Target Lock

Bridge of the Frigate Sutanto 0809 Hours, Zone Time: August 25, 2008

Elliot MacIntyre looked up as something hurtled out of the smoke curtain rising above the head of the inlet: a chunky, sleek gray shadow that seemed to dive head-on for the frigate’s ruined bridge. Pulling up at the last second, it flared past, literally at masthead height. Rotor song thundered, counterpointed by the ripping scream of Gatling guns and the hammer of grenade launchers.

The Seawolves were plowing the road.

Cobra Richardson led his four-helo flight in a nose-to-tail daisy chain over the Sutanto and down the length of the inlet. With OCSW turrets cranked hard over and door guns flaming, the Super Hueys mercilessly raked the cliff walls in an all-out sterilization pass, doing what the Sea wolves did best: being there for the guys on the ground or the water.

The Morning Star howitzer did not fire that last round.

The gunnery from within the cavern mouth had slackened as well. Through the haze filling the inlet from the forest fires along the cliff sides, MacIntyre could see his target. Carberry had called it right. Harconan’s LSM was in there, moored to a pier on the right side of the ship pen. But the rest of the available “parking” was filled as well, with a second pier on the left with a couple of good-size pinisi tied up to it.

The pinisi looked the softest.

MacIntyre set his line with a last half-turn of the wheel and reached up to the overhead, slamming his palm on the collision alarm. Alarm hooters cried belowdecks and the Marines and sailors riding it out in the central passageway interlinked arms and braced their feet against the opposing bulkhead in the old glider infantry crash-landing posture.

Stone Quillain dragged Labelle Nichols into the passageway aft of the wheelhouse, shielding her with his own body from what was to come. A shadow swept across the ruins of the bridge as they plunged beneath the lip of the cavern entrance. MacIntyre dropped to his knees, crossing his arms over his face and bracing himself against the wheel stand.