Medic Jack Mahanani looked at the blue stain coming up the calf of Ed DeWitt's leg. It stopped about halfway up, so the bullet must have turned inward. How far? He felt sweat beading his forehead again. How damn far?
He moved the scalpel up two inches above the blue stain, and made a cut an inch long. He felt DeWitt jolt from the pain; then a long high wail came from him past Fernandez's hand.
Mahanani bit his lip and cut deeper. The wail turned into a scream that promptly cut off, and the officer relaxed.
"He passed out, Mahanani," Murdock said. "Go now, go, go."
The medic cut deeper into the muscle, and then used a long thin probe to explore inside the leg. He felt a scrape. Bone or lead? He didn't know. Had to be lead. Too far from the bone. He worked that side again. Yes, the slug. He felt around with the probe again, trying to get on the other side of the bullet. It didn't move. He took the long thin pliers-like device, which opened on the end, and pushed it-into the cut.
DeWitt groaned in his unconsciousness.
Mahanani wiped sweat off his forehead, and probed again with the instrument. He touched the lead, then again. He opened the tool and tried to grasp the slug. It grated, and then slipped off. He felt blood on his lip as he bit harder, then pressed the tool deeper into the officer's muscle tissue. He opened it again, and this time felt a solid hold on the piece of lead. He began to ease the tool out of the wound.
It moved half an inch, then slipped off the slug. Murdock stood by, mopping up the blood that ran out of the wound.
Mahanani worked the probe again, found the slug, grasped it with the pliers-like device, and clamped it as hard as he could. He worked it slowly outward. It moved a quarter of an inch, then again another quarter of an inch.
Three more times he lost the slug and had to grab it again. Five minutes after he had made the first cut, he edged the dark gray slug out of the hole.
At once, Murdock handed him sterile two-inch squares of bandages. He pressed them onto the wound, then put on four more, and wrapped the leg quickly with roller bandages. They all sat there watching, waiting for the blood to stop oozing out.
It didn't. Mahanani gathered more bandages near the leg, then cut off the blood-soaked cloth and pressed in new squares and bandaged it again. This time they could tell that the blood was stopping. They all breathed easier, and Mahanani wiped his hands on his pants. He gave the patient two ampoules of morphine and sat back.
"Now we wait," he said. "We should be able to move him tomorrow, but he won't be doing any walking for some time."
"Base camp," Murdock said. He touched the Motorola. "This is base camp," he said. "We'll be here until we get the general. Dig out your hide-holes and get the best camouflage you've ever found. The slug is out of the JG's leg, but he isn't running any marathons. We'll find the general, leave some security here with DeWitt, and then jump off from here when we're done. Questions?"
There were none, and Murdock went to scrape out a hiding place for himself. It was starting to get dark, so they should be safe at least until morning. Unless the boat captain figured he could get another payday by turning them in.
Murdock put out two security men and relaxed. Why didn't he tell Charley to bring back some food when he returned? Murdock was getting hungry. He was sure the men were half — starved. They also needed some water. He'd talk with Charley and Pete when they got back.
Murdock had situated his hiding place ten feet from where DeWitt lay. DeWitt had regained consciousness and with it, whimpered with the pain even through the morphine. Mahanani would stay with him until he was better. At least they didn't have a fever to worry about.
Darkness swept down on them suddenly, and Murdock changed guards and told them to stay on four hours, then pick a replacement.
Murdock dozed.
Someone pulled on his shirt. He came awake. He automatically jerked the MP-5 up ready to fire.
"Easy, easy," Jaybird said. "The scouts are back. They brought a dozen big loaves of rice bread, a batch of cheese, and two big bottles of water they say should be pure."
Murdock gave a big sigh, and took a half-loaf of bread and a square of cheese.
"The water bottles will be coming around," Jaybird said.
"What did the scouts find?" Murdock asked between bites.
"Charley wants to tell you."
Charley came up in the darkness. He sat beside Murdock and smiled. "Found general. At golf course closed down five years ago. He opened it, had it mowed and three greens repaired. He play three holes six times for his eighteen holes. High score."
"Where's the course?"
"About five miles from here. Easy road."
