“In twenty minutes two choppers will be here to lift you guys into China where you will provide protection and escort service via the choppers to get our men out of there.”
Stroh stopped talking and squatted in front of Murdock.
“Are you with me on this? There’s no time to go through Navy channels. Right here we’re almost three hundred miles closer to those two fly boys than they are in Calcutta. The plane went down in a dagger of Chinese territory that stabs down toward Bangladesh between the Indian area of Sikkim and the small nation of Bhutan. You’ll fly from here to Shiliguri, a good-size town in the corridor and about eighty miles from where the plane went down.”
“Weapons and ammo,” Murdock said. “Are they bringing our other weapons from Calcutta? We have three more Bull Pups there and our resupply of ammo.”
“Believe it or not, the brass thought of that, and they have loaded everything you left there except your diving gear onto the choppers. Should have plenty of ammo. This is a run in and snatch operation and fly out as fast as possible. It will be a night operation if possible but could stretch into tomorrow morning. Your guys ready?”
“Let them sleep until the chopper gets here. How far to this supply point?”
“Sixty miles. They will refuel the choppers at Shiliguri, and you’ll have time to get your weapons cleaned and ready. Heard you burned up some ammo tonight?”
“A few rounds. Some curious Chinese wanted a closer look. We didn’t let them look.”
“Oh, just in case you wonder: There will be three forty-six choppers in the flight, one for backup if needed. All will have door-mounted machine guns and gunners to man them.”
“Damn, the Navy is finally understanding some of the problems here. Will it last?”
“Until something goes wrong. In case you missed out on the rest of the war, there is now fighting in Pakistan between the locals and the Chinese they invited in. I think this whole charade was a put-on so China could take over Pakistan without a major war. Much easier to fight inside a country than to invade it.”
“Why would China want Pakistan?”
“State and our boys finally figured out what may be the answer to that one. Pakistan has two hundred and eight million barrels of oil reserves. That’s nine times as much as China has. China is going to be needing more and more oil in the years to come. Why not steal it free from Pakistan?”
“This is starting to make sense.”
They both heard the engines and rotors of the big choppers at the same time. Murdock used the Motorola. “Okay, SEALs on your feet. Your siesta is over. We have some work to do. Let’s move up and get ready to do some travel time. Move it, SEALs.”
23
Shiliguri, India
Murdock watched the town come into view from the open door of the chopper as they came toward a small landing strip. It wasn’t a large airport, just a single concrete runway and blacktop taxi strips to four medium-size hangars. He saw two Indian-marked helicopters at the first building and that was the one they landed near.
“We’ll be here just long enough to get restocked on ammo, and have a quick meal. Not sure what we’ll be eating but pretend that you like it. Get back here fast after eating to check out weapons, and supplies. We’ll take off in an hour.”
The Indian liaison found Murdock a minute later.
“Lieutenant Singhe,” the man said. He was shorter than Murdock, stocky and looked like a lifter. “Commander, we’ll have your men through our mess in half an hour. We have a room where you can stash any of your gear you don’t want with you. You have enough ammunition to start your own war.”
“About what we’re going to do, Lieutenant. I’m sure the Chicoms will have people out looking for our flyers as well.”
“True, but your AWACS planes say their search planes are fifty miles off the mark.”
“Hope they stay that way. What’s this country like that we’re going into?”
“Himalayas in a word. Mountains, On that side probably twelve to thirteen thousand feet, foothills to the big guys. Not a lot of vegetation up in there. It’s a hard, cruel, cold place most of the time. Summer brings a little rain and some wildflowers. Most of that area is above the timber-line.”
“Sounds inviting. Any Chinese infantry in the area?”
“None that we know of. There are no real settlements up in those areas. Bleak, worthless country.”
“Where is the closest air base?”
“Don’t know, Commander. I’ll try to find out.”
“Don’t put up any of your fighters while we’re on the mission. Maybe that way no MiGs will be in the area to shoot us full of holes.”
“I don’t control that, but I’ll put in your request.”
“Thanks, now I want to get some food and then check on my men and the chopper.”
Forty minutes later the fourteen SEALs were waiting for the last flight checks on the two choppers. One squad would be in each bird in case of enemy fire. Stroh was on hand yelling at the crew and waving off Indian personnel. He loved it. Murdock watched and grinned.
The 46s took off on schedule. The SEALs had five Bull Pups with forty rounds per man and double ammo for the rest of the guns. They had extra long guns this time and fewer submachine guns.
The two birds kept in visual and radio contact with each other; in the eerie moonlight, they had their noncombat warning lights on. Thirty minutes out from the landing strip, the crew chief talked to Murdock over the roar of the engines and the rotor noise.
“We’re seven minutes from Chinese territory. Our men are supposed to be another twenty-five miles into China. That will take us ten more minutes. We’ll use our global locator to zero in on their coordinates.”
“Let’s hope they haven’t had to move.”
Murdock looked out the open door past the gunner but could see little. They had climbed continuously from their fifteen hundred foot landing strip to get over the closest of the mountains, which the crew chief had told him would be over thirteen thousand feet.
