Death Blow

17

The SEALs, still tied together, swam forward underwater. Murdock could hear the craft coming closer. All he could think of were depth charges. What if the boat had them and set one at twenty feet? It would blow all of the SEALs right out of the water and into hell. No, no, patrol boats didn’t have depth charges. He’d been seeing too many submarine movies lately. So what was the patrol boat doing?

It came closer and Murdock wanted to hold his breath. Then the engine sounds were louder until they rumbled directly over the SEALs.

A moment later it was gone, speeding away, and the sounds coming softer with each minute. Murdock gave two quick tugs on the buddy line that were repeated down the row and the SEALs went up. Murdock looked around as soon as his face broke the surface. They were off course. They were around the point of Victoria and could see into the harbor. Another quarter of a mile.

He pointed down and they dove and swam forward on Murdock’s new course. He used the underwater compass and moved strongly forward. Just inside the harbor, the SEALs surfaced again. Now they could see the luxury liner at the dock. The huge white-painted ship was awash with light from all the strings of bulbs. Murdock surveyed the area.

Jaybird popped up beside him. “That old dock just aft of the cruise ship might be a good spot to set up.”

“You and Lam check it out,” Murdock said. He gave three jerks on the nylon line and the SEALs untied themselves. They were a hundred yards from the old dock. “We’ll move slowly toward shore,” Murdock whispered to the man closest to him and the word was passed to the rest. They submerged and swam toward the shoreline that was built up to the water’s edge with warehouses, docks, and a pair of freighters.

Jaybird met them just off the freighters. “Lam is scouting out the area again, but it looks good. Nobody around. Hasn’t been used for a while. Some construction going on topside. Plenty of room below it and a dry route to the dock. Puts us about fifty yards from the end of the liner.”

“Let’s move,” Murdock said and the SEALs swam on the surface doing an easy breast stroke with only their faces out of the water.

The water ended twenty feet from the foundations for the pier and the ground was mostly dry. The SEALs found their spots and pulled off their wet suits and Draegrs and put them in their drag bags. They arranged the bags so their weapons were on top. Then they checked out each other. They had on their civilian clothes and while not looking like your ordinary middle-age tourist, they might pass for the part.

Murdock and Lam went to the top of the steps up to the dock, and surveyed the luxury liner. There were three soldiers guarding a closed loading hatch that was dock level a quarter of the way down the long ship. At the gangplank near the center of the ship were eight guards, four on each side. Two more Chinese soldiers stood guard at the top of the gangplank.

“Get an EAR up here,” Murdock whispered down the steps. Bradford came up.

“She’s fully charged and ready to go,” Bradford said. He looked at the targets. “Should get all eight of them at the gangplank first with one shot. Then a second one ten seconds later for the three guys at the hatch.”

“Bring up the other EAR,” Murdock whispered down the steps. Fernandez came up with it. Murdock moved aside to make room for the other gunner. “Bradford, take the gangplank, then when the two men at the top start down, nail them.”

“Fernandez, you have the three men at the loading hatch this side. Let’s do it.”

The men both nodded. “Sight in and fire on my command. Ready, and fire.”

The soft whooshing sound of the enhanced rifles hardly made a dent in what they realized was a low level hum of late night traffic on the island.

The eight guards at the gangplank dissolved into masses of sleeping jelly, as they fell where they had been standing. None of them moved after hitting the concrete. Some excited chatter filtered down from the guards at the top of the gangplank. Fernandez’s round had blasted the three closer guards and they wobbled a moment, then went down, their rifles clattering on the concrete dock surface.

Bradford watched the guards at the top of the gangplank. They hesitated then both ran down the steps. Bradford led them just a hair and fired. The blast of enhanced air slammed into the two men. Knocked one man off the gangplank to land hard on the concrete twenty feet below. The other one sagged and passed out on the steps themselves.

The SEALs had on their new Motorolas, replacements for the ones they had taken swimming in Bangladesh.

“Jefferson, Bradford, and Ching on me,” Murdock said. “We’re the first up the gangplank. We’ll clear and then the rest of you charge onto the ship in a rush and get to your assigned areas. Let’s move.”

They ran down the forty yards to the gangplank, carrying their drag bags, their weapons out and ready, locked, and loaded.

“Hell, we don’t come close to looking like tourists,” Jefferson said. Murdock, Ching, Bradford, and Jefferson stepped over the prostrate soldiers as they approached the gangplank. The ship rode low on the tide and the ramp up to the rail was only twenty steps. Murdock led them. Their line would be that they were new crewmen just assigned. Just as they topped the plank and stepped into the lobby-type two-story entryhall of the ship, a Chinese soldier came out of a doorway and stared at them. He saw their weapons and reached for a pistol. Bradford hit him with an EAR round and the soldier took a step backward, then collapsed like a rag doll on the soft red carpet of the ship.

