Ambush

7

Colonel Alvarez shook his head. “We must have a leak in our organization somewhere.”

Murdock scowled. “Colonel, no disrespect, but our lives are on the line here. I suggest that we work with only you and one man from your staff, Estrada and Ejercito, and my people. Nothing on paper, nothing on e-mail, no radio use, nothing over a phone line. Our missions and targets are top secret. If the rebels know in advance where we’re going, we’ll never find them.”

“Agreed. I will be the only one from the Army besides your two liaison men. We have one more lead. They are calling themselves the Rebel Separatist Islamic Liberation Front, and they have been asking local villages to support them. We have heard about their calls. We have an area closer to us here where we think there may be one of the two GHQs of the rebels. How do you want to play it?”

Jaybird spoke up first. “My suggestion, Colonel, is that we do the chopper assault again, only do it in the daytime, and bring one chopper in from both directions along the river. They’ll think we’re attacking from both ends, only we’ll have all our firepower in one chopper and take them out.”

The colonel laughed and shook his head. “Good, yes, a good idea. I’m amazed that it comes from an enlisted man. If I suggested to my staff that we include corporals on our strategy planning sessions, they would hoot me out of the room.”

“Several of my men have had three years of combat and actions like this on a nearly monthly basis, Colonel. We learn from experience, and rank has nothing to do with intelligence. Some of my men have been on thirty bloody combat missions similar to this one. Experience pays off.”

Colonel Alvarez nodded. “I wholeheartedly agree. What about timing?”

“We can get in a good sleep period and be ready to go at noon tomorrow.”

Senior Chief Sadler frowned. “Skipper, what would you think about sending out a false signal. Say we were planning a night mission tomorrow at the first camp that was hit by the Lieutenant Ejercito and his group yesterday.”

“A little misinformation,” Murdock said. “Colonel?”

“Yes, good. I can have some memos written up and sent to you and to some other staffers, also one to Flight Ops and to Supply for a possible need for ammunition. It could help.”

“With the colonel’s permission, it’s almost lights out for my troops.”

“Yes. Dismissed. We’ll try to keep everything under wraps. I’ll send a messenger to alert the two chopper pilots and tell them not to tell anyone what they are doing or who they are flying or anything. If they get pinned down, they’ll say it’s a training flight.”

“Thank you, Colonel.”

The SEALs and the two Filipino Army men left the room.

Murdock called to the two locals. “Gentlemen, not that I doubt your loyalty, but I want you both restricted to our SEAL quarters until we take off tomorrow noon.”

DeWitt agreed. The Filipinos said that would be no problem. DeWitt still frowned. “Chow,” he said. “If we get special chow before we go it could tip off somebody. Let’s eat normal chow for breakfast, then draw some MREs, if they have any, to eat on the chopper for lunch.”

“Done,” Sadler said. “I’ll do a walk-by at the mess tomorrow morning and bring back the goodies.” He turned to Lieutenant Ejercito. “You do have some kind of emergency field rations, don’t you.”

“We do. We buy MREs from the States.” They all laughed.

In the morning, mess call came at 0730 and all the SEALs made it. They heaped extra food on their trays and ate it all. One of the local Filipinos assigned to the SEALs walked in front and one behind them to smooth out any problems in the mess line. Murdock and DeWitt ate along with the rest of the men.

Back in their quarters, all of the SEALs gathered and went over what intel the colonel had given them. It was another small village on a different river. They guessed at about twenty reed houses and maybe a hundred people. If the rebels were there, there might be fifty men and some or all of the hostages. It was a big if, but it was all they had right then.

“We need to develop some information on these rebels on our own,” Murdock said. “But I don’t see how that’s possible.”

“What we need to do is to spot two men in the field, track the rebels, send out word where they are and what they’re doing,” DeWitt said.

“Highly dangerous,” Lieutenant Ejercito said. “You saw what they did with the two spies they caught.”

“Still, if we rely on the colonel’s intel, we might be here a year chasing our tails around in circles,” Murdock said.

“Sounds like my meat,” Lampedusa said. “Only how would I get the intel out?”

“SATCOM,” Bradford said. “You can use mine and we’ll get another one. Didn’t we bring a backup SATCOM?”

“That we did, oh, wise one,” Sadler said.

“Lam, you don’t know the turf,” Murdock said.

“So send along somebody who does.”

“I’ll go,” Ejercito said. “I’ve been going crazy sitting around here. I’m better in the field.”

Murdock scowled and stared at the two men. “Two problems. Would it work? Could you get close enough to them to do any good? Could you even find them? From what I hear they could be anywhere over there within a fifty-square-mile area.”

