Chapter 12

I carefully woke the others at about 0445 hrs. The drivers would remain here in the staging area to watch our backs. The two with military experience had rifles. Everyone else would move up to our observation location. The second fire team (the officers) would cover the the first fire team (the NCOs) while we took out the night guards and two of our people changed places with them.

Once the second fire team was in position, Sergeant Bounmy led the first fire team around the outside of the village to a position on the far side of it. There, we were closer to the fire where the night guards were relaxing and nearly asleep. The moon had set over an hour ago, and the only light was from the fire the guards had. It was slowly going out as they hadn’t added more fuel to it in some time.

“Sergeant Ai and I will take out the two guards and drag them back here. Bounmy, you and Thao will change clothes with them and take their positions around the fire. It’s about an hour to sunrise and that is usually when their leader checks on them. Be prepared in case he is early. Look sleepy but remain alert. We need to take him out but as quietly as possible,” I reminded all of them before Ai and I started forward to take out the guards.

We had no trouble moving up behind them, as they were nearly asleep and not paying attention to anything. I took the taller one and Ai took the smaller one. We both had clubs and struck the two men before they realized that we were there. We then dragged them back into the brush where the others were waiting. After stripping them of their filthy clothes, we tied them up and gagged them with the material that we had brought with us. Bounmy and Thao had been changing into their clothes while we were doing that. They then quickly moved out to take their places. They added a little fuel to the fire but only enough to have it burn for a short time. We all settled back to wait then. Waiting is always the hardest part of any operation.

Shortly before sunrise, the waiting came to an end. The same individual that Bounmy and I had seen on our earlier recon emerged from the house where the guards slept and moved toward the fire and the guards. Our people appeared to be asleep or close to it, just as the normal guards had been when we took them out. Their leader appeared to be even more outraged this morning than he had been previously.

He marched toward them with clenched fists and a sour expression prepared to punish them for their continued disregard of his orders. As he neared Thao who appeared to be asleep, he drew back his right foot to kick him just as Bounmy prepared to stab him in the chest with the big knife that he carried. The man must have caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and tried to duck and shift to his left.

Instead of Bounmy’s knife stabbing him in the chest as he expected, it pierced the side of the man’s neck as he moved, and his own motion and Bounmy’s drew the knife across his neck cutting open his throat and both of the arteries in his neck. All three men were quickly covered in blood as the leader collapsed and died shortly after hitting the ground.

Fire team two (the officers), who had been covering us, immediately jumped up on seeing this, and Captain Vanh fired several shots in the air while they all shouted to get everyone in the village outside. The other guards came rushing out only half dressed and only one of them had a weapon. On seeing the four officers in camouflage clothing and pointing AK-47s at them, they immediately surrendered.

Those on fire team two had brought rope with them and tied their hands behind their backs, while Vanh covered them with his rifle. Lt. Keo went into the house and soon returned with their weapons. They were rusty and their magazines only held a few rounds of ammunition. Later, we found a box with additional ammunition in their leader’s things.

On securing the guards, Captain Vanh then began shouting for all of the villagers to come out of their houses. It appeared that the villagers had all been up already but had been afraid to leave their homes until the guards had called them outside. They quickly assembled in the village square where Captain Vanh addressed them.

In the meantime, I had checked the leader of the guards. He had bled to death. Sergeant Ai and I helped Bounmy and Thao to clean up at the village well as they and the clothes they were wearing were covered in blood. After cleaning up, they put on their own clothing. The night guards’ clothing would need to be washed and then dried before it could be worn again if ever. Sergeant Ai went to the guards’ house to see what other clothing was available for the night guards who were still tied up and naked. Captain Vanh had been talking with the village chief for a while by now.

While Bounmy and Thao redressed, I went to call the drivers to join us. We needed to inspect the trucks and prepare to leave. Captain Vanh called me over while I waited for the drivers to join us. I walked over to see what he wanted.

“The Village Chief is very upset and wants us to kill those who were guarding them. He claims they had been very cruel and had also had their way with a number of the daughters of the village. What do you think?” he asked. This put me in a bit of a spot, but I had an answer whispered to me.

“Those six men are fat and strong. They can do a lot of work. It wouldn’t take more than two men or a man and a determined woman to guard them while they work. This would free up others in the village to take care of other things. How they secured them at night would be up to them,” I recommended. Vanh passed what I had said to the Village Chief who smiled after a short time.

