Murdock watched the water race past them, and tear down the way until it rounded the bend below and slammed into the small valley with a channel deeply cut from other flash floods.
Douglas came on the Motorola again. "Good god, that. I've never seen so much water in a dry river. Must be fifteen feet tall, smashing, crashing, right down the channel. It's within two hundred yards of the Iranian camp.
"Now somebody spots it and yells. The men start racing for the sides of the channel, but the sides are so steep. Some almost make it, then the soft dirt crumbles and they fall to the bottom.
"Oh, damn. The water hit the camp. Wiped out everything. Men are washing downstream, going under as the water in front rolls and tumbles. One guy got to the top of the dirt side, but the water undercut the piece of land he was on and he dropped in the maelstrom.
"They're all gone. All twelve of them. Nobody can swim in that kind of turbulence, not even with a rebreather."
Lam came back on the radio. "Water is dropping rapidly now, L-T. I'd say it will be all past here in another five minutes. One big wall of water and no backup."
The net went silent for a moment. Murdock watched the raging water storm past them. In a few seconds he could tell the crest had passed, and backwater, with less force and speed, came rolling down the steep incline.
"Lam, work your way back down here. We're going to have to stick to the high ground for a while."
"Roger that, L-T. I'm moving."
"Douglas, see any survivors over there?"
"Not a one, Skipper. I'd say the bodies are a half mile downstream by this time, maybe farther."
"Hold your position. We need to move that way. Platoon, any reason we can't move out?"
"Magic can walk. He's feeling no pain, thanks to Ching. Not sure how mobile he'll be. Figure that out when we hit the flatter ground. I'd guess another three miles per hour."
"We need to find a new hide hole," Murdock said. "Still broad daylight and our old quarters aren't going to dry out for a couple of days. Douglas, you see anything from up there that might give us some cover? We're naked over here."
"Looking south, L-T. Could be another ravine leading out of the valley that is still dry. Can't tell for sure, but the color seems to change inside it. Over maybe two miles."
"We'll try for it."
Five minutes later, Lam walked up, and they moved out over the ridge, picked up Douglas, and Lam headed them for the valley Douglas pointed out. They worked down across a slope studded with rocks and a few bushes, then hit the side of the valley below, but kept to the far fringes of it, out of the path where the flash flood had cut the channel another two feet deeper.
Almost an hour from the top of the ridge, they came to the valley they had figured might have some plant growth for cover. It did, some scrub plants and brush about like the other one. This place was not as thick and the concealment wouldn't be perfect, but Murdock decided it would work.
"Hell of a lot better than being caught out in the open when one of their planes flies over," he said.
Doc came up and talked to Murdock.
"Magic can still walk without dragging that left foot, but he's moving slower than he was. Something is sapping his strength. We'll feed him twice as much as everyone else. Might be some infection inside that leg. If I had a few dozen kinds of antibiotics, I could kill the infection, but don't have any. It's too tricky. Tonight I'd say we'll be doing good if we can make two and a half miles an hour."
"Thanks, Doc. Anybody else hurting?"
"Not that I've heard of. Kat is doing great. She's probably in better physical shape than any of us for stamina. Damn, just thinking about my doing a triathlon gives me the hives."
Murdock went back on the Motorola. "If you haven't eaten your MRE, do it now. I've got first watch. Dig yourself a nice little nest in the leaves and brambles, and watch out for snakes. I'm kidding. Too damn hot out here even for snakes. Watch is for two hours. Washington, you're next. Pick your own victim to follow you."
They settled down in the brush then. Kat waited until Murdock found his spot, then she moved in close to him.
"Hope you don't mind if I'm your roommate," she said.
"Hey, I'm pleased. You're the prettiest SEAL I've ever seen."
"Not much of a compliment, Skipper."
They both grinned.
When they got their resting areas worked out, Murdock waved. "I'm on watch. Be back in two."
He found a place at the side of the ravine where he could have a fair view of their backtrail. The few clouds that had been moving toward them seemed to stall, then some giant, billowing, mushroom clouds built up, thunderheads, but he heard no more thunder. The storm had been stalled, probably by a high-pressure line along here somewhere.
He thought of using the mugger again, but what good would it do? He called up Ron Holt to bring the radio. They set it up on a flat place and picked up the SATCOM satellite in orbit 22,300 miles overhead. Murdock thought about his message. Then he typed it in on the keyboard.
"Stroh. Still 20 miles from wet. More troops moving in. What about alternate pickup by air? Try highest authority. May be a go/no-go option for retrieval. The Expendables."
He read it over again. Should he leave the tag line? He decided to. It would convey the situation. He let Holt encrypt it, then flash it out in a burst of transmission less than a half a second long.
"Thanks, Holt. Get some sleep."
Murdock checked his watch. Nearly 1400. He had another hour of duty. He wasn't hungry. He tapped his canteen. He had emptied the first one, and discarded it. Now his second was almost halfway down. They could use some water.
A half hour later he heard a plane, but it came nowhere near them, it was far to the south. So they must be looking down there or at least dropping in blocking units. He wondered why they hadn't run into another one. Maybe tonight. Water. The idea crossed his mind. Fresh troops from the air in a blocking position would have plenty of Iranian water. Worth a try. Maybe tonight.
At 1500 all was quiet. He called Washington softly. The black man came out of the brush, saw Murdock, and moved up. "Good observation spot, L-T. All quiet?"
"So far. It should be dark in two hours. Roust the camp at that time and we'll figure out what to do."
"Aye, aye, sir."
Murdock headed back for his nest. Kat roused and sat up when he arrived.
"Quiet?"
"Yeah, makes me wonder where they are. Why don't they have choppers out here scouring the place?"
"It's a twenty-square-mile puzzle for them. Where do they start? They know we were at point A with those Claymore mines, but what direction did we take after that? My guess is the military has limited resources on-site yet. They do what they can. Much too limited for a full-scale search and destroy."
"You sound like one of my Annapolis professors."
"Just a trace of my nerves. I do have them, you know."
"Hadn't occurred to me."
"L-T, we've got trouble."
It was Washington. "Like what, Washington?"
"I'd say about fifteen troops, coming up our trail from the north. They're maybe half a mile out. Have one scout out front following our trail, rest behind dispersed."
"Platoon, it's work time," Murdock said sharply on the radio. "Everyone move to the bottom side of the brush, and get yourself a firing position. Break off some growth if you need to. I want Ronson on the machine gun, not the fifty. How many forty-millimeter rounds we have? First Squad, sound off."
Lampedusa had four rounds. Second Squad had three Colts with four rounds each.
"Find a spot and be ready when they reach two hundred yards. Fire on my first shot, two forty mike-mikes, then the Colt. The rest of you stand by. We'll let them get as close as we can. I want that scout close enough so we can smell his breath to suck the others in. I'll take the scout, the rest of you the others. Move."