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The admiral looked at the SEALs.

"Aye, aye, Admiral," Murdock said. Then he, DeWitt, Jaybird, and Stroh turned and walked quickly out of the admiral's cabin. "Holy shit," Jaybird blurted out once they were in the companionway. "We go in and do a triple snuff on their top three guys."

"Amazing, outrageous, but it might just turn the trick and get that fourth man to call off the war," DeWitt said.

"Skipper?" Jaybird asked.

Murdock shook his head. "Got to think about this one. We'd be going into the heart of North Korea. Probably Pyongyang, their fucking capital. They'll have massive power and guards and elite troops guarding everything and everyone. We don't even speak the language. How in hell…"

They hurried back to the assembly room provided by the Navy, where they had their gear and hung out. Murdock held up his hand and indicated Don Stroh should wait outside. He silently agreed.

"A mission, Skipper?" Holt asked as soon as they got in the room.

Murdock called them around and told them what they were being asked to do, and that it was a volunteer operation.

"Since when does the Navy ask us if we want a mission?" Bradford asked.

"Like now," DeWitt said. "This is not our usual covert job. It's above and beyond. Not the type of action that U.S. military usually does, and when we do, it's under extreme secrecy and always on a volunteer basis."

"We've been headhunters before," Harry Ronson said. "No big deal."

"It is a big deal when you're dealing with the head of a foreign government," Murdock said. "We didn't knock off Saddam, you'll remember."

"Yeah, but we should have," Jaybird said.

After a chorus of cheers subsided, Murdock looked around. "So, talk it up. How do you guys feel about this kind of an action?"

"We'll be in the heart of enemy country, right?" Mahanani asked.

"Probably," DeWitt said. "Intelligence will have to tell us where these guys are. I've heard that they never get together. Paranoid as hell. They do business by phone and radio. They don't want to invite another coup."

"We get them with the big fifties or our KA-BARs or what?" Lampedusa asked.

"Depends," Murdock began.

The rest of the men chimed in. "On the situation and the terrain!" A lot of hooraying followed.

"Everybody will go?" Quinley asked.

"We still work as a team," Murdock said. "We need every body we have. We're down to thirteen. I'd say everyone would go."

"Hell, count me in," Miguel Fernandez said. "You fuckers want to live forever?"

There came a lot of yelling and shouting and hooraying again. When it settled down, Murdock started to grin as he watched them.

"You realize we've never been asked to undertake a mission before. We've had assignments and missions and operations. This is a first. We go in if we want to. Since the admiral said it's a volunteer operation, each of you has a vote. I know, I know, unusual for a military operation. This is an unusual request. What do you say?" Everyone who wants to go on this expedition, raise a hand."

Murdock looked around the room. Hands began going up. He lifted his. DeWitt's was the first up.

He checked every man. It was unanimous.

"Hands down. Everyone who will not go on this outing into North Korea, lift one hand."

He waited a minute, then another long pause. No hands went up. They had left Stroh in the companionway outside the door. Murdock told the closest man to go bring in Stroh. He came in, his face flushed, and Murdock knew that the CIA man had been furiously pacing the companionway.

"Set it up, Stroh. We'll take your vacation tour of North Korea."

Stroh bellowed out in delight and ran for the telephone at the end of the assembly room. He came back a minute later.

"Yes, okay, we've got a go. The Navy is figuring out how to get you up there. Probably be by destroyer again and the RIBs. They are checking with Army intelligence to see if they know where any of the three are. We'll need to know that specifically before you go."

Murdock turned to his men. "Let's get with it. Planning time. What weapons and devices do we take? What mix of weapons and rounds? Wet suits or cammies? Let's get moving it, gentlemen. We've got a pisspot full of work to do before we get off this floating hotel."

18

The Yellow Sea
USS Monroe

SEAL Team Seven, Third Platoon, decided to take the jaunt into North Korea slightly before noon. There were arrangements to be made. The timetable was set up. The quicker the better.

They would deploy off North Korea sometime after dark that same day.

Murdock talked with CAG Olson.

"'We need some kind of air contact. The Cole has a landing pad for choppers, but they are usually of the LAMPS III class. They won't do us much good since they have no land-attack capability. If we really get in a hole, we need something with some firepower. Can't you put a Cobra on the Cole's pad and we use it only in an emergency? It should be able to land and take off from the destroyer. The rotor diameter is the same as the Seasprite and smaller than the Seahawk."

Captain Irving Olson smiled. "Commander, you've been doing your homework. Yes, we can fly the Cobra off that class destroyer if we need to. In this case it looks like it would work. You'll want it with a complete load of ground-attack weapons. That would be the three-barrel twenty-millimeter cannon in the nose and wing pylons for the quad seven-tube seventy-millimeter rocket pods."

"Good. Always good to have some backup. We'll go in silent, but if we do our job, we can't stay silent for long. We're waiting for word from the Army's G-2 people about where these targets might be. We hear the generals are never in the same place at the same time, so we'll have some travel time."

"Interpreters?"

"Yes, we'll have two flown out here as soon as the Army picks them. We want Koreans who can help us pass if we have to. We are getting Korean civilian clothes to wear from the gitgo."

"You have everything else you need, Commander?"

"Yes, sir. We're still selecting our weapon mix. Right now it's set for 1320. We'll have five hours to sunset, but all we want to do tonight is get ashore and get ourselves situated somewhere. We'll go to work the next day."

"Commander, I hope you make it back. You'll make the SATCOM. We can put a dozen Hornets up there without too much trouble if they can help. The air belongs to us now. But the Cobra is a good idea as well. Quicker response time."

Murdock thanked the CAG, and hurried back to the assembly room. There was no word yet from the Army about the location of the targets.

Jaybird had checked with the admiral. The Cole had been alerted, and was standing by a quarter of a mile to starboard. The two RIBs were still on board the destroyer, and it was ready with crews for the inflatables.

They had selected weapons. They would take two of the fifties, four of the H&K PSG1 NATO-round sniper rifles. The rest of the SEALs would carry the H&K submachine guns. All but the fifties could be fired with suppressors. A quiet hit would be best. If they could work it.

Murdock went to communications and got through to Eighth Army headquarters. He was routed to Colonel Vuylsteke.

"Yes, Commander. You and your men have done good work. We hope this mission isn't an impossible one for you."

"We hope so, too. Colonel. Do we have any target locations yet?" "None for sure. We have one tentative one, who intelligence says is the top dog. He's Kim Bok Hee, a four-star general who promoted himself from brigadier. Said to be the most outgoing of the trio. Enjoys a good time, an avid golfer in a land of few golf courses, and a stern disciplinarian. Is currently commander in chief of the armed forces. We think he's in his vacation house near Nampo, which is about forty miles south and west of the capital. It's a port city, if that will help. It's on the north side of a good-sized bay."