The drivers had arrived while I was busy. Bounmy, who had already redressed, and I took them to inspect the trucks, while Sergeant Ai and Thao went to guard the trail in case anyone in Prathae had heard the shots and came to investigate.

The drivers quickly checked out the trucks and found them to be in fairly good condition. The tires had enough air, but there wasn’t a lot of fuel in their tanks.

“Is it enough fuel to get the trucks down to the road?” I asked.

“Probably,” Mr. Nai told me after some consideration.

“Good. We brought fuel with us,” I reminded him. The drivers had all been surprised to see that the trucks were loaded with boxes, and that they contained weapons. We all returned to the village then to see when Captain Vanh would be ready to depart.

On reaching the village, we found the locals preparing a large meal for themselves and us to celebrate their freedom from being prisoners of the drug-lords’ men. We would need to eat with them, as turning down the meal would be an insult, which was something that we didn’t want to do. They all seemed to be very happy to be rid of the guards. Captain Vanh took me aside to speak to me on our return.

“I told the village chief what to tell the drug-lord’s men when they came to retrieve the trucks, but didn’t mention the weapons. They will be very angry and will want to take out their anger on the villagers. I also told him not to be too hard on the former guards, as they will be able to confirm what the villagers tell them,” he informed me. We all ate with the villagers which delayed us moving the trucks for the best part of an hour. I was sure that feeding the twelve of us in addition to the guards who were now prisoners would leave the village short of food for a time, but they had insisted, as it was the only way they could thank us for what we had done.

Once finished the meal, the drivers went to get the trucks, and we discussed how we were going to move them down the mountain. Captain Vanh wanted to hurry down to be away from here as soon as possible. That wasn’t going to happen.

“We can’t do that. You have seen how tight some of the places on the trail are while coming up here. We will need to move the trucks very carefully in those places, or we could damage them badly enough that they would no longer work. Ask Mr. Nai if you don’t believe me,” I told him. He went to speak with Nai and got the same answer. He was very frustrated by this.

“What if people from the drug-lords come to get the trucks while we are here?” he demanded in an angry voice. This gave me an opening that I had been hoping for.

“We should have a couple of people down near the road to ensure that no one from the village or other places tries to come up here while we are moving the trucks. It should be someone important enough that they can keep them from interfering with us,” I told him.

“Yes, but who?” he asked.

“Perhaps you and one of the other officers,” I suggested.

“Maybe,” he said while he considered what I had told him.

“Alright,” he finally agreed. “I’ll take Lieutenant Keo with me. The two of us will be enough to keep anyone from coming up here,” he finished.

When the trucks reached the trail down from the village, I spoke with those remaining.

“We need to divide up into teams to guide the trucks past the tight spots. We’ll need three teams. I’ll take Sergeant Ai with me and guide the trucks down through the first tight spot. Sergeants Bounmy and Thao will pick them up once past the first tight spot and guide them to and through the second tight spot where Lieutenants Kham and Souk will pick them up and guide them to the final tight spot close to the road. All of you can then guide them to the road.

“When I’m finished with the first location, I’ll hurry down and get my truck and bring it to the end of the trail so we can refuel the trucks when they reach the road,” I told them, but I had a question.

“Mr. Nai, who should go with me to bring your truck?” I asked him.

“Take Jai with you. I can move the truck without him,” he told me after a second or so.

“Alright, we all know where we need to be. Let’s get started. This will take some time to finish,” I told them. Captain Vanh and Lieutenant Kao had already left and the rest of us set out as the drivers restarted their trucks.

Ai and I carefully guided Mr. Nai in the first truck down the trail and to the first tight spot. It was the tightest one, which is why I had chosen it. The second truck followed in his tracks about five meters (16 feet) behind him. Ai and I got him lined up on the tight spot. It required some backing up and shifting to one side so he could get through the tight spot without damaging the truck. The second truck, driven by Mr. Kam, had more trouble as he was already over too far to one side to get through the choke point, and he needed to do more maneuvering but finally made it through with only a little scraping on one side of the truck.

The first truck had been picked up by Sergeant Bounmy who guided it down to the second tight spot. Sergeant Ai picked up the second truck and guided it, as the first truck was well down the trail by then. Corporal Jai had gotten out of the first truck and was waiting for me. We hurried down the trail to return to the village and our original transportation. At the base of the mountain, we met Captain Vanh and Lieutenant Keo.