"Reeves, James R & Taylor, James Carl - Vietnam 02 - Covert Actions" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reeves James R)

on the door. It was his room all right. Hell, they even
I

2 James R. Reeves and James C. Taylor

had his name on a little plastic plaque on the door. I
wasn't supposed to know his name, but I couldn't
help but read it, and it registered in my memory. I
knew Bob had read it too. I looked over at him and
our eyes met for a minute. The usual wicked glint
was gone, and his forehead had little worry creases
in it. He was bothered by this mission, just like I was.
It was one thing to snatch a gook, or assassinate a
VC cadre, but an American officer?

Well, we had come this far. I nodded at him. "Let's
go do it!" I whispered.

He reached for his syringe, popped the cap on it,
and held it up in his right hand, like a doctor. Then
he reached for the doorknob with his left hand, and
slowly began to turn it.

I moved across the corridor and waited tensely by the
door. My job was to slip in, put a hand over the guy's
mouth so he couldn't cry out, and position his head so
Bob could stick the needle in his neck. The beds were
all on one side of the room, but a man could sleep with
his head toward either the aft or the forward bulkhead,
and I had to determine which way his head was turned
in no more time than it would take me to cross the
room. Unless he was afraid of the dark and slept with
a night-light, there would be only the dim glow of the
watch light over his door to see by. I wished I had a
flashlight, even a little penlight, in case the shadows
were darker than we had anticipated.

If I made a mistake and grabbed his feet, he'd yell
and bring the sentries running. What would we do
then? Take him anyway? Leave him, with him warned
now that NISO was onto him? Kill him? Could we
get away without having to kill a sentry or them kill-

COVERT ACTIONS 3

ing one of us? What if he woke up when the door
opened? Suppose the hinges squeaked. Suppose . . .

"Goddamn!" Bob whispered. "It's locked!"