The Crystal Warriors Read Free

to reach the plane."
    "Yes, Captain."
    Following the sergeant, Ikawa crept up to the brow of the hill and looked over. Yes, the giant was there. Intact. He had heard about the new bomber but this was indeed the first time he had actually looked at one, and he admired its sleek, sweeping lines.
    "Captain, look over there!"
    He looked where the sergeant was pointing. From out of the hills on the other side of the narrow valley, several hundred men dressed in dark uniforms were slowly advancing. He looked down at the plane again. Yes, the Americans had seen them, as well.
    "And there, Captain, look," Saito said softly, "one of the Americans is going over to them. See, there along the trail, he's waving a white shirt."
    "The fools. They'll soon find out."
    For several minutes the captain watched the drama unfold. Behind him he could hear the high-pitched staccato of a machine gun. His corporal was slowing the Chinese bandits advancing from the other direction. For six days Ikawa's men had been running. Once they had numbered over a hundred, a garrison outpost, but that was before a running retreat that had left a trail of dead over forty miles. Now, with his back to the high mountains, the game was nearly up. Less than a score of his men were left, all knowing that death would overtake them before the day was out. And then came these Americans, landing right in a nest of the bandits who had been trying to cut off their retreat.
    Ikawa half suspected what would happen. He should leave them and push on; they could serve him by momentarily slowing the pursuit. But a perverse curiosity compelled him to watch.
    The Chinese column swept down around the lone American waving the signal of surrender. The swarming host stopped for a moment. The other Americans were gathered around their fallen plane, waiting, watching.
    Suddenly there was a glint of steel. The American carrying the flag turned and started to run but was overborne by half a dozen men. They forced him to his knees, and a moment later a shower of scarlet washed over his severed bead.
    The captain looked at the sergeant, who smiled sadly.
    "Now they know," the sergeant whispered.
    The bandits let out a shout and advanced towards the plane. The Americans started to run, straight up the hill to where Ikawa was waiting.
    "Captain, shall I open up?"
    "No―order the men to hold their fire. I think this can be useful."
    At that moment the Japanese machine gun on the hill behind them fired a sustained burst. The captain looked back to the opposite hill a hundred yards away and watched as the corporal and his four men picked up the weapon, then ran back down the hill to rejoin them.
    Ikawa watched the enemy sweeping forward, driving the Americans before them. Behind him the enemy was closing in as well. A high, solitary mountain soared up on his right―an impenetrable barrier. He looked closer. Yes, there was a possible way out of this trap, which the bandits had laid long before the Americans had fallen from the sky. There was a narrow defile heading straight into the mountain fastness. Without hesitation Ikawa formed his plan.
    "Sergeant, I want you and four other men to stay with me. Lieutenant Mokaoto, move the rest of my command towards that defile."
    Saluting, the lieutenant barked some quick commands and the rest of the unit started out."Sergeant Saito, let's get ready to greet our new visitors. Fire only on my command."
    The sergeant cradled his machine pistol and waited with the rest, either to shoot the Americans or those behind them. In his mind the two were nearly the same.
    Ikawa could hear them now―their heavy gasping as they came running straight up the slope towards his concealed position. A quarter mile away the Chinese were already closing around the plane. Some of the men were shooting at the Americans and laughing. Bullets hummed through the air, some of them striking the ground around the Americans, driving the fugitives forward. Several Americans were armed