"Good. Now finish your gear. You're on a six-hour sleep period. Do it."
At 1725 the Third Platoon of SEAL Team Seven loaded on board one of the Boeing CH-46D Sea Knight helicopters, the big bananas with large rotors fore and aft. The squads had been checked and triple-checked by the men and officers. Everyone had the right gear and fifty-percent overload on ammo. All wore jungle cammies, and most had on floppy hats and flame-retardant aviator's gloves with the fingers cut out. The camo paint on their faces showed grotesque patterns.
The two ROK soldiers were there talking with the SEALs. They were the translators. Army Sergeant Fred Halverson talked with Murdock when he reported in.
"Yeah, I was on-site there for almost a year. Know the Ninety-first camp inside out. My guess where the civilians were overnighted would be the underground BOQ. It's toward the far side of the complex, away from the tank revetments, so they might not have had any direct hits from the artillery. Shit, what a mess. I hear the tankers lost half their rigs before they got the engines started."
"Advantage of a first attack," Murdock said. "You hang with me, Sergeant, when we land. First I want you to suggest to the pilot where he can put us down nearest to that BOQ."
"Yes, sir, I'll go up front and talk to him."
The access door slammed shut and the crew chief signaled the pilot. The Two Sea Knights lifted off at the same time, followed by four Super Cobra gunships armed with 20mm cannon and 70mm rocket pods.
"Time?" Murdock asked over the growl of the chopper's big blades.
"Seventeen thirty-three," DeWitt said. "Close enough. Heard the pilot say the fighting is now almost ten miles down from the DMZ in some spots. Means we could have ten miles of hostile country to fly over instead of five."
Murdock nodded, and they waited. He watched his men. They had done this before. Two or three showed some prefight tension. Several were taking naps, a good sign. As a whole they were well rested, loose, and ready.
He pulled up Holt. "Fire up that SATCOM on TAC One and see if we can talk to the aviators."
"Our Tom Cat leader will be Tomboy Three. He won't be off the deck yet. I can try for the gunships. They are Shooters."
"Give them a try."
"Shooters, this is SEAL. Do you copy?" There was a pause, then some static, then the SATCOM's speaker came on.
"SEAL, this is Shooter One. We're with you. As soon as we get dry, we'll spread out and follow you in. Understand no softening up since we don't know the exact location."
Murdock took the handset. "That's a roger, Shooter One. As soon as we're on the location, we'll want you to suppress any sign of opposition. We're on a treasure hunt here with a big prize."
"Understood, SEAL. When you want a concentration of fire, put a red flare on the target."
"That's a roger, Shooter One."
Murdock looked at Holt. "What's the call for the other Sea Knight?"
"This is Knight One, the other one is Knight Two."
"Knight Two, this is SEAL."
"Got you, SEAL. We're in your hip pocket."
"You hear on the ten-mile fighting zone?"
"That's a guess until we get there. We'll stay below that line when you and One head north. We'll be ready for your call for a pickup. Estimate about five to ten away."
"Thanks, Knight Two."
A short time later, the crew chief came back. "You wanted to put MGs at the doors. Now would be a good time. We're about five from the new MLR."
"Let's hope it's a quiet passage," said Murdock.
"We just passed some fighting on the ground," the crew chief said. "New estimate of five minutes to the target."
"Let's get ready," Murdock told the SEALs. "When we touch down, one squad out each door: then we spread out and find out just where the hell we are and how we find the Veep. Sergeant Halverson will be with me."
Murdock looked out and saw the ground coming up fast. The bird made a turn, and he could see a tank below still burning. Several buildings had been smashed by the artillery barrage.
Their forward motion slowed as they settled to the ground. Sergeant Halverson hurried back from the cockpit. The crew chief stood at one access door and Jaybird at the other. Murdock felt the big bird touch down. His men had lined up at both doors.
"Go, go, go," Murdock bellowed, and the SEALs jumped off the Sea Knight into enemy-held territory, their weapons loaded and unlocked and fingers on the sensitive triggers.
