“Three miles up the river now,” Jaybird whispered into the mike.
“Watch to the left shore,” Murdock said.
They saw two houses with lights still on. It was almost 0130 hours. The third house was another hundred yards upstream. It had two lights on and beside it stood two tall trees.
“Hit the shore,” Murdock said. “Lam, take a look at that house with the two tall trees. See if you can spot a guard. Let’s hope he’s a smoker.”
Both boats grounded against the shore and one man stepped out and held them there. Lampedusa lifted out and vanished into the night without a sound.
The lights in the house ahead by the tall trees snapped off, one room, then the next.
“This might not be it,” Murdock whispered into his mike.
They waited. Murdock checked his watch. Lam had been gone five minutes. Murdock’s earpiece came alive.
“Cap, this is the one. I heard a guard yelling at the man inside. That was just before the lights went out. The inside guy yelled back in English with some highly uncomplimentary terms. Must be the senator. I’ve got an EAR. You want me to take out the rear guard while I know where he is?”
“Roger that. Your weapon is free.”
They all listened for the typical whooshing sound of the enhanced acoustic rifle, but heard nothing.
“Bingo on the back guard,” Lam said. “Want me to find the front one and send him to beddy bye?”
“That’s a roger, Lam. We’re moving up. Everyone on shore, quietly and move forward in squads. Alpha Squad hold while Bravo moves to the house. Bravo will try to contact the senator and enter from the rear. Move.”
Another rifle shot jolted into the night, again on the other side of the river. Trigger-happy guards? Someone celebrating? Murdock guessed that the average Chinese citizen was not allowed to own a gun. He let Bravo Squad move out first, then followed with his own, waving to Jefferson who held the boats and dragged them higher on the gently sloping shoreline. Murdock took the point and moved slowly, silently through a smattering of hardwoods along the riverbank. There were no other houses this side of the target.
A moment later Murdock heard the swoosh of the EAR weapon. It was quickly followed by his earpiece activating.
“That’s two down, Cap. Second guard was a smoker, dumb fucker. He’ll have a long sleep and a headache tomorrow. I can see no other army units of any kind along the street. No cars. A few bicycles here and there, but nobody riding them. Looks all clear.”
“Concur,” Ed DeWitt’s voice said on the radio. “Clear front.”
Murdock hurried then, running as silently as possible the last thirty yards to the house. He flattened against the door pointing for his men to take cover at various spots. Then he tried the door. It was not locked.
He turned the knob and pushed the door open.
“Senator, is anyone home?” Murdock said in a loud stage whisper.
Murdock heard movement to his left and swung the MP5 submachine gun to cover, his finger on the trigger.
“God bless the U.S. Navy,” a throaty voice said. The sound was so choked with emotion, Murdock could barely make out the words.
“Senator, the Chinese guards front and back are unconscious. Are there any other soldiers around here?”
Quiet sobbing was the only answer. Then another voice came through the blackness.
“No, there are no other troops anywhere nearby that we know of. I’m Mrs. Highlander. You must be Navy SEALs. We’re ready to travel. No luggage, only my purse and my daughter’s purse, and Greg’s briefcase. We can take those, can’t we?”
“Yes, Mrs. Highlander. But we must be so quiet we can’t even hear ourselves. There are fifteen men outside around this house, did you hear any of them?”
“No, only a funny whooshing sound.”
“Good, get your daughter, and we’ll leave. Senator, are you all right now? We need you to move about a hundred yards downstream with us.”
“Yes, yes, I’m good now. I just couldn’t stop—”
“No problem, Senator. Alpha Squad, and three civilians coming out the rear door. Bravo and Lam head for the boats. Give us perimeter along the way facing out. Alpha let’s be a circle around the senator and his wife and daughter. Almost shoulder to shoulder. You know the protective routine. Do it, now.”
He felt the senator touch his shoulder, then his wife came holding the daughter’s hand.
“Come out the back door right behind me, Senator. Hook your hand in my webbing. Mrs. Highlander you hold your husband’s belt in back, and hold your daughter’s hand. Now, Let’s move smartly, but try not to make any noise.”
