by Mike McNeff
“One of our sergeants is very sick. Could your medic look at him?”
“I'll check.” He turned and trotted to the meet point. Five minutes later he found the rest of the team. Mike had already picked up Marv.
“What the hell's going on?” Ernie asked.
“It's kind of complicated, but we don't have to worry about the army here. They're our friends.”
“Are you nuts?! We're in North Korea!”
“Look, Ernie, these people are starving and the government is doing nothing about it. They hate the government. They gave me the scoop on the tangos. I need you and Willy to come with me.”
Ernie took a deep breath. “Get your gear, Willy. The rest of you set up a perimeter and wait for us.”
“And don't shoot any soldiers,” Rocky added.
The three men went back to the warehouse and met the colonel and the lieutenant. During the walk back, Rocky filled Ernie in on the colonel's request.
“This is my major, sir,” Rocky said to the colonel.
The colonel held out his hand to Ernie and they shook hands.
“And this is Sergeant Young, our medic. He'll take a look at your sick soldier.”
“Would you please come with me, sergeant?” the lieutenant asked.
“Lead the way.”
“Before you go, Lieutenant, tell the colonel we'll get the women loaded on our boats. They can only take the essentials. We'll be near capacity.”
“It is all right, Major. They have nothing, but what they are wearing. Where will you be taking them?”
“South Korea.”
“I'll tell them.”
The colonel, lieutenant and Willy went into the warehouse. Moments later the colonel brought the four women out. They're eyes were wide and frightened. Ernie took the hand of the closest one in his hands and bowed to her.
“Don't be afraid. We will protect you.” He spoke in a soft, calm voice.
The woman managed a smile and nodded to Ernie.
“I hope she doesn't think you just proposed to her, boss,” Rocky cracked.
Ernie chuckled. “Let's get them to the boats.”
Willy knelt beside a soldier with a very pale face covered in perspiration. The soldier's breathing quick and shallow. “How long has he been like this?”
“Four days,” the lieutenant answered. “That's when he was injured.”
Willy lifted the man's shirt and started removing the bandage on his left side. The soldier flinched and gritted his teeth. Willy stopped and pulled a morphine auto injector out of his bag and punched it into the man's thigh.
“Tell him the pain will stop in a few minutes.”
The lieutenant translated.
Willy slowly removed the bandage as the soldier bravely took the pain. Willy began cleaning the infected wound as gently as he could. The man tensed with pain at first, but then started to relax as the morphine took hold. Willy began to clean more aggressively and debriding the wound. He applied antibiotic ointment then gently covered the injury. A tetanus shot and a shot with a large dose of the strongest antibiotic in his kit completed the treatment.
“Lieutenant, I'm giving you these morphine auto injectors. All you have to do is remove this cover, insert the needle in his buttocks or thigh and push this button. Don't do it more than four times a day and only do it if he's in severe pain. This is morphine and it's extremely addictive.” Willy then handed the lieutenant the rest of his antibiotic syringes and a bottle of antibiotic pills. “Give him a shot of antibiotics in the morning and another tomorrow night. Then start him on these pills…four a day until they're gone. Keep the wound clean, but don't bandage it for three days.”
The lieutenant handed the medical supplies to another man and gave him the instructions. The man nodded he understood.
“Does that man have any questions for me?”
The lieutenant asked the man the question and he said something back. “This man is one of our battalion medics. He says thank you for treating their sergeant. He wishes he had the same training and supplies you do.”
Willy looked at the man and smiled. “You're welcome.”
To Willy's surprise the man hugged him. Willy hugged him back, picked up his bag and looked at the soldiers around him. Their condition tore at his heart. They were malnourished and most of them did not look well. “When did the injured man last eat?”
“All of us have been sharing what we have, but he had only a little to eat this morning.”
Willy reached into his bag and pulled out two MRE rations. “Here is some food for him. He needs nutrition if he is going to get better.”
“Yes, Sergeant.”
“Okay, Lieutenant, let's get me back to the boats.”
