Murdock settled down next to the two admirals. Their mouths had been taped shut and arms and legs tied securely. Lam had spotted them twenty minutes ago, and had done a complete recon around them for a quarter of a mile. It was not a trap.
“How many Chinese are left?” Murdock asked.
The two-star admiral swallowed hard, then took another drink from Murdock’s canteen and spat out the water.
“Damn mouth don’t work good yet.” He swallowed again. “How many? Seven or eight. Your men cut them down fast. I have no idea why they kidnapped us. Doubt if they knew either. Probably just some commander doing what he was told.”
“You say they changed into civilian clothes?” DeWitt asked.
“Yes. I saw them all changing. They hid the uniforms. I saw two of them hide their automatic rifles as well.”
“They’ll hit town and pass as civilians,” Murdock said.
“I want them caught, Commander, especially that snot-nosed one who speaks English.”
“We’re considering that, Admiral.”
“I’m surprised you aren’t charging ahead right now to catch them before they get into that little town out there. They shouldn’t be hard to spot.”
“Admiral, we’re operating under strict orders from Admiral Bennington. Our job was to find and rescue you and your families. That we’ve done.”
“Then, Commander, I’m ordering you to pursue and capture those damn chinks who kidnapped us.”
“With all due respect, Admiral, this is a combat situation. We’re at war with China. I am on a secret mission and in command of that mission. I report directly to the CNO in Washington, D.C., and the director of the CIA. As such, sir, and with all respect for your rank, I simply outrank you on this mission.”
The admiral started to get red in the face, then relaxed and chuckled. “Yeah, Commander, you sure as hell do. I don’t think I ever thanked you for rescuing our people back there at that mansion, and for finding us. Can we get the hell out of here now and back to our families?”
Murdock said they could. He called on the SATCOM for the Sea Knight chopper at the local airfield to come and get them. He had news about the two admirals’ families as well.
“We’ll have a chopper here in ten minutes, Admiral,” Murdock said. “Your two families are now safely back in the resort where you were staying. We’ll drop you off there on the way. We’re all angry and sorry about your loss.”
“Thank you, Commander Murdock. Thank you very much. You’ve done a fine job here. I’d like to write an addition to your after-action report.”
“As you wish, Admiral.”
Murdock called in their position and designated two men to put down red flares in the LZ. Holt came up to him.
“You called, Cap?”
“Yes, see if you can get on the phone system and find out where Jaybird is. Some Maui hospital. Keep calling until you locate him and get a report on his condition.”
“That’s a Roger, sir.” Holt sat down in the grass and began switching dials and talking. Soon he had the phone number of the Central Maui Memorial Hospital in Kahului. He talked to the emergency room. When he finished he found Murdock.
“The head nurse said that Jaybird took a serious gunshot wound and that he’s being treated. He made it to the hospital in time and the peritonitis was minimal. He’ll be there in recovery for at least a week, but he should heal completely.”
“Good,” Murdock said.
Five minutes later, Holt was back with a curious expression.
“Something cooking, Cap. Just had a call from some captain on board the carrier Jefferson. He said he had cleared it with Admiral Bennington, and Don Stroh. Our Sea Knight bird is to fly us directly to the carrier, which is about twenty miles off Maui. He says he has a highly classified and important mission for us. He said get our asses over there as fast as we can.”
10
Commander Blake Murdock snapped to attention along with Senior Chief Will Dobler and Lieutenant (j.g.) DeWitt and First Class Petty Officer Kenneth Ching when the admiral came into the compartment. It was just off the admiral’s quarters on the big aircraft carrier.
“At ease, gentlemen, be seated,” Rear Admiral Matthew Magruder said as he slid into his chair behind the conference table. He stared for a moment at the four men, still in their stained and dirty combat cammies, sweat-streaked and with camo smudges on their faces. His own countenance was set in stone neutrality. That and his undertaker slate-gray eyes had landed him the call sign of “Tombstone” in his first F- 14 squadron years ago. The name had stuck. Sometimes it was shortened to “Stoney,” an even more apt description of his usual expression. Men who had flown with him for years swore that once or twice they remembered seeing him smile. Most of his people on his current watch doubted that.
“Thanks for coming right up from your chopper. We have a problem here that we need some help on.” He hesitated. “This one is a bit different than anything you’ve seen before.”
“Different, sir?” Murdock asked.
“You men know about the Chinese invasion. They pulled their battle group into range of us by infiltrating operatives into our CINCPAC Fleet data correlation center headquarters at Pearl to falsify position and size reports on the Chinese battle group. Originally, it was to be a small contingent of Chinese warships on a goodwill mission.
“To brief you on the situation, we have an invasion of Kauai, with about five thousand troops ashore. They have little support, and we’ve eliminated most of their offshore resupply. We’re presently assembling a force to counter that invasion.
“You know about the invasion on Oahu. It is stalled against the mountains and will be mopped up soon.
“We have CINCPAC headquarters back in our control thanks to you and your men. The Maui kidnapping is over.
“Our planes and ships are chasing the Chinese battle fleet across the Pacific. So far we have damaged them severely. The carrier, which we didn’t even know they had, is limping along at half speed and will soon be sunk. We have cleared the skies of their planes and their fleet is scattered and running for its life.
“Now they spring a new demand. We’ve whipped them, and they won’t give up. Through top-secret diplomatic channels they have given our State Department an ultimatum. They claim they have planted an activated nuclear bomb in the Pearl Harbor area.”
“The bastards,” Senior Chief Dobler said.
“True. They have given us a list of conditions we must meet or they will explode the bomb. They say it’s in the one-hundred-megaton class which would destroy all of Honolulu and Pearl and half the island.
“Among other things, they demand that we surrender to Chinese forces on Hawaii, that we stop chasing their ships on the high seas, and that we deed the island of Kuai to China.”
“Could they have smuggled a bomb into the base during all of the warfare activity and jitters?” Wade asked.
“Our security people at Pearl say it is highly likely that a bomb could have slipped through. Security was rather lax for two days right after the missile hit.”
“Their demands are laughable,” Wade said. “Except for the fact that they just might be crazy enough to plant a bomb on Pearl. Is there a chance that it’s a bluff?”
“Our people in Washington and here don’t think so,” the admiral said. “This threat about the nuke is ultimate top secret. We don’t want any word leaking. The fewer people that know about this threat the better. We don’t want any panic in the streets of Pearl City or Honolulu.