War Cry

18

SEAL Team Seven, Third Platoon, decided to take the jaunt into North Korea slightly before noon. There were arrangements to be made. The timetable was set up. The quicker the better.

They would deploy off North Korea sometime after dark that same day.

Murdock talked with CAG Olson.

"'We need some kind of air contact. The Cole has a landing pad for choppers, but they are usually of the LAMPS III class. They won't do us much good since they have no land-attack capability. If we really get in a hole, we need something with some firepower. Can't you put a Cobra on the Cole's pad and we use it only in an emergency? It should be able to land and take off from the destroyer. The rotor diameter is the same as the Seasprite and smaller than the Seahawk."

Captain Irving Olson smiled. "Commander, you've been doing your homework. Yes, we can fly the Cobra off that class destroyer if we need to. In this case it looks like it would work. You'll want it with a complete load of ground-attack weapons. That would be the three-barrel twenty-millimeter cannon in the nose and wing pylons for the quad seven-tube seventy-millimeter rocket pods."

"Good. Always good to have some backup. We'll go in silent, but if we do our job, we can't stay silent for long. We're waiting for word from the Army's G-2 people about where these targets might be. We hear the generals are never in the same place at the same time, so we'll have some travel time."

"Interpreters?"

"Yes, we'll have two flown out here as soon as the Army picks them. We want Koreans who can help us pass if we have to. We are getting Korean civilian clothes to wear from the gitgo."

"You have everything else you need, Commander?"

"Yes, sir. We're still selecting our weapon mix. Right now it's set for 1320. We'll have five hours to sunset, but all we want to do tonight is get ashore and get ourselves situated somewhere. We'll go to work the next day."

"Commander, I hope you make it back. You'll make the SATCOM. We can put a dozen Hornets up there without too much trouble if they can help. The air belongs to us now. But the Cobra is a good idea as well. Quicker response time."

Murdock thanked the CAG, and hurried back to the assembly room. There was no word yet from the Army about the location of the targets.

Jaybird had checked with the admiral. The Cole had been alerted, and was standing by a quarter of a mile to starboard. The two RIBs were still on board the destroyer, and it was ready with crews for the inflatables.

They had selected weapons. They would take two of the fifties, four of the H&K PSG1 NATO-round sniper rifles. The rest of the SEALs would carry the H&K submachine guns. All but the fifties could be fired with suppressors. A quiet hit would be best. If they could work it.

Murdock went to communications and got through to Eighth Army headquarters. He was routed to Colonel Vuylsteke.

"Yes, Commander. You and your men have done good work. We hope this mission isn't an impossible one for you."

"We hope so, too. Colonel. Do we have any target locations yet?" "None for sure. We have one tentative one, who intelligence says is the top dog. He's Kim Bok Hee, a four-star general who promoted himself from brigadier. Said to be the most outgoing of the trio. Enjoys a good time, an avid golfer in a land of few golf courses, and a stern disciplinarian. Is currently commander in chief of the armed forces. We think he's in his vacation house near Nampo, which is about forty miles south and west of the capital. It's a port city, if that will help. It's on the north side of a good-sized bay."

"Thanks, Colonel. That should be enough to get us under way. Use the SATCOM to the destroyer Cole. We should have a six-hour ride on her before we move to the coast. We must have all three firm locations before we launch. Are we clear on this point?"

The colonel chuckled. "Commander, I see why you're so good at your work. Yes, we'll have firm locations for you. That's our lop priority right now. Call me anytime you have a question. We'll give you all the help we can. What about air?"

"It's a timing situation. That would be a hundred-and-fifty mile jump for your choppers. Your fighters could help faster, but couldn't evac us if we really get jammed. We'll have a Navy Cobra on call about ten minutes away. That will have to do for now. We'll keep our options open."

They said good-bye and hung up. Murdock looked at the phone. He called the admiral and told him they had the first location and where it was.