They left the rear door, then moved into the yard and the brush. Six SEALs appeared on each side and in back and in front. They all could reach out and touch the senator or his family. Nobody said a word. Murdock saw the Bravo Squad spread along the one hundred yards in a protective shield.
Murdock faded back to walk beside the civilian. “Senator, you’ll be in the boat with me. These are rubber inflatable boats, sturdy, can’t sink and each has a silent motor. Your wife and daughter will be in the second boat to distribute the weight. We must sit low and bend over on command if we come into any trouble. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” the senator said.
“I heard too,” his wife said. “We’ll do whatever you say.”
It took them ten minutes to work their way slowly to the boats. Jefferson knew they were coming from the radio com. He had the boats turned around for easier boarding. The SEALs put the civilians in first, two SEALs getting their feet and legs wet in the process.
Mrs. Highlander started to apologize for letting the men get wet. Kenneth Ching shook his head. “Ma’am, us SEALs are wet most of the time. No big deal. Just so you’re safe.”
“Everyone onboard?” Murdock whispered in the Motorola.
“Bravo Squad boarded,” DeWitt responded.
Murdock counted bodies in his boat. Nine of them. The senator wasn’t as big a man as he had feared. There should be no trouble with the IBSs.
“Move out and start motors,” Murdock said.
They were fifty yards down the river flowing with the current, making a good ten knots with the help of the motors, when they heard an engine, then saw lights bobbing along a road just off the river.
“Guard change,” The senator whispered to Murdock. “They come every night at two A.M. I forgot to tell Mr. Stroh that.”
“Things are going to get hairy in about five minutes,” Murdock whispered into the mike. “Open up the motors for a little more speed. Like to get to the mouth of the river before any troops arrive.”
The boats picked up speed, but the motors gave off a soft rumble. Murdock knew an alert guard could hear it. But would there be anyone on guard duty in a tiny village on a small stream like this? He doubted it.
The stutter of machine guns at the house they had just left surprised Murdock. The weapons fired six or seven ten-round bursts. Enough to wake up everyone in the area.
“Lift it up another notch on the motors,” Murdock said. “Let’s trade noise for speed.”
The little craft churned downstream faster, Murdock figured about fifteen knots. They still had two and a half miles to go.
Lights blossomed along the right shore. They moved to the other side of the river trying not to hit any bars or trees. Now a rifle shot sounded behind them and to the right side. More lights snapped on. They heard motors starting, then gears grinding as heavier trucks moved out.
“Anderson, unwrap the SATCOM. Have somebody hold the dish until you get your beep, then try to contact the Pegasus. He needs to know we’re coming out.”
Howie Anderson, gunner’s mate second class, was the new radioman in the platoon. He knew the radio. Jaybird held the antenna and moved it back and forth until Anderson stopped him.
“Pegasus, this is Rover, we’re coming out. Your reception will be spotty. Over.”
There was no answering call. Howie tried it ag
ain, kept Jaybird moving the antenna a little until he received the beep and at once he sent a signal. “Rover coming out. Rover coming out. Pegasus, this is Rover coming out.”
This time there was a broken up response. “Peg—, Hear y—. Com — ut. Co — out.”
Murdock tapped Anderson on the shoulder. “He got it, wrap it up, we’ve got to stay low.”
Somewhere behind them another submachine gun fired. The sound came in angry six-round bursts. Murdock figured they were aimed at the water. What better escape route from the house. He bent lower and tried to will the IBS to move faster.
“Full throttle,” Murdock said into the mike. “Let’s get our eighteen knots plus another five out of the current and get out of this fucking river.”
The engines gave a small growl, then steadied down to the new power surge.
More lights showed along the riverbank on the right, then Murdock saw lights coming on at the opposite side of the river as well. Headlights poked along the road. Now and then a truck seemed to pull in to face the river and stop. Troops must be deploying along the river. Why would there be truckloads of Chinese troops in a small area like this? Maybe brought in especially to protect the prize catch of the tourist season.
