Murdock pointed to the left, where they saw muzzle flashes a hundred yards away. They all hit the dirt, and Murdock and Ching brought up their Alliant Bull Pup duo rifles and each sent a 20mm high-explosive round into the trio of gunfire flashes. The twenties shattered the Sierra Leone darkness, and the fire from that sector cut off just after a wailing scream.
Three U.S. Marine Recon fighters followed the SEALs out of the plane. Murdock motioned them to the left, and he and his two men darted to the right and charged out forty yards, then went prone with weapons pointing outward. They were on perimeter defense for the VTOL birds. Now Murdock saw the other five Osprey craft where they had landed in a rough triangle about thirty yards apart. Six men from each bird were deployed outward as security.
Sporadic rifle- and machine-gun fire blasted from the other side of the aircraft. Murdock heard three twenties explode and the small-arms fire stopped. Ten Sierra Leone soldiers dashed past the perimeter defense and to the birds, now with doors wide open. They began unloading their payload of rifles, submachine guns, rockets, RPGs, and thousands of rounds of ammunition from the birds. Murdock had had a chance to check the cargo over on the short ride from the U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, CVN 70, just off the coast of the small African nation.
Enough weapons and ammo to start a war, or to finish off a group of sadistic rebels the current regime had been battling for six months. Now the government forces of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah had a chance to deliver the killing blow if they had enough weapons and ammo. This was it. Three SEALs from Third Platoon, Team Seven, were on each of four birds, and two on each of the other two, for security.
Murdock sensed movement to his right and pulled down his night-vision goggles. A squad of rebels about a hundred yards out crept forward through the black night that was turned into a light green shooting ground by the goggles. He lasered the troops, fired an airburst, and cut down six of the eight men with the shattering 20mm round. The other two men in the rebel squad limped away into the heavy growth near the edge of the field.
Behind him, Murdock could hear the native soldiers panting as they rushed to unload the arms and ammo. There was supposed to be a force of over two hundred government troops in the area, to sweep it clean of rebels, but several small groups of rebels had penetrated, and now Murdock heard more firing to the left on the other side of the VTOL birds. He signaled to the Marine sergeant to keep his men there, then he spoke on the Motorola personal radio. They were now using shoulder mikes, which had proved to be sturdier and easier to work with.
“Ching, Van Dyke, let’s hit the other side of the birds and see who we can scare. Move. Now.” The three lifted up and raced under the wing of the big Osprey, across the open space, and under the next VTOL being unloaded. They went out thirty yards beyond it, then dove to the ground seven yards apart. More muzzle flashes showed directly in front of them.
“When ready,” Murdock said, and dropped a 20mm HE round on the flashes of two guns he saw out two hundred yards. The shooters must have fired and moved. “I’ve got them right ten yards. Ching, do a twenty at ten to their left.” They waited, and at the first flash of new firing both SEALs launched a laser 20mm. They exploded over the target, and this time there was no counterfire.
All was quiet for a moment; then they heard the rumble and clank of what could only be a tank. Murdock hit the mike. “SEALs, perimeter. I hear a tank. When you see him, blind him with some rounds of WP, then try for his tread with the twenty HE. Who has him?”
“Sounds like he’s coming my way,” Frank Victor, gunner’s mate second class and new to the platoon, said.
“Victor, is that you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Anybody near Victor down there?”
“Nearby,” Mahanani said. “Critter is coming up on us fast. Any more support in here? Jefferson?”
“Yeah, man,” Jeff said. “I’ve got him. Big sucker, coming up fast, then he slowed down. Don’t think he’s gonna shoot yet. Maybe a hundred yards out there in the dark. No NVGs. Anybody else see him? Has he got ground troops following him?”
“Can’t see him, Jeff. I’m charging out there a ways to blind him, then try for the treads,” Mahanani said. “Who else over here has the twenties?”
“Got one,” Jefferson said.
“Yeah,” Franklin said. “I’m with a twenty. Where are you guys?”
“On the point of the triangle heading north.”
“Don’t leave home without me,” Franklin said. He sprinted across the open space. Two rifles made tries for him from the woods, but missed. He slid in beside Victor.
They ran doubled over and ten yards apart to the woodsy edge of the clearing, and hit the dirt. Now they could hear the engine of the big tank, but it wasn’t moving.
“How do we know it’s not a government forces tank?” Murdock asked on the net.
“Damn, didn’t think about that,” Victor said. “If he shoots at the birds, we’ll know.”
Just then a machine gun on the tank stuttered out two ten-round bursts of fifty-caliber.
“Go,” Murdock said. “He hit one bird. Not sure how bad.”
“I’ve got smoke in,” Franklin said. He aimed ten feet in front of the tank, a huge dark blob among the dark trees, and fired. Then he put another one in front of the tank.
As he did, the other two SEALs sighted in on the side tracks of the monster and both fired about the same time. The tank lurched forward to get out of the smoke. Franklin put two more 20mm smoke rounds in front of it, and Jefferson and Victor both fired the twenties again, two rounds each. The last two rounds found a weak spot on the churning tracks and blasted off the motive force of the tank. It spun around as if it had fully braked one tread. Then the engine whimpered to a halt. The lights snapped off, and the SEALs heard the hatch open but couldn’t see anything. Both SEALs fired an HE round at the tank; then they retreated to the fringe of the woods.
“Coming in, three friendlies,” Victor said on the Motorola. “Don’t get your rocks off on us. We’re on your side.”
The three charged into the triangle of aircraft, then found their defensive spots again, and bellied down, aiming their weapons outward at the heavy growth of trees and brush.
“Trouble from this other side,” Murdock said. “At least a company of rebels moving up. No firing yet. I’ve got them on the goggles. Anybody else with goggles see them?”
“I’ve got them,” Lieutenant Ed DeWitt said. “Looks more like two companies. Where the hell are all those government troops supposed to be? This hardware gets into rebel hands, it’s good night, Irene.”
“I need three more Bull Pups on the east side,” Murdock barked. “Sound off.”
“Sadler coming.”
“Jaybird on the move.”
“Fernandez almost there.”
The SEALs found their leader in the murky half-light of the moon and spread out along the east side.
“We’ve got six or seven Pups over here. For those who can’t see the target, the lieutenant and I will put airbursts on the rebels, then each one of you fire three rounds and hold. Ed. When you’re ready.”
Murdock sighted in with the laser on the slowly moving group of men still bunched up out about two hundred yards. He fired. The resulting crack of the airburst was quickly followed by a second; then moments later six more exploded in the air over the first firing point.
Murdock checked through the NVGs. A few of the troops took cover behind trees. Dozens turned and ran.
“Raise twenty-five yards,” Murdock said, and fired again. More rounds exploded as they tracked the men running away.