TOCABAGA (Revised Edition) (Book #1 of The Tocabaga Chronicles) by Thomas H. Ward Read Free Book Online Page B

the east side and provide a flanking move, also attacking the toll booth. After we clear it we will find more dopers on the west side of the road near the bridge.”
    Tommy answered, “Yes sir sounds like a good plan to me.”
    In the now strong daylight we walked toward the toll booth on the edge of the mangroves. Tommy was on the east side of the road in the shadow of the trees caused by the rising sun. We could clearly see the enemy shooting at Mike’s team.
    I radioed Mike, “We are here and are going to take the to ll booth first and then go after the others.”
    Mike replied, “Hurry up! Big Dan is hit bad.”
    Tommy radioed, “Dad , I can see five guys and have a shot at all of them. Permission to fire?”
    I respon ded, “If you got a clear shot, take it; kill them all if you can. Robbie and I will try to draw their fire.”
    From where Tommy was he could see three sides, east, north and south of the booth , while we could see the west and north side. So no matter what wall they hid behind we could shoot them. Robbie and I found a small drainage ditch to hunker down in for cover and waited for Tommy to shoot. We heard two rapid shots and two guys fell. We started to fire at the three remaining men and they fired back at us, bullets slamming into the ground all around us and zipping overhead.
    At this point t hey didn’t know Tommy was shooting at them. I heard another two shots from the 308 and Tommy called me, the radio hissing, “Dad, two more dead, that’s four now. The last man is running for the water.”
    Bam ! I heard his gun fire again. “I am coming over now, the last man got away!” Tommy shouted.
    Mike overheard us when we talked on the radio. He keyed in, “Good shooting guys but I got bad news. Big Dan is dead and Sammy is wounded but not seriously. The remaining men are now under the bridge. I don’t know if there are four or five of them. I think they are trying to take off in their boat.”
    W e hurried to the bridge where Mike was shooting at the boat with four men in it trying to escape. He got one but the boat was fast and moved in a zigzag pattern to avoid being hit. Tommy rested his rifle on the bridge railing and fired three shots, making three more dead. The boat kept going for a while until at about 600 yards, when Tommy shot the motor and it ignited. We just let it burn and float away.
    I radioed Eddy, “Bring up the truck fast, we got wounded here.”
    Eddy came zooming up and almost ran us over . Jumping out of the truck, he ran over to see who was hurt and started to sob when he saw Big Dan dead. He asked, “What happened?”
    Only Mike knew what happened and he did not reply. Sammy was in pain and shock and didn’t speak one word. He was going to pass out from the loss of blood. Eddy tied a rope around his arm right above the wound to stop the blood flow. 
    We loaded Sammy and Big Dan ’s body into the back of the truck. It was a sad day, the first time anyone in our compound had been killed.
    I asked Mike, “What the hell happened? How did those guys sneak up on you?”
    Mike answered, “I have no excuse. We were playing cards and were tired. Dan had a bottle of whiskey and we all had a few drinks. We were listening to music. You know how boring it is doing guard duty.”
    I gave h im a disgusted look and radioed to our HQ, “We are on the way back. Sammy is wounded with a bullet through the arm and Dan is dead. Have Doc and Amy ready to treat Sammy.”
    A long time ago Big Dan was married but his wife died in a car accident. They had no kids so Dan had no one to call family but us, his friends. He moved here from Ohio where he sold cars. We would honor him for his sacrifice.
    Mike wanted to resign as a team leader and leave security altogether.
    He told me, “I need to step down. I feel so bad about Dan.”
    I said, “Mike, listen to me, you are a good man; you made a mistake but it was not all your fault. I believe that when your time’s up, it’s up. We need