Downstream a mile, the SEALs and the senator and family saw two star shells blossom over the middle of the river. Their brilliant light glowed for thirty seconds, then faded out.
“That’s going to be a problem,” Murdock said. “Unlimber those EAR guns. Anytime you see activity along the near shore by trucks or men ahead of us, send them a round. One EAR in each boat?”
“Roger that,” someone said softly.
“Pick your targets so you don’t both hit the same one. Do it.”
Three hundred yards ahead a truck ground to a halt with its headlights throwing a bright path across the water.
“I’ve got it,” Lam said. A moment later the familiar whoosh sound came, but there was no noticeable effect on shore.
“At least the driver is in dreamland,” Lam said.
A quarter of a mile on downstream they saw floodlights snap on along the right shore and three army trucks were brightly lit. Men jumped out of the trucks. “Both EARs,” Murdock said.
The guns got off two shots each and the SEALs could see the Chinese soldiers fall to the ground and not move.
“Senator and family, that’s our EAR weapon. It’s non lethal. It’s our enhanced acoustic rifle, that sends out a powerful pulse of sound waves that knocks out the victims. They’ll be unconscious for four to six hours and wake up with a headache but unharmed.”
When a squad of men came into the light to check on the downed soldiers, Lam fired again putting them into a dream world as well.
Fifty yards on downstream a machine gun began chattering six-round bursts. Murdock thought he could hear them slapping into the water, but he wasn’t sure.
“Move to the left bank,” Murdock said to his mike. Both boats swung that way. They were still less than forty yards from the far side of the narrow river.
“Anyone spot the muzzle flash on that MG?” DeWitt asked on the net.
“Got him,” Jack Mahanani said. A moment later a whoosh came and the machine gun stopped firing.
“Halfway to the sea,” Murdock said. “They don’t know where we are, and that helps. They must have more tricks.”
A moment later a guttural growl came from far downstream and Jaybird groaned. “Got to be a patrol boat motor, Cap. We’ve heard the bastards before. We can’t stop it with the EAR.”
“Can’t stop it, but we can stop the men from operating it,” Mahanani said. “When they get close enough, we pop a couple of EAR rounds at it and there will be nobody on the throttle or the wheel, she’ll go dead in the water and wash out into the South China Sea.”
They listened, then heard the motor as the patrol boat came toward them. It was sweeping both sides of the shoreline, probably with small S loops. As they watched a searchlight jolted into the night cutting a swath of brilliance along the shore and the river.
“What’s the range on the EAR?” somebody asked.
“Effective is six hundred yards, tops,” Jaybird said.
“Hold fire,” Murdock said.
Another machine gun blasted away from the right-hand shore. More truck lights bounced along the road but no more aimed lights into the river. Lam fired twice more and silenced the machine gun.
“Range on the patrol boat at seven hundred,” Jaybird said. “A guess, but what have we to lose.”
“Mahanani, take two shots,” Murdock said.
The whooshes came ten seconds apart. The sound of the patrol boat engine slowed, then nearly stopped before it picked back up to its original sound.
“Too far,” Mahanani said.
“Hold fire on the boat,” Murdock said. “Let’s be sure next time.”
They powered toward the patrol boat at twenty knots, Murdock figured. The next time he checked the river boat, he estimated it was no more than four hundred yards. “Both EARs one round,” Murdock ordered.
The blasts came almost at the same time, like both men had been sighting in on the patrol boat waiting word.
This time the engine slowed gradually and then stopped. The regular route of the boat wavered, then it turned lazily in the now moonlit river and began to drift slowly downstream.
“Oh, yeah,” Lam said. “I get to paint a half a patrol boat on my locker record board.”
They were close enough now so they could see the lights at the entrance to the river. Now new lights turned on, on the right hand side across from those they had seen before
The chattering of the machine guns came at the same time from opposite sides of the river, and this time Murdock could hear the rounds splashing into the river ahead of them.
