The explosion came with a jolt, and smoke drifted out of the block building.
“Done,” Hunter said. “Saddle up, let’s get out of here. Now all we have to do is find some wetness.” He waved at Walden. “Crank up the old radio, let’s give Quinn the good news.”
“Bad idea, Cap,” Tran said. “We’ve got company coming down the dusty road. One six by and my guess is that the gents in the back are not in a happy mood.”
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Hunter looked down the road where the dust came up. He nodded. “I wondered when somebody would notice that we were here. All right, they go behind the hills out there and then come over that rise about five hundred yards out before they come down the hill into this site.
“We take them with twenties as soon as we can see them just as they come over the hill. I want everyone to take cover, find something substantial for protection. Scatter in case they have RPGs. I want twenties in Bravo to fire. Stop that damn six by in his tracks as soon as he shows.”
The SEALs found cover. Hunter put Beth behind the block building. Then he hovered around the corner of it watching the road coming in.
They waited.
Five minutes later he hit the radio again. “Okay, they aren’t charging in here. They must be coming around that same ridgeline that Bravo used earlier. Bravo, you hold the fort here. Alpha squad on your feet, we’re jogging up that slope in back to the ridgeline and see what we can see. Let’s move.”
The seven men of Alpha ran up the slope, each carried two weapons, their own and an AK-47. Just as they topped the rise they took rifle fire from the right.
They hit the dirt and edged back over the reverse slope out of the line of fire.
“How far away are they?” Hunter asked.
“Looked like they were in that fringe of brush down about three hundred,” Walden said.
“Our three twenties, put air bursts into those trees. Everybody one round now.”
They fired. The air bursts shattered some of the trees and brush.
A moment later fifteen soldiers charged away from the brush firing as they came.
“Fire at will,” Hunter said, aiming a contact round just in front of the North Koreans. His round hit at the feet of the first men and six of them went down. Rifle fire from the AK’s blasted out rounds at the running men. Soon only four were still coming. Then two of them turned and ran back for the brush. They didn’t make it. The last two heroes running forward fell to the heavy slugs from the AKs.
One of the soldiers in the first charge started crawling back toward the brush. Two slugs from the Russian rifles stopped him.
“Let’s put three more air bursts into that brush, then go and clear it. We have to drive past there to get out of here.”
They moved along the reverse slope of the little ridge until they were near the brush, then edged up and looked over it at the brush and trees. They saw no movement.
“Chang and Tanner. Check it out. Shouldn’t be anybody still alive in there.”
The two SEALs surged over the ridge and with their weapons firing ran into the brush and trees. They vanished and the firing stopped. A minute later the ear pieces spoke.
“Nothing here but six dead troopers,” Chang said.
“Can you see the six by?” Hunter asked.
“Not from here.”
“We’re coming in.” Hunter took the rest of the squad into the brush, and then led them along the ridge until he could see the six by on the road below six hundred yards away. As they watched the rig’s engine roared and the truck turned and drove down the dirt road away from them.
“Let him go,” Hunter said. “Probably just the driver and one chickenshit lieutenant. Let’s get back with the group.”
Fifteen minutes later Tanner had topped off the six by’s gas tank and they loaded up and moved out. They ripped holes in the canvas facing on the six by for firing positions. Two men stood there with AK-47’s watching for trouble. They soon came to the small village, went through it without spotting any army trucks and headed for the coast.
“Maybe ten miles,” Bradford told the men in back. He wondered what time it was. Fourteen hundred. A lot had happened in the last six hours. He worked his way over to where Foster talked to Lawrence.
“How is the guy with the scratch doing?” Bradford asked.
Lawrence snorted. “Told Cap I was fucking fit for duty.” He winced as a spasm of pain shot through him. “Well, damn near fit for duty. You got any more of that joy juice, Doc?”
“Not for a couple of hours, sorry. Think happy thoughts.”
“Like the first time I got laid?” Lawrence asked. “Hey, let me tell you about it. Now that was a real wild afternoon.”
“Afternoon?”
“Oh, hell yes. My first time I wanted to see what was going on. I’d never even seen a naked woman before.”
Bradford grinned and moved back to his spot near the front of the truck.
Five miles beyond Kilchu they stopped and Ho pulled the truck off the road down a narrow track out of sight of the highway. Walden got out the SATCOM and found the satellite with the dish antenna.
“Seoul Roadrunner, got your ears on?”
The reply came at once.
“Ears here, Foxhunt. How goes the chase?”
“All targets splashed, down and dirty, heading for the wet. You have assets in place?”
“Assets waiting fifteen miles out.”
“Have the birds ready. We’ll give you a GPS locate when we find the wet and a good spot. Have medics on standby. We have one serious wounded. Will call within an hour.”
“Roger that. Wait for your locate. Out.”
“Let’s roll,” Hunter said. “We’ve got a date with two beautiful Seahawks.”
It took them an hour and a half to find the coast, then drive to a deserted area where Hunter felt would be safe for the Seahawks to land. They set up the radio and Bancroft put the SEALs into a perimeter defense. Hunter made the radio call and gave Quinn the GPS coordinates.
“Roger on the GPS location. Birds should have received this message. Copy birds?”
“Copy, Roadrunner. We have two taking off right now. ETA the beach in six to seven minutes. Is wounded critical?”
“Wounded is serious, not critical,” Hunter said.
“Glad you two could get together,” Quinn said from Seoul. “See you when you get here.”
“Roger that.”
They waited.
It was eight minutes before Tran heard the whup, whup, whup sound of the rotors as the big birds came in for a smooth landing twenty yards apart on the hard sand of the beach. Bravo Squad and Ho took the first chopper. They carried Sanborn with them. His body was still frozen stiff inside the heavy duty black body bag. They took along their almost empty drag bags, brought along one AK-47 as a souvenir and left the rest of them and the extra magazines in the six by. They thought of dropping a WP grenade in it as a send off display but decided not to.
Foster walked Lawrence out to the second bird, helped him inside, and put him on a fold out stretcher. The rest of Alpha Squad and Beth crawled in the bird.
Hunter sat beside Lawrence. He was drifting in and out of consciousness. Foster looked at Hunter.
“I don’t know what the hell is happening. He shouldn’t be this bad.”
Lawrence came back and looked at Hunter. “Hey, Cap. Did I ever tell you about the first time I ever got laid?” His eyes went wide and he tried a grin but drifted off to sleep.
“His vital signs are good,” Foster said. “I can’t understand this. I think he’s going to make it. Has me puzzled. Some of that lead must have split up and lodged somewhere bad.”
Both choppers took off and a few minutes later, each landed on its home destroyer.
Hunter’s bird hit the small chopper pad on the destroyer and the first ones to the door were three corpsmen, two doctors and a gurney. They put Lawrence on board and hurried him down to their small infirmary. Hunter and
Foster shadowed them.
“Bullet didn’t come out, doctor,” Foster said. “I don’t know what happened to it.”
The medic nodded. “That’s what we’re going to find out. Don’t worry; he’s out of danger now. We’ll save him. But he’s not going to be in any shape to take another chopper ride for a couple of days.”
“I’ll stay with him,” Hunter said.
“No real need to do that, Lieutenant. Oh, the captain wants to see you.”
A few minutes later Hunter was in the Captain’s quarters. Commander Ralph Higgins shook Hunter’s hand.
“Damn glad you made it, Hunter. Not sure what your mission was, but it must have been on the hairy side. Your man is in good hands in our infirmary. Both doctors have had combat experience, so they can handle a bullet wound. Now, about your future.
“Wish we had a carrier and a COD in this area, but we don’t. The Seahawks can jump you into Seoul. Understand you want to take your KIA with you. That’s good. It’s only about two hundred miles to Seoul. The doctors are operating now and say that your man shouldn’t go in the chopper. We’ll motor down the coast and get him into Seoul as soon as we can.”
“I’ll stay with Lawrence,” Hunter said.
“I have a signal from Seoul about that. Somebody named Quinn.” He handed Hunter a sheet of paper.
“Hunter. Your wounded man is in good hands. Nothing you can do for him. Get your people back here SOP. Make sure you’re with them. Captain says the choppers will leave when you’re ready. Quinn.”
Hunter took a deep breath. “Looks like I received new orders, Commander. When do we leave?”
In both of the destroyers, the SEALs and friends washed up and wound down for half an hour, then had a big meal that included gallons of hot coffee they hadn’t tasted in a week.
They took off in the two birds and flew in formation slanting across the Sea of Japan and curling around the southern bulge of North Korea and then cut across the northern part of South Korea for Seoul. At 207 miles an hour, the trip in the sleek SH-60s would take about an hour.
They were all still dressed in their North Korean civilian clothes. Beth looked over at Hunter.
“Hey, cowboy. You promised to take me out to dinner when we got back to civilization, remember? You guys should get a couple of days rest before you go after that bomb making plant, right?”
“I hope so. Just depends how quickly Mr. Quinn wants us to move.”
“I may have a talk with Mr. Quinn about that.”
The chopper circled the military airport near Seoul and settled down on the chopper pad.
“We made it,” Beth said, excitement in her voice. She reached over and gave Hunter a kiss right on the lips. She settled back and grinned. “I promised myself I’d get a reward like that if we both made it back safety.”
Hunter grinned. “My treat,” he said.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
K-16 Republic of Korea Air Base
Songham, Korea
Quinn met them at the heliport. He got them all together outside the bus and rubbed his right ear.
“First, I’m saddened about Sanborn. He was a good man and we’ll miss him. From what I hear from the doctor on the destroyer, the operation on Lawrence went well and they dug out all the pieces of the shattered slug. Lawrence should be flying here in two or three days. He should come through the ordeal with no physical problems or handicaps. He’s still a SEAL.”
“Hoo-rah” the SEALs bellowed in unison. Hunter smiled when he noticed that Beth yelled along with the rest of them.
“What a beat up soccer team you guys are. My grandmother’s Tuesday sewing circle could whip your ass.” He grinned. “The President is hot to get the rest of this mission completed – the plant where they make the damn bombs. Nobody can do top notch work when he’s exhausted, so you guys get three days off, to wash up, to get some sleep and to chow down three squares a day.”
“Hey, Quinn,” Tran called. “Will we get to pull rank on a commander again sometimes when we go?”
“Mr. Quinn. I think I should be on the mission,” Beth said quickly. “These cowboys don’t know shit about blowing up a partly made nuke. What if they mess up?”
“Good point, Commander Darby. However the commander in chief has ordered that you will not take part in this next mission. You are too valuable to risk on a dangerous trip like this where your talents aren’t absolutely necessary. All you have to do in the next three days is train two SEALs where to plant the C-5 if any of the bombs is far enough along to warrant it.”
“Thanks a bunch, Quinn,” a voice called.
“Hey, don’t blame me. The President has given the order. I’m just relaying it. So, the bus will take you back to the barracks. Time for a mess call inside as usual, then about twenty hours of sleep. Oh, Commander Darby. You are cleared for takeoff on an Air Force transport leaving in three days.”
“Hitchhiking?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“That means a damn bucket seat or no seat at all. Is that an order from the President or a convenience?”
“It’s not an order. I just figured you might want to get back to your other life as soon as practical.”
“I’ve never been to Seoul before, Mr. Quinn. If you can arrange it, I’d like to take a week’s tour of the city. Visit the local landmarks, the tourist traps, the temples. That sort of thing.”
“Commander, I’m sure that I can arrange that. The Air Force general’s wife here is quite adept at acting as a tour guide. Until then I can put you in the BOQ.”
“I like my room in the barracks, Mr. Quinn. I’ve got used to these guys. Just like to hang out for a while.”
“You outrank me, Commander. Let’s get on the bus.”
On the ride to their barracks, Beth sat beside Hunter in the front seat.
“Wrapped him around your little finger without even half trying, Commander,” Hunter whispered.
“That’s Beth, Hunter. I’m not going to be cheated out of my night on the town dinner you owe me just because the President got wishy washy. That is if you can get a pass to get into town.”
“I think I can arrange that. Tomorrow night? You and Mrs. General pick out the spot.”
Back at the barracks a complete grill to order steak dinner waited for them. Most of the men ate until they gurgled. Somehow the coffee was just as important as the steak.
Hunter turned out the lights in the barracks at 2130. Already
half of the SEALs were sleeping. Twice Hunter looked at the door to Beth’s room but it stayed firmly shut.
Hunter arranged with the base cooks who brought their meals that there would be no breakfast call the next morning. He let everyone sleep in to 1000 who wanted to. Then he rolled the rest out and set them to cleaning weapons, getting a count on what ammo they needed to refill their combat vests, and get back into their desert cammies. When the chow came at noon they looked more like real SEALs again.
When Hunter knocked on Beth’s door he found a note pinned there.
“Sorry to miss you sleepy head. I have a date with Mrs. General for 1000 for my tour. See you back here about dinner time. Hint, hint.” It wasn’t signed.
After chow they turned in their much worn Korean clothes and got fresh ones. Ho was still with them.
“Need Ho to find factory?” he asked Hunter.
“We sure do, Ho. This is the other half of the project. I wouldn’t think of going in there without you. We’ll do a boat ride again, I expect and then a swim. We’ll have a meeting this afternoon to plan things.”
The meeting was called for 1300 in the same room as before. Hunter went with his team, Bancroft, Tran, Senior Chief Chapman, Ho, and Chang. Both the destroyer captains were there as well as Quinn, an Air Force bird colonel, and a Navy captain who was in charge of the area Naval Command. Introductions were made, with the SEALs giving names only with no rank. That seemed to surprise the navy captain, but he remained silent.
Quinn led the show. �
�From previous planning sessions we determined that an aerial drop would not be practical. Since the target is within twenty miles of the coast we’ll work from the standpoint of a wet landing of the SEAL team on the beach as close to the target as practical. Do we have a GPS on the target?”
“Negative,” Hunter said. “Dr. Sung told me where it is. Road directions. Do we have a detailed map of the area?”
A map of North Korea flashed on a screen and zoomed into the town of Sunan.
“Good,” Hunter said. “We go up route K-Twelve from Sunan toward Anju but turn off to the right after about twelve miles. It’s a new road and not shown here. Dr. Sung said we could spot it by a pair of stunted pine trees and a tumbled down farm house just this side of the turn off. We continue on that new road less than fifteen miles into the hills until we come to the factory town. He says a whole village has been created there to support the workers. It has houses, barracks, apartment houses, stores, shops and a school. Everyone who works there, lives there and security is tight at a fenced and army controlled entrance. The entire complex has an electrified fence around it and patrol dogs.”
Commander Vuylsteke spoke up. “Last time we put you ashore about five miles north of the town of Hwajil-Il. This time it looks like we should go another five to seven miles north of the same spot to put you almost on site of the turnoff.”
“I agree,” Bradford said. “We’ll have fifteen passengers for you this time, both squads so we’ll need two choppers.”
“So both of our destroyers will paddle up that direction,” Commander Wells said.
“About a two hour trip?” Quinn asked.
“Yes,” Wells said. “When is our departure?”
“In two more days,” Quinn said.
“Time sequence about as before?” Vuylsteke asked.
Tran spoke up. “Yes sir. We get picked up here by your sixties at thirteen thirty for a quick hop to your destroyers. You weigh anchor at fourteen thirty. Then six and a half hour run up the dog leg and we launch in the IBS at twenty two hundred and motor in ten miles to the beach. We swim in the last quarter mile with our ETA of about twenty three hundred. Your coxswains return the IBSs to your ships.”
North Korean Blowup Page 20