Ernie saw Willy and the lieutenant coming out of the warehouse. The colonel had given him drawings of the ships the terrorists were using. Ernie identified them as the Norwegian Tween Deck/RO/RO Geared cargo ships listed in the intel. Ernie considered the intelligence bonanza the colonel and his men could provide on an ongoing basis about North Korea and Chongjin shipping traffic. He decided to take a big risk.
“Lieutenant, I want to give the colonel this satellite phone. It will enable us to communicate with your unit on a regular basis. You just have to be careful about when and where to transmit as I'm sure the air waves are monitored here, but you don't have to worry about receiving messages.”
The lieutenant translated and the colonel seemed to be interested, but troubled about the phone. After a minute of thought he spoke to the lieutenant, who became very upset and started arguing, but the colonel cut him off with a curt order. The lieutenant stood rigid with tears running down his cheeks. The colonel's face softened and he put his hands on the lieutenant's shoulders. Ernie thought he was witnessing a conversation between a father and his son.
The lieutenant turned to Ernie. “Major, my colonel says the only way this will work is if you take me with you. The colonel and I have a code, which only we know.” The lieutenant's voice broke and the colonel put his arm around his shoulders and spoke looking at Ernie as the lieutenant translated.
“Lieutenant Chong is a very capable officer. He has risked a very bright career to do the right thing for his men and people we serve here in Chongjin.” The colonel choked back tears. “Years ago, my wife died in childbirth because I did not have sufficient rank to get the special care she needed. I lost her and my newborn son. Lieutenant Chong is the son I never had. Please take him with you. Then the phone will work well.”
Ernie turned to Rocky. “What about the capacity of the boats?”
“It will be touchy, but I think we can make it.”
Willy spoke up. “Ernie, we need to get these people food and medicine.”
“That would be damn near impossible, Willy!”
“Boss, you don't understand. These people are starving to death. The guy I just treated will definitely die if he doesn't get food and all of these people are sick. If they get hit with the flu they are all dead!”
Ernie's gut churned. And I insisted on leading ops. “Lieutenant, please tell the colonel to expect us back tomorrow night. If we don't make it, it will be the next night. In the meantime, we have a couple of cases of MREs we'll leave with you. We'll need one of your men to come get them from our boats.”
The lieutenant translated.
“Okay, let's get out of here. C'mon, Lieutenant, the colonel's right. You're more valuable with us.”
The lieutenant and the colonel had a last father and son embrace and then Rocky led the way to the boats. When the women saw the lieutenant climbing aboard, they all started whispering and smiling. The lieutenant reassured them everything would be all right. After unloading the MREs, the RIBs headed back to Kwan's boat, with Ernie wondering if he had made the right decisions.
TWENTY
UPON RECEIVING THE COLONEL'S INFORMATION from Ernie by satellite phone, Robin started issuing orders.
“Get us to Sasebo ASAP, Jack.”
“Roger.”
&nb
sp; “Jamie, get a hold of Shosi and tell him to line up the chopper he and I talked about. Alert the Taiwan team to the description of their target ship. Tell them we'll have it located soon.”
“Okay, Rob.”
“Mark, get us geared up for a maritime op including scuttle charges according to the plan Ernie worked up.”
“Will do.”
Rob picked up the secure phone and called Grassley. He relayed the Colonel Sinchu's information and asked Grassley to locate the vessels by satellite ASAP. Then he pulled up satellite photos of Vladivostok and the Sea of Japan and started studying them. The pit of his stomach twisted. We started with iffy intelligence that caused us to split our team and now Mark and I have to infiltrate into Vladivostok and sink a ship full of tangos. He leaned back in his chair. It's damn near too crazy to even contemplate doing this! I should just call Bill and tell him to sink the damn ship with an air strike. Why should I risk killing a young kid like Mark for this? Not to mention my own self. Robin reached for the secure phone, but the nagging thought of a nuclear war stuck in his mind. Dammit! I guess we can work up a plan and see how it shakes out. If it's too risky, I'll tell Bill we're off. He hung up the phone.
