"Your job, go into town and be there when it wakes up. Use any ploy you want to, but find out where the resort is without attracting any attention. Probably too late tonight to nail a drunk going home. We'll expect you back here by noon. Understand?"
Both men nodded. "Noon," they said in unison. They left their weapons and combat vests, and put on floppy sandals they had brought with them. Each had brought a small .22-caliber automatic along, and they hid the weapons in pockets. Murdock waved, and they headed downhill toward the city's muted lights.
"Another hide-hole, gents," Murdock said on his Motorola, and the SEALs fashioned more shallow holes with plenty of camouflage they could pull over them if needed. New guards went out and Murdock talked to DeWitt.
"What have I missed?" Murdock asked. "How else could we get our asses in a sling in here?"
"Depends how many Army units are stationed here," DeWitt said. "My guess is most of their troops have been pulled to the MLR to boost their numbers."
"Leaving few if any armed soldiers in this little town." Murdock rubbed his hand over his face.
"Damn, I hope that's right."
"What else? Snakebite? Booby traps, home guards, not finding the fucking resort, maybe it's got a regiment around it protecting the old hard-nuts general?"
DeWitt chuckled in the darkness. "Come on. Skipper. Relax. When we hit a problem, we'll figure out how to handle it. You're getting on the slightly paranoid side here."
Murdock rubbed his face again. "Yeah, you're right, 2IC. I'm getting old-woman-shit-faced. Let's get some shuteye and dry the fuck out."
Morning brought the first hint of trouble. Jaybird, who had taken the last watch, poked Murdock awake.
"Commander, you better check this out. Some minor problem,"
Murdock came awake at once, both his hands on the submachine gun. "Trouble? Where?" Jaybird led him through the sleeping bodies of the men in the first shafts of light that were eating up the darkness. At the crest of the hill they looked down at a small valley with a road beyond.
"So?" Murdock asked.
"Behind those trees. Watch what comes out of them."
They watched a moment. Then a line of women came out hiking along a trail the SEALs hadn't seen before in the darkness. It wound up the hill and would come within fifty feet of the SEALs' hiding spot.
"Women going to work in the fields somewhere," Jaybird said. "They might walk out ten miles to a field."
"We've seen this before… in China. Wake up the men and make sure they keep covered up as the women go past."
Ten minutes later the line of women had passed without incident, and Murdock drew a normal breath.
"Tell them to chow down," Murdock said. Each of the men had brought with him two MREs, the sealed-in-plastic ready-to-eat meals. They weren't exactly gourmet, but they would keep a man alive and ready to fight.
By that time everyone was dry. The rain of the night before had stopped early on, and now the sun came out and dried out the brush and trees. Murdock had out three lookouts. Nobody came near the woods after the women passed by.
A jet fighter streaked across the sky at treetop level less than a half mile from them and brought all the SEALs alert. The craft vanished off to the left and didn't come back.
"Training mission," Ron Holt said, and the SEALs went back to checking their weapons and taking naps. No telling when they might be able to get any sleep again.
At 1100, the two Koreans appeared in the woods. None of the guards had seen them approach. They grinned and showed a narrow ravine choked with brush that they had used to go from and come back to the hillside.
"Find it?" Murdock asked.
Charley nodded. "Other side of town, five kilometers out. Plenty guards around the place, civilians. Know for sure that one general is there. Many persons saw his big car with the bright red star on it drive in two days ago."
The other Korean nodded. "Five, six young women also go in, three men say. Plenty women there."
"How can we get there?" DeWitt asked.
Charley took them to the brow of the hill and pointed around the near side of the town. A small range of hills showed that were used for what the scouts described as a reforestation project.
"Plenty cover, no people," Charley said.
"Can we get there right now without attracting any attention?" Murdock asked.
"If careful, quiet, and lucky," Charley said.
"Two out of there ain't bad," DeWitt said.
"Let's saddle up, gentlemen," Murdock said. "We're going for a walk in the park."
They moved from the hilltop into the gully the Koreans had used. It concealed them perfectly. A half mile below, the gully ended at a dirt road. A string of six trucks lumbered past, each loaded with military supplies. Evidently they were heading south to the front.
Just when Murdock thought all was clear, two bicyclists came pedaling along. Charley tugged at Murdock's brown civilian shirt.
"We go across one at a time. Two, three minutes between. No one worry about it. We civilians."
An ancient truck filled with what looked to Murdock like rice straw came by. When it vanished, Murdock gave the order for the men to go across the road two at a time, spaced out. Half of the platoon was across when another convoy of military trucks came past. The men waited, then continued when the trucks were gone.
When they were all across, Lam waved them forward again into the light growth of timber on the small hills. They had just started down the third hill, well concealed in the growth, when Lam stopped.
"Skip, you better take a look," Lam said on his Motorola. Murdock hurried to the front and slid into the grass and weeds beside Lam.
Ahead, Murdock saw the problem.
"Woodcutting crew," Lam said. "Military. They stacked their rifles and began taking down pine trees. Almost looks like they're gonna make bunkers, but no reason to out here."
They heard a heavy truck engine some distance away. It stopped and the NK troops cheered.
"How many?" Murdock asked.
"Twelve, plus an officer who wasn't working and carries a pistol. He went to bring up the truck is my guess."
"Can we go around them?"
"No chance, Skip. The area up there is about fifty, maybe sixty feet wide. We go through them or we go back."
Murdock used the Motorola. "Come on up. and spread out into a firing line. Got a small problem."
Five minutes later the SEALs had set up a line of men spread out and facing the woodcutters.
"Silenced rounds only. We're about fifty yards, so use the MPs, and the snipers. On my count. One, two… three." Murdock sighted in with his MP-5 submachine gun and put down a chopper nearest the far end. He saw the officer with the pistol come into the clearing, and targeted him next, but the man spun backwards with a round in his chest. Murdock looked for a new target.
Half the woodcutters were down after the first volley. Two scrambled for their rifles and got them, only to be cut to pieces before they could fire a shot.
There were three behind trees. "Let's move out and clean it up," Murdock said into the mike. The SEALs came to their feet and ran down the slope in a staggered line. The submachine guns chattered off three-round bursts, and then the SEALs were past the last of the dead woodcutters and moving up the other side of the hill.
Fifty yards into the thicker cover of trees and brush, Murdock stopped them.
"The truck," he said.
"Got it," Lam said. He motioned to Jaybird, and they faded back down the hill and to the left where they had heard the truck. Lam went ahead from tree to tree, watching everything forward.
He stopped twice and listened, then moved again. Jaybird followed him in the same pattern. Lam waved Jaybird up, and they looked down an open stretch fifty feet to a military truck. The driver leaned against the front fender, hands in his pockets.