The Final Storm - Jeff Shaara [173]
“Go on, son. Do it.”
Adams dropped the grenade.
He jumped back, waited, and the explosion rumbled beneath them, the mouth of the cave boiling with white smoke. The voices were screams now, but not many, and Adams backed away, wouldn’t hear them, the other Marines moving up, taking his place, cheering for the white smoke that spewed up through the pipe, a hot flume coming up through the narrow chimney. Men were cheering, M-1s in the air, saluting him, and Adams moved back down toward Welty, the others still aiming the rifles at the cave. To one side, Bennett glanced at him.
“Good job.”
“Thanks.”
He looked at Welty, saw cold eyes, a slight nod. Adams caught the smell of the phosphorus, moved farther away, upwind, but the smoke was already in his clothes, his hair, on his skin. Fire had erupted near the mouth of the cave, white phosphorus igniting brush, the men reacting by wisely backing away. The cave was spewing smoke, and nothing else, no one emerging. There was another rumble, a sudden burst of fire from deep inside the cave, something combustible igniting. Adams still walked, his hands shaking, and Welty was there beside him, said, “Now dammit, Clay, don’t go all Asian on me again.”
Adams held up his hand, still shaking, and Welty said, “Whoa, what the hell’s with you? You okay?”
“I did it, Jack. Wiped ’em out. They never had a chance.”
“I know. That was the idea. Bastards won’t come out, we sure as hell ain’t going in there to get ’em. You saw what they did, using those damn Okies like booby traps. They got no reason to live, none at all.”
Adams was breathing heavily, sweating in the hot dusty air, the shaking rolling all through him. But it wasn’t fear, nothing about the grenade, the smoke, the screams, and the death that bothered him at all. The shaking wasn’t fear. It was excitement.
“Over here!”
Adams turned, saw a cluster of men waving from a crevice in a brushy hillside, and Bennett motioned for his men to advance, leaving a small party behind to keep tabs on the smoking hole. Welty began to move, said, “Look! They’re coming out. Let’s get there quick!”
Adams could see civilians emerging from the cave, another group of women in filthy dresses, some breaking into a run, escaping as quickly as they could. The captain was on the radio set, an angry demand for more aid workers, for interpreters and prison guards. Another interpreter was there, moving up quickly toward Bennett, no one bothering him with details of what had happened to the last man. Mortensen moved up within fifty yards of the new cave, held the shotgun high above his head, holding his men a distance from the cave’s mouth.
“Give ’em room. They keep coming, let ’em come.”
To one side Adams saw a pair of Marines moving up, a flamethrower team, the weight of the tank of napalm on their backs a hindrance as they staggered quickly through the rocks. Mortensen’s squad was gathering near their sergeant, and Adams moved into place, focused on the man hauling the long spout of the flamethrower. This ought to be something, he thought. Ringside seat. Close by, Yablonski was watching him, said, “Hey Nut Case! Don’t let these Okie ladies scare you!”
Welty moved past Adams, toward Yablonski, and Adams could see Yablonski’s response, both men bowing up. Welty slung his shotgun on his shoulder, said, “I’ve heard about all I wanna hear outta your big damn mouth!”
“What you gonna do, Four Eyes, kick me in the shins?”
Mortensen shouted, “Knock it off, both of you! There’s a boatload of these bastards in this hole! Stand ready!”
The flamethrower crew moved closer, the man with the nozzle looking at Mortensen, waiting for the word to fire. The sergeant shook his head, kept his eyes on the cave, said, “Not yet. Let ’em come.”
The women continued to flow up out of the cave, more than two dozen, and now men appeared, ratty uniforms, hands on tops of heads. Mortensen yelled out, “Watch ’em! Any bundles at their waist, shoot ’em! Anybody drops his hands, shoot him!”
Adams wanted to move closer, better effect with the shotgun, heard Yablonski saying