"I've heard." The CAG turned to a crewman. "Get that first flight of eight Hornets recovered now. We need to get eight more ready to fly."
The CAG looked back at Murdock. "Yes, near dark the pressure will be off us for air support. We don't expect much after-dark action. Your plan sounds good. You know the Sea Knight is unarmed."
"We'll have a machine gunner at each of the access doors, sir. We've done it before. A question. Does the Air Force have an AWACS plane up?"
"Yes, they're controlling the air strikes and air defense. Doing a good job. Our planes add some punch to their guys. See me again about 1600 and we'll work out the details." The CAG turned back to the scopes.
Don Stroh rushed into the CIC, and when he saw Murdock he grinned. "We've got a go. The boss said to spare no horses. He's giving the admiral a call right now. This carrier is your baby. You get exactly what you want where you want it."
"Good. I talked to the CAG. We'll go with two Sea Knight choppers. Leave so we hit the MLR just after dark. Any suggestions?"
"How do we know that the party is still in the same bunker where it spent the night?"
"We don't. Hell, if this were easy, they'd send in some Marines. We use our noses, grab a prisoner. We'll want to take two translators with us for K orean speak. They have any on the ship?" "I'll find out. If they don't, we'll get two from Eighth Army. They had a call from the Chief too."
"Good. You take care of that. Chopper the translators out here if we get them from Eighth before we leave. I've got to tell the men we've got a go."
The time was just past 0800 when Murdock walked into the SEALs' room. The men were putting together weapons and equipment for a land operation.
"We've got a go," Murdock said as soon as the men looked up. A big cheer greeted him. "Hoo-yah, Commander Murdock," the men bellowed in unison.
"Choppers like we figured?" Jaybird asked.
"Right, the only way to travel. Now, what happens if the Veep isn't where we hope he is?"
"Big deal, we look for him," Ronson bellowed. They all howled.
"How? We don't know the terrain."
"Get some sucker who used to be stationed there," Jaybird said. "Call up that general and get some action."
Murdock nodded. "Jaybird. Hustle your bones and find Don Stroh. Tell him we need a man from Eighth Army who knows the Ninety-first Armored camp. Have that man choppered out to us here with the translators. Go."
Jaybird ran for the door.
"Let's take fifty percent more ammo," Murdock said. "We don't know what or who we'll run into and we won't have a long walk. Bradford, we'll leave the fifty here. We shouldn't need any long-range work. Rest of you the usual weapons. Questions?"
"That'll be a rear area by the time we get there," Ching said. "So how many NKs we gonna have to worry about?"
"Hard telling. Maybe a squad left to pick through the mess hall and the ammo storage. Might be a temporary hospital or a camp for replacements of five hundred men. We don't know. We'll have to play that one by ear when we get there. My guess is that there won't be a lot of men or equipment onsite. The North has advanced so fast, nothing will have caught up with them yet.
When the chopper drops us off, it'll attract some interest. Whoever shows up may be packing firearms and be in a bad mood." Two of the men laughed.
Murdock watched them all working on their gear. Yes, they would be ready.
"Remember, it's going to be a bit on the chilly side out there tonight. It's still the end of March, and Korea isn't exactly Hawaii. No wet suits and we won't be using the EAR weapons. If we see any NKs we put them down and dead."
That brought some more hooyahs.
"It's now 0812. You have a half hour more to get your gear in shape; then I want a six-hour sleep period. You'll have a special chow at 1400, and we should shove off in our choppers somewhere around 1730.1 hear dusk is about a half hour later, so that will put us over our target at about the right time. The carrier is steaming twenty miles closer to the DMZ for us, so we'll have a half-hour chopper ride."
He looked around. "Questions?"
"Am I gonna have any time to do some surfing?" Jack Mahanani asked. "I know one kayabunga of a break off Inchon."
"Oh, hell, yes, Jack," Doc Ellsworth said. "You can just surf right into the tankers' bunker there at Ninety-first and we'll all wait for you." The laughing trailed off, and Murdock went to his gear and began sorting out what he'd take that afternoon.
Jaybird came back ten minutes later.
"Found Stroh and he put in a second request to the general. Don got right through to him. He said we'd have our interpreters and a sergeant who was stationed with the Ninety-first all on the chopper and be here by 1600."
"Good. Now finish your gear. You're on a six-hour sleep period. Do it."
At 1725 the Third Platoon of SEAL Team Seven loaded on board one of the Boeing CH-46D Sea Knight helicopters, the big bananas with large rotors fore and aft. The squads had been checked and triple-checked by the men and officers. Everyone had the right gear and fifty-percent overload on ammo. All wore jungle cammies, and most had on floppy hats and flame-retardant aviator's gloves with the fingers cut out. The camo paint on their faces showed grotesque patterns.
The two ROK soldiers were there talking with the SEALs. They were the translators. Army Sergeant Fred Halverson talked with Murdock when he reported in.
"Yeah, I was on-site there for almost a year. Know the Ninety-first camp inside out. My guess where the civilians were overnighted would be the underground BOQ. It's toward the far side of the complex, away from the tank revetments, so they might not have had any direct hits from the artillery. Shit, what a mess. I hear the tankers lost half their rigs before they got the engines started."
"Advantage of a first attack," Murdock said. "You hang with me, Sergeant, when we land. First I want you to suggest to the pilot where he can put us down nearest to that BOQ."
"Yes, sir, I'll go up front and talk to him."
The access door slammed shut and the crew chief signaled the pilot. The Two Sea Knights lifted off at the same time, followed by four Super Cobra gunships armed with 20mm cannon and 70mm rocket pods.
"Time?" Murdock asked over the growl of the chopper's big blades.
"Seventeen thirty-three," DeWitt said. "Close enough. Heard the pilot say the fighting is now almost ten miles down from the DMZ in some spots. Means we could have ten miles of hostile country to fly over instead of five."
Murdock nodded, and they waited. He watched his men. They had done this before. Two or three showed some prefight tension. Several were taking naps, a good sign. As a whole they were well rested, loose, and ready.
He pulled up Holt. "Fire up that SATCOM on TAC One and see if we can talk to the aviators."
"Our Tom Cat leader will be Tomboy Three. He won't be off the deck yet. I can try for the gunships. They are Shooters."
"Give them a try."
"Shooters, this is SEAL. Do you copy?" There was a pause, then some static, then the SATCOM's speaker came on.
"SEAL, this is Shooter One. We're with you. As soon as we get dry, we'll spread out and follow you in. Understand no softening up since we don't know the exact location."
Murdock took the handset. "That's a roger, Shooter One. As soon as we're on the location, we'll want you to suppress any sign of opposition. We're on a treasure hunt here with a big prize."
"Understood, SEAL. When you want a concentration of fire, put a red flare on the target."
"That's a roger, Shooter One."
Murdock looked at Holt. "What's the call for the other Sea Knight?"
"This is Knight One, the other one is Knight Two."
"Knight Two, this is SEAL."
"Got you, SEAL. We're in your hip pocket."
"You hear on the ten-mile fighting zone?"