He and DeWitt checked the area with their binoculars.
"Should be the bulk of their antiaircraft system," DeWitt said. "I'd bet those low buildings in the center will open up and antenna and sensing devices will extend upward during an attack."
"Where are the missiles themselves?" Jaybird asked.
"Doesn't matter where they are. If we knock out their eyes and ears, they won't know where to aim them," Murdock said.
The platoon had spread out over a fifty-yard line facing the runway. The heavy guns lay in the middle, with the submachine guns on each end.
They waited. It was a little after 0400. It wouldn't be dawn for another hour. They had to have the light to identify the right targets.
"Stay in place and keep alert," Murdock said. "Shortly before dawn we'll contact the fly boys. Any problems, sing out on the net." There was no response.
Murdock monitored the air traffic. There was little. He saw two choppers moving around, but nothing that looked like a large buildup for a big push.
Murdock called up Holt who had the SATCOM unbuttoned and ready to use. Dawn was just breaking and streaking the eastern sky.
"Raise the Air Force on TAC One and see if they're airborne and ready to rumble."
Holt used the satellite communications system.
"High Fliers, this is Ground Zero. Do you copy?"
There was no response. He checked the TAC frequency and tried again. This time a voice responded.
"Ground Zero, you're loud and clear. We're wet here and should be near enough your position for some reaction from their antennas in eight minutes."
"That's a roger, High Fliers. Help us find some bull's eyes."
Murdock heard the conversations. He used the Motorola. "The flyboys will come close enough to get the electronics activated. As soon as anyone spots a change in the physical makeup of those buildings over there, sound off. The flyboys won't be making an actual run, just come close enough to get them excited. Stay hard and mean."
Murdock had punched up his stopwatch on his wrist when the Air Force responded with the eight minutes trip time. He watched the numbers click by on the lighted dial.
"Targets," Murdock said in the lip mike. "Take the best shot in front of you. Guys on the far left, take the far left antennas and anything else that looks operating. Guys on the right do likewise, and the middle group takes that bunch. Anything operating is a target.
"If these jaspers have any security at all around the field, we should be getting some heat before we get rid of all the targets. Subguns, be watchful. Now is a good time for you four to take the suppressors off your weapons. They'll know we're here soon enough.
"We'll hold this ground until we have eliminated all our targets, if possible. Subguys be our lookouts. The rest of us will be fucking busy. Any questions?"
"We hiking out the same way we came in?" a voice asked.
"We'll play that one by ear, Jaybird. It all depends on the situation and the terrain."
"Four minutes since the last transmission," Holt said on the net. "These snoopers must pick up planes out a hundred miles. When do they activate?"
"Maybe at fifty miles," DeWitt said. "At twenty-five miles a minute, those Air Force guys cover a lot of ground in a rush."
Murdock checked the big McMillan M87R .50 caliber rifle. He had the five-round magazine in place and fully loaded, with one round in the chamber and the weapon locked. He sighted in through the 32-power scope and smiled. The scope amplified not only the distance, but the amount of light as well.
He checked one of the low buildings with a flat roof. As he watched, the roof moved. It pivoted upward in the middle and on each side. An antenna of some sort lifted up what must be ten feet and slowly turned.
"One antenna is activating," Murdock said. "Check through your scopes, get on your targets. It won't be long now."
Thirty seconds later half the small buildings five hundred yards across the runways from them had shifted in shape or character. Now more than twenty antennas, tracking devices, and a few small missiles showed where there had only been nondescript buildings before.
"Fire at will," Murdock said. He had sighted in on his target in the center, and refined his sight, and squeezed the trigger. The big gun went off with a blast that sounded too loud in the stillness of the North Korean morning.
At once more of the big rifles fired. Murdock watched his target and saw a small hit. He lifted his sights to the la rger part of the antenna and fired again. This time he saw his round strike and nearly break the unit in half. He switched targets, blasted two more antennas and a nearby facilitating building, then slid in a new magazine of five more rounds.
"Make your rounds count," Murdock brayed into the mike so they could hear him over the blasting .50-caliber rounds.
He saw a small utility rig and tracked it a minute, then fired and saw it careen out of control and crash.
Holt tapped Murdock on the shoulder. "The fly-guys have broken off and pulled back so we could have the fun."
Murdock nodded and sighted in again. He fired the big gun until he could feel it grow hot. For a moment, he surveyed the antennas under their siege. Some of the buildings had closed their roofs. Some had antennas that wouldn't retract, so the roofs couldn't move.
When the antennas were all wounded or broken, the SEALs attacked the adjacent buildings that did not open up. "Sheds are probably where the electronics are positioned," Murdock said in a lull in the firing. "Use up some of your rounds there. I want each man with a fifty to keep two rounds for the return trip. We just might need them."
Murdock worked the bolt, chambering another big .50 caliber round into the weapon, and found a new target.
"We've got company coming from the left," DeWitt said. "Twin lights. Anybody get him in his sights?"
"Yeah, got him," Ronson said. He got off two rounds, and the lights on the small truck went out and DeWitt growled.
"Oh, yes, scratch one vehicle. Could be some foot-sloggers moving our way. I'll go out fifty and watch for them."
"Easy out there, JG," Murdock said. Then he fired five more times into the complex.
"Call out on the net when you're down to two rounds," Murdock said. He checked his watch. It had been three minutes since they fired the first shot. He checked his own weapon — down to three. One more round.
They began chiming in then when the shooters had two rounds left.
"DeWitt, you have anything?"
"Six men working my way. Don't know I'm here yet. Still thirty yards away. Give them another minute." There was a silence then as the last of the fifties fired.
"Pulling back," Murdock said. "Ed?"
Just then, Murdock and the SEALs heard the stuttering of the MP-5 that DeWitt carried. The weapon jolted out six round bursts twice, then twice more.
"Coming home," DeWitt said. "Four of them are down or dead and the other two running their yellow asses back the way they came."
"Let's move," Murdock said. "Find us, Ed, and take the tail-end Charlie spot. Back the same way we came." A minute later they heard heavy motors of trucks grinding toward them.
"Company," DeWitt said. "The old eyeballs show me two six-bys that must have troops. What, about twenty per rig. I'd say we will have forty fresh troopers on our tail in about three or four minutes. Suggest we find a good defensive spot and wait for them."
"Roger that, Ed. Close it up. We're coming to a small rise, not much but a minor little hill and some brush and trees. Better than a rice paddy. Everyone over the top and find a firing position just over the crest. Company coming."
It took them almost three minutes to set up on the small hill. They made just enough noise on purpose to attract the North Korean troops into the right area. Murdock had his four MP-5 subguns in the middle of the line. The SEALs spread out five yards apart. All had a full quota of hand grenades.