Codename Litefoot Novel Excerpts

 

 

 

     "Reacting to the intrusion of the jagged-edged blade into my skin, I swung the butt of my rifle up and forward under the man's chin, knocking him off his feet and away from me.  As the man fell back to the ground I swung the butt of my rifle back to my side, covering my new wound while aiming Headstones barrel back at the other man.  As he grabbed his weapon, I threw myself to my left, off my feet sideways, snap shooting at what I thought was the man's mid-section, just in case he managed to retrieve his weapon and fire it at me.  I flew toward the ground pulling the trigger as Headstone's muzzle shouted with explosions again.  BAM!  BAM!  Landing on my side, against a small felled tree, one that had been used for firewood, I quickly recovered.  Kneeling against it on one knee for support, I was ready to defend myself but nothing and no one, besides me that is, was moving.  The man I'd just fired at was down, moaning as he grasped at his leg.  Standing to investigate, I found that I'd wounded him by blowing a hole through his thigh."

 

                                                     **********
 

 

                                                    **********
 
     "The man I left hanging above me tried in vain to grab the thin cable that strangled him to relieve its tension somehow but failed as it cut deeper and deeper into his skin. 

     My attention was centered now on the other man as he reacted to the noises behind him.  While he turned toward me, I grabbed the two throwing nails that I carried from my belt and flung them, one at a time in rapid succession, hitting the man on the left side of his neck and then in the throat as his body continued to turn before he could get his weapon pointed in my direction.  As his body and brain reacted to the nails' pain causing intrusions, I saw his face contort with it.  Reacting, he instinctively reached for them to pull them out.  As his body began to go into shock, his knees collapsed under his weight. 

     In the interim I ran toward him, knife in hand.  He twisted his upper body and raised his weapon toward me in a vain attempt to point and fire it at me.  Suddenly, however, he found me too close, hitting my left arm with the barrel of his rifle as he swung it.  I grabbed his hair with my left hand, pulled his head away from me atop his shoulder, and while he pushed up against my hand I thrust my knife into is temple as he screamed, while seeing it come.  I seemingly killed him instantly as his body immediately collapsed to the ground.”

                                          **********

"Suddenly, Buck's movements were stopped by a hand that covered his mouth and by a knife blade that lay grating against his throat.  Startled half to death, Buck dropped his rifle to the ground as his attacker lifted him up and backward.  Trying to keep himself from peeing his pants while at the same time, attempting not to scream for help, as he told it later, Buck signaled me by pulling my arm, hard, holding onto my sleeve, insistently tugging at it. 

     I turned to stare at him, feeling my own heart jumping into my throat.  Looking into Buck's face as I turned, all I saw were tow huge white eyes looking like they would pop right out of his head, his hands held in the air in an "I give up" gesture, as he whimpered, "oomph!"  

      I saw the glint of the knife blade at his throat and a dark gloved hand that covered his mouth, while hearing Buck taking a forced deep urgent breath of air through his flared nostrils.  

     Seeing that he was in trouble, I grabbed for my knife, pulling it from its scabbard, raising it into position to throw it into the head or neck of his attacker as my mind clicked back to our mission briefing, recalling the code words given to us by Cushing and Dillon that we were to use on this mission.

     “Kingpin six!” I whispered.

     “Round tree!”  Came the recognition reply from a whispering voice from behind Buck’s head.

     “Sugar!”  I whispered back.

 

                                        **********

 

     After the blade passed my body, I quickly moved in with my knife and with a right to left motion slashed at his carotid artery on his throats left side, cutting deep into the vein.  Blood spurted high into the air as he instinctively reached up to protect himself and to feel and cover his wound.  As he did, he uncovered his side but slashed again toward me with his machete, still held in his other hand, passing my chest this time as he swung it.

     Still holding my knife like a sward, I swung the blade and thrust it deep into his left lung on his unprotected side.

 

                                       **********

 

     "As I held the trigger back, the twisting, reaching man that I aimed at, turned away from me.  The bullets I sprayed hit him twice in the back of the head blowing parts of his face off, and once in the neck blowing out his throat as they exited his body. 

     The other two men, after seeing their friends face explode just before dropping dead in front of them, his blood splattering their faces and clothing, froze. 

