Lassiter had the support platoon bring over a fuel truck and pour in JP4 fuel until all four internal tanks were bulging. When that was done, he started preflighting the aircraft. As he was checking the engine fluid levels, Hooker and Trapp arrived, carrying a bulky duffel bag. Lassiter eyed the bag and the two Special Forces soldiers. "What's in there?"
Hooker tapped the bag knowingly. "Just some what-if stuff."
The army commander updated Tugur on the latest situation report. "The sweep has progressed twelve kilometers from the border road. They are making approximately two kilometers an hour." He turned to the map. "We estimate they will be somewhere along this trace by dark. So far they have managed to turn up some hunters and miners. There has been no sign of the terrorists."
Tugur grunted his acknowledgment.
The commander continued. "I have a recommendation to make." Tugur gave him an encouraging nod. "Since we found the wreckage in this location, I think we ought to narrow the search in order to concentrate our forces. The terrorists are on foot. They cannot be moving fast enough to have gone much farther than, say, from here to here." The commander outlined his estimate on the map. "I suggest we pull our forces from these areas here to the north and south and concentrate them in this center area, from twenty kilometers north of the indicated point to twenty-five kilometers below it. This will allow us to have a much better net."
Tugur agreed with the officer. "Your reasoning is valid. Give the orders."
Watching the search line creep forward had been agonizing. From his perch Riley watched in growing dismay as more trucks pulled into the area, dropping off additional troops. He climbed down from the tree and reported to Mitchell. "They're going to make the pickup zone before dark. They're only two kilometers away from it now. I figure they'll go maybe another kilometer beyond by dark. And there's more bad news. Looks like the search is being concentrated here. For the last hour more troops have been coming into this area. The density of the search line has almost doubled."
Mitchell sighed. "Do you think we can break through tonight?"
Riley shook his head. "Before these reinforcements I would have said maybe. Now I doubt it. We're definitely going to make contact. I don't relish the idea of running toward the pickup zone, carrying Olinski, and fighting off the Chinese at the same time. We could force our way through, but they'd track us down and wipe us out before we went five hundred meters." Riley kicked the tree Mitchell was leaning against. "Damn! We've got to come up with a plan."
Mitchell agreed. "Let's bring everyone together and talk it over."
18
"Offer the enemy a bait to lure him."
Thirty minutes of brainstorming had turned up no feasible plan. Riley kept silent, but he knew what the plan had to be. He'd known all along. Mitchell must also see that they had only one choice. Riley had desperately hoped someone else could come up with a less drastic course of action. No one had.
Riley was getting ready to speak when Mitchell beat him to it. "All right. Enough. It's time to face reality. We can't run from these guys. Not only can we not outdistance them carrying Olinski — and I don't want to hear any more bullshit from you about getting left behind," the captain warned Olinski, "but also there's no point in going west. For all we know there's another search line coming up the mountains on that side. There must be people at the crash site. West is out.
"North and south are out, too. The search line extends as far as we can see in both directions. We'd never be able to do an end run around the flank. For all we know it extends fifty kilometers each way. That leaves us with the original problem. We have to either head east or hide in place. We're fooling ourselves if we think we can do either.
"The bottom line is that we have to make the Chinese change their tactics. There's only one way I can think of to do that. Set up a diversion."
Mitchell let the significance of what he had just said sink in for a few seconds.
Olinski was the first to react. "I volunteer, sir. If you all could get me up to the high ground over there to the north, I could use the SAW and get their attention."
Mitchell had expected this and shook his head. "No. If the people doing the diversion are going to have any chance at surviving, they've got to be able to run. I'm not sending anybody on a suicide mission."
Riley raised his hand for attention. Everyone fell silent. "Here's what I propose. Two men, healthy men, take an SVD sniper rifle and the SAW machine gun. They go up in higher ground along that finger there to the north. Just after dark the one with the SVD starts taking out the Chinese along the search line. I'm sure they won't be practicing strict discipline. Hell, they'll probably have fires going all along the line. We shoot enough of them, and keep it up, until they have to react.
"The rest of the team hides. The best place will probably be down near the stream over there. Hopefully, once the shooting starts, the Chinese will break their line and move past those team members who are hiding, missing you in the dark. Once the Chinese go by, our guys head on down to the pickup zone. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to do it in the confusion. If you make any accidental contact, you can use the silenced submachine gun to take care of it. /
"The two guys in the hills keep the Chinese's attention as long as they can, then try to make it down to the pickup zone or, if that isn't possible, try to escape into the hills. Two healthy guys might have a chance where the whole group of us wouldn't. We coordinate a pickup zone back in the mountains for those two. If the rest of the team gets out tonight, you get base to run another exfiltration for those two on another night."
Riley stopped and looked at the captain. They both knew they had to go with this plan. It was the only way. It was feasible — all except the last part, Riley thought. There's no way those two men would survive. But at least they'd go out fighting.
The detachment commander stood up. "I agree, unless anyone can come up with a better suggestion." Mitchell looked each team member in the eye. No one said anything. "I'll decide who does what. Dave, come with me."
Riley and Mitchell walked about twenty meters away from the team and sat down on two rocks.
Riley preempted the captain. "Listen, Mitch. I know you're going to volunteer yourself to do this. Deep inside you know that's bullshit, for the same reasons you gave Olinski. We've got only four healthy men — me, Hoffman, Chong, and Comsky. It's got to be two of us. One of the two has got to be a trained sniper. That's between Comsky and me. We need to leave Comsky with the main party because he's the medic. That means I'm the one with the sniper rifle."
Mitchell didn't protest. He hated the decision. But it was the right decision.