“Hawaiian cultural groups and the hundreds of thousands of friends of the Bishop Museum are pressuring the city to give in to the fanatic terrorists and let them go. We in the military don’t function that way. We want you and your men to move in and take out the enemy there with no damage whatsoever to the museum building or the employees or the artifacts.”
“Oh, boy.” DeWitt shook his head. “The admiral isn’t joking about this, are you?”
“Not even a little bit. You may know that the Bishop Museum is the continuing research and display center for the histories, sciences, and cultures of all of the Pacific people. It’s a shrine to many. We have to be sure it stays that way.”
“How, Admiral Bennington? We specialize in slash and burn, shoot and scoot.”
“You have the EAR weapons.”
“True, but they could shatter pottery and china, might rip apart tightly framed artwork. I’m not sure how much we could rely on them inside a building like that.”
“You’ll have to find out. I understand that Commander Murdock will recover nearly full use of his right arm. We’re pleased about that. That cuts your platoon down to thirteen men, which I’ve found in combat is often a lucky number.”
“When, Admiral?”
“I’ll have transport for you at your quarters at 2300. We hope you can go into the building through a seldom-used side door by 2400. Take any weapons you think you might need. The fanatics inside are expendable, the art treasures are not. You better get some sleep and some chow and get ready to move out.”
“Thank you, sir,” DeWitt said. Both SEALs did perfect about-faces and walked out of the office.
“It can’t be done,” Dobler exploded as soon as they were outside. “I’ve been in the Bishop a dozen times. It’s crammed with all sorts of precious stuff.”
“Zero damage was our orders. From a practical standpoint, we’ll do the job with as little damage as possible. It’s the only way we can win on this one. We’ll take both our EARs. Wish we had four more. Where are the others?”
“In San Diego.”
“Damn.”
Outside, they found a big sedan. It had the admiral’s plates on, but they were covered. A blanket had been draped in the backseat where the SEALs would sit. The Marine sergeant driver grinned at them.
“Hey, usually I don’t get such high-flying VIPs in such dirty uniforms to drive around. Welcome to the best ride in the South Pacific.”
“Shut up and drive,” Dobler said. “We got problems to figure out.”
By the time they arrived at the front of their quarters, they had decided on a few things. They would take all of the flashbang grenades they could find, and the EAR guns and their sub guns and carbines. The heavy stuff would stay outside. They’d all have night-vision goggles.
Half of the SEALs had showered, eaten, and flaked out on their bunks. Dobler rounded up the rest of them from the PX, and DeWitt got them down to business. He explained their mission and the men groaned.
“Why do we get all of these don’t-touch-the-goods kind of assignments?” Lam asked. “It could ruin our tough-guy image.”
“What else can we use inside there?” Dobler asked.
“What about Honolulu PD’s SWAT Team’s shotguns with stun balls,” Guns Franklin asked. “They’ll put a man down but won’t wound him. Some have strings and beads on them that inflict a lot of non-lethal pain.”
DeWitt looked around and saw heads nod. “Franklin, call our liaison, that Commander Johnson we were working with. See if he can get six of those shotguns and, say, fifty rounds. Go.”
“How we going to do this, JG?” Dobler asked.
“First we need some sketches of the place, what is where and where the Chinese might be holed up. Then we move inside and hunt them down.”
“Sounds easy, JG. We have a bunch of non-lethal so all they have to do is shoot us with their damn lethal bullets,” Fernandez said.
DeWitt looked around. “Okay, so it won’t be a walk in the park. We might get lucky. We’ll try the EAR first and see if it causes any damage. If it doesn’t or it’s minimal, we’ll have nineteen shots left. Hey, make sure both weapons are on full charge. Ostercamp, check out both of those EARs now.”
The JG looked around. “Train. Get over to communications and find a fax number you can use. Then call up the Bishop Museum Association here in town and have them fax you half a dozen drawings of the layout of the museum. Also have them send brochures about the museum. Get that done as fast as you can. Urge them to reply by return phone call.”
Train nodded and hurried out of the room.
Dobler and DeWitt decided that they had done all they could before the actual assault on the museum. DeWitt left Dobler in charge of the troops, and he went back to the base hospital, where he had been told that David Sterling and Harry Ronson were recovering from their wounds received earlier in the Hawaiian mission.
DeWitt found the men both in the same four-man room in beds next to each other. DeWitt had talked to the floor nurse before he saw the men. She had been brisk, frank, and unemotional.
“The gut-shot one is still in trouble. We’re not sure what else we can do for him. The bullet is out, but there was more damage to the intestines than we had at first thought. He needs another operation to do some repair work down there. There is no danger of peritonitis, but his condition could change at any time. We watch him closely.
“The chest-shot man is in better shape. The slug missed all vital organs, but caught a good-sized vein so there was considerable interior bleeding by the time we repaired the vein. Most of that problem has been taken care of. I’d say he has another week here with us before we can release him to Balboa in San Diego.”
DeWitt had thanked her and found his two men.
“Well, the damn war must be over. Look who dragged his JG heels in here to check up on us,” Jaybird croaked. “We didn’t do it, JG.”
“That’s the problem, Jaybird. You were supposed to do it. How the hell are you?”
“Ready to blow out of this dump. Haven’t had an MRE since I signed in here. I’m getting sloppy homesick.”
“Tough life. What about you, Ronson? Miss the slow-paced life of a SEAL on special duty?”
“Damn right, JG. When am I getting out of here? I keep telling them I can outrun any of them and do ten times the push-ups any of them can do. They won’t even challenge me.”
“I’ll challenge you, hotshot,” DeWitt said. “You’ll get out when the white coats tell you to leave. Oh, you don’t know, but the skipper is down on the fourth floor. He got a shoulder shot up.”
“Bad, JG?”
“Not good, but the docs said he should get most of the strength back in the shoulder and arm. So he can hang with us.”
“Damn glad of that,” Jaybird said. “Hey, how are those twenties working?”
“Best weapon we have. They pay their way.” He watched the two normally active SEALs, who were now laid up and helpless. “Hey, they feeding you guys enough?”
“Oh, yeah,” Jaybird said.
“If I get to eat half of the kid’s chow, I can make out,” Ronson said.
The JG nodded and slapped his cammy hat on the bed rail. “Good, ’cause I need to bug out of here. We’ve got a walk in the park coming up tonight at 2300. You guys take care.”
“What is it?” Jaybird asked. “Where you going?”
“Like I said. A walk in the park. Tell you later. Now be good in here so when you get out we can all be bad.”
“Oh, yeah, hoooooo-ha!” both SEALs said in unison.
Back in the SEAL quarters a half hour later, DeWitt worked over the mission and what they could do. They could use some of those nets that shotguns shot out, trapping a victim, but he knew there weren’t any of them around.