Firestorm

28

Murdock checked his watch and then the sky to the east. It was going to be daylight well before 0600 hours. He hoped they would have time. They damn well better have time to go to ground before some Chinese hard-cases found them.

He watched Red vanish into some trees, then work through them and come to the spot he had thought might be a cave. Red looked at it, then vanished. He was back in view a minute later, held his rifle over his head with both hands, and pumped it up and down.

"Move it," Murdock snapped. "Red's found our hidehole. We have about ten minutes to get there and save our fucking SEAL hides."

They jogged and ran down the slope, across a small open place, and into the brush and trees where they had last seen Red. He came out of a hole and grinned.

"We found ourselves a fucking mine tunnel. Not a big one, but big enough and long enough for us to use. Welcome to SEAL House."

Murdock looked at the hole. It had been a mine tunnel. Rocks and dirt had fallen around the opening, reducing it to no more than two by three feet. Trees and brush had grown up around it. There was no sign of a road or even a trail leading away from it. Good. He pushed inside and in the dim light saw the remains of animal droppings, and some small bones, probably from creatures that had been an evening meal for a wolf or a coyote or a fox. Did they have those animals in China? He had no idea.

"Yes, this will work. Everyone get in here and we'll get the place cleaned up a little. Who has the candles?"

Three men brought out candles and lit them. It was surprising how much light they produced in the closed-in area.

"Magic, you and Ronson go out and cut a couple armsful of brush an inch thick and ten feet high and bring it back and plant it in front of our hole so no one can tell it's here. Get back before it gets light. Go."

They hurried out the hole.

"Now, push all the animal shit and bones over into one corner. Then stake out spots and sack out. It's been a long day and we might just not be through with it yet. If any of you have anything to eat, now is the time. No fire, no smoke, no noise." He watched the men settling down along the tunnel. It was eight feet high and about ten feet wide. There were no rail tracks on the floor or any sign that there ever had been.

He moved toward the opening. "I'm going to see if I can find a lookout. No way are we going to be trapped inside here blind and tucked up. Stay here, stay quiet. Jaybird, with me.

They left the hole and checked around them. They could see fifty yards now as the night began to fade into dawn.

"Up to the left," Murdock said. They worked through some trees and light brush to a spot fifty yards above the tunnel. Murdock settled down behind a fallen log. There were trees and brush in front and behind him. There also was a good view of the valley in front of them.

"Good cover and concealment," Jaybird said. "I'll take the first watch. We can get here and back to the tunnel without being seen. Keep your Motorola turned on."

"Right. Come daylight we should be able to see east for four or five miles. Hope to hell we can see the surf out there somewhere."

They both stared through the half-dawn, but could see no more than a quarter of a mile. They spotted their two woodcutters moving back to the tunnel with branches. By the time Murdock got down to the tunnel, the two men had half the brush jammed into the ground and woven together so it would stand up. It was two feet in front of the opening, and tied in with some other trees and brush to look natural from the front.

Murdock nodded. "Yeah, that will do it. Thanks. Inside now and get some shut-eye. No telling when we'll be up and moving again."

"If it's before dark tonight you can count me out," Magic said. "I'll have my butler take care of it for me."

Ronson took a swing at him, missed, and they stepped into the tunnel.

When Murdock got inside, he found Holt near the opening. He had the SATCOM radio set up and held the dish antenna. Murdock waved at him.

"Yeah, Holt. Good idea. Set up that dish outside the hole. We can work behind the screen out there. About time we check in with Don Stroh and see how he's coming along with our Taipei friends."

Three minutes later, he sent an encrypted message by the burst technique so if the Chinese had radio locators, they wouldn't have time to triangulate on their position.

"This is Afterburner calling Stroh land. Anybody home?"

"Afterburner, we're hot and ready. Only thing is, our friends in Taipei aren't exactly welcoming the idea of helping you."

"They know the whole China plan to take over their island?"

"They do, have for two days."

"Talk tough to them, Stroh. You know the territory here. You know how these people think. Find a handle on them and start yanking it around."

"Love to. If you have any suggestions they will be appreciated. We got through to Langley and they have no help. Right now I'm burning up the telephone trying to find somebody in Taipei I can trust. Will let you know when I learn anything."

"We're in a secure area here. Should be good for the next fourteen to fifteen hours of daylight. By then I hope you have some great news for us. Otherwise all we can do is run for the beach and hope to hell we can find it. Murdock, out."

He gave the handset back to Holt. "Keep the receiver turned on. We should have plenty of battery. They might just try to contact us. Camouflage it somehow so it won't show up in the daylight."

Murdock looked around. It was daylight. Only the screen of brush and small trees brought back by his men kept him from being a target for any Chinese soldier looking this way. He stepped through the hole inside and felt a little better.

Lieutenant Dewitt rose up from where he had stretched out on the dry tunnel floor.

"Maybe no news is good news, Skipper. Doc has tended to Fernandez and Frazier. Both are comfortable. Fernandez is the worst hurt. He needs some real medical treatment. If we don't get out of here for two days, he could lose his arm."

"We'll be out of this tunnel and charging for the beach as soon as it gets dark tonight, Lieutenant, I guarantee you that." Murdock hoped that was true. Guarantees were easy to give. He didn't have the least idea how he was going to make good on his promise.