      Their movements, now stilted, seemed almost robotic as they turned toward me slowly, almost in unison, with their hands rising into the air.  With freight stricken looks etched into their faces, their eyes now wide open with shock and fear, they turned mutely to face me, searching for and obviously praying for a pause in my gunfire."

 

                                                     **********

 

     "Keep your eyes peeled, Anvil.  Look for any enemy movements, and truck, bicycle, or cart movements.  Just call it out if you see anything.  Got it?"

     "Roger, Blue Star.  Copy."

     Cornell began a circling maneuver over a stream when suddenly, I saw a line of tracers burn past my right window that came from behind us ending up somewhere in front of us.  Where did those come from, I asked myself.  Shit!  Who's shooting at us?

     The next thing I knew Cornell banked the plane hard left, stood it on its wingtip, and headed for the tops of the trees.

     "What's going on, Cornell?"

     "We've got a rogue Mig on our ass, that's what!  Sometimes they come up one at a time to try to shoot us down.  They don't like FAC planes."

     "Now you tell me!"

     "Arrowhead, Arrowhead, This is Blue Star!  We have a Mig on our six and are taking evasive action in area six, grid 1436-6879.  We are on a 360 heading and need assistance right away!"

     "Copy, Blue Star!  We understand your situation.  We've sent two f-4's to assist you and two S.A.R. Sandies are also on their way just in case you get nicked.  Stay low and evade until assistance arrives."

     "Roger!  Will do Arrowhead."

     ""Anvil!  Keep an eye on that Mig and tell me if or when he gets behind us."

     "Roger, Blue Star, Will do!"

     Suddenly I saw a reflection off one of the Mig’s wings surfaces as he passed over us.  "He's on top of us Blue Star!  I just saw him fly right over us at our one o'clock high!" 

     "He's behind us, Cornell!  He's right back there, right now!"

     "Okay Anvil!  Tell me when he gets lined up on us!"

     "Now!  He's lined up on us, and moving in to shoot at us again, right now!"  I yelled excitedly....

 

                                    **********

 

     "Tally-ho, Rattler!  Blue Star is marking big guns in area six, two klicks northwest of LS Zebra, in the trees."

     "Blue Star, contact gunslinger on tactical three!"...

 

     "Gunslinger is inbound and hot, Blue Star."...

 

                                   **********

I had but one thing left that I could do, and that was to hold pressure on the wounds of the men who were lying next to me behind the jeep.  For the first time in my life I felt truely helpless and scared for my life, I mean really scared.  So scared that I broke out into a sweat and started shaking.  It was an adrinalin rush that I would soon get used to as an almost daily event, a nervous system high allowing me the feeling of being in control and of being out of control all at the same time, a rush that would keep me going and keep me alive.

 

As I watched nervously over the top of the jeep, I saw four US Navy A1-E1 Skyraider fighters, two of which were normally used for SAR of downed pilots, and the other two, known as Sandies, used for enemy ground fire suppression, fly over our heads.  They appeared, diving in from seemingly nowhere, obviously directed to our position from somewhere else, to provide tactical air support.  The first two that had flown over our position began firing air to ground rockets at the church, both of them firing almost simultaneously from opposite directions into the target.  On their first pass, they hit the steeple of the church, blowing it up and off the churches main structure.  Boom!  Boom!  What a sight that was.  A fireball consumed the entire steeple, the rest of the church being left mostly intact, although on fire.

 

The other two, the Sandies, flew a pattern over and around the area as smoke filled the sky, their pilots making strafing guns runs at anything that moved.  Straight up and straight down they flew, making run after run.  Man, those pilots are good, I thought, as I watched the show.  They flew those planes like they were attached to a string above them that suspended them in the air.  I felt envious of their abilities, feeling thankful for them at the same time. 

 

                                    **********

 

Aiming ahead of the hut, I pulled the trigger and felt the rifle jump in my hands as we overflew it.    Seeing the hut and the ground flash under us, I saw and then heard the hut explode into a large ball of fire that immediately rose at least one hundred feet into the air. 

     Surprised, I yelled, "What happened?"

     Cornell shoved the throttle to the firewall and banked the plane hard to the left while gaining altitude, moving away from the explosion as quickly as he could.  

     "you just blew up an enemy ammunition dump!  We're going back for another look, so sit tight and keep an eye out for any enemy movements in and around that area.  If you see anything, start shooting!"

     "Roger, Blue Star!"