"About a six-hour ride in the Cole" the admiral said. "Let us know when you're ready to board. We'll put the Cobra on board with reloads of ammo after you and your men are choppered on. Anything else?"

"Not right now, Admiral. Thanks for asking. This has a little bit of a weird feeling about it."

"I've had the same feeling, Commander Murdock. Let's hope they are just pre-mission jumpy nerves."

"Yes, we'll hope."

Murdock put down the phone and hurried back to the assembly room. His men were ready. Jaybird had them in their cammies. "What happened to the Korean clothes?" Murdock asked.

"Foul-up, Skipper. The Army was supposed to supply them, but something went wrong. They sent the two Korean sergeants who will be our interpreters and fill in with machine guns. They arrived on board and are ready to move. We've given them MP-5's and ammo. The colonel I talked to said the clothing would be choppered to the Monroe before we got under way."

"Any other problems I need to know about. Jaybird?"

"No, sir. We have double ammo. Each man carries four fifty-caliber rounds in his combat vest. No rebreathers. We go in wet. We each have our waterproofed Motorolas, and we're taking two SATCOMs. Joe Douglas will carry the backup."

"What about the destroyer?"

"She's standing by. The RIBs are on board with the crews. Our Cobra is standing by, and will land on the destroyer as soon as we have been choppered aboard and the clothing arrives from Seoul."

"Sounds like we're ready, LPO."

Jaybird looked up quickly. "'Sir?"

"Yes, I know. I just promoted you to LPO, lead petty officer. You have some problem with that?"

Jaybird grinned. "No, sir. Commander, no problem at all. Only…"

"Yeah, it isn't official yet until I do the paperwork and twist some major tail. Call the admiral and tell him we're ready to roll."

Two hours later, the thirteen SEALs and their two South Korean interpreters, and the two large boxes of Korean civilian clothes, were safely on board the destroyer Cole and steaming west. The Cobra gunship sat tied down on the pad on the stern.

Word came through that the second NK general had been located. Their agents in North Korea reported that General Soo Chung Chi was taking a short vacation in the Chungsan area on the coast. There was a little-known resort there used only by the military high command and government officials.

Murdock looked at a map with the XO of the destroyer. "That's another thirty miles up the coast from your original drop-off point," the XO said.

"Which one first, Commander?"

"Let's wait and see where our third target is. We might get lucky. Then again, he might be three hundred land miles north up by Musan. We'll have to wait for word from the spooks." The destroyer had just finished the western leg of its trip, and was about to turn north around the west bulge of the southern part of North Korea, when the radio room called. Murdock got on the radio at once.

"Got your third general," Colonel Vuylsteke said.

"Good. Where?"

"He's about twenty miles inland from Chungsan at Taedong. Our sources say he has a private estate there that most North Koreans don't know anything about. His name is General Sun Kyu Ton."

"Who's running the war for these guys?" Murdock asked.

"They must have some new genera ls on the front lines. You get everything you need?"

"So far. What we could really use now is a big batch of good luck."

"Wish I could help, Commander. You stay healthy." Murdock went up to the bridge and talked with the destroyer captain. They checked the maps again and found the two towns.

The destroyer captain was a full commander with a lot of blue-water time. Commander J. Jenkins was from Oregon and wild about rainbow trout fishing. A yellow gnat and a brown bucktail fly were hooked through his hat.

"Where to, Commander?" Jenkins asked.

Murdock eyed the map again. "We'll continue on up the coast past Nampo to Chungsan. Pull this taxi to within five miles of the coast and we'll take the RIBs in as close as possible. We'll work the coast town first, then move inland to Taedong, and with any luck find some nighttime transport south thirty miles to the port city of Nampo."

"And hope that half the NK Army isn't chasing you by that time. I don't envy you this assignment, Commander."

