passenger cars and he hoped they were all crammed with people and not running empty.
The train was going so fast that the locomotive had almost made it across the detonator before it went off, separating the locomotive from the coal car. The locomotive miraculously stayed on the tracks, while all the cars behind flew down the embankment and landed in a screeching, dusty, smoking jumble. The sound of tearing metal and breaking wood was quickly punctuated by the screams of injured and dying passengers.
All of the cars had toppled on their sides and one had flown on top of another in a ghastly pileup. People were scrambling out of doors and windows. The unhurt dragged the injured and laid them on the ground. Some were attempting first aid.
A success, thought Braun. “Time to go.”
He and Krause ran to the Ford wagon. As they approached, they saw motion. “Damn,” snarled Krause. Both men drew their weapons.
Three men were hunched over the back of the car. One had a jack and another held a length of hose. They were going to steal the tires and siphon his gas, leaving them stranded by the scene of a train wreck that they had caused.
The three looked stunned when the two armed Germans approached them. “Police!” snapped Braun. “Get on the ground.” The men complied. They were very young, in their teens, scared, and looked like they were Mexicans. Braun recalled reading in the paper that there’d been a lot of problems with thieves from Mexico. The prisoners looked at their captors. They were nervous and confused and gauging their chances to make a break.
Krause took a deep breath. “We got here in time. They did nothing.” In the background, sirens could be heard. “We have to leave now.”
Braun winced. Krause had been speaking in German and the three Mexicans were puzzled by what they’d heard. He looked in the back seat of the car and the trunk that the crooks had pried open. A couple of sticks of dynamite were visible. He’d brought extras and now regretted it.
“Lie on your faces,” Braun said in the bad Spanish he’d learned in Mexico City. They did as they were told. Braun shot the first two men before they realized what was happening. The boy in the middle started to get up, but Braun killed him before he could get to his knees. Krause looked shocked, but quickly accepted the necessity of killing them.
“Damn, damn, damn,” muttered Braun.
Krause looked toward the wreck. “Do you think the shots will attract attention?”
The noise coming from the wreck and the sound of sirens was very loud, almost deafening. “No, but like I said, we have to leave immediately.”
“And them?” Krause asked, pointing at the three wide-eyed corpses.
“We have no choice but to leave them. It will be a present for the FBI.” He laughed harshly. “Perhaps it will drive them crazy trying to figure out what these three had to do with the train.”
CHAPTER 14
AMANDA AND TIM HEARD THE POLICE SIRENS AND THE SCREAMS as they left the little restaurant. As they turned the corner they saw a crowd of sailors and a bunch of Mexicans dressed in exaggerated outfits that
