CURSE THE MOON by Lee Jackson Read Free Book Online Page B

don’t even believe the invasion will succeed, he thought bitterly. “Let’s go,” he said. “We’ve got to get to Jaguey Grande!”
    “No, Atcho!” Miguel interrupted. “Not Jaguey Grande. There have been landings at Pinar del Rio and at Oriente! I spoke on the phone to our contact in Jaguey Grande for nearly an hour before the lines were shut down. There was a message for you from Juan. He believes action in Pinar del Rio is a feint and the main landing will occur in Oriente. He wants you to go there. Also, there is activity at the Bay of Pigs, but he doesn’t expect it to be major. Most guerrilla leaders are shifting forces to Oriente, others to Pinar del Rio. Juan will stay in Jaguey Grande to handle anything that happens there, unless you send word to do otherwise.”
    Atcho was amazed. Juan’s decisions dispersed command and control assets all over the island on the basis of “ … believing that … not expecting that … ”
    Why weren’t we told? he asked himself incredulously. He shook his head sadly as the most evident answer impressed itself on his mind: The U.S. didn’t trust us!
    “We have to go, Atcho. You will be needed in Oriente.” Miguel seemed not to comprehend Atcho’s reticence. “In a few days, Cuba will be free. The Russian will be forced to release your daughter.”
    He nodded somberly. “All right,” he said simply. “Let’s go.”
    They gathered their companions, and headed toward Oriente.

PART III
    7
    The reported landings had occurred at Baracoa, a small village near the northern tip of the southeastern coast of the island. A large flotilla of ships was spotted off the coast of the same town. Further inland, at a village called Jamaico, the loose confederation of guerrilla organizations had designated headquarters.
    Atcho and his small contingent hiked for miles to avoid major intersections where checkpoints were most likely. Then, disassembling their weapons and carrying them with loose clothing in bags slung over their shoulders, they split up and hitched rides with members of Cuba’s general population.
    “Find out how near we are to having an uprising,” Atcho instructed his men. “Even with the United States helping, unless the people themselves overthrow Castro, we have little chance.”
    While riding with villagers, Atcho learned to his dismay that his sense of reality seemed to be proving correct. “Have you heard about the U.S. invasion?” he would ask.
    “Yes!” came the typical enthusiastic response. “And our leader, Fidel, will throw the imperial Yankees out!”
    A day later, Atcho arrived, regrouped with his men in Jamaico and contacted the underground. To his dismay, he learned that two landings had been attempted at Baracoa, but for inexplicable reasons, they were soon abandoned. Meanwhile, a battle raged at the Bay of Pigs, more than halfway up the island on the southern coast, where a brigade of Cuban exiles had seized a beachhead. Castro’s forces were moving en masse to counterattack in Zapata Swamp, but were bogged down by narrow roads just south of Jaguey Grande. The action at Pinar del Rio had been a feint.
    Atcho was consumed with anger as he listened to the news. After some thought, he instructed Miguel and the others, “Follow as best you can. If we are going to get there in time to help, we need to move quickly, which means separately.” Then, grimly, he set out alone, bound for Cienfuegos, a large town a healthy distance from the place where Castro’s forces were massing, and east of Bahia de Cochinos, the Bay of Pigs.
    8
    Two days later, Atcho entered Cienfuegos. Townspeople were nervous about the battle raging to their northwest, but had only spotty information about its progress. The most useful knowledge he picked up was that the invasion force seemed firmly entrenched in the little town of Playa Giron, approximately seventy miles away.
    At dusk, Atcho set out for Playa Giron in a “borrowed” pick-up truck and drove northeast as