“Interlocking machine guns,” he said. “Too far off. When we’re three hundred yards away, we hit them with two rounds on each MG nest. We knock them out, or we eat rice for one hell of a long time.”
The senator touched Murdock’s shoulder. “Commander, I’m sorry I got you into this mess. My fault entirely. I should have known better. My view of my importance made me think the Chinese wouldn’t have the guts to bother me, let alone arrest me.”
“Senator, you can worry about that only if we don’t get you out of here. This is no sweat for my men. We train to do just this sort of rescue mission. Of course, we’d rather not get shot to pieces doing it, but those are the chances we take as SEALs. Sometimes people do get hurt.”
“Have you had KIA’s on missions like this, Commander?”
“In the past two years I’ve lost twelve good men.”
“All that and the public doesn’t have the slightest idea of what you do, right? All of your missions are covert, like this one is. I won’t be allowed to say a word about it when we get out. There will be no newspaper story or TV flash. It will be buried in the records of your after-action reports somewhere, forever hidden from civilian eyes.”
“Way it has to be, Senator Highlander.”
There was a long sigh. “Yes, I know. But I wish it didn’t have to be that way. I know damn well that I’ll never skimp on appropriations for the SEALs.”
Murdock chuckled. “Hey, maybe this will be a good mission for the SEALs as well as the Highlander family.”
A rifle cracked from the right-hand shore. Murdock heard the round hit and a startled cry from someone in his boat.
“Lam.”
The answer was a whooshing shot from Lam’s EAR.
“Saw his muzzle flash, Cap. He must have spotted us in the ribbon of light the moon casts across the water.”
“Who got hit?” Murdock asked.
Nobody responded. Then Lam whispered to Murdock.
“It’s Vinnie Van Dyke. He’s unconscious. Hit bad somewhere but I can’t find any blood. Not a head or neck shot.”
“Try and find the wound and stop any bleeding,” Murdock said. He looked at the machine guns that now fired sporadically. They were
less than two hundred yards from the bar into the South China Sea. “Let’s knock out those machine guns,” Murdock said
Lam fired three times, allowing ten seconds for the weapon to recharge. After the second shot the MGs on the right bank stuttered. The third shot closed it down. Mahanani did his work on the other shore and the machine gun fell silent after two EAR rounds.
“Anderson, see if you can get the SATCOM working. Tell him we’re nearly out of the river and into the sea.”
Howie Anderson tried twice but couldn’t raise the Pegasus. Murdock used the radio. “DeWitt, I’m cutting power so we can get a better shot at the satellite. Cut power both boats now.”
This time when Howie tried he got a response from the pickup boat.
“Pegasus here. We’re about two miles out from the mouth of the river. If you saw no shore batteries, we’ll come straight in until we spot your light sticks.”
“That’s a roger, Pegasus. No shore batteries. We wiped out the machine guns. Good sailing.”
“Skipper, found the hole. Looks like it went into Vinnie’s right lung. Knocked him out. Not bleeding a lot but his pulse is slow and his breathing is ragged. He’s alive but I don’t know how long he can hold out.”
“Soon as we’re on the Pegasus, I’ll see what I can do for him,” Mahanani said. “I’ve got some tricks.”
“Motors full speed,” Murdock ordered.
Two minutes later they passed over the shallow bar and were in the South China Sea. Ken Ching bent two light sticks, mixing the chemicals and turning them into bright wands of light. He held them as high as he could facing front in the rubber duck.
Khai did the same thing in the other boat as they powered forward through a choppy sea toward the Pegasus. Every other wave broke hard on the bow of the small rubber boat, showering the riders with spray.
Senator Highlander crouched there in the IBS, tears running down his cheeks. His eyes were closed and he looked as if he were praying. When he opened his eyes, he touched Murdock.
“Commander, I don’t know how to thank you for saving the lives of my wife and daughter. They are the valuable ones in this trio. I was ready to trade my life for theirs. Now I don’t have to. How does a man who made a huge mistake thank the men who came and pulled his family out of the jaws of death?”
Death Blow sts-14 Page 4