Deathrace

3

Murdock sat in the booth and stared at the pretty woman across from him. She was slim, looked fit, had short brown hair, maybe five-eight, tanned and with penetrating brown eyes that watched him with barely concealed amusement. "Stroh, you aren't kidding, are you? I'm surprised."

"Blown out of the water seems a better Navy phrase, Lieutenant Murdock," Kat said. "I've had that reaction before at other good old boy's clubs."

"Can you swim, Miss Garnet?"

"Yes, and I'm a SCUBA instructor." Her mouth formed half a smile.

"Good. What about parachuting?"

"I've had twenty jumps so far, concentrating on free fall." The half smile grew.

Stroh gave a short laugh. "Let's forget the twenty questions, Lieutenant. Here's her short biography Kat is twenty-eight, has a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from M.I.T. Has been working on dismantling our overstock on nuke warheads. She's a G-12 on the civil service scale. Is she in good shape? She won the second Hawaiian triathlon ever held for women. Now she keeps in shape running marathons. I'm wondering if your SEALs will be able to keep up with her."

Murdock closed his eyes and lifted his brows. He took a deep breath. Then he nodded and looked up at Kat.

"Well, it looks like I have my orders, Miss Garnet. Welcome to the Third Platoon of SEAL Team Seven."

She smiled, and it erased the harsh lines of a frown.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Murdock. Please call me Kat. I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Kat, our first job is to survive. Our next job is to get to the target. Then we, or in this case, you, do the dismantling and destruction. Then we have our biggest task — trying to exfiltrate out of some hellhole without getting ourselves killed."

She unclenched her hands where they had been gripped in her lap, and smiled. "First things first, Lieutenant Murdock. I especially like that part about surviving. I did hesitate before I took on this job. Then the President called me. One advantage you have over me Nobody has ever shot at me trying to put big holes in my body."

"Our job is to protect you, Kat, and call me Murdock. No sense our getting to the target if you're riding along dead in a body bag."

"I don't like body bags." She looked up and a small frown creased her pretty face. "Oh, one more thing. I've never fired a gun in my life. I figure I need to learn how."

"No problem. We've got sixteen experts who will be falling all over themselves to teach you." Murdock looked over at Stroh, who couldn't stop grinning.

"This shoots your timing schedule all to hell, Stroh. No nonsense about a week for our DOD. I can rely on the current sharpness of my men, but I'll need at least a month to get Kat integrated and up to speed. How big a pack can she carry? What weapon for her? Check her out underwater with the rebreather. Can she jump with forty pounds of gear? Has she ever parachuted into water? Hell, we've got a year's worth of training for her to jam into a month."

"I'll talk to my people and they will talk to the President. State is all out of joint on this one. They say if any one Arab state gets a workable bomb, they can blackmail half the rest of the Arab states and form the biggest Muslim nation in the world. That will upset the balance of power over there, and jeopardize the whole Middle Eastern oil flow. The oil, of course, is the biggest worry."

"Have your people talk to my people," Murdock said, and Kat laughed.

Murdock looked at the woman again, only then noticing what she wore a skirt, mid-calf, and a brown blouse with short sleeves.

"What kind of shoes are you wearing?" Murdock asked Kat.

"Shoes? Oh, one-inch heels. Sturdy enough?"

"Good, we might as well get started. We won't be back to the Kill House for a while. Let's get out there and I'll run you through it for a cold-shower approach to what you're letting yourself in for."

"Right. I want to do some shooting today, too."

Murdock stood, and Kat was up with him.

"You have any gear?" he asked.

"Just one bag in the booth."

"Bring it," Murdock said, and headed for the door. Kat looked confused for a moment, then hurried to the booth, picked up her black travel bag, and ran out the front door. When she got to the Buick, Stroh held open the rear door for her.

On the drive out to the range, Stroh said he'd arranged for Kat to have quarters at the Amphibious Base Officers Quarters.

"On the books, Kat, you'll have the temporary rank of Lieutenant," Stroh said. "That's not a field rank, but in the SEALs rank doesn't count anyway. As the President told you, your main job is to stay alive going in so you can do the job on the nukes."

"So it doesn't matter a hell of a lot if I make it out of the country alive or not?" Kat asked.

"Getting those nukes destroyed and the rest of their nuclear capacity blasted into rubble is our only job," Murdock said. "If we do that, it isn't important if any of us come out." He hesitated and watched her shiver. "Of course to each one of us it's damn important to get out of there in one chunk."

Kat lifted her brows and smiled. "I like that last part the best."

They pulled up at the Navy bus on the range, and Kat and Murdock got out. Kat carried her bag.

Murdock talked to Stroh through the open front window. "Remember, I need a month to get this crew put together, and to safeguard Kat. Won't do any good to get to the target in there if we lose her going in. Make your boss and the President understand that. A month. No less."