Jaybird grunted nearby. “Service ceiling on this bird is fourteen thousand. Hope we have enough oomph.”
Ahead, the mountains slanted upward again and the two 46s vibrated as the engines strained in the thin air.
Ten minutes later the crew chief was back.
“We’re over the last pass and into China near our target. Working out final approaches now. Our maps show those coordinates to be in a valley.”
Murdock went back to his men and told them what he knew.
“How did these guys send out coordinates?” Lam asked.
“Maybe they radioed before they bailed out,” Ching said. “They could have had time to get it nearly right.”
“Fly boys jump with any kind of flares in their flight suit?” Bradford asked.
“Some do, some don’t,” Murdock shouted so they could hear.
They all felt the ship head downhill.
“We’ve pitched down,” Bradford said. “Must have some idea where these guys are.”
The crew chief came into the cabin. “Flare sighted, we’re going down. This valley shows at more than twelve thousand feet.”
“Let’s get ready to get out of here,” Murdock said. “The pilot might not be able to land. He told me if it was too rough looking in his landing lights, he’d get us down to at least three feet and hold.”
“I can do three feet,” Howie Anderson said.
The crew chief came in and the green light snapped on. He waved at them and pointed to the two side doors for exit. Three men on each side.
Murdock felt the bird touch the ground. The crew chief waved them out the doors. Murdock went first. He couldn’t see a thing when he jumped down the three feet from the bottom of the hatch door to the ground. A swirl of rotor dust clogged everything. He used the Motorola. “Hold in place until the birds take off.” He could see the other chopper fifty feet to the left. A moment later his chopper lifted and vanished into the dark sky. Two red flares would be
the signal for the choppers to return to the ground for pickup.
Murdock willed the dust to settle. “DeWitt, on me about fifty feet down the slope.”
“Roger that, I have your position.”
Murdock’s five men came around him.
“I don’t see no fucking flare,” Anderson said.
“We hold here for a minute. If the airmen can move, they should be on their way to us.”
They waited, watching for a flare, a gunshot, anything. The only thing they heard was DeWitt and his seven men moving to their location.
“Anyone see a flare?” Murdock asked.
He had no response.
“Time?” Murdock asked.
“Its just after oh four thirty,” Jaybird said. “An hour or so to daylight.
“Any concealment around here?” Murdock asked. He had seen some low brush but not much of it.
Lam had made a circle of their position. He came back shaking his head. “This is rock heaven. A few sparse shoots of grass and some bushes, but not much to hide in.”
“We’re stuck here until we find out where our men are,” Murdock said.
A second later a shot jolted into the night.
“Where?” Murdock asked. Six hands pointed in different directions.
“So we know they’re here,” Murdock said. “They heard us come in. They must not be able to move. Why we don’t know. No options here, gentlemen. We wait for daylight and try for a visual sighting — before the Chicoms do.”
“Find a bush and wrap yourself around it,” DeWitt said. “Not enough dirt here for hide holes. We’ll sit and hope.” He looked around in the darkness. “Ostercamp and Jefferson on guard till daylight. The rest of you, sack out.”
DeWitt sat down next to Murdock cradling his Bull Pup. “So which direction are they?”
“Guess?”
“Educated professional estimation.”
“Down the valley to the left. Has to be downhill. They wouldn’t be up the slope.” Murdock thought about it a moment. “Lam,” he said into his lip mike.
Lam slid in next to Murdock without the officer hearing him.
“How about a little hike downhill?” Lam asked.
Murdock grinned. “You voted for downslope as well?”
“ ’Deed I did. I’m ready when you’re ready, Cap.”
They moved out silently on the rocky ground. The slope was gentle but consistent. They had gone fifty feet when Lam held up his hand and Murdock ran into him.
Something ahead,” Lam whispered. “You have your NVGs?”
Murdock hadn’t wanted to use them until he had to. They distorted normal night vision when you took them off. He slid them out of the pouch and put them over his eyes scanning ahead. The darkness turned into soft green haze like a green dusk. He could see rocks and bushes and not much else.
“Chicom?” Lam whispered.
“Could be, but why would they wait for daylight? They could charge in and take the guys out.”
“Souvenirs, and show time for propaganda,” Lam said. “The Chicoms are good at it.”
Murdock nodded. They moved forward again, Murdock in front now with the glasses. He figured they had gone down the slope twenty yards to the bottom of the small valley. The footing was easier and the growth bigger. He saw a tree ahead over twenty feet tall. They could hide in there from a cursory air check.
Murdock stopped and went to one knee. Lam floated in beside him.
“Somebody’s up there,” he said. He handed Lam the NVGs. The scout studied the area, then both sides of the twenty-yard-wide ravine. He handed the glasses back.
“Yeah, I make it two bodies. Could be our guys. They have some camo over them but not enough. No way it’s Chicom. Maybe thirty yards up there.”
“Let’s work closer,” Murdock said. They eased their way forward. It could be a trap, Murdock knew, but he put it out of his mind and stepped down the ravine a cautious half yard at a time.
