Behind the Lines Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  I

  II

  III

  IV

  V

  VI

  VII

  VIII

  IX

  X

  XI

  XII

  XIII

  XIV

  XV

  XVI

  XVII

  AUTHOR’S ENDNOTE

  BROTHERHOOD OF WAR by W.E.B. Griffin

  PRAISE FOR W.E.B. GRIFFIN’S ALL-TIME CLASSIC SERIES,

  THE CORPS

  W.E.B. Griffin’s bestselling saga of the heroes we call Marines...

  “THE BEST CHRONICLER OF THE U.S. MILITARY EVER TO PUT PEN TO PAPER.”

  —Phoenix Gazette

  “A BRILLIANT STORY ... NOT ONLY WORTHWHILE, IT’S A PUBLIC SERVICE.”

  —The Washington Times

  “GREAT READING. A superb job of mingling fact and fiction ... [Griffin’s] characters come to life.”

  —The Sunday Oklahoman

  “THIS MAN HAS REALLY DONE HIS HOMEWORK ... I confess to impatiently awaiting the appearance of succeeding books in the series.”

  —The Washington Post

  “GRIFFIN’S BOOKS HAVE HOOKED ME ... THERE IS NO ONE BETTER.”

  —Chattanooga News-Free Press

  “W.E.B. GRIFFIN HAS DONE IT AGAIN!”

  —Rave Reviews

  “ACTION-PACKED ... DIFFICULT TO PUT DOWN.”

  —Marine Corps Gazette

  Turn the page for reviews of W.E.B. Griffin’s other bestselling series...

  BROTHERHOOD OF WAR

  A sweeping military epic of the United States Army that became a New York Times bestselling phenomenon.

  “A MAJOR WORK ... MAGNIFICENT ... POWERFUL ... If books about warriors and the women who love them were given medals for authenticity, insight and honesty, Brotherhood of War would be covered with them.”

  —William Bradford Huie, author of The Klansman and The Execution of Private Slovik

  “Brotherhood of War gets into the hearts and minds of those who by choice or circumstances are called upon to fight our nation’s wars.”

  —Witliam R. Corson, Lt. Col. (Ret.) U.S.M.C., author of The Betrayal and The Armies of Ignorance

  “Captures the rhythms of army life and speech, its rewards and deprivations ... A WELL-WRITTEN, ABSORBING ACCOUNT.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “REFLECTS THE FLAVOR OF WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER.”

  —Frederick Downs, author of The Killing Zone

  “LARGE, EXCITING, FAST-MOVING.”

  —Shirley Ann Grau, author of The Xeepers of the House

  “A MASTER STORYTELLER who makes sure each book stands on its own.”

  —Newport News Press

  “GRIFFIN HAS BEEN CALLED THE LOUIS L’AMOUR OF MILITARY FICTION, AND WITH GOOD REASON.”

  — Chattanooga News-Free Press

  BADGE OF HONOR

  W.E.B. Griffin’s electrifying epic series of a big-city police force...

  “DAMN EFFECTIVE ... He captivates you with characters the way few authors can.”

  —Tom Clancy

  “TOUGH, AUTHENTIC ... POLICE DRAMA AT ITS BEST ... Readers will feel as if they’re part of the investigation, and the true-to-life characters will soon feel like old friends. Excellent reading.”

  —Dale Brown, bestselling author of Day of the Cheetah and Hammerheads

  “COLORFUL ... GRITTY ... TENSE.”

  —The Philadelphia Inquirer

  “A REAL WINNER.”

  —New York Daily News

  “NOT SINCE JOSEPH WAMBAUGH have we been treated to a police story of the caliber that Griffin gives us. He creates a story about real people in a real world doing things that are AS REAL AS TODAY’S HEADLINES.”

  —Harold Coyle, bestselling author of Team Yankee and Sword Point

  “FANS OF ED MCBAIN’S 87TH PRECINCT NOVELS BETTER MAKE ROOM ON THEIR SHELVES ... Badge of Honor is first and foremost the story of the people who solve the crimes. The characters come alive.”

  —Gainesville Times (GA)

  “GRITTY, FAST-PACED ... AUTHENTIC.”

