Ambush

17

The two Tasaday guides had no secret trail up the face of the cliffs, and took the party around to the point where the recon had shown that going up was possible. There was even a semblance of a trail that had been used before up the sharp incline, through the trees and vines and occasional small pond where rainwater gathered.

The hiking was tough going up the hill, and almost as bad coming down on the other side. The pilot was hurting, and Murdock hiked directly behind him and could see that he was slowing them down. He was trying, and that was all Murdock could ask. This wasn’t his job, he had been crashed into it.

Just as they started up the other side of the next ridge, Lam came on the net.

“Quiet, everyone. I hear a chopper.” They all stopped moving and hardly breathed, but Lam soon reported that the sound had faded.

“We’re well off the compass line to the target,” Lam said. “The chopper pilot probably is working that line first; then he’ll start moving to each side, and eventually should find the burned-out forty-six there in plain sight on the rock slab. Which doesn’t help us one hell of a lot.”

“If they see no survivors, they might shut down the S & R,” Canzoneri said. “Kind of figures.”

They hiked again. Murdock called a halt after they had been on the trail for two hours. Juan and one of the guides vanished into the jungle, and five minutes later came back with a stalk of over one hundred bananas and an armload of mangoes.

“These funny round suckers good to eat?” Jaybird chirped.

“You’ve led a sheltered life, Jaybird,” Lam said. “Dig in, take a bite, you’ll love them.”

“This and some pork chops for dinner and you could damn well live off the land out here,” Khai said. “The only trouble is, how do you peel a banana with one hand?”

“With your teeth,” Bradford said. “Pretend you’re a chipmunk.”

Ten minutes later the stalk of bananas had been seriously depleted. The men then took two or three each and pushed them into their combat vests wherever there was a spot open.

Murdock had talked to Lam. “Slow these boys down a little, Lam. The captain is having a hard time. We don’t want to have to carry him the rest of the way.”

They slowed.

Before a half hour was up they had scaled the next ridge, and Lam hit the radio. “My boys up here indicate this is the last one before we come to the ridge that looks out on the sea. We’re making progress.”

He paused. “Oh, yeah, chopper incoming. We should be able to see this one.”

They did. Through the trees and lush growth, they caught sight of it as it turned and headed the other way.

“He’s making S turns on a search,” Lam said. “What we need is something that we can use to make a quick fire. Everything is so damn green and wet. What will burn in here?”

Juan came on. “Kalibo and I will find burnable material and bundle it and bring it with us. Then a match or a lighter and we have a fire. We add green pine branches to make smoke. It will lift through the trees and should get the pilot’s attention.”

There was a small rocky place near the top of the ridge where Lam kept them for ten minutes. The helicopter didn’t return.

Murdock called Lam and suggested they move down the slope. Halfway down Lam heard the chopper coming again. Juan lit a match to the bundle and put on small pine boughs, and seconds later he had smoke drifting upward through the canopy of tree leaves. They added more pine boughs until the smoke was intense, but the chopper sound faded.

“Next time,” Lam said, and Juan and Kalibo put out the fire by stomping on it. There was little chance of a jungle fire in this rain forest.

Murdock and the pilot, Captain Samar, went to the head of the line, just in back of the scouts, and set the pace. It went slower now, but the pilot was holding up better. The bananas had helped.

Just after noon, they worked up the last ridge. Murdock looked over the top, saw the calm waters of the Moro Gulf, and called a halt. The SEALs flaked out in the softness of the vines and relaxed.

Juan came up and made signs to the guides.

“Shouldn’t we give them something?” Murdock asked.

Juan shook his head. “Can’t, because then they would have to give you something of equal or more value. They have nothing to give. A bow will be enough.”

Murdock bowed to the two guides; they bowed back, then bowed to Juan. They turned and headed back toward their camp at once.

Murdock lay on the rim of the ridge looking down. The water was five or six miles away across some hills and a narrow plain along the coast. He saw one small stream going down from this side of the mountain, but didn’t think that could be the one that was partly navigable. Lam used his binoculars and looked to the south. He grunted and passed the glasses to Murdock, who scanned the way the lead scout pointed.

“Oh, yes,” Murdock said. “The river. Good-sized. Might get some big canoes up that thing or the flat-bottomed boats that look like big canoes.

“We’ll take an hour’s break here, then move to the south along the reverse slope of this ridge,” Murdock said to the net.

Murdock called Jaybird, Sadler, DeWitt, Lam, Domingo, and Juan together.

“We’ve spotted a river to the south that looks like it could be the one that leads up the valley toward the cliffside hostage keep. It’s now about 1300. Any suggestions?”

“We still planning on a night attack?” DeWitt asked.

“Unless someone has a better idea,” Murdock said.

“So we need to move down the ridge until we can find the fucking place,” Jaybird said.

Murdock nodded.

“We find it, then recon the compound and pick out any weak points, check the guard force, and look for an attack point,” Lam said.

“Yes, but will that need to wait for darkness?” Domingo asked.

“Be better to get there in the daylight,” Lam said. “Get a better feel of a place that way. Motorola will get the info back to you quickly.”

