“Wait until we get ready to do the headquarters,” Murdock said.
“Then we’ll do them all at once.”
Two soldiers left the one door they could see in the headquarters.
Both had rifles. They talked, and laughed, and headed directly at the SEALS.
“I’ve got them,” Murdock whispered into his lip mike. He pointed at Jaybird and Dewitt. Both sighted in on the soldiers and fired. The whooshing sound of the EARs came again like a heavy sigh, and the two Japanese Self Defense soldiers crumpled like rag dolls without uttering a sound.
“Leave them,” Murdock said in his mike.
They looked for Lam. It was almost five minutes later when he came around the side of the house next to the one where they lay hidden. At the same time, three more soldiers came out of the headquarters. They saw the two men down in the street and ran to them. Murdock nodded and he, Dewitt, and Jaybird all fired. The three soldiers joined their unconscious comrades out cold on the ground. Lam slid in beside Murdock.
“Don’t look good, Skipper. Just one door on the other side. No back door, no windows worth shouting about.”
“One squad on each side?” Murdock suggested.
“Yeah, but only one unit to enter the place; otherwise we might be blowing each other away — or knocking us out.”
Murdock made up his mind quickly. “Ed, take your squad to the far door. Lam, you show them the safe way. Take out any guards or soldiers you find on the way, but don’t touch any civilians. Go.”
Murdock brought his squad up front. They were still forty yards away from the headquarters.
Commander Murdock surveyed the target again. He used his lip mike.
“When we’re ready, we move up to that house about thirty yards from the door. We wait for someone to go in or come out and open the door. Then we put five shots inside and let them rattle around. If no one comes out, we check the trucks for drivers; then we’ll storm the headquarters with our live-ammo weapons ready. Dewitt will be firing in the door on the other side but he won’t go in. Questions?” There were none.
Murdock hit the lip mike. “Ed, how is it going? How long yet?”
“Just got into position thirty yards from the door. Can we fire through the door, or wait for it to open? One window we can use on the second floor. Three rounds in each one?”
“Roger that, Ed. We’re waiting for an open door here. I’d say the sound won’t go through the door. Has to be open. Yes, there it is for us. Everyone in First Squad fire except Jaybird, me, and Lam. Fire.”
Two men had just come through the door. It swung open wide as the last one came out. The first shot hit both men, and they went down.
One of them blocked the door so it stayed open.
The other four rounds went inside.
Murdock waited.
No one came boiling out of the building.
“Any action back there, Ed?” Murdock asked.
“Nothing. We got three rounds inside when somebody came out just after you hit the front. Nothing is moving.”
“We wait two more minutes,” Murdock said. “Then First Squad checks the trucks, then hits the door on this side. Inside, we can’t use the EARS. Any ricochet would get us too. Have your regular weapons ready, and the EAR on your back. Put them there now.”
Murdock strapped the long stun gun on his back, and brought around the MP-5 blaster.
He checked his watch again. “Twenty seconds, First Squad.
Bradford, you’re closest to the trucks. Check them for drivers. Then get to the door and hold it open wide and stay back. I’ll be the first one inside, then formation order with Ching as rear guard. Now, let’s do it.”
The First Squad came out of the dark shadows on the run. Bradford checked the trucks, then got to the door and jerked it open. Murdock rushed inside.
Lights were on in the building. First he found a long anteroom, then the open door to an office with rooms off a long hallway to the left. Two officers sat in chairs behind a big desk. Both had slumped over the desk. The SEALs found six more soldiers inside, all unconscious. They quickly put on riot cuffs.
“Ronson and Ellsworth, cuff those five outside and drag them around to the side, then get back in here. Anybody see stairs to the second floor?”
“No second floor, Cap,” Jaybird said. “Damn high ceiling, though, and some windows up there.”
Murdock looked at the two Japanese officers. Neither of them had stars or shoulder boards. One was a lieutenant, the other a captain.
Where were the big brass?
They found only one man not unconscious. He was in the bathroom.
They cuffed him and left him there.
“Clear in here, Ed, come on in,” Murdock radioed.
They collected in the big room with a lookout on each of the doors.
They still had to find the general.
“Those outposts,” Jaybird said. “Maybe the general went on an inspection tour.”
“Company,” the earpieces reported. Lam told them from the front door.
“How many?” Dewitt asked.
“Looks like six from a half-ton truck. All have rifles.”
“Let them come in, then we surprise them. No shooting,” Murdock said. “Out of sight, everybody.”
They moved into offices. Murdock hid behind the two officers’ big desk.
A few moments later, the six men came in chattering in Japanese.
They moved toward the center of the big room. Then one of them noticed the two officers slumped over the desk.
One shouted.
“Now,” Murdock said, and the SEALs rose up and ran into the room all with weapons pointing at the six.
“Surrender and you’ll live,” Ching barked at them in Japanese.
“Try to fire your weapons and you all die quickly,” he continued.
One Japanese bent and put his rifle on the floor. The other five let their weapons fall and held up their hands.
“Joto ichi ban,” Ching said. SEALs rushed up, took the weapons, and quickly tied all with plastic riot cuffs on both hands and feet.
One of the men was a captain.
“Ask the captain where General Nishikawa is,” Murdock told Ching.
Ching did so, squatting in front of the captain, who now sat on the floor.
An answer came at once. “The captain says the general could be at the grave site of his ancestors, or he might be inspecting the outposts.
He drove away in a jeep about an hour ago.”
Murdock frowned. “Ask him how many men work out of this building and where the rest of them are.”
Ching asked the captain, but he shook his head, refusing to answer.
Ching asked the other prisoners, but they shook their heads.
Murdock walked up to the group, picked out the smallest, and cut his ankle cuffs off. He grabbed him by the cuffed wrists and started to lead him toward one of the doors.
“Tell the captain if he doesn’t tell us what we want to know, we will kill one of his men each time he refuses. Jaybird. Take this one into that room. Leave the door open. If the captain here refuses to answer again, shoot one round into something solid so it won’t ricochet.
But don’t kill the guy.”
Jaybird grabbed the Japanese man and pushed him toward the door.
“Tell him, Ching.”
Ching told the captain what would happen if he refused to answer the questions. Ching asked him again how many men worked out of this building, and where the rest of them were.
The captain looked at the open door, took a long breath, then shook his head. “Now,” Murdock said into his lip mike.
The shot sounded like a cannon inside the concrete-block building.
The captain collapsed on the floor.
Ching moved beside him, lifted his head, and asked the question again. This time the answer came quickly.
Twenty men worked out of this building. The rest were at the outposts. The general had just started a new outpost at the bay where he expected the invasion to come. Twenty men were out there.