One Man's War

She excused herself from the women and walked forward through the muddy water toward the approaching pilot. Tess vaguely recognized him. Most of the men in Gib’s helicopter squadron were stationed at Marble Mountain, and she had met some of them on various visits to her brother. Although she was sure she’d seen him around, she knew she’d never met this officer. Almost against her will, she noted how handsome he was.

Pete Mallory’s heart was doing funny things in his chest. Unconsciously, he rubbed that area as he approached the woman who obviously was Tess Ramsey. He ignored the fact that her dark green cotton slacks, resembling baggy pajamas, were haphazardly rolled above her nicely shaped knees, and the fact that she stood in rank, murky brown water. Her heart-shaped face, wide, intelligent green eyes and full mouth held his fascination. Lord, what a mouth she had. The urge to taste her exquisite lips was nearly overwhelming.

Just as Pete raised a hand, mustering his charm to casually introduce himself, sporadic rifle fire sounded nearby. His gaze snapped to the south, where a marine squad had been slowly making its way across the dike. The men all dived for the earth, flat on their bellies. At a sharp order from the officer they prepared to return fire.

Damn it! Pete’s gaze snapped back to Tess and her group of women. They were standing there as if nothing were happening! The idiots! Didn’t they hear the sniper fire? The shots probably were aimed at the marine squad, but the women could be in the line of fire!

“Get down!” Pete shouted. He made a sharp gesture for Tess to hit the deck—or, in this case, the flooded rice paddy. “I said, get down!” he roared, beginning to run toward her. How stupid could she be? All five women had curious looks on their faces as he yelled at them. Typical women, Pete decided.

More shots sounded, and the squad of marines began returning fire at a jungle wall half a mile away.

The paddy dike sloped steeply down into the water. Pete didn’t give a damn about the four Vietnamese women standing around looking nonplussed as he hurtled toward them. But he did care about Tess Ramsey. She was an American and she could be killed. Pete leaped off the dike and made a lunge for her.

Tess gasped as the pilot jumped directly at her. What was the fool doing? But even as the thought formed, his hands connected with her shoulders and Tess was flung backward. They both landed in the rice paddy with a tremendous splash, sheets of chocolate-colored water flying up in veils around them.

Water flowed up into her nose and choked her as Tess fought the pilot’s grip, knocking his hand away so she could struggle out of the two feet of water.

“Let go!” she sputtered as she staggered to her knees, and then her feet. She glowered at the pilot, who was still on his hands and knees in the paddy, sopping wet. “What do you think you’re doing?” Tess croaked. She coughed violently, her fingers pressed against her throat.

Scrambling to his feet, Pete could still hear the marines returning fire. He charged Tess. “Get down!”

Dodging his flailing attack, Tess leaped backward out of reach. “What for?” she yelled angrily.

Water streamed from Pete as his jaw dropped in utter disbelief. “What for?” he bellowed. “Lady, there’s sniper fire right over there.” He jabbed his finger angrily toward the trees. “Now get your butt down in this paddy and stop fighting me! You want to get killed?”

Tess burst out laughing. She couldn’t help herself. The marine pilot looked like a drowned rat, his military short black hair plastered to his skull, the flight suit clinging to his lean frame, his intense blue eyes flashing with anger and frustration.

“Captain, it’s okay. Really it is. That isn’t sniper fire!”

Disgruntled, Pete turned toward the marines hunkered against the southern paddy dike. They’d stopped firing their M-14s and no further gunshots were heard from the jungle.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he snarled, returning his attention to Tess.

The four Vietnamese women covered their mouths with their hands and began giggling. Tess grinned as she pushed her wet hair off her face.

Pete glared at the women. “What the hell’s so funny?” He couldn’t help but notice that Tess was indeed like a tall piece of bamboo next to the four tiny Vietnamese women. She must be at least five foot eight or nine, Pete guessed, but she was dressed like the other women in every respect. Why? he wondered, when she could have worn her khaki US AID uniform, instead.

