Jaybird crawled up to the log Fernandez had used for cover. It was perfect from the front, but he had been fully exposed from the right flank. He saw blood on Fernandez's shoulder and chest.
"Fernandez is hit," Jaybird said. "Looks bad, Skip."
"Don't move him yet. This is about over. Chase the last of them down the hill. Lam, check that left flank to be sure nobody is left over there."
Three minutes later the firing had stopped. Murdock ran to the right to find Jaybird and Fernandez.
Jaybird looked up, blinking back tears. "He's alive, but he's hit in the shoulder and the chest." Murdock checked Fernandez. Together they helped Fernandez to stand.
"I can walk," Fernandez said. "I can walk."
"Yeah, and pigs fly all the fucking time," Jaybird jawed. "Lean on me, we've got some moving to do."
They walked slowly back toward the home base and the small dock. Lam and Ching acted as rear guards, but there was nobody following them.
"Somebody will be looking for us damn soon," Murdock said. "Holt, crank up that box on TAC Two and get the destroyer. I'll talk." A moment later Holt came beside Murdock and held out the handset.
"They're on."
"Chopper guys, we could use some help."
"This is the Floating Friend. What kind of help?"
"Can that bird of yours fly without the gunner?"
"It'll fly, but the weapons aren't much good."
"Could you pick up a casualty and put him in that seat?"
"Against regulations."
"Yeah, but can it be done? Will you do it?"
"Let me get back to you in two minutes."
"Not a chance, Skip," Holt said. "Those are thirty-year career men out there."
When the set came back on, Murdock answered.
"Land guys, that's a negative. The RIBs went out about twenty minutes ago. We'll put them on fast throttle. Be off Nampo in another twenty minutes."
"We won't be out there by that time. We may still have half the NK marines to fight up here. Let you know. Hey, send in that Cobra now, we might need his guns after all."
"That's a roger. The bird is on a three-minute alert. He's almost gone."
"We're about halfway to Nampo Bay. Have him lay off and we'll bring him in with a smoke flare if we need him." "That's a roger, SEALs."
A mile back toward the sea, they had to carry Fernandez. He was loosing blood. Jaybird had done some quick bandaging, but it came loose and he bled again. They stopped, and Jaybird put on another bandage made from the sleeve of his shirt.
They heard truck motors, but had no idea how close to a road they were. They hadn't seen any roads coming in. Murdock wondered how quickly the live ones left below could get any kind of military help. It just depended how many real troops the NK had left in this seaport town.
Maybe a defense force?
An hour later they came up the last rise to the woods where they had left JG DeWitt. Murdock had briefed Jaybird, and he, Lam, and Charley kept going to the pier and checked it out. The same boat they had come down the coast in was still tied up at the pier. Jaybird boarded her, but the captain wasn't there. A man came out of a small building, and Charley talked to him. He laughed and they nodded and Charley gave him some bills.
Charley ran back to Jaybird. "We rent boat again. Fast before captain sober up."
Jaybird got on the Motorola and told Murdock. Jaybird, Lam, and Charley boarded the fishing boat. Charley checked the fuel supply. Less than a quarter of a tank.
"Plenty," Jaybird said.
The SEALs walked over the hill and down the pier in staggered groups. First came two men carrying Fernandez. They put him on board. The man Jaybird had seen talking with Charley came out, got on board, and started the fishing boat's engine to warm it up.
Ten minutes later all the SEALs and the two Korean scouts were on board and Jaybird cast off the two lines. The fishing boat chugged away from the pier and headed out into the bay. They were well away from the pier when two uniformed soldiers ran on it and waved their hands. They fired some rounds, but missed.
"Straight out the bay," Jaybird told Charley to tell the man at the wheel. They were just out of the bay and had cleared two small islands when Murdock remembered the SATCOM. He had Holt turn it on to the TAC Two channel.
"Cobra, are you around and do you have your fangs?"
"Must be SEAL power down below. We're about three miles off Nampo."
"Good. We're just clearing the islands off the bay heading due west in a thirty-foot fishing ship." Jaybird touched Murdock's shoulder and pointed to the north.
"Oh. yes, Cobra, we could use some help. We have a North Korean patrol boat heading our way about a mile off. Can you beat him here?"
"Watch us, SEALs."
Murdock got his troops along the rail on the north side of the ship. "If he gets close enough, we hit him with all the firepower we have. That patrol boat has more firepower than we do, but we can make him think about it, especially the fifties, if you tear up his bridge."
They waited. Murdock didn't even try to figure it. At thirty knots, how long would it take the boat to cover a mile? At 218 miles an hour, how long would it take the Cobra to cover three miles? A tie?
They waited.
Murdock checked on the approaching patrol craft. The NKs could fire their guns three or four miles. What were they waiting for? Confirmation? Murdock told all of his guys to get down so they couldn't be seen from the patrol boat. That could buy them a few minutes.
When he looked again, Murdock figured the boat was no more than a half mile away. He heard a machine gun chatter across the water.
"Down," Murdock bellowed, and his men hit the fishy deck. The rounds landed short.
That was when the Cobra slanted down toward them. Murdock was on his feet waving. Then the rest of the men were up. The Cobra continued past them, and a moment later they heard rockets launch from the Cobra and snake their way across the light blue sky at the fast-moving patrol craft. Murdock heard the rockets hit. Three missed, but four struck the patrol craft, and it slowed and then went dead in the water. Murdock checked it with his binoculars. Its bridge was blown apart. The chopper made another run and fired another salvo of the 70mm rockets at the ship, which resulted in more explosions and then an oily fire.
The SEALs cheered.
Murdock got on the radio.
"Cobra, I like your fangs. You see a pair of RIBs out there anywhere?"
"Saw them coming over. Check your southwest. They are about a half mile from you. We'll stand by until you board."
"Thanks again, Cobra. When you come to Coronado, I owe you a drink and a steak dinner."
"You're on, SEALs. Standing by."
The fishing boat angled southwest, and five minutes later they saw the RIBs rocketing along to meet them.
Jaybird sat down beside Murdock. "Problem, Skipper. I'm bringing Douglas up on charges, dereliction of duty and failure to follow a direct order, resulting in the life-threatening wounding of a fellow SEAL."
He told Murdock what had happened. "Douglas deliberately held up firing to support Fernandez. If he had helped cover Fernandez, Fernandez would not have been wounded. There has been bad blood between those two for the past three months. You must have heard about it. I'm bringing Douglas up on charges and I want you to back me up."
23
The transfer to the RIBs and the trip back to the destroyer went smoothly. The RIB coxswains throttled back to fifteen knots to reduce the jolting on the two wounded men. DeWitt was feeling better, but Fernandez had taken a turn for the worse. Mahanani didn't know what was the matter. He guessed that the slug must have damaged more in the chest than he'd figured.