Chapter 20

  Unencumbered by his injured friends, Hung moved at astonishing speed. He moved over and around thick vegetation, small hills, and feeder streambeds and was at the outskirts of Xuan Loc in just over an hour. When he approached the perimeter of the ARVN camp, he used his flashlight to signal his approach. Within twenty minutes, a flight surgeon was on board a Sikorsky CH-3 Jolly Green Giant, heading for a location that Captain Hung would show them.

  *****

  Shawn heard the thump of the chopper coming in the distance. He had stayed by Jesse’s side and talked softly to him even though he knew Jesse couldn’t hear him. Shawn’s hopes that Jesse would survive increased dramatically as the noise got closer. He was still alive, but his breathing was still shallow and erratic. Shawn kept a vigil over his friend while Dang used the night vision goggles to look for any possible danger. Their greatest fear was that the enemy patrol would find them before they got picked up. With two injured men, it would be Custer’s last stand reenacted with the same result. The chopper was close now. Shawn popped a smoke canister and hoped they would see it in the night sky. Shawn had instructed Hung to look for smoke and a flashlight signal instead of a flare. He would only use the flare gun if the chopper were way off course. He didn’t want the enemy to have a beacon to home in on.

  *****

  Hung knew the approximate location, but it wouldn’t be easy to find the men at night. Signaling the pilot to decrease his forward speed, Hung then returned to the main cabin, where a ten-man tiger team and the flight surgeon waited to pick up the survivors. Hung pointed at his eyes, then pointed down, instructing his men to keep a sharp eye for any signal.

  *****

  Shawn watched and listened for the chopper to arrive. From the sound, he could tell they were a little off course and heading away from him on his right. His expectations started to fade along with the sound of the chopper. Then he heard the pitch change, and his hopes were renewed when it began to return working in a grid search pattern. As the sound of the chopper grew nearer, Shawn popped another smoke canister and hoped they would see it this time.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  *****

  The co-pilot spotted the smoke in the waxing moon just two days shy of being full. He called it out to the pilot, and he acknowledged it. As they approached the spot, the pilot spotted the light signal. The flight surgeon went down first on the shoulder harness. Shawn guided him down, and they both made their way over to Jesse. The doctor opened his medical bag and checked his vital signs and then his wound while Shawn paced back and forth as the doctor worked on him. The stretcher was finally lowered, and Shawn and the doctor placed Jesse carefully inside. When Jesse was halfway up, Shawn turned to the doctor and yelled above the din of the chopper.

  “Is he going to make it doc?”

  “His vital signs aren’t good, and he’s lost a lot of blood. It all depends on how much damage was done inside. I’m sorry, soldier, but I can’t give you more than that right now.”

  The doc now turned his attention to Dang, and after the stretcher was lowered again, Dang was placed inside. He made the short, windy ride up to the chopper’s side door, where the stretcher was pulled inside. Shawn and the doc then went over to the prisoner and dragged him by his arms to the loading spot. Shawn noticed that the man seemed very subdued. The flight surgeon went up next, and Shawn turned to look at his prisoner. He got right in his face again and said, “I don’t know if you can understand me, but you’re one fucking lucky bastard. If my friend had died, I would have slit your throat.”

  A few minutes later, when everyone was on board, the pilot put the hammer down on the twin 1,500 hp General Electric engines, and the airship’s nose dipped forward, and the massive rotors dug into the night air and propelled the chopper forward.

  The Sikorsky landed without incident, and the wounded men were quickly transferred to the hospital for medical care.

  Before Li was unloaded, his gag was removed, and he looked at Shawn with both of his grandfather’s daggers tied to his shirt and said in Vietnamese, “I’m going to get my daggers back from you.”

  Shawn asked Hung what the prisoner had said, and after he translated the message, Shawn responded.

  “Well, good for you. I like a man with spunk. But I have to warn you, that ain’t going to be an easy task, asshole.”

  Then, in the blink of an eye, he punched Li in the kneecap again. Li howled out in pain, and when he bent forward to grab his leg, Shawn drove his right fist into his face.

  When Li woke up, he was in a cell.