"Does the general have any guards with him?"
"Plenty, watch all holes, go with him to some hotel."
"Will he be there tomorrow?"
"Man say he play every day for month. Be there tomorrow in morning."
"Good work, Charley. Get some rest." Jaybird sat nearby. He looked at Murdock. "So?"
"So, we let the men sleep until midnight, then we move out and find the golf course and plan our hit. We'll use the fifties and hope we can discourage the troops on hand."
"Sounds reasonable."
"We leave Mahanani here with another man for security for DeWitt. The rest of us go and hope for a quick hit and a getaway."
"About time we used the fifties. See you at 2400."
Murdock didn't realize that he had gone to sleep. Douglas shook his shoulder, and he came up with the MP-5 at the ready.
"Wake-up time, sir. It's 2400, time we get moving."
Murdock went to check on DeWitt. Mahanani had been dozing, but came awake when Murdock walked up. He checked DeWitt and looked up.
"Doing better, Skipper. He's been sleeping, the morphine is helping. Hear we're moving out about now."
"You and Adams are on guard duty for security on DeWitt. You probably won't have any trouble. With daylight, work up some kind of camouflage for the JG. We'll see you when we get back. By then we'll need some kind of transport for DeWitt, unless we can grab a boat at that dock."
When Jaybird got back to his spot, Jaybird was there and said the men were ready to move out.
Murdock sent Adams over to stay with the medic, and the rest of them followed the two Korean scouts toward the golf course.
At that time of night, there was little activity around the few houses and buildings they went by. The golf course had been built on former farmland, and had gotten in trouble with a stringent North Korean land-use law. But a general in charge of everything can change anything.
They found the golf course after an hour's hike. Murdock scanned the three holes the general had reactivated. There were trees and shrubs growing on the rest of the course, plus lots of weeds. The course had been closed down, but the officials at that time must have forgotten to put it back into farm use.
Murdock and Jaybird chose a natural growth of trees that must have at one time been between two fairways. They did a little clearing, and had good fields of fire at the third green from just over 150 yards. Fish in a barrel.
Murdock put the two fifty-caliber weapons ten yards apart, and made sure their fields of fire were wide open. Then he put the rest of the platoon on security and backup around them. He placed the four PSG1 sniper rifles one on each side of the fifties and two in the middle. They would have six shots at the general before the Koreans knew anyone was there.
Murdock and the men settled down to wait. Charley said that often the general was on the course at daylight. He evidently was an early riser. This might be his last day to get up, Murdock mused. There was no reason that the SEAL marksmen could miss at this range.
Murdock began thinking about his retrograde movement. He'd pull back through the course, make for the small hill they had come over, and then find the dock and his other three men.
Depending on who was chasing him, he'd steal a boat or simply dive into the bay and swim out to sea. But what about DeWitt? He was a SEAL. He would be able to swim better than walk. He would be stronger tomorrow. Other possibilities cluttered Murdock's brain. They could carry DeWitt to the dock, put him on a boat. They might find a truck, drive down the coast, and find a boat or a better place to get into the sea and swim out to contact the RIBs. No, they had to contact the destroyer first with SATCOM before they went into the water. Give a location.
His mind whirled. Everything was so tentative. Play it by ear. What if there were too many alternatives'?
Murdock mentally slapped himself. First things first The general. First the general.
Time crept past, and at last the east streaked with light, then dawn, and finally the sunrise. He used the Motorola. "Let's look sharp, SEALs. He should be coming soon, if he does today. He wouldn't dare double-cross us and sleep in."
Murdock checked everyone he could see. All were in place. The snipers had their orders. The general first, then his military guard if he brought one. When the guards were down, the SEALs would move back to the dock.
Some distance away they heard motors, heavy ones on trucks and lighter ones, perhaps cars.
"Jaybird?" Murdock asked on the radio. The platoon chief had been spotted halfway to the first tee, in a clump of brush. He came on the personal radio, his voice a whisper.
"Yes, they are here. One truck, ten men all with rifles. Two cars, strange make. The general, two other officers. And the drivers. The three officers have their golf bags on pushcarts."