Ejercito nodded. “Yes, Commander. If they are at this village we’re going to tomorrow, Lam and I simply stay behind after we hit them. We track them and dig out intel, grab a prisoner and question him for more intel, get everything we can and zap it out to you every night on the SATCOM. I’ve seen them work. We have something similar on different frequencies.”

Murdock looked at Lam.

“Hell, yes, with a local native guide we should be able to ace them right up their assholes and they’ll never know we’re there,” Lam said. “Packing the damn SATCOM will be a pain, but no way we can keep within five miles of a chopper with a Motorola. Yeah, we can do it.”

Murdock put a big X on a sheet of paper. “Okay, let’s say it’s workable, you can do the job. The next big problem as I see it is can you stay alive and get back out without getting your heads turned into worm buckets and your hearts roasted over a campfire.”

The Filipino Army lieutenant smiled. “I don’t think it will come to that, Commander. I’ve seen Lam working. He slipped up on me once when I was watching for him and I never saw or heard him. With his guts and skills, and my understanding of the local jungle and the people, we should survive.”

Murdock looked at Lam. “This is above and beyond.”

“Oh, hell, yes, way up there above. I like it out there. I won’t have Senior Chief Sadler yelling at me all the time.” He grinned. “Just kidding, Senior Chief. Yeah, Skipper. I want to go. Without it we’re fucking ourselves in public.”

DeWitt walked across the room and came back. Everyone watched him, waiting. He was thinking. He’d done this many times before. “So, do we tell the colonel?” DeWitt asked. He answered himself. “Hell, no, not until he misses the lieutenant. I’m not overjoyed with the colonel and his security.”

They looked at Lieutenant Ejercito. “You’re probably right,” he said. “I have no responsibility to tell him. I don’t report to him. I’d say go on our own. He’ll miss me sooner or later. Then maybe you’ll have to tell him. He’s going to wonder where we get new intel if you make strikes we set up for you from the field.”

“We’ll tell him when we have to, probably before the first hit you zero us in on,” DeWitt said.

“Okay, let’s do it,” Murdock said. “You two will need extra ammo and a duffel filled with ammo and emergency rations and clothes. You’ll need a cache somewhere. Senior Chief, work it out. The rest of you get some rest. We have a liftoff tomorrow at 1200.”

The next morning, preparations for the hit on the village went on schedule. Senior Chief Sadler arranged for extra emergency food and uniforms to be supplied by the Filipinos to be in the duffel for the two recon men. The pair decided to take only the H & K MP-5’s for close-in work. They wouldn’t do any attacking, and would use the weapons for defense if they were seen or chased.

Both Lam and the lieutenant were checked out on the SATCOM, and a new battery was put in the one Lam would carry. Both men decided that they would stash their combat vests with the cache on site, and travel light and fast, keeping their MP-5’s across their backs. Lam figured out how to strap down the SATCOM on his back.

“Damn, this is still a light load,” he said when he tested the setup without the usual heavily loaded combat vest. They crawled on the chopper promptly at 1150 and dug into their favorite MREs. Both birds took off exactly at 1200. The flight time to target was thirty-two minutes. All eighteen men were in one chopper; the other one was empty. It would make the run from upstream from the camp, then down toward it, loiter in the area for five minutes, then return to the airfield. The first chopper would stay on the ground downstream at the LZ and wait for a possible return of the SEALs. If there was a need for evac birds for the hostages, the helicopter pilot on the ground would radio the field for the number of craft needed.

Murdock stayed near the cabin as they came up to the river.

“River Run Two, this is One, making my turn down the river from ten miles upstream your position,” the speaker radio said.

“Roger that, One. We are about two miles from our LZ. Your timing is good. Continue run, then do it again, then bug out.”

“That’s understood, Two. Continuing run. Good luck.”

Murdock could see the landing zone ahead. It was a three-acre plot that had been cleared of brush and trees at a level spot near the river. It probably flooded each wet season, and now had been harvested. Probably rice. The area held a foot-high dike around it so it could be flooded to help the growing crop. The land was dry now as the bird settled down, the green lights came on at the open doors, and the SEALs darted out and charged to the cover of the trees at the edge of the river.

Under the shade of the trees, Murdock took a radio check. All men reported in. “Upstream,” he said. “Lam out front by twenty. Regular patrol string but single file. Let’s move at a trot. We have about six hundred yards to the village. Any surprise we might have had is gone, and we hope they have panicked.”

Five hundred yards later, Ejercito, Lam, and Murdock stared at the edges of the village past a heavy growth of trees. This one was not deserted.