Tess ruefully rescued her bamboo hat from the water and tipped it to empty out the contents. “That firing you heard, Captain, was Nguyen Oanh, this woman’s son. They own an old rifle—about thirty years old. He was going into the jungle just now to hunt for wild pig.” With a shrug, Tess placed the bamboo hat back on her head, her smile widening. “Oanh is only ten years old, and we all know he can’t hit the broad side of a barn, but his father’s with him to teach him how to shoot properly.” Then she added, “I just hope they’re okay.”

Chastened, Pete looked down at himself. He’d paid the Vietnamese maid extra piasters to starch his flight suit so he’d look good for Tess. The odor drifting upward stung his nostrils, and his lips drew away from his gritted teeth.

“What the hell is this smell?”

Giggling, Tess said, “Water buffalo dung, Captain. It’s a great fertilizer, didn’t you know?” She looked down at herself and then over at her women friends whose faces were wreathed with shy smiles of amusement. Tess loved the Vietnamese earthy sense of humor because it matched hers. “I’m afraid we both look like drowned sewer rats,” she said, laughing. “Would you like to follow me to a nearby stream and wash off some of that fertilizer you’re wearing?”

Disgustedly, Pete flipped off several chunks that had lodged in the folds of his flight suit. “I hate this place,” he muttered. “Yeah, let’s get the hell out of this sewage pit.”

Laughing fully, Tess ignored the pilot’s angry statement. She told the women in Vietnamese to tell the marines on the dike about Oanh and his father, and to make sure they were allowed to return safely from the jungle where they’d been practicing their marksmanship. She didn’t want the marines to injure one of the villagers by mistake. The women realized the seriousness of the situation and quickly made their way toward the confused marines still kneeling on the south dike. Tess gazed after them for a moment. She could tell when the marines understood what had taken place, and she watched them sheepishly get to their feet, dust off their clothes and continue their patrol. Satisfied, she began slogging through the paddy toward the dike.

“Here, let me help you,” Pete said as he hurriedly tried to catch up to Tess and help her negotiate the steep dike.

Tess turned and halted. She watched the pilot flail around in the muddy paddy, in danger of losing his precarious balance at any moment. “Captain, take your time. That mud will suck the boots off your feet if you try to go too fast.”

“But you should have help climbing that dike.”

Tess’s smile broadened. The pilot continued laboring in the sucking mud for a moment—then promptly lost his balance, falling back into the water. She tried to stop from laughing, but couldn’t help herself. His handsome features had gone thundercloud black with disgust and fury as he dragged himself upright again. Tess held out her hand to him.

“Come on, Captain, grip my hand. I’ll help you out of this paddy before you drown yourself.” His attitude might be surly, but there was nothing not to like about the way he looked, Tess thought. He was more than six feet tall, with a lean, tigerlike body. Tess had to stop and laugh at herself. Some men had interested her, but most of them, upon realizing her independent nature, quickly fled. Still, she told herself as she stood waiting for him, it didn’t hurt to appreciate someone of this pilot’s bearing.

Spitting and coughing, Pete dodged Tess’s long, slender hand. Less than two feet separated them now and he glared at her. Laughter made her eyes sparkle like emeralds struck by sunlight, her red lashes making long curved frames around them. There was such a freshness and sense of joy around her that Pete momentarily forgot some of his own awkwardness at the embarrassing situation.

“Naw, you go on up first,” Pete muttered. Wrinkling his nose at the smell emanating from his wet clothes, he followed her up to the top of the dike.

Tess turned and waited for the lumbering pilot as he slipped and slid his way up the dike wall. She smiled benignly at him and extended her hand. “Put a chopper pilot on the ground and he’s like a big, fat goose that’s too heavy to fly. I’m Tess Ramsey. Hell of a way to meet, isn’t it? Who are you?”

