“I’m not hit bad, Skip, just knocked me out. Got some nicks and scrapes, damn shrapnel. It’s Al Adams over there who caught most of it.”
They moved cautiously in the water to where Adams lay. His right arm was torn off. Blood gouted. Mahanani pulled off his shirt and held it tightly around the bloody arm stump halfway to the shoulder.
“He’s bleeding, so he isn’t dead,” the medic said.
Murdock checked his face and chest. Blood soaked his cammie shirt. His face was not marked.
“Lam,” Murdock said in his Motorola. “You back?”
“Back, Skipper. Nobody up here for almost a klick.”
“Work a safe path for us through the dry sand. Be damn careful. Adams got it bad, we need a place to keep him off the beach.”
“Doing it. Work better if Dobler could work from the wet to meet me.”
“I’m on it, Skipper,” Dobler said on the radio.
“Can we save him?” Murdock asked the Hawaiian.
“I don’t know. Shock, blood loss. Haven’t even looked at his chest yet. Be good to get a chopper in here for him. Can we contact the big boat?”
“Didn’t bring the SATCOM. Pegasus can call them. They must have heard the blast if they hung around. He touched the mike. “Beach calling Pegasus. Do you copy?”
There was no response. He made the call three times. Then he heard a faint reply.
“Beach, on our way home. Need help?”
“Triggered a mine. Got two of our men, one critical. I know we can’t get a chopper in here until the attack. That’s still two hours off. Can you pick up our wounded?”
“Check with mother hen. Give me a minute.”
Everyone heard the conversation. Adams tried to say something, then drifted off into unconsciousness again.
“Get his feet up. He’s in shock. More blood to his brain the better.”
“Beach, we have a go for ambulance run. Mother is within five miles. They hit here first, then go to Beach B. Coming in. Any enemy fire?”
“None we’ve found so far. Just the damn mine. We found one more but have it out. Gentle slope of the beach here, not sure how close you can come. What do you draw?”
“Not sure. We can nose in to ground, then get off easy.”
“You have a medic on board?”
“Negative. We’re about two miles out and moving in fast. You may be able to hear us. Give me a glow stick to find you. You’re where we left you before?”
“That’s a roger to both.”
“Jaybird, take a green stick, wade out, shield it with your body from the island, and give Pegasus a target.”
“On my way, Skip.”
Murdock checked out Ron Holt. He had two deep gashes in one leg, an arm wound, and, after repeated probing, admitted that he couldn’t see very well.
“The damn flash,” Holt said. “Twice as bad as a flashbang.”
“Can you walk, Holt?”
“Yeah, but I won’t know where I’m going.”
“You’re with me. He hit the radio again. Ronson, Bradford, get over here and help us get Adams down to the boat. It should be here in a few minutes.”
Murdock led Holt into the water and out beside Jaybird. They heard the Pegasus coming, then it toned down as it slowed. It had no lights, only a murmur now as it idled in the last quarter mile.
Two minutes later, the long craft nosed in three feet from Jaybird until its bow scraped sand. It stopped. The water was chest deep when they walked out to the boat. They lifted Holt on board, and Murdock told them he couldn’t see.
Adams was tougher. Ronson and Bradford carried him like a silk pillow, but the men on board the Pegasus had trouble getting him into the ship.
“Mahanani, get in there and help. You’re going back with them. Check over Holt for blood loss. Have one of the crew try to stop the bleeding with pressure on that stump. A wet towel might help. Go.”
The Pegasus eased backward, away from the beach, turned, and crawled away on low throttle. They heard it rev up farther out to sea.
Murdock looked at his watch. Nearly 0400.
“Jaybird, get that mine. We’ll take it with us. Lam, you know where that safe route is?”
The earpiece came on. “I’ve got one end, Senior Chief Dobler has your end. Bring the troops into the cover. Nobody up here yet, but I’d guess we’ll have some company before the Marines land.”
