“Anybody wounded?” Murdock asked.
There were no responses. “Okay, let’s haul ass out of here. No formation, just filter back to where we left the trucks.”
Five minutes later they loaded in the trucks, yelled at the Marines to get onboard and the whole “invasion” force moved out for the short drive back into the village. The trucks stopped and Murdock spoke with the Indian liaison officer who had been talking to the locals who were concerned that the Nepal war had spilled over into their village.
“I have most of the locals calmed down,” the Indian Army captain said in a severe almost-English accent. “We don’t have any accommodations for your men, but you can bivouac in a small field just outside of town. We’ll get the choppers here for you in the morning for your return flight.” The officer paused. “I’d say you chaps did quite well tonight. Must have scared hell out of those Chinese forces nearby and will give the command generals something to worry about.”
The Marines bitched about the arrangement until one of their top sergeants chewed out the lot of them, then they settled down.
DeWitt put out two guards for their section of the field and the SEALs nodded off.
Murdock looked up, surprised by the Indian jeep that pulled up and Don Stroh stepped out into the moonlight.
“Thought you were talking with the folks in Calcutta,” Murdock said.
“Well, I was, then we had a few signals come through, one right from the CNO himself. While you boys been pissing into the wind down here, there’s been a real wild one going on up at the Indian corridor into Bangladesh. India shot down three more Chicom transports. MiGs have shot down four Indian fighters. The U.S. has sent a squadron of Tomcats to the military field near Calcutta, and they have flown thirty-four sorties, watching for MiGs. This morning one of the Tomcats was shot down over the edge of China. We have a pinpoint location of the two men who jumped and neither one is hurt. They’re hiding.
“In twenty minutes two choppers will be here to lift you guys into China where you will provide protection and escort service via the choppers to get our men out of there.”
Stroh stopped talking and squatted in front of Murdock.
“Are you with me on this? There’s no time to go through Navy channels. Right here we’re almost three hundred miles closer to those two fly boys than they are in Calcutta. The plane went down in a dagger of Chinese territory that stabs down toward Bangladesh between the Indian area of Sikkim and the small nation of Bhutan. You’ll fly from here to Shiliguri, a good-size town in the corridor and about eighty miles from where the plane went down.”
“Weapons and ammo,” Murdock said. “Are they bringing our other weapons from Calcutta? We have three more Bull Pups there and our resupply of ammo.”
“Believe it or not, the brass thought of that, and they have loaded everything you left there except your diving gear onto the choppers. Should have plenty of ammo. This is a run in and snatch operation and fly out as fast as possible. It will be a night operation if possible but could stretch into tomorrow morning. Your guys ready?”
“Let them sleep until the chopper gets here. How far to this supply point?”
“Sixty miles. They will refuel the choppers at Shiliguri, and you’ll have time to get your weapons cleaned and ready. Heard you burned up some ammo tonight?”
“A few rounds. Some curious Chinese wanted a closer look. We didn’t let them look.”
“Oh, just in case you wonder: There will be three forty-six choppers in the flight, one for backup if needed. All will have door-mounted machine guns and gunners to man them.”
“Damn, the Navy is finally understanding some of the problems here. Will it last?”
“Until something goes wrong. In case you missed out on the rest of the war, there is now fighting in Pakistan between the locals and the Chinese they invited in. I think this whole charade was a put-on so China could take over Pakistan without a major war. Much easier to fight inside a country than to invade it.”
“Why would China want Pakistan?”
“State and our boys finally figured out what may be the answer to that one. Pakistan has two hundred and eight million barrels of oil reserves. That’s nine times as much as China has. China is going to be needing more and more oil in the years to come. Why not steal it free from Pakistan?”
“This is starting to make sense.”
They both heard the engines and rotors of the big choppers at the same time. Murdock used the Motorola. “Okay, SEALs on your feet. Your siesta is over. We have some work to do. Let’s move up and get ready to do some travel time. Move it, SEALs.”
23
Murdock watched the town come into view from the open door of the chopper as they came toward a small landing strip. It wasn’t a large airport, just a single concrete runway and blacktop taxi strips to four medium-size hangars. He saw two Indian-marked helicopters at the first building and that was the one they landed near.
“We’ll be here just long enough to get restocked on ammo, and have a quick meal. Not sure what we’ll be eating but pretend that you like it. Get back here fast after eating to check out weapons, and supplies. We’ll take off in an hour.”
The Indian liaison found Murdock a minute later.
“Lieutenant Singhe,” the man said. He was shorter than Murdock, stocky and looked like a lifter. “Commander, we’ll have your men through our mess in half an hour. We have a room where you can stash any of your gear you don’t want with you. You have enough ammunition to start your own war.”
“About what we’re going to do, Lieutenant. I’m sure the Chicoms will have people out looking for our flyers as well.”
“True, but your AWACS planes say their search planes are fifty miles off the mark.”
“Hope they stay that way. What’s this country like that we’re going into?”
“Himalayas in a word. Mountains, On that side probably twelve to thirteen thousand feet, foothills to the big guys. Not a lot of vegetation up in there. It’s a hard, cruel, cold place most of the time. Summer brings a little rain and some wildflowers. Most of that area is above the timber-line.”
“Sounds inviting. Any Chinese infantry in the area?”
“None that we know of. There are no real settlements up in those areas. Bleak, worthless country.”
“Where is the closest air base?”
“Don’t know, Commander. I’ll try to find out.”
“Don’t put up any of your fighters while we’re on the mission. Maybe that way no MiGs will be in the area to shoot us full of holes.”
“I don’t control that, but I’ll put in your request.”
“Thanks, now I want to get some food and then check on my men and the chopper.”
Forty minutes later the fourteen SEALs were waiting for the last flight checks on the two choppers. One squad would be in each bird in case of enemy fire. Stroh was on hand yelling at the crew and waving off Indian personnel. He loved it. Murdock watched and grinned.
The 46s took off on schedule. The SEALs had five Bull Pups with forty rounds per man and double ammo for the rest of the guns. They had extra long guns this time and fewer submachine guns.
The two birds kept in visual and radio contact with each other; in the eerie moonlight, they had their noncombat warning lights on. Thirty minutes out from the landing strip, the crew chief talked to Murdock over the roar of the engines and the rotor noise.
“We’re seven minutes from Chinese territory. Our men are supposed to be another twenty-five miles into China. That will take us ten more minutes. We’ll use our global locator to zero in on their coordinates.”