“Looks like a normal village,” Lam said. Murdock glanced at the Filipino. Ejercito shook his head. “No, it’s too normal. The choppers would alert them and they should be tense, afraid, wondering who would attack. And it gave time for any rebels to hide and wait for us.”

“We circle around it,” Murdock said. “We keep half of our men on this side. Lam, you take Bravo around at ninety degrees to us. We don’t want to be shooting each other. Then we’ll fire some rounds into the trees. We don’t want to kill the civilians.”

“The rebels will use them as human shields,” Ejercito said. “I’ve seen them do it.”

“We won’t kill civilians,” Murdock said. “If they use them as shields to run, let them go. We’ll chase them as well as we can, then examine the village for any hostages or clues where they might be going.”

Murdock called DeWitt and told him the plan. He moved his men where Lam directed, and called Murdock on the Motorola when they were in position.

Alpha Squad had come up, and Murdock spaced them out ten yards apart from the river into the jungle so they had cover and could see the village.

“Alpha only. Each man, ten rounds into the trees. Don’t hit any civilians. We think the rebels are hiding somewhere in the village. Fire, now.”

The nine weapons chattered and cracked as the rounds riddled the tops and trunks of a dozen trees in the compound. The villagers in the open dove to the ground; some ran for huts, others dropped where they were and covered their heads.

In the sudden silence, Lieutenant Ejercito shouted out his demands.

“All villagers stay clam. We have no fight with you. The criminal outlaw rebels now in your village must come out with their hands up. We know you are hiding there. Surrender now and receive a fair trial for any criminal activity. Surrender now.”

Two machine guns and a rifle answered Ejercito, ripping the rounds into the area where he was protected behind a huge mahogany tree. Each of the SEALs had a tree to hide behind during the return fire.

“Take any sure shots you have, Bravo,” Murdock said on the Motorola. Two shots came almost at once, then one more. They heard a scream from the village. A man in white pants ran into the yard. “They are dead. All three of the rebels are dead.”

“Easy, careful,” Murdock said. “DeWitt, what can you see?”

“We nailed two of them. They had no protection from this angle. Shot the third and he crawled off somewhere. We think that was all of them.”

“See if you can find the wounded one and capture him. Don’t take any risks. If he still has a weapon, and uses it, waste him. Go.”

Without waiting, Ejercito sprinted from his cover to the closest house thirty yards across the opening. He drew no fire.

“Lieutenant, take it easy. Careful,” Murdock said on the radio.

They waited.

Three minutes later, the earpieces spoke again.

“We’ve got him, Skipper,” DeWitt said. “He’s alive and has two rounds in his legs. Doing a lot of blubbering in the native language.”

“Ejercito, find them and talk to the man. Pump him for everything you can. We need information. Any hostages here? Where are they? What’s the next rebel camp in this area? Everything he’ll talk about.”

“Yes, sir. I see them. I’ll be busy for a few minutes.”

“DeWitt, search the houses and huts, tell those who speak English that the fighting is all over. Have them come out of their huts. See if there are any hostages kept here.”

Murdock kept his men covering the village. When it was cleared, the civilians came out cheering and shaking hands. The SEALs took it easy in the shade. Murdock went to the hut where the prisoner was being questioned. He had been tired to a wooden chair. He was naked. DeWitt stood in the background.

Ejercito asked the man a question in Filipino, the other official language of the island nation in addition to English. The man shook his head. Ejercito put a four-inch slice across the man’s shoulder. He wailed in pain. Ejercito slapped him twice. The small man looked up, hatred and fear showing on his face. At last he nodded.

“You speak English, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You said there is another rebel camp nearby. How close?”

“Ten miles upstream.”

“This is an outpost?”

“Yes, we report by radio. We smashed the radio when you attacked.”

“How many rebels in the next camp?”

“Twenty, thirty, maybe forty. It changes every day.”

“Is that where they hold the sixty hostages?”

The man’s eyes went wide. “Hostages? I don’t know about any hostages.”

“How long have you been posted here?”

“For three months. Nobody said anything about hostages.”

Ejercito stared hard at the prisoner, who didn’t change his expression. At last the lieutenant nodded and stepped back.

“I think he’s telling the truth. The next step is ten miles. Do we take it now or do Lam and I recon it?”

“We do it now,” Murdock said. “Bradford. Call the chopper on the Motorola and tell him we’re moving ten miles upstream. He should wait two hours, then follow us and find an LZ in that immediate area. Better at nine miles than ten. Do it.”

Murdock motioned to the captive. “What about him?”

