The Far Reaches by Homer Hickam Read Free Book Online Page A

Japs?”
    â€œI guess so,” Ready answered after a short second of thought.
    The marine who hadn’t introduced himself picked up a rifle out of the sand and handed it to Ready “Just give us the word, sir,” he said, then added shyly, “My name’s Private Garcia. I’m from McAllen, Texas. My daddy swam the Rio Grande, and look where it got me.”
    â€œA far piece from Texas,” Ready agreed. Then, though he was thoroughly frightened, he said, “Let’s go,” and led the way across the seawall. No bullets greeted them, but there was an awful din not far away. After going forward for a while, he stopped at a shattered palm tree to regain his courage, then moved to the next one. Tucker, Sampson, and Garcia stayed close behind, their fingers on the triggers of their M-l rifles. Sampson suddenly went down on one knee and fired into the top of a palm tree, and a Japanese soldier fell from it, landing hard on his back. When Ready ran over to him, the man looked up with a fierce expression, which then softened and, just before he died, turned childlike. The marines ran up and fell down beside Ready just as bullets ripped the air above their heads. “I think we found the Japs, sir,” Garcia apprised him.
    Ready supposed they had, and maybe something more. He thought he’d seen something unlikely, so unlikely it couldn’t be real. He crawled forward and then up on a little mound of sand. Sure enough, his eyes hadn’t been deceiving him. There, not more than fifty yards away, were a half-dozen Japanese officers, all tricked out in gold-braided dress uniforms and brandishing gleaming silvery swords. Standing outside a palm log bunker, they looked for all the world as if they were dressed up for a parade. When the trio of marines crawled up, Ready ducked back down behind the little dune. “Anybody know where I might find a radio?” he asked.
    â€œThere was one on a dead boy back there,” Tucker said. “I’ll go get it.”
    Tucker was as good as his word and was soon back carrying a pack radio. Ready halfway didn’t expect it to work, but when he fired it up and said cautiously, “Uh, this is, uh, Major Deer. Anybody hear me?” there was an instant response.
    â€œLoud and clear, Major. Who did you say you were?”
    â€œMajor Deer. I’m about fifty yards inland of Red Beach Three. Can you put me in touch with somebody what’s got some big guns, like artillery and such?”
    Within seconds, Ready found himself talking to a sailor aboard the destroyer
Ringgold.
Ready described the Japanese officers who were still standing in the open and where he thought they were.
    â€œI think I know where that is,” the
Ringgold
sailor said. “You want an airburst?”
    â€œSure thing!” Ready answered.
    A few minutes later, Ready heard a series of distant thuds behind him followed by whistling screams overhead. The rounds from the destroyer proved to be long, but they burst high off the ground where Ready couldsee them. He told the sailor on the other end of his radio connection to shorten the next ones up a bit. The Japanese officers had looked over their shoulders with some surprise at the airbursts. One of them had subsequently walked inside the bunker, but the others apparently said something to him, and he walked back out. They were all looking around, as if wondering what to do. They didn’t have to wonder long. Six more shells from the
Ringgold
came whistling in, this time bursting directly over them with massive boils of smoke and shrapnel. When the smoke cleared, all six Japanese officers were down.
    â€œLet’s go get their swords!” Tucker yelled, and before Ready could stop them, the three marines were up and running. He cautiously followed. The Japanese officers proved to be horribly shredded, their blood and guts splattered all over everything, and even the marines didn’t have the