"We'll get that call soon," Stroh said. "You say you want to go in tonight? What if they move the prisoners before then?"
"Behind the lines about now is one big mass of confusion in a lightning strike like this,"
Murdock said. "AH the troops will be driving forward. First the NKs have to find the Veep. Then they'll have to find someone to interpret for them. These will be low-ranking noncoms, maybe an officer. They won't have the slightest idea what to do with American civilians."
"Right," CAG said. "So they'll have to send word to the rear or to a general or somebody with some field rank to make a decision. By then it should be dark.'" The CAG stopped. "Yeah, Murdock, let's use our gunships and Sea Knights. They can do the job. It will eliminate one place where things could get fucked up."
Murdock nodded and walked out of the CIC heading for the SEALs' assembly room.
The Vice President pulled the eleven men around him. "We heard someone outside. They'll be in here soon. Jud Ambrose is going to be the headman in here when they come. He knows a little Korean. He's our leader. We're all Congressmen, right? We do what he says. No preference to me or they'll catch on fast. I'm just another lawmaker caught with his pants down."
Four minutes later the North Koreans broke through the litter and fallen dirt and confronted their prisoners. The first man through was a private, and he darted to one side as an officer came in and stared at them.
He chattered at them in Korean, but when he saw no response, he paused. After a quick look around the bunker showed no way out and that they had no weapons, he left the first soldier in the room with his rifle and slipped back the way he had come.
"Just cool it," Ambrose said softly. "The officer must be going to find somebody who speaks English." He checked his watch. It showed ten-thirty. "It took them six hours to discover us and break through. Time is our friend here. In another few hours the U.S. forces could counterattack and recapture this area. We wait them out."
Ten minutes later, three officers came into the room. All carried pistols on their belts. The first one stared hard at them. Ambrose stepped forward. He bowed slightly.
"Konichiwa," he said in Japanese.
The Korean officer frowned. "You speak English?" he asked.
"Yes," Ambrose said. "We are a delegation of lawmakers from Washington, D.C., on an inspection tour. At this time we wish you to provide us with transportation so we can get back to Seoul."
The officer with captain's bars on his shoulders scowled. "Do not make jokes. You are prisoners of war. Civilian not matter. We have captured you. Not matter why you are here. You are prisoners of war."
"That's impossible. We're civilians. We spoke with your people yesterday at Panmunjom. We are lawmakers."
"No matter. I talk to general about you. He say what to do. Easiest just shoot you all now. General will say. You all sit on beds. In two hours we bring you food."
He turned and left. Both the other officers remained in the large room just behind the private.
"Yeah, let's sit down and see how good we can wait," Ambrose said. "This could take several hours. The general won't even look at a message like this until he gets his troops where he wants them."
"Then, we're stuck here?" Vice President Chambers asked. "For now. It might be the best thing. At least Seoul knows that we must still be here. I made that SATCOM call last night. They'll assume that we are here and captured."
"How will that help?" a Congressman asked.
"If they know where we were, that's the spot where they will start looking for us when they come to pull us out of here."
Another Congressman looked up, his eyes bright. "You think the Army will try to come and rescue us?"'
"Absolutely," Ambrose said. "We have the second-most important man in America in this bunker.
There will be a lot of effort made to get him out. When it comes down to a rescue, it might mean that only part of the group gets to go. Can all of you live with that? Some of us might not get on the magic carpet out of here."
"Hell, yes," one man said.
"Hey, if the Vice President can get out, I'll stay," another Congressman said.
Ambrose saw the rest of the heads nod. "Good, that took guts. Our tall friend here appreciates it. Now, we all sit down or lay down and have a nap and relax. We might need to save our strength for later."
Ambrose wasn't sure about the Koreans. He'd been speaking softly so they couldn't hear. Now he went up to the officer with bars on his shoulder. He smiled.
"You fucking bastard sonofabitch," Ambrose said in a softly gentle voice. "You're a low-down dipshit, you know that? Your mother turns tricks at the neighborhood cathouse." He grinned again at the North Korean as the man's face remained calm and unmoving. The Korean didn't understand a word of English.
Most of the ship's crew was up and working by the time Murdock walked into the assembly area the Navy had made available for the SEALs. Murdock sent Lampedusa to roust out the rest of the Third Platoon. It was only 0510.
When the platoon was all there, Murdock held up his fist and the compartment went silent. "You know we've got ourselves a war out there. The North gents moved south this morning at 0430 and are running wild. Our Navy planes are giving the South some air support."
He filled them in quickly about the Vice President's problem and the job they almost certainly had coming up.
"We move across the front lines at first dark?" Jaybird asked.
"What we want to talk about," Murdock said. "How else can we get in quick and get out with the Veep except with a chopper?"
"No way," Ed DeWitt said. "Got to be a chopper, two of them; the big Sea Knights would do the job. They have enough range?"
Al Adams looked up. "Yeah, a hundred and eighty miles mission radius. She hums along at hundred and fifty-seven miles an hour max."
"But she's unarmed," Bradford said.
"Not with our two machine guns spitting lead out the doors," Adams said.
They went on working on the plan. They could get in and get out in the Sea Knight with four Cobra gunships for protection and four Tomcats to take care of any air-to-air business from the North Korean MiGs.
They went on into details: what weapons they would use, how much ammo, how they would find the bunker, what North Korean troops might be on hand.
By early mess call, they had planned everything they could. Murdock found CAG Olson in the CIC. He had just sent off a flight of six F-14's to handle some MiGs on the western half of the line.
"Murdock, yes. No word from the President, but it'll come through. What do you have for me?"
"If we could move the carrier up another twenty miles toward Inchon, we could use two Sea Knights, four Cobras for protection, and some Tom Cats to watch for MiGs. One Sea Knight would come in to the site to drop us off and scoot to the south side of the new MLR and wait. Then when we have found and recovered the twelve men, both Sea Knights come back in to pick us up and get us out of there. We can call them in with the SATCOM on TAC One."
"Sounds good. Two Tom Cats should protect you on top."
"Hey, this is the Vice President we're talking about here, CAG. Rather be heavy with four up there than be surprised by four MiGs shooting down our choppers."
"True. You want to go in just after dark?"
"Right. If we could time it so we cross the front line at dark, that would get us in with the most time left before next daylight. We have no idea where they took the hostages, or even if they're still alive. A tank attack on another tank battalion is a messy affair."