Direct Action

31

In a gunfight, the one who shoots first usually wins. Jaybird Sterling, who like all SEALs patrolled with his rifle at his shoulder and ready to fire, got off a burst before his opponent even had a chance to start work on the cumbersome Kalashnikov safety catch. The force of the rounds threw the man back into the brush.

Jaybird didn’t know if the man was alone or had fifty buddies following along behind, and he didn’t intend to stick around to find out. He began a maneuver called the Australian Peel. He emptied his magazine into the bushes in front of him to force everyone who might be in there down on their faces, then turned tail and ran, changing magazines as he went.

This left Murdock on point. He knew the drill. When Jaybird opened up he had automatically dropped to one knee. As soon as Jaybird moved he fired several short bursts to his front, then followed right behind Sterling.

Higgins, now in front, did the same. Then Doc. Then DeWitt, who threw a grenade in lieu of firing one-handed. The explosion threw up a nice bit of smoke, so Magic Brown and Razor didn’t waste time on a lot of shooting.

Soon the whole file of SEALs was sprinting in the opposite direction. It had all been neatly done, and without a word of command being spoken.

But there was fire coming from behind them, and they were obviously being chased.

They kept running, and the firing continued. Whoever it was was right on their ass. The SEALs had to break contact or the pursuers would dog their heels until, inevitably, they ran right into a larger force.

As he ran, Jaybird kept looking back over his shoulder to make sure everyone was still with him. When he went over a small rise in the ground Jaybird saw that Murdock had stopped, so he stopped also.

As each SEAL ran up and saw Murdock on his stomach, they instantly spread out on both sides of him. It only took a few seconds, not even long enough to catch their breath, before the screaming pursuers broke through the trees.

Murdock fired, and all the SEALs joined in. The pursuers dropped to the ground or behind the trees and began firing back a few moments later.

As soon as that happened, Murdock slid back down below the cover of the rise and had Jaybird and the SEALs up and running again.

The hasty ambush had put the first of their pursuers down, but the ones behind must have started running again as soon as the firing stopped. The SEALs had bought themselves some time and distance, but not enough. It wasn’t that their pursuers were good; it was that they were Hezbollah and didn’t mind running into a few rounds. Paradise was automatic for those who died in battle with the infidel, which covered just about everyone besides themselves. Murdock yelled over his shoulder to Higgins, “Throw a PDM!” The order worked its way back to the end of the line of runners. Razor Roselli tossed one of their two remaining Pursuit Deterrent Munitions over his shoulder.

A key element of human psychology, of which the SEALs were well aware, was that when you chased someone you assumed they were running in a straight line and would continue to do so. And when you were being chased, you did tend to run in a straight line and at a constant pace.

So after Razor threw the PDM, Murdock yelled to Jaybird and Jaybird veered hard to his left. He quickly slowed down to a fast walk to minimize the enormous racket they were making.

Now the SEALs crept along quietly. They heard the PDM explode. There was a pause, and then they could hear the shouting of the Hezbollah continue along their original route.

Another hundred meters and Jaybird made another hard change of direction. They continued on for a while, and then Murdock flashed him some more hand signals. Jaybird circled around in another question-mark maneuver and they came back on their trail.

The SEALs set up an ambush and waited, slowly getting their wind back. A fifteen-mile run through beach sand was a lot less tiring than a relatively short run for your life.

No one came down the trail. They were safe. Again. For the moment.