Braun despaired that he and Krause had done so little to help Hitler. A couple of trains wrecked meant nothing. They and their contents had doubtless been replaced in a matter of minutes by America’s incredible production capabilities. Nor had he had any success in finding out the location of the surviving American carrier. Should he make it back to Germany, he thought, he did not want to return knowing that he would be punished, not rewarded. Therefore, he would not ever return to Germany. He would disappear in the United States. Still, it behooved him to do as much damage as he could, for his own satisfaction if nothing else, before disappearing.
He entered Zuckerman’s outer office. Good, he thought, it was empty. No clients were waiting. A sign on the whore’s desk said she was out. If she stayed out she might be lucky and remain alive. No matter. He would not stick around and wait for her after killing the Jew. He heard sounds coming from the inner office indicating that Zuckerman was inside. Perhaps he was screwing the bitch? The thought made him smile as he pulled the Luger from his belt. Perhaps he would be able to kill them as they were fucking their little Jewish brains out.
He pushed the door open and stood in surprise. No one was behind the desk.
“Hands up,” came a shockingly stern voice from behind him. “FBI. You’re under arrest.”
Braun started to turn. “Don’t even think of it,” the voice said. “Now drop the gun.”
A side door leading to a bathroom opened and Braun was aware of another agent to his left and still others now to his rear. Braun didn’t move. He was frozen with indecision.
“Braun, my name is Harris and I’m willing to make a deal with you. Work with us and you won’t hang or be shot.”
Braun laughed harshly but didn’t lower his weapon. “No, all I’ll do is spend the rest of my life in a small cell while Jews like Zuckerman run the world. No thank you.”
Braun wheeled and fired. The shot went high, smashing into the wall. Harris was the first agent to shoot and his bullet took Braun in the chest, flinging him over the desk and onto the floor. The other agents shot quickly, riddling the German’s body. The gun fell from his hands and Harris kicked it away.
Harris walked over and stood over Braun. He was breathing shallowly. The others hurried in and began checking him over, but it looked like a useless gesture. Harris was shaking. It was one of only a few times he’d pulled his weapon and the first time in his career that he’d ever shot anyone. He felt nauseous but kept it down. His other agents were responding similarly. Thank God they’d been available instead of the local sheriff’s retired buffoons he’d had to use to stake out Swenson Engineering. Of course, he felt hugely disappointed that Braun was dying, which meant that he could not be turned or pumped for information.
“Braun, do you have anything to say before you die?”
The Nazi smiled grimly as the light faded from his eyes. His voice, however, was surprisingly strong. “Yes, Heil Hitler and fuck you.”
“Banzai!”
The shouted cry came from their front and chilled them even more than the cold, wet snow did. The Japanese were within shouting distance. Only thing was, Farris thought, they couldn’t see them in the woods. The Japs were hidden by the soggy wet snowflakes that would have been beautiful under other circumstances. Today, the lovely flakes were a deadly camouflage, hiding their fanatic and implacable enemy.
“Banzai!”
Farris was sweating in the cold and began to shiver. He wiped his forehead with his hand. The damn Japs were working themselves into a frenzy. They had come down all the way from Anchorage and now they were finally here, on the outskirts of Fairbanks and with the town behind them. Gavin had his small army arrayed so that multiple strongpoints would provide overlapping and concentrated fire. No one had any real idea how many Sons of Nippon were out there, but the consensus was at least as many as there were Americans.
Damn it to hell, Farris thought. Why wasn’t the road from the south open yet? The engineers only had a few miles to go and then troops and armor could come flooding down it, instead of arriving in little trickles like his company had. Soon, he thought, please God soon.
At least Stecher should be happy. He’d been looking for Japs to kill and now they were just a little ways away.
And why didn’t the defenders of Fairbanks have enough artillery to pound the enemy in the woods, and why didn’t they have enough planes to bomb and strafe the enemy? Because nobody thought this would happen and now good men were going to pay with their lives for somebody’s miscalculation.
