“There isn’t any,” Lam said.
“Got to be some somewhere,” Jaybird countered.
They were near the middle of the slope of rocks and dirt that led up to the peak.
“Off to the left more,” Murdock said. “Another wash. Looks big enough for half of us. The rest can stay back farther and be out of the line of fire.”
“Might work,” Dewitt said. “But that gully still puts us six or eight hundred yards from the target.”
Murdock used his lip mike. “Ching, ask Captain Radiwitch to come up for a conference.”
A few minutes later the Russian commando sat down beside the others. Murdock showed him the situation, letting him use the NVGs to check out the top and the new gully.
“What we suggest is that half of our force move into the gully,” Murdock said. “Then I’ll take one squad of SEALs and work up silently as close as we can get to the top. We think that rock field to the left is the access route to the top. Once there, the squad will have cover from any fire from above.”
“Your sleep guns. Can you use them?”
Murdock shook his head at the Russian. “The angle is wrong. We can’t hit the Japanese and we can’t get any bounce effect up there the way we did the last time. We’ll have to move in closer and probably use our regular weapons.”
“How many men up there?” the captain asked.
“We’ve captured or killed nine or ten. That should leave him with maybe ten or fifteen.”
“It’s a good defensive position,” the Russian captain said.
“We’ll try grenades,” Murdock said. “But the overhang on that cliff is going to deflect all but a few chance rounds that get inside.”
The Russian stared at the slope. “You take squad of ten?”
“No, we use eight men.”
“Then I take squad of eight men, we go together.”
Murdock had expected it. Russian pride. “Agreed. Bring your men up. Automatic weapons, lots of grenades, hand and rifle.” The captain nodded and slipped away.
“First Squad, get up here,” Murdock said into his lip mike. “We’re going for a walk in the park.”
Ten minutes later, the sixteen men crouched in the ravine. The rest of the SEALs and twenty handpicked Russian commandos filled the area behind. The rest of the Russians were farther back.
Murdock had been checking the slope above with his NVG. He had monitored the lip of the cliff looming over them, but could detect no bodies and no movement.
He spotted what looked like a trace of a trail that wound through sedan-sized boulders fifty yards ahead of them. Lam checked it and nodded.
“Sure as hell looks like a trail, Skipper. Let’s give it a try.”
Murdock and his men moved out first, slipping quietly up the rocky slope toward the rocks. Lam reached them first, and Vanished behind a huge boulder. Murdock and the rest slid in between the giant’s marbles.
The Russians were close behind.
Murdock looked around his big rock at the cliff above. It was still fifty yards away. He grinned. Now he saw the path. Someone had cleared away most of the smaller rocks and pushed aside larger ones.
The path wound around some of the large boulders slanting upward to the end of the shelf. They provided what could be enough cover for an assault on the cliff. The cave must be just behind it.
Murdock waved at Ching, and he edged up beside him. “Stay undercover and call out to the Japanese general. Tell him we come for his surrender. Enough men have died. He should send his men down without arms.”
Ching moved closer, then called the message over a protective rock.
When he finished, there was a long pause. Then a short reply came back.
Ching looked back at Murdock. “He said never, just the one word.”
Captain Radiwitch came up and heard the exchange.
“Time for Russian power,” he said to Murdock. “My men will blow them out of there with grenades.”
“Captain, it’s only fifty yards. The shelf over the cave extends well out. It’s a hard shot to get a rifle grenade in there. Coming up here, I thought it might work. Now I’m not so sure.”
“We can do it. Do not worry. Russians good with rifle grenades.”
Murdock shrugged. “Go ahead. I hope that none of the misses start a landslide and cover this place up with rocks.”
“Russians never miss,” Captain Radiwitch said. He turned and spoke quickly in Russian. Six men with grenade launchers on their AKMs came forward and found firing positions.
Murdock touched his lip mike. “Our friends are going to try to use rifle grenades to soften them up. Let’s watch it. Some of those little bombs could set off a landslide in this unstable part.”
The Russians began firing. Murdock watched the flight of two rifle grenades. They sailed high, came down short on the bare rocks outside the ledge, and exploded. A few rocks loosened and tumbled down the slope. None came toward the SEALS. Half a dozen more grenades exploded. Murdock saw two shatter inside the parapet around the cliff.
Then three more went off on the face of the cliff below the cave.
It began slowly. Then more and more rocks loosened. A moment later it was a full-sized landslide rumbling down the mountain straight at the SEALs and Russians.
“Watch out,” Murdock shouted. “Incoming from those damn Russian grenades.”
25
The dirt and rocks in the landslide cascaded down the slope. The larger rocks rolled faster, bounced, landed, and bounced again. The first few hit the huge boulders. Some shattered, others bounced once more and went past the men.
Tons of rocks and dirt pounded down. The group of huge boulders the men crouched behind acted as a divider for much of the landslide.
The first roll of rocks and dirt hit the boulders and split to each side; then more of the Plymouth-sized rocks nudged the flow of dirt and rocks farther to the side.
The sixteen men in the forward position huddled behind their boulders and waited. The roaring, grinding sound of the landslide enveloped them, then passed by and was gone. The men were covered with a foot of dirt and small rocks, but none of them was injured.
Murdock did a net check, and all seven of his SEALs reported in.
“Just hold in place while we figure this,” he told them on the Motorola.
Captain Radiwitch came up brushing the dust and dirt off his uniform. Lam moved over as well and motioned to Murdock.
“Commander, might have a suggestion. Look at the layout of the rocks up the hill, the big ones. With a little covering fire, we can leapfrog up there to the end of the rock field. The boulders are plenty big enough for cover up to thirty feet from the ledge where the cave is.”
The Russian listened. Murdock took another look at the rock field and nodded. He turned to the commando. “Looks possible, Captain. What do you think?”
Captain Radiwitch stared up at the rocks, then the path the men would take. At last, he nodded. “Eight men fire, eight men move. We go first, you give cover fire.”
“Sounds good.” Murdock brought his SEALs up in a rough line with fields of fire on the top of the ledge, and told them the plan.
Radiwitch got his men in position and pointed at Murdock.
“Let’s do it,” Murdock said to his men. “Sustained fire, real ammo, but don’t run short on rounds. Fire.”
The eight weapons spoke, and then again, and again. The eight Russians darted from rock to rock, working up the hill thirty yards.
They slid behind boulders, and Murdock called a cease-fire.
A moment later the Russians set up a fire pattern on the top of the mountain, and Murdock led his men in a charge toward the spot the Russians had claimed.