Bloodstorm

14

Senior Chief Dobler looked up from where he worked on his weapon, and did a double take.

“Say what, Lieutenant? You’re going along with us on our limpet hit on the Chinese destroyer?”

“That’s what I heard,” Kat said. “Do you want to outfit me with gear or wait until it’s official?”

“If it’s all right with the lieutenant, ma’am, I think we better wait.”

Kat grinned. “That’s fine, Senior Chief. There isn’t any hurry. I’ll just talk with the guys. Sorry you got blown off that rust bucket of a freighter that turned out to be a destroyer. Do we know that for sure yet? Maybe it’s a frigate.”

“Either way we got stomped on good. We didn’t expect it, Kat. We were looking for about forty merchant seamen and a pistol and one rifle on board. We got surprised. But we were lucky to get away with just one wounded.”

“Ching. How is he?”

“He’ll make it, but he’s out of action for a couple of months, I’d think.” The chief paused. “Kat, you really hear something about going along on our limpet run?”

“Not a chance, Senior Chief,” Murdock said as he came up behind Kat. “She’s just trying to stir up some trouble. Right, Miss Dressed All Up Garnet?”

Kat laughed and tipped her head from side to side. “Well, it was a quiet day, and I’ve been bottled up over there in that funny BOQ all day and all night, and I was getting antsy. Okay?”

“Fine by me. Hey, you can come visit us anytime. Brass wants you to hang around here in case we get anymore warheads. Or if we do take down that destroyer and need to do some close disassembly work on the missiles and the warheads.”

“Admiral Tanning told me. But for now, what am I supposed to be doing? There’s that strange little PX here, but no movie theater, and no library. I’ll go crazy in a week.”

“Won’t be here a week,” Murdock said. “Things are moving too fast. Hey, this would be a good time for you to write your memoirs, My Days As a Navy SEAL. Should be good for at least a bestseller. That is, if you could get permission from the Navy to publish, which you can’t.”

“Thanks for the help,” Kat said.

“Hang around a while so I can get some things straightened out and I’ll take you to dinner.”

“Where? Some fancy Greek restaurant downtown?”

“How about the officers’ mess?”

“I was afraid of that.” She paused. “Yeah, why not?”

An hour later, Murdock picked Kat up at her BOQ. He surprised her.

“Hey, you’re dressed all up yourself,” Kat said.

He had borrowed some khakis and some insignia and wrangled a sedan and a driver who knew Athens. The driver took them to what he called one of the best restaurants in town. He had even made reservations.

It was sleek and modern and classy. Murdock felt underdressed, but enjoyed himself. He found one waiter who spoke English, and had him order for them. When the waiter left and they tasted their drinks, Kat yelped.

“Hey, I don’t have any money. I know you never carry any money on a mission. How are we going to…”

Murdock held up his hand. “I borrowed a hundred-dollar bill from Don Stroh. So don’t worry.”

“Oh, good. I have this dream every once in a while about eating a big meal at a fine restaurant and finding out I lost my billfold and my money and my credit cards. It always ends as I start explaining and the manager is calling the police.”

“Not this time. Now, about you. What have you been doing since we met like this before in Iran?”

“Working. But I’m not in disposal anymore. I’m working on how to establish a really safe nuclear waste site. It’s a big problem with all the medical hot waste and some from the military and from nuclear power plants.”

“How is it going?”

“Mostly NIMBY.”

Murdock frowned, trying to remember the word. “What?”

“Mostly the reaction is NIMBY, Not In My Back Yard. We find a great site and the local population vote it down. The government is getting more sensitive to the people’s views nowadays.”

“So how is your love life?”

“Don’t ask.”

“But you had been seeing someone.”

“None of your business.” She frowned. “How did you find out that?”

“Remember, Don Stroh is CIA. He can find out anything about anybody. The President asked him to do a screening on you before he talked to you about the Iran caper.”

“Oh, that’s what those guys were about. One man kept hanging around. He wasn’t very good if he was CIA.”

“If you saw him, you were supposed to. That way, if you had anything to hide, you might freak. You didn’t.”

“What else did Stroh find out about me?”

“Everything. I don’t remember the list. He knows what you like to eat, where your favorite restaurant is, what movies you see, your brand of toothpaste, and the color of your underwear.”

