Black Market
Authors: Donald E. Zlotnik
AT
KHES ANH
•
The Marine operating the M-60 machine gun was the first one to open fire and then all hell broke loose. Woods’s team had caught
the overconfident NVA off guard. He pressed the push-to-talk switch and called for the air and artillery support before signaling
for his men to withdraw. The jungle erupted in a bright fireball and a heat wave reached out between the thick vegetation.
Woods yelled, “Back off a hundred meters!”
The team broke contact and started running and fighting away from the NVA. Woods set the pace so that he wouldn’t lose anyone.
Sanchez acted as rear guard along with the Marine carrying the M-60.
Woods guessed the distance and stopped running. “All right!” he yelled. “Stand and fight!”
Survivor of Nam: Baptism
Survivor of Nam: P.O.W.
Survivor of Nam: Court Martial*
Published by
POPULAR LIBRARY
*forthcoming
POPULAR LIBRARY EDITION
Copyright © 1988 by Warner Books, Inc.
All rights reserved.
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First eBook Edition: September 2009
ISBN: 978-0-446-56679-7
Y
O
! D
AVID
!
So how are you doing in the war zone? When are they going to wise up and make you a sergeant? They’re talking about promoting
me, but I think between you and I, they only want to do that because they’re embarrassed that I’m a corporal and a “hero”
of the Vietnam War. Can you believe that shit! They keep coming in here and telling me that I’m some kind of hero. I don’t
think a day goes by where someone from the Pentagon doesn’t stop by my room and ask me questions about being a POW. What in
the fuck do they think it was like, a fucking girl scout camp? I’m getting pissed off but I wish they would leave me alone.
I could use seeing your ugly face. Man I need a friend…
Spence
Contents
CHAPTER THREE: The Black Tiger
CHAPTER SIX: The San Francisco Gull
CHAPTER SEVEN: Shakedown Mission
The wasp flew down close to the various forms of thick vegetation that covered the jungle floor, instinctively knowing what
she was hunting for under the large dead leaves on the ground and under the loose bark of the fallen trees. She landed frequently
and raced over the matted flora, stopping frequently to probe into every dark nook and cranny that could possibly be a hiding
place for the prey the powerful force within her body was demanding she find.
The spider made a small mistake by clicking his mandible nervously when he looked up and saw the hunting wasp fly over his
camouflaged hunting blind. He had never seen a spider wasp before, but he knew she was an enemy who would have to be fought
to the death.
She landed softly only a few inches in front of the hiding arachnid and folded her wings lengthwise over her back. A constant
movement played over her body as she sized up her prey. She moved from position to position in front of the spider, looking
for an opening where she could attack. The spider was used to being the hunter, not the hunted. He moved back under the large
leaf he was using as a day shelter, trying to get out of sight of the irritating creature darting around in front of him.
The disappearance of her selected prey forced the hunting Pompilidae wasp to venture into the dark recess, bringing an instant
reaction from the giant ground spider. He attacked. She moved with a speed faster than the human eye could follow and darted
back out into the open, followed closely by the attacking spider.
The wasp reacted entirely on the instincts that had been bred into her species over millions of years of evolution. She waited
until the spider raised his two front legs, exposing his mouth parts and the soft underbelly between his legs. She darted
forward and flipped her stinger into the spider’s unprotected abdomen. The effect of her paralytic poison was instantaneous.
The giant spider was still alive but unable to move.
The wasp took a few seconds to clean herself and then started looking around the immediate area for a place to dig a burrow.
A beam of light filtered down through the trees, flashing off a nearby white object, and the wasp ran over the ground until
she reached the bleached object that had been wedged tightly between the surface roots of a giant mahogany tree. She crawled
in through one of the circular openings, dropped down to the dry earth, and began digging in the loose soil, throwing dirt
out between her rear feet in a frenzy until the burrow was large enough to hold the spider she had just paralyzed. She had
wasted no effort; the hole was
exactly
the right width and depth.
The giant ground spider lay on the matted, decomposing vegetation with his legs curled up tightly against his hairy abdomen.
He could see clearly and his internal organs functioned perfectly; only his motor muscles failed to respond to his commands.
He saw the black creature scurrying over the ground toward him with her iridescent, blue black wings flickering as if to state
that flying was her true means of transportation but she could run better than most insects.
She reached her prey and started dragging him toward the freshly dug burrow. The effort on her part was total as she struggled
to pull the much larger creature along the ground. She used her legs and wings in the task, and slowly the paralyzed spider
started moving over the earth. There was no doubt that she could drag the spider over to the hole and wedge him inside; she
had calculated everything before she had attacked him.
