The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [130]
The slaves served chow. Flapjacks flambé—torched in T-bird wine.
Chuck loved it. Pete went yum-yum. Bob gagged. Mesplède gagged. Marv Three scarfed it up. Wayne took a bite. Wayne gagged. Wayne fed Tran’s pet snake.
Tran spoke English. Tran spoke French. Tran ran the drill:
Two Hueys come. We go then. We co-opt poppy farms. We “negotiate.”
Pete took Tran aside. Wayne watched the tête-à-tête. Wayne heard “improvisation.” Pete grinned. Tran grinned. Tran went tee-hee. Wayne caught the gist—“negotiate,” shit.
Chuck issued ammo. Chuck issued rules: We all carry birdshot—beehives verboten.
Wayne dumped his ammo. Wayne reloaded. Wayne thought it through:
Short-range loads. “Improvisation.” Pete knows/Tran knows/Chuck knows. They all know—but you.
Tran gave a speech. Tran indicted the Cong. Tran indicted the French. Tran excluded Pete and Mesplède. Tran indicted Ho Chi Minh. Tran indicted Ngo Dinh Diem. Tran indicted gnarly Charlie de Gaulle.
Tran eulogized Preston Chaffee. Tran indicted the Beard. Tran extolled boss-man LBJ. Tran yelled. Tran coughed. Tran chewed an hour up and went hoarse.
Wayne heard chopper thumps. Wayne saw the Hueys.
They closed in. They hovered. They landed and perched. The doors popped. The pilot Marvs motioned them up.
Tran said a prayer. Tran issued bullet-proof vests. Wayne looked at Pete. Pete smiled and winked.
They did staggered takeoffs. Bob took Flight #1. Bob packed a 7-65 sniper-scope.
Pete clocked off ten minutes. Flight #2 readied. Tran yelled, “All aboard!”
They climbed in. Wayne grabbed a door spot. Chuck rode the door gun. Pete got a back seat. Mesplède stuck close. Tran stuck by the Pilot Marv and Marv Three.
The Pilot Marv goosed it. The rotors whipped. They climbed. They leveled. They held.
3K level—check that green—green valleys/green hills/green brush.
Wayne looked down. Wayne saw soil rows and hollows. Wayne caught the gray tint.
Sweet soil. Good alkalines—low pH all. Poppy food. Dope slaves burn trees. Ash feeds the soil.
Calcium and potassium. High phosphate counts. Spring burns and fall plantings. Beans and corn for interim crops.
They passed Saravan. Wayne saw tin roofs and spires. Wayne saw stick figures and grids. Saravan came and went fast. The ground regreened.
Chuck got airsick. Chuck puked in a bag. Wayne looked away and looked down.
There—
Dope fields/row furrows/coolie-hat slaves.
Pete grabbed the Pilot Marv’s headset. He listened. He laughed. He held three fingers up. Tran laughed. Chuck laughed. Mesplède laughed. Marv Three went bang-bang.
Wayne got the gist:
Bob’s up in chopper 1. Bob’s got a rifle. Bob’s popping outland guards. Bob’s toppled three.
The Pilot Marv banked. Wayne saw huts. Wayne saw a landing strip. He pulled his .45. He checked the clip. He jacked a round in.
The Pilot Marv leveled. The Pilot Marv rotored down.
There—
A barracks. A slave jail. A volleyball court. A welcome line—Li’l Tojo plus six. Little Laotians/fatigues and jump boots/World War II Nazi lids.
Pete laughed. Chuck pointed way east—check the brush/catch that glint.
Wayne looked over. Wayne caught the glint. There’s Bob. There’s chopper 1 perched. That glint’s off a hog machine gun.
The Pilot Marv touched down. The Pilot Marv cut the props. Tojo saluted. Tojo’s goons snapped to.
Tran jumped out. Pete jumped out. Chuck jumped out and tripped. The Pilot Marv jumped out. Marv Three steadied him.
Mesplède jumped out. Mesplède tripped. Wayne jumped and caught him. The ground dipped. There’s seven kadre men—up against Tojo plus six.
Tran hugged Tojo. Tran played MC. Tran dropped kadre bios—all last names di di.
Tojo was “Dong.” The Tojoettes blurred—Dinh/Minh/whoever. They all laughed. They all hugged. They all bumped sidearms and hips.
Wayne looked around. Jail slaves loitered close. They wore loincloths. They sucked pipes. It was O-head servitude.
Wayne saw Tojoette volleyball—four goons per team/a thirty-goon barracks hard right.
Wayne coughed. His vest fit tight. His breath butterflied. Tran