Free Fiends of the Rising Sun by David Bishop Page A

won't make any difference. Besides, even I know fighting MPs is fighting a losing battle."
    "You can say that again!" Martinez agreed. "Those guys fight dirty."
    "They have right as well as might on their side, Juan. You go back in there and you'll find yourself under arrest. Do you want to spend the rest of the voyage to the Philippines confined to your cabin or stuck in the brig?"
    "No, but I-"
    "No buts, you're staying here, with me."
    A surly MP emerged from the bar, a bloody truncheon in his right fist. He saw glass from the broken window in front of Martinez and marched straight towards the private. "You! You're the one I threw out of that window!"
    Father Kelly raised a hand in protest. "Actually, I believe you may be mistaken about that, my son."
    The MP glared at the priest, his snarl softening a little when he saw the ecclesiastical collar. "Stay out of this, father; it's between me and the boy."
    "You're not suggesting I'm lying, are you, my son?"
    "Well, no, but I saw-"
    "You called me father before. That tells me you were raised a Catholic."
    "Yes, but that's-"
    "So you must know a priest would never lie, would he?"
    "No, of course not, but-"
    "So I must be telling the truth, mustn't I?"
    The MP's mouth flapped soundlessly, unable to formulate an answer.
    "Therefore, this young man cannot be the soldier you threw out of the window, can he?" Father Kelly gave Martinez a sly wink, unseen by the MP.
    "But he's got glass in his hair."
    "I beg your pardon?" the priest stammered.
    The MP walked across to Martinez and pulled two fragments of broken glass from the private's curls. "See? How could he have glass in his hair unless he was the person I threw through that window?"
    "I was sitting under the window when another soldier came through it," Martinez volunteered when Father Kelly had no answer to the question. "Some of the glass must have fallen on me, but I didn't notice because-"
    "Because another soldier had just been thrown out of the window above you," the priest said, completing the sentence. "I did see somebody in uniform running off before. Sadly, I didn't get a good look at his face."
    The MP rested his fists on his hips, glaring first at Martinez and then at Father Kelly. "That's the story you're sticking to, is it?"
    "It's not a story, it's the truth," Martinez replied. "You wouldn't call our company chaplain a liar, would you?"
    More MPs emerged from Tokyo Joe's, shoving semi-conscious prisoners ahead of them. The sounds of fighting in the bar had subsided and the mopping up was underway. One of the military policemen called for help from the MP standing staring at a priest and a private. That was enough for their accuser, who admitted defeat. "I'll be watching you," he warned Martinez.
    "And the good Lord will be watching over you," Father Kelly replied.
    The MP stomped away, muttering obscenities under his breath.
    "Thanks, father, you're a lifesaver," Martinez whispered.
    "I wish that were true," the priest said. "Still, I hope you'll take a lesson from this. Buntz and Wierzbowski may be older and more experienced than you, but that doesn't automatically make them any the wiser. Right now they're probably under arrest and no doubt nursing a few bruises."
    As if to prove Father Kelly's point, another MP came out of the bar and grill, pushing a battered Buntz ahead of him. Moments later four burly MPs burst out into the street, each of them holding on to one of Wierzbowski's flailing limbs. He was still fighting, still raging against them. It took the intervention of two more military policemen to bring him down, clubbing the soldier over and over with their truncheons until he crumpled on the sidewalk.
    "I see what you mean, father," Martinez said. "But won't lying to that MP get you in trouble with the big guy upstairs?"
    "Having to confess twice in one day won't kill me," the priest sighed.
     
    Constanta made Hitori wait until nightfall before allowing him to surrender his soul. "Go outside, walk in