“You and Lam check it out,” Murdock said. He gave three jerks on the nylon line and the SEALs untied themselves. They were a hundred yards from the old dock. “We’ll move slowly toward shore,” Murdock whispered to the man closest to him and the word was passed to the rest. They submerged and swam toward the shoreline that was built up to the water’s edge with warehouses, docks, and a pair of freighters.
Jaybird met them just off the freighters. “Lam is scouting out the area again, but it looks good. Nobody around. Hasn’t been used for a while. Some construction going on topside. Plenty of room below it and a dry route to the dock. Puts us about fifty yards from the end of the liner.”
“Let’s move,” Murdock said and the SEALs swam on the surface doing an easy breast stroke with only their faces out of the water.
The water ended twenty feet from the foundations for the pier and the ground was mostly dry. The SEALs found their spots and pulled off their wet suits and Draegrs and put them in their drag bags. They arranged the bags so their weapons were on top. Then they checked out each other. They had on their civilian clothes and while not looking like your ordinary middle-age tourist, they might pass for the part.
Murdock and Lam went to the top of the steps up to the dock, and surveyed the luxury liner. There were three soldiers guarding a closed loading hatch that was dock level a quarter of the way down the long ship. At the gangplank near the center of the ship were eight guards, four on each side. Two more Chinese soldiers stood guard at the top of the gangplank.
“Get an EAR up here,” Murdock whispered down the steps. Bradford came up.
“She’s fully charged and ready to go,” Bradford said. He looked at the targets. “Should get all eight of them at the gangplank first with one shot. Then a second one ten seconds later for the three guys at the hatch.”
“Bring up the other EAR,” Murdock whispered down the steps. Fernandez came up with it. Murdock moved aside to make room for the other gunner. “Bradford, take the gangplank, then when the two men at the top start down, nail them.”
“Fernandez, you have the three men at the loading hatch this side. Let’s do it.”
The men both nodded. “Sight in and fire on my command. Ready, and fire.”
The soft whooshing sound of the enhanced rifles hardly made a dent in what they realized was a low level hum of late night traffic on the island.
The eight guards at the gangplank dissolved into masses of sleeping jelly, as they fell where they had been standing. None of them moved after hitting the concrete. Some excited chatter filtered down from the guards at the top of the gangplank. Fernandez’s round had blasted the three closer guards and they wobbled a moment, then went down, their rifles clattering on the concrete dock surface.
Bradford watched the guards at the top of the gangplank. They hesitated then both ran down the steps. Bradford led them just a hair and fired. The blast of enhanced air slammed into the two men. Knocked one man off the gangplank to land hard on the concrete twenty feet below. The other one sagged and passed out on the steps themselves.
The SEALs had on their new Motorolas, replacements for the ones they had taken swimming in Bangladesh.
“Jefferson, Bradford, and Ching on me,” Murdock said. “We’re the first up the gangplank. We’ll clear and then the rest of you charge onto the ship in a rush and get to your assigned areas. Let’s move.”
They ran down the forty yards to the gangplank, carrying their drag bags, their weapons out and ready, locked, and loaded.
“Hell, we don’t come close to looking like tourists,” Jefferson said. Murdock, Ching, Bradford, and Jefferson stepped over the prostrate soldiers as they approached the gangplank. The ship rode low on the tide and the ramp up to the rail was only twenty steps. Murdock led them. Their line would be that they were new crewmen just assigned. Just as they topped the plank and stepped into the lobby-type two-story entryhall of the ship, a Chinese soldier came out of a doorway and stared at them. He saw their weapons and reached for a pistol. Bradford hit him with an EAR round and the soldier took a step backward, then collapsed like a rag doll on the soft red carpet of the ship.
Before the four could signal the others, three Chinese in civilian dress left another door and headed for the gangplank. They were drunk and walking with just a slight stagger. They laughed at some joke, continued past Murdock and his men without paying any attention to them, and headed down the gangplank
“Let them go,” Murdock whispered into his mike.
A stream of Mandarin sounded directly behind them. They turned to see a Chinese soldier with officer epaulets. He shouted something in Mandarin, then he saw the SEAL’s weapons and lifted a submachine gun. Before he could fire, Murdock sent a silenced three-round burst from an MP5 subgun into his chest. He slammed backward against the wall and slowly crumpled, the weapon falling to the carpeted floor. Bradford and Jefferson caught the dead Chinese officer by the arms and dragged him through a door into a dark office and hurried out.
“SEALs, come on up,” Murdock said on his Motorola. The four men looked around, saw no more guards, and headed for their objective, the bridge. It would be forward at the top level of the ship. Murdock saw the elevators and led his men that way. The doors on the elevators opened and a couple came out. Their arms were around each other and they had some trouble walking. The girl giggled and stared up at the man. They turned and weaved down a companionway, not even noticing the SEALs who had held their weapons behind their legs. They still carried their drag bags, looking for a good place to hide them.
The elevator took them to the top to the Lido deck. It was open in the center with a swimming pool and deck tennis courts there and a two-story bridge area at the bow of the big ship. The SEALs headed that way. They had just passed the swimming pool and hurried around the tennis courts when a Chinese soldier jumped out from behind a wall and challenged them.
Below on the dock, the other SEALs quickly bound the hands and ankles of the thirteen unconscious Chinese soldiers, then raced up the gangplank. All had assignments and headed into the areas where they could find their targets.
On the Lido deck, Ching shouted something at the Chinese guard who had jumped out and confronted the four SEALs. It startled the soldier and confused him. In that fraction of a second, Bradford put him down with an EAR shot. The man shuddered, then his eyes went wide and closed as he slumped to the floor, his submachine gun clattering away from him.
Just ahead they saw a door marked “Bridge, Authorized Personnel Only.” Murdock tried the door, it was unlocked. He and the rest of the SEALs dropped their drag bags in the corner of the deck and opened the door. Inside was a corridor with doors opening off it. Straight ahead forty feet they saw stairs. They took them to the upper level. Another door blocked their way.
Murdock tested the handle, turned it gently and pulled the door open an inch. Inside he saw the bridge, a wide expanse with windows around the entire area. Near the front was a large console with various video monitors and a set of controls. A crewman in white uniform stood there watching everything.
On the far side Murdock saw three Chinese playing some kind of game at a small table. Another soldier with epaulets of an officer watched the crewman at the console. Murdock pointed to Bradford, and held up three fingers pointing to the left. Bradford moved up beside Murdock, saw the targets and aimed the weapon through the door. Then Murdock shook his head and pulled Bradford back.
“Too confined a space. Everyone inside would be out. We’ll go in and cover them. Use silent rounds if needed.