“Yes, let’s do it. Time element?”
“Cap, you’re probably about a half mile behind me on the trail,” said Lam. “This jungle is the pits. It’ll take the JG an hour to circle around a quarter and come up behind them. He’ll need to be a mile downstream from me. He should come about to the next village, and cut for the trail.”
“Roger that, Lam. We’re moving.”
Lam waited.
An hour later Lam had faded back twenty yards from his OP and watched for Alpha. Murdock materialized beside him without a sound, and Lam almost shot him.
“Damn, Skipper, you’re getting good,” he whispered. “We move twenty straight ahead but keep the men in the woods. The JG has had an hour and twenty by now. He should be in position.”
“He isn’t,” the Motorola chirped. “We’re at the trail well downstream from them. Ran into some nasty vines. We’ll move up cautiously and watch for any sign of the ambush. They won’t be so careful on this side. Give me ten.”
Another wait.
“Yes, now this is better,” Gardner said. “We’re in position. I have an officer and two men with their boots off and wading in the edge of the river. Their weapons are on the bank, if you can believe. We’re taking them out with silenced shots, then moving up until we can see somebody else.”
“Good, JG.” Murdock said. “When we start our little party, I want everyone on the jungle side of the trail so we don’t shoot each other. Copy?”
“Roger that, Commander. Who makes first contact?”
“After your threesome in the river, I’d guess that we should. Maybe bug them out back toward you.”
“Copy that, Commander. We’re ready to begin.”
There was dead air. Murdock looked at Lam, who shrugged.
“Sometimes it takes a minute or two.”
They heard nothing from downstream. Then the Motorola came on. “Three down and dead. We’re moving up cautiously. Can’t be more than a hundred yards from you. Fernandez is on point. We’re all on the side of the trail away from the river. Fernandez just froze.”
“Hold there. We’ll put some twenties into the area that looks like it could be their positions. Hold. Everyone fire into the area we pinpointed,” Murdock said. “Twenties, I want two airbursts in those trees just over the trail. Do it now.”
Alpha Squad’s eight guns spat out lead. The twenties barked and then the airbursts exploded. A few seconds later Murdock saw two cammy-clad soldiers jump away from a tree near the trail and race downstream. They were around a bend in the trail almost at once. Two more federals tried to run for it, but were cut down by MP-5 rounds. Vinnie Van Dyke had set up his machine gun, and was puncturing every hiding spot he could find with the NATO 7.62 rounds.
Murdock heard weapons firing from down the trail. Now he saw that the bend in the trail meant there could be no danger from friendly fire.
“Hold your fire,” he said into the Motorola. The wave of hot led stopped in a second. “Ching, Jaybird, check them out. Be careful.”
The two SEALs slipped from tree to tree until they were behind where the ambush had been staged. Jaybird fired three rounds from an MP-5, and then all was quiet.
“We’ve got eight down and dirty. No survivors. We take back the weapons?”
“Roger that, Jaybird. Gardner, what happened?”
“We met four trying to escape this way. They are down and out. We’re collecting weapons and ammo. Seven on this side. The rest of the force must have left these here as a final blocking force. We found some tire tracks down about a hundred. Looks like they were met by at least three vehicles. The two captives must be in Sierra City by now.”
“What happened to Mojombo’s lookouts?” Murdock asked.
“We found two bodies down here that had been tortured and then took a bullet in the back of the head. Probably two of the outpost guys.”
“The others are probably in the jungle somewhere,” Senior Chief Sadler said.
“Let’s clean up the weapons and ammo and get moving. Meet us here, JG.”
“Roger that.”
For Murdock it was a long walk home. He had to report to Washington, D.C., that Stroh and the Vice President had been captured by the federal troops. He couldn’t decide how to tell what had happened. In the end, he forgot about strategy. He’d just tell it the way it was.
Mojombo was not back from his political campaign when Murdock and his men arrived back at Tinglat. The mayor came out and welcomed them. They put the stack of enemy weapons in front of Mojombo’s tent. The mayor grinned when Murdock told him about the federal troops that had died.
“How did they strike so fast with the Loyalist soldiers here?” Murdock asked.
“Almost all of the soldiers were on a training hike up the trail,” the mayor said. “Mojombo told Lieutenant Gabu to work them hard. All gone but three injured ones.”
“I thought Mojombo had security out.”
“He did, but the federal soldiers must have killed them. It is a sad day. We have found two more dead. They killed five men in our village.”
“I just hope that they didn’t take the SATCOM,” Murdock said. “Then they could listen in on our broadcasts.” Murdock found one SATCOM in the leader’s tent and another one in Stroh’s tent. Murdock had two of his own. He called Bradford to set up the SATCOM and aim the dish antenna. When it beeped, he picked up the handset and made the call.
“D.C., this is Murdock.”
There was no immediate response. He made the call again and on the second try, he made contact.
“Murdock, this is Don Stroh’s friend.”
“I have some bad news. Don and the Vice President have been captured during a military attack on a village north of Sierra City. It came as a complete surprise. We had no idea the military knew that the Mojombo forces had moved south ten miles. We followed them, but they put up rearguard actions until the captured men were taken into the city. We don’t know where they are. But we’re sure that the Sierra Bijimi federal troops captured them.”
“This is what we have been afraid of. Any way to get them back?”
“We’re working on it. Might take some time. You have no diplomatic contact in Sierra City. Who do you protest through?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll let State take care of that. Stand by while I spread the word. Keep your SATCOM on at all times. We’ll figure out something and send you some orders. This is going to cause a crisis situation back here.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll call you back.”
Murdock took Sadler, Lam, Jaybird, Gardner, and Miguel Fernandez to a meeting at his tent. “You know the problem. We’re going to get orders in a few hours to go into the city and get the men back, especially the Vice President. I want suggestions how we do that.”
JG Gardner spoke first. “Your guide the other night, Tehabo, knows the town well. I’d put him on one of our motorcycles and send him into town to use his contacts to find out where the men are being held. It can’t be the Army base. Maybe the Government Building, a locked basement room perhaps.”
“I like it,” Jaybird said. “Only, let’s send in at least two men in case one gets compromised or captured. One of the Loyalist troopers or somebody from this village.”
“A villager would never have enough money to buy a motorcycle,” Fernandez said. “Send in two Loyalist men. In the meantime we can stir up the pot by taking out two more police stations. Keep them on the run.”
Murdock pointed at Jaybird. “The Loyalist troops are back from training. Find Tehabo and get him over here. Have him pick out another man who can ride a motorcycle and can do some nosing around in town without getting shot.” Jaybird left at once on a jog toward the Loyalist troops’ tents.
“We’ll use Gardner’s Loyalist trooper guide for the next police station, but let’s just do one. I don’t like the idea of splitting up our men for what could be a heavy firefight. Fernandez, go find the guide you used the other night. Bring him back here. Tell him he’ll get some extra pay for his help.”