  —Richard Herman, Jr., author of The Warbirds

  Titles by W.E.B. Griffin

  HONOR BOUND

  HONOR BOUND

  BLOOD AND HONOR

  SECRET HONOR

  BROTHERHOOD OF WAR

  BOOK I: THE LIEUTENANTS

  BOOK II: THE CAPTAINS

  BOOK III: THE MAJORS

  BOOK IV: THE COLONELS

  BOOK V: THE BERETS

  BOOK VI: THE GENERALS

  BOOK VII: THE NEW BREED

  BOOK VIII: THE AVIATORS

  BOOK IX: SPECIAL OPS

  THE CORPS

  BOOK I: SEMPER FI

  BOOK II: CALL TO ARMS

  BOOK III: COUNTERATTACK

  BOOK IV: BATTLEGROUND

  BOOK V: LINE OF FIRE

  BOOK VI: CLOSE COMBAT

  BOOK VII: BEHIND THE LINES

  BOOK VIII: IN DANGER’S PATH

  BOOK IX: UNDER FIRE

  BOOK X: RETREAT, HELL!

  BADGE OF HONOR BOOK I: MEN IN BLUE

  BOOK II: SPECIAL OPERATIONS

  BOOK III: THE VICTIM

  BOOK IV: THE WITNESS

  BOOK V: THE ASSASSIN

  BOOK VI: THE MURDERERS

  BOOK VII: THE INVESTIGATORS

  BOOK VIII: FINAL JUSTICE

  MEN AT WAR

  BOOK I: THE LAST HEROES

  BOOK II: THE SECRET WARRIORS

  BOOK III: THE SOLDIER SPIES

  BOOK IV: THE FIGHTING AGENTS

  BOOK V: THE SABOTEURS

  BOOK VI: THE DOUBLE AGENTS

  PRESIDENTIAL AGENT

  BOOK I: BY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT

  BOOK II: THE HOSTAGE

  BOOK III: THE HUNTERS

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England

  Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)

  Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr. Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagnation or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-parry websites or their content.

  BEHIND THE LINES

  A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author

  PRINTING HISTORY

  G. P. Putnam’s Sons edition / January 1996

  Jove mass-market edition / September 1996

  Copyright © 1995 by W.E.B. Griffin.

  All rights reserved.

  No
part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without penriission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  Visit the author’s website at

  www.webgriffin.com

  eISBN : 978-1-440-63006-4

  JOVE®

  Jove Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  JOVE is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  The “J” design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  THE CORPS is respectfully dedicated to the memory of

  Second Lieutenant Drew James Barrett III, USMC

  Company K, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines

  Born Denver, Colorado, 3 January 1945

  Died Quang Nam Province, Republic of Vietnam,

  27 February 1969

  and

  Major Alfred Lee Butler III, USMC

  Headquarters 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit

  Born Washington, D.C., 4 September 1950

  Died Beirut, Lebanon, 8 February 1984

  And to the Memory of Donald L. Schomp

  A Marine fighter pilot who became a Legendary

  U.S. Army Master Aviator

  RIP 9 April 1989

  “Semper Fi!”

  NOTE TO THE READER

  Probably the best-known Marines who served with great distinction behind the enemy’s lines with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II are Major Peter Ortiz (who was decorated with two Navy Crosses and named a member of both the French Legion d’Honneur and the British Order of the British Empire for his valor); Sergeants Jack Risler and Fred Brunner; Gunnery Sergeant Robert LaSalle; and Captains Sterling Hayden (the actor) and Peter Devries (the writer).

  There were others....

  I

  [ONE]

  Headquarters, U.S. Army Luzon Force

  Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippines

  0915 Hours 7 April 1942

  A Ford pickup truck turned off the Mariveles-Cabcaben “highway” into what was officially called “The Headquarters Area” but known universally as “Little Baguio.” The area held, in flimsy tropical buildings, the main ordnance and engineer depots and General Hospital #1, as well as the collection of buildings that housed the various offices of Headquarters, U.S. Army Force, Luzon.

  The truck had seen better days. Its fenders were crumpled, its windshield was cracked, and the bright crimson paint of its former life as a utility vehicle for the Coca-Cola Company of Manila showed in twenty places through a hastily applied coat of Army olive drab. On the truck bed were a footlocker, a folding wooden cot, a battered leather suitcase, and half a dozen five-gallon gasoline cans.

  In a few moments, it pulled up beside the building identified by a battered sign as the Commanding General’s.

  A tall, just this side of heavyset man got out of the truck and started to walk toward the building. He was wearing mussed, sweat-soaked khakis, high-topped shoes, and a web belt from which was suspended a Model 1911 Colt .45 ACP pistol. He stopped and returned to the truck, snatched a khaki overseas cap from the seat and put it on. On the cap was the gold leaf of a major. There was no insignia of any kind on his khaki shirt. He rubbed the red stubble on his cheeks.

  I need a shave. To hell with it.

