Murdock went out and brought the crew to the dock. Murdock tried to figure how to get Ed DeWitt out to the destroyer. The chopper on board, the Cobra, had no passenger space. It would take a call to the Eighth Army to send up a bird and overfly all that enemy territory. Too risky yet. Maybe later.
The SEALs and Koreans went on board. Two men carried Ed DeWitt, who protested all the way.
Murdock talked to Mahanani.
"Can Ed take it for another day?" "Slug has got to come out within three days. If I do it I might do a lot of damage. No bullet hole to go into. Have to cut and look around. Damn dangerous."
"Watch him closely, your only job."
"Aye, sir."
The boat smelled of fish. The men could all sit on the deck and around the fish hold. If they came up on a patrol boat, they would have to drop into the hold and damn the smell. Once on board, Charley counted out the bills. Two thousand won. Over nine hundred dollars for the thirty-mile trip. The captain said he would sail them right up to the Nampo main port and get them ashore safely. He didn't care who they were, but he told Charley he knew they were not Koreans. Charley gave him another five hundred won, and the captain grinned.
It was slightly after noon when they sailed. The sun was out and there was no wind or waves.
They angled away from the small bay and south along the coast, offshore just enough to miss two small points of land. Murdock figured they were making ten knots. About a three-and-a-half-hour trip.
All went well until they were just rounding the point and heading in toward Nampo, which sat on the far end of a five-mile-long bay. An NK patrol boat came up behind them and Murdock barked at the SEALs, who slipped and slid into the hold until only Charley and the captain remained on the small deck.
The patrol boat went past, and the sailors on it laughed at the way their bow wake rocked the empty fishing boat so hard that it came within two feet of capsizing. The captain waved at the sailors. He told Charley it was a little game they played. The larger craft never went fast enough to capsize his fishing boat. The heavier the load of fish it had, the less it reacted to the strong bow wave.
The patrol boat continued on toward Nampo, and the SEALs moved out of the hold onto the small deck area, glad to be back in the sunshine.
"We're gonna smell like fish for days," Jaybird bellowed.
"You smelled like rotten fish years ago," somebody yelled, but Jaybird couldn't be sure who said it. Everyone laughed. Murdock sat on the deck beside his second in command. He looked at Mahanani, who was grim-faced.
"Getting hard to bend my ankle," Ed DeWitt said. "I hate this. I don't want to slow down the platoon."
"You won't slow us down. Forget that. What we have to do now is find that general. You rest up. We'll be moving again in a half hour."
Mahanani motioned Murdock to the front of the ship.
"He's getting worse. That damn slug has to come out. Another day and he might not make it."
"Any other way?"
"That chopper on board the destroyer. It's a two-place shooter. But it does have a spot for a second man. If the bird could come in without the gunner…"
"Yeah, an idea, but then the bird would be defenseless. Don't think the Navy would let it fly that way."
"Afraid of that. So I'll have to cut. Soon as we get ashore and find some kind of a safe spot, I'll cut. The only way."
"Can you find the slug?"
"An X ray would be handy, but the bullet evidently traveled near the skin for a while. It left a purple mark. I'd say I have a good chance of going in within an inch of the slug."
"We better find a spot where we can be out of the way for a while. We get the JG fixed up, then we'll worry about the general."
Murdock took Charley to talk to the captain. He told Charley exactly what they needed, a place where they could land without attracting any attention and a secluded area where they could hide out for the rest of the day.
Murdock watched as the two Koreans talked. The captain looked at Murdock and frowned, jabbered more at Charley, and at last Charley moved over to Murdock.
"He says could get shot for making trip. He want more money. Should I give more?"
"Yes, another thousand won. If he turns us in, we're all dead. Keep him happy. We don't want to go too close to the town."
Charley talked with the captain again, gave him more money, and the captain smiled. They moved toward the back of the ship.
"Captain says another few minutes he has private dock he can put in at. No questions. Two hundred won for dock man. We get off easy and no fuckup."
"Sounds good." Murdock turned to his men. "Docking in a couple of minutes. Mahanani, you carry the JG off the boat. We'll find some transport somewhere. Charley, you and your buddy need to find out where the general is. Do it as fast as you can. Understand?"
"Yes, find general fast. Charley understand."
The docking and unloading went quickly. Only one old man was on the slender dock. He took the money and grinned. The area had only one road leading to it, and was surrounded by coastal brush and a few trees. Murdock and his men went down the road until the old man couldn't see them. Then they cut into the brush and found a spot secluded enough to hide them all.
Mahanani and Harry Ronson had taken turns carrying DeWitt. It was late afternoon by the time they settled down. Charley and Pete, the two Korean interpreter/scouts, took off to try to find General Kim. All they knew was that he was an avid golfer, so there had to be one golf course in the area.
Murdock went over to where Mahanani had put down JG DeWitt. He looked pale and listless.
The medic took Murdock aside.
"Skipper, this is it. Time we took that slug out. He can't be in any worse shape after I cut. Hey. I'm no fucking surgeon, but I should be able to get that slug out. I'll need some help. This is going to be twelfth-century surgery. Nothing to knock him out with. I'll need two big men to help hold him down. With any luck he'll pass out from the pain after a few seconds. Then I'll work fast. We need to do it now before it gets dark."
Murdock called up Ronson, Bradford, and Fernandez. He told them what was going to happen. "His screams shouldn't last too long. Fernandez, keep your hand loosely over his mouth so we don't wake up the whole southern half of North Korea."
Murdock then talked with DeWitt. "Hey, buddy. That Russian bullet has to come out of your leg. No way to get you to the carrier. Just another day in the park. It's going to hurt like hell. You do yourself a favor and pass out, okay?"
DeWitt gritted his teeth and nodded. "Just get the hell to it."
They had him laid out on his stomach on a grassy spot where some of the sunshine still came through the trees. Mahanani had his kit spread out, had sterilized a scalpel, and had swabbed down the calf. DeWitt's Korean pants leg had been pulled up to his thigh.
The two big men held Lieutenant Edward DeWitt by the shoulders.
Mahanani wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead, looked at Murdock, who nodded, and moved the sharp knife toward the officer's leg.
22
Medic Jack Mahanani looked at the blue stain coming up the calf of Ed DeWitt's leg. It stopped about halfway up, so the bullet must have turned inward. How far? He felt sweat beading his forehead again. How damn far?
He moved the scalpel up two inches above the blue stain, and made a cut an inch long. He felt DeWitt jolt from the pain; then a long high wail came from him past Fernandez's hand.
Mahanani bit his lip and cut deeper. The wail turned into a scream that promptly cut off, and the officer relaxed.
"He passed out, Mahanani," Murdock said. "Go now, go, go."