Taken aback by her aura of confidence and her easygoing manner toward him, Pete stared at her proffered hand for a moment. It was reddened and chapped, the nails cut short. Her slender fingers were covered with many small, white scars. Hesitantly, he gripped her hand.

“I’m Captain Pete Mallory. Your brother, Major Ramsey, sent me down here to get you.” He was shocked again by the strength of her returning grip as they shook hands. Tess Ramsey was tall and rawboned, just like her older brother, but it took nothing away from her obvious femininity despite her bedraggled, foul-smelling clothes and her slender, almost boyish figure.

Releasing his hand, Tess nodded. “Rats. That’s right, there’s a small party at Marble Mountain tonight, isn’t there? I’d forgotten all about it.” She saw conflicting emotions in Pete’s penetrating blue eyes, and she suddenly had the feeling that he was assessing her as a tiger would its next quarry. More than used to appraisal by the military advisors with whom she worked, Tess didn’t take his perusal as an insult. She merely ignored it.

Pete stared at Tess. “You forgot?” Normally, Pete didn’t care for women with freckles. And Tess had her share: large copper sprinklings across her high cheekbones and well-defined nose. But on her, they looked like delicious raindrops, merely serving to emphasize her gorgeous eyes and patrician nose. Because she was a redhead, her skin was a pale ivory, and Pete wondered how on earth she managed not to be sunburned by Vietnam’s blisteringly hot sun. Maybe that was why she wore that ugly bamboo hat.

With a shrug, Tess turned. “Yes. Tell Gib I can’t make it, that I’m sorry. I’ve got a sick child I’m taking care of right now.”

Flabbergasted, Pete quickly caught up with her. “You can’t make it? After all I just went through to get here to pick you up, you can’t make it?”

Tess slanted him a glance, more than a little aware of his height compared with her own. Despite his current bedraggled appearance, Pete Mallory was a heart stopper. Perhaps it was those cobalt eyes that sparkled with devilry, or the shape of his mouth. With a shrug, Tess tried to shake off the effect the pilot had on her. “That’s right. I can’t make it, Captain. Gib will understand. He always does.”

Gripping her arm and bringing her to a halt, Pete muttered, “Hey, look, lady, I don’t understand. I mean, it’s not exactly a lot of fun bumping over a ten-mile dirt road to reach this miserable place and then get covered with water buffalo dung to find you. I think you damn well ought to show up after all I’ve been through.”

A flicker of anger went through Tess. She pulled her arm from his grip. “Captain, I’m staying. Is that clear enough for you?” She turned and continued off the dike onto a well-beaten path that led back to Le My, less than a quarter of a mile away.

Angrily, Pete caught up with her. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her how bullheaded she was. He’d never met a woman like her before—so damned independent and confident! Her red hair was plastered against her neck and shoulders, and she stank no less than he, yet she carried herself proudly, as if it didn’t matter. “You’re something else,” he groused. “No girl in her right mind would miss a party.” He gestured to her clothes, which looked like castoffs from the Salvation Army. “And how can you feel good about yourself as a woman running around in these things? I thought US AID advisors had a one-piece khaki uniform they were supposed to wear.”

Tess glanced at him and continued toward the village. “First of all, I don’t like being referred to as a girl, Captain. I’m a full-grown woman. Secondly, clothes do not make a person what they are.” She grinned slightly, her lips curving into a teasing angle. “Look at you.”

“What do you mean, look at me? What’s wrong with the way I’m dressed?” he snapped irritably.

“It’s obvious you don’t respect the Vietnamese people or me, Captain. Yet, you’re dressed impeccably well under the circumstances.”

Stung, Pete glared at her. Damn, but she had a long stride. She didn’t even walk like a woman should! He didn’t like her candor or the way she saw him, either.

Scrambling to save what little was left of the deteriorating situation, Pete tried another angle. “My friends call me Pete.”

“I’m not your friend, Captain.”

“You can be, if you want. I’d like that.”