He and Dobler went over everything again. The men would take the two EARs and the sub guns and the Colt M- 4Al Commandos. The Honolulu Police SWAT team ferried over four shotguns and forty rounds of the special string balls. They didn’t ask any questions. Just took a signed receipt and left.
Commander Johnson was back with them with his red-signature letter. He arranged early chow for them, steak dinner with baked potatoes, three vegetables, and ice cream sundaes for dessert. DeWitt put everyone down for three hours’ sleep. Then they were up at 2200 checking and double-checking their gear. They carried less than usual, so they checked it all three times. Everyone wore the personal radio communication device. The small Navy bus had been waiting outside for them since 2100. There was one driver who didn’t want to be late on a project authorized by the admiral.
DeWitt touched his lip mike. “Okay, you cowboys, let’s get out of here and go see what kind of fun we can have over at the Bishop Museum.”
27
Lieutenant (j.g.) DeWitt went over everything he knew about the Bishop Museum. It was almost a shrine. It was the Pacific Basin’s foremost museum of anthropology and natural history. It consisted of more than a dozen buildings, one of the latest the new Planetarium near the entrance.
“That’s where the parley has been taking place, at the new entrance building,” DeWitt said. “From what the negotiators gather, most of the Chinese are in that first building and the Planetarium. We might not have to go too far into the museum buildings to dig them out.”
“But we don’t go in the front door?” Dobler asked.
“The people who know the place say there is a little-used gate at the rear parking lot in back of Pauahi Hall. If we can’t bust open the gate, we can climb the chain-link fence there and get on the grounds. The buildings are not connected. It’s more like a campus with grass and flowers and a series of buildings. Some of them were made before 1900.
“We have printouts from the museum’s Web site showing us the buildings and the layout of the grounds. I’ll pass them around. Memorize which buildings are where. Especially the top rank, Pauahi, Paki, and Hawaiian Halls. What looks like grass is around most of them, and some concrete sidewalks.
“We’ll try coming over or through the fence, past the three halls, and get to the Hall of Discovery, which is part of or right next to the new Planetarium.”
“Won’t they have guards out?” someone asked.
“They might,” Dobler said. “But we are told there are no more than a dozen Chinese inside. That’s a guess, and they might be off by five or ten. The Chinese slipped in with the regular folks, then took off civilian clothes to show their Army uniforms and closed down the place. Turned off the lights and ordered everyone out, including the staff and workers.
“There could be some of the staff still inside, so we have to be doubly careful.” He looked around at the group. “How many of you have been to the Bishop before?”
Four men raised their hands.
“I’ve been there three or four times,” DeWitt said. “It’s always different. We won’t know what it’s like this time until we get inside. They were still building the new Planetarium the last time I was there. Remember, we keep it as non-lethal and non-destructive as possible.”
Dobler chimed in. “On this one we fire our deadly weapons only to save our own or someone else’s life. That’s our orders until we go weapons-free. Any questions?”
“We get those bolt cutters?” Holt asked.
“We did,” Ching said. “Twenty-four-inchers and heavy little bastards. But it’s guaranteed.”
“We get off the bus at the north end of the rear parking lot and work down toward the gate near Pauahi Hall,” said DeWitt. “First, we’re watching for Chinese guards or lookouts. If we don’t see any, we go in the easiest way. Just another mission. Let’s get this one done without anybody getting hurt. Keep your damn heads down if they start to shoot. Relax. We should be there in about twenty minutes.”
For twenty minutes Ed DeWitt thought about Milly back in Coronado. She was a saint. She had to be to put up with him and this crazy SEAL Team life. When he made it back home this time, he was going to carve out more time for her. A drive up the coast or maybe down into Baja California. Milly loved Mexico.
Slowly DeWitt realized he was homesick for his lady. It hadn’t been that long. They had been on the carrier for a month on a wait-and-see that had never happened. Then the training on Oahu and the damned Chinese invasion. Yes, home was sounding better and better.
Milly. He could see her dark eyes, her mischievous smile, the quick sure way she worked out a computer problem for him on his laptop. He wondered if he’d have time to do some shopping for her before they left the islands. He hoped so. He had in mind buying for her some…
“JG, we’re here. Parking lot back side.”
DeWitt came out of the reverie in a flash. “Dobler, you have what’s left of the first squad. Take them off and find some cover along the bushes. Be right behind you. We’ll do a commo check as soon as we’re all off. Go.”
DeWitt surveyed the buildings and the fence as he stepped down from the bus. About as he remembered it. Lots of plants, the imposing stone buildings mixed in with the newer, more modern kinds. Twelve, maybe thirteen structures in the complex. Everyone checked in on the net. He had a dozen men. Thirteen counting him. They were minus some important cogs in their machinery.
“Move it down the fence line,” he said on the Motorola. “Work slowly. Watch inside for any sign of Chinese.”
Five minutes later they were at the gate in the chain-link fence. A short chain and two padlocks secured it. Ching worked the bolt cutters and left them beside the gate as he swung it open. The squad went through the gate and to the rear wall of Pauahi Hall without making any contact with the Chinese.
DeWitt and Lam took the point as they worked north around the hall, and then past Paki Hall and toward Hawaiian Hall, which was just across from the Planetarium.
Bill Bradford carried one of the EAR guns and walked just in back of DeWitt. Ostercamp had the other EAR weapon back in the Bravo Squad. All of the SEALs carried the police-type thin plastic riot cuffs that they could use to tie up a prisoner securely and quickly.
Ahead, Lam went flat against the wall and slowly slid down to the ground.
“DeWitt, two Chinese just came around the side of the hall here,” Lam whispered into his lip mike. “Both have rifles and are in green fatigues. You should be able to see them in about five seconds.”
“Take them out, Bradford,” DeWitt said.
Bradford stepped away from the wall, lifted the heavy EAR weapon, and aimed it at the end of the wall and waited. Two green-clad men came around the corner. He fired.
The now-familiar sound of the whooshing jet of concentrated sound jolted from the EAR and unleashed its enhanced sound power on the two Chinese soldiers, who fell in mid-stride not knowing what had hit them and struck them down quietly. Canzoneri and Fernandez ran up and carried the inert bodies into the tropical plantings along the north fence across from Paki Hall. Both Chinese were disarmed and bound with the riot cuffs on wrists and ankles.
Lam and DeWitt looked around the corner of Hawaiian Hall and saw ahead the Hall of Discovery. It evidently was attached to the new Planetarium. The Chinese might have come from a door that was marked Employees Only.
“Lam, Ostercamp with the EAR, check out the door,” DeWitt said on his radio. “If it’s open wait for two-man backup, then try inside.”