Murdock’s radio talked again. “On our way, Skip. Holt is doing well, chest wounds superficial. Lots of blood, not much hurt. He still can’t see. Adams is looking bad. We brought the rest of his arm along and the crew has it in a bucket of ice. You know what they can do with severed limbs these days. Almost out of range. Good luck.”
The SEALs moved across the safe strip of sand and into the woods. No one else had been touched by the mine. Jaybird said it wasn’t a bouncing Betty or five or six of the men would be hurting.
They spread out in the brush facing inland while Lam took another scouting run. He came back thirty minutes later.
“Skip, I’d suggest we move inland about half a klick. There’s some good defensive areas there. My guess, there will be someone from the interior over here soon to investigate that mine going off.
Murdock sent them along. Ed Dewitt had the con and Dobler to help him set up an ambush.
Murdock and Jaybird stayed behind. They went back to the wet sand through the safe trail. They marked the trail with an orange flag, then went down to where the mine exploded and put another orange flag. The third one they put on the spot Jaybird had removed the first mine. The flags were three feet square on four-foot poles jammed into the wet sand.
At 0530, Murdock had heard nothing from Ed DeWitt. He said he’d call if they ran into trouble.
Murdock tried a call to the LCUs. They were supposed to have one radioman on board with a Motorola set to the SEAL’s frequency. He tried the call again. Nothing. That meant the Marines were still farther out than the three-mile radius of the small radios.
He had to wait. Just as Murdock sat down on the dry sand, his radio spoke.
“Murdock, we have contact. Looks like two jeeps and maybe a dozen men. Is it too early to take them out? If we let them come through, they will see the landing and cause all sorts of hell. The rigs have mounted fifty-caliber MGs.
Infantry tactics. It all depended on the situation and the terrain, they used to say. Only this time, there was another factor: time. If they blasted the rebels now, that might bring a much larger force to defend the beach before the Marines got there. If they didn’t take the rebels down now, they would come through to the beach and cause a passel of trouble.
Murdock spoke into the lip mike. “Light them up, Ed. Use all silenced weapons if you can and don’t let them fire a shot.”
“That’s a roger.”
Before Murdock could do more than offer a silent good luck to his men, his radio sputtered and a garbled voice came over.
“Bea… Beach. On t… way. Give us some…. Make them t… green on…”
“Marines. Broken reception. You want green stick lights?”
“Roger th…”
Murdock turned to Jaybird. “Let’s get in the middle of our little cleared path. I’ll tell him by radio about the mines. They have three cleared paths for single file.
That was when he heard some repeated rifle and machine gun fire from well into the trees.
16
The A Beach
Bahrain
Murdock stared into the trees where he heard the firefight. Too damn early. The Marines wouldn’t be there for another ten, fifteen minutes.
“DeWitt, talk to me,” he said on the Motorola.
“Busy, Skip. We nailed half of them, the rest came up shooting. These are well-trained troops. A little firefight right now. The Marines coming?”
“Talked to them, haven’t seen them. Ten minutes minimum.”
“No problem here other than time. Going to take ten to get rid of these guys. Don’t want any ru
nning back to the mother lode.”
“Roger that.”
Murdock tried to listen seaward. At last he heard the faint growl of the LCUs. How long would it take them? He touched the radio mike again.
“Marines, do you copy?”
“Roger, beach. Better reception. Arrive in six minutes.”
“Gently sloping beach here. Not sure how far you’ll get in. We have green light sticks. Found land mines here. Have three single-file paths cleared. No opposition for landing. Small firefight about half a mile inland. We have friendlies there.”
“Single file, beach? We can do that. Soon.”
Murdock and Jaybird could hear the motors now. It was growing lighter. Dawn was coming fast. The Marines should hit the beach just about at daylight. Both SEALs held green light sticks. They would bend them and break the seal and activate them the moment they could see the LCUs.
