Bloodstorm sts-13

by Keith Douglass

  “We’ll go with the longer one if we have time.”

  “The caves themselves,” Jaybird said. “When we set the charges on the bomb, why not also set some to bring down the front of the cave and seal the whole thing inside? That would negate any radiation. At least until somebody tried to open up the cave and see what was left of the warhead.”

  Murdock nodded. “Fine idea. If the configuration of the cave is right, we’ll do that. Now, let’s mount up and move out toward that funny-sounding town and then to the caves.”

  As they rode, Kat looked over at Murdock. “This is a lot easier than the last time we dropped in to work. Iran, as I remember.” She spoke softly so those in the front seat wouldn’t hear.

  “Iran it was. You did good work there.”

  “I was baptized under fire.”

  “You did some firing of your own, as I will forever be thankful for.”

  “You never did properly thank me for that.” She grinned.

  He looked at her in the dim light of the car. “Well, now, that’s a statement open to a lot of interpretation. And if I’m thinking about the right one at this moment, the chances of that kind of thanks are not too good.”

  “Never hurts to ask.”

  He flashed her a smile. “And what a beautiful option to have in my hip pocket… that is, in our hip pockets.” He smiled and touched her arm. “Thank you for saving my life. Now, back to work. When we hit a firefight, I want you to keep your head down. That weapon you have is for defensive purposes only.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, and a big SEAL hooorah to you, Commander. When I can help, I’ll help. End of topic. We going to use the Bull Pup? Looks like it came through all the customs without a hitch.”

  “It did. The ammo was tougher, but we got it in, mostly in pockets. Nobody did a body search.”

  They were quiet a moment. Franklin had decided they should take three cars so they wouldn’t be crowded. Kat and Murdock held down the back seat of a vintage Ziv.

  They found little traffic, and with full darkness even less. It took then just two and a half hours to get to the town of Khowst. They did not stop at the safe house, instead pressed on toward the target. Fifteen miles down the gravel road, they could see lights ahead.

  “Roadblock coming up,” Murdock said into his Motorola mike. “Windows down and sub gun up. We’ll take out whoever is there, but don’t kill the trucks or sedans. We might need them later. I’d say we get into action in about five minutes.”

  The three cars set up a dust cloud that the second and third cars fought through. It wouldn’t last long. They came within fifty yards of the roadblock, and could see two small trucks barricading the road, with a sedan to the side. Three soldiers stood in the glare of the headlights, and held up both hands in a stop gesture. Murdock had a submachine gun out his side window.

  Fifty feet from the block the first car stopped, and the other two rolled up on each side of it. As soon as the three SEAL cars were abreast across the roadway, the men in them opened fire.

  23

  The moment the SEALs opened fire from the three cars on the roadway, the three guards at the roadblock went down like dominoes. Two men ran from a truck, and were killed at once by SEAL gunfire. Two more soldiers jumped out of the sedan where they evidently had been sleeping. One fired two rounds before both men were cut down by hot 9mm parabellums.

  “Cease,” Murdock said into his Motorola. The firing broke off like a cleaver chop.

  “Lam, you and I’ll make sure,” Murdock said. He left the car, and saw Lam jump out of another one, and they ran to the roadblock. One Afghan tried to lift his rifle, but Lam sent him to Allah with a three-round burst. Another man behind the truck moaned. Murdock put a round through the side of his head. There were no guards at the roadblock left alive.

  The two SEALs raced back to their cars. The little convoy moved faster now, with the SEALs hoping there had been no warning given about an attack from the guards by phone or radio before they died.

  “How far?” Murdock asked on the radio.

  “Should be about three or four miles,” Franklin said. “Some day guards along here, but they won’t bother vehicles, I’d guess.”

  Murdock had squelched the idea of using the twenties at long distance. “We have just one and I’d rather surprise them close-up,” he said. There was no solid plan now. They would have to play it as it fell.

  “We’ll drive right up to the caves if we can,” Murdock said now on the radio. “Everyone ready. If we take fire before we start shooting, we leave the cars and spread out as usual. Kat, hang on my shirttail. We want the caves. We don’t know where they house the fifty troops, but my guess would be one of the caves. Probably they put up the troops in one cave, the warhead in the other.”

