North Korean Blowup

by Chet Cunningham

  The road improved for a stretch and they made better time. Then it raced up hill for several miles into the middle of another row of mountains and the road quickly became barely passable. In places it was only one lane where rock slides from above had broken off part of the highway that clung to the side of the mountain. After a seriously dangerous stretch, the highway again came to two full lanes and the blacktop was better so their speed went up to thirty miles an hour.

  “How far next town?” Ho asked.

  Hunter took out a much folded map and checked the distances.

  “Looks like about forty miles from Chonsong. How far are we from that aborted soccer game?”

  “Read shows 12 kilometers,” Ho said.

  They rounded a corner and Ho eased off on the gas pedal.

  “Trouble,” he said.

  Hunter saw them at the same time. Two soldiers each with a shoulder fired Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher. They stood in front of a six by-six truck that completely blocked the road. The left edge of the highway fell off into a hundred foot gorge.

  “Soccer rules,” Hunter said. “Hopefully.”

  Ho eased the truck up to the barricade and leaned out the window. He called to the soldier on his side of the car.

  “Good afternoon, glorious defender of our beloved nation.”

  The soldier frowned. “Where are you from? What are you doing this far north?”

  “We are a traveling soccer team from the National Soccer Council. We go around playing games, giving instruction, starting new soccer leagues for youngsters. We recently performed in Chongsong.”

  “Step out of the cab. Our radio tells us you are not a real team and have acted suspiciously. Get out now. Everyone out of the truck,” the man shouted in Korean.

  “I’m right,” Hunter said lifting the MP-5 so it was out of sight just below the window.

  “Left,” a voice said on the radio.

  “Now,” Hunter said and lifted the subgun and fired six rounds into the soldier on his side of the truck. At almost the same time someone fired from behind in the stake truck body. It was a three round burst that knocked down the North Korean spokesman. He rolled over on the blacktop and tried to lift his RPG. Another six rounds from an MP-5 tore into the soldier ending his life in a second.

  “Radio. Someone check that truck for a radio,” Hunter bellowed. “Move, Now.” Hunter jolted out of the cab and ran forward to look beyond the big truck. He saw another vehicle, a smaller one jeep like. He could see up the road a quarter of a mile before it turned. There were no more troops there.

  Phil Lawrence raced to the NK army truck and jumped into the cab. He came out quickly holding a Handy-Talkie type radio and a sheaf of papers. He brought them to Ho.

  The Korean native read the papers rushing through them. He ran to where Hunter still looked north.

  “Papers,” he said. “Orders squad fifteen to do road block.”

  “They knew we were coming,” Hunter said. “Ho, man that radio and see if there is any incoming messages. If they aren’t too far away, they must have heard the gunfire. So the rest of the squad will be back here. We’ll set up to meet them. We need two Bull Pups on each end of that truck. Tanner, see if you can drive that jeep rig around on this side, no, park it in the other lane to block the road completely. Move our transport back the highway a quarter of a mile. Everybody with long guns. Use those Chinese rifles and hope they work. Each man four magazines or clips whatever they take. Let’s get ready for an attack, gentlemen. Somebody pick up those RPGs and figure out how they work. The North Korean Army will be coming after us.”

  Ho put his ear to the radio.

  “They call on radio to roadblock. Nobody answer. They say they come soon.”

  Ten minutes later they had the stake and the pickup moved and the weapons in place. The rest of the platoon took defensive positions on the uphill side of the road. There was a smattering of pine trees there which they could fire behind. Hunter put Beth at the highest part of the hill so she would be out of most of the firing.

  “Stay here behind your tree and keep your head down.”

  She looked at him, nodded, but he saw her lower lip quivering.

  Hunter went to the back of the six by and made sure his Bull Pup’s six round magazine was full and in place. He levered a round into the chamber and waited. Ho stood beside him. The radio crackled again and Ho listened.

  “They come.”

