Payback (20 page)

“Copy that, Lam,” Murdock said. “We'll ask the locals if they know where that meadow is and if they can guide us there. Be in touch in five and on our way in ten.”

“Roger.”

Lam found a good spot and lay down. He rested his head on his hands and relaxed. He would hear the platoon if it came within two hundred yards of him. Murdock called back on the net that he had found one of the cowboys who knew of the meadow and would lead them to it. Lam rested for half an hour, then moved back along the trail toward the ranch for five hundred yards. Best to catch the troops away from the target and make their plans.

A half hour later, Lam came upright in a rush. Sounds, muted, the soft noise of someone moving through the woods. He relaxed. The sound came from the trail toward the ranch. He picked out a sturdy pine tree and stood behind it waiting to see if it really was the SEALs.

Lam watched the men approach. It was Murdock out front. Lam stepped out from the tree, waved, and then pointed his finger at them.

“Bang, bang, you're dead,” he said.

Murdock stutter-stepped and then got his stride.

“You always surprise me that way, Lam. The cowboy led us to where we could see the meadow and then he went back. It looks like a camp that's been there for some time?”

“Right. Small stream for water, generator, tents, the works. No rancher is going to put a setup like that out in here. The Koreans must have done a lot of planning for this hit.”

They walked forward. They talked in whispers.

“Is there any way to get the President out of there before we gun down the place?” Murdock asked.

“I think so,” Lam said. “The back of the tent comes within ten feet of the brush. I should be able to get to it, slit the tent open, and get inside unseen. Then take care of any interior guard and hustle the President out the back into the brush, and you guys open fire as soon as we clear.”

Murdock nodded. He passed the sign back down the line of SEALs for total quiet, and they marched on.

When they came within thirty yards of the tents, they stopped. Murdock moved the men into positions where they had open fields of fire. They were slightly above the level of the tents and had plenty of targets. Murdock had mandated no 20mm's would be fired. When all the men were in favorable firing spots with cover, Murdock waved Lam forward.

He moved slowly, working on his belly the last ten yards to the fringe of woods just in back of the tent he figured the President would be in. Lam lay there for five minutes listening to the Koreans, watching for any more guards, checking to see if anyone walked behind the President's tent. No one did.

It was time.

Lam edged out of the brush and took four quick steps to the back of the tent. He had his KA-BAR knife out, pushed the sharp point through the canvas head high, and pulled it slowly down. It made a soft slicing sound, and then he had it open to the bottom.

Lam pulled the sides of the tent apart and looked inside.

 

 

Lam could see little inside the tent. Only a dim candle burned. A cot to one side held some blankets, but he couldn't be sure if anyone lay there. Cautiously he pushed the opening wider and stepped through. Two steps brought him to the bed. No one there. He looked around the tent. The rest of it was nearly empty, no cots or other gear. On a small table he saw a large briefcase, and recognized the Presidential seal on the side. He checked it. The lock had been broken and inside were hundreds of sheets of paper and file folders. Must be important.

He heard voices outside, and stepped quickly to the front of the tent to the side away from where the flap would open. A new voice came in English.

“Hell of a note when a guy can't even take a piss by himself. You sure you went two years to UCLA?”

“Quite certain, Mr. President told them I was a South Korean. Now if you'll just go back in the tent and have a nap, this night will be over before you know it and we'll be on our way again. Our transport will be here a half hour after dawn. So be well rested and ready for travel.”

“By then you'll be chatting away with your honored ancestors in hell, or wherever you people go.”

“Wishful thinking, Mr. President. Now inside.”

The flap opened and a man came through. Lam had never seen the President in person. The man stepped inside, went to the cot, and sat down heavily.

“Where in hell are the Marines when you need them?” he asked out loud. Lam moved without a sound on the canvas floor to the far side of the President and called out softly.

“Don't be alarmed, Mr. President.”

President Dunnington's head jerked up and he stared at the man in the shadows of the one candle.

“What in hell?”

“Not the Marines, Mr. President,” Lam said softly as he stepped toward the Chief Executive. “Just a few SEALs come to help you out of this mess. Should I carry your briefcase as we go through the back of the tent?”

The President looked at the long slit in the tent and laughed softly. “Oh, yes, that would be good. You with Murdock?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Damn good. Let's move.”

They stepped through the slit in the tent one at a time, and Lam carried the heavy briefcase. The President ran into the woods, and Lam came right behind him. He stopped the President.

“We have to move slowly and without a sound so they don't know you're gone. We need thirty yards to clear before the rest of the platoon opens fire. Straight ahead, Mr. President.”

It seemed to Lam that it took forever before they were thirty yards away from the tent. He saw Murdock on the ground ready to fire, and waved at him.

Murdock pulled down the mike. “Nobody is in the tent on the left. Riddle the other one and get anybody who comes out. Open fire.”

Lam helped the President sit down, then pulled the MP-5 off his back and joined in. The MP-5's stuttered out three-round bursts. The 5.56 rounds spurted out of the Bull Pups, and the rest of the weapons rained instant death on the North Koreans. The tent on the right ripped into shreds and fell. Men spewed out of it firing to the rear, but were cut down at once. Lam rushed the President behind a big pine tree, then found a pine himself and fired around it. Two men fell into the campfire and didn't move. A half-dozen tried to run into the brush beyond the small clearing, but were flattened by the withering fire of the automatic rifles and the H & K 21A1 machine gun. When the SEALs saw no one moving, they slowed their firing, and then stopped.

“Donegan, Bradford, make sure,” Murdock said. The two SEALs lifted from their cover and moved up to the scene slowly, watching for any movement. Bradford swung to the right and fired three rounds at a North Korean who lifted up with his rifle. The man flopped down and stayed.

Donegan moved closer and then into the clearing. He fired a single shot, and moved on. Bradford fired another single round to put a wounded man out of his misery. SEALs take no prisoners.

“When you're sure of every body, count them,” Murdock said.

Lam went back with the President, who still sat behind the tree. “There were fifteen of them with me,” President Dunnington said. “Two of them spoke good English. They didn't talk much about why they attacked the ranch. They did say that they would keep me captive until the United States made massive war-crime payments to the North Korean people. They wanted three trillion dollars in trade, goods, credit, and hard cash. Ridiculous. They were the ones who attacked South