5
91st Armored's Former Position
Near the DMZ
South Korea
Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock charged out of the Sea Knight helicopter, hit the ground on the run, and rushed fifteen yards straight ahead to the edge of a burned-out building. He dove to the ground.
Gunfire.
Where did it come from? Sergeant Halverson skidded into the dirt beside him.
"We've got some shooters over to the left. That building used to be the HQ. Doesn't look much damaged. Figured we better take them out first."
Murdock touched his lip mike on the Motorola. "Fire from the left, the old HQ building. Ed, take your squad to the right see if you can get behind it. We'll work toward the front and put down some cover fire."
When Murdock looked beside him, he saw his seven Alpha Squad men strung out ten yards apart hugging whatever cover they could find. Horse Ronson had set up his H&K machine gun, and rattled off three five-round bursts at two windows on the building facing them. The glass had already been blown out.
The enemy fire from the building slowed.
"Assault fire," Murdock said into his mike. "Alpha Squad, let's move." He flipped his H&K submachine gun on three round bursts and ripped off a trio. It was the signal for the rest of the squad to open fire. Then Murdock lunged upward and ran toward the HQ building.
The eight SEALs put down a deadly hail of hot lead as they charged the small HQ structure. No return fire slowed them. Twenty yards later, they leaned against the wall of the building and flipped grenades through the windows.
"I've got a door in the rear,'' Ed DeWitt said on the radio.
"Go," Murdock said. "Alpha, hold fire."
They heard a door crash in and a half dozen rounds fired, then silence.
"All clear in the HQ building," DeWitt said on the net.
Murdock turned to Sergeant Halverson, who carried an H&K subgun. "Where to?"
The sergeant looked around for a minute and shook his head. "Seems a lot different now with half the buildings flattened. Let's go to the left, down that street about two blocks. This was as close as the chopper could get to the place."
"Ed, we're coming around," Murdock said. "Get your squad out of there. We're moving down the street just in back of your position. About two blocks. Let's all choggie."
They moved ahead like an infantry squad, charging from one bit of cover to the next. First they paused behind an Army sedan that had been tipped upside down and burned out. Next there was a burning building, then a tank that had surrendered with one tread trailing behind it.
Halfway to their goal they met a squad of infantry hidden behind a shattered building and another dead U.S. tank. The surprise fire brought a yelp of pain from one of the SEALs as they all scrambled to find cover. The roadblock was less than fifty yards ahead.
"Ed, we've got some trouble," Murdock said on the mike.
"Yeah, I see them. My squad is to your left slightly ahead. Let me try some forty-mikes on them."
"That's a roger, Ed." A minute later they heard the Colt M-4Al's firing as they lobbed the 40mm grenades from launchers under their barrels. Murdock lifted from behind a turned-over Humvee and saw two of the rounds hit short, but two more dropped in behind the tank and the building. The rifle fire from the enemy slowed.
"Two hits, Ed. Drop in some more, and some WP."
"On the way," Ed said.
This time eight rounds landed behind the tank and the building. Murdock saw two North Korean soldiers lift up and race to the rear. Bill Bradford with
his sniper rifle put two 7.62 NATO rounds into one of the runners. He dropped and lay still.
Murdock motioned to the sergeant, Ken Ching, and Lampedusa, and they ran to the right toward an undamaged building. From there they rushed down its length and just around the far corner. From there they could see behind the dead tank.
Ching and Lampedusa used their Colts, dropped three of the defenders, and sent the other three surging away to the rear. Murdock heard Bradford's sniper rifle speak again, and one of the three runners would run no more.
"Move in," Murdock said, and both squads hit the spot the North Koreans had been defending. One of the Korean translators was with each squad. The one with Murdock ran up as they charged the position.
"I could question any of them still alive," the Korean said.
Murdock nodded. "If any of these are alive, we'll save one for the translators," Murdock said on the horn. Three of the defenders were dead, but a fourth was wounded. Just as the translator began talking with the man, he gave a scream and died.
