The Japs think they’ve got us licked, but we’ll see about that.
Reaching the front door of the bank building, they scrambled inside. El Banco de Manila featured a grand lobby with marble floors, tall Doric columns holding up the vaulted roof, and gleaming counters of polished wood with glass partitions separating the well-dressed clerks from the even-better-dressed customers. Tall windows, covered in ornately wrought iron bars that provided both security and beauty, filled the lobby with the sort of sunlight that encouraged scrutiny. Normally it was the sort of setting where Deke never would have felt comfortable in a million years. But now it was a war zone.
The marble floor was strewn with dust and broken glass from windows shattered by bomb blasts, though the ironwork remained. Birds flitted under the tall ceiling and had even begun to nest at the tops of the columns. Nature asserting itself where humankind had faltered. A puddle of congealed blood spread across one corner, evidence that someone had died there, and badly.
He had to admit that the sight of the ruined bank lobby didn’t make him feel sad. He hated bankers. After all, it had been a greedy banker who had foreclosed on their family farm at the rat-tail end of the Great Depression, just before the war. This place was far grander than the local bank that had stolen the Cole family’s land — which meant the bankers here were likely that much greedier.
“This place has seen better days, that’s for sure,” Philly said.
“Maybe there was a run on the bank,” Deke said.
“I’ll say. Hey, I wonder if there’s still any money in the bank vault? If we had a grenade—”
“Come on,” Deke said. “There’s no time for that. Let’s find the stairs and get up to the roof.”
They started toward the rear of the lobby. Outside, they could hear the firing as Patrol Easy took on the Japanese. However, Deke heard another sound — boots crunching on glass. He froze, then signaled Philly to do the same.
“What?” Philly whispered.
As if to answer his question, the sound of footsteps came more clearly now. Then they heard the guttural sound of Japanese speaking among themselves. Someone kicked something across the floor, making it hop and bounce. One of the soldiers laughed. Judging from the sounds, it was a small band of Japanese, maybe three or four men. Deke realized that the enemy soldiers were also headed for the stairs. The sons of bitches probably had the same plan that he and Philly did, which was to get to the roof for the commanding view that it offered. If the Japs got up there, Patrol Easy wouldn’t stand a chance. They would be sitting ducks, picked off from both directions.
Deke and Philly spread out, moving as quietly as they could across the broken glass on the floor, both finding cover behind the tall stone columns. Deke pressed his rifle against the cold, hard stone and waited.
The Japanese soldiers rounded a corner and came into sight. There were three of them, moving quickly, weapons at the ready. Maybe Deke and Philly hadn’t been as quiet as they had hoped and the sound of crunching glass had given them away.
Deke fired at the soldier on the left. Inside the confines of the lobby, there was a distinct sound of the bullet hitting flesh and bone. The soldier went down. Philly’s rifle cracked and dropped the soldier on the right. That left the man in the middle, who managed to get off a wild shot that ricocheted off the column that Deke was taking cover behind.
Deke worked the bolt and shot him, Philly’s bullet coming in a split second later. Hit twice, the Japanese soldier went down. They waited a moment, just to make sure no Japanese had been lagging behind.
“Coast is clear,” Deke said. “Let’s go.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Philly said.
They scrambled toward the stairs, which were broad and marble, leading to offices on the second floor. There was less destruction here, and they moved easily up the stairs. To their relief, there didn’t seem to be any more Japanese soldiers. The stairs grew narrower as they climbed from floor to floor, away from the public eye, finally ending in a utilitarian set of wooden steps that led to a hatch in the roof. They climbed out onto the roof, keeping low, not wanting to attract any attention in case enemy eyes were watching. Again, they were glad not to run into more enemy soldiers up here.
“Looks like we’ve got the place to ourselves,” Deke said.
“Fine by me,” Philly replied.
It turned out that the roof had a slight pitch to it, with acres of copper sheeting coated heavily in tar to keep the rain out. It wasn’t the easiest surface to cross, and already the sun was making the black tar and metal surfaces unpleasantly hot. But that might be the least of their worries if the Japanese caught sight of them before they were in position. One burst from that Nambu might sweep them right off the roof.