  “Dead ahead,” Holt, who drove the first car, said.

  “How far?” Murdock asked.

  “Some lights on maybe two hundred yards. Must be from a generator.”

  “Head for the lights. Stop fifty yards out. Cars come up in a line same as at the block. Do it now.”

  The cars drove up on both sides of Murdock’s on the wide roadway to form a line of skirmishers. Now they all could see the lights.

  “Another fifty yards and we stop,” Holt said.

  “Lock and load and safeties off,” Murdock ordered.

  The three cars stopped a few seconds later, doors opened, and then the eleven guns opened fire on the lights and the two dark openings, which they all figured must be the caves.

  The pair of floodlights bathing the opening of one cave shattered with the first volley of rounds. The SEALs had seen a few shapes of soldiers pawing around the light base, but no return shots came. The SEALs concentrated on the caves.

  Murdock had the Bull Pup. He fired ten rounds into the two caves, watching the rounds explode on contact. It was like having a dozen grenades going off inside.

  Men began to race out of the farthest cave. In the soft moonlight they made easy targets. Some had weapons, and fired as they ran. Many took slugs in legs and torsos and went down screaming.

  No more firing came from the caves. Murdock pushed Kat behind the first car. “You stay here,” he said. She nodded.

  “Time to move up,” Murdock said on the net. “We’ll go running on assault fire. Single shots and keep them low and into that first cave. Let’s go.”

  The SEALs lifted up and ran forward in a ragged line of ten, aiming at the first cave. When they were twenty yards away, Murdock called for them to hit the dirt.

  “Anybody see anything?” Murdock asked on the Motorola.

  “Saw one guy run away to the left,” Bradford said. “He didn’t have a weapon.”

  “Saw one shadow that must have been a man making a dash for the first cave,” Senior Chief Dobler said. “He made it inside.”

  “Closest four men. Each of you put a grenade into that cave mouth. I’ll do some more twenties.”

  Murdock fired five more rounds into the mouth of the cave, and heard the rounds explode inside during and after the grenades went off. Three of the hand bombs went inside the cave mouth, and one missed, rolling away to the other side.

  “Move up,” Murdock said. The men stood now and walked forward, using assault fire with single shots. A moment later a heavy machine gun opened up from the cave mouth. Two rounds jolted Ron Holt back a step and pitched him to the ground. The SEALs dug their noses into the ground as most of the rounds now went over their heads.

  “Grenades,” Murdock said. He fired three rounds at the front side of the entrance, hoping to get some shrapnel on the shooter. The man must be well protected from the front. The twenties exploded and rained down deadly shards of steel. Two grenades blasted just inside the entrance, and there was no more sound from the machine gun.

  “Lam, take a look at whoever went down. I saw one of our men hit.”

  “It’s Holt, Commander. He’s hit bad, but I don’t know where. He’s out of action.”

  “Watch him. Jaybird,
on me. Get extra grenades. Hands and knees and we work up front. Go now.”

  Murdock lifted to his hands and knees, then lowered and crawled, pushing with his toes in the sandy ground and dragging himself forward with his elbows. It was slow going, but kept his body close to the ground.

  No more firing came from the cave.

  Then to their right fifty feet away came the deep sound of AK-47’s, More than a dozen weapons could be firing. “Return fire,” Murdock said into his mike. “Jaybird, stay on course.” Murdock could see a shape he figured was Jaybird inching closer to the cave mouth. When they were twenty feet from the cave mouth, Murdock said, “Grenades now, Jaybird.” Both of them threw about the same time. They lobbed two of the hand bombs just over the lip of the cave, where the machine gunner must be positioned behind sandbags and rocks. The four blasts shattered the night and drowned out the firing from the right.

  “Ready, Jaybird? Give me the word and we charge into that cave.”

  “I’m ready. Go.”

  The two SEALs lifted up and bolted straight ahead the twenty feet to the cave mouth. They found it had a four-foot wall across the front with a door to one side. They stopped in front of the wall. Jaybird held a grenade with the pin pulled, and edged it upward and then jolted up and looked over the wall. A scream billowed from inside, and then a shot blasted from inside the cave.

