Murdock used his radio, and told all the MP-5 shooters to crawl to the rear. Thirty yards away was a small wadi that had been dug out by the occasional cloudbursts. He got them into it, then pulled back everyone but the machine gunners. He stayed with the MG men until the rest of the platoon was in the gully.
He signaled for Ronson to cease fire and get to the rear and the safety of the wadi. He used Douglas to keep up firing across the spread of the enemy troops.
They were taking only an occasional round from the Iraqi troops, who had just lost their transport. They could be thinking about the long walk back to their base.
“Let’s go,” Murdock told Douglas. He folded the bipod, and they ran the first twenty yards before the Iraqis realized they weren’t taking fire anymore. A few rounds came, then more. Murdock and Douglas hit the dirt, and crawled. At the same time, the SEAL long guns from the top of the wadi spoke, and silenced the Iraqi weapons.
Murdock and Douglas rolled over the lip of the ravine, and tumbled to the bottom six feet down.
“Let’s move,” Murdock said. “Form up, and double-time out of here, down the gully, and when we get some distance, we’ll bug out southwest.
Move, move, move.”
They ran down the ravine. It gradually got deeper but headed to the south, so they kept in it.
By the time they had been running for five minutes, Murdock called a halt on his radio. “Lam, take a look over the rim, and see if you can spot anybody trailing us.”
Lam crawled up the ten-foot-high bank, and stared back the way they had come. He used his NVGs, and checked out every area he could see.
When he dropped down from the bank, he shook his head.
“Can’t see a rat’s ass of them out there, Commander. Not a farting one.”
“They’re probably trying to figure out if they have any radio to contact their base,” Dewitt said. “If no radio, they’ll have one fucking long hike.”
Murdock turned to Salwa. “Any of this area look familiar to you?”
The Kuwaiti official shook his head. “Not right here. There are wadies like this all over this end of the desert. The rain comes down in bucketfuls, and runs off just as fast.”
“So, it’s southwest again. Let’s get up the bank, and on the move.
The time is now oh-oh-forty-five. We have maybe six hours to sunrise, if we’re lucky.”
Four men went up and over the bank. Before anyone else could climb the bank, they all heard rifle fire from somewhere in front. The four men dropped back down again.
“Whole shitpot full of them not a hundred yards out there,” Lampedusa said. “Looks like they came down another arroyo somewhere and found us.”
Murdock motioned the long guns to the top of the bank. He sent three men with MP-5’s down each way along the gully for thirty yards.
“Look over the top of the bank, and shoot if you’ve got a target,” Murdock told the men with long guns. “We don’t want them any closer.
Let’s use some forty-mike grenades if it looks good. Now.”
He moved up, and watched over the lip of the ravine. He could barely make out a line of Iraqi troops in front. They would go to ground with the first shot. His MP-5 wouldn’t get that far.
“Fire when ready,” he said to his lip mike. The two machine guns and the two sniper rifles blazed and chattered. Murdock thought he saw three men hit in the firing; then the troops ahead dropped into the dirt making poor targets. His men ducked below the ridge as they took return fire.
Lampedusa was back at the top of the bank with his NVG, and his Colt 4-A1. He picked out a target through the Night Vision Goggles and fired.
“Yes,” he said, and dropped down.
Murdock handed his NVGs to Horse Ronson, who popped up with his machine gun and soon fired three five-round bursts, then came back down to his protection.
“Them assholes don’t have no cover out there,” Ronson said. A flurry of rounds slammed over the top of the ravine; then all four long guns went back up, and Lam made it five. The long guns took turns firing to keep the Iraqi troops pinned down, as Lam loaded a 40mm grenade and fired. He was long. He fired a second round, a WP, and saw the flash as the furiously burning white phosphorus rained down on half a dozen of the Iraqi shooters out front.
Down to the left, Murdock heard some firing. He ran that way to find his three men with MP-5’s crouched along the side of the ravine, firing straight ahead.
Murdock felt some rounds slam past him, and he pasted himself against the side of the ditch, then hurried on to his three men.
“Skipper, we caught four of them trying to outflank us along here.
We dropped three of them, but missed the fourth. Figure he’s long gone now heading for the rest of the troops.”
“Let’s look at the bodies,” Murdock said. They were only fifty feet up the gully. Two of them had AK-47’s, and the third some foreign make of submachine gun.
All were dead.
“Bring the two AK-47’s,” Murdock said. “We might need them. And get all the ammo you can find.” Murdock looked at the submachine gun, and dropped it. He preferred his MP-5.
“Stay here and watch for any more of them,” Murdock said. “I’ll bring you back in as soon as I think it’s safe.”
He ran back to the main body. Jaybird saw him coming in the darkness, and intercepted him.
“That first man over the side got hit, Commander. It’s Gonzalez.
Doc says the round went into his upper chest. Not sure if it missed his lung or not. So far no trouble breathing. He can walk, but he won’t be doing much with his weapon.”
Murdock found Gonzalez. Doc was still with him.
“Hang in there, Gonzalez. Doc is fixing you up. We’re almost to the border. A piece of cake from here. Do what Doc tells you, and take it easy.”
Doc went with Murdock off a dozen yards. “Not good, Commander.
Bullet’s up high, might have missed a lung, but it might have punctured it and it could collapse.”
“How far can he walk?”
“Don’t know. I just hope he isn’t bleeding inside. I’ll stay with him.”
Murdock nodded, and checked with Jaybird on the top of the bank.
“They tried one rush, but went down when we opened up again with the MGs. My guess is they are down to maybe twenty who can fight. The odds are getting better.”
“Let’s get all of the Colts up here, and throw out about twenty forty-mike-mike. That’s the best way to rout them. If we can make them run, then we can choggie down our ravine. Don’t know where the hell it’s going, but it’s away from here.”
Jaybird called up the men with the Colt carbines that could fire the grenades. He had five Colts.
“Five rounds each,” Jaybird said. “Alternate HE and WP if you’ve got them. Let’s get this fracas settled.”
Murdock told the MG guys to do twenty rounds each just before the grenades went out. They did.
The grenades fell just after the machine guns tapered off. Murdock watched from the top edge of the bank. He saw one Iraqi leap up, and run to the rear. Good. Five grenades had dropped in, and he could hear some screams. Then the second volley. Just as it ended, two more men raced away to the rear into the darkness.
Murdock used his mike. “You six flankers, come in. We’re going to be shagging ass here in about three.”
Murdock watched the last three volleys of grenades explode on the Iraqi troops. Some were long, two were short, but enough hit the flattened troops to rout them. When the last of the small bombs went off, Murdock used his NVGs and saw six men limping to the rear. Six more leaped up and ran hard back the way they had come.
Murdock used the mike again. “Doc, you and Gonzales head down the gully. We’ll follow it another mile if we can. At least it gives us some protection. We’ll catch up. Don’t push him too hard.”