Americans were only manning one section of the 114 along the 151-mile DMZ. The rest of the 37,000 Americans were in rear-area support and headquarters and supply units.
The first orders General Reynolds gave were for Air Force support to get off the ground and give close-in firepower. Then he studied the map. They had to push back that bulge in the middle. It was aimed directly at Seoul and the enemy tanks were only about twenty miles away.
"You finally did it, General Soo, you bastard. Okay, we'll see who has the most firepower. We're going to find out in one hell of a rush."
4
Vice Admiral Nathan Kenner came out of his bed at 0437 when his steward knocked on the door.
"Telephone from CIC, Admiral."
"Yes, yes, I'm awake. I have it." He picked up the handset. "What?"
"Word from Seoul, Admiral. The North Koreans just blasted across the DMZ in a thirty-mile-long offensive. They have penetrated five miles in spots. That puts them only twenty miles from Seoul. General Reynolds, CO of the Eight Army, wants to talk to you."
"Put him on."
The phone buzzed for a moment, then came clear. "General Reynolds?'
"Yes, Reynolds here. Admiral Kenner, we've got trouble. Can you send me about fifty ground-attack aircraft? We're in need of more air support."
"Yes, let me talk to my CAG, but I'm sure we can get you F-18's when you want them, and six or eight Cobra chopper gunships. Give me two minutes."
A knock sounded on the door, and CAG Irving Olson walked in.
"I heard. What does the Army want?"
"Ground support. What can we send them on a rotating basis?"
"We've updated our ground-attack capability on the Eighteens. We have fifty-six aircraft that can serve for ground support. We can scrape up about twenty chopper gunships from around the fleet."
"Good, talk to General Reynolds. Work out how he wants to bring them in and the overhead control."
Three minutes later the word went out to the pilots' ready room. The four F-18's on standby would be launched at once. Ten more F-18's would be launched as soon as possible. All with full ground-attack weapons. Aircraft handlers pulled F-18's onto the elevators to bring them to the flight deck. Aircraft crews inspected the planes before the pilots got there.
The first four standby fighters were off the deck in four minutes after the alert; then more began shooting off. As the pilots raced the one hundred miles to the fighting, they were directed to targets by an Air Force AWACS control plane high over the peninsula. The first two Hornets were vectored to the North Korean tank thrust at the center of the line.
The F-18's were loaded for ground attack. Each had its M61 20mm, six-barrel gun and 570 rounds. They carried 17,000 pounds of bombs and rockets, AIM-7 Sparrow missiles for air-to-air defense, and the AGM-65 Maverick for tanks and other major targets.
Captain Olson went to the CIC, the Combat Information Center, where he could talk with his pilots and control the launching of the birds on an as-needed basis. Each flight would have two hours over the target unless they exhausted their armament. Then they would return for another rotation.
A hundred miles to the target was not even a warm-up for the Hornets at Mach 1.8 speed. They would be traveling about twenty-four miles a minute, which put them a little over five minutes away from their combat zone.
In his cabin, well below the flight deck, Murdock heard the flurry of activity of the launches. He came awake at once, dressed, and hurried up to the CIC. Captain Olson saw him come in and nodded, then went back to getting the next flight of Hornets off the deck.
"Damned North Koreans launched a thirty-mile-wide attack across the DMZ this morning. We're giving air support. You guys are bound to get some action pretty soon."
Murdock grinned. "Great, it's about time."
General Reynolds closed his eyes a moment and shook his head.
"Tell me you're not sure, Major. How in hell could the Vice President of the United States have stayed overnight in a bunker with the Ninety-first Tank Battalion inside the DMV?"
"His request, sir. He said he outranked you. We know he was there last night because one of his Secret Service men has a SATCOM and he talked to us just after midnight. He said all was well, the Vice President was being well taken care of, and they would be back in Seoul today for the ceremony at the war memorial."
"No word from him since last night?"
"No, sir. We have to assume that he was overrun by the NK tanks and captured. Few of the Ninety-first's support people got out. They took over forty artillery rounds when the attack began at 0430."
"We have to get him out of there."
"How, General? He's now five miles behind the front lines. The North Koreans have their Forty-second Tank Battalion out in front, and nothing we have right now is going to push those enemy tanks back across the line."
"So we go inside, through their lines, and lift out the men in choppers. How many are there?"
"Twelve in the Vice President's group, sir."
"Those special Ranger units still with us?"
"No, sir. Both groups rotated a week ago."
"SEALs? The Navy have any SEALs on board that task force off Inchon?"
"Possible, sir. I'll check. Who's in charge out there?" General Reynolds told him, and said to get back to him as quickly as possible. Then he made another call.
"Commo, get me through to the White House. I have some bad news to tell the President."
Don Stroh boiled into the CIC and spotted Murdock.
"You up already? You know about the damn NKs? Yeah, looks like you do. There's another problem. I just came from the admiral's cabin. He's on his way down."
"What's a bigger problem than a thirty-mile-wide invasion by the North Koreans?"
CAG Olson turned and stared at Murdock. "Bigger? When the NKs overran the DMZ they smashed one of our tank battalions. That was the spot the Vice President picked to use for his hotel last night. He hasn't been heard from since midnight on a SATCOM transmission. We have to assume he's been captured."
"The Vice President a POW?" Murdock blurted out.
"Maybe," Stroh said. "He's a combat veteran. I'd guess his Secret Service men would keep him incognito if they are captured. We'll have to see. The important thing is I'm expecting a call from the President within the next fifteen minutes. Looks like we may have a job for you, Murdock. All we need is a go from the boss CIA man and the President. So when do you want to go in and how will you rescue the Vice President?"
Murdock didn't even blink. "Rescue the Vice President? Fucking carefully. When? Tonight, first dark. We'll take a chopper for a quick jump into Seoul. Then a chopper run into Panmunjom. We'll need a guide who knows the exact location of that tank battalion and who knows the camp and the underground bunkers where the Vice President might be hiding.
"We can use either Cobras or Air Force gunships for protection. Two big choppers to hold fifteen men each for the evac. Who's with the Vice President?"
"Some Congressmen, his staff, and two Secret Service agents. Maybe six or eight lawmakers." "I wonder if any of them got shot up or hurt in the capture? If so, it'll make it tougher to get them out."
"You won't know until you get there."
Murdock pushed away from the wall. "Captain, can you talk to the Air Force at Seoul about aircraft? Or we could use yours, whichever you want. Might be smoother going from here. Range is right for the Cobras and a pair of Sea Knights. I'll take your advice. Right now I want to get to my men and do some planning. Not much we can do except talk it through."