The cooks had prepared shepherd’s pie, a thick meaty stew with a crust of mashed potatoes on top. Most of the men ate that with three side dishes of vegetables. For dessert they had deep-dish apple cobbler with ice cream on top. All of the SEALs went back for seconds.
When the SEAL planning team walked into the conference room at the end of the building, they found four fit-looking young men in desert cammies and black berets. None of them wore any rank on his uniform. General Wellsly-Smythe stood behind them. Two British civilians hovered to one side talking to Don Stroh, the SEALs’ CIA control.
“Gentlemen,” the oldest-looking of the four soldiers said. “I’m Captain Charles Brainridge, Special Air Service. These are my three top planners.”
Murdock guessed the man was about thirty-five. He looked in top condition, lean and muscular, with intense blue eyes and a white side military haircut. His cammies were pressed and, Murdock bet, starched. He was not the kind of man you wanted to tangle with in a dark alley.
Murdock stepped up and shook the man’s hand. “Sir, Commander Blake Murdock, U.S. Navy SEALs. These are my four right hands. I understand there is some urgency about this matter.”
“There certainly is,” Captain Brainridge said. “The quicker the better. Gentlemen, let’s sit down. There are pads and pens for your notes. A quick sketch of the situation as we know it. The medium-sized Japanese freighter Sendai Maru sailed into the Port of London well past midnight less than twenty-four hours ago under normal procedures. It asked to be tied up at a buoy pending space at the dock it needed. Permission was granted. The next day a messenger delivered to Her Majesty’s Government an ultimatum. You know the contents. The same message was delivered by messenger to the Israeli government at exactly the same time.
“The SAS was assigned the responsibility of eliminating this threat to the heart of London. We know of the SEALs’ skills in and around the water, and we asked for your help. Our job is to capture the ship and seize the bomb before it can be triggered. The message, which has not been released to the public, warns us that the Arab men with the bomb are ready to sacrifice their lives at any time, and will detonate the bomb on orders even if they can’t get away. Commander, your thoughts on the situation.”
Murdock introduced his team by last name only and with no rank; then he stood.
“Gentlemen, this is a problem that has haunted the Western world since the advent of Arab terrorism forty years ago,” said Murdock. “Now it’s a reality. I’m sure in the terrorists’ demands there is some warning that if any attempts are made to attack or try to take control of the Japanese freighter, the bomb will be set off immediately. Standard terrorist rhetoric.
“Still, we must take down the ship, and do it quickly before they have a chance to trigger the bomb. There are several factors to consider.
“One, that there actually is a live bomb on board that can be triggered by the terrorists.
“Two, there is a live bomb on board, but the terrorists have not been trusted by the Arab extremists to know how to trigger it.
“Three, that there is no bomb. But we can’t assume that it is a bluff.
“If we knew which situation we’re facing, it would be simpler. Since we don’t, we have to consider that there is a bomb, it is live, and the terrorists know how to trigger it. With that factored in, it means we have to move swiftly, aggressively, and we must win the fight quickly or simply die in the process along with millions of residents and visitors to London.”
Captain Brainridge nodded. “Yes, Commander, we agree. We must take the threat seriously, and consider it a viable bomb that can be exploded by the terrorists on demand. So, what’s our first step?”
Murdock looked at his team. “We have had no advance planning on this one. If we may now?”
Brainridge waved his permission.
“Suggestions,” Murdock said.
“How about a chopper landing,” Jaybird said. “Lots of open space on most freighters over holds where a bird could come down and dump out thirty men. We spread out and capture the ship and the bomb.”
“If the bird couldn’t land, we could rope down thirty of us from a chopper in sixty to ninety seconds,” Lam said.
“Up the sides with grappling hooks and ropes about 0100 sounds better,” DeWitt said. “This way, no noise to alert the Arabs. A chopper is going to be a warning even before we could get on deck, and the Arabs would have every man ready with submachine guns for us and RPGs for the choppers.”