“Still a silent hit for as long as possible,” DeWitt said. “If there are obvious guard posts, do we take them out with the EAR and risk hitting the hostages?”

“Yes,” Sadler said. “We can wait for the sleepers to wake up if we hit any, or we can carry them to the choppers. Big question is, how do we communicate with the Air Force to get a lift out of here?”

“There are telephones at Lebak,” General Domingo said. “After we capture the place and free the hostages, I’ll run up there and call the base.”

“It’s thirty miles, Domingo,” Murdock said.

“I’m a marathoner, Commander. No sweat. I’ll take Lam along for company. We might even find a motorboat along there someplace or a fishing boat.”

“Fine with me,” Lam said.

“So, our commo problem is solved. What’s next?”

“Wait for intel from our recon squad and then work out our attack plan,” Juan said. “I’d like to go down with Lam on the recon.”

“Done.” Murdock looked around. “Anything else?” There were no more comments. “Eat your bananas. Juan says he can get all we want.” He looked at his watch. “We leave in thirty-five minutes.” The planning session was heard by all on the Motorolas.

An hour later, the SEALs and friends looked across the ridge and downslope five hundred yards at a frame and stone house that had been built on a flat area at the end of a gentle slope. The flat place was still five or six miles up a winding road from the valley below.

Part of the land around the house had been used to build a large dormitory-type building. It looked temporary, and was made of pine logs with a nipa-thatched roof and woven leaf panels for the walls. It was one story and covered a big area.

“Plenty of room for sixty people,” Sadler said after taking his turn with the binoculars. The jungle growth came within twenty feet of the buildings. So far they had seen no sign of any guards or rebels.

“The rebel guards have to be there,” Lam said. “Our job is to find them. I’d like to take an EAR along just in case we get in a firefight.”

“Done,” Murdock said.

“We’re moving,” Lam said. He switched weapons with Bill Bradford, who had carried two guns, and waved. He and Juan vanished in the jungle growth at once, and hard as Murdock tried, he could not see a single branch or palm frond move to indicate where the pair was.

“We wait,” Murdock said. He studied the area, then went on the net. “DeWitt, I want you to take your squad and move south along the ridge one hundred yards. We need a pincers movement here, or at least two attack points. Take an EAR with you. Alpha will remain here or go another thirty yards south, and we’ll all hike down the slope and get in an attack position before we hear from Lam.”

“I heard that,” Lam said.

“We’ll stay back twenty yards from the compound if we don’t run into any security down there. They could have some trip wires to set off alarms, but they must feel too secure for that. Your objective will be the buildings to the left of the house and the garage or whatever it is. Alpha will try to get into the hostage barracks and secure that, then take down the house. Comments.”

“We can move down and get in position,” DeWitt said. “Oh, yes. Now I see guards. Six just came out of the two buildings which may be guard housing. Both look like garages, but one may be a caretaker’s house. They are our targets. My estimation is that there are no hostages in there so they’re legitimate targets for our twenties.”

“Agreed,” Murdock said. “Yes, I have the guards. They seem to be spreading out, three going to the front and three to the back. Ideal targets for the EARs. If we agree, coordinate with Lam to use the EARs both at once on the three guards.”

“Roger that. Should we be moving out now?” Ed DeWitt asked.

“Let’s do it,” Murdock said. “Remember, stay back twenty to thirty yards from the target and get fields of fire if possible. No firing into the hostage barracks.”

“Got it. We’re moving.”

“Alpha Squad. On me, single file. Let’s chogie.”

Halfway down the slope, Murdock stopped and called Lam.

“Nothing so far, Skipper. You saw the six guards. Three in back. My suggestion. We take down the hostage barracks first. There’s a back door I didn’t see before. It’s fifteen feet from the jungle cover. Suggest that Alpha come to that door and we take down the hostage area, then work the main house.”

“Agree. DeWitt, you copy?”

“Right, we’re in reserve until you take the hostages. Then when you go for the house, give us the word and we use twenties on the rebels’ sleeping quarters and attack with our teeth bared.”

“You got it. Watch the twenties. Interior bursts would be best. No more than three rounds.”

“Should do it.”

“Alpha, we can’t do any more here,” Lam said. “Come on down.”

Murdock had held his men at the halfway point. Now he clicked the mike twice, and Alpha Squad moved on down the hill. Murdock was in front with his Bull Pup set on 5.56mm rounds. He paused at the thinning foliage and looked ahead. One of the guards walked a post within ten feet of where Murdock lay. He let him go. He and Alpha Squad were thirty feet from the hostages’ door. He let the guard get farther away, then saw that he would meet another guard at the center of the clearing.

“Take them with the EAR,” Murdock said. Almost at once two whooshing sounds came. The two guards Murdock could see went down in a heap of flailing arms and legs and lay still.

“Two guards down,” Lam said on the net.

“Third guard down,” DeWitt said.

“Let’s move, Alpha,” Murdock said. He lifted up and ran hard for the rear door of what he hoped was the hostage compound.