  Jaybird pushed the grenade over the wall and ducked. Before the 4.2-second fuse cooked, Jaybird used the radio. “Saw just one man, looked wounded but had a rifle.” The rest of the words were blotted out in a wave of crashing sound of the grenade exploding that was amplified by the cave.

  Murdock wished for his night-vision goggles. But they were too dangerous to carry in the open. A customs suitcase check finding them would mean huge trouble. He waited. No more sounds came from the cave.

  “Dobler, what do you have on the right? Move the rest of the men that way when you can.”

  “Looks like ten men or so with fire sticks. Maybe thirty yards away. We put some grenades into them. Still half a dozen firing. Don’t think we’ve had any more casualties.”

  “Move over and take them out. We’re about ready to go inside this one. Send me one man.”

  “Roger that. Bradford on his way.”

  A few breaths later, Bradford slid to the ground in front of the cave wall.

  “We’ll all lift up and fire over the wall at the interior,” Murdock said. “Fifteen rounds each for you guys, then we go in on assault fire. We don’t know how big this cave is. We play it by ear. Let’s play the tune.”

  The three lifted up and fired over the wall, then darted to the doorway and charged inside. They couldn’t see a thing. All three went to the ground instinctively.

  “Green flare,” Murdock said. He pulled one from the sleeve of his combat vest and ripped off the seal and threw it. It exploded into an eerie green light thirty feet inside the cave. They saw six bodies scattered around. One Afghan stood, his hands over his head. He had three wounds bleeding and seemed ready to drop.

  Jaybird ran to him, pushed him to the ground, and cinched his hands together behind him with a plastic cuff.

  “Flashlights,” Murdock said. “Let’s see what else is in this bastard of a cave.”

  Outside, Dobler looked at the men firing at them. His six SEALs had cover of sorts, a narrow ditch that gave them some protection. Grenades hadn’t done the trick on routing the Afghans. Only one way.

  “Franklin, Khai, and Lam, on me. We’re going to crawl around to the left and outflank those fuckers. Let’s go, crawl, now.”

  Dobler wondered why he kept going on these fun-filled field trips. He was thirty-seven damned years old and hurting in most places the way a seventy-year-old does. Crawling wasn’t as easy as it had been twenty years ago. He held the submachine gun across his arms in front of him as he dug in toes and elbows and powered ahead.

  They were halfway there when he heard a motor start. Then one of their sedans moved slowly toward the enemy rifles. “Hold,” he said into the radio. He watched, fascinated. Who? Oh, damn, that had to be Kat. What was she doing? She had a weapon, a sub gun. Damn, she might just help. The Afghan rifles wouldn’t stop the old Ziv.

  He watched fascinated as the car covered the distance so it outflanked the enemy troops, then stopped. A moment later the stutter of her sub gun blasted from behind the Ziv.

  “Fire, all fire,” Dobler said. His men fired. They didn’t have the best position, but they all shot up a storm. One Afghan lifted up and tried to run to the right. Four rounds hit him, dumping him into the dirt. The submachine gun behind the Ziv quieted. Then, seconds later, chattered again. Dobler grinned. He could just see Kat frowning and biting her lip as she quickly changed magazines.

  Kat rammed a new magazine in the H & K sub gun, and aimed at the dark shadows that had been firing at the SEALs. She lay beside the front tire of the Ziv, mostly protected. Leaning out, she fired again, four three-round bursts. Two more men leaped up and tried to run. They took a few steps, then stumbled and went down. She fired again, aiming at the prone figures in the ditch that gave them frontal protection. Two of them jerked and tried to crawl away, then fell and didn’t move again.

  Oh, God! She had killed again. At least two. She flushed out the rest of them. Oh, God. She had killed again. She dropped her head on her hand on the weapon. Tears spilled down her cheeks. Had to be done. Had to. They’d hurt Holt. She’d heard it on the radio.

  Where was Murdock? He had headed inside the cave. There was no more firing from the Afghans in the ditch. One man had escaped when he crawled away. She had missed him with her rounds. All was quiet again.