“We could use limpet mines on the hull and sink her into the harbor bottom,” Senior Chief Sadler said. “Even so, they could trigger the bomb as she was sinking or even when it was underwater. I withdraw the suggestion.”
Murdock looked at the English captain. “How long is the freighter, Captain?”
“About a hundred and twenty meters, about four hundred feet long.”
“Could we consider an airdrop with the square steerable chutes we all use? It should be easy to hit a four-hundred-foot-long ship that’s about sixty or seventy feet wide.”
The SAS men at once huddled, whispering. A moment later Captain Brainridge looked up.
“Commander, we like the idea. We do bull’s-eye skydiving for practice. No reason why a hundred percent of our team couldn’t hit the cargo hatches of that ship at night. Almost no wind at night. She has running and navigation lights on, plus some floods to help keep her safe from boarders. A perfect target. You brought your chutes?”
“No,” DeWitt said.
“No problem, we can provide them. All of your people are jump-certified?”
“More combat jumps than we want to remember,” Murdock said. “No problem there. How many men? We can put sixteen on board.”
“We’ll jump sixteen as well, giving us thirty-two. We’ll jump by twos so we don’t clobber the deck with bodies. One pass with two planes should do it. Jump from about a thousand feet so we can get down fast.”
“Sounds good,” Murdock said. “I’d think that speed is the most important factor here. Do we go out early tomorrow morning to hit the ship about 0100?”
Captain Brainridge nodded. “We have carte blanche from the Defense Ministry. Anything we want. How are you on weapons?”
“We have our long guns, but probably could use some more sub guns, H & K MP-5’s if they are available, plus more ammo. Senior Chief Sadler can get together with your ordnance man and work it out. Can we fly out of here?”
“I’ll get in two jump planes for sixteen each. No sweat.”
“Lead blanket,” Murdock said. “Do you have available a lead blanket that your nuke men use to mask bombs? The lead keeps out any stray or intentional signals to trigger a bomb. As soon as we nail the bomb, we shroud it with the blanket to prevent some bad-ass from setting it off.”
“Yes, capital idea. We’ll get two brought in. After we secure the bomb the lead blankets will be brought in by a chopper to us.”
“Do you have a man who can defuse a nuke?” Murdock asked.
“No. We should have one along. I’ll see if there is one who is jump-qualified. If not we’ll have to ferry him on board by chopper with the lead blankets as soon as we secure the ship and capture the bomb.”
“Good. Have him close by on shore in the chopper waiting for your radio signal. Timing here could be critical. We have no idea how they might trigger the bomb. It could be done with a remote-control radio signal of some kind.”
“We’ll have it covered,” Brainridge said.
“Do we have a schematic of the ship?” Murdock asked. “Where might they hold the nuke?”
“We’ve talked to the company in Tokyo. They faxed us some schematics, but they don’t help much. There are no locking compartments on board. Mostly open holds. They said the bomb could be kept in the forward crew quarters.”
“If any of the crew are left, they might help us find the bomb once we take down the ship,” Murdock said. “We have a man who speaks Japanese.”
“That should cover it, Comm
ander,” Captain Brainridge said. “Send your man with our ordnance expert for your supplies. Let’s get together again at 1800 and see what else we need to do.”
“Right here?” Murdock asked.
“Right here.”
“What about the chutes? You must have expert packers.”
“The best in the world. We’ve never had a chute fail on us,” Captain Brainridge said. “I’ll put in an order for thirty-two chutes to be brought here. We usually keep over a hundred ready to go in our stockroom.”
“Good. If you people use them, we can trust them too. How can we keep in touch?”
The captain signaled, and one of his men brought over two cell phones. “They’re mates. My phone number is on the back, and I’ve got the number of your phone on the back of mine. These will keep us in touch anywhere on the base and for a wide area.”
“Good, we might just need them. See you back here at 1800.”
Murdock walked out of the room, and saw Senior Chief Sadler shaking hands with one of the SAS men. They headed in a different direction, evidently to work out the need for weapons and ammo.
Back in the assembly section of the barracks building, Don Stroh had shown up with pictures of the ship in the harbor in London.