Sergeant Halverson looked around the tank and stared ahead. "There used to be a small building about twenty yards down there. It was a top house for the entryway into the underground on this end. The officers' quarters were just to the left." He shrugged. "Now there's no fucking building."
"What about that pile of smashed-up lumber?" Murdock asked.
"Maybe, let's go take a look." Alpha Squad charged the wrecked shack while Bravo Squad was ready with protective fire. There was no gunfire from the direction the NK survivors had run.
At the splintered mass, Murdock found where boards had been thrown aside. Sergeant Halverson grinned. "Yeah, Commander this looks like the place. Just a little box to keep out the snow and rain. If we're lucky, your people should be down there."
They moved more of the boards; then Murdock took his penlight off his combat vest and shone it into the hole. Concrete steps led downward. Murdock brought up his subgun and moved down the dark steps slowly.
Without a sound, he made it to the bottom of ten steps. It was pitch black inside. He shone his light on concrete walls. Sergeant Halverson was right behind him.
"Should be a turn to the left, Commander."
There was. Murdock shone his light that way. Another corridor with concrete sides and top. Twenty feet down that way they came to a room. Murdock's flashlight beam didn't reach all the way to the far side. The sergeant snapped on a lighter and moved around.
"Been here and gone, Commander. Looks like they stayed a while, blankets on cots, even a civilian necktie."
"You sure they were here? Any real evidence?" They both searched. Murdock found it in the corner where it had been covered up by a jumble of blankets from a bed.
"A SATCOM," Murdock said. "Looks good as new. The Vice President's party had a SATCOM. They must have been here, and hid the radio. But then they got moved."
¦'Moved to where is the problem," Sergeant Halverson said. They hurried back topside, and found half of Bravo Squad clustered around Ed DeWitt and one of the translators.
DeWitt looked up. "Cap. we found a live one. He picked up a couple of rounds but he talks real well. This South Korean interpreter isn't the gentlest guy I've ever met. So far the prisoner has earned one broken arm and lost two teeth. Now he's starting to talk."
"Ask him where they put the civilians," Sergeant Halverson said. The South Korean ROK looked up and nodded. He chattered at the prisoner a moment, got no response, and backhanded the wounded man across the face. The prisoner tumbled to one side, but the other translator lifted him back to a sitting position and the question was asked again.
The prisoner said something.
The ROK shot the prisoner in the thigh with his .45 caliber pistol. The North Korean screamed and spat at the gunman. A moment later the muzzle of the .45 was rammed into the prisoner's mouth and his eyes went wide. The interpreter cocked the hammer and the prisoner nodded.
With the black muzzle of the pistol out of his mouth, the North Korean spoke fast and at length. When the North Korean finished talking, the interpreter looked at Murdock.
"Sir, this unworthy one has guaranteed me that the twelve civilians held in this bunker for several hours have been moved by truck to a building on the other end of the camp. It is guarded by an infantry squad and two lieutenants. The officers don't know what to do with the civilians. One officer wanted to shoot them so they didn't have to bother with them. He was overruled by a major who is now five miles into South Korea."
"Have him show us the building now," Murdock barked.
The North Korean prisoner, with a gunshot wound in his leg, his shoulder, and his arm, ran with the two South Koreans at his side. They kept telling him that if he fell down or stopped, they would blow his head off.
The platoon found no resistance as it moved a quarter of a mile west. They slowed when the prisoner told his captors that the next building was the one with the civilians in it.
Murdock figured the building was a mess hall and kitchen. "Silencers on all weapons," Murdock said into his Motorola. Those who hadn't used them now screwed on the sound suppressors.
They worked up toward the target slowly. Murdock took Alpha Squad around the side of the shielding building, and went to ground behind some sparse grass and weeds.
"Sentries," Lampedusa said into his mike.
"How many?" Murdock asked. "Two on this side. Fixed posts. No rovers."
"Bradford, take them out," Murdock said.
