Murdock looked around.
“Beats hell out of walking twenty miles,” Luke Howard said.
“Stand a better chance against their patrol boats if we had the ducks,” Jaybird said.
“So we lose them going in, we can always run back down the bank or swim if we have to,” Mahanani said.
“Request the IBS and motors operationally ready from the U.S. Navy,” Murdock said.
Lieutenant Ebenezer nodded at the corporal, and he hurried out. “Done. We’ll give you a time line on when we can have the two boats here on site.” The Israeli looked down at his notes and a map.
“One more thought,” he said. “We try to confuse the PA folks when we can. Our people will probably want to fly straight past En Gedi, stay in the mountains, and touch on the small community of Arad, which is about eighteen miles below En Gedi and inland some. That way the Palestinians there will report that our chopper flew over their town and the Palestinian Authority will be totally confused about where we’re heading. We’ll swing around and drop you at a point maybe three miles north of the village of Newe Zohar, which is also right on the Dead Sea and on the only road south along that body of water. This may increase our flight time by two or three minutes.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Murdock said. “Have we missed anything?”
“Special ammo and charges?” Senior Chief Sadler asked.
“I’ll have an ordnance man talk to the senior chief about that as soon as we’re done here,” Lieutenant Ebenezer said. “We can furnish you with anything you need except the special twenty-millimeter rounds you use. I don’t suppose regular twenties would work.”
“Never tried them. No reason they shouldn’t work as contact rounds,” Jaybird said.
“So we wait on the confirmation by the Navy on the IBSs,” Murdock said. “I think we’re through here.”
“One point,” Ebenezer said. “How many of you speak Arabic?” He said the last sentence in Arabic.
Murdock replied in kind. “I do, but not well.”
Franklin spoke up also in the Arabic tongue. “My Arabic is a little better than the skipper’s, but not much.”
“You’ll have no need for your Arab clothes, but another Arabic speaker could be handy. I’ve been authorized to accompany you, if it meets with your approval.”
Murdock looked around at his men. Most nodded or grinned. Jaybird settled it.
“Oh, yes, nothing like a local native guide in a terrifying foreign country.”
“Yes, Lieutenant,” said Murdock, “we’ll be glad to have you on board, but your rank will be negated. In the field we’re all yardbirds, buck privates, working as a team. You’ll be attached to Lieutenant DeWitt’s Bravo Squad. Glad to have you on board.”
The Israeli smiled. “Great, glad to be with you. I know how to take orders, Commander. All of your men outrank me on this mission. I’m so pumped up I can hardly wait.”
20
At the last minute they decided not to wear wet suits.
“Won’t be in the wet long enough to make them worthwhile,” Lieutenant Ed DeWitt said. “That water is warm anyway if we do get damp.”
They would take no rebreathers either, just their cammies and a full load of combat gear and ammo. Two men carried ammo “collars,” the rigs that packed goods in pouches front and back with a hole in the middle to push your head through.
They had modified their weapons stance a little. Vinnie Van Dyke would keep his H & K 21-E machine gun, and Fernandez would take along his PSG1 71.62mm NATO round sniper rifle. They would take two Bull Pups, and the rest would handle the familiar MP-5 submachine gun.
“Gives a better balance in case we run into some long-range problems before we actually get into the town,” Murdock said. “There’s a road that hugs the west bank of the Dead Sea, but we don’t know how close. We don’t want to get into any confrontations down there fifteen miles from the target. We’ll make every attempt to stay out of any trouble before we hit the palace.”
They were suited up and all set to go, waiting in a ready room near the small airfield at the Rama Army Base. The helicopter had been loaded with the two IBSs and two drag bags with extra ammo and explosives.
“Just saw the bird again,” Jaybird said. “She’s a converted U.S. forty-six. Looks like she’s been updated all the way and has a spit and polish on her that shows the Israeli thoroughness. No worry about this old bird not making the round trip.”
DeWitt nodded. “Good.” He turned to Lieutenant Ebenezer, who now wore cammies and rubber boots like the rest of them. He had told them to call him Eb. “What do we know about the inside of the palace or the grounds?”
“Nothing. We have aerial shots of it, which you’ve seen. The general layout, but we don’t know what or who are in which of the buildings. On that score we’ll have to play it by ear.”
An Israeli Air Force officer looked into the room. “Time to load up, gentlemen. This way.”
They followed him, looking a little like overloaded mountain climbers. The troops stepped into the familiar form of the forty-six and settled against the sides. The two fully inflated IBS boats were wedged into holders at the aft end of the craft, just in front of where the hatch would swing down for their quick departure.
“Same deluxe seating arrangement, I see,” Lampedusa cracked as he settled down on the cold metal floor.
“A fuck and a half better than walking,” Bradford said.
“Was the half that floozy blonde we saw you with a couple of weeks ago, Bradford?” Jaybird yelled.
“Hell, no, that was no floozy blonde, that was his own dear mommy,” Mahanani said. That brought a laugh.
Murdock had been first on, and he enjoyed the banter among the men. It showed him that they were loose and ready, sharp and set to put everything on the line to accomplish their mission. He looked over at DeWitt, who nodded. Yes, everyone was ready. They had an even sixteen men again with Franklin out of action and Eb taking his place. It should work.
The chopper’s crew chief came into the big belly of the craft. “We have a flight time of twenty-two minutes depending on what kind of winds we run into. There almost for sure will not be any enemy ground fire directed against us. We’ll land about fifty yards from the water to be sure we have a firm footing. The captain asks that you check your radio with him now, and again just after you get on the ground and away from the aircraft.”
Murdock keyed in his handheld radio.
“Grounded One calling Bird One.”
“This is Bird One. Read you loud and clear. Grounded Two?”
DeWitt had given the other Israeli radio to Eb, who responded.
“Grounded Two to Bird One, over.”
“Yes, loud and clear. Check again once we’re parted.”
The top rotor picked up speed, and soon they could hear little except the engines and rotors. The SEALs, used to this excess noise, settled down for a short rest before they moved into action.
Jack Mahanani eased back against the side of the chopper with a resignation that he had developed early in his life on Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. He was a hospital corpsman first class, but didn’t come to the SEALs as a corpsman, rather as a SEAL. The six-month training had been easier for him than most, since he had lived in the water since he was old enough to breathe.
He thought back to the islands as he often did when there was a hint of stress. He mellowed out this way, got ready for what was coming. This one was a mystery. Nobody was quite sure where the man they wanted was, or even if he was in his Dead Sea palace. Usually they had better intel than that. Still, a strike at his HQ would be productive whether they nailed the top man or not.