It was big, but not one of the huge ones.
“Too many men,” Ed DeWitt said. “We can’t have thirty-two men parachuting into that one small area all at the same time. We’ll be clobbering each other, hitting cranes and hatch covers. Why don’t we let the SAS chute in and we go up the side on ropes. Got me a bad feeling about all those chutes in that little deck.”
“That’s it,” Murdock said. “As soon as he said thirty-two, something started rattling around in my head. I couldn’t pin it down. Yeah, you’re right. Let me see if this phone works.”
They talked on the phone for five minutes. The captain agreed that his men would parachute in and Murdock and his men would come up the sides of the ship from the water. Captain Brainridge could supply a quiet running boat for them that would hold the platoon. They would have radios in the plane and in the boat to coordinate their arrival. The SAS would drop in as soon as the SEALs were up the side of the boat. They both would take down the ship and find the bomb.
Murdock grunted and put down the phone.
“I don’t know, it doesn’t seem right. Why would the terrorists let us know where they are with the bomb, and then just sit there waiting for something to happen? Doesn’t seem reasonable to me.”
DeWitt frowned. “They’ve only been anchored in that position for less than twenty-four hours. Their ultimatum is only twelve hours old.”
Murdock lifted his brows and shook his head. “Hey, I’m probably just tilting at fantasy windmills. When I see the blades going around, then it’ll be time to get concerned. What else do we have to do to get ready for that climb up the side of that freighter?”
Murdock found the sedan the SAS had left for his use, and the driver took him as close as they could get to the Japanese ship in the harbor that they would try to take down. Murdock got on his phone and called the SAS captain.
“Brainridge, Murdock. We don’t need your boat. We’ll swim out to the ship underwater to insure surprise. We have that gear, rebreathers, and we can take what we need in drag bags. We will need a bus to get us to our PD by 0030. Figure about fifteen minutes to swim out, then up the side and be on board by 0100, when you and your guys will drop in for a visit.”
“You’re full of surprises, Murdock, but I like this plan the best. That way no snoopy lookout could see the boat and give the alarm. Yes, it works. I’ll have a bus for you at your quarters at 2300. Everything else going on plan?”
“So far, so good, Captain. See you at 1800.”
The SEALs took the change in plans in stride. To them it didn’t matter how they arrived at the ship, just so they were undetected. Then nobody got shot going up the side of the ship.
Murdock, DeWitt, Sadler, Jaybird, and Lam filed into the conference room five minutes before 1800. The SAS team was there, but the general and the two British civilians were not. Don Stroh waved at them, but didn’t talk. Murdock wondered why he was so distant on this mission. Maybe he’d gotten chewed out by his boss.
Captain Brainridge carried the meeting. “Any more changes? We still go in at 0100. That’s exactly seven hours from now. Did you get the weapons and ammo you need?”
“We did, Captain,” Senior Chief Sadler said. “We also drew six lines eighty feet long with grappling hooks. We’re ready.”
“The bus has arrived and the driver knows the route to the ship,” Lieutenant DeWitt said. “We’ll leave a half hour earlier than suggested to give plenty of time for him to get lost once.”
“Our equipment has been checked and rechecked,” Murdock said. “We’re ready to go. Any word of change of plans from the politicians?”
“No, it’s still in our lap. There was another radio message that indicated the Arabs are getting restless. They want some action before dark tomorrow night.”
“We can guarantee them that,” Murdock said. “Oh, if by any chance we get on deck before you do and we run into a firefight, we’ll give you a red flare so you can hold off until we get the deck clear and safe.”
“Sounds good,” Captain Brainridge said. “No fun dropping into cross fire on a restricted area like that one.” He looked around. “If nothing else, I’d suggest a short sleep period before you motor out. Never know when we’ll get any more sleep.”
The captain stood, and the rest of the men came to their feet. The captain and his SAS men walked out.
Stroh drifted over to Murdock. “This is a nasty one. You are totally covert on this one. Only four or five men in Washington know that you’re here or know about the nuke blackmail. I’d bet not even your father knows, Murdock.”