  He entered the open-sided building and walked past a collection of desks toward the building’s rear, stopping before the desk of another major of about the same age. On the desk, an ornately carved triangular nameplate—a remnant of better times—carried the crossed rifles of infantry, a major’s leaf, and the legend “Marshall Hurt.”

  A moment or so later, Major Hurt looked up.

  “Fertig,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

  “I was sent for,” Fertig replied.

  “Oh, yes. I’d forgotten,” Hurt said.

  They didn’t particularly like each other. Hurt was a professional soldier, Wendell Fertig a reservist. A year before, Hurt had been an underpaid captain and Fertig a successful—and wealthy—civil engineer.

  Hurt stood up from his desk and went deeper into the building. A minute later he returned.

  “The General will see you now,” he said, and nodded toward the rear of the building.

  Fertig nodded, walked to an open door, then stood there and waited to be noticed by Major General Edward P. King, Jr., the Commanding General of Luzon Force. King, a stocky fifty-eight-year-old artillery man from Atlanta who wore a neatly cropped full mustache, was at that moment standing before a sheet of plywood on which a large-scale map of the Bataan Peninsula had been mounted.

  Fertig both liked and admired General King. He had known him socially before the war—indeed. General King had played an important role in the direct commissioning of Fertig as a Captain, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Reserve.

  And right now he felt very sorry for him. Fertig didn’t pretend to know much about the Army, but he knew enough to understand that the worst thing that could happen to a career officer was to suffer defeat.

  The map of Bataan General King was studying was clear proof that not only was he suffering defeat, but the defeat was very shortly going to be total and absolute. It didn’t matter that King was going to be defeated by a well-equipped, battle-hardened Japanese force that outnumbered King’s poorly equipped, starving, “Filamerican” force four or five to one; he was about to lose, and that was all that mattered.

  A minute or so later, General King glanced at the door, noticed Fertig, and waved him inside.

  “Wendell,” he said.

  “General.”

  “Could you see the map, where you were standing?”

  Fertig nodded.

  “I’m afraid it won’t be long,” King said. “You know how we are defining effectives these days, Wendell?”

  Fertig shook his head, no.

  “An effective soldier is one who can carry his weapon one hundred yards without resting and be capable of firing it after he has gone the one hundred yards. Fifteen percent of our force is effective as of yesterday. The percentage is expected to decline.”

  Fertig nodded.

  “I had several things on my mind when I sent for you,” General King said. “For one thing, I wanted to hear from you, personally, that we are prepared to destroy our ordnance and other stocks.”

  “Everything is prepared for detonation, General. Redundantly, in terms of both hardware and personnel. In other words, each blow site has been doubly wired, and there are two locations from which the sites can be blown.”

  King nodded.

  “Thank you. Good job. A young lieutenant came up with a means to destroy artillery that somehow didn’t occur to the authors of the Field Manuals. You simply shove powder bags down the tube ahead of the charge, or the round, and then fire it.”

  “I don’t suppose the authors gave a lot of thought to destroying our own cannons,” Fertig said. “I was going to suggest shoving sandbags down the barrel from the muzzle end. I don’t know how it would work with a cannon, but I do know, from painful experience, what happens to the barrel of a Diana-grade Browning when you try to get an ounce and a quarter of Number 6 shot past a lump of mud.”

  King smiled. It was a memory of better times ... of a cock pheasant rising from the frozen stubble of a cornfield.

  “Secondly, Wendell, I was wondering what to do with you.”

  “Sir?”

  “You’ve blown up—or arranged to blow up—everything here that has to be blown,” King said. “It occurred to me that General Sharp might find some use for your skills.”

  Brigadi
er General William F. Sharp commanded, on the island of Mindanao, what was now known as the Mindanao Force of the U.S. Army in the Philippines. From everything Fertig had heard, Sharp’s forces had not been subjected to the same degree of attack as the Luzon Force, and so were in much better shape.

  In the absence of reinforcements, Sharp’s forces were as inevitably doomed as King’s, but that defeat was some time off, perhaps as much as two months, and in two months a good deal could happen.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Would you be willing to go down there to him?”

  “Yes, Sir. Of course.”

  “Well, we have some small craft that periodically try to get from here to there. There’s one leaving at nightfall. I’ve told Hurt to find space for you on it.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Possibly, Wendell, you could make it from Mindanao to Australia. God knows, it would be a waste of your talents to spend the rest of this war in a prisoner-of-war cage.”

  “If you think I can be of any use here, General...”

  “I think we’ve passed that point, Wendell. And I’m sure General Sharp will be glad to have you. Give him my best regards when you see him.”