“Banzai!” and this time a chorus of voices echoed the cry. How damn many of them were there? Farris had an almost overpowering urge to urinate. Or crap. Or hell, maybe both. This would be the first time he and the company had been even close to real combat. He couldn’t count shooting at that sub as combat, although the shells the sub fired at them had come disconcertingly close, and taking on that Japanese patrol had been laughingly one- sided. No, this would be personal.
Major Baylor walked by, calm and upright, just as if he was inspecting them on a Saturday morning before going on weekend pass. Farris knew that it was the major’s first time in combat, along with Gavin’s, but Baylor couldn’t show nerves to his men and be their leader. And I can’t either, Farris thought.
“Keep lots of ammo ready, make sure your grenades are easy to reach, and keep your bayonets fixed,” Baylor said. “Oh yeah, aim for the guys with the swords. Those are their officers.”
The thought of sticking someone with a bayonet or being hacked to pieces with a sword swung by a crazy Jap made Farris want to throw up. He patted the pocket of his field jacket. He’d just gotten a letter from Sandy down in San Diego. Yeah, he thought absurdly, Sandy San Diego. She’d been warm and polite, but noncommittal, which, he supposed, was the way it should be. They’d only gone out a couple of times and he hadn’t even made it to second base. Still, he was glad someone from the female side of the tracks was writing to him.
“Banzai!”
“Either attack or shut the fuck up,” someone yelled and Farris agreed. Do something!
They got their wish. “Oh Jesus, here they come!”
Shapes became dimly visible in the whipping snow. The enemy had gotten to within a hundred yards of them thanks to the crummy weather. Now they were so close he could see expressions on their faces. All hell broke loose as every American soldier opened fire with everything he had. There were a dozen men in Farris’s bunker, and along with their rifles, they had a pair of BARs and a .30-caliber Browning machine gun. They all opened up and chopped into the onrushing Japanese.
Farris worked his rifle as rapidly as he could. Aim, fire, work the bolt, aim, fire, work the bolt, and every five bullets, change the clip. He saw Japanese soldiers tumble and fall. Some got up and tried to continue and were shot again and again until they finally fell and stopped moving. Some ran past his little fortress, while others, many others, were headed straight toward him.
“Jesus, they got tanks!” someone yelled, and Farris thought it was Stecher in an adjacent bunker. Two awkward and ugly metal shapes noisily clambered into view. Their machine guns belched fire and their cannon boomed. Shells from the tanks hit near his bunker and raised clods of mud and debris. Somehow, Farris recalled that Japanese tanks were supposed to be miserable, but these looked like monsters to him.
One of his men started hurling grenades and the first wave of Japanese faltered. Still more grenades filled the air. The man who’d thrown the first grenade grabbed his face and fell backward, screaming. An American artillery shell landed in front of one of the tanks, showering it with dirt and making Farris fall back from the shock. Machine- gun bullets raked the tank, but did no harm. An American jumped out and ran through shocked Japanese and up to the tank. Jesus, Farris realized, it was Stecher. The sergeant pried open the driver’s hatch and dropped in a grenade. A moment later, the tank exploded, blowing Stecher aside like a leaf.
The second tank hit a rock and threw a tread. Instead of staying safe in their iron hull, the crew jumped out and began running insanely toward Farris.
An officer with a glistening curved sword waved it and urged his men on. Farris aimed and shot him in the chest.
“Good one, Lieutenant,” one of his men said.
But here were just too many Japanese. They swarmed on to Farris’s position. Some continued past, while others howled and attempted to jab and stab at the men in the trench. A couple of Farris’s men panicked and clambered out of the bunker and began running to the second line of defenses. Farris too thought it was time to leave but he couldn’t. A dying Japanese soldier had fallen on him and he was stuck under the body. Other Japanese jumped or fell among Farris and the remaining Americans and it became a killing fest, as men on both sides used