Crouching, they ran around to the front of the roof that overlooked the square and the legislative building on the other side. Although the buildings were similar in height, the steeper roof of the bank building gave it an advantage, adding a few precious feet of elevation. This made all the difference because they could look down on the roof of the legislative building — giving Deke a clear shot at the machine gunner.
Deke got next to a chimney, which not only offered at least some cover but, more importantly, provided a solid surface to steady his rifle against. Philly set up on the other side of the chimney.
“I’ll take care of business,” Deke said. “You watch our backs. Maybe those Japs we saw earlier have some friends around.”
“You got it.”
Deke lined up his sights on the two machine gunners operating the Nambu. It was the longest shot that he had taken for a while, so he took his time steadying the sights, then raising his aim just a hair. If he missed, and they were spotted by the machine gunner, it was going to get unpleasant up here in a hurry, because there was precious little cover on the rooftop. First, he fired to take out the man feeding the ammo belt into the gun, the sound of the Nambu masking his shot. The man slumped down, but his comrade on the machine gun didn’t notice. Deke worked the bolt and fired again.
The machine gun fell silent.
Next, he turned his attention to the square below, where he could see Patrol Easy trying to advance against the superior numbers of the Japanese force defending the legislative building. The Americans and Filipinos were clearly outnumbered.
“There’s too many Japs,” Philly said.
“Let’s see if we can even the odds,” Deke said, putting his eye back to the rifle scope.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Across the square in the legislative building, the fleeing prisoners led by MacGregor had reached the rooftop. To his surprise, the two-gun crew was slumped behind their wall of sandbags, clearly dead. Briefly, MacGregor thought about taking command of the machine gun and using it against the Japanese, but there simply wasn’t time. Already the Japanese were in the stairway landing.
“Close the door!” he shouted as the last hostage made it through. The nurse turned and helped him slam the door shut. There was no lock on the outside, but he grabbed a length of broken board and jammed it under the doorknob. Already the soldiers on the other side were pounding on the door until it bounced in its frame. The door wouldn’t hold for long.
“What should we do?”
He looked around. It was a good question. They were trapped up here. He began to doubt the wisdom of having fled to the roof, but they were out of time or options.
“Everyone scatter and hide as best as you can,” he said. “Littleton and I will hold them off as long as we’re able to.”
The door shuddered again, then started to splinter. Littleton fired a shot through the door, then another. That slowed the enemy but did not stop them. A spray of bullets followed, wounding Littleton, who didn’t go down but limped away, turning and firing as he ran.
Then the door gave way and the Japanese came pouring out.
Deke was about to start picking off enemy soldiers in in the square below when he noticed a flurry of activity on the roof of the legislative building. He squinted through the scope to take a closer look. To his surprise, he saw the prisoners spilling out onto the roof of the legislative building. A couple of the men hung back, apparently trying to barricade the door.
“Philly, get a look at this,” he said, pointing toward the rooftop.
Philly glassed them with binoculars. “I’ll be damned. Those are the prisoners,” he said. They had both recognized the tall fellow, MacGregor, father to the boy who had fallen in with Patrol Easy. “But where are they going? They’re trapped up there. I see that they’re trying to barricade the door, but that won’t stop the Japanese.”
As if to prove the point, the door leading to the rooftop suddenly banged open, scattering the two men who had been trying to hold it closed against the Japanese. Enemy soldiers boiled out of the door like angry hornets looking for someone to sting. The last soldier out wore an officer’s uniform and carried a sword in addition to a rifle. Deke realized it was none other than Major Tanigawa.
For the prisoners trapped on the roof, the situation had just gone from bad to worse.
Within moments, he and Philly watched a drama play out on the rooftop, feeling helpless to do much about it.
Pursued by the Japanese, they could see that there was nowhere for the prisoners to go.
Deke glanced at the square below, where Patrol Easy was fighting for survival as the Japanese forces advanced. The next few minutes were going to be critical both on the roof and down in the square. With a sinking feeling, Deke realized that he had a choice to make. He and Philly could either save some of the prisoners, or they could help Patrol Easy. Which was it going to be?