Samurai & Snipers полностью

He picked up a handful of dust and grit, then tossed it into the air to see which way the breeze was blowing. It wasn’t much of a breeze, but it blew fitfully, promising to snatch his bullet off course during the second or so it needed to cross the distance. One second didn’t sound that long until you measured it out loud, muttering one blue mountain or one Mississippi. Either of those phrases took about one second to say. Plenty of time for a stray eddy of wind or a pocket of humid air to send his bullet off course.

“Any day now,” Philly said. “I don’t want to be the one who has to tell young Roddy that his father is dead.”

Neither did Deke, but some things couldn’t be rushed. Take your time killing him, Tanigawa, Deke silently urged. Take all the time you want.

Deke knelt and pressed the rifle against the warm bricks, letting the rough surface dig into the wooden stock, holding it steady. He let out a breath, drew one in, and held it. When his father was teaching him to shoot, he liked to say, Breathe out fear, breathe in courage.

He settled the sights on Tanigawa.

The breeze touched Deke’s face, then faded away.

Deke squeezed the trigger.

On the rooftop of the legislative building, MacGregor was waiting to die, staring into the muzzles of the Japanese officer’s double rifle, intended for the likes of tigers, lions, and water buffalo. MacGregor knew that he didn’t have a prayer.

He saw that Tanigawa was looking in his direction, but that his eyes were unfocused. Puzzled, MacGregor noticed that a red stain had appeared in the middle of Tanigawa’s chest, rapidly growing in size. MacGregor realized that the distant rifle crack that he’d heard earlier must not have been random.

The Japanese officer sank to his knees, then collapsed.

MacGregor turned and looked in the direction that the bullet had come from. As far as he knew, all the soldiers were fighting down in the square. Who in the world had shot Tanigawa?

Across the square, from another rooftop, he saw a soldier give him a big sweeping gesture, what they called a “hillbilly wave” back in Texas. Even at this distance, he could see that the soldier wasn’t wearing a helmet, but a bush hat with one side pinned up. He must be either a Filipino or a stray Aussie. No matter — MacGregor owed that eagle-eyed bastard his life. He grinned and waved back, thinking, That was one hell of a shot.

Then he picked up Tanigawa’s rifle and fired at the closest Japanese soldier. The big round from the double rifle was as good as kicking the Jap in the chest, and down he went. Following MacGregor’s example, a couple of the other prisoners had retrieved the rifles dropped by Inaba and the other Japanese and were now shooting back.

MacGregor aimed the rifle and fired again, then reached down and dug around in Tanigawa’s pockets for more cartridges. They were big brass shells, practically the size of railroad spikes, or so it seemed. He grinned as he shoved two more shells into the rifle and snapped the breech shut.

Maybe a fight wasn’t what the Japanese wanted from their hostages, but it was a fight they were going to get. And right now they were losing it.

Down in the square, while Deke and Philly were occupied by the fighting on the roof, the rest of Patrol Easy was managing to advance. It turned out that the Japanese had found one of their infamous knee mortars and were using it to walk rounds toward Patrol Easy.

“Juana, take care of that!” Lieutenant Steele shouted, frustrated that the mortar squad was beyond shotgun range. With Deke and Philly out on their mission, she was the best shot that he had left.

He recognized the high-pitched crack of her Arisaka rifle — once, twice — and that was the end of the mortar attack. After that, the enemy fire slackened, but there was still plenty of it coming at them.

It helped that the Japanese were rudderless, having lost their command structure. Unlike the Americans, the Japanese soldier was far more dependent on his officers telling him what to do. The Japanese didn’t like soldiers to think for themselves. Maybe there were some benefits to that for the Japanese and their brutal tactics, but not in this situation.

The enemy began to fall back and scatter, some returning toward the legislative building and others simply melting into the rubble and ruins. The surrounding streets were filled with smoke and debris. The destruction was immense, several more dead bodies now scattered in the rubble.