  Tran looked up from where he lay on the black top below Hunter. “Oh, yeah, Cap. They coming. At least two six bys and they gonna be here damned quick. I can hear the bastards’ trucks.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “The trucks must have stopped right behind the curve,” Tran said. “They’ll send out a couple of scouts to recon. Yep, there they are. Two of them moving up, one on each side of the road.”

  “Sniper rifles take them out,” Hunter said.

  Moments later two shots snapped into the stillness and one Korean scout pivoted and slammed to the ground. The other one ran zig zagging back to the bend in the road. Two more rounds from the rifles missed him.

  “So they know we’re here,” Hunter said.

  “They might use one truck as a tank to ram into us and give cover to men behind it,” Bancroft said on the net.

  “If we see a truck, hit it with twenties,” Hunter said. “Who has twenties?” Four men responded. “Chapman and Jefferson. You get the truck. If there are men behind it, you other two use air bursts.”

  Nothing happened for two minutes.

  “Tanner. Check that six by army truck to see if it has keys in the ignition. If not search the two bodies for keys. Go.”

  Tanner ran for the big six by truck and came out with the keys.

  “Hold them; we could be switching our transporters.”

  A machine gun edged around the curve ahead and blasted a dozen rounds into the truck and jeep. Hunter saw it coming and put a 20 mm round into the muzzle of the gun before it could fire a second burst. The blast must have ruined the machinegun and killed the man firing it. No other response from around the bend.

  “Anybody hit?” Foster shouted.

  “Just a scratch” Rattigan called.

  “Where are you?”

  “By the rear wheels of the jeep. Not much protection.”

  “Get into the woods by some trees,” Foster called. “I’ll meet you there.”

  The big army truck ground around the corner three hundred yards ahead of them. They couldn’t see any troops behind it.

  “Let it come down another fifty,” Hunter said. “Then you two Bull Pups take it out with contact rounds.” They waited. The truck moved slowly. Ten men ran out of cover and huddled behind the big truck.

  “Now,” Hunter said and the crack of the 20mm rounds sounded. A second later the truck took two hits, one in the engine and one in the cab, blowing it sideways in the road and setting it on fire.

  Two more twenties cracked out and the air bursts coming down on top of the troops that had been behind the truck dropped half of them to the pavement dead or wounded and sent the rest charging back for the cover of the bend in the road. Half a dozen Chinese rifle rounds and sniper shots followed them and brought down two more before they reached safety.

  Hunter checked his line of riflemen on the slope of the hill. Most had good firing lines, and none of them had been fired upon. He saw Beth peering out from behind a pine tree twenty yards up the slope.

  “How many of them left up there?” Hunter asked.

  “Three got back from the truck try,” Tran said.

  “So we must have taken out about twelve of them,” Bancroft said. “Can’t be more than four maybe six left.”

  “Bancroft, take four men and work up the cliff side of the road and check them out. Eliminate them if possible. They may be running.”

  “Don’t hear any motors going up there,” Tran said.

  Bancroft took Sanborn and Dengler with MP-5’s and Jefferson and Gorman with Bull Pups an
d worked slowly up the side of the highway shielded from the curve. They moved ten yards apart with Sanborn as scout. He rushed half way up the stretch of highway, checked ahead, and waved the others forward.

  In the trees, Foster finished wrapping up Rattigan’s thigh which had a bullet hole in and out above his left knee. He looked around at the others scattered in a rough line up the hill all behind solid pine trees with weapons pointing down the road. He watched Lieutenant Bancroft move his men along toward the curve.

  A scream echoed through the woods. Then his earpiece came alive. “A bunch of soldiers are coming over the hill toward us,” Beth shouted into her mike. That was followed by a burst of six rounds, then another of three and three more. Then the men on the hill saw the five North Korean soldiers charging down the hill toward them and they all fired. Two of the green clad North Koreans went down in the opening fire. The other three dove to the ground and fired down at the SEALs who pushed around their trees to get protection. One NK lifted up to throw a grenade, but Dengler hit him with a burst from his 9mm barrel on the Bull Pup. He went down and the grenade exploded near him. The other two crawled forward toward the line. A third got hit by a round from a sniper rifle. The last man almost made it to their rough line. A bullet caught him in the left shoulder and he jolted straight up and swung his AK-47 toward Hans Dengler.