"Good. Jaybird, can you get back up here without being seen?"
"Affirmative."
"Move it."
Five minutes later Jaybird slid into the thicket beside Murdock.
"From the kowtowing, my guess is that the largest of the three golfers is the general. We better put all of them down just to be sure."
"Will the soldiers come with the golfers?"
"Don't know."
They waited. From their slightly raised vantage point they could see about fifty yards of rough fairway on the other side of the second-hole green.
Another five minutes and they saw the three golfers walking up the second fairway. They all lined up shots and swung. The largest man had a good swing, the other two bad swings. Always play with someone you can beat if you're a general, Murdock decided.
The men followed the first shots. They all had three and four putts on the green, then the tee shots for the third hole.
"We go when I give the order," Murdock said in his mike. "We'll wait until all three are on the third green. Confirm. Alpha Squad?"
He received agreement from the men. "Bravo Squad?" Again the men came on in rotation to say that they understood.
Another wait. The general reached the third green in three shots. He lay about thirty feet from the pin. The green looked like an unkempt suburban lawn, closely clipped but still a lawn.
The other two chipped on. One rolled to within two feet of the pin, and he screeched in joy. The general put his hands on his hips and must have been scowling.
Two more men came behind them. One had a basket, another what looked like folding chairs. Both were soldiers, but neither had a weapon.
Murdock used the radio. "Bradford, take the general. Fernandez, do the golfer next to him. Share the third one and the two picnic guys. Lam and Jaybird. When they're down, you two get down there and make sure. Soon now. They're all on the green."
He waited while the general lined up his shot. When he got ready to putt, Murdock gave the word. "Ready… fire."
The six weapons went off almost at the same time. The general had stood up from his crouch to check the line again. The big .50-caliber round caught him in the right side of the chest, blowing out half of his lung and three major arteries. He jolted backward and didn't move.
The other two golfers took rounds in their chests and heart and went down. The two men with the picnic lunch goods didn't have time to run. They got nailed at the same time. Nobody moved after the first volley. Lam and Jaybird took off at a sprint to cover the 150 yards to the green. Their weapons went off six times with rounds to the head; then they rushed back to the cover and concealment of the woods.
They waited a minute longer. Nobody appeared from the direction of the first tee.
"Take the brass and let's get out of here," Murdock said. They pulled back through woods and brush and trees off the golf course and over a small hill.
Jaybird hit his radio. "Commander. I just saw a soldier running back from the second green toward the first. I think we've been spotted."
"Move it," Murdock said. "Ching, take the rear guard. Let's get some distance here, people."
They had started down a slight hill when Lam came on the Motorola. "Motors, I can hear motors. Are the soldiers in the truck and moving toward us?"
"Or they'll try to get ahead of us," Murdock said. "I don't remember any roads up in here. Let's keep moving."
They were strung out in five-yard intervals in a single line when the North Koreans fired on them. The men evidently had driven ahead and set up a blocking position. They were two hundred yards away down a slight incline. The land was open with only a little brush.
The SEALs went to ground, foun d what cover they could behind old downed trees and some rocks.
"Hold your fire until they advance," Murdock said. "Jaybird, you saw ten of them at the first tee?"
"Roger, Skipper, but another truck could have come. I see more than ten down there."
"Jaybird, you're leading Bravo Squad. Stay in position. Be sure every man covers the man on his right. We need to get out of this and on our horse. Holt, warm up that box and get in touch with the destroyer on TAC Two. Tell them assignment number three is completed. On our way out but small delay. Tell them we're at Nampo and to get the damn RIBs on their way."
"Aye, Commander. Doing it."
"Confirm when they confirm."
Murdock had been watching the NK soldiers below moving slowly up the hill. They didn't look like seasoned troops. Probably some unit assigned to the general that hadn't fired a shot in months.
Murdock went back on the horn. "Bradford, see if you can pick out an officer down there in your scope. If you can, blow him away. Fire and then move, right?"
"That's a roger, Skip."
Murdock saw three men below lift up and charge up the hill ten yards to some boulders. The NK soldiers below opened fire again, and the SEALs hugged their cover. Murdock looked up and saw fifteen men come out of some brush on the left flank only fifty yards away.
