PRAISE FOR
RETREAT, HELL!
“Another solid entry…Veterans of the series will enjoy finding old comrades caught up in fresh adventures, while new-guy readers can easily enter here and pick up the ongoing story.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Griffin, who served in Korea, sticks more closely to the action and moves ahead with galvanized self-assurance.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“The author has a knack for smoothly combining fact with fiction, giving his work a realistic veneer.”
—Booklist
W.E.B. GRIFFIN’S CLASSIC SERIES
THE CORPS
The bestselling saga of the heroes we call Marines…
“THE BEST CHRONICLER OF THE U.S. MILITARY EVER TO PUT PEN TO PAPER.”
—The Phoenix Gazette
“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
“ACTION-PACKED…DIFFICULT TO PUT DOWN.”
—Marine Corps Gazette
HONOR BOUND
The high drama and real heroes of World War II…
“ROUSING…AN IMMENSELY ENTERTAINING ADVENTURE.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“INTRICATELY PLOTTED and packed with those accurate details that fans of Griffin have come to expect.”
—Booklist
“A TAUTLY WRITTEN STORY whose twists and turns will keep readers guessing until the last page.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A SUPERIOR WAR STORY.”
—Library Journal
BROTHERHOOD OF WAR
The series that launched
W.E.B. Griffin’s phenomenal career…
“AN AMERICAN EPIC.”
—Tom Clancy
“FIRST-RATE. Griffin, a former soldier, skillfully sets the stage, melding credible characters, a good eye for detail, and colorful, gritty dialogue into a readable and entertaining story.”
—The Washington Post Book World
“ABSORBING, salted-peanuts reading filled with detailed and fascinating descriptions of weapons, tactics, Green Beret training, army life, and battle.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“A CRACKLING GOOD STORY. It gets into the hearts and minds of those who by choice or circumstance are called upon to fight our nation’s wars.”
—William R. Corson, Lt. Col. [Ret.]. U.S.M.C., author of
The Betrayal and The Armies of Ignorance
“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
BADGE OF HONOR
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
“COLORFUL…GRITTY…TENSE.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A REAL WINNER.”
—New York Daily News
MEN AT WAR
The legendary OSS—fighting a silent war of spies
and assassins in the shadows of World War II…
“WRITTEN WITH A SPECIAL FLAIR for the military heart and mind.”
—Kansas Daily Courier
“SHREWD, SHARP, ROUSING ENTERTAINMENT.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“CAMEOS BY SUCH HISTORICAL FIGURES as William ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., David Niven, and Peter Ustinov lend color…suspenseful.”
—Publishers Weekly
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
PRESIDENTIAL AGENT
BOOK I: BY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT
BOOK II: THE HOSTAGE
BOOK III: THE HUNTERS
THE CORPS BOOK VIII
IN DANGER’S PATH
W.E.B. GRIFFIN
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 0RL, 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), 67 Apollo Drive, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 1311, 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 0RL, England
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination 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-party websites or their content.
IN DANGER’S PATH
A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author
Copyright © 1998 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 permission. 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.
ISBN: 978-1-4406-3254-9
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.
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!”
Contents
Prologue
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Chapter XIV
Chapter XV
Chapter XVI
Chapter XVII
Chapter XVIII
Chapter XIX
Chapter XX
Chapter XXI
Chapter XXII
Chapter XXIII
Chapter XXIV
Epilogue
PROLOGUE
[ONE]
Shanghai, China
November 1941
Countess Maria Catherine Ludmilla Zhivkov, formerly of St. Petersburg, was united in holy matrimony to Captain Edward J. Banning, USMC, of Charleston, South Carolina, by the Very Reverend James Fitzhugh Ferneyhough, D.D., canon of the cathedral, in a 10:45 A.M. Anglican ceremony on 12 November 1941. It was the first marriage for both.
Throughout the ceremony, the tall, black-haired, blue-eyed bride, age twenty-seven and known as Milla, wondered when and how she would take her life.
She loved Ed Banning madly; that was not the problem. She had felt something special the moment he walked into her small apartment off the Bund. And this spark had almost immediately, almost frighteningly, turned into excitement and desire.
The problem was that they really had no future; and she was fully aware of that. Ed Banning was an officer of the United States Corps of Marines, about to leave Shanghai, almost certainly never to return, and she was an escapee from what was now the Soviet Union. In Imperial Russia, she had been born into a noble family. Now she was a stateless person without a country. Her Nansen passport—issued to stateless Russians who had fled the Revolution and from whom the Communist government had withdrawn citizenship—was a passport in name only. It was not valid for travel to the United States, or, for that matter, for travel anywhere else.
The Japanese army in Shanghai was poised to take over the city. This might happen in the next week or two, or else somewhat later. In any event, it was going to happen, and when it did, she would be at their mercy.
Once American, French, British, German, and Italian troops had been stationed in Shanghai to protect their own nationals—but de facto all westerners, including the “Nansen people”—against Japanese outrages. That protection was in the process of being withdrawn.