“Gunfire has tapered off inland,” Jaybird said. “Maybe the JG has it under control.”
Murdock nodded. He watched the water. At sea level you were supposed to be able to see seven miles before the curvature of the earth bent the land or water out of sight. The Marines had to be closer than seven miles.
Then he saw them, twin dark dots on the brightening waters.
“Got them,” Jaybird said. “Light sticks ain’t gonna be much good now that it’s light.”
“They can see them, and it’ll confirm they’re at the right spot. Let’s break the seals.”
Each of them held two of the green light sticks and started them glowing.
“Hey, we see your lights, beach. We’re on course. You have those cleared lanes marked for our boys?”
“Ready to go with three-by flags.”
Murdock waved Jaybird to one of the clear lanes, and he went to the other with its big marker flag. Single file meant it would take the Marines some time to get off the beach and into the woods. If they would run, that would be a help.
“Skip, looks like we’re about finished up here,” DeWitt said on the radio. “We stopped their vehicle and took down six or eight. But about that many vanished into the brush and must be making their way back to their people. Want us to track them?”
“No, JG. Hold there as a forward outpost. We’ll make damn sure the lead elements of the Marines know you’re there. They are just about ready to land.”
Murdock’s radio came on once more.
“Beach, ETA two minutes.”
They could see the 135-foot-long LSUs coming, their big defensive landing ramp straight up and charging for shore at ten knots. They were side by side. They corrected their angle a little, then charged head-on for shore.
The big landing craft nosed up on the beach, hit the sand with the bow in about two feet of water, and the big ramp splashed down. A wave of combat-clad Marines boiled out of the craft, splashed through the water, and thinned out into a single file, running smartly toward Murdock. He pointed to the flag and waved them forward.
“Straight up to the brush,” he bellowed. “Stay in line. Mines around here.”
He ran to the middle sign, and a line of Marines peeled off one of the LSUs and moved toward him. Then they had three files of combat Marines running across the beach and up to the brush. Murdock found a Marine captain and hailed him.
“Captain, Commander Murdock. I’ve got people up in front of you. Eleven SEALs who just put down an enemy patrol. Be sure your lead elements know they are there. I don’t want to lose any of my men to friendly fire.”
“They’ve been told, Commander. I’m Captain Browser. I’ll be with them. Heard you lost a man here to a mine.”
“Lost an arm, don’t know if he’ll make it or not. If you’re ready to go forward, my man and I will go with you. I want to be sure my lead men are safe up there.”
“Let’s go.”
They came to the lead elements of the Marines five minutes later. They had formed up and moved through the woods in squad formations with two scouts out front.
“DeWitt,” Murdock said on the Motorola. “The Marines have landed and are moving up to your rear. We’re friendly back here. Let’s hook up carefully.”
“That’s a roger. We can hear you coming. We’ll stay out of sight until you’re close enough to talk to. Any word on Adams?”
“No contact. Maybe the Marines have a SATCOM.”
The lead Marines worked ahead slowly, made contact with DeWitt, and then the rest of the SEALs were together. They formed one squad and worked ahead with the leathernecks.
They soon passed the shot-up jeep and six bodies. The scouts went slower then, moving from cover to cover. By the time they were inland a half mile, they found the house and small farm. Just over the low hill, the scouts reported that there was enemy activity.
“Looks like a company digging in, about six hundred yards ahead, Captain. Maybe eighty men.”
“Any vehicles?”
“None. Two bicycles for messengers.”
Murdock stood near Captain Browser and heard the radio report. The Marine looked at Murdock. “You have a .50- caliber sniper with you?”
“Affirmative.”
“Here’s what we’re going to do.”
Fifteen minutes later, the Marines were in position. Bradford lay in a brushy spot where he could see the Bahrainian rebels. He had been checking out the company for five minutes through his scope and at last had found the only officer with the group. He stayed in back of a large tree most of the time but came out now and then, evidently to issue orders.
