Page 60 of Cry Havoc
There was not time to pivot the large machine guns rearward so his hand went to the .25 Browning in his pocket. Tom watched as the confused ARVN guard turned to his boss and took two rounds to the chest.
Tom drew the cathouse pistol and chambered a round as he brought it into a firing position and shot all six bullets into the ARVN captain. The small rounds moving at 750 feet per second did not have the desired effect. Quinn finished the job with a round from his M16 to Captain Lam’s head.
Quinn and Tom shared a look of disbelief. Eldridge remained seated, eyes wide in shock.
Tom slammed his hand on the roof of the cab, signaling Amiuh to stop.
The prisoner was obviously dead, as was the ARVN guard and Captain Lam.
He slid from behind the gun, and he and Quinn checked bodies.
“What the fuck?” Tom said.
“One of those spies we talked about,” Quinn said. “I give you the good Captain Lam. Son of a bitch.”
Tom picked up the rifle from the dead ARVN guard and checked its status.
“Eldridge,” Tom said.
The man from State remained silent.
“Eldridge!” Tom said again, grabbing his arm and shaking him out of his trance.
“Yeah, wa… what?” He shuddered.
“I need you to go up front and navigate. Nearest base.”
“What?”
“Nearest base. I need you to guide Amiuh there. Now!”
“Okay,” he said, slowly climbing down from the bed of the truck and making his way to the front of the vehicle.
Tom and Quinn looked at each other again.
“What a mess,” Quinn said.
“Yeah, NVA didn’t want this guy making it to the interrogation center. They were willing to burn Captain Lam here to keep him quiet.”
“He must have known something they didn’t want getting out.”
“And now we’ll never fucking know. Shit!”
“Sergeant Quinn.” Eldridge was back at the rear of the truck.
Thinking he might still be in shock, Quinn said, “We need you to navigate to the nearest base. Amiuh speaks good English. Just give him directions. Tom and I will take up security back here.”
“I can’t,” Eldridge responded.
“What? Why not?”
“Because Amiuh is dead.”
CHAPTER 18
U.S. Army’s 17th Field Hospital
Saigon, Vietnam
