Wu shouted as if the pilots high above could hear him. However, the MiGs did not open fire on the enemy pilot. There seemed to be some element of honor among pilots, even enemy pilots, because the Soviet fighters did not machine-gun the drifting parachute.
They were letting the enemy pilot go.
Wu had no such qualms. If he had been at the controls, he would had riddled the parachute with bullets and let the pilot plunge to his death.
“Can you hit him from here?” Wu demanded.
“It is very far, sir,” Deng said.
“You must try!”
Deng raised the rifle, took aim, and fired.
Wu had hoped to see the body slump lifelessly, but there was no change in the tiny figure dangling from the parachute harness.
“You missed. Shoot him! Shoot him!”
The sniper worked the bolt action and fired again, but the distance was vast and the parachute seemed to pick up speed as it drifted farther away on the breeze.
“Here, give me that rifle!”
Wu grabbed the weapon away from the sniper. It was hard to pick the target out of the sky, and when he finally did, the parachute was even farther away. The crosshairs danced hopelessly as he tried to get them lined up on the speck that was the enemy pilot.
Cursing, Wu handed the rifle back.
“Come, get your things,” Wu said. “We are going after him. We are going to capture that pilot.”
“Yes, sir,” said Deng. If he had any doubts, he knew better than to voice them with Wu so angry. Deng had grown up hunting and was a good tracker. With any luck, he would have a chance to redeem himself in Wu’s eyes.
With Wu leading the way, they rushed back toward the Chinese encampment to gather a squad.
Chapter Five
As a political officer, Major Wu occupied a unique position in that despite his middling rank, in many ways he outranked even a Chinese general. It was true that a general could issue orders, but all that Wu had to do was whisper in the right ear, mention that the general was not patriotic, and the general would be spirited away. It might be Wu himself who would be doing the removing.
The general and every officer ranking below him were well aware of the situation.
Consequently, when Wu returned to camp and quickly gathered a dozen soldiers picked at random, there was no complaint from any of the officers or from the men. They knew that Wu was simply to be obeyed.
Wu’s process was simple. If they saw a man holding a rifle and he looked competent, Wu tapped him for his makeshift patrol. Deng suggested one or two of the men and Wu accepted them readily. If they shared Deng’s passion for petty cruelty while strictly following any order without question, then all the better.
Once Wu had assembled a handful of men, he left them in Deng’s hands. “Tell them to bring enough food for a day or two, and tell them to bring some rope.”
“Some of them want to know our purpose, sir.”
Wu nodded and smiled, his face a picture of good cheer. “Tell them we are going after the American pilot who was shot down and when we catch him, we are going to truss him up like the imperialist pig that he is.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Deng dealt with organizing the patrol, the major turned to a man who stood nearby, patiently waiting to report to him. The man was dressed in civilian clothes, but he was actually a Chinese soldier who spoke Korean. Several days ago, the man had slipped into the Allied lines to work among the local Koreans who were carrying supplies and doing manual labor for the Americans, like coolies of old. His orders were simply to keep his ears and eyes open, observing anything of interest.
Wu motioned for the man to follow him until they were out of earshot of the others.
Once they were alone, Wu asked, “What did you find out?”
“The Americans will be rotating commands in two days,” the spy said. “Several new units will be in the defenses. They will be unfamiliar with the terrain. Many of them are green troops as well, so there is some concern about that.”
“Very well done,” Wu said, smiling. “This is most useful. Go get yourself some real food, not that Gǒu liáng garbage they serve their Korean slaves. See me before you go back into the Allied lines because I may have something for you to watch for.”
“Yes, sir.”
Wu considered what to do with the information. He knew that the general was planning to attack one of the American outposts soon. In war, timing was everything. If the Chinese attacked when the Americans were confused and disorganized, they would have a higher chance of success. The waste of soldiers’ lives was not a factor in his consideration. The question was, did Wu wish for the general to be successful in his attack? Perhaps. And if the general owed Wu a favor, so much the better.
With that thought in mind, he sought out the general. Several other officers were waiting to confer with their commander. Wu ignored the staff officer who informed him that he was third in line and walked into the general’s tent. Wu’s information had all but guaranteed that the attack on Outpost Kelly would come during the Americans’ vulnerable transition period.
A few minutes later, he walked back out and smiled at the fuming staff officer.
“You did not follow protocol!” the officer said, clearly angry about the breach of his authority. The other officers who had been waiting occupied themselves by studying the clouds or distant hills. They knew better than to get on Wu’s bad side.
“Do not worry,” Wu said. “I made it clear to the general that you tried to stop me from bringing him this information. He was so impressed by your sense of duty that he said you will lead the first wave of the attack he is planning.”
That stopped the officer in his tracks and left him silent. As everyone knew, Chinese doctrine accepted a great loss of life in trying to overwhelm the enemy with the first wave of an attack. Leading such an attack was akin to a suicide mission.
“I am to lead the attack?” the staff officer managed to stammer in disbelief.
“It will be a great honor to die in such a way,” Wu said, smiling happily.
Leaving headquarters and the stunned staff officer in his wake, the major returned to where he had left Deng to organize things. The new squad looked squared away, if not entirely happy. Apparently, the prospect of chasing off into the hills did not appeal to them all.
Wu explained how it was going to be a great adventure, and then led the way into the hills with Deng at his side. No more than an hour had elapsed since they had seen the plane shot down.
“Sir, this is going to be like counting grains of rice,” Deng ventured to say.
“It will be challenging,” Wu agreed. “However, we will find him because that is what we must do. There is no alternative.”
They were moving in the general direction of where they had last seen the parachute, using the hills themselves as landmarks.
“Did you bring a compass, sir?”
Wu shook his head and laughed. Deng should have known better. Even simple equipment such as a compass was hard to come by in Mao’s ill-equipped army. “The hills have many eyes,” he responded. Wu was thinking of the many North Korean villages that dotted the landscape. “Someone will have seen something.”
“These mountain people do not like us. They may not want to tell us anything,” Deng said.
“Then we will make them tell us,” Wu said. “That is what you are here for.”
Now, it was Deng’s turn to smile. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Let us hurry. We spent too much time getting organized.”
Deng turned and barked at the soldiers to get moving.
One of the men made the mistake of lagging behind. When Deng shouted at him, the soldier said, “I have been marching for four days already. I didn't even get anything to eat.”