“Could have been a mistake. Probably their target was Kauai with the rest of the troops. I’d suggest you tell the admiral we think an air strike on these men would be advisable. Can’t hurt any civilians. There aren’t any out here now if there were in the first place. Some air strikes would keep them occupied and cut down the number you’ll have to mop up with the Marines sooner or later.”
“I’ll tell him you suggest the air strike. It could come from the Jefferson. She’s steaming closer to shore now off Maui. You have your Mugger along so you can give them precise coordinates?”
“Affirmative. What else?”
“They may want your guys to check the underwater approaches to Kauai. I know, I know. How much could the Chinese construct in twenty-four hours? Then there has been a concern about a pair of missing admirals who were vacationing on Maui with their families.”
“Do you know how the Chinese slipped up on Hawaii even better than the Japs did fifty years ago?”
“It was a friendship tour of a Chinese strike force. Labeled as a goodwill gesture for all our differences in the past. State loved the idea. My boss hated it. He said just one miscue and the whole of Hawaii could go up in smoke. As I guess it is. So what should I tell the admiral?”
“About what? We’re not done here yet. In the morning we’ll take a look and see what’s happening. A sunup missile and straffing attack would be good, before they have a chance to disperse.”
“I’ll tell the admiral.”
“Tonight.”
“It’s a little after midnight, Murdock.”
“Good, give him something to do. Tonight.”
Lam brought Bravo Squad into the area and three radio directions later, the group hiked up to the rest of the platoon.
They had out two guards that night. Murdock took the first two-hour shift until 0200. He woke up Ronson and told him to get Ching up at 0400.
Murdock listened during his watch, but he didn’t hear the Chinese moving out of their camp. It would be a complicated operation. Where could they move to?
Murdock was up with the sun. He hoped to see at least ten Navy fighters jolting across the Chinese camp below. Then he realized that he hadn’t given Stroh the coordinates. No matter, the camp wouldn’t be hard to find.
He went out on the edge of the ridge and looked down at the Chinese camp. He saw the burned-out tent first. Could have been a mess tent or for officers. Smoke came from what he guessed was the kitchen. With his field glasses he could spot the individual clusters of men. They must be in company groups. Fifty platoons of forty men each.
For a moment Murdock felt cold sweat on his neck. What if all two thousand of them turned and stormed up the hill on assault fire? He and his men wouldn’t have a chance. Below him, he saw the camp slowly come to life. He wasn’t sure how they cooked, but there was no central mess. Maybe each company had a cook. Just as he was about to wake up the rest of the platoon, two F-18’s came slamming over the valley no more than twenty feet off the tops of the greenery. They made one sweep across the Chinese camp, then another the other way.
A chopper lifted up from behind some trees and a bullhorn blared out a message in Mandarin. Ching ran up beside Murdock and translated.
“Men of China. You have been led on a suicide mission. You are unsupported. Last night you took deadly fire. The warplanes that just departed will be back unless you fly a white flag and surrender at once. If you need medical help, a medical unit will be flown in within the hour to treat your wounded. Signify your acceptance of the surrender with white flags. Do it now.”
To Murdock’s surprise white flags were waved in every section of the small valley.
The chopper came closer to the edge of the camp.
“Very well. Now put your weapons in stacks in each of your units. Lay them down, unloaded, and form up in a column of fours.”
As the Chinese did as instructed, four Sea Knight helicopters lifted from below some trees and swept into the camp. They landed in four spots well apart from each other, and twenty-five Marines in full combat gear poured out of each one.
The Marines settled the Chinese down in their formations. They inspected each man, then when satisfied, marched the Chinese out of the area in groups of two hundred.
The chopper with the bullhorn had been quiet while the Marines completed the surrender. Then the sound came on again.
“Commander Murdock. If you and your men are in the area, give us a green flare.”
“Got it,” Jaybird said, and fired a flare from his Colt Commando carbine.
“Good, Commander. You’re wanted back at Pearl. If you and your men can work down to the camp here, we’ll get you outbound on the first chopper. There is some urgency. It’s a red-signed order.”
“Let’s move it,” Murdock said into the Motorola. “We wouldn’t want to keep Admiral Bennington waiting, now would we?”
They hiked down the hill and watched the last of the Chinese move out with their Marine escorts. The chopper with the bullhorn had landed, and now a Marine captain came over to meet Murdock.
“Commander, looks like your attack last night changed some minds down here. The hospital chopper is on the way. We have twenty-seven dead and over a hundred wounded. The minor wounds are marching out. There are still thirty that need attention here.”
“Murdock grinned. “Captain, we do our best. Which chopper is ours? We have to make a stop at a burned-out house down the valley a ways. Have some goods and ammo to pick up from our stash.”
They landed at Pearl about an hour later and Murdock, DeWitt, and Senior Chief Dobler were driven to the admiral’s headquarters. The admiral looked like he hadn’t slept all night. He hadn’t.
“Is it Kauai, Admiral?” Murdock asked.
“No, no. The aircraft carrier Jefferson took care of that late last night and early this morning. No, we have a much tougher problem. Sit down, gentlemen. This is going to take some time, and some planning.
“It’s those two admirals you’ve heard about. A highly radical nationalistic cell from one of the Chinese destroyers went onshore at Maui two days ago and kidnapped the admirals and their whole families. They are demanding the release of all captives and reparations for Chinese killed and ships sunk or damaged. If we don’t agree to their demands, they will send us the head of one of the members of the admirals’ families every four hours, starting with the youngest and working up. We already have the head of a little girl of five or six. I don’t want to see another one. The deadline for hearing from us is twelve hundred hours.
“Commander, you have to take your men in and kill those sonsofbitches and rescue the admirals and their families before anyone else is murdered.”
6
Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock watched the admiral closely, his mind already whirling with questions he was sure the Navy’s head man in the Pacific wouldn’t have answers for.
“What do we have to work with, Admiral?”
“Just two radio transmissions today and three phone calls yesterday. All were taped and we have copies of them for you. We know nothing about this splinter group of Chinese. We think they came from a Chinese destroyer and went ashore in a small boat. There could be only three or four or up to two dozen. We’re flying blind here. All we have is a radio frequency, their call sign, and their say-so that they are on Maui. We know that’s where our two men were vacationing with their families this week.”
“You have radio triangulation equipment on-base?”
“I believe so. The chief will check at once.”
A non-com left the room.
“We’ll need that equipment and an open radio channel with you so you can contact the group frequently to help us find a location on them. There’s a chance their transmitter isn’t where the hostages are being held.”