Before the four could signal the others, three Chinese in civilian dress left another door and headed for the gangplank. They were drunk and walking with just a slight stagger. They laughed at some joke, continued past Murdock and his men without paying any attention to them, and headed down the gangplank

“Let them go,” Murdock whispered into his mike.

A stream of Mandarin sounded directly behind them. They turned to see a Chinese soldier with officer epaulets. He shouted something in Mandarin, then he saw the SEAL’s weapons and lifted a submachine gun. Before he could fire, Murdock sent a silenced three-round burst from an MP5 subgun into his chest. He slammed backward against the wall and slowly crumpled, the weapon falling to the carpeted floor. Bradford and Jefferson caught the dead Chinese officer by the arms and dragged him through a door into a dark office and hurried out.

“SEALs, come on up,” Murdock said on his Motorola. The four men looked around, saw no more guards, and headed for their objective, the bridge. It would be forward at the top level of the ship. Murdock saw the elevators and led his men that way. The doors on the elevators opened and a couple came out. Their arms were around each other and they had some trouble walking. The girl giggled and stared up at the man. They turned and weaved down a companionway, not even noticing the SEALs who had held their weapons behind their legs. They still carried their drag bags, looking for a good place to hide them.

The elevator took them to the top to the Lido deck. It was open in the center with a swimming pool and deck tennis courts there and a two-story bridge area at the bow of the big ship. The SEALs headed that way. They had just passed the swimming pool and hurried around the tennis courts when a Chinese soldier jumped out from behind a wall and challenged them.

Below on the dock, the other SEALs quickly bound the hands and ankles of the thirteen unconscious Chinese soldiers, then raced up the gangplank. All had assignments and headed into the areas where they could find their targets.

On the Lido deck, Ching shouted something at the Chinese guard who had jumped out and confronted the four SEALs. It startled the soldier and confused him. In that fraction of a second, Bradford put him down with an EAR shot. The man shuddered, then his eyes went wide and closed as he slumped to the floor, his submachine gun clattering away from him.

Just ahead they saw a door marked “Bridge, Authorized Personnel Only.” Murdock tried the door, it was unlocked. He and the rest of the SEALs dropped their drag bags in the corner of the deck and opened the door. Inside was a corridor with doors opening off it. Straight ahead forty feet they saw stairs. They took them to the upper level. Another door blocked their way.

Murdock tested the handle, turned it gently and pulled the door open an inch. Inside he saw the bridge, a wide expanse with windows around the entire area. Near the front was a large console with various video monitors and a set of controls. A crewman in white uniform stood there watching everything.

On the far side Murdock saw three Chinese playing some kind of game at a small table. Another soldier with epaulets of an officer watched the crewman at the console. Murdock pointed to Bradford, and held up three fingers pointing to the left. Bradford moved up beside Murdock, saw the targets and aimed the weapon through the door. Then Murdock shook his head and pulled Bradford back.

“Too confined a space. Everyone inside would be out. We’ll go in and cover them. Use silent rounds if needed.

The four SEALs burst into the room, weapons up, covering the Chinese. The officer’s eyes widened, then he scowled and slowly reached for a pistol at his waist. Murdock shot him in the shoulder and he bellowed in pain but didn’t fall. The three Chinese at the game, stood slowly. None had a weapon within reach.

“Who the hell are you guys?” the crewman asked.

“Navy SEALs,” Murdock said. “Come to get your ass out of the fire. We’ll need your help. Get your captain up here, now. Tell him we’re onboard and taking you out of Hong Kong.”

The SEALs tied the four Chinese hand and foot with riot cuffs and cinched them tight. They bound up the officer’s shoulder wound to stop the bleeding.

The crewman held out his hand.

“Norm Hadilston, from Chicago. I’m the second officer. Glad to see you guys. This is fantastic. I thought we were stuck here for a month or so. How can you break us out of this jail?”

“Not sure, Hadilston. That’s why we want to talk to your captain.” Murdock’s earpiece sounded.

“Cap. Lam. We’re at the engine room, but there are some problems here. We haven’t attacked yet, but there are six Chinese in there and all are awake and armed. No sign of any crew. We’re working on it.”

“Roger that, Lam. Take it slow and quiet. Keep them away from the intercom. We don’t want any loud speaker jazz.”

Hadilston watched the interchange. “I’ll call the captain at once. He isn’t a sound sleeper. Should be here in five minutes.”

“If we get you free of the Chinese onboard, can you move the ship away from the pier and head out the channel without any tugs?”

Hadilston scowled then slowly nodded. “Yes, I’ve seen it done. Not easy but with a little luck we can do it.”

“Good, now we need control. My man said some problem in the engine room.”

“The Chinese are fascinated with our engines. They have some engineers down there, I think, besides the soldiers.”

Several decks below the bridge, Lieutenant (j.g.) DeWitt stared at the door marked “Communications.” No one had entered or left as he and two men watched. There had been no passengers in the companionway.

He and Ostercamp and Mahanani moved up on each side of the door, then DeWitt tried the knob. It turned and he jerked the door open and jumped inside. One sleepy crewman lifted his head out of his hands and stared at them.

