Firestorm

14

"A Chinese patrol boat?" Jaybird asked.

"You guessed it, and coming fast," Murdock said. "Head for the tree side," Murdock ordered. "Up ahead there are some trees that overhang the water. If we're lucky we can get in there and be hard to spot."

Both IBSS headed for shore at what seemed to Murdock an agonizingly slow speed. The patrol boat growled closer. Now they could see the headlight. It wasn't a searchlight, but aimed the right way it could be dangerous to the black boats and cammie-outfitted SEALS.

It would be close.

The IBSS edged into the overhanging branches of the trees, and were almost completely covered by the time the Chinese patrol boat roared into the area. It had been making S-curve searches, scanning the bay and both shores. Here the bay was nearly half a mile wide and the boat had a lot of water to cover.

The craft paused as it sighted the overhanging branches. The headlight played on them for a moment as the forty-foot craft turned past them from fifty meters. Evidently the searchers saw no movement and nothing else suspicious through the thick growth. The patrol boat turned in another large S and moved on up the bay.

Murdock put the silent-moving craft back into gear. "We've got over two more miles to get to the ocean," Murdock whispered to Dewitt in the other boat. "If we make it, we charge straight east and hope for a pickup. If we get separated, same plan. You have a sonar signaler. We'll stick together if at all possible."

They hummed along the far shore, watching for more patrol boats. Surely the Chinese had more than one in the bay or available for use here.

The second, then the third patrol boat appeared quickly. Each seemed to be working one of the shorelines from the ocean inward. The near shoreline here had trees, but none that grew close enough to the water to hide under.

"If we get spotted, we use the fifties and blast the cockpit of that sucker," Murdock said. "Maybe we can kill any radio transmissions. Then we go for any mounted machine guns we see and then try to shoot out the waterline and sink her."

The word was passed to the second boat. Each had five of the.50-caliber sniper rifles.

Six minutes passed. Murdock checked his watch. It was 0232. Less than six hours of darkness left. If they got caught in the bay or on the land come sunup, they were as good as dead. They would have to take their chances swimming their way out the bay and into the ocean. They had fins and masks on the IBSS, but no rebreathers. They would have to dump all their weapons and ammo and hope. A damn lot of hope, Murdock knew.

The near-shore patrol boat had an active searchlight. It sent out a three-foot beam with a lot of power behind it.

"Get ready to shoot and scoot, you guys," Murdock whispered to the five men in his boat with the big fifties. "We gonna have uninvited company in about two minutes. We shoot first. Brown, take out the searchlight."

Usually the squad leader or platoon leader opens fire first. This time Murdock didn't have a fifty, so he brought up his CAR-15 with the selector on full auto.

The Chinese patrol boat moved closer. It had slowed and the searchlight swept the shore continuously. The beam was twenty meters from the lead IBS when Murdock aimed at the lighted pilothouse of the forty-foot craft and fired a five-round burst.

The heavy fifties barked in immediate response. Bolts were thrown quickly, new rounds were inserted, and another blast of ten of the heavy.50-caliber explosive rounds jolted into the small Chinese craft. The first volley blew out the searchlight and most of the running lights and crippled the steering. The patrol boat slewed sideways. The fifties kept pounding, now aiming lower at the waterline hoping to hit an engine or fuel tank.

Just as the first five-round magazines were running dry on the Mcmillan M-88's, an explosive projectile hit the fuel tank on the patrol craft and it blew up. A huge fireball blossomed and slowly lifted upwards as the boat disintegrated. Parts of the patrol craft fell into the water fifty meters away. When the sound of the explosion faded, Murdock could hear a siren from upstream and then the angry growl of the other two patrol craft heading his way.

"A mile and a half," Murdock said so his men could hear. "We charge ahead, but these IBSS aren't exactly outboard racers." He turned his.50-caliber sharpshooters around the other way. "As soon as you can see any running lights back there, start shooting at them. We might discourage them enough to keep them back at long range."

"Yeah, and we might not," Magic Brown said. "We staying near the shore in case we catch a lucky round that deflates this little gem we're riding in?"

"Damn close to shore. We might be able to ground one of those beasties back there. Let's hear some sound out of those fifties."

The other IBS saw the reverse targeting and did likewise. Murdock hoped it would be enough. Now, with a definite target, he was sure the Chinese would have radioed to their base and alerted some heavier craft and maybe some air-power. He knew the Chinese had good attack choppers and some sleek new fighters. Either one would be bad news.

Jaybird Sterling gave a shout of joy. "Put out one of the damn running lights," he chortled. "Don't know what else I hit. They must know by now that we have some firepower."

The two patrol boats behind them did seem to slack off their forward charge.

"They are regrouping," Dewitt said. The other rubber boat had come alongside. "Wish we could capture one of those patrol boats and use it to charge straight out the bay and into the night to the east."

"Dreaming, L-T," Ronson said. "I figure we'll be swimming before this fracas is over. These Mainlanders don't like to lose even a little skirmish, and we spanked their asses good back there at the airfield."

