The two men led the President into the timber for a quarter of a mile along a faint trail. Then they came to a clearing in front of a small log house. Behind it a sheer cliff rose fifty feet, and to one side a small stream chattered down the incline.
“Inside, Mr. President. We have some necessities including a SATCOM radio. As soon as it’s safe, we’ll tell Washington we’ve been attacked and lost all three of our choppers. We’re stranded here until some help arrives.”
“Who did this?” the President asked as he entered the small cabin. It was rustic, but adequate. A bed sat in one corner, a small propane heater and cooking stove in the other. There were no windows, and firing slots had been bored through the foot-thick logs that made up the walls. It was part of a set for an Indian battle demonstration put on by the rancher’s staff for guests at the end of the tourist week.
“What about the others?” the President asked.
“I have two men with the Vice President. He’s in another secure location. One man was assigned to each of the others, but I’m not sure if they could find them or defend them before any men landed from the choppers.”
“Who did this?”
“We don’t know. We suspect the same ones who attacked the cruise ship and attacked San Francisco. North Korea.”
“What do they hope to gain?”
“Our only guess at a motive would be face saving. They were devastated by their defeat recently by the U.S. and South Korea and having to accept massive food supplies from the world to feed their starving people.”
“We feed them so they repay us with sound Oriental logic by attacking and killing us,” the President said. “Not a good trade-off. How many men could they have in the two helicopters?”
“The birds were small, eight men at the most. They used rocket-propelled grenades against our choppers. Now we wait and see what they do.” Sanborn paused and listened to his earpiece, then nodded. “I have reports that the Vice President is safe, and that three of the Cabinet are with their guardians. We have no report from the sixth member of our group. We’re not sure who the three are. I’ll get their names just as soon as their guardians feel they are safe.”
“What about the staff here at the ranch?”
“We don’t have enough men to provide protection for them. They know the territory. As soon as they heard the helicopters explode, it’s my guess that they all ran to some safe haven.”
“Not Barney. He’d grab that forty-five pistol and charge out to defend his property. Known Barney since Nam and he was one gung-ho Marine. Never saw a man who took to the nasty war the way he did. Oh, yeah, Barney would not cower behind a wall somewhere and pray for help. He’d be right in there battling, and this time, probably getting his balls shot off.”
Sanborn touched the speaker in his ear and listened. He looked up at the President. “We’ve established that Maria Alvarez is the one member of our group we can’t account for. General Arnold said she saw her go into the rest room just before the attack.”
Two explosions sounded and Sanborn looked up. “Hand grenades. They may be trying to flush out anyone in the main house before going in.”
“They could have sixteen men?” the President asked.
“That’s an estimate, Mr. President. We’ll try to get some sightings of them when we can.” Sanborn moved to the side of the cabin and used his lip mike. “Net call. Can anyone see any of the attackers? Are they on the ground yet? Where are they?”
“Six here. I saw them land at the far end of the parking lot. Two small birds. Ten men came out one of them, and eight out the other one. If we had the ordnance, I’d suggest we splash the choppers.”
“We don’t have the right weapons. Everyone hold with your charges. Has anyone seen Mara Alvarez?” The net remained quiet. “Who had Mrs. Alvarez as his charge?”
“Five here. That was number Seven. Williams was assigned to Alvarez. I haven’t seen him or heard from him either.”
“Thanks, Five. A chance he’s been taken and they may have his radio, so watch what you say on air. Has anyone seen the troops go into the main ranch house?”
“Four here. I saw six of them go in from the north door. All wore cammy uniforms and they had long guns and sub guns.”
“Copy that, Four. Has anyone seen members of the staff? There are still twelve workers on duty this week, down from the usual twenty-four. Any reports on them?”
“Three here. I saw four of the staff running into the brush and woods above the house. They were waiters and cooks, I think.”
“Any more?” He waited. “Okay. Keep the principals scattered as well as you can. Our weapons can’t match theirs. As soon as it looks safe we filter deeper into the wilderness away from the house. Don’t move more than three miles from the house so we can keep in radio contact. Don’t worry about food or water. It takes nineteen days to starve to death. You can go without water for three days. But there are small streams all over the place. Don’t worry about the quality of the water. Up here it’s all good, so drink it. I want a net check every hour on the hour. Sign off net.”
Sanborn listened as his men signed off in order, except for number seven. Williams was still missing. The rest were all up and doing their jobs.
“Larry?”
Sanborn looked at the President, who had sat down on the bed and was looking wrung out.
“How long will this last?”
“We don’t know, Mr. President. We have used the SATCOM on several chanels asking for help, and try for some nearby military. We’ll put out a Mayday call on rotating channels until we get somebody.” The President nodded and lay back on the bed with his feet still on the floor.
Sanborn motioned to his partner, Phil, who took the SATCOM outside, sat up the antenna, zeroed it in, and made the calls on one channel after the next. Five minutes later he had reported to the Secret Service in Washington, D.C., and to two military posts.
The two Secret Service men with the Vice President had planned what to do in an emergency the first day at the ranch. They did that on every location, in every situation. Seldom did they have to follow through on the plan. This time they did. They rushed the Vice President out the back door, followed a trail past the stables, and cut left directly up the slope.
“We get as far away as quickly as we can without being seen,” Dirk Elwell said. After five minutes, they paused in their run/walk and looked back. They could barely see the top of the ranch house through the trees. They saw no men in military uniforms.
“Another half mile and we come to that little ridge we can use as a lookout and as a fort,” Dirk said. They both carried the short-range Uzi submachine guns, belt .38’s in the middle of their backs, and hideouts on their left ankles. All short-range weapons.
“Who are these guys?” Vice President Paulson asked.
“Best guess is they are North Koreans and are a part of the attack they made on us in several places. Small, slashing attacks, guerillalike, but deadly. What worries me is how they knew you and your party were up here. It was supposed to be a top-secret getaway.”
“In Washington it’s hard to keep a secret,” Paulson said. “Somebody told me that in Washington even the ears have ears.”
Ten minutes later they made it to the ridge and sat down behind it. Looking over the top, they had a perfect view of the ranch house. Trees obscured the rear of it, but they could see the burned-out hulks of the choppers. They saw the two smaller birds at the far end of the parking lot. As far as he could tell, Dirk decided there were no guards around the enemy helicopters.