Captain Browser bellied down beside Bradford. “Any time you’re ready, Bradford. You get in your shots and then it’s our turn.”
Bradford sighted in on the tree the Bahrainian officer used and waited. A full minute later, the officer stepped out from the tree and Bradford fired. He rammed the bolt back and forward and fired again.
The enemy officer was down. At once the Marines opened fire on the company from two sides, putting them in a crossfire. The rebels weathered the attack for three minutes, then began pulling back, running from the sparse cover into the deeper woods. The Marines ceased fire, formed up, and moved forward again.
The Marine scouts reported that the enemy had not regrouped. They were running and disorganized, charging back through a small village and onto a paved road. The scouts saw no other military units.
Murdock walked beside Captain Browser.
“Our mission is to move up this road and capture the airport at Manama. That’s the capital city. The airport is on this side. The other unit will come in from the other direction and take down the government buildings, including the army headquarters. We expected more opposition than this. I wonder where in hell are those ten thousand troops?”
“Let’s hope we don’t find them,” Murdock said.
Captain Browser grinned. “For SEALs, you guys make damn good infantry.”
“More than half of our work is done on land,” Murdock said. “We get frequent chances to develop our ground combat skills.”
“We’ll have to talk about that sometime.”
The captain’s radio spoke.
“Cap’n Browser, we’ve got a pocket up here with three machine guns and about twenty troops.”
“Hold it there. We’ll come up and take a look,” Browser said. The captain motioned to Murdock to follow him, and they hurried past the stopped troops to the front elements and then on fifty yards to the scout. They peered past some brush and saw the sun glint off metal two-thirds of the way up a small hill.
The scout motioned. “High ground and the MGs. We call in an air strike?”
“Can’t. The least damage to the place the better. Range?”
“A hundred and fifty.”
“Good range for some forty mikes,” Murdock said.
Captain Browser groaned. “Yeah, but our guys haven’t fired their forty mikes for six months.”
“We’ve got some guys who can lay an egg in a basket,” Murdock said. Shall I call them up?”
The c
aptain hesitated. “Aw, hell. My job is to get past them fast and into that airport. Yeah, bring up your shooters.”
Murdock made a Motorola check and Jaybird, Lampedusa, and Franklin soon appeared right behind them. Murdock moved them ten yards apart and explained the mission.
“Alternate HE and WP. Free beer for a week for whoever drops the first egg in that machine gun hole.”
The SEALs judged the distance and began dropping in the 40mm grenades. The second WP hit near enough to spray the machine guns with flaming phosphorus. Three rounds later, Jaybird dropped an HE into the bunker.
Captain Browser grinned and motioned his men forward. There was no fire from the bunker.
Jaybird laughed as he walked along beside Murdock. “Damn but I’m getting thirsty already. I’d guess we have to wait for Coronado before I get my beer.”
“Good guess, Jaybird.”
Captain Browser came up beside Murdock. “Tell your men nice shooting back there. Glad you’re along. My best map shows a hike of about fifteen miles to our target, the airport. Not sure if that’s right. It also shows two small towns between the beach and our taxi strip. My orders were a little vague on the subject, but as I understand them, you and your men were to go with us.”
“Those were my orders, Captain,” Murdock said.
“Good. We might have some more special need for your men’s talents. We’ve been sitting on that ship too long. Our skills get a little rusty.”
They kept moving. They met little resistance. One quick firefight in front of them produced six bodies and one prisoner. It was over before the SEALs got there.
The country became more built up. Now there was a paved road and an occasional small car or truck. The civilians seemed to melt out of the way as they passed.
“Captain, we may have another problem. Could you take a look?” It was the Marine’s radio. The captain motioned to Murdock, and the two hurried three hundred yards to where the Marine scout lay in a small ditch. Down a slight rise, the buildings were closer together and houses extended back a hundred yards each way from the road.
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