Return of Sky Ghost Read Online Free Page B

immediately on impact. The force of the explosion threw Wolf back through the plate glass window of the veranda, across his living quarters, and against the outer door. Through some miracle he survived all this with nothing more than a broken finger, a dislocated nose, and two busted front teeth.
    He got to his feet somehow and staggered back toward the porch. All the windows had been blown away and the wind was howling madly through his living quarters. He stumbled out onto the balcony and beheld yet another scene from a nightmare. The huge locks had been destroyed and now water was pouring in with a great gush from the Pacific. All the support buildings on both sides of the lock station were either on fire or simply gone. The remains of the crashed airplane were scattered for more than half a mile in every direction.
    Wolf reached to his forehead and came away with a handful of blood. There was a cut above his eye, but this did not matter to him now. He was slipping into shock. His brain simply couldn’t accept what he’d just seen. He grabbed his radiophone and started dialing madly. His addled brain somehow believed he could call down to the barracks next door and tell his men … well, tell them what? To take cover? It was already too late for that.
    No, he must have them assemble, and they would aid in the rescue effort. Yes, that’s what they would do!
    But now there was another strange sight. His men were already assembling. They were running out of the barracks and lining up on the parade ground right below his veranda. Wolf felt a surge of pride run through him. His men were already one step ahead of him.
    Still bleeding heavily, Wolf ran back into his quarters, grabbed his combat pack, and started toward the door. But then he heard yet another sound, one that went right down to his toes and back up again.
    Airplanes. More of them. Coming this way.
    He turned on his heel and made his way back out to the porch. His guess was right. There were three airplanes approaching from the west. They were nowhere near as big as the airplane that had smashed into the lock station, but they were still substantial in size. The thought ran through his head that they were cargo aircraft of some kind. He could clearly see the national markings on their wings and fuselage. White field with a big red ball in the middle.
    Japanese? Wolf asked himself. Really?
    The three aircraft flashed by him a moment later. Each plane was trailing a plume of faint yellow smoke. Wolf watched in horror as this mist quickly settled all along the edge of the overflowing canal, coming down right on his men assembled below.
    The stink hit his nose an instant later. Suddenly Wolf was doing two things at once. Two crazy things. He was simultaneously screaming down to his men to get their gas masks, while pulling out his own mask from his combat pack.
    But it was way too late for his men. They began dropping even before the mist settled on them. Many had been looking skyward at the three airplanes going over and thus the fast-moving smoke entered their noses and mouths very quickly. Many were dead before they even hit the ground. Wolf barely had time to save himself. He got his mask on just before he was about to inhale a large quantity of the gas. Still the stink filled his nose and he knew what it was right away: Cyanide-sulfate. Poison gas. Lethal chemical weapons.
    The Japanese were covering this part of the canal with it like crop dusters dusting a huge cornfield.
    Thousands would die before the air around Fort Davis was breathable again.
    The Japanese paratroopers began arriving about ten minutes later.
    Jumping from huge lift planes flying very high above Fort Davis, they drifted to Earth by the thousands, gas masks in place, weapons ready to be fired as soon as they hit the ground.
    But they needn’t have worried. Their landing would go off unopposed. Most of the 3,500 men assigned to Fort Davis were already dead. Those who lay dying were bayoneted