Kat laughed. “I bet the underwear was a disappointment.”

“Stroh didn’t say.”

The dinner came and they ate. Murdock didn’t have the slightest idea what kind of meat it was. He was afraid to ask. The vegetables and the salad and the dessert were all delicious.

They lingered over another bottle of wine, and Kat said she hated to leave.

“You’ll need a good night’s sleep for your jaunt tomorrow,” Murdock said.

“What? You said I wasn’t going on the mission.”

“You’re not. One of the NATO officers’ wives has arranged to take you on a sightseeing and shopping tour tomorrow. It will last all day and then you’ll go to a stage play or an opera, she wasn’t sure which.”

“Great, no money.”

Murdock shoved a new one-hundred-dollar bill across the table to her.

“You can go a little wild, because Stroh is good for another tap. He says it’s expense money, so use it in good health.”

Kat’s brown eyes glistened for a moment until she brushed away the moisture. She shook her short brown hair and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I think you guys are trying to spoil me.” She frowned. “Either that or you’re softening me up for tonight when you try to take advantage of me.”

“Nice try, SEAL. Good defensive move. An attack is always the best defense. Keep up the good work.” She stared at him, scowling. Then gradually the look eased and turned into a smile. A moment later they both laughed.

“Hey, we better get out of here,” Kat said. “You have to work tomorrow.”

At the sedan they found their driver finishing a Greek take-out dinner and a large container of Coke. He put it all away, held the door open for Kat, and drove them back to the NATO headquarters in Greece.

At the door of the BOQ, Kat paused. “You know, I’m the only person in this wing. Six rooms and all vacant except mine.” Kat reached up, caught Murdock’s face with both her hands, and kissed him on the lips. It lingered and then kept going. She moved away and took a long breath.

“Oh, my,” she said. “I really hadn’t planned on doing that. But I’m glad I did.” She smiled. “One more?” The kiss was more intense this time, with their mouths opening and tongues working. Murdock was the first to ease away this time.

“I think you better get yourself into your room. It’s that Greek wine, I think.”

“Really? Next time I’ll get two bottles.” She smiled, touched his face with her hand, then eased through the door and closed it.

Murdock stood there a minute. No, he told himself. He had a commitment and he was standing by it. He had a lady back in Washington, D.C. One lady was plenty for him.

The next morning was a whirl as the SEALs drew the ordnance they needed, including the four large limpet mines and explosives and more rounds for their personal weapons. The two IBSs were flown in from the closest carrier task force and dropped off at the NATO compound.

Dobler checked them both to be sure they were working properly, then deflated them and checked for new canisters to inflate. When all was right, he marked them off his list.

Kat swung by in her sedan that morning on the way to her shopping trip. She wore her Navy uniform, and wished the whole platoon good luck. She had taken special care with her hair and makeup and looked delicious, Murdock decided. He walked her back to her car.

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded, but didn’t look at him. Then she turned. “Last night I wasn’t drunk when I asked you to come inside. I was lonely and overwhelmed by your charm and your delightful body and I wanted you. I’m not sorry. Yes, I remembered about Ardith Manchester back in D.C. But I took a chance. So, still friends?”

“Absolutely. I shouldn’t tell you how close you came to getting your wish. Now, get out there and be a tourist, view and sightsee and shop. Go.”

She laughed, and ran for the sedan. He watched it head for the main gate.

The SEALs had an early lunch, and flew off the base at 1320 for their two-hour ride in the Sea Knight. Most of them slept on the trip. Senior Chief Dobler read a war paperback. Murdock thought about the mission. It was a no-see mission. They would have to be careful attaching to the destroyer this time. They would have to come in ahead of it, power their boats over to it, and with small hand magnets hold their place on the side of the ship until they could get the limpets attached and the timers set.

Working on the screws would be more difficult. They would have one or two tries at each of the destroyer’s two shafts. Even if they could get clamped on to the very end of the destroyer, it would be a tough throw to get the light line that was attached to the cable into the area where the propeller was sucking in water before it blasted it out to the rear.

At ten knots it wouldn’t be such a task as it would be at thirty knots. Murdock worked it over and over in his mind. He didn’t have any better plan by the time they landed on the cruiser Cowpens. He decided not to send a swimmer under the hull with the cable and bomb. There was a big chance the swimmer would be sucked into the propeller blades and be chopped to pieces.