The platoon was still out on one of the training exercises. Murdock motioned to Kat. "Over this way, sailor. Leave your bag in the bus, and we'll take a look at the Kill House."

He went with her to the bus, picked up a Colt .45 pistol and three extra magazines and the new HK G11 they had been testing. Kat looked at the weapons. He pushed the safety on on the .45, and pulled out the magazine, racking back the slide and catching the forty-five round that spun out. He handed the weapon to her.

"Get the feel of it. This could be one of the weapons that you'll carry."

She took the gun and frowned. "Heavy, isn't it?"

"Heavier with a loaded magazine in it."

They stopped twenty yards from the Kill House. It was especially built of bullet-absorbing material so the rounds wouldn't go all the way through and outside where they could hurt anyone. It had a roof and four rooms all rigged with the "terrorist" dummies.

Murdock took the weapon from her and pushed in the magazine. Then he gave the forty-five back to her.

"Grab the slide on top and pull it backward."

She tried. It didn't move. He put her hand forward and showed her how to grip it.

"This weapon is no good unless you can rack the slide back. That pushes one round from the spring-loaded magazine into the firing chamber. Then it's ready to fire."

She tried again, and this time pulled the slide back, and let it snap forward.

"Locked and loaded," Murdock said. "That means you're ready to fire." He reached over and pushed off the safety. "This is the safety. You can't pull the trigger when this is on. Now it's off. Always keep the muzzle of a loaded weapon pointed down-range."

She lifted the forty-five and pointed it at the building. She held it in her right hand. It wavered a little, but she was strong.

"Fire it," he said.

She looked at him and lifted her brows. "Remember you've got a virgin here. My very first time."

"So we go slow and gentle."

She grinned, and pulled the trigger. The weapon went off, and the recoil swung her hand well above her head.

"Wow. I did it, I shot a firearm. What a kick. I didn't expect that much."

"With an automatic you have a new round every time you pull the trigger. Try another shot, and try to hold the muzzle down a little this time."

They worked for fifteen minutes on the forty-five. Toward the end she used two hands to hold the heavy weapon. He showed her the overlapping grip.

As they finished the last magazine in the forty-five, Lieutenant (j.g.) Ed DeWitt brought the platoon up to the side of the Kill House. DeWitt's cammies were sweat-soaked on the chest and under each arm. He carried a Colt M-4A1 with the 40mm grenade launcher over his right shoulder, and stared at Murdock and Kat. "DeWitt, get over here and stop gawking." DeWitt walked up and kept staring at Kat.

"Kat Garnet, I'd like you to meet Lieutenant (j.g.) Ed DeWitt, second in command of the Third Platoon. Ed, this is Katherine Garnet, Lieutenant Garnet to YOU."

Ed saluted sharply and stepped forward. "Pardon me for staring, Lieutenant, but it isn't often that we have a pretty lady on our little training site out here in the desert."

"I'll be around from now on, Lieutenant. Call me Kat. I'd expect that Murdock has some interesting news for you and the rest of the platoon." That half little smile edged her face again, and Murdock wasn't sure if she were really smiling or laughing at him.

"Oh, yeah, there's that. Kat, maybe you'd like to tell the troops?"

"Not a chance, Murdock. I'll be interested to see how you handle the news."

"Me, too," Murdock said and they both laughed. DeWitt didn't understand what was going on.

"Murdock, past chow time," DeWitt said.

Murdock chuckled. "Oh, yeah, great idea. Put this off, and let me think on it a minute."

DeWitt called, and the platoon broke out of its position on a run and converged on the bus.

"While we're here, let me show you the new HK G11. It's an automatic rifle. Works this way. Two positions on the fire selector. Fully automatic and three-round bursts."

Murdock moved the selector to three-round and charged a round into the chamber, then leveled the boxlike weapon at the Kill House and blasted out three rounds.

"Fully auto it works this way." He pushed the selector lever to auto, and chattered out a dozen rounds into the Kill House.

She tried it. He fit the butt to her shoulder and she fired. The three rounds stuttered out, and the barrel hardly moved. When he shifted the selector to automatic she looked at him.

"I just pull the trigger and hold it back?"

"Right. It fires up to fifty rounds as long as you hold back the trigger."

She looked at him, then set her mouth. Her finger closed around the trigger, and she aimed at the Kill House. The first three rounds hit it, then the rounds climbed into the sky. Murdock caught the weapon and brought it back down. She eased off the trigger.

"Forgot to tell you that you have to really hold this one steady or it climbs on you."

"Now you tell me."

"Enough for today. You'll need daily training on weapons. Now how about a delicious meal at the mess hall?"

Her dark brown eyes evaluated him. "Murdock, how can I figure out when you're teasing me and when to believe you?"

"Tough question, Kat. So far few people have figured that out."