“Might be a bad bet. He has sources all over town.” Murdock looked at the CIA handler. “You know anything more about this? Is Israel set to move on the Arab extremists once this mess is over?”
Stroh shook his head. “Honestly I don’t know. I’d bet my last Microsoft stock that they will move viciously, but I have no intel on it.”
Murdock waved the group out the door. “Good idea about having a sleep period. Senior Chief, get the men down for three hours. Then we make final prep and we’ll get moving.”
“Aye, aye, sir. Three hours. Consider it done, sir.”
For the SEALs a sleep period like this didn’t necessarily mean going to sleep. Anyone who wanted to could. It did mean no talking, no singing, no music. Contemplation, relaxation, and meditation were encouraged.
Senior Chief Sadler wanted to call his wife. He’d only had a quick talk with her before they left Coronado. He’d caught her between customers at her real-estate sales job in Coronado. It wasn’t fair to her, all of this sudden activation, the long training runs and then being gone so much. He’d promised her that after his twenty-five they would open their own real-estate agency and he’d learn the business. Hell, a guy couldn’t keep up with these damn kid SEALs until he was fifty-five. Admin maybe. He wanted to keep working with the SEALs even if he wasn’t on a team. He had no desire to go back to the black-shoe Navy. He’d done his time there. Before he knew it, his wrist alarm went off. It was time to get ready. In two hours they could be in the middle of a huge gun battle. Oh, yeah, once more into the fray. He loved it!
7
London, England
Sixteen SEALs from the Third Platoon of SEAL Team Seven slid into the water a quarter of a mile from the Sendai Maru. When Murdock was sure all were in the water and had their buddy cords tied around their wrists, they submerged to fifteen feet and followed their leader on a compass course directly for the Japanese-flag freighter.
Murdock counted the strokes. He felt a small boat race over the water above him; then when he figured he was within fifty yards of the ship, he surfaced cautiously, letting only his eyes break the surface of the water. Yes, there she was, the target freighter. She had li
ghts on, more than usual, but the near side was dark from the waterline up the side thirty feet to the rail. Murdock tugged his buddy cord and Jaybird came up beside him. Soon there were sixteen faces looking at the ship. Murdock waved down, and they vanished under the cold waters of London’s harbor to complete the swim to the black side of the Sendai Maru.
Murdock felt the rough steel side of black paint, and moved to the surface. Three SEALs were already there. Luke “Mountain” Howard had one of the grappling hooks out of his drag bag, and tied the loose end of the line to his wrist. Murdock knew that throwing a grappling hook that high when a man was in the water was a tough assignment. They had practiced this in San Diego Harbor on several friendly freighters. The secret was the next two largest men came alongside the thrower, and each caught a foot for him to stand on, then treaded water like crazy as the thrower made his try.
Jack Mahanani and Bill Bradford felt the lunge upward as Howard threw the hook, driving them two feet deeper into the water. They came up a moment later to see the result. Howard was swearing softly and pulling the forty feet of line up from the bottom of the harbor with the grappling hook attached.
On the third try the hook went over the rail and held Howard’s 250 pounds. Jaybird was the first one up the rope. He left his drag bag with flotation collar with another SEAL, and went up hand over hand, walking up the steel side as he powered to the top. When Jaybird was halfway up, Ken Ching went up the rope.
The trio of SEALs tried another grappling hook ten feet down from the first one. Howard made this one hang up on his second try. Murdock told them that two would be enough. With the two it took the SEALs four minutes for everyone to climb the rope and get on board. They tied their drag bags with flotation devices onto the lines they had climbed, and left them next to the freighter’s side.
Jaybird went over the rail and flattened on the deck. He saw four lights on this part of the freighter. A huge crane stood to one side; beyond that he could see four hatch covers. He saw no guards, lookouts, or gunmen. He prowled toward the bow of the craft and the superstructure that rose from the deck near the middle of the ship. Where were the damned Arabs?
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