Chapter 1

The following characters return from Part 1:

Sgt. Bill Baker

Radio Operator, 5'-10" tall, 170 pounds, 24 years old, Auburn hair, Hazel eyes

MSG Sawyer

Team Sergeant, 6'-6" tall, 275 pounds, 42 years old, black hair, brown eyes

Suenee Sa

Bill's girl friend and wife, 5'-2" tall, 108 pounds, 34C-23-35, 21 years old, brown eyes, long black hair, oval face, very cute

Sophie

MSG Sawyer's girlfriend, 5'-10" tall, 140 pounds, 38C-25-37, 25 years old, brown eyes, long black hair

The following new characters appear in the first two chapters:

Joe Fields

SFC, Special Forces, 5'-11" tall, 175 pounds, 36 years old, brown hair, blue eyes

Phil

Special Forces, 5'-7" tall, 185 pounds, 36 years old, black hair, hazel eyes, very muscular

LTC Hopkins

J-2, JUSMACTHAI, 6'-0" tall, 165 pounds, 39 years old, black hair, blue eyes

It was after 1100 hrs. before we pulled out of Korat and started down Friendship Highway toward Bangkok, 260 km away. We is myself, Sgt. Bill Baker, my girlfriend and soon to be wife, Suenee Sa, and a Thai driver. We were in a rented pickup truck that Suenee's Amulet friend had arranged for us, after her Thai Air Force husband, a Captain, had helped me retrieve my classified radio from the G-2 at SUPTHAI Headquarters in a Thai Air Force truck. (See Part 1)

It was about an hour later that we stopped in the town of Kaeng Hip for a quick lunch. We ate at an open-air restaurant on what I took to be the main street of this small town. It was good to get out of the truck and stretch. The cab of the small Japanese pickup wasn't meant for three people, especially if one was an American. On the way out of town, we stopped for gas. I let Suenee handle the money, as she had told me that they would overcharge an American.

We had been sitting with me next to the driver, because Suenee couldn't be touched by a strange man. This was because she was consecrated to the Amulets. She had explained all of this to me previously at the camp in Cambodia and Lt. Tamusarit had confirmed it when I had asked him.

We made pretty good time after that arriving at the outskirts of Bangkok by 1600 hrs. We continued into Bangkok on Phahon Yothin road and soon passed through the traffic circle around the Victory monument and continued down Phayathia Road.

"Do you know where to go?" Suenee asked, shortly. I had been staring at the traffic. Even in 1966, Bangkok traffic was terrible.

"Yes," I said, tearing my attention away from the traffic. Sawyer had given me a note before I left Camp B457 and told me where the Team House was in Bangkok.

"We need to get on Rama I road going toward Ploenchit. There is a Soi Tonson there. That is where the Team House is. It's too late already to try to turn the radio in today. We can keep it there and they may even let us stay there tonight. If not there are hotels near there," I explained to her.

We soon found Soi Tonson, which was a rather narrow concrete street with houses on one side and a small klong on the other. The type of native pine tree that the Soi was named after grew along the road between it and the klong, which had a good bit of green algae growing in its brown water.

The Team house wasn't hard to find as there was a new Army 3/4 ton truck sitting just inside the open double steel gates that closed the small compound off. I had the driver pull over as far as possible so as not to block the narrow street and went in to see what help I could get.

"Well young troop, what are you looking for?" a voice asked from the engine compartment of the truck. At closer range I could see a set of tiger stripes bent over the engine compartment, working on something.

"Master Sergeant Sawyer said when I got to Bangkok to look this place up," I told the voice.

"Sawyer, hey! Isn't he still over there in Cambodia?" the voice asked as the person it was attached to continued to work on what ever the problem was.

"Yes, they leave there in a couple of days. Their replacements arrived on the chopper I left on," I explained.

"OK, now that you found us, what do you want?" the voice asked as the owner came up out of the engine compartment. He had greasy hands and a spot of grease on his cheek, also.

"He gave me a note to someone named Fields," I said, "and told me I could leave my radio here if I needed to."

"Well, I'm Joe Fields," the man said, as he put his shirt on after wiping his hands on a dirty rag. I could see that he was a Sergeant First Class (SFC, E-7). "What kind of radio is this? Oh and where is the note?"

"The radio is out in the truck," I said, as I handed him the note Sawyer had given me. He looked at it and then put it in a shirt pocket and smiled at me.

"So you're Golden Badger 3 Zulu," he asked.

"Yes, I was," I answered.

"OK, bring the radio in, but the note mentioned a girl. I'd like to let her stay here with you, but if some officer or the Sergeant Major came in, they would close us down for having a woman in here. I know that they did it in the past, but not any more. You might try the Nana Hotel up on Soi 4. It's a decent place and not too expensive. A lot of GI families stay there."

"I'll need some help with the radio," I told him.

"Help - with a radio?" he asked.

"Yes, the shipping container weighs 300 pounds."

"For a radio?"

"Yes, I've been carting it around for four months now, and it's a real pain."

"You had it in Cambodia!?"

"Yes, that's how we talked to the B Detachment in Ubon."

"Oh, you're that radio operator!" he said as the lights came on.

"Yes, that's me," I answered.

"Hey, Phil. Come give us a hand," Fields shouted toward the house. Shortly a shorter, broader man came out. He had an OD T-shirt and tiger pants on and was very muscular.

"What's up, Joe?" he asked.

"Got something to move," Fields said. We all went out to the truck and I introduced Suenee.

"This is my soon to be wife, Suenee," I told them.

"Good afternoon, ma'am," they both said in greeting.

We got the shipping container out of the truck and on to the hand truck, then wheeled it into the compound.

"Damn, how much does that radio weigh?" Fields asked.

"About 30 pounds."

"What the hell is all of the rest then?"

"Parts, tools, manuals, and, oh yes, the container. It's built like a battleship."

"Damn, I'll believe that. How long do you need to leave it here for?"

"Just over night. I'll pick it up tomorrow and take it over to the JUSMAG J-2 and let them keep it until I report to my new unit," I told him.

"J-2?" Phil asked.

"Yes, it's classified."

"Oh, shit!" both men said.

"How high?" Fields asked.

"High enough that the J-2 won't be happy to keep it, but they have a high enough clearance."

"Oh, shit!" Fields said, again. "Who knows that it's here?"

"No one but the three of us and Suenee."

"Damn, you are definitely going to have to get it out of here tomorrow. Just Damn," Fields said.

"Yes, I need to get it turned in so I can start my leave for real," I said.

"Damn, it would almost be worth having you stay here over night, but we better not. We can put a table cloth over the container, but we couldn't hide a woman like that," Fields told me. "If you go back out to the main road and turn right it will take you out Sukhumvit to Soi 4, Nana Tai. The Nana hotel is there. Try that for the night."

"All right, I'll be back by 0900 in the morning with a truck to pick up the radio," I assured them.

"Wait a minute," Phil said. "Why don't we put the radio in the back of our truck now and we'll drive you over to MAGTHAI in the morning?"

"Yes, that's a good idea. No one would look in the back of the truck. I'll turn it around and back it up against the building," Fields said.

We got the shipping container in the back of the 3/4. It turned out that Phil was a weight lifter and didn't have any trouble at all with the shipping container with the two of us helping. Fields got the truck turned around and backed it up against the wall of the building. You couldn't tell there was anything in there at all.