The battalion commanders shook their heads in amazement at the regimental commander's uninspired orders. Still they were content to stay where they were. No one was anxious to move out against an unseen threat.
Just in front of the Chinese lines, Mitchell heard the shots and watched as the fires went out. The members of Team 3 could hear shouting from the Chinese positions. Mitchell peered through his night-vision goggles, trying to determine what was going on. It looked as though everyone was getting under cover, with no sign of the forces moving forward. He decided he'd give them some more time to get organized and react. He waited ten minutes, and then the shooting started again.
Helicopter 579 had left almost twenty minutes ago. Trapp checked his watch one last time. It was out of their hands now. He was seated next to the captain of the Rathburne on the edge of the helipad. Hooker was on the other side of the captain, still holding the detonator in his hand.
Trapp lowered his AK-47 and bowed slightly at Lemester. "I guess they're far enough away. You can go back to running your ship now."
Lemester glared at the man with barely restrained anger. "What about the bomb over there? I want the detonator."
Hooker laughed. "You mean this? Here." He threw it at Lemester, who anxiously fumbled it before making the catch. "That's the remote control to my TV set back in Korea. I don't think I'll be needing it anymore. The satchel is my dirty laundry from the past week. I'd appreciate it if your ship's laundry could take care of it."
Lemester failed to see the humor in the situation. He yelled for his marines to come forward. "Throw these two in the brig."
Lemester turned to Peppers. "Did you radio in this situation to headquarters?"
Peppers shook his head. "No, sir. You ordered me to do nothing that would jeopardize the ship."
Lemester swore. Sometimes these Annapolis graduates took things too literally. "Lieutenant, how the hell do you think these idiots would have known if you had made a radio call? The air force could have scrambled some jets from Korea or Japan and intercepted the helicopter. It's probably too late now."
Lemester shook his head. "Of course I told you to do nothing. They could hear everything I said. I expected you to use some initiative. You idiot! Get out of my way." The captain climbed up to the radio room.
Riley peered through the night-vision goggles, which were pressed up against the four-power scope. He could barely make out some men gathered around a truck, looking as though they were arguing about something. Probably officers, Riley guessed. He aimed at them and fired five rounds in rapid succession. This time his muzzle flash was spotted. Another truck, farther to the south, opened fire with its heavy machine gun, and the green arc of tracers drew a line from the truck to a point just south of Riley's position. Five other trucks quickly joined in. Riley slid back under cover as random rounds flew overhead.
The regimental commander heard the machine gun fire in response. Still no word from division. He didn't know what to do. His 3d Battalion commander called back in with a report of two more men wounded and a tentative location of the firer — along the ridgeline on the north side of the draw, about two kilometers to the west. The regimental commander was amazed. That was a long way for such accuracy.
Finally division responded. "Move out and subdue firer. Attempt to capture, if at all possible. Reinforcements on the way."
The regimental commander relayed the orders and ordered his 3d Battalion, the northernmost one, forward; his 2d and 1st Battalions were to stretch out to keep the picket line intact. He contacted the commander of the regiment to his right flank and informed him of the plan.
The 3d Battalion commander was less than enthused when he received his orders to move out. The machine-gun firing had died out and there was no return fire. Maybe they'd hit whoever was shooting. The 3d Battalion commander doubted that. He relayed his orders to his company leaders, and slowly they got their units on line. The other two battalions blundered about in the dark, trying to stretch their lines to cover the breach that would be caused by the departure of 3d Battalion.
After the heavy machine-gun fire died out, Riley crawled back up to the crest of the ridge and peered over it toward the Chinese lines. He could make out some movement. He slid a round into the chamber from a fresh magazine and waited.
Major Thomas did not look forward to the upcoming briefing. General Parker, commander of the Eighth Army, Korea, had ordered the duty officer to keep him informed if any word came in on the missing helicopter from the 17th Aviation Regiment. Two minutes ago the general had walked over from his quarters across the street, ready for the latest update. A downed aircraft was a command-one priority in Korea.
Parker ran his hands through his mussed-up gray hair and unzipped the sweatshirt he had thrown on. "All right, Thomas. What's the latest?"
"Yes, sir. First off, you need to know that we just got word that the helicopter was sighted."
"Great. Is the crew all right? Where did it go down?"
"We don't know where it's at right now. It landed on the USS Rathburne more than two hours ago in the Sea of Japan." Thomas could see the confusion on the face of his boss.
"Whoa! What was it doing out there?"
"Sir, I just called Colonel Hossey down at DET-K and asked him to drive on up here. He's called a couple of times and he says he has some information on the helicopter."
Parker shook his head. That was even further out in left field. "What does DET-K have to do with this?"
"I'm not sure, sir."
Parker frowned. "All right. I assume the bird is still on the ship."
"No, sir. We don't know where it's at."
"What do you mean you don't know where it's at? They took it into custody, didn't they?"
Thomas shook his head. "The helicopter landed with some men with weapons who said they had a bomb on board. Took the captain of the ship hostage and demanded that he refuel the aircraft. He did so and the helicopter took off again. They left two people on board the ship with the bomb and they threatened to detonate it if the navy tried to call or shoot down the aircraft. The ship has the two in custody now. One of the two gunmen is the DET-K sergeant major."
Parker rolled his eyes. "Where is the helicopter going now?"
"I don't know, sir."
"Is there any more?"
"Yes, sir. We've got the identity of the crew of the helicopter. There is a Captain Jean Long as one of the pilots. The other pilot is a warrant officer named Colin Lassiter.
"We also got some more information on the configuration of the bird. It had four internal fuel tanks mounted, which give it the range, with the refuel from the Rathburne, to fly a hell of a long way. Also, it had two live Stinger missiles mounted on it."
Parker looked at the map on the wall of the operations office. Where could that helicopter be flying? He grabbed the secure phone and punched in the number for the 6th Air Force in Japan.
"This is General Parker, Commander Eighth Army. I need some jets in the air and an AWACS. Vicinity…," he put his hand over the receiver and looked at Thomas. "What's the grid for the RathburneV
Thomas gave it to him and Parker relayed it. "I want the commander on the AWACS to contact me as soon as he's airborne. We've got a helicopter on the loose up there and we need to lasso it."