“No time. We need a guide from your unit to get us through the city and into the Central Army Base.
An hour later they were near the center of the city when they came to a roadblock in the middle of a street that had buildings on both sides. There was no way around it. The two guides from the Second Regiment shook their heads.
“We’ll have to go back a half mile and go around them,” the corporal with them said.
“What’s behind them?” Murdock asked.
“It’s just a pocket of resistance. We control most of the city now.”
“Twenties,” Lam said.
Murdock nodded. The roadblock was a six-by-six truck parked sideways, with a jeep on each side closing down the narrow street. The SEALs divided up the targets, and each fired two rounds from the Bull Pups. Lam’s second round into the truck hit the fuel tank, and it exploded in a mass of flames engulfing both jeeps as well. Two men ran away from the flames. The SEALs let them go.
Ten minutes later the fire was burned down enough that the SEALs and the Loyalist men could jump over the last of it and rush on down the street.
Mojombo laughed when the three SEALs marched into his room in the command post of the big Army base.
“Well, you came quicker than I figured you would. I’ll bet Washington wants to know what’s going on. You can send your first report. We have more than ninety-five percent of the armed forces under our command. I’ve promoted Colonel Amosa to brigadier general in command of all the nation’s armed forces. We have two teams repairing the power lines at the substation. They should be done before dark today. We have three tanks and five hundred men in front of the Government Building awaiting the resignation of the President and his entire executive department.”
“Will he do that, knowing that he’ll face trial for graft, corruption, and murder?” Murdock asked.
“We expect him to give up. He has no place to go. He has no airplane or helicopter. Even his cars have been reduced to two. We expect him to give up soon.”
“He’ll run,” Jaybird said. “How many men does he have with him?”
“He has about fifty of his interior guards.”
“You have all the doors covered?” Lam asked.
“We do. He can’t get out.”
“Are there any tunnels, secret stairways, anything you don’t know about?”
“I hope not,” Mojombo said.
“What about civilian workers in the building?” Murdock asked. “Are they still inside or have they left?”
“We will be allowing them to leave ten at a time. The evacuation will begin shortly.”
“That’s how he’ll get out,” Lam said. “Disguised as a waiter or gardener. He’ll slip past your sentries, who won’t be checking the civilians.”
Mojombo frowned. “Possible.”
“Describe him for us,” Lam said.
“He’s about five-eight, heavy, a hundred and eighty pounds. Slow on his feet. He’s losing his hair. Usually wears glasses. Walks with a slight limp.”
Murdock looked at his two men. They nodded. “Get us transport to the Government Building,” Murdock said.
“You think…” Mojombo stopped. “Yes, right away. Oh, I will be installed by the military in the Government Building as Caretaker President until elections can be held.” He smiled. “Right this way for some jeeps and backup.”
Two hours later, Murdock, Lam, and Jaybird kept in touch on their Motorolas. So far they had seen dozens of civilians come out the three doors being used for their evacuation. All wore civilian clothes. A few had on their work uniforms. Two were cooks, one a driver with hat and uniform. None had matched the description of the President.
Jaybird hit the net. “Hold it. I have four men coming. All are tall, young, with military-type haircuts. Their clothes don’t really fit. Give you any ideas?”
“Have the soldiers pull them to one side and hold them,” Murdock said. “Even a President needs four or five guards to help him walk to freedom.”
“Bingo, I’ve got six men about the same type and dress,” Lam said. “And just behind them is a fat little cook, with his white shirt and grease-stained pants and white chef’s hat. He’s got a mustache and beard that I bet I can pull right off.”
“Move your squad of soldiers up and take them,” Murdock said. “I’m on my way.”
Murdock heard the weapons firing before he got around the corner from the side door of the big building. He saw dozens of people flat on the ground. Fifty yards away six men in civvies ran toward a row of houses. Two dropped from rifle fire. Murdock heard a twenty fire, but the men had slid around the corner of a building unhurt. He spotted Lam chasing them. The commander put on a burst of speed, and sprinted down a street, and caught Lam looking around the corner of a building.
“Skipper. They surprised us. The bastards had Uzis under their shirts and blasted the four soldiers without warning. Then they ran. By the time I got here they had made it to the buildings.”
“They couldn’t have planned it,” Murdock said. “It had to be a spur-of-the-moment move. So probably no transport.”
As he said it, a big car jolted out of a building halfway down the block and raced toward the corner thirty yards away. Lam came down on it with his Bull Pup and fired. The round impacted the rear of the vehicle and exploded. Murdock and Lam ran toward it. The car slued into a building and crashed. Smoke but no fire came from the wreckage. Three men struggled out of the front of the car. One was the fat cook still wearing his hat. Murdock took down the two tall men with a pair of shots for each from his 5.56. They still carried their weapons. The fat man turned. He had blood on his arm and face.
The SEALs moved up to the wreck slowly. Jaybird charged into the scene and checked the car. “No live ones,” he reported.
Murdock stared at the man who would be king. “President Kolda?” he asked.
The fat man in the cook’s clothes looked up out of half-open eyes. He wiped blood from his face and tried to stand straighter.
“Yes, I am President Kolda, and I demand to be treated with respect.”
“The respect you showed the innocent people you killed? The respect you showed by closing the schools and stealing the money? The respect you showed the United States by stealing most of the twelve million dollars we sent you for agricultural reform? Sure we will. You bastard. I should kill you right here, but I’ll let you live so you can be tried for treason, for murder, fraud, grand theft, and a dozen other crimes. If I can, I’ll be here in time to see you be executed by a firing squad. Until then, you can think about this.”
Murdock switched his Bull Pup to single-round on the 5.56 and shot ex-President Kolda in the right knee, shattering his kneecap and exploding the whole joint. The man crumpled into the street with a scream of agony and despair.
By the time Murdock and his men had commandeered a car and transported ex-President Kolda back to the Army base, the resistance was over. The remaining guards in the Government Building had come out with their weapons held over their heads. The Loyalist troops occupied the Government Building and brought Mojombo to the President’s office, and there he waited for the electrical power to come on. The moment it came on, he gave a talk to the country on TV and radio.
At the Army base, Lam set up the SATCOM and Murdock made his report directly to the State Department in Washington. When he was through, he looked up to find that Jaybird had appropriated a jeep, and they piled in and headed for the ten-mile dock and their motorcycles.
Back in the tent in Tinglat, Murdock made a complete report to Stroh and asked him to get orders for the SEALs. Stroh repeated to his boss on the SATCOM what Murdock had told him, and ten minutes later the SEALs had their marching orders.