Danilo made his opinion of the dead Japanese clear by spitting in their direction.
They spread out, making their way through the cave and tunnel system. They found more ration tins, these empty ones that had been tossed along the tunnel walls. They even came across a pinup calendar of Japanese women in skimpy kimonos and swimsuits, apparently starlets of film and stage.
Philly gave a low whistle of appreciation. “She’s not bad,” he announced, studying that month’s girl. “But she’s no Veronica Lake.”
This was no time to debate the qualities of pinup girls. “Never mind that. Just keep your eyes open,” Deke said. He hadn’t asked to be made second-in-command, but more than ever, he now felt the pressure of making certain that the patrol advanced — and that they didn’t all get killed in the process.
Just when it felt as if the tunnel could go no farther, they rounded a bend and the shadowy passageway stretched even deeper into the hillside. Deke looked back and saw the lieutenant giving him a nod. Tightening his grip on the rifle, a flashlight held to the stock, he edged farther down the tunnel. He felt reassured that Danilo was two steps behind him. The Filipino guerrilla had shouldered his rifle and had drawn his wickedly sharp bolo knife — basically a machete. It was clear how he planned to deal with any Japanese they encountered in the dark.
Once again, the tunnel widened. This time there were no hospital bunks, but evidently a makeshift command center. Cubbyholes had been dug on either side of the main tunnel, the cramped spaces filled with rough tables and boxes for chairs, scraps of paper scattered about.
“Hey, Honcho,” Deke called out. “I think I found something.”
“What is it?” Steele asked, joining him at a small table littered with papers. A pile of ashes on the ground nearby indicated that the Japanese must have destroyed the documents they felt were important and left the rest. Still, there might be something to be gleaned from what the enemy had left behind. The lieutenant called for Yoshio and asked him to take a look.
“This appears to be intel on enemy positions,” Yoshio said, having inspected the documents. “I don’t know how useful it is, considering that we have already captured some of this territory I’m seeing on the maps. It looks as if they burned anything really useful.”
“We’ll let the boys back at HQ take a look, just to be sure,” Steele said. “Maybe they can make more sense of it than we can. Gather everything up. The Japanese may have overlooked something if they were in a hurry.”
“So we turn around?” Philly asked hopefully.
“Hell no,” the lieutenant replied forcefully. “We’re gonna follow this damn tunnel all the way to Tokyo if we need to.”
“Dammit, Honcho. I was afraid you’d say that.”
Once again, Deke led the way further into the Japanese fortifications. Given a choice, he would much rather have been forging a path through the green jungle above, even if it meant cutting his way through with his bowie knife.
Deke stared down the narrow, dark tunnel that lay before them. He felt a draft on his face, indicating that there was a fresh-air vent somewhere in the vicinity. However, the air remained stale and heavy with the scent of damp earth.
“Listen up, fellas,” he said, his voice firm despite the unease in his gut. “We need to be extra careful going forward. Watch for trip wires.”
“Got it, Deke,” Philly replied, his own eyes scanning their surroundings with a mix of curiosity and caution, this being the largest enemy fortification that they had explored.
Where had all the Japanese gone? It was possible that they had been sent to defend Ormoc and Palompon, but hadn’t survived. Whoever was left had likely taken to the hills.
“Yoshio,” Steele called out. “Keep an eye on our rear. We don’t want any surprises sneaking up on us.”
“Understood,” Yoshio responded, his voice betraying a double helping of nervousness.
Who could blame him? Deke thought.
As they moved farther into the tunnels, Deke imagined that the walls were closing in around him, like being inside a boa constrictor. He shook off the sensation, focusing instead on the task at hand. The Japanese seemed to have fled, but there was no way to be certain who — or what — lay hidden in the dark.
The beam of his flashlight reflected off something metallic near the ground.
“Hold it!” Deke shouted, signaling for the others to stop. “Look at that.”
Philly squinted in the dim light, noticing a thin wire stretched across the tunnel just inches from his foot. “Good catch, Deke,” he breathed, relief washing over him. “That could’ve been bad.”
“Looks like the Japanese left a surprise for us, after all,” Deke muttered, carefully stepping over the trip wire. He followed the wire to where it connected to a grenade that had been jammed into the dirt wall of the tunnel. He wasn’t eager to mess with it, but if they left the wire in place, it was only a matter of time before someone set it off by accident. “Everybody back.”