The first North Korean soldier had just turned to stare at the building near where the SEALs lay when the 7.62 NATO slug took him in the chest just under his heart, splashed two vital arteries, and put him down and dead in a minute without uttering a sound.
The second sentry must have seen the first go down. He blew a whistle and ran toward cover. He was too late. Bradford's second round hit him directly in the heart and slammed him back against the building. In response to the whistle, three more guards rushed around the corner of the building.
"Take your pick," Murdock said, and fired a three-round burst at the men. They were less than fifty yards away and well within the range of the suppressed subgun.
All three guards went down from more than thirty rounds that hit them. One tried to get up, but three more slugs dropped him into the dirt and he didn't move.
"Let's take the back wall," Murdock said. Alpha Squad lunged to its feet and charged the building silently.
Ed DeWitt had his Bravo Squad on the other side of the building to offer covering fire. It wasn't needed. Murdock and his squad pressed against the wooden building, and the men caught their breath. Lam scurried to the far corner and looked around. He waved Murdock up.
"No windows or doors back here, Cap. But there's a door in front. Has a machine gun set up out there with sandbags."
Murdock took a quick look. "Not over twenty yards. You have fraggers?"
Lam grinned, and pulled an M-79 fragmentation grenade from his combat vest. They were on the right-hand side of the building, making a throw by a right-hander easier.
Murdock waved Lam forward. He pulled the safety pin on the grenade, leaned around the corner, and heaved the missile at the target. As soon as he let go of the fragger, he dropped to the ground and Murdock lifted over him and threw his grenade. The first fragger went off with a roar, and three seconds later the second one shook the sky with sound and shrapnel.
"Both sides of the building, let's get around to the front now," Murdock said into his mike. SEALs raced around both corners and met at the front door. Both North Koreans who had been on the machine gun lay tattered in bloody rags at one side. The gun had been slammed to the back and lay upside down.
Murdock tried the front door. It was not locked. He edged it open three inches and looked inside. No weapons challenged him. From the slice of the room he could see through the opening,
Murdock confirmed it was a mess hall.
Lam lay on the floor looking through the same slot. "Cap, I got some bodies back by
the serving line. Looks like some cots or something back there."
"Any guards?"
"Don't see a shit-assed one, Cap."
"Still should be some inside. They know we're here and are waiting for us."
"Flashbang?" Lam asked.
"Too many good guys inside."
Murdock made up his mind quickly. "I'm going in at an angle and get behind that tipped-over table on the right. You and Doc Ellsworth give me cover, spraying rounds into the ceiling or the walls up front. Just enough to keep the NKs heads down. I'll be able to eyeball the place better inside. Then I'll cover as you and Doc slam inside to the left." Murdock looked at Lam and Doc. "Ready?"
They nodded. Murdock kicked the door open, took two steps, and dove in a double roll toward a turned-over table ten feet from the front door. As soon as he went through the opening, Lam sprayed three-round bursts of .223 zingers into the ceiling. Doc hit the front wall with four rounds.
Two weapons returned fire from inside. Murdock heard one of them fire from high up. He rolled twice, made it to the table unscathed, and began looking for the high shooter. He found him on a small balcony near the front on the far side. Murdock kicked the lever to fully automatic and sprayed the balcony with ten rounds, then ten more. A moment later he saw a weapon fall over the rail, then a body pivot forward and hang head-down over the balcony, blood running down and dripping off his head.
In the sudden quiet Murdock heard someone wailing near the front.
"Americans, are you up in front?" Murdock bellowed.
"Yes, yes, all twelve of us. Careful where you shoot."
"Where's the other gunman in here?"
"Don't know, we're all blindfolded and tied."
Murdock scanned the areas he could see. No other balconies or high spots. Had to be someone on the ground floor. He looked at the front again. It had a serving line that separated the mess hall from the kitchen, a typical army setup. Could the other gunman be in the kitchen? Maybe. But now it was going to take a scalpel, not a broadax, to get the Vice President out of this trap and not have any of his party killed.
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