At the start of the war in Europe, the Italians, the Germans, and the Japanese had become allies, called the “Axis Powers.” Soon afterward, the Italians and Germans left Shanghai; yet even before that, it was clear they were not going to challenge Japanese authority in the city in any way. Meanwhile, following their defeat in Europe, the French had withdrawn their troops from China and had signed a “Treaty of Friendship” with the Japanese that permitted the Japanese to use military air bases and naval facilities in French Indochina. Finally, in August 1940, the British had announced their withdrawal from Shanghai and northern China.
That had left only the Americans in Shanghai.
Now they too were leaving. War between the Japanese and the Americans was inevitable. Until war actually came, the Japanese in Shanghai would probably behave no more badly than they had when the Americans were stationed in the city. They were still paying lip service to the “Bushido Code of the Warrior” and were not entirely deaf to world opinion. But when war came, that would be the end of any pretense. Meaning: every westerner, except Germans, Italians, and the rare citizens of neutral powers, would be at the mercy of the Japanese. It would be rape in every sense, not just the physical rape of women. They’d ravage bank accounts, real estate, everything.
All the property that Ed had turned over to her—the convertible red Pontiac of which he was so fond, the furniture in the apartment, and the paid-three-years-in advance lease on the apartment—would disappear.
And Japanese officers liked white women. If they were now willing to pay a premium for Russian whores, what would happen to her when rape was the norm?
If her future offered nothing but becoming a whore for some Japanese officer, Milla preferred to be dead.
The first time Milla saw Ed Banning, he had a long, green cigar clamped between what she thought of as perfect American teeth. He was in uniform, tall, thin and erect, and just starting to bald; and, she learned a little later, he was thirty-six years old.
Earlier, Banning had telephoned Milla in answer to her advertisement in the Shanghai Post: “Wu, Cantonese and Mandarin Conversation offered at reasonable rates by multi-lingual Western Lady.” On the telephone, he told her that he was an officer of the 4th Marines. His voice was very nice. Deep, soft, and masculine. “You sound British,” he went on to say.
She recognized that as a question and answered it: “Actually, I’m Russian,” and added, “Stateless.”
She knew that any sort of a relationship between stateless people—sometimes called “Nansen people”—and American diplomatic and military personnel was frowned upon or outright forbidden. It was better to get that out in the open now, she knew, rather than opening up the possibility of an embarrassing scene when they actually met.
To a great many Nansen women, forming a relationship with an American officer—becoming his mistress—was a far better way to earn their living than any of their other options. But Milla wished to make it clear from the beginning that she wanted nothing but a professional, student-teacher relationship. She didn’t want to become the girlfriend of an American officer, much less his mistress. She wasn’t quite that desperate. She knew it wasn’t likely that she could turn her at-home language classes into a real school that would support her. But she had some jewels hidden in her underwear drawer, sewn into her mother’s girdle when they fled St. Petersburg. A few of these still remained. When the last of them was gone, then she might have to consider something like that. But not yet, not now.
In fact, her Nansen status did not seem to bother him. Later, when they actually discussed it, he explained to her that he was the intelligence officer for the 4th Marines, and as such judged “other officers’ inappropriate relationships.” Any relationship he had himself, he said, smiling smugly, was of course appropriate.
Anyhow, when he asked over the phone if he could come right over, he could be there in fifteen minutes, she told him, “yes.” Then she stationed herself at her window, curious enough to peek through the curtains, waiting for him to arrive.
He drove up in a bright-red Pontiac convertible, the top down. And a moment later he hired a man on th
e street to watch his car while he was inside—demonstrating to her that he was not entirely ignorant of Wu, the Chinese language most commonly used in Shanghai.
But that was a minor detail just then. What really hit her the moment she saw him walking across the street to her building was the certainty that he was going to change her life.
And she knew as soon as he saw her that his reaction was similar.
When she opened the door to his knock, he blurted, startled, “My God, you’re beautiful!”
“You wish, as I understand it, to improve your conversational Chinese?” she replied coldly.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I didn’t mean to offend.”
Milla ignored that.
“You already speak some Chinese,” she said, and without thinking, added: “I saw you speaking to the man about your car.”
“What were you doing,” Banning asked, chuckling, “peeking out from behind the curtains?”
“I just happened to be looking out the window.”
“Of course,” he said. “Yeah, I speak some Wu and Mandarin. But I’d like to perfect it.”
“Speak only? Or read and write?”
“I read a little, but I have not mastered much writing.”
“We could work on that, too, if you like,” she said.
Their first session proved that he was serious about perfecting his Chinese. It was also apparent that he was highly intelligent. So when he asked if they could meet twice a week, maybe more often if he could find the time, she readily agreed.
When he came back, he was a perfect gentleman. There was not the slightest hint that he thought she was a Nansen girl looking for an American benefactor.
After their fifth session, very correctly, he asked her if she would have dinner with him. She accepted uneasily. This man was exciting in ways she had never experienced with other men.