Chapter 26

Russo, and Pete, who were manning the guns, let them rip.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team cleaned up their camp and doused the small fire they had built. They didn’t plan to hang around any longer than they had to.

The boys had set the guns up while the others were gone. Russo’s first shell hit the middle support, and it collapsed, taking out the middle of the bridge. Pete wasn’t quite as accurate, and he hit the top of the bridge. It blew out a big hole, but the pylons held.

The men loaded the guns again and tossed the spent shells back onto the back of the truck. This time, Russo took out the furthest pylon. Pete aimed for the first one on their side, and it was a good enough shot to make the section wobble. The bridge slowly fell over to meet Russo’s half of the bridge in the deep ravine formed by the river.

The teams quickly hooked the guns up to the trucks and headed for the hills.

The trip back to where the roads branched was slow and steady.

Abe and Hans, the drivers, knew Jacky had done something to the roads as they were a lot smoother than on the trip out. It sure saved a lot of jostling about and was easier on their butts.

The locals were used to the Japanese shifting their troops at night, so they ignored the traffic. When asked later if the trucks had passed that way, most couldn’t remember anything out of the ordinary and just shrugged.

The rest, knowing about the bridges by then, asked, “What trucks?”

The team pulled up just before the intersection and set up camp for the night.

“We have a decision to make,” Jacky told the men as they drank their tea.

“North or east? We can take advantage of the fact that we have caused an uproar and go north, or we lie low and try to rescue the POWs in a week or so.”

Gazza spoke first, “I think they will move them. The last time we rattled them, they shipped the POWs to the airport and took them off the island.”

“I think we should go grab them now and then go south to the rest of the company,” Blair added, well aware that he had an ulterior motive.

Nat grinned, “Nope, the company is coming to us. Apparently, more Japanese are coming, and the company had decided that it is time to get out of the south.”

“That’s going to be hard now we have blown the bridges?” Pete offered.

“No, the company are coming up through the middle. It’s a bit of a trek, but General Bligh said if we try for the POWs, make sure we blow the bridge over the gorge at Raifusa behind us.”

“They will have to rebuild the bridge to access this side of the island by road. It also gives the General some breathing time. It’s so sad they don’t have any airfields in this area.”

“The General plans to get to Maliubu and hike through the range towards Ainaro. They will contact me when they do and would like to know if we can possibly pick some of them up. He still had about two hundred troops from all over the place.”

“He is also telling the other scattered units to meet up with or at least be in contact with us if they can. His plan is to concentrate on East Timor and harass Dili. He thinks if we can keep the road to Benito open, then the Navy can keep us supplied.”

“He also asked if we can possibly get an air-drop. His people are running on fumes and a prayer. If we have this area shut down, getting a food and ammo drop would be easier for us to pick up and sure make their lives easier.”

“We might want to find some more trucks,” Jacky commented.

“Sounds like a plan. Nat, contact Redback and tell him that we got visitors coming, and he needs to keep the scouts alert. Tell Bean that we might need to shift some of the new stores to the other cave system that is down the road,” Blair told them.

“It would probably be better to do that once we are back with the trucks and closer to when they turn up,” Jacky commented.

“Yeah, but Bean will be in a flap if we just try to shift them. It gives him time to think of how best to split up what we have between all of us until we get that air-drop,” Blair explained.

Jacky shrugged; it was a problem for another day; they had to get through this one first.

At sunrise, the Ghosts headed to Aileu.

With the guns in tow, it took nearly two hours to get to the bridge at Raifusa. They set the gun up so that one faced over the bridge and the other faced away from it.

They set up camp in the Japanese style and settled in as if they were staying. When they stopped one of the locals, who was going over the bridge, he asked them why they were there.

Blair, who was still wearing his Japanese Captain’s uniform, just told them he was following orders. They inspected the rattly, odd truck and let the local man go on his way.

Word, of course, soon spread, and they got the distinct impression the locals weren’t happy. The boys were put on alert, and Jacky told them to try and encourage the locals to stay away.

As soon as it was dark enough, Jacky and David flanked Blair. “Think of a safe place near the POW camp,” Jacky told him.

Blair did and then had to blink several times to come to grips with the fact that he had been transported to that location. Jacky and David just grinned at him.

Jacky then taught him a spell to use to hide himself and showed him how to attach it to his bracelet. They got him to turn the spell on and off a couple of times, and once happy he had the hang of it, they snuck into the camp.

Sliding around the wall and sticking to the shadows, they moved past four trucks and a staff car to see forty, raggedly dressed prisoners lined up in four rows of ten. At the end of each row was a Japanese soldier.

Each soldier was wearing his webbing and his pack and holding a rifle. Five more similarly dressed soldiers were facing the prisoners with the camp’s General between them. The General of the camp was yelling at the prisoners. He seemed quite upset.

“Oh, dear,” Jacky whispered. “This isn’t good. They are going to move them now.”

The General stepped forward and whipped one of the prisoners across his face, and the man went down. The General hit him again several times and kicked the man. The man tried to make himself as small as he could, but he didn’t cry out.