They retreated along the tunnel. Once they came to a bend that offered some protection, the soldiers hugged the walls beyond the bend while Deke set down his flashlight to illuminate the wire from a safe distance, then lined up his rifle sights on the wire.
“No way he can hit that,” one of the new guys said.
“Ten bucks says your wrong,” Philly replied.
“Keep your head down,” Deke said, and squeezed the trigger.
The bullet cut the wire and the tunnel ahead was filled with a flash and echoing bang. Clouds of dust and dirt rolled through the tunnel, leaving several men coughing and dusty, but it was a lot better than being shredded by shrapnel. Their ears rang. The blast wasn’t enough to collapse any tunnel walls, but the grenade would have played hell with flesh and bone.
“All right, the excitement is over,” the lieutenant said. “Let’s keep going.”
Deke moved forward, twice as cautious as before. He had gotten lucky and spotted the wire. He just hoped that the Japanese hadn’t had time to rig too many other surprises for them.
He halted when they heard a strangled cry behind them. Yoshio. He had been bringing up the rear. In the dark, he must have wandered down one of the side tunnels they had passed. “Where’d everybody go! I’m lost!” they heard Yoshio shout, his voice edging on terror. “I lost my damn flashlight and I can’t find my way back!”
“Stay calm, Yoshio!” Steele yelled in reply. “Keep shouting. We’ll come get you. Just stay put!”
“Please, hurry!” Yoshio pleaded.
“You two, go get him and be quick about it,” Steele said.
Deke and Philly retraced their steps, finally locating Yoshio in a small alcove down a fork in the tunnel. In the flashlight beam, his face looked pale and sweat drenched. “Thank God,” he muttered. “I swear, once we get out of this place, I’ll never set foot underground again, even if it means a court-martial.”
Philly appeared amused. “What’s the matter? You afraid of the dark?”
“It’s not the dark, it’s the ghosts,” he said. “This place is filled with them.”
Philly’s eyes widened. The look of amusement had vanished. Like Yoshio, he had also gone pale. “Ghosts?”
“Spirits of the dead,” Yoshio said. “Japanese spirits. Yōkai. They cling to this place. They do not want us here.”
Deke didn’t spook easily, but he still felt the hairs prickle on the back of his neck. “Dammit, you two, that’s enough hogwash for one day,” he said. “Let’s get the hell out of here and get back to the others.”
Quickly, they made their way to the main tunnel, where they found the others waiting tensely.
“Dammit, Yoshio. You gave us a scare. Everybody stick together,” Steele said. “Don’t lose sight of the man in front of you. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
They continued, with Deke once more leading the way, Danilo and Philly right on his heels. They came to another wide place in the tunnel, this one crammed with wooden crates and boxes.
“End of the road,” Deke said. “This is as far as the tunnel goes.”
“Good to know,” Philly said. “I was starting to think Honcho was serious about this tunnel going all the way to Tokyo.”
By now they were deep within the hill, and it was evident that the Japanese had decided this was a safe place for an ammo dump. Crates filled with munitions stretched in every direction when they played their flashlights over the storage area. There were several barrels of what appeared to be fuel stacked neatly next to the ammo.
“What have we here?” Deke wondered.
“Nobody light a match, that’s for damn sure,” Philly said. “This whole place is a giant powder keg.”
Coming up behind them, Lieutenant Steele let out a low whistle. He couldn’t help himself. By far, this was the largest enemy ammo dump that they had come across. “Nice work, boys,” he said. “We need to get back and report this. Now let’s get the hell out of here before anything goes boom.”
CHAPTER SIX
They carefully retraced their steps, with Deke hoping that they hadn’t missed any traps that had been set for them. Back at the surface, free of the dark and stifling tunnel, Deke and everyone else were glad to see sunshine and breathe fresh air, even if it was humid and smelled vaguely of the enemy dead decomposing in the ditches and undergrowth. By now they were used to that.
Orders soon came back from headquarters that the tunnel had to be cleared of munitions.
“Why can’t we just seal it off?” Philly wanted to know. “We could just pretend we never found it.”
“That’s too much ordnance to leave there,” Steele explained. “If it ever blows, the whole top of this hill will turn into a volcano. There’s a village right near here and people will be moving back in now that the Japanese are on their way out.”