“Jaybird, Sadler, and DeWitt, front and center,” Murdock said in the radio mike. Moments later the four men lay in the sand looking at the searchlights.
“Suggestions,” Murdock said.
“Yeah, diversion,” Jaybird said. “Shake them up, move about half of them off their usual position. Something that will last for a while.”
“Like a firefight?” DeWitt asked.
“Bombs and a firefight. Bombs to start it off. Maybe a fire. An old building with a WP into it. Then a firefight over their heads to pull them back down this side of the lights.”
“Possible,” Eb said. “Not a chance we’re going to get past them without a fight of some kind. That would bring out the reserves. We’ve heard he has fifty men guarding him here.”
“Just what we need,” Murdock said. He scowled. “We can get half the force to the south, then use airbursts on those left, and put five or six twenties through the windows. Any idea where the boss sleeps or works?”
“Not a clue. We can’t get a man inside here. It has proved impossible for three years.”
“Could we burn it down?” Senior Chief Sadler asked.
“We’ve heard that a lot of the palace is made of stone, some marble. But the interior should burn like a torch.”
Murdock frowned as Lam materialized out of the darkness and slid in beside them.
“About the same all the way around. Lights and more men. Must be twenty, twenty-five that I saw.”
“No diversion,” Murdock said. “No good place for it, wouldn’t work. Too many guards. DeWitt, bring up the troops and spread them along this side of the lights. Some will be across the road and in behind some of those houses. Ten yards apart, at least. Where’s Fernandez?” He used the radio. “Fernandez, get your weapon up here.” He looked at the rest of them. “Spread out, ten yards, let’s lock and load. We’re going to put down one central guard with the silenced sniper rifle. When half a dozen guards rush to his aid to find out what happened, we’ll put two laser rounds over them, then take out the rest of the guards in a weapons-free. As that’s starting, Jaybird and I will plaster as many twenties through the windows as we can. WP, AP, anything that we have. If we can reduce that guard force enough, we can assault the fucker and get inside and track down our man.
“DeWitt, you have the rest of the platoon in its spaced-out positions?”
“Not yet, Cap. Hate to tell you, but we’ve run into one small problem over here. Better hold off your sniper fire.”
“What the hell is it?”
“You better come over just across the road and have a look, Commander.”
22
Murdock dropped beside Ed DeWitt where he lay in the dirt beside a house that looked out on the side of the palace. Directly in front of them not twenty yards away, a palace guard made a turn at the end of the post and walked back toward the brighter lights.
“You’re right, Ed. No way to hide the facts of the matter. Ebenezer, you on?”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Have you noticed anything different about these guards?”
“Look routine, sir.”
“I’m at the side now and Ed and I have seen at least four guards who are women.”
“That too is routine. They use women in combat. Nothing new for them. They can kill us just as easy as a man can. They pull the trigger on a submachine gun and you die just as quick.”
Murdock frowned. He didn’t like killing women. He had done it two or three times, but only in extreme situations. Like this one. He touched his mike again.
“Listen up, men. We have some women guards walking posts out here. They are soldiers just like the men. We’re nondiscriminatory when it comes to them. We snuff them along with the other guards. Fernandez, pick one guard and drop him with your muffled shot. Now.”
Murdock scanned the guarded area ahead. Slightly to the left he saw a guard stumble and go down. A cry went up from two guards, and five or six of them rushed to see what the downed guard’s trouble was. Jaybird’s lasered shot exploded directly over the group of eight men and women, blasting shrapnel into four of them, killing two and putting the other two down.
At once the rest of the SEALs opened up, pinpointing the guards in the glaring lights. Murdock and Jay turned their weapons on the palace. Murdock’s first 20mm round hit the wall, missing the window on the first floor. The WP round sputtered and showered the wall and grounds with the brilliant display of the exploding phosphorus. His next three rounds went inside. He had alternated high-explosive rounds with WP, and worked his way along the windows on the left front wing on the first floor. Jaybird took the right.
Murdock stopped firing the twenty and looked at the guard force. Half of them were down and not moving. There were still more than fifteen running around looking for cover. Half a dozen more men came around the side of the palace. Murdock put an HE round in front of them, spraying the 20mm into a deadly hail of shrapnel that slammed four of them to the ground.
Jaybird and Murdock put the 20mm rounds of HE and WP into the big building. Murdock could see two fires burning through the windows. He checked the grounds again. He could see only three guards still shooting. A moment later their weapons went silent.
“Frontal assault,” Murdock ordered on the radio. “Assault fire on the run. Let’s get out there and get inside. Move. Now.”
He stood with the rest of them and ran forward. They formed a long curved line from the side, bending it so they all could fire at the palace without hitting each other.
Some counterfire came from the palace, but not as much as Murdock had expected. It was one of those killing missions where he knew he would take casualties.
They fired a deadly rain of hot lead as they ran forward. It was only forty yards across the sand to the front of the palace. Every window in the place had been shattered. Lights came on and went off inside. Murdock fired one 20mm round at the large double doors at the center of the first floor, and they jolted open.
Ed DeWitt and Guns Franklin stormed through the big doors into the darkened interior. Ed saw dim movement to his left and drilled the shadow with three rounds. He heard a moan and a body falling. Lights showed down a hall.
Ed used his NVGs and checked the rest of the entrance room.
“Clear entrance,” he said on the net.
Six more SEALs charged inside. Murdock and Jaybird ran into a hall on the right. They kicked open doors and found lights on, but no people. A submachine gun with a higher voice than the MP-5’s chattered its deadly sound. Murdock figured it came from the second floor. They kept opening doors along the hall and clearing rooms. Four more SEALs backed them. They found no people, only offices, living rooms, and a well-equipped recreation room with a beautiful pool table.
They came to an open stairway at the end of the hall. Murdock and Jaybird went up the steps in surges, covering each other as they moved. Jaybird peered over the top of the steps. He smelled fire and found smoke on the second floor.
“Right wing, first floor clear,” Murdock said. “One man stay there to keep it clean. Rest move up.”
“Left wing first is clear,” Ed DeWitt said. “Found four men, all wasted. One computer wing, which we will demolish with a quarter pound of C-4. Moving to second floor. Watch out for friendly fire, we’ll be opposite each other.”
“Ed, take the second, I’ll take some men to the third,” Murdock said. He motioned and Jaybird, Ching, Lam, and Bradford went with him up the stairs to the third floor.
Again, they smelled smoke but saw no fire. The rooms here were smaller, mostly bedrooms. In one room they found two women sleeping. They came up bleary-eyed and groggy. Murdock bound their wrists together with plastic strips and told them in Arabic to stay where they were.