"Left, fire to the left," Murdock bellowed into the lip mike. The SEALs cut loose, and five of the advancing troops slammed into the ground, the other ten dashing back over the small rise of land.
The big fifty exploded as Bradford fired. They heard a long let-out breath; then Bradford came on the radio.
"Yeah, scratch one officer. He won't send no more men into battle, leastwise on this planet."
The men below edged closer. Some were now within a hundred yards.
"Let them come,' Murdock said on the air. "We can wait." He watched the left flank, but no more men appeared there.
"We've got five of them on the right flank," Jaybird called. "Douglas, Fernandez, cover that sector. Rest of Bravo front."
When four more men below stood and charged upward, Murdock gave the order to fire. The SEALs cut down three of the four. They lay sprawled on the ground in the open, either dead or badly wounded.
"They are coming on the right," Fernandez screeched. He fired his sniper rife as fast as he could pull the bolt and slam it home. Jaybird looked at Douglas. He wasn't firing.
"Douglas, get with it, don't hang Fernandez out to dry," Jaybird screeched in the Motorola. Still, they heard only one weapon firing. Jaybird swore, and turned so he could support Fernandez. He was almost too late. Three of the NK troopers had broken out of the taller timber and were almost on Fernandez when Jaybird cut down the last two. Fernandez got one of them.
"Clear here," Jaybird said. "Fernandez, you okay?"
There was no answer. "Fernandez, come back." When there was still no answer, Jaybird crawled forward and to the right, keeping behind as much cover as he could find. The rest of the platoon kept up the fire to the front.
"Don't let them get away," Murdock said. "Some are pulling back. You sniper rifles, nail them."
Jaybird crawled up to the log Fernandez had used for cover. It was perfect from the front, but he had been fully exposed from the right flank. He saw blood on Fernandez's shoulder and chest.
"Fernandez is hit," Jaybird said. "Looks bad, Skip."
"Don't move him yet. This is about over. Chase the last of them down the hill. Lam, check that left flank to be sure nobody is left over there."
Three minutes later the firing had stopped. Murdock ran to the right to find Jaybird and Fernandez.
Jaybird looked up, blinking back tears. "He's alive, but he's hit in the shoulder and the chest." Murdock checked Fernandez. Together they helped Fernandez to stand.
"I can walk," Fernandez said. "I can walk."
"Yeah, and pigs fly all the fucking time," Jaybird jawed. "Lean on me, we've got some moving to do."
They walked slowly back toward the home base and the small dock. Lam and Ching acted as rear guards, but there was nobody following them.
"Somebody will be looking for us damn soon," Murdock said. "Holt, crank up that box on TAC Two and get the destroyer. I'll talk." A moment later Holt came beside Murdock and held out the handset.
"They're on."
"Chopper guys, we could use some help."
"This is the Floating Friend. What kind of help?"
"Can that bird of yours fly without the gunner?"
"It'll fly, but the weapons aren't much good."
"Could you pick up a casualty and put him in that seat?"
"Against regulations."
"Yeah, but can it be done? Will you do it?"
"Let me get back to you in two minutes."
"Not a chance, Skip," Holt said. "Those are thirty-year career men out there."
When the set came back on, Murdock answered.
"Land guys, that's a negative. The RIBs went out about twenty minutes ago. We'll put them on fast throttle. Be off Nampo in another twenty minutes."
"We won't be out there by that time. We may still have half the NK marines to fight up here. Let you know. Hey, send in that Cobra now, we might need his guns after all."
"That's a roger. The bird is on a three-minute alert. He's almost gone."
"We're about halfway to Nampo Bay. Have him lay off and we'll bring him in with a smoke flare if we need him." "That's a roger, SEALs."
A mile back toward the sea, they had to carry Fernandez. He was loosing blood. Jaybird had done some quick bandaging, but it came loose and he bled again. They stopped, and Jaybird put on another bandage made from the sleeve of his shirt.
They heard truck motors, but had no idea how close to a road they were. They hadn't seen any roads coming in. Murdock wondered how quickly the live ones left below could get any kind of military help. It just depended how many real troops the NK had left in this seaport town.