“Who the hell are you guys?” he asked.

DeWitt cleared the room with darting glances. There was no one else in the room filled with radio equipment, fax machines, readout screens, and video monitors.

“We’re the guys who are going to get your ass out of a sling,” Ostercamp said. “Any Chicoms usually stand guard in here?”

“Nope, no Chinks at all. Who are you guys?”

“U.S. Navy SEALs,” DeWitt said. “Can you lock the door from the inside and keep everyone out?”

“Sure, but—”

“Good, we’ve got other jobs to do. You should be getting instructions from your Captain shortly. Just hang in here with us. We hope to be moving this ship before daylight.”

All of the SEALs heard the warning in their earpieces.

“Tran at the gangplank. We’ve got trouble. Two army trucks just pulled up with what looks like fifteen men in each one. I’ve got the EAR. Should I use it if they start to board?”

“Yes,” Murdock said at once. “Put them down now, even if they don’t start to board. They’ll find the guards down.”

At the gangplank, Tran “Train” Khai sighted in on the closest army truck. The fifteen men had gathered around it and he fired.

He watched the Chinese soldiers shiver and stare in astonishment, then they fell down like dominoes, one after the other. Some shouts came from the men at the other truck.

“Eight thousand, nine thousand, ten thousand,” Tran counted, then he fired at the second truck. The Chinese there had started to run for the first truck and two of them evidently were outside the effects of the EAR. The rest at the truck went down and out. Tran kept his weapon trained on the two men who stopped and looked back at their own truck. They both ran back and began to look at their unconscious buddies.

“Nine thousand, ten thousand, eleven thousand…” Tran fired again nailing the last two men. He touched his mike. “Last of the thirty men down and out,” he said on the Motorola.

On the bridge, Captain Omar Prestwick hurried through the door. He had on his white uniform shirt and pants, but he hadn’t taken time to tuck in his shirt. He was also barefooted.

“Damn, real live U.S. Navy SEALs?” He held out his hand. “Prestwick here. Wonderfully glad to see you. Can you really get us out of Hong Kong?”

“Going to try, Captain. I’m Lieutenant Commander Murdock. We have control of the communications room. We’re working on the engine room, engineering, and security. What else do we need to control to get the ship under way?”

“Move it, tonight, without tugs?”

“Doubt if we could call up a tug or two without Chinese permission. I understand you can move away from the pier without tugs.”

“Yes, but damn hard. Hell, worth a try. If we can control the ship. You have commo. We need engineering and engine. Takes some time to get us ready to move. Not like kick-staring a Harley.”

He stared at Murdock and the other men’s weapons.

“You have real bullets in those guns, I’d guess. Be careful so you don’t shoot up a batch of my passengers.”

“We’re taking all precautions, Captain.”

Murdock held up his hand as his earpiece spoke.

“Skipper, Fernandez at engineering. We’re inside. We have half of it. There’s another big room two Chicom soldiers ran into and we’re not sure how to get them out.”

“Hold, we’ll send you some help. DeWitt can you move to engineering and assist.”

“That’s a roger, skipper. We’re on our way.”

“Captain, my man says two Chinese are in a second room at engineering. Is that the vital one?”

“Yes, we need both rooms to move the ship. They have to get in there without damaging anything. Let me get our chief engineer down there to help them.” The captain moved to the phone and dialed.

Two decks below at the security office, Hans Kok, checked the security monitors that covered twenty-four main sections of the passenger areas of the big ship. Earlier he had seen what looked like some young men with weapons, but he figured it must be some kind of program the entertainers were working on. But it was late for that.

Then he spotted another one, this time there was no doubt, it was a man with a submachine gun moving cautiously down a hall. What the hell was going on? He was about to call his supervisor when he saw the time: almost 2:00 A.M. The Chinese soldier guard who had been stationed with him snored softly to one side where he sat in a soft chair. His automatic rifle lay across his chest, the butt on the floor.

Kok checked the other monitors. Twice more he saw young men with weapons moving around the ship. They were in civilian clothes, but acted like soldiers. What should he do? Notify the Chinese? Now that would be dumb. Call the captain? At 2:00 A.M. that would be bold. Just wait and see what happened?

He looked up as the door to the room burst open and three men with weapons surged into the room. He looked at the ugly snouts of the three submachine guns pointed at him and slowly raised his hands. He pointed to the Chinese soldier. Without a sound, one of the men eased up to the Chinese and hit him on the head with the side of his machine gun. Then the man grabbed the rifle as the Chinese slumped unconscious.

“Do you speak English?” Jefferson asked.

On the bridge, Murdock heard a message in his earpiece.

“Cap, we’ve got real troubles down here in the engine room. We’re in the first section, but the next section seems to be the important one. The Chicoms must have seen us coming. They have the door locked down and five or six of them have firing positions inside all aimed at the door. You better get down here and see what the fuck we can do.”