"That's the damn kicker here, Jenkins. No orders. This is a volunteer mission." Murdock left with the destroyer captain trying to believe what he had just heard. Below decks in their assembly point, Murdock had the SEALs strip and put on the Korean clothes. They were mostly cotton, with lots of browns and blacks and dark blue. They had loose-fitting pants, some Western-style shirts, and some light jackets that would help hide their combat vests. They would keep on their regular black jungle boots with black socks turned down over the laces to help prevent snags.

The two Korean interpreters chuckled when they saw the SEALs changing into the Korean clothes. They already had on their civilian garb. They went around helping adjust the clothes. The SEALs had a variety of billed caps, mostly black and dark blue. These were the hats the people wore at this time of the year, the interpreters said. In the summer the Koreans switched to straw hats.

Murdock had a long talk with the two Koreans, DeWitt, and Jaybird.

"We're putting our lives in your hands," Murdock said, staring at the two Koreans. "You must know that. A lot of what we do will depend on your advice. If you don't think something we suggest will work, tell us at once. Don't worry about rank out here. We're SEALs, that's our rank on a mission, no officers, no sergeants. You understand?"

They both said they did. Murdock didn't want to know their names. He tagged one as Pete, and the other as Charlie. He asked if they had fired the MP-5 before. One said yes, the other said no. Murdock had Jaybird take them to the fantail and fire fifty rounds each. They came back looking confident about the weapon.

The SEALs had one last meal, then checked their equipment. They would be on their PD in a half hour. Murdock looked at them and chuckled.

"You are the sorriest bunch of SEALs I've ever seen. Absolutely no class, and let's hope that you stay that way whenever we run into any of the locals. Keep those damned round eyes closed as much as possible. We'll use a minimum of cammo colors so the locals might think we could be NKs in civilian disguise. Lead Petty Officer, is it time to get on deck?"

"Ten minutes, sir."

By the time they worked up to the deck, the Cole had slowed to four knots in a whitecapped sea. Rain filtered down from a socked-in sky.

"Rain is good," Murdock said. "Makes it harder for anybody to see us coming in."

"Hell, we gonna be wet anyway," Al Adams said. Murdock looked toward land. He could just make out the shape of a dark mass and some muted lights.

"Five miles offshore," Jaybird said. "Close as the captain wants to take this tub in."

They worked their way down the deck to the fantail, where the Cobra gunship remained tied down. The two RIBs were in the water on short towlines. Now that the destroyer had almost stopped, the RIBs were pulled up and positioned along the stern. One by one the SEALs went down metal ladders to the bouncing RIBs. It took ten minutes to get everyone on board.

Murdock looked at his motley bunch and laughed. "You guys look more like little old ladies than SEALs," he said.

They lined up in the three forward-facing seats with high backrests. The trip would be made standing up more than sitting. The coxswain cleared his craft, threw off the tie-down lines, and they churned away from the destroyer and toward shore. Murdock was in the center next to the console. He yelled at the coxswain.

"Want you to take us in as far as you can, right next to the surf line if you've got the guts. Shorter the swim, the better for my men."

"Sure, and more danger for me and my men," the coxswain shot back. He grinned. "Hell, Commander, if you can go in on a mission like this one, damned if I can't get you in a shitpot-full closer than last time."

They plowed ahead through heavy seas at ten knots. It was a safe speed in the waves, and also held down the noise factor. They were still a mile from the beach when Murdock heard the RIB's radio talk. The coxswain listened closely, then reached over and shut down his engine. The stillness surprised the SEALs.

"What the fuck?" somebody growled.

The coxswain looked at Murdock beside him. "That was Will on the other RIB. He's got an NK patrol craft with a searchlight bearing down on him. Which means he's coming toward us too."

"So we wait?" Murdock asked.

"Yeah, wait and pray and hope to hell he doesn't come straight for us and find us with his searchlight. Those fuckers have a lot of machine guns and some small automatic cannon. Our only chance will be to outrun him if he spots us in his light."