Murdock knew the mission had the highest priority when the XO of the Cowpens met them at the chopper pad.

“I’m Marshall,” the commander said, holding out his hand to Murdock, who was first off the helicopter. “Captain Casper wants you to know that this ship is yours. Anything you want, you get. It isn’t often we get a direct order from the CNO.”

“Murdock,” the SEAL said, taking the other man’s hand. “We won’t need much. Just want to be seven miles ahead of that Chinese destroyer just after dark. That way you should be able to stay out of his radar pattern and still get us in position.”

“No problem. Let’s get your men off here and into some quarters. We’ll feed you before you go. I see you have the IBSs. We can launch you off the fantail and put the men down on ropes. You have some ordnance?”

“Yes, heavy limpets. They can be stowed close by.”

Murdock had already assigned the attack teams. The IBSs would be tied together with a sixty-foot line. He again went over in his mind the assignments and how it would work.

The SEALs gathered in an empty compartment amidships and Murdock rehearsed the actions again. Four men had the limpets as their duties, and four more would work the propeller throw, two on each shaft.

“You other six men will be security. Watch the rail for any kind of action. Listen for any whistles or shouts from above. I don’t think they can detect the magnets on this rusty outside hull, but they just might have some sort of device to measure the jolt.”

They had chow at 1700, then cammoed their faces with black, green, and blue greasepaint, and went up to the helicopter launch pad at 1800. It was just starting to go dusk. The men wore their jungle cammies and floppy hats. A short time later the cruiser took a 45-degree turn to the left.

“We’re moving closer to the destroyer,” Murdock told the men. “We should be seven miles ahead of it. The cruiser will drop us off on the direct course of the destroyer. All we have to do is lay low and let the big bucket come to us. Then we motor up to her, clamp on our magnets, and lash up.

“The first boat has the limpets, the second the prop men. That line connecting us should be sixty feet long. First boat latches on about fifty feet from the bow and plants the limpets there. If you have time, attach three of them.

“Second boat, we latch on as close to the stern as possible. We’ll try throwing our lines under the end of the boat. It’s going to be tougher than I had figured. We try until we loose the last of our six lines.

“We’ll use the Motorola. Give me a call, Ed, when you’re done. But don’t detach until you get the word.”

A short time later the XO appeared. “We’re on course and should be seven miles ahead of the Chinese ship in two minutes. We’ll cut power and let you off directly on the destroyer’s course. Your men can go down rope ladders?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Fine. As soon as we cut power, we’ll drop the tethered IBSs over the fantail. Good luck, SEALs.”

Two minutes later the big ship cut power and slowed in its forward progress. Another minute and the XO pointed, and sailors put the IBSs over the fantail so they would trail the ship. The crew snugged the IBSs up tight against the back of the ship and dropped rope ladders down. The SEALs went into the boats by squads, with the officers last to go down the ladders.

“Bravo Squad, you ready to cast off?” Murdock asked.

“Motor started and ready,” DeWitt said.

Murdock nodded to Lampedusa, who started the motor on Alpha Squad’s small boat.

“Cast off,” Murdock said, and the two small boats coasted away from the slowly moving cruiser. A minute later the cruiser powered up and moved to the side to get back in a ten-mile tracking position.

“We hang around right here and see what shows up,” Murdock said. “We have that sixty-foot tether binding us together?”

“On here,” Lam said.

“Tether on,” DeWitt said.

“So, we dick around here for a while,” Murdock said. “At ten knots it should take that Chinese destroyer thirty to forty minutes to come to us. Each boat needs a lookout.”

They waited. There were almost no waves, just a gentle swell that lifted them about four feet and then lowered them again. Mahanani called in.

“Hey, Skipper. I figure we have a current running here of about four knots almost at right angles to that destroyer’s course. Shove us a lot farther than it will that big junk pile.”

“Roger that, Mahanani. He’s coming SSW at us, so we need to do about two miles at a right angle to that. Let’s try it now and wait. We should be able to see his lights at three or four miles. We’ve been waiting for ten minutes now.”

Lampedusa called to his CO. “Skipper, we have a problem back here. Somewhere we have a ripped panel. I can hear air hissing out, then it bubbles, and then hisses. The boat must have snagged on something when they launched it off the cruiser.”