All of the SEALs had grenades. They threw them when the enemy was ten yards from the ship. The toll was heavy. Twenty grenades exploded within a few strides of the men. Dozens went down screaming in pain.
The sharpshooters picked off more of the men who got through the rain of shrapnel. More grenades fell on the concrete and bounced to give off an airburst that shredded more of the green-uniformed men.
Half-a-dozen Kenyans lived through the barrage and jumped onto the deck. Murdock and two men firing from the quarterdeck door cut them down, and dumped three of them back on the dock.
Two more got on board aft, and fell before they could get to any kind of cover.
A moment later the attack ended. "Chase them with lead," Murdock said in his mike. The men on the Turner kept firing as the stragglers and the wounded turned and ran for the safety of the shadows. About half of them made it.
The silence that followed the last shots was eerie. The only sound was a gentle lapping of the water on the ship's hull and against the piling of the dock.
Murdock led a quick search of the ship. He found no hiding Kenyan rangers. Then he met the three crewmen, and had them make a second search.
"You men know where they could be. If you find any Kenyans, Jaybird will give us a call and we'll dig them out. You guys have done plenty tonight helping us."
It took them a half hour to figure how to work it, but at last the SEALS, and their three frigate crewmen got the SH-60B helicopter rolled into the hangar beside the other one and the hangar doors closed.
Murdock got Holt to power up the SATCOM, and he radioed the carrier on the "local call" frequency.
"Rover, this is Inflatable.
The answer came back at once. "Yes, Inflatable. Good to hear from you."
"The party's over and it's time to clean up the place. We're ready here for your arrival. Should be no enemy fire. I say again, there is a negative chance of enemy fire. The flight deck is cleared."
18
Murdock set up a watch with all of the nineteen men. Each one had protection from the pier area, and each one had a weapon pointed that way to reply to any snipers who had stayed behind to harass them.
Minutes ago they had heard the heavy engines as several trucks behind the stalled one at the end of the pier evidently loaded up and moved out.
For ten minutes, all was quiet. Murdock expected the choppers to be coming at any time. Moments later he heard a clanking and a roaring motor, and frowned. Jaybird looked at Murdock and shook his head. "Sounds bad, L-T."
Murdock motioned to Holt, who gave him the handset to the radio. "Rover, this is Inflatable, over."
"Yes, Inflatable. Your birds are airborne. ETA about five minutes."
"May have a problem. You have any air cover up?"
"What kind of a problem?"
"We hear a tank moving up toward the pier. Not sure where it is. A dead six-by truck is blocking one entrance to our site. We can't knock out a tank with our weapons."
"Roger that, Inflatable. We have two Hornets up. They should copy. Wildbees One and Two, do you copy?"
"Affirmative, Rover. We're about three minutes away from the port. Can we have some white flares and some red smoke on the target?"
"That's a roger, Wildcats, soon as we see it. My guess is he'll push the dead truck out of the way and be in our lap. What firepower do these tanks have?"
"Inflatable, they could have our old M-48 Pattons. I think some of them came down here. Kenya was our ally, remember. If it's the M-48, they have a one-oh-five-millimeter long gun and can carry over fifty rounds."
"This is Wildbee One in a fly-over of the harbor. I see no flares."
"No target yet, Wildbee, but the sound is coming closer. We'll put a flare over the suspect area."
"Coming around with Wildbee Two. Flare now."
Murdock nodded at Magic Brown, who fired a flare over the far end of the pier. The flare burst with daytime brilliance, and began to float down on its parachute. They could see plainly the stalled truck and the blocked roadway behind it. At almost the same time they spotted the ugly snout of a cannon on a tank as it did a locked-tread turn and rolled directly for the truck.
"Now, Wildbee, we have target. No time for smoke. Do you locate?"
"Have it, but past target. Going around. Wildbee One should be coming."
"Wildbee One. Have target acquisition, at required altitude, locking on. Firing. One Maverick away."
Murdock and the SEALs heard the roar of the solid-fuel rocket as it slammed forward at over Mach 1 and almost immediately exploded directly on the still-visible rolling tank. The detonation of the rocket was followed by a roaring secondary blast that bounced the SEALs backward as some of the ammunition inside the tank went off. Shrapnel and chunks of the tank came out of the sky like huge snowballs — only these could kill a guy.
"Good shooting, Wildbees. The tank is no longer a problem."
"That's a Roger. We'll hang out a while to see if anything more develops."
The SEALs kept under cover in case any of the Kenyan rangers had hung back. Two minutes later they heard the incoming choppers.
"Inflatable, this is Knight One checking on your situation."
"Knight One, all clear here. Not sure how to get lights on the landing pad switched on."
"Right. We have your position. Coming in now with our own lights."
They saw the bird coming. It was an HH-46D/E Sea Knight. As Murdock remembered, it had no armament. It swung over the ship at two hundred feet, then circled and dropped lower as its landing lights lit up the fantail of the Turner. It touched down, and at once the side hatch opened and twenty combat-dressed Marines poured out. Ten surged to the starboard side of the flight deck and went prone with rifles aimed at the dock.
The rest of the Marines rushed through the hangar, out to the starboard side amidships, and all the way to the bridge taking up defensive positions.
Three Navy officers had exited the Sea King as well, and hurried into the hangar. The big chopper took off at once, and two minutes later a second Sea King settled onto the Turner's deck. This time twenty sailors rushed out of the chopper and into the hangar. That bird lifted off the moment the hatch closed.
Before the next chopper could land, Murdock heard fire coming from the dock area. Murdock used the SATCOM, and told the F/A-18s to stand by. He also put a hold on the last Sea King chopper. Murdock left the quarterdeck and slid to the weather deck beside a pair of Marines.
"Where's the firing coming from?" Murdock asked.
A Marine sergeant pointed to the bow end of the dock where the ruined truck still lay.
"up there. Sounds like a fifty. They aren't on target yet."
The Marine held an HK-21A1 machine gun.
Murdock touched his mike. "Let's get ready with some forty-mike-mike. Throw them up there by the busted truck and tank. Somebody's coming."
Moments later Murdock heard the grenade launchers firing. Two HE rounds went off with a crunch just beyond the ruined and still-burning tank. A WP round exploded back farther.
They could hear the rig coming closer now. Not a tank, maybe a truck or jeep-like rig. Then they saw it in the soft moonlight.
"An armored personnel carrier of some kind," Murdock barked. "Hit it."
The SEAL weapons opened fire. The Marines chimed in with their M-16s and two machine guns. The first volley of rounds made the rig pause. Then they saw someone swing around the top-mounted machine gun.
Two dozen guns fired at the gunner behind the MG. He took three hits and slammed off the side of the rig. Another man reached up for the gun, but the mass of rounds fired made him pull back. More 40mm grenades exploded near the rig. Then two Willy Peter went off on top and beside the lightly defended carrier. The intensely burning phosphorus exploded both the front tires.