"Michener, James - The Bridges at Toko-ri" - читать интересную книгу автора (Michener James A)

УAffirmative.Ф
УHow much fuel?Ф
УSix hundred pounds.Ф
УHave you a fix on their positions?Ф
УAffirmative.Ф
УDispatch helicopter and tell wingman to land immediately.Ф
There was a long silence and the voice said, УWingman 1592 requests permission stay with downed plane till copter arrives.Ф
The admiral was now faced with a decision no man should ha the Essex.Ф
УThat would be tough,Ф Brubaker agreed.
The two men looked up at the F4UТs and Forney asked, УHow much longer will they be able to stay?Ф
УNot long,Ф Harry replied.
УWell, we got nothinТ to worry about. The jetsТll be back.Ф
Harry said, УThis morning I had a chance to watch jets in action. TheyТre terrific.Ф
УLook at those apes,Ф Mike said, pointing to where communists were starting to move in. From time to time accurate rifle fire pinked the top of the mound and Brubaker thought ruefully of people back in Denver who visualized communists as peasants with pitchforks who overran positions in mass attacks.
УThose guys know what theyТre doing,Ф he said.
УBut they donТt know what theyТre gonna meet!Ф Mike laughed. Then he suddenly looked at Harry and said, УWhy didnТt you tell me you didnТt have a carbine.Ф And before Brubaker could stop him, he dashed across the rice field, grabbed Nestor GamidgeТs carbine and stripped the dead man of ammunition. Two F4UТs, seeing what Mike was doing, roared low and held the communists off while the Irishman dodged and ducked his way back to the ditch.
УBoy, now theyТll know something hit Тem!Ф he cried as he jammed the weapon into HarryТs hands.
Realization that Mike intended to battle it out here made Harry shiver and he asked, УYou think thereТs any chance theyТd allow us to surrender?Ф
УThose apes?Ф Mike asked.
The two Americans piled the last rocks before their faces and Harry asked, УWhy do you hate them so much?Ф
УSimple. One Sunday morning in the cathedral I heard the cardinal explain it all,Ф Mike said. A bullet zinged into the mud behind them and Mike grabbed BrubakerТs arm. УYou understand, sir, I came out here to save you. I donТt want to die. There was a fightinТ chance or I wouldnТt have come. But now weТre here, letТs go down really swinginТ.Ф
He watched one of the communists creep forward for a better shot. УDonТt fire too soon at these apes,Ф he whispered. He kept his hand on HarryТs arm for at least two minutes. Then, just as the enemy soldier got into position Mike blasted him right in the face. When Mike looked back he saw that Brubaker was busy with his hip knife, slashing away at his poopy suit.
УWhat are you doinТ?Ф the Irishman exploded.Ф
УLetting some air in.Ф
УHave you gone nuts, sir?Ф
УEver since I climbed into my first poopy suit IТve been weighed down. IТve been sweating and unable to breathe. Like a zombie. Today I want to feel like a human being.Ф He stripped away large chunks of his burdensome gear and stood reasonably free. УI feel better already,Ф he said.
Mike was sure the lieutenant had gone off his rocker but there wasnТt anything he could do about it so he laughed and said, УIТm the same way. I couldnТt fight these apes without my green hat.Ф
УWhy do you wear that?Ф Harry asked.
УI want people to know IТm around.Ф
УThatТs what you told the captain. But whatТs the real dope?Ф
Mike stopped, looked frankly at Brubaker and said, УWhen I was a kid we lived. ...Ф He stopped abruptly and asked, УTell me the truth, sir, wasnТt that captain a pathetic ape?Ф
УThe way he used windmill all the time.Ф
УIn about three minutes now,Ф Mike said, pointing to the trees.
The communists moved slowly and with deliberate plan. Four of them came in from the south, three from the mountain quarter. УIТm gonna keep my eye on those four out there,Ф Mike said.
Some minutes passed and there was a flurry of fire from the three soldiers in the mountain quarter but Forney yelled, УForget them!Ф and he was right for the other four lunged forward and tried to overrun the ditch. Calmly Mike and Harry waited until the communists were close upon them. Then they started to fire rapidly. The communists fired back but Mike yelled, УTheyТre crumblinТ,Ф and he chopped them down.
УТThatТll take care of the boys,Ф he shouted. УNow bring on the men.Ф But as he turned to congratulate Brubaker an unseen communist who had sneaked in from the sea quarter hurled two grenades into the ditch. One of them Mike managed to throw back but as he lifted the second it exploded and tore him apart. His body, motivated by the driving forces that had occupied his mind, stumbled forward toward the unseen enemy and pitched into the snow.
Now the sky was empty and the helicopter stood burned out in the rice field and in the ditch there was no one beside him. Harry Brubaker, a twenty-nine-year-old lawyer from Denver, Colorado, was alone in a spot he had never intended to defend in a war he had not understood. In his home town at that moment the University of Colorado was playing Denver in their traditional basketball game. The stands were crowded with more than 8,000 people and not one of them gave a damn about Korea. In San Francisco a group of men were finishing dinner and because the Korean war was a vulnerable topic, they laid plans to lambaste it from one end of the country to the other, but none of them really cared about the war or sought to comprehend it. And in New York thousands of Americans were crowding into the night clubs where the food was good and the wine expensive, but hardly anywhere in the city except in a few homes whose men were overseas was there even an echo of Korea.
But Harry Brubaker was in Korea, armed with two carbines. He was no longer afraid nor was he resentful. This was the war he had been handed by his nation and in the noonday sun he had only one thought: he was desperately in love with his wife and kids and he wanted to see them one more time.
The memory of his family was too much to bear and for an instant he pressed his right hand across his eyes and thought, УThe girls will be in the garden now. ...Ф
He did not complete the picture for the hidden communist who had tossed the grenades had remained close and now with one carefully planned shot sped a bullet directly through the right hand that covered the AmericanТs face. In that millionth of a second, while ten slim Banshees roared in from the sea to resume command of the sky, Harry Brubaker understood in some fragmentary way the purpose of his being in Korea. But the brief knowledge served no purpose, for the next instant he plunged face down into the ditch.
Through the long afternoon that followed, Admiral Tarrant haunted his telephone, waiting word of the miracle that would save his son. When Mike Forney left the scow with his helicopter, the admiral had said, УWell, MikeТll get him.Ф Then the leader of the F4UТs reported the copter burning.
Now, from the clandestine broadcaster near Wonsan came the facts: УJet plane crash. Helicopter crash. Three Americans killed by communist troops.Ф
Shaken, the lean, hard-bitten admiral left flag plot and walked gravely to his tiny room, for he knew that he must report these facts to Nancy Brubaker, in Yokosuka. But as he stared at the paper he asked, УHow do you explain to a wife that her husband has died for his nation? How do you tell that to a woman with two children?Ф And he thought of his own wife, sitting somewhere in a dark room knitting a childТs garment ... but it was already more than seven feet long.
The job was too much for him. Later, maybe, he would know what to write. Then he thought of the Cag, who had led this ill-starred mission. He burned with fury and summoned the Cag to him, lashing at the bullet-headed commander as soon as he appeared.
УWhy was Brubaker abandoned?Ф
CagТs eyes were red and tired from too much flying but he controlled his nerves and said, УWe kept an air cap over him.Ф
УIf one helicopter crashed, why didnТt you send another?Ф
УSir, its not my job to dispatch copters. You ask for volunteers. And there are never enough Mike Forneys.Ф
УHow was Brubaker hit in the first place?Ф
УHe was working over the dumps.Ф