12
Murdock checked the tanks again through his binoculars. They were over half a mile away heading in his general direction, but he had no thoughts that the tanks would charge through the woods when there was plenty of open ground around.
Unless they knew a general and his staff were hiding in this spot.
If the tanks came close enough, the soldiers might send a detail to the woods to gather firewood to heat up their tea.
The Korean scout and interpreter checked the tanks through Lam's glasses.
"Reserve tanks," the Korean said. "Not first-line outfit. Coming up to replace tanks lost so far in battle. Men behind would be replacement for infantry as well, not fighting unit. Many of these reserves are not well trained."
"Hell, at nine-to-one odds you don't have to be well trained," Lam said. "Cap, we just dig into our hide-holes and wait and hope?"
"Unless you have some outstanding suggestions," Murdock said. "I better go check out my own hole. Come on, ROK friend, you need a hiding place too."
Fifteen minutes later the tanks had rolled even with the SEALs but a good half mile to the right. One squad of soldiers broke off from the main body and double-timed directly for the copse where the SEALs had hunkered down. The weather had turned cold again, but at least there was no snow. Only a few patches of white showed along the back sides of ridges. Inside the woods, the ground had not even frozen.
Murdock had put his hide-hole near the edge of the woods where he could see out north and west. He watched the North Korean soldiers jogging toward them. Eight men. He used the Motorola.
"We have eight visitors coming. Absolute silence. They may penetrate only the edge of the woods for fuel. If you get stepped on, don't yell about it. If we take out one, we'll have to waste all of them, and that would mean a larger force coming to investigate. We hide today and live to fight another way. Jaybird, crawl in and caution the Army to be absolutely quiet. Stay there. Now, no transmissions."
The first NK soldier edged into the woods, his automatic rifle up and his body alert. He looked over the immediate area, and waved the rest of the squad forward.
The soldiers quickly began to pick up sticks and break them into fire lengths, tying them into bundles. Within five minutes they had seven bundles and worked on finishing the last one. One of the North Koreans swore as he stumbled and fell flat in the woods near a large pine tree.
He got up slowly and shouted something to the others. They laughed. The bundles finished, the eight men tramped out of the woods. As they left, two of the eight stepped directly on Murdock's back where he lay near the trail they had chosen. He bit his lip and weathered the last step, then gave a small sigh.
When the NKs were fifty yards away, Murdock used the mike. "Gone for now. Anybody get stepped on?"
Three men reported being tramped over, and Bradford said somebody fell down on him. "I almost shit right there," Bradford yelped. Major Dan Streib crawled out of (he thicket and walked over to Murdock.
"Heard you had some tanks out here," Major Streib said.
"And a squad of NK infantry who gathered some firewood right on top of us and left without seeing us," Murdock said.
A burst of raucous laughter came from the thistle patch.
"Wanted to talk to you, Commander," the major said. He motioned away from the men, and they walked toward the opening to the hideout.
"The general is so relieved that you're here that he's toasting the men with a few drinks."
Murdock glared at Streib. "You mean we brought you food and booze in those packs?"
"General's orders, Commander. I'd wager that you don't outshout your admiral when he gives you an order."
"Not usually, but when that admiral might endanger the lives of my men, I most certainly would. Which is exactly what I'm doing right now. You can come in and be my witness, or sit out here."
"I wouldn't do this, Commander."
"Either I go in there, collect all the damn booze you've got, and chew tail, or my men and I will conveniently lo se you and your party tonight before we get to the MLR. Your pick. Which is it going to be?"
"Go talk to my boss. I'm right behind you, Commander. I wouldn't miss this."
Murdock led the way with his MP-5 submachine gun strapped over his back. They crawled on hands and knees into the tunnel of weeds and briars, then twenty feet through the thicket to the opening.
Murdock came to his knees once inside the hollowed-out place. The five men sprawled on the ground. Each one had a whiskey bottle. Murdock swung the MP-5 around so it pointed generally at the men.
"General, I came out here to save your ass and that of these other men. If that outburst of laughter from you drunks had come five minutes earlier, two or three of my men, and probably some of yours, would be dead by now. Do you realize what a delicate situation we're in here?" "Now just a minute, son," the general began.
"No, General. Major Streib will pick up all of the bottles of whiskey, and then I'll inspect the backpacks of food to be sure there isn't any more. If that doesn't meet with your approval, it's too fucking bad. This is my mission, and I'm in command here. I don't care if you have three or four stars on your shoulders."'
"Now look, Navy. You can't come in here blubbering about what we're doing. You have no authority… "
Murdock lifted the MP-5 and put a three-round burst through the overhead of brambles. The silenced rounds caught everyone's attention.
"Hold on, son," the general tried again.
"No, General. You hold your mouth. You have one option. After dark, you and your jolly boys here can have your booze back, only then my men and I will conveniently misplace you somewhere between here and the MLR. You'll stumble around and get caught by the North Koreans and probably get your balls cut off. It's up to you.
"Right now, I'm taking the booze. Anyone with any objections can take it up with Mr. Heckler and Mr. Koch here in my hands. Objections? Anyone have anything to say?"
Murdock looked around. The general had stopped glaring at him. One bird colonel turned away from Murdock's stare. The rest of them shook their heads.
"Major Streib will bring out the SATCOM as well. I don't want a lot of transmissions coming out of this spot. The NKs just might have some triangulation equipment and pay us a deadly visit.
"Gentlemen, my platoon and I kill men for a living. We're good at it. That's why we're here. A little cooperation, and then you can tell all the war stories you want to. But right now, and for the hours until we get back on the other side of the South Korean/American MLR, I'm the man in charge."
Murdock turned his back and knelt down to crawl out. He heard a side arm slide slam a round into a chamber. He rolled on his back and put six rounds through the roof of vines.
Then the black muzzle of the submachine gun lowered and centered on the man who held a .45 in his hand. "Drop it. Am I going to have to take your weapons away the way I would from a raw recruit? General, control your men."
Before Murdock turned, the general swung his fist and smashed it into the chin of the colonel who had dropped the weapon.
"Better," Murdock said. Then he crawled out holding four of the bottles of whiskey. The major came behind him with two more bottles and the SATCOM.
Outside the tunnel, the major pointed away from the hideout and from Murdock's men. They moved twenty yards, then emptied the booze on the ground and buried the bottles under some leaves and limbs.
"Wow! I've never seen anyone, not even General Reynolds, chew out General Rudolph the way you did. He looked like a buck-ass private. Here's the SATCOM. You mean it about leaving us out here somewhere?"