The sniper rifles continued to send messages to the patrol boats. Murdock had checked ammo totals and told the men to conserve. They didn't know what they might need the big fifties for down the road. The two patrol boats were definitely holding back. Murdock wished he knew why.

Then he found out.

Both the Chinese boats opened up with.50-caliber machine guns. They must have had to change mounts or bring them from the aft decks. The big rounds began slapping into the water short. Murdock and Dewitt turned their boats away from each other. Dewitt was closest to the shore and he hugged it. Murdock guided his IBS thirty meters away toward the center of the bay.

"Cease fire," Murdock said into his lip mike. "Hide, don't give them a target."

The fifties went silent. The attacking boats behind them closed to a shorter range and fired the heavy fifties in bursts now that tracked across the water where the SEALS still moved slowly toward the mouth of the bay.

Murdock cautioned his men to stay low in the boat. "They probably don't have radar on those buckets, but we don't want to give anything away."

They moved forward, the silent IBS engines propelling them closer to the mouth. Murdock figured they were still a mile short of the ocean.

The machine guns behind them fired again, picking up the series of five-round bursts. Most of them went toward the shore.

"Trouble!" Murdock heard in his earpiece. It was Dewitt.

"We've taken two rounds, our IBS is going limp, and we have a casualty. We can make shore. Will save all of the masks and fins. Mind joining us?"

Murdock turned his boat toward the shore. Before he motored into the hail of.50-caliber rounds, the Chinese slowed, then stopped the firing.

"They must be encouraged that they haven't had any return fire," Ronson said. Murdock agreed.

"Dewitt, some help here?" Murdock said into his mike.

Murdock's radio sounded. "I see you. Turn left about ten meters and then straight into the shore. We've found a little cover here. Some logs and an old foundation of a building. Our IBS is flat."

"Roger that."

Murdock had almost thirty seconds to decide what to do. One boat down meant both boats were down.

"We're going in. Grab your masks and fins and hope we can use them later. Right now we have some dogface ground-soldier work to do. That L in SEAL still stands for land. Let's hit the beach running. If we can hide the boat, fine.

There was no way to hide the boat. When they were all out with their equipment, Murdock slashed it twice with his combat knife and pushed it into the water to deflate and sink.

They found Dewitt and his men behind crumbling rock foundations ten meters from the shoreline.

It was the best protection Murdock had seen all night.

"We stay silent unless they spot us," Murdock said. "Don't even breathe heavy."

The fourteen men crouched in place. Only Doc Ellsworth was busy.

"We have one casualty," Dewitt whispered to Murdock. "Johnson took a hit through the chest up high, but it's one of those damn fifties. We patched him some. The round went out his back. Missed his lung, I'd say."

They heard the Chinese patrol craft working slowly toward them. The boats fired now and then. Once they put on a burst of speed and snapped on searchlights working both sides of the shoreline. "Gonna fucking miss us," Jaybird whispered.

Doc crawled over and touched Murdock's shoulder. "He's hit bad. Lost a lot of blood. I patched him up some. Took two shots of morphine to keep him quiet. He won't travel good."

"Swim?"

"Float in a body bag."

"Thanks. Stay with him."

The boats worked closer. The one on the side of the bay snapped on its lights every ten seconds or so, let it burn for a quick look at the shore, then snapped it off.

Murdock had a hole in the foundation through which he watched the boat come closer. The searchlight jolted on and swept the beach directly in front of them. Murdock sucked in a breath. Half of one of the IBSS showed on the muddy bank. It was deflated flat, but looked out of place. It would be a bright beacon for the Chinese.

The light held on the raft. The patrol boat cut its engine. Machine-gun fire raked the beach and the tall grass behind it. When the firing stopped, the SEALS could hear the Chinese chattering.

The boat still had its running lights on. Murdock figured it was no more than forty meters off shore. The heavy machine gun spoke again, this time spraying the grass and the end of the foundations. Everyone was in the Chinese dirt two feet below the top of the native rocks and mortar.

Murdock checked his peephole. The boat came forward slowly toward shore.

"We've got to take them out," Murdock whispered in his mike. "Let's get ready. On me. Here we go." He lifted up and put his CAR-15 over the top of the foundation. The searchlight on the boat was off. He sighted it on the bow where the machine gun had to be and fired a five-round burst.

Ten.50-caliber weapons and three CARS fired a half second after he did. The rounds ripped into the suspicious boat with the force of a 105 round exploding. The small pilothouse windows crashed, the deck was swept with.223-caliber rounds, and the exploding fifties broke up the ship from stem to stern. For a moment it wallowed, then went dead in the bay waters.

They heard splashes on the far side. No more sound came from the patrol boat.

Murdock called a cease-fire. All was quiet. They could see the running lights on the other patrol boat a half mile away on the far side of the bay.

"Will it run?" Murdock asked his mike. "If it will it's an even trade. Ronson and Sterling, get out there and see if we left enough of that tub intact so we can use it to make a run down the bay for glory."