Maybe a defense force?
An hour later they came up the last rise to the woods where they had left JG DeWitt. Murdock had briefed Jaybird, and he, Lam, and Charley kept going to the pier and checked it out. The same boat they had come down the coast in was still tied up at the pier. Jaybird boarded her, but the captain wasn't there. A man came out of a small building, and Charley talked to him. He laughed and they nodded and Charley gave him some bills.
Charley ran back to Jaybird. "We rent boat again. Fast before captain sober up."
Jaybird got on the Motorola and told Murdock. Jaybird, Lam, and Charley boarded the fishing boat. Charley checked the fuel supply. Less than a quarter of a tank.
"Plenty," Jaybird said.
The SEALs walked over the hill and down the pier in staggered groups. First came two men carrying Fernandez. They put him on board. The man Jaybird had seen talking with Charley came out, got on board, and started the fishing boat's engine to warm it up.
Ten minutes later all the SEALs and the two Korean scouts were on board and Jaybird cast off the two lines. The fishing boat chugged away from the pier and headed out into the bay. They were well away from the pier when two uniformed soldiers ran on it and waved their hands. They fired some rounds, but missed.
"Straight out the bay," Jaybird told Charley to tell the man at the wheel. They were just out of the bay and had cleared two small islands when Murdock remembered the SATCOM. He had Holt turn it on to the TAC Two channel.
"Cobra, are you around and do you have your fangs?"
"Must be SEAL power down below. We're about three miles off Nampo."
"Good. We're just clearing the islands off the bay heading due west in a thirty-foot fishing ship." Jaybird touched Murdock's shoulder and pointed to the north.
"Oh. yes, Cobra, we could use some help. We have a North Korean patrol boat heading our way about a mile off. Can you beat him here?"
"Watch us, SEALs."
Murdock got his troops along the rail on the north side of the ship. "If he gets close enough, we hit him with all the firepower we have. That patrol boat has more firepower than we do, but we can make him think about it, especially the fifties, if you tear up his bridge."
They waited. Murdock didn't even try to figure it. At thirty knots, how long would it take the boat to cover a mile? At 218 miles an hour, how long would it take the Cobra to cover three miles? A tie?
They waited.
Murdock checked on the approaching patrol craft. The NKs could fire their guns three or four miles. What were they waiting for? Confirmation? Murdock told all of his guys to get down so they couldn't be seen from the patrol boat. That could buy them a few minutes.
When he looked again, Murdock figured the boat was no more than a half mile away. He heard a machine gun chatter across the water.
"Down," Murdock bellowed, and his men hit the fishy deck. The rounds landed short.
That was when the Cobra slanted down toward them. Murdock was on his feet waving. Then the rest of the men were up. The Cobra continued past them, and a moment later they heard rockets launch from the Cobra and snake their way across the light blue sky at the fast-moving patrol craft. Murdock heard the rockets hit. Three missed, but four struck the patrol craft, and it slowed and then went dead in the water. Murdock checked it with his binoculars. Its bridge was blown apart. The chopper made another run and fired another salvo of the 70mm rockets at the ship, which resulted in more explosions and then an oily fire.
The SEALs cheered.
Murdock got on the radio.
"Cobra, I like your fangs. You see a pair of RIBs out there anywhere?"
"Saw them coming over. Check your southwest. They are about a half mile from you. We'll stand by until you board."
"Thanks again, Cobra. When you come to Coronado, I owe you a drink and a steak dinner."
"You're on, SEALs. Standing by."
The fishing boat angled southwest, and five minutes later they saw the RIBs rocketing along to meet them.
Jaybird sat down beside Murdock. "Problem, Skipper. I'm bringing Douglas up on charges, dereliction of duty and failure to follow a direct order, resulting in the life-threatening wounding of a fellow SEAL."
He told Murdock what had happened. "Douglas deliberately held up firing to support Fernandez. If he had helped cover Fernandez, Fernandez would not have been wounded. There has been bad blood between those two for the past three months. You must have heard about it. I'm bringing Douglas up on charges and I want you to back me up."