Twenty feet away. Murdock checked the area again with his night vision goggles. “I see a U.S. flag shoulder patch on one guy,” Murdock whispered. He handed the goggles to Lam. The scout nodded.
“Hey fly boys, you the Tomcats we’re hunting?” Murdock asked.
There was silence. Lam saw the bodies were moving, maybe getting in a defensive position.
“Tomcats, we’re Navy SEALs come with some support. Is that you?”
“Could be, how do we know you’re on our side,” the voice came scratchy, hard to understand. “Hey, who replaced Johnny Carson on the Tonight show?”
“Jay Leno, Tomcats. You wounded?”
“The commander is hurt bad.” I’m busted a little but can move. Heard you come in back a while with two choppers. We had some Chinese jets looking for us. They found our Cat, but it has to be twenty miles from here.”
“Don’t shoot, we’re coming in. Two of us.” Murdock went to his lip mike. “We’ve got them, DeWitt. Bring the men down and let’s find an LZ. One man hurt bad.”
“That’s a Roger. How far?
“Maybe three hundred yards. Can’t miss us in the bottom of the ravine here.”
Murdock and Lam moved in. They found the two airmen in a slight depression behind a small tree that would give them concealment from the air. One man came to his knees and held out his left hand.
“Lieutenant Birnbaum. Damn glad to see you guys. Where are the choppers?”
“Be coming as soon as we find an LZ down here,” Murdock said. “Broken arm?”
“Yeah and some other stuff. The commander is out of it again. He slips in and out. He got hit with a twenty before we kicked out. We never saw the MiG who must have run out of missiles.”
“DeWitt, we need that LZ in a rush,” Murdock said to his lip mike. “Shoot one flare, and charge down here. Get those choppers back. We should have had the SATCOM with us.”
“Coming, one red flare up.”
Murdock saw it blossom and hoped that the chopper pilots could see it. He prayed they weren’t a ridge line over.
“Can the commander stand?”
“We walked in here from where we landed. I mostly carried him. Need a litter if you have one in the chopper. Otherwise we carry him.”
“Any Chinese troops around the area?”
“Think so. We heard two choppers come and then go, but not sure how far away they were. After that we heard some small arms fire. Could be infantry looking for us.”
“So we use the flares and get out of here before the Chicoms find us,” Lam said. He had found two tree branches he broke to the right length. “Let me splint that arm for you, Lieutenant,” Lam said.
“We don’t want it messed up any more than it is.” Lam laid a piece of the branch under the officer’s arm and one on top. Murdock held them in place while Lam tied them securely on one end with a kerchief he took out of his pocket. He used the roller bandage from his pocket and wrapped it ten times to secure the other end.
The commander pilot groaned and woke up. “Where the hell are we?” he asked.
“Still in China, Commander. I’m Murdock with SEALs. We’re going to get you out of here.”
“Cap, I’ve got an LZ for us,” DeWitt said. “About fifty yards from where I see you under that tree. I’ve got the men in a perimeter defense. Going to be light in about twenty. We’ve fired three more red flares. Where the hell are those choppers?”
“Should be watching for the flares,” Murdock said on the Motorola. “Keep one man on the LZ with two red flares ready to mark it on the ground when the choppers come.”
“Roger that.”
They waited.
The backseat man sat beside his pilot. He looked at Murdock. “Where the hell is that chopper?”
“Two of them, who are supposed to be here by now. We’ve fired two more flares. They may have pulled back waiting for daylight to be sure we have found you.”
“Them and the Chink infantry,” the Commander said. “Yeah, I’m back. Gut hurts like fire. Guess I got gut
shot. Damn but that hurts.”
“Getting you out of here, Jock, no sweat,” Lieutenant Birnbaum said. “Just hang in there, buddy.”
“You guys have any kind of a radio?”
“Not with us. Wish we did.”
Murdock went over to DeWitt who stood looking uphill at the LZ he had picked.
“Anything closer?” Murdock asked. “The commander is gut shot, so we’ll have to carry him.”
“I’ll work it down this way. It’s getting too damn light for our flares to do much good. Where are the damn choppers?”
Twenty minutes later they still waited. Streamers of light had daggered into the darkness eating it up, spreading like a cancer, devouring every bit of blackness it could find.
Lam came on the Motorola. “Cap, I’m out about five hundred in front of our perimeter downhill. Heard there could be some Chicom infantry in the area. I’m concealed and watching another mile of territory downgrade. Damn but these mountains are big ones. Don’t have anything like this in Tennessee.”
“Any movement down there?”
“Not so far. A little wind blowing which will make it harder, but I’ll keep them pealed.”
“Roger that, who gave you the five hundred?”
“I did, Cap. Figured you were busy and you’d just say okay, anyway. I’ve got my Pup with me, so I can engage at a thousand if you want me to, if anybody shows up.”
“Hold fire and we’ll see how we’re doing. No choppers yet.”
“Be full light in ten.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Murdock looked up. The other men did as well.
“Chopper,” somebody said. Then the sound faded.
“He’s over one or two ridges,” Murdock said. “Damn, how could he get lost? He’s got the fucking coordinates.”
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