The Daisy Ducks Read Online Free PDF Page A

that canopy. They never knew what hit them."
    He paused to snuff out the remains of the joint. When
it had cooled sufficiently, he took the roach end and popped it into
his mouth, swallowing it with a gulp of Scotch. Then he lit a Camel.
Roantis's body was doomed to a continual barrage of punishment, if
not from military foes or crazed karate opponents in white robes,
then from his own excesses.
    "We'd start these li'l country walks from a
secret base in Thailand. Be lifted out either in a chopper or a
fixed-wing transport like a Hercules C-one-thirty. If it was by
chopper we'd drop into the LZ in the dead of night. If we jumped
in—which was rare—we'd do it at dusk so if we hit a hot spot we
could evade in cover of darkness. Sometimes the drop zones were
picked by other recon teams in the bush. These men, on their way out,
would be our reception committee when we hit the zone. The insertion
point was usually a two-day walk from the beginning of the staging
areas."
    Roantis got up from the table and paced around the
porch. He stretched and grunted to relieve the tension that had crept
into him. He strolled over to the window, peered out quickly, and
returned to the table.
    "We'd move out right away, putting a few miles
between us and the LZ, then go to earth for the night. Then, before
dawn next morning, we'd head toward the staging areas near the
Vietnamese border. We just walked, single file, sixty feet apart, and
as quiet as cats along these jungle and mountain trails. If we had to
cross open plains or marshes—and there are a lot of these in
Cambodia—then we'd wait and rest under the foliage until dark, then
sneak across. We worked as we went. Twice we wasted entire villages
because the enemy had commandeered them and were using them as bases.
We knew there were women and children in those huts, too. That was
one of Charlie's favorite ploys. We never got over it though. It
drove Royce nuts later. He never was the same. But in those two
villages alone we killed over six hundred enemy soldiers.
    "After about eight to ten days of this, we'd
head for the border and link up with friendlies. Then, at the first
fire support base or special forces camp, we'd lift out to Nha Trang
and debrief. After four days of R and R, we'd go back at it again,
this time starting from Vietnam. We'd walk into and through Cambodia
back toward the remote boonies, where we'd get airlifted out again to
Thailand. So there we went, back and forth, back and forth. Just find
the enemy and mark him for the kill. No combat. There were lots of
these teams operating up and down the border between Tet and late
sixty-nine. I tell you, it worked like downtown. And we gave them no
peace."
    "How long before the Reds caught on?" I
asked.
    "Hah! Not long, man. They knew right away that
there were recon men operating in their midst. How else could we be
hitting them square on the noggin each time? I tell you Doc, we made
each of those blockbusters count. We hit 'em each and every time—and
know what? We scared the shit outa them. Those huge antipersonnel
bombs open up a thousand feet above the ground. Each of them spit out
twenty canisters of grapeshot. These would fall another five hundred
feet, fanning out. Then they'd
go off
together, taking every leaf off every tree —"
    Mary had had enough. She interrupted to say
goodnight, and leaned over and kissed Roantis on the side of his
haggard face.
    "That's for saving my husband's life," she
said, then looked at me, "although it turned out not to be worth
it. Goodnight everyone. And don't drink any more, Charlie. You're in
enough trouble already."
    She left us alone. Whether Roantis had actually saved
my life or not, he had certainly saved me from a hell of a beating.
Four months earlier, two South End bloods jumped me in the parking
lot near the BYMCU. One whanged me a good one on the head when I
foolishly tried to fight back. I had learned just enough self-defense
stuff from Roantis to try it. It was no go.