The wasp gave the spider one final shove and was satisfied that it was wedged safely in the burrow. She exited the hole, turned,
and immediately backed down into the tunnel until she touched the spider with the rear of her abdomen. She laid a single white
egg in the paralyzed ground hunter’s soft underbelly and left the burrow. The task of sealing the nest was quickly accomplished,
and she paused for only a second on the edge of the skull’s right eye socket to check one last time that the burrow was well
camouflaged before taking off to find another spider for her next egg.
The spider lay in the dark burrow, still alive but paralyzed. He had no conception of time, nor did he have the ability to
reflect on what had happened to him and the destiny that awaited him when the twitching larva would awake and start feeding
off his living body. If he had been human, the situation he was in would have driven him insane, but he wasn’t human, he was
a giant ground spider and he was hungry and angry because he couldn’t hunt.
The Marine AMTRACK billowed a solid column of black smoke straight up in the air until the sea breeze caught it and spread
the particles of unburnt diesel and carbon out over the sand. The Marine lance corporal driving the large personnel carrier
moved it forward a hundred meters on the beach, braked it, and rested his helmet against the steel opening of his driver’s
compartment as he watched the engineer mine-clearing team sweep the beach ahead of him.
“How fucking much farther do we have to go!” The Marine engineer private removed one of the earphones to his mine detector
so he could hear his sergeant.
“Another mile up the beach until we reach the Army Support Command…” The sergeant wiped the sweat off his forehead with the
back of his hairy hand.
“Why can’t those Army creeps clear their own fucking beaches!” The Marine private had a legitimate gripe. The Marine combat
unit was only temporarily assigned to Qui Nhon until it could be resupplied and reequipped for an upcoming major operation
on the Khe Sanh plateau near the Laotian border.
“Stop your bitching and look at it as a chance to
test
your equipment before we get in the real shit up at Khe Sanh.” The Marine gunnery sergeant pulled his cap down over his eyes
to block some of the glare from the early morning sun and looked back at the squad that had taken refuge on the shady side
of the AMTRACK. He reached into the pocket of his chicken plate and removed his cigarettes. He tapped the fresh package of
smokes against the ceramic armored vest he was wearing before opening it and removing one of the cigarettes. He wanted to
go back by the AMTRACK and get out of the sun, but a Marine sergeant did not stand in the shade when he had even one of his
Marines suffering out in the hot sun.
“Look at this!” The engineer who had been walking nearest to the shoreline paused and pointed down at a white, sea-scrubbed
skull. The human cranium, complete with its lower jaw, was located exactly at the high tide line on the beach. “A VC souvenir!”
The Marine lance corporal leaned over to pick up the skull.
The gunnery sergeant heard the engineer yell out to his friend and casually looked over to see what had caught the men’s attention.
He saw the skull, but he also saw that the skull was
placed
about seven inches
above
the high tide line. “STOP!
DON’T
MOVE!” The gunnery sergeant dropped his freshly lit cigarette on the sand, stepped into the engineer’s footprints that he
had been walking parallel to, and gingerly placed his feet exactly inside the pattern. The Marines leaning up against the
AMTRACK immediately burst into action. One of them jumped up and manned the M-60 machine gun mounted on top of the fighting
vehicle, while the rest of the squad took up fighting positions around the huge machine. The Marines hadn’t been so relaxed
that they were derelict. They were walking a hundred meters out in front of a barbed-wire perimeter that was manned by Army
personnel.
“What the fuck is going on, Gunny?” The engineer pulled his earphones down around his neck and looked slowly from side to
side. He had frozen in his tracks, obeying his sergeant.
“Just stay where you are until I check out that skull…” The NCO had reached the Marine closest to the object and beckoned
with his arm for the remaining engineer to come over to where they were standing. “Sweep with your mine detector as you work
your way over here!” He tapped the engineer standing inches in front of him. “Put on your headset and sweep the area around
us … and do a damn good job!”
The engineer nodded and replaced his headset. A dull hum filled his ears. He adjusted the volume on his hand-held detector
and slowly moved it from side to side. He checked the area around the skull twice and then looked over at the gunnery sergeant.
“NOTHING, SERGEANT!” He thought that he was speaking in a normal tone of voice, but with the headset on, he was yelling.
“Check the area directly
under
the skull!” The sergeant pointed and the engineer obeyed.
“Holy fuck! It’s hot!” The engineer kept his mine detector directly over the skull and nodded his head. “There’s something
under it!”
The gunnery sergeant had served in Korea during the war and was well aware of the different types of communist land mines
available. He spoke in a very calm voice, realizing the young Marine nearest to the skull was on the verge of panicking. “Easy,
move real easy … There’s nothing to be afraid of…” He motioned for the AMTRACK to remain where it was and then pointed over
at the other member of the mine-clearing team. “You stay there! Sweep the area around you and then lie down flat on your stomach!”