Direct Action

47

The Syrians kept up a heavy fire, but showed no signs of advancing. The four SEALs lay spread across the rock mound and wondered why they weren’t being treated to a classic infantry assault. The Syrians could certainly tell that there were only four rifles shooting at them. Granted, the ridgeline wasn’t wide enough to get more than ten to fifteen men on line abreast, but that ought to be more than enough to do the job.

The answer, Murdock thought, might be that in such a tight space it was easier for him to maneuver four men than the Syrian commander his much larger unit. Maybe the grenades they’d thrown over the dome had taken out some of the leadership.

Then the flashes and bangs started up again down in the valley. Murdock and Razor reached the identical conclusion at the exact same time.

“Run!” they shouted.

Each time they stopped, Murdock’s legs got stiffer. And whenever they moved, the burning needles began jabbing him again. He tried twisting his back in order to throw his legs forward faster. Razor grabbed him under one armpit, Jaybird the other, in order to speed him along. Murdock realized he’d forgotten to count. Damn.

The mortars landed, and the SEALs dove into the rocks.

The Syrians had fired without the benefit of a spotting round to try to catch their foes unaware. A good idea. The barrage of 120mm mortar bombs straddled the area where the SEALs had been. But the SEALs had had a good fifty-second head start to get out of the impact area. They had, but just barely.

The blasts were close enough to bounce them up and down on the ground like rubber balls. The shock waves pounded them, and the shrapnel screamed overhead and bounced off the rocks. The harsh high-explosive smoke made it hard to breathe.

“Don’t nobody fire a round!” Razor screamed. “They’ll adjust it onto us!”

None of the SEALs would have fired, even if they had been able to hear him over the din of the explosions.

In the midst of it all, Doc Ellsworth’s voice came over the radio net. “Everybody still there?”

Razor only heard him because the earphone was stuck in his ear and his hands were clasped over his ears. “We’re still here, Doc,” he screamed.

“Great,” said the Doc. “I’ve got the birds on the line.”

The helicopters had announced themselves first. It was etiquette, done so the SEALs wouldn’t have to keep calling on the radio and risk compromise while the helicopters were still out of range.

Doc Ellsworth had been sitting back against a rock, the PRC-117 handset up to his ear spitting out nothing but hissing static, when a human voice broke in and said clearly, “Echo Seven Oscar, this is Hammer-One inbound, over?”

The transmission was encrypted, so Doc didn’t have to worry about tipping off the Syrians. “Hammer-One, this is Echo Seven Oscar, over.”

“Roger, Seven Oscar, we are ten minutes out, standing by for zone brief, over.”

There wasn’t any fucking landing zone, but if the guy wanted to be humored, Doc was willing to oblige. “Hammer-One. LZ is a ridgeline, twenty meters wide at our position. LZ is covered with boulders, will require ladder. Wind is from the west, twenty knots. Recommend you approach from the southeast along the ridgeline, retire in the same direction. Enemy positions eastern valley, ridgeline northeast five hundred meters. LZ is not under fire at this time. Seven PAX for pickup. One emergency medevac, one priority ambulatory. Will mark LZ with IR strobe, over.”

“Roger, Seven Oscar.” The Blackhawk pilot repeated back what Doc had told him to make sure there were no errors. Then: “We have a stretcher on the hoist for your emergency, over.”

“Roger,” Doc replied. “Let me know when you want the lights on. Seven Oscar out.” Doc raised the MX-300 microphone back up to his lips. “Birds are ten minutes out, got that?”

“Say again?” came the response.

Doc could clearly hear the explosions down the ridge. They were even louder coming over the radio. He enunciated each word this time. “Birds are ten minutes out, over.”

Razor Roselli was still being slammed about by the mortar blasts. “Got it!” he screamed.