The big Texan was not impressed. This wasn’t his first rodeo — you didn’t grow up in Texas without getting in a fistfight or three. MacGregor expected an easy fight, but he soon found that he was sadly mistaken. Inaba turned out to know a trick or two. Overconfident, MacGregor swung. The Japanese sergeant easily dodged the blow and instantly hammered the American in the ribs with a quick one-two punch combination. Like lightning, a fist connected squarely against MacGregor’s face. He felt the wind knocked out of him and he sat down rather unexpectedly. Inaba was stronger than he looked, and a whole lot quicker.
Grinning, Inaba waited for MacGregor to get up again. The Japanese seemed to be enjoying this.
MacGregor shook his head to clear it. He got back on his feet and advanced on Inaba, more cautiously this time. He made the mistake of keeping his eyes on Inaba’s hands. He didn’t expect Inaba’s foot to suddenly come flying at him. The kick sent Big Mike sprawling.
Once again, he got to his feet. Once again, Sergeant Inaba was waiting for him. MacGregor didn’t plan on disappointing Inaba, but he decided to change his tactics.
He was at least a foot taller and fifty pounds heavier than Inaba, emaciated though he was. The ropy muscles that he had developed on the family ranch had never left him. Inaba had taken up his fighting stance again. This time, MacGregor kept his distance. With his long reach, he swatted Inaba’s hands away, leaving the man’s chin nicely exposed.
MacGregor swung his fist, putting all the frustration of the last few weeks into it. He struck Inaba a hammer blow squarely in the face, sending the man reeling.
“I’ve got to say, that has been a long time coming,” MacGregor said.
MacGregor raised his fists to hit the man again, but it wasn’t necessary. Staggering, Inaba had reached the edge of the roof. Trying to find his balance, he took one more step back — into thin air. His eyes went wide as he realized his mistake. And then Inaba fluttered his arms like a flightless bird and ever so slowly tipped over backward into nothingness.
He screamed on the way down.
But MacGregor’s sense of victory was short-lived. The last Japanese soldier through the doorway was Major Tanigawa. He emerged onto the rooftop, carrying his double rifle, which he pointed at MacGregor.
From the Texan’s perspective, the dual dark muzzles were big as twin cannons pointed right at him.
“Now hold on, Major,” MacGregor said, raising his hands. “I’m a prisoner.”
“No,” said Tanigawa. “You are a dead man.”
MacGregor closed his eyes, not wanting to see what was coming. It wasn’t fear — he just didn’t want Tanigawa’s ugly mug to be the last thing he ever saw. Instead, in his mind’s eye, he pictured his family — his beautiful wife, his daughter, young Roddy. They would be his last thought in this world.
The moment stretched on. He heard the crack of a rifle some distance away, but still Tanigawa didn’t fire. MacGregor opened his eyes and glared at the Japanese officer. “Just get it over with, will you?”
Deke had made up his mind. He reminded himself that the whole reason they were here in the first place was to rescue the prisoners. He turned his rifle toward the last stand on the rooftop, leaving Patrol Easy to fend for itself for now. Quickly, he picked off one of the enemy soldiers, then another. He desperately wanted to get Sergeant Inaba and Major Tanigawa in his crosshairs, but he had lost sight of them for the moment.
Finally, his luck changed. Across the square, through the scope, Deke saw MacGregor scuffling with Sergeant Inaba, who seemed to have lost his submachine gun in the fracas. Deke tensed at the sight of the Japanese sergeant confronting the much bigger American. Deke held his fire — it was a long shot and the angle wasn’t good, so he was afraid of hitting MacGregor. Twice, Inaba knocked the bigger man down. But then the tables turned. MacGregor punched Inaba, and Deke watched in surprise as the sergeant staggered backward and then toppled from the roof.
“I’ll be damned,” Deke said. He let out a low whistle. “Did you just see that?”
“I saw it, all right,” Philly replied. “That son of a bitch flew about as well as a brick.”
Deke wanted to cheer. He was about to turn his attention back to Patrol Easy down in the square, but what he saw happening next let the air out of that balloon. Major Tanigawa had found MacGregor and was pointing his double rifle at the American. MacGregor was unarmed, and there would be no punching his way out of this situation.
“Can you get him?” Philly asked.
“I reckon,” Deke replied.
The machine gunners on the roof had been easier. This was at a longer range, on a different part of the roof. He had to hurry — he was literally going to get only one shot at this.
