Mitchell could see and hear movement in the Chinese lines, but even with the night-vision goggles he couldn't tell what was happening. For all he knew, the Chinese might be moving the whole skirmish line forward. He knew they had spotted Riley's position when the machine guns mounted on top of the trucks began returning fire. It was already 12:50. He'd give it another twenty-five minutes, then they'd start moving forward.
Parker glared as Colonel Hossey walked in. "What is going on, Colonel? I've got your sergeant major in the brig on a navy ship and a helicopter flying somewhere around the Sea of Japan with a lot of fuel on board. Where is that bird going and why?"
Hossey sighed. He'd been trying to tell his story all day and now finally someone wanted to know. "Sir, I've got men who were on a classified mission in China trapped there. I had to get them out tonight and using that helicopter was the only way."
Parker's eyes grew wide. "That helicopter is on the way to ChinaT The general looked at the map. "Jesus Christ, man. It's going to have to go over either North Korea or Russia to go in from the Sea of Japan. What did…" Parker paused as the duty officer indicated the phone.
"Sir, it's General Gunston, 6th Air Force commander on the STU III."
Parker grabbed the phone. "Parker here."
"This is Jim Gunston, Stu. What is going on? My duty officer has scrambled some jets and he also has an AWACS going up in response to your request. I just finished contacting my chain of command at the Pentagon, but no one on duty there knows anything about this."
Parker glanced briefly at Hossey. "I'm not too sure either. All I know is that I've got a helicopter inbound toward China from the Sea of Japan on an unsanctioned mission. We need to stop it."
There was a pause and then Gunston came back on. "I've got four F-16s from Misawa flying toward the position you gave, to try and intercept. I've also got an AWACS going up — it should be on line in about fifteen minutes. I don't think they'll be able to intercept the helicopter, though. It's got too much of a lead. Also, I'm kind of leery of putting all this into action so near Soviet and North Korean airspace. It's going to spook them."
Parker insisted. "We need to give our best shot at interception. I'm trying to find out right now what's going on. Let me know as soon as you learn anything." He hung up and faced Hossey again. "Start from the beginning."
It took the commander fifteen minutes to get his 3d Battalion on line, ready to move. The 1st and 2d Battalions were still not organized. The regimental commander decided not to wait. He gave the order for 3d Battalion to move out; stretched in a line, the four hundred men covered a nine-hundred meter front as they marched forward. They left a gap of almost a kilometer and a half behind them. Men from 1st and 2d Battalions scrambled to fill the gap, in turn opening holes in their own fronts.
At the army headquarters in Yanji, Colonel Tugur was finally awakened with the news. He quickly reviewed the reports and cursed as he read that the regimental commander had ordered his men forward. It was too late to stop them. Quickly he ordered more reinforcements into the area. He wasn't sure what was happening, but it could be a diversion — a fact that the regimental commander had apparently overlooked. Tugur also ordered all the helicopters to be prepared to take off. He relayed the information to General Yang up in Shenyang. Tugur knew that the responsibility for what happened tonight would be on his shoulders.
Riley could pick out the beginnings of a line moving toward his position. He decided to let the soldiers get close enough for Chong to join in the fun. Chong was still positioned about thirty meters to Riley's left, hidden securely behind some boulders. Riley gave a brief whistle and Chong whistled in response. He was ready. Riley put his weapon down and stretched his shoulders and arms. He took several deep breaths and leaned back against a rock. He had several minutes before he had to start killing again.
Mitchell pulled on Hoffman's arm, indicating that they were going to move out. The captain wanted to get closer to the Chinese lines. Hoffman reached over Olinski and grabbed Comsky, who in turn alerted C.J. They hefted up the stretcher, and the centipede of humans moved slowly out of the bushes where they had been hiding.
They walked for ten minutes, gaining fifty meters. Mitchell halted them and peered ahead through his goggles, trying to see what was ahead. He couldn't detect any movement or guards. He tapped Hoffman again and they started moving. Suddenly the crack of the SVD, closely followed by the burst of the SAW, sounded to the north.
Riley fired his first round carefully. Now that the moving skirmish line was only a thousand meters away, he could hit with a higher degree of accuracy. He ignored his feelings. The men out there would kill him if they could. It was kill or be killed. His first round was a head shot and took out a platoon or squad leader giving orders.
Riley fired the rest of the magazine quickly, shifting from target to target. In twenty-five seconds all ten rounds had been fired and all had hit. After Riley's first shot, Chong had joined in and the red tracers from the SAW had weaved their destructive path along the advancing line. Heavy machine guns from the trucks, still in their support position, and medium machine guns from the dismounted unit roared a reply. Lacking night-vision equipment, the Chinese gunners could fire only in the general vicinity of the muzzle flashes and the point of origin of the red tracers.
Mitchell could see the firing off to their left rear. Apparently some Chinese troops had moved forward. Mitchell could only hope that the line in front of him was thin enough to pass through. Only another hundred meters to where the picket line had originally been. Still no sign of anyone ahead. Mitchell tugged on the stretcher and they moved forward cautiously.
Tugur read the latest report with a bit of puzzlement. A machine gun joining in the rifle fire? So there were at least two people up there. Maybe this wasn't a diversion. Maybe the terrorists had seen that they were trapped and preferred to die fighting rather than be hunted down.
Colonel Tugur ordered the first pair of Haitun Z-9 helicopters into the air. There wasn't much the helicopters could do in the dark, but Tugur wanted them up there, just in case. He would rotate his six gunships, keeping two in the air for the rest of the night if need be.
The nearest troops were only five hundred meters away. Time to be moving on, Riley thought. He crawled over to Chong. "How you doing?"
Chong looked like an alien with the bulky goggles on. "Not bad, Top. I've fired only two magazines, so I've got four left. Those heavy machine guns are getting the range on us, though. Had a couple of rounds hit damn close last time."
Riley agreed, the Chinese were getting the range. Riley briefly considered not firing again, but he decided they had to. He couldn't be sure that the other men on Team 3 had made it through yet. They had to play the game until the end. "I'll fire five rounds fast and you give them one long five-second burst. Then we're out of here."
Chong nodded in agreement. They set up their weapons side by side on the outcropping. Riley scanned the line and picked a target who seemed to be giving orders. "Ready?"
"Yep."
Riley fired his five rounds in less than three seconds, shifting rapidly from target to target even as the Chinese soldiers dove for cover.
Chong fired one long burst. The two pulled in their weapons and slid down the loose rock, putting the outcropping between them and the enemy. It was just in time — the return fire was extremely accurate, and incoming rounds cracked by overhead.