Savage Sniper

The sergeant smiled. The colonel had done this before, and none of the would-be escapees had made it through the gate before being pierced by a yard-long arrow. Then again, some of the so-called escapees had been Filipino slave laborers forced to make a run for it. From Yamagata’s point of view, it had been entertaining nonetheless.

“He has a lot of spirit, but he does not seem like a fool. What if he does not want to try his luck?”

“We shall compel this new prisoner to make a run for it.”

“How will you do that, sir? He seems very stubborn.”

“I will tell him that if he does not run, then I will make someone else do it. Maybe two or three of the weakest ones. This Deacon Cole seems as if he would not let someone else run in his place.”

The sergeant nodded knowingly. “That is a good idea, sir.”

“In any case, it will be good sport.”

Yamagata reached for the bottle of sake and topped off their glasses. The liquid in the bottle seemed to be diminishing rapidly.

They raised their glasses, and Yamagata said, “To the Emperor! Kanpai!”

Both men smacked their empty glasses down, grinning.

Yamagata glanced at the bow in the corner, and his gaze lingered with a mix of fondness and anticipation. He was looking forward to the morning.

CHAPTER TWENTY

At exactly two minutes before midnight, Patrol Easy and the Filipino guerrillas sprang into action. Lieutenant Steele led them out of their hiding place in the secluded clearing.

“Let’s go,” he whispered. “It’s time to move out. Everybody knows what to do. Philly? Yoshio?”

“We’re on it, Honcho,” Philly replied.

“Just remember that this isn’t the OK Corral,” Steele said. “Don’t shoot unless they shoot first. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“All right, you two get into position.”

The two snipers headed out. From outside the fence line, Philly and Yoshio would be covering the guard tower.

Through observation, they had learned that a pair of guards walked the interior of the fence line once each hour through the night. The guards were typically half-asleep and probably returned to their beds soon after completing their circuit. The guards had just made their rounds and returned to the barracks, leaving the coast clear.

The guard tower was the weakest link of their plan. The problem was that if the machine gun in that tower opened fire before the prisoners had escaped through the fence, it would be disastrous. It would be Philly and Yoshio’s job to take out the machine gunners if that happened.

By then, of course, the entire enemy garrison would be alerted by the gunfire, but at least the guards in the tower wouldn’t be shooting at them.

Steele and Father Francisco had discussed sending Danilo into the tower at the outset of the escape attempt to neutralize the guards there, but they had ultimately decided that doing so was too risky. It would have meant crossing the open ground of the prison yard and climbing the ladder into the tower without alerting the enemy, and then neutralizing them quietly. That was a tall order, even for Danilo.

Instead, the plan was to cut a hole in the fence in the one blind spot in the guard tower’s sight line, directly behind the prisoners’ barracks. Success would rely on stealth and more than a little good luck.

Again, Steele would have preferred having Deke covering the tower instead of Philly and Yoshio, but his best marksman was currently a prisoner of the Japanese. The lieutenant hoped that wouldn’t be the case for long.

That was their plan. Everything felt cobbled together, but there hadn’t been time for anything more elaborate. It remained to be seen how it would all hold together. He recalled what General Eisenhower had famously stated about plans: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

So far they really had been lucky. They had spent the better part of a day and a night under the very noses of the Japanese without being detected. That in itself was something of an accomplishment. Then again, it also spoke to the sheer density of the jungle and its ability to provide cover.

Steele had the unsettling thought that it would have been just as possible for an enemy outpost to be hidden nearby and to have gone undetected. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any signs of one or any need for it. The Japanese were safely ensconced inside the perimeter of their prison camp.

The night favored them with a waning moon, with some high cloud cover. Just a few stars poked through the gauzy fabric of the dark tropical sky. The darkness would provide a good cloak for their actions tonight.

Steele looked toward Father Francisco. The priest and guerrilla leader appeared grim, but seemed to have his band of tough Filipino fighters well in hand. He felt reassured that they were a deadly bunch, armed to the teeth right down to the wicked bolo knives hanging at their belts or strapped across their backs. The guerrillas were veterans of many missions and waited calmly for Father Francisco to give them their orders.