  Beth saw the tableau form in front of her. Saw the soldier lift up, get shot and still swing his weapon toward the man just down the hill from her. She pulled up her MP-5 and triggered off a burst of three rounds, and then three more. The soldier took all six rounds in his chest and slammed backward into a tree where he hung for a moment before he dropped his rifle and fell face down in the forest mulch of dead leaves and pine needles. Beth blinked back tears as she huddled behind her tree with her subgun.

  “Five of them are down up here,” Beth’s ear piece said. Devin McNally continued. “Cap, I’ll go make sure.” Machinists Mate First Class McNally moved up the slope checking the Korean soldiers. The last one crawled a few feet but stopped when he saw McNally coming. The SEAL put one round in the Korean soldier’s head and took his AK-47 and went down the hill. He stopped where Beth lay.

  “Hey, commander, are you okay?”

  Beth looked up tears streaming down her face. He touched her shoulder.

  “Ma’am, we better go down toward the road and get in better cover.”

  She looked up at him again, nodded slowly and stood. He helped her up and caught her arm as she stumbled.

  “You aren’t hit, are you, commander?”

  She shook her head.

  “I….I….I killed that man.”

  “Yes you did. Saved Dengler’s scalp for sure. You did good.”

  She looked at him with a steady steely gaze. “I killed that man,” she said. “I shot him a dozen times.”

  “Most likely six times, Ma’am. Here we are. You make this big pine tree your home until this is over.”

  Bancroft had stopped his advance when he heard firing behind him. Now he looked at his four men. “Cap. Should we move ahead?”

  “Roger that, let’s get it cleaned up. Take a look at those bodies near the truck on the highway. Make sure.”

  When they came to the burning truck, Bancroft darted out and checked the bodies. All were dead. The big truck was empty. Part of it still burned from where the twenty had hit it.

  Bancroft waved Sanborn ahead. He crawled forward and peered around some brush along the side of the road. Then moved forward another six feet and looked again. He could see the army truck parked just off the highway. He brought up his MP-5, pushed it to single shot and fired twice. A lone guard next to the six by truck took one round in the throat, the next in the chest as he fell forward.

  Sanborn waited. He could see no more Koreans. He waved the detail forward. When Bancroft got to him, he crawled up beside Sanborn.

  “Took out one, LT. By the truck. Don’t see any more. What was that firing about back there?”

  “They sent some men over the side of the hill trying to get behind us. We nailed them.”

  “I don’t think there are any more up there,” Sanborn said.

  “Let’s charge the place,” Bancroft said. He motioned his other three men up. We lift up and charge that truck and see what happens,” he said.

  He used the mike. “We’re charging forward, Cap. Don’t see any live ones.”

  “Go.”

  Bancroft led the rush to the truck and around it. There were no more North Koreans there. In the truck were bedrolls and duffle bags.

  He reported on the radio.

  Hunter called the men to come back down from the hill. He looked at Beth who wiped the tears off her face.

  “We have a choice now of transport. We could use one of the six by trucks, or stick with what we have.

  “Our cover as a soccer team is blown,” Bancroft said. “That radio message must have been picked up all the way up the road.”

  “Big truck better,” Ho said.

  Hunter looked at Chief Chapman. “The big truck is much better,” he said.

  “Who has the keys?”

  Tanner held them up.

  “Go start the engine and listen to it. Then check the other truck. We’ll take the one that’s best. Check the gas tank. We’ll fill one from the other. If there are any gas cans, we’ll fill them too to take along. Let’s do it.”