“He’s got both legs shot up,” the lieutenant said. “One broken. We can leave him here. The locals will take care of him. Many of them sympathize with the rebels. He can’t hurt us. No way he can run up and warn them ahead.”

“Good, cut him free.” The captive was grinning and nodding.

“DeWitt, any casualties?”

“None. We’re ready to move.”

“Lam, let’s find the trail upstream and we’ll get the men lined up. Single file and keep locked and loaded. Let’s move, SEALs.”

Bradford used the Motorola then and contacted the chopper.

Five minutes later they were on the trail. “It’s a little after 1330. We have two hours to do ten miles. We’ll start with a jog and then speed it up if we have to. Lam, stay ahead twenty. Moving out.”

It was two hours and twenty minutes before they saw Lam give the down signal. The SEALs hit the jungle floor. Murdock and DeWitt checked in with Lam, who stood behind a big tree and pointed ahead. It was a crudely camouflaged outpost built along the trail behind a huge Philippine mahogany tree.

“I’ve seen two men,” Lam whispered. “Neither one looks over twenty. Both are smoking. I’d swear I could smell pot smoke a few minutes ago.”

Murdock drew his KA-BAR and touched the sharp edge. Lam nodded and drew his. Murdock motioned for Lam to go left and he would go right. Silence was understood.

DeWitt slipped back to the rest of the troops to caution them for absolute quiet. He told the Filipino lieutenant about the outpost.

“Good,” he whispered. “There might be two of them. There almost always are.”

Murdock slid into the brush and jungle growth for fifteen yards directly away from the river and the two rebels. Then he went to his stomach and did a hard right and worked forward, careful not to rustle any leaves or move any branches. He figured he was fifteen yards from the outpost on the trail. He worked that far upstream, then turned at a ninety-degree angle and wormed his way under most of the growth in the fifteen yards he had to go toward the river. After five yards he stopped to listen. He could hear faint voices, then a laugh. Five more yards and he could hear the words plainly. He stared hard through the growth, but it was too thick. He worked forward again. Suddenly the underbrush vanished. It looked as if it had been chopped down to give security to the sentries.

Murdock stopped just inside the fringe and behind a tree. He eased his face around it. There, ten feet away, sat two guards inside the crude outpost. Both had automatic rifles, and wore Army shirts but civilian white pants. Both were smoking, and Murdock recognized the pot smoke at once. No way to tell how high they might be. He snicked the Motorola send button once. He was ready.

He waited. A minute later, he received a return snick in his earpiece. Ten seconds after the second snick they both would charge. Eight, nine, ten, Murdock counted slowly to himself. Then he lifted up soundlessly. Both rebels looked out a small window and along the trail downstream, their backs to Murdock. He took three steps without a sound, saw Lam come out of some brush and take three steps. They nodded, then charged with their KA-BARs held straight in front of them like lances.

One of the guards sensed something behind him and began to turn. Before he could even see Murdock, the commander’s KA-BAR drove into his back. Murdock turned the blade and twisted it sideways into the man’s spinal column.

As Murdock hit the first man, Lam came at the second. His man turned more, and the six-inch blade of the KA-BAR sliced through the uniform, plunged into the man’s side. It tore through part of his lung and daggered deep into his heart, killing him before he could make a sound.

Murdock’s man spilled off the stool to the ground, where he thrashed for a moment; then his cut spinal cord refused to send messages to his body, and his heart and lungs closed down and he gushed out a long, final breath.

“Clear front,” Murdock whispered in his Motorola. Lam moved along the trail upstream.

“Murdock, Ejercito says there often will be two outposts in front of any good-sized rebel force,” radioed DeWitt. “Lam, you copy?”

“Lam. I copy.”

Far off, Murdock thought he could hear a helicopter, but then the sound faded. He wiped his blade on the dead man’s pants and put it back in its sheath. A few moments later the rest of the platoon hiked up and they moved forward on the trail.

Murdock had checked the outpost. There were no phone lines and no radios present. The SEALs should have the element of surprise.

Ten minutes later, Lam called up the officers. Lieutenant Ejercito went along. The four of them watched ahead as four men replaced four men in another guard position. It was not done in a military manner, but they finished the transfer and the four replaced men hiked upstream. All of these men had new Army-type uniforms of dark green.

Murdock heard the rebel radio transmission that came at once. It was in Filipino, and Ejercito held up his hand as he concentrated. Then he nodded.

“The new guards are checking in. All is quiet. They expect no trouble. There has been no word of any new developments on the money payments on the hostages.”

“That’s just dandy,” Ed DeWitt whispered. “But how in hell are we going to take down this guard post without alerting the rest of the rebels that they have some serious trouble coming right at them?”