Deke shuddered. It was hard to think of a worse place to be lying wounded, in a dark cave in the ground, without much hope of decent medical attention. But his mind stopped short of sympathy. As far as Deke was concerned, the Nips deserved to be miserable. They had killed his friend from basic training on Guam, and they had killed and wounded other good men that Deke had fought beside. He looked over the grim surroundings once more and thought,
Another area had been dug out of the wall and rigged with electric lights and what looked like an operating table. A few bloody rags covered the dirt floor surrounding it.
“Look at that,” muttered Rodeo, taking in the sight of used bandages and medical supplies strewn about the narrow room. “This place has seen some use.”
“One thing for sure, the Japs cleared out in a hurry,” Steele said. “Looks to me like they forgot to take a couple of their guys with them.”
Deke surveyed the bunks, his gaze lingering on the lifeless bodies of two Japanese soldiers sprawled across their beds. The sorry bastards had evidently killed themselves rather than face capture. However, at second glance, there were no weapons evident in the dead men’s hands. A more chilling thought was that their comrades had simply killed the wounded that they weren’t able to take with them.
Philly noticed the same thing. “I almost feel sorry for those guys,” Philly said. “Imagine being killed by your own side. I’ve got to say, the Japanese mind is hard to fathom.”
“Good thing for us that it’s not your job to fathom it,” Steele said. “Now stay focused, boys. We’ve got a job to do here and there may be enemy soldiers in this place who are far from dead. Now let’s see if there’s anything useful in this mess.”
As they prepared to leave the hospital wing, Deke couldn’t help but glance back one last time at the two lifeless soldiers, their faces far from peaceful in death, but twisted in pain and despair. Perhaps it was no surprise that, for once, nobody seemed all that interested in searching the bodies for souvenirs.
Danilo made his opinion of the dead Japanese clear by spitting in their direction.
They spread out, making their way through the cave and tunnel system. They found more ration tins, these empty ones that had been tossed along the tunnel walls. They even came across a pinup calendar of Japanese women in skimpy kimonos and swimsuits, apparently starlets of film and stage.
Philly gave a low whistle of appreciation. “She’s not bad,” he announced, studying that month’s girl. “But she’s no Veronica Lake.”
This was no time to debate the qualities of pinup girls. “Never mind that. Just keep your eyes open,” Deke said. He hadn’t asked to be made second-in-command, but more than ever, he now felt the pressure of making certain that the patrol advanced — and that they didn’t all get killed in the process.
Just when it felt as if the tunnel could go no farther, they rounded a bend and the shadowy passageway stretched even deeper into the hillside. Deke looked back and saw the lieutenant giving him a nod. Tightening his grip on the rifle, a flashlight held to the stock, he edged farther down the tunnel. He felt reassured that Danilo was two steps behind him. The Filipino guerrilla had shouldered his rifle and had drawn his wickedly sharp bolo knife — basically a machete. It was clear how he planned to deal with any Japanese they encountered in the dark.
Once again, the tunnel widened. This time there were no hospital bunks, but evidently a makeshift command center. Cubbyholes had been dug on either side of the main tunnel, the cramped spaces filled with rough tables and boxes for chairs, scraps of paper scattered about.
“Hey, Honcho,” Deke called out. “I think I found something.”
“What is it?” Steele asked, joining him at a small table littered with papers. A pile of ashes on the ground nearby indicated that the Japanese must have destroyed the documents they felt were important and left the rest. Still, there might be something to be gleaned from what the enemy had left behind. The lieutenant called for Yoshio and asked him to take a look.
“This appears to be intel on enemy positions,” Yoshio said, having inspected the documents. “I don’t know how useful it is, considering that we have already captured some of this territory I’m seeing on the maps. It looks as if they burned anything really useful.”
“We’ll let the boys back at HQ take a look, just to be sure,” Steele said. “Maybe they can make more sense of it than we can. Gather everything up. The Japanese may have overlooked something if they were in a hurry.”
“So we turn around?” Philly asked hopefully.
“Hell no,” the lieutenant replied forcefully. “We’re gonna follow this damn tunnel all the way to Tokyo if we need to.”
“Dammit, Honcho. I was afraid you’d say that.”