  Twenty minutes later they had gathered up the captured AK-47’s and dozens of magazines of ammo and put them in the big truck. The jeep like rig was pushed over the side into the canyon. Tanner chose the first truck as the best and got the tank filled and found two gasoline cans he filled for spare fuel.

  “Uniforms,” Hunter said. “Four of you smaller guys pick out bodies and strip off the uniforms. We might need them later. Get some without a lot of bullet holes in them if you can. In the mean time we’ll put on our Korean clothes over our soccer outfits and our combat vests over the shirts. If we’re blown, we might as well be ready to fight.”

  Another ten minutes and the four men returned with the uniform shirts and pants and climbed into the big truck.

  “Load it up and let’s move,” Hunter said. “Ho, keep that radio turned on and see if anyone is chasing us.”

  Ho nodded and sat in back with the rest of the men as Tanner took over the driving. Ho would drive when they came to the next

  town. They had rolled the third six by off the road and into the gorge below, but there was nothing they could do about the burned out one on the side of the road. They left the bodies where they lay.

  Beth sat in the cab of the six by with Hunter beside her. He looked at her several times but she didn’t seem ready to talk about what happened on the side of the hill. At last he decided to start it.

  “I hear you did good up on that hill. You gave the alarm to get our guys going.”

  She nodded. “Yes. I….I saw them coming. I don’t know why I looked up there.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “I was so scared. I just lifted the weapon and fired at the running men.”

  “Then that one came close to you.”

  “Too close. I don’t see how he slipped through. Everyone firing at the others, I guess. He was about to kill Dengler.”

  “You did good, Beth. You protected Dengler’s back. That’s what SEALs do.”

  Her face worked and she blinked and fought hard to hold back the tears but they still came. Silent ones, sliding down her cheeks unchecked. She looked at him.

  “I….I….I killed a man today. Maybe more than one. How could I do that?”

  “Instinct. Part of the eons old instinct to protect the family, the clan. You acted automatically, without thinking as any good soldier does in combat. You did well. I’m proud of you.”

  She looked at him wide-eyed, tears still coming down her cheeks. “You’re proud of me?”

  “Tremendously proud. You had doubts, but you overcame them and protected your comrades in arms. You saved a SEAL’s life today and forged
a lifelong bond with that young man. Has he spoken to you yet?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I was in a kind of daze for a while there.”

  “He will.”

  “Cap, we’re coming out of the mountains. Looks like a big valley up ahead. It could be leading us into that next town. We know how big it is?”

  “Not a clue. The map doesn’t tell me that.”

  A car whizzed past them.

  “Be damned, another vehicle,” Tanner said. “Hope they’re civilians.”

  Hunter used his radio. “Ho, any talk about us on their radio?”

  “No talk about us. Other talk. Some army in area.”

  “Ho, put on one of those uniforms. You’ll be driving soon. Three of you guys back there put on the other three shirts and pants. You guys sit next to the tailgate in case anyone looks inside.”

  “Roger that,” Chief Chapman said.

  After five more kilometers clicked past on the odometer, Hunter had Tanner pull over at a wide spot and brought Ho up to drive.

  “You decide how we get through this town,” Hunter told the Korean. “We might not see any other military. If we do we wave and charge on through if possible. No idea how big this place is. Should be find a store here to buy more food?”

  “Food, yes. Hungry bunch. Ho watch.”

  Soon the roadway improved as they neared the town. They passed fields that had been rice harvested. The land was all cut up into small paddies to make flooding them easier. A few buildings showed along the highway, then some houses, and before they knew it they were in the town itself.

  “Maybe twenty thousand,” Hunter estimated. “This should be Pyokton. We’re about a third of the way to the bomb.”

  “What in the world can people do up here to make a living?” Beth asked.

  Both men shook their heads.

  They came down a street and Ho saw the sign that the highway turned to the right. He made the turn and directly ahead of them less than half a block away sat another army six by blocking half of the street. Two soldiers stood in the street letting one car or truck pass through at a time.