By the time Fatboy landed in Sasebo, Robin and Mark had a plan that reasonably satisfied them under the circumstances. That didn't mean they weren't apprehensive about the operation. Shosi met them at the Sasebo airport, after flying there in the CH53 he had procured.
Upon their arrival at Sasebo, it became clear why the port was targeted. It played a vital logistics role in Operation Desert Shield/Storm by serving as a supply point for ordnance and fuel for ships and Marines operating in the Persian Gulf theater. A successful attack would have major adverse effects on the war.
Robin and Mark spent an hour going over the plan with Shosi and Kuro Nakamuro, the helicopter pilot and his co-pilot Ryuu Yoshio. Kuro was a retired Japanese National Police commander and Japanese Naval Reserve captain. He flew helicopters for the Navy. Ryuu retired as a major in the Japanese Air Force. When they retired, the Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Company hired them as company pilots ferrying parts and repair crews to China and Russia.
Kuro did express some concern when he looked at the satellite photos and saw the target ship docked less than three hundred yards from the helipad where he usually landed. Robin assured him he would set the charges to go off long after Kuro flew back to Japan. Although he accepted this promise, he still seemed a little nervous, so Shosi agreed to go with them on the trip.
“What's security like at this part of the port, Kuro?” Robin asked.
Kuro laughed. “There is no security. Things are falling apart in Russia. Government workers are not getting paid most of the time, so they have simply stopped working. The only security I think you need to worry about is any private security the ship owners hire, but I have not seen much of that either.”
“Well that makes things easier, I suppose. Let's get going.”
NSA had located both target ships by satellite and fed regular updates to Robin and Emmett. As the men waited for the helicopter to be fueled and preflighted, Robin watched the sky turning dark. The coming night didn't bother him for the night was an ally… it was the gathering storm on the horizon. For the first time, Mark had a lack of enthusiasm about a mission. He face showed the same tension Robin felt.
Robin turned to Mark. “Nervous?”
“No. I'm terrified.”
“Me too.”
“Let me get this straight. The success of this mission depends on us remaining undetected going into the Vladivostok cargo docks, getting onto the ship, setting the charges in the hold, disabling the communications on the bridge, getting off the ship before the charges go off and successfully rendezvousing with the helicopter in the open sea…at night and now apparently in a storm. We're going on what seems to me to be a very iffy mission because our government doesn't have the balls to piss the Russians off. Right?”
“Simply put, but essentially the case.”
“It kinda pisses me off, boss.”
“The problem is we are supposedly in détente with the Soviets. So our government doesn't want to be the ones who publicly jeopardizes the negotiations.”
“That's crazy! The Russkies are the ones supporting these terrorists and in cahoots with Saddam Hussein!”
“As they always have. The problem is two nuclear armed nations trying to keep each other at bay…by the throat. So the negotiations go on while the shooting war is mostly covert.”
“Why aren't Delta or SEALs doing this mission? Why little ol’ us?”
“It is a big deal for a ship under a national flag to be assaulted by another country. Even though pirates do it all the time without much repercussion, if another country does it, it's an act of war. In this case, probably nuclear war. If U.S. military assets get caught in such an assault, the government would have to admit the U.S. did it and try to negotiate their release. That would put tensions right to the edge. That's why Delta or the SEALs can't do this mission, even though I'm sure if they know about it they're mightily pissed off they're not.” He turned to Mark. “You know the score with us.”
“Yeah, if we get caught, we're just fucked. What did they do about situations like this before we came along?”
“Oh, I doubt we are the only team like this out there. We just pulled the short straw on this one.”
Having explained this to Mark suddenly made Robin feel a little better about the situation.
“Yeah, but Rob, if the ship does an attack with a Russian or North Korean flag, it's the same thing. Things will explode anyway.”
“I'm sure that flag will disappear just before the attack. They're flying them so they won't be molested enroute to their target.”
“Hell, if you put it that way, looks like you and I are about to save the world!”