The mess hall was the bus. The delicious meal was the famous MRE, Meal Ready to Eat. This particular one was Menu No. 6. The MREs are stable, long-lasting field rations and not the favorite of most of the GI's who use them now and then. For the SEALs they were a lot easier than hauling a kitchen out to the firing/training range at Niland.

"Thought we were getting McDonald's takeout this time," Harry "Horse" Ronson called. The SEALs shouted him down.

Murdock gave Kat one of the dark brown MREs and sat in the dust on the shady side of the bus with one of his own. "Have a seat, anywhere," he said.

Murdock cut open the heavy brown plastic envelope on Kat's MRE, which was a foot long and seven inches wide. "Enjoy."

Kat poured out the contents. The largest olive drab plastic envelope was the main course "Chicken A la King, 2117."

"Heat it up or eat it cold," Murdock said.

She investigated the rest one plastic package of cocoa beverage powder, a plastic spoon, a paper package of beverage base powder, a plastic package of peanut butter, crackers, and an accessory brown envelope. Inside it was a small bottle of one-eighth of an ounce of Tabasco sauce, paper matches, a moist towelette, instant coffee, salt, toilet paper, sugar, nondairy creamer, and chewing gum.

"All this for lunch?" Kat asked.

"If we ever had time to heat it up and eat it," Murdock said. "No fire, no coffee. Cocoa maybe. Peanut butter on crackers for sure. The chicken la king isn't bad with a little of the Tabasco sauce on it."

The men kept looking at Kat. Ed had told them only her name and rank. That made them even more curious. Murdock finished his quick meal and stood.

"You may have been wondering about our guest. Her name is Katherine, call me Kat, Garnet. She's a G-12 in government service, and for this assignment holds the temporary rank of full Lieutenant. You will at all times treat her with proper respect.

"Kat is going to be training with us for the next three or four weeks. No, this isn't for a movie. As you saw, Don Stroh, our old buddy from the CIA, was here this morning. He brings us some news. Part of it is that we have an upcoming mission. We'll be going into Arab lands somewhere to deactivate, dismember, and generally destroy that nation's nuclear bomb building program.

"How many of you know how to deactivate a nuclear bomb and destroy the plutonium inside it?" He looked around, but no hands went up.

"Yeah, me, too. Kat is a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from M.I.T. Not a bad school but their football team stinks." He waited for the laugh that came.

"What this all means is that Kat will be training with us for what we hope will be the next four weeks, then she will be going with us, infiltrating into this Arab nation, where we will find, and Kat will destroy, the nuclear capability, and take care of the plutonium."

He heard some groans from the troops.

"Yeah, I know how you feel. By the way, Kat won the second Hawaiian triathlon for women. She keeps in shape running marathons for fun. That's over twenty-six miles, girls. Our job will be to try to keep up with her.

"She's with us. That's on special Presidential orders. Not exactly a rank we can buck. She'll train with us, go in with us, do her job while we play guard dogs, and then we'll come out with her and all the rest of you. Now, any comments?"

"Lieutenant, ma'am. Did you check first with Demi Moore?" Magic Brown asked. A smattering of laughter.

"No, but I did see her movie."

"Will you hold us back, ma'am? Meaning no disrespect?" Jaybird Sterling asked it.

"Not if I can help it. I'm tougher than I look. I could have said no to this offer. The President didn't order me in here. I have no problem with swimming. I'm a SCUBA instructor. Jumping, I've made twenty jumps, want to do more. Damnit, SEALS, I'll be trying as fucking hard as I can."

The SEALs gave a shout of approval.

Murdock took over. "That's a wrap, folks. Let's get on the bus and head back. We need to outfit Kat and set up a new training sched. Things will change, but they will be the same, only tougher. You may think the next four weeks are going to be worse than hell week from the Grinder days. Let's get to it." Three hours later, they were back in Coronado at the SEALs training base. Lieutenant (j.g.) DeWitt took Kat to base operations, where he found arrangements had already been made for Lieutenant Garnet. A complete set of SEAL uniforms and gear had been put in her quarters. She stared at the pile of uniforms and equipment.

"So, you're set, Lieutenant. Uniform of the day tomorrow will be cammies like I have on, and boots. Report to the quarterdeck promptly at oh-eight-hundred and you'll be brought to our area."

DeWitt hesitated. "Oh, Kat. Out here in Navy world, your temp rank will carry weight. Inside SEAL country rank doesn't mean squat. Some of the guys might get on you. Take it in good spirit. These men depend on each other for their very lives when we're out there on a mission. Somebody fucks up, somebody dies. We don't want that to happen. That's why we've got four weeks to make you into the best SEAL there ever was."

Kat bit her lip and squinted her brown eyes. "Lieutenant DeWitt, I like to think I'm a fast learner. I'll do my damnedest to learn what I must, to do what I have to, and to make sure that I don't cause any glitches in the traditional SEAL procedures. Thanks for the escort, and I'll see you bright and early at oh-eight-hundred tomorrow."