“Let’s hope they haven’t had to move.”
Murdock looked out the open door past the gunner but could see little. They had climbed continuously from their fifteen hundred foot landing strip to get over the closest of the mountains, which the crew chief had told him would be over thirteen thousand feet.
Jaybird grunted nearby. “Service ceiling on this bird is fourteen thousand. Hope we have enough oomph.”
Ahead, the mountains slanted upward again and the two 46s vibrated as the engines strained in the thin air.
Ten minutes later the crew chief was back.
“We’re over the last pass and into China near our target. Working out final approaches now. Our maps show those coordinates to be in a valley.”
Murdock went back to his men and told them what he knew.
“How did these guys send out coordinates?” Lam asked.
“Maybe they radioed before they bailed out,” Ching said. “They could have had time to get it nearly right.”
“Fly boys jump with any kind of flares in their flight suit?” Bradford asked.
“Some do, some don’t,” Murdock shouted so they could hear.
They all felt the ship head downhill.
“We’ve pitched down,” Bradford said. “Must have some idea where these guys are.”
The crew chief came into the cabin. “Flare sighted, we’re going down. This valley shows at more than twelve thousand feet.”
“Let’s get ready to get out of here,” Murdock said. “The pilot might not be able to land. He told me if it was too rough looking in his landing lights, he’d get us down to at least three feet and hold.”
“I can do three feet,” Howie Anderson said.
The crew chief came in and the green light snapped on. He waved at them and pointed to the two side doors for exit. Three men on each side.
Murdock felt the bird touch the ground. The crew chief waved them out the doors. Murdock went first. He couldn’t see a thing when he jumped down the three feet from the bottom of the hatch door to the ground. A swirl of rotor dust clogged everything. He used the Motorola. “Hold in place until the birds take off.” He could see the other chopper fifty feet to the left. A moment later his chopper lifted and vanished into the dark sky. Two red flares would be the signal for the choppers to return to the ground for pickup.
Murdock willed the dust to settle. “DeWitt, on me about fifty feet down the slope.”
“Roger that, I have your position.”
Murdock’s five men came around him.
“I don’t see no fucking flare,” Anderson said.
“We hold here for a minute. If the airmen can move, they should be on their way to us.”
They waited, watching for a flare, a gunshot, anything. The only thing they heard was DeWitt and his seven men moving to their location.
“Anyone see a flare?” Murdock asked.
He had no response.
“Time?” Murdock asked.
“Its just after oh four thirty,” Jaybird said. “An hour or so to daylight.
“Any concealment around here?” Murdock asked. He had seen some low brush but not much of it.
Lam had made a circle of their position. He came back shaking his head. “This is rock heaven. A few sparse shoots of grass and some bushes, but not much to hide in.”
“We’re stuck here until we find out where our men are,” Murdock said.
A second later a shot jolted into the night.
“Where?” Murdock asked. Six hands pointed in different directions.
“So we know they’re here,” Murdock said. “They heard us come in. They must not be able to move. Why we don’t know. No options here, gentlemen. We wait for daylight and try for a visual sighting — before the Chicoms do.”
“Find a bush and wrap yourself around it,” DeWitt said. “Not enough dirt here for hide holes. We’ll sit and hope.” He looked around in the darkness. “Ostercamp and Jefferson on guard till daylight. The rest of you, sack out.”
DeWitt sat down next to Murdock cradling his Bull Pup. “So which direction are they?”
“Guess?”
“Educated professional estimation.”
“Down the valley to the left. Has to be downhill. They wouldn’t be up the slope.” Murdock thought about it a moment. “Lam,” he said into his lip mike.
Lam slid in next to Murdock without the officer hearing him.
“How about a little hike downhill?” Lam asked.
Murdock grinned. “You voted for downslope as well?”
“ ’Deed I did. I’m ready when you’re ready, Cap.”
They moved out silently on the rocky ground. The slope was gentle but consistent. They had gone fifty feet when Lam held up his hand and Murdock ran into him.
Something ahead,” Lam whispered. “You have your NVGs?”
Murdock hadn’t wanted to use them until he had to. They distorted normal night vision when you took them off. He slid them out of the pouch and put them over his eyes scanning ahead. The darkness turned into soft green haze like a green dusk. He could see rocks and bushes and not much else.
“Chicom?” Lam whispered.
“Could be, but why would they wait for daylight? They could charge in and take the guys out.”
“Souvenirs, and show time for propaganda,” Lam said. “The Chicoms are good at it.”
Murdock nodded. They moved forward again, Murdock in front now with the glasses. He figured they had gone down the slope twenty yards to the bottom of the small valley. The footing was easier and the growth bigger. He saw a tree ahead over twenty feet tall. They could hide in there from a cursory air check.
Murdock stopped and went to one knee. Lam floated in beside him.
“Somebody’s up there,” he said. He handed Lam the NVGs. The scout studied the area, then both sides of the twenty-yard-wide ravine. He handed the glasses back.
“Yeah, I make it two bodies. Could be our guys. They have some camo over them but not enough. No way it’s Chicom. Maybe thirty yards up there.”
“Let’s work closer,” Murdock said. They eased their way forward. It could be a trap, Murdock knew, but he put it out of his mind and stepped down the ravine a cautious half yard at a time.
Twenty feet away. Murdock checked the area again with his night vision goggles. “I see a U.S. flag shoulder patch on one guy,” Murdock whispered. He handed the goggles to Lam. The scout nodded.
“Hey fly boys, you the Tomcats we’re hunting?” Murdock asked.
There was silence. Lam saw the bodies were moving, maybe getting in a defensive position.
“Tomcats, we’re Navy SEALs come with some support. Is that you?”
“Could be, how do we know you’re on our side,” the voice came scratchy, hard to understand. “Hey, who replaced Johnny Carson on the Tonight show?”
“Jay Leno, Tomcats. You wounded?”
“The commander is hurt bad.” I’m busted a little but can move. Heard you come in back a while with two choppers. We had some Chinese jets looking for us. They found our Cat, but it has to be twenty miles from here.”
“Don’t shoot, we’re coming in. Two of us.” Murdock went to his lip mike. “We’ve got them, DeWitt. Bring the men down and let’s find an LZ. One man hurt bad.”
“That’s a Roger. How far?
“Maybe three hundred yards. Can’t miss us in the bottom of the ravine here.”
Murdock and Lam moved in. They found the two airmen in a slight depression behind a small tree that would give them concealment from the air. One man came to his knees and held out his left hand.
“Lieutenant Birnbaum. Damn glad to see you guys. Where are the choppers?”
“Be coming as soon as we find an LZ down here,” Murdock said. “Broken arm?”
“Yeah and some other stuff. The commander is out of it again. He slips in and out. He got hit with a twenty before we kicked out. We never saw the MiG who must have run out of missiles.”