  “Kat. Hey, Kat,” Dobler said on the radio. “Thanks for the flanking job. You dug them out of there. Good shooting, Kat.”

  She shook her head and brushed back tears.

  “Kat, you okay? Kat?” It was Murdock.

  “Yes. Yes. Fine. Not even hit, I don’t think. Well, maybe a little nick somewhere. It hurts, but I don’t know where. Yeah, I guess. Oh, damn, Murdock. I killed those men again. I did it again. Oh, God, I’m so sorry. Oh, no. Now it does sting and… and hurts like hell. Hey, you found the warhead yet?”

  “Kat, you get inside the car if you can, and stay there. Yes, we have the warhead. We’ll let you know when this place is secure.”

  Murdock held the small flashlight at arm’s length and turned it on. The powerful beam penetrated the cavern twenty feet deeper inside. Seconds after he snapped on the light, a pistol fired ahead of him, three rounds blasted off inside the cave before he could jerk down his hand. The light shattered as a bullet hit it and spun it out of his hand. He brought up the sub gun and pounded off three three-round bursts at the muzzle flashes that had burned into his eyes in front. There was a yell, then a scream, and at last a long final sigh.

  “You hit, Cap?” Jaybird asked.

  “No, but that flash is going to take some repair. I think I nailed the sniper. Let’s try your flashes by the book.” The other two men used their lights, held away from their bodies, and the three SEALs worked down the cave. It had a ten-foot ceiling, and was forty feet long. Another ten feet and they found the back wall. There, on a table with fold-out legs, lay two large packages still swathed in cardboard and bubble wrap for protection.

  “First cave is clear,” Murdock said, hoping the radio waves would find their way out of the cave. They did.

  “Want us to work the second cave?” Dobler asked.

  “No. Go see Kat and find out where she’s hit and how bad it is. We have the warhead in the first cave. Check out Kat. Then find Holt and tend to him. You’re our medic for the rest of this run.”

  As Dobler stood up to run to the car, four more soldiers blasted out of the second cave with their automatic rifles chattering. They were simply firing straight ahead. Four rounds went through the Ziv windshield. Then they swung away to the right, away from the second cave and the car, and all ran flat out into the blackness of the night.


  “What was that?” Murdock asked on the net.

  Dobler told him as he ran again for the Ziv. He found Kat in the backseat, unharmed by the second attack.

  “Kat, where are you hit?”

  “Not sure, it’s all kind of fuzzy to me.”

  “Does either arm hurt?”

  “No.”

  “How about your legs? Can you move them?”

  “Yes, but I still hurt.”

  “Murdock has the warhead.”

  “What?”

  “I said Murdock found the warhead in the first cave.”

  She sat up. “Good.” She handed him the MP-5. “Then we certainly should get over there right away. Do you have the extra flashlights, the big ones?”

  “In my pack.” He edged out of the car and helped her to the edge of the seat.

  Kat smiled at him in the darkness. “It’s a good thing we found the warhead so quickly. Those last gunmen were accurate with their rounds.”

  “Too damn accurate. You sure you don’t know where you’re hit?”

  “No, just fuzzy, fuzzy, fuzzy.”

  “Will you be able to work on the bomb?”

  “Oh, that. No problem. Let’s get over there. The first cave, you said?”

  He told her it was, and moved back from the rear door. Kat put her feet out of the car to the ground, and stepped out of the backseat. She gave a little cry, and crumpled to the ground. Dobler swore. He knew the signs. She was either shot extremely bad, or she had fainted dead away.

  He knelt beside her. “Murdock, you hear that? She wants to come work on the bomb but just collapsed beside the car. You better get over here and help me find out where she caught that bullet.”

  24

  Murdock scowled. “Is Kat hit bad? Head shot? Anything visible?”

  “Not that I can see in this light,” Dobler said. “Hate to move her until we know. We’re secure here?”

  “Should be. Blink your light to let me spot you.”

  Dobler gave him three blinks of his small flashlight, then three more. He got two blinks back, and looked at Kat again. He pushed his hand under her back where she lay on the rear seat. No blood. He shone the light on her chest, then on her shoulder. Blood. It was high, upper arm just below the shoulder joint. Might not be that bad.