Robin looked at Mark who grinned ear to ear and patted him on shoulder. “It's good to have my old Mark back.”
“I'm always with you, Rob. Just sometimes it helps to talk it through.”
“I know, it just helped me.”
Shosi signaled they were ready and Robin and Mark picked up their gear and headed for the chopper. The pilot took the gear, which included an RIB, and started distributing it in the helicopter to maintain the balance of the aircraft. With the equipment secured, the pilot got in and began his start checklist. Minutes later, they were in the air and headed out to Toyama where they would refuel…and then on to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
TWENTY-ONE
AT FIRST LIGHT the Taiwan team continued the surveillance. Taiwanese Marine Intelligence sent an agent into the area in a telephone company service truck. He attached the bug receiver to a phone line at the box servicing the target house and put a tap on the telephone. The intercepts were fed to David's house to a recorder and relayed by satellite to NSA by burst transmission. They translated the intercepts and sent the information back to the team.
The intercepts indicated the tangos weren't spooked the night before. They were acting normally and by the end of the first tape, they were in contact with someone who updated them on the location and estimated time of arrival of the ship, now less than twenty-four hours away. Emmett's brain worked overtime.
Emmett received an urgent message from Robin saying he now commanded the strategic and tactical aspects of the Taiwan operation. He wanted to do a good job commanding his first operation. He had a thousand questions he wanted ask Robin, but he realized he needed to settle down and figure things out for himself. He decided to split the team up. He would take Rick and Kwan with him and leave Doug to handle the tango recon team with the help of the Taiwanese Marines. He reasoned since the tango recon team were operating on Taiwanese soil, they were fair game for the Marines.
The tangos didn't move much as the surveillance day wore on, but they had a steady stream of communications traffic. Early in the afternoon, David radioed Emmett and told him they should terminate the physical surveillance and meet b
ack at his house. When they returned to the house, David told Emmett the intercepts indicated the recon team would meet the rest of the assault team on the beach just off Road 9 by the Taroko Bridge tonight. That meant the team taking down the ship needed to leave and get set up at Yonaguni Island to intercept the freighter.
Emmett addressed the team. “Okay, listen up. We are going to split up. Rick and Cái, you're going with me and David to take down the ship. Doug, I need you to take care of the tango recon team with the help of the Marines…”
“Whoa there, bud, you're not taking down that ship without me!”
“Doug, I need someone on the tango recon team.”
“The Marines don't need my help, but you're going to need my help with that ship.”
Emmett started to argue, but David spoke up. “Emmett, I don't mean to interfere, but Doug may be right. By the time you board the ship, I suspect the entire crew and the assault team will be awake and on edge. It could be a difficult endeavor.”
Emmett rubbed his forehead. “Doug, I'm also worried about your shoulder and the fact you haven't trained for over two months.”
“My shoulder is fine and I've been training Whisky's sons and nephews on tactical movements and such. We went on the range two or three times a week this last month and I've been running. I'm good to go.”
“Okay, we'll leave the tango recon team to the Marines. Cái, since you'll be our boat man, who will be our contact with the Marines?”
The Marine who had been driving Rick, Lieutenant Martin Cho, raised his hand. “I'll be commanding that aspect of the operation, Emmett.”
“Sounds good, Marty. Keep the radio you've been using so we can coordinate your take down with ours. As soon as we hit the ship, we'll let you know and you can take down the recon team.”
“Will do.”
“Well, David, I guess it's time to load up your boat and head to Yonaguni Island.”
Even though exhausted, Ernie and Gary spent hours rounding up MREs, rice, other food staples and medicine to take back to Col. Sinchu's battalion. He turned the women over to U.S. military intelligence agents, but didn't tell them about Lt. Chong. During the trip back, he and Lt. Chong convinced the women not to mention Chong to the intelligence guys. To give the women incentive to do so, Ernie promised to give them money to help them in the relocation. He gave each of them $5,000 when they got to Sokcho and promised to send them more later. The women were extremely thankful and happy…so far so good.
