Five minutes later the PA system came on again with a woman speaking Korean. She pleaded with the men in their own language to lay down their arms and turn themselves in. Murdock headed for the bridge. The last he knew, the luxury-ship captain had been a prisoner of Captain Kim. Evidently he’d escaped. He might know where the Korean was.
On the bridge, Captain Van Derhorn shook his head. “I don’t know what happened to him. Three of us overpowered Kim, and took his weapon away from him, but he ran down a corridor and vanished.”
“He still has at least thirty armed men on board and could do a lot of damage. Could you get all passengers back in their cabins?”
The captain said he could, and made the announcement.
“All passengers are requested to return to their cabins and lock the doors. There are still hijackers on board who are armed and dangerous. Please return to your cabins at once.”
Murdock, Jaybird, and Ching huddled on the bridge.
“Where the hell can he be?” Ching asked.
“He’s lost his power base, no frigate,” Jaybird said. “So he’s on his own with his remaining troops. If he can find them. He could always swim to shore and fade into Korean Town in San Francisco or Los Angeles.”
“Or jump a South Korean flagship out of San Pedro and get back to Korea,” Murdock said. “More likely he’ll try fighting to the end on the ship. How do we find him?”
“Call him out for a one-on-one shoot-out on the fantail, like the old Westerns,” Ching said.
“Maybe not exactly that, but that’s an idea. We use the PA system for sure.”
The Motorolas sounded and the three listened. “Skipper, Jefferson. We’ve got a situation down here on the promenade deck that you need to be in on. Some wild-eyed Korean with a sub gun has six passengers in nightclothes pasted against a bulkhead and is threatening to shoot them. Too damn many civvies around for Donegan or me to get off a good shot.”
“Hold the fort, Jefferson. We’re on our way,” Murdock said, and the three SEALs took off running.
12
Murdock, Ching, and Jaybird darted out of the bridge, flew down two flights of steps, and came to the promenade deck. Standing in front of them were three North Koreans with their hands in the air. Their submachine guns lay on the deck at their feet.
“Tie them,” Murdock called to Ching, and he and Jaybird ran on to the center of the long and mostly dark promenade where they say a group of people. The SEALs slowed and came up behind a dozen middle-aged men and women in pajamas and robes. Murdock slouched so he wouldn’t tower over the others, and stared between them. Six men and women in their robes were lined up against the bulkhead. A man stood in front of them wearing the off-blue uniform of the North Korean Navy. Then Murdock saw the submachine gun he carried and aimed at the six. The Korean shouted something in English, but Murdock couldn’t understand it. He worked through the crowd to get closer.
“I told you once,” the Korean shouted. “I want a motor launch out the dockside hatch and I want guaranteed free passage to the boat and on to shore. Otherwise these six die here and right now.”
There was no ship’s officer there. The man talked to the crowd. He turned looking at the people behind him.
“I’ll shoot them down, believe it,” he shouted. “I am Captain Kim, and I’m used to being obeyed. Who can speak for the boat captain?”
A small woman with a long robe stepped from the group of people ten feet behind Kim.
“I can help you,” she said.
He turned to look at her. “Little woman of Korea, I remember you from before. Don’t bother me. I spoke with you already and you were not polite. Go away.” He shrugged and turned from her. Before Murdock could make a move, the small Korean woman lifted a heavy .45 pistol from the folds of her dress.
“This is for killing my husband,” she shouted, and at once fired the heavy gun. It kicked high. The bullet slammed into Kim’s right shoulder and spun him around. Before he could bring up the submachine gun, she brought the pistol down and fired again. This round jolted into his chest just over his heart and knocked him down, the sub gun skittering away from him on the deck.
The small Korean woman stepped up near him. Murdock pushed people aside and rushed toward the woman.
“You’re not dead yet, Kim,” the woman screamed. “You should be.” Before Murdock got to her, she fired four times more from point-blank range above where he lay on the deck. All the rounds hit him in the chest.
Murdock lunged the last three feet and grabbed the weapon before she could fire again. “He’s dead,” Murdock said.
Susie Jamison nodded, stepped closer to the body, and kicked it three times. “May your soul wander for all eternity in the nether regions of the unforgiven and may your ancestors deride you and scream at you for a thousand centuries for disgracing them and making them lose face.” Mrs. Jamison turned and walked away through the gawking vacationers.
Murdock used his drill-field command voice. “All of you passengers. This has been a shocking sight. Now please clear this area. Return to your cabins and lock the doors. There are still more than two dozen armed and dangerous North Korean Navy killers on board who could strike at any time. Go now and stay in your cabins until Captain Van Derhorn gives you an all-clear.” He watched as the people took a last look at the dead man, then slowly filtered into the inside of the ship. The six people against the wall surged out and gathered around Murdock, thanking him, glancing with fright at the man who had almost killed them. Murdock urged the six to hurry to their cabins.
Murdock and Jaybird went back to the bridge. The captain reported that fifteen of the hostiles had surrendered.
“We’re getting survivors from the frigate at the dockside hatch. So far we’ve brought twenty on board. I’ve called the nearest Coast Guard station to send out two rescue choppers to transport some of our most seriously injured passengers and crew to a hospital. They say twenty minutes. They also will send three cutters to come and take the North Koreans off our hands. They can have the wounded ones too. Not sure how many survived the sinking.”
“Good work, Captain. The Coast Guard should take the bodies too. As soon as we get the ship cleared of all the Korean live ones, we’ll gather up the corpses and take them down to the hatch level. The North Korean government will want the bodies returned, I’m sure.”
Murdock talked to the Motorola. “Okay, team. Maintain one guard at each of the vital areas. The rest of you report to the top deck and we’ll start a sweep of the decks to find any reluctant North Koreans. May be some trouble, may not.”
They made the sweep. On the top deck they found no one. Two Koreans came out of a closet-type room on the second level and surrendered. Then it went faster, and they found only six more Koreans, and none offered any resistance.
When they finished the last passenger-area sweep, Murdock checked his watch. Almost 0300. He didn’t think it had taken that long to cleanse the big ship.
His Motorola sounded in his earpiece.
“Murdock, this is Socha. The dockside hatch wasn’t open when we finished our exercise, so we swam for shore. We’re all present and accounted for. How is the job there moving?”
Murdock told him. “About ready to call in our Forty-Sixes. You want a pickup?”
“Roger that, Murdock. Let us know when our chopper is coming and we’ll use some red flares to mark our beach. We’re almost due east of the ship. Nice and quiet over here. Understand that frigate is bottomed out somewhere out there.”
“Affirmative, Socha. An F-86 christened it with a Harpoon missile. The old tub broke in half and went down.”
“Good. Let me know when our pickup is.”