Black Market by Donald E. Zlotnik Page B

secondary explosion
     from the gas tank.
    Youngbloode and Sanchez had walked side by side down the narrow trail about fifty meters back into the jungle and were just
     about satisfied that the trail was empty when an NVA platoon came from out of nowhere. The relief force had been hidden in
     a bunker complex a hundred meters away from the secret entrance onto Highway 19. The bunkers had been built close enough to
     the road to protect them from arc light bombing and artillery fires at night. The NVA knew that the Americans were not going
     to bomb a road they used.
    Sanchez’s reflexes were slightly faster than the captain’s and he opened fire with a long burst killing the first five NVA
     soldiers before they could fire back. Youngbloode’s burst caught the second group, and the rest of the NVA platoon scattered
     into the jungle.
    Woods and Warner heard the firefight and looked over at Arnason before tapping Warner and taking off in the direction the
     captain had gone. Woods wasn’t about to repeat what had happened to Spencer Barnett; he would
never
leave another teammate behind on the battlefield, regardless of what they were up against.
    Woods saw Youngbloode before the captain could see him and opened fire to the captain’s left, killing a pair of NVA who had
     flanked the two-man team’s position. Youngbloode looked behind him and saw Woods and Warner. He smiled. Woods used his hand
     and pointed back toward the truck. He was ordering a withdrawal. Youngbloode nodded, and according to his agreement with Arnason,
     he obeyed the second in command of the team. Sanchez followed, walking backward and firing his M-16 at anything that moved.
    Less than ten minutes had passed since the claymores had been detonated, but the time span seemed like years. A light machine
     gun opened fire to the team’s left, but the gunner was firing high as he searched for the Americans.
    Koski pushed the black case under some matted bamboo next to the road and pointed in the direction Youngbloode and the rest
     of the team had disappeared in.
    Arnason nodded. They would link up with the rest of the team and fight their way back to the Special Forces camp if necessary.
     He wasn’t going to try and call back for reinforcements until there was a lull in the fighting. Right now the team needed
     every working gun it could muster.
    Koski was the first to see the team coming through the jungle and he alerted Arnason. The linkup was smooth. Arnason counted
     heads; they were all there without any wounded, but the jungle was crawling with NVA.
    “Back to Due Co … or as far as we can get before it gets dark.” Arnason reached up and placed his hand on Warner’s shoulder.
     “Bobby, you take point and get us back to Due Co.” Arnason glanced around at the thick growth of bamboo and elephant grass.
     “Reading a map and compass in this shit is impossible. Do you think you can do it?”
    Warner swallowed and his dry throat hurt. The firefight had him scared, but he knew that he could get the team back to where
     they had come from; he had
never
been lost in his life after having looked at a map. It seemed as if he had a special computer in his head that recorded the
     map and his location on it; wherever he went on the map, he knew exactly where he was. He was scared, but he calmed down almost
     instantly when Sergeant Arnason called him by his first name. Up until then it had been “Warner.” He nodded his head.
    “Good!” Arnason pointed west. “Woods, follow him and cover his ass!”
    A rifle fired a single round to the north of the team and was answered by a rifle firing in the direction Arnason had pointed.
     He knew what that meant: the NVA were surrounding his team, and if they could keep a rescue team away from them until it got
     dark, they could wipe out the Americans.
    Youngbloode caught the look in Arnason’s eyes and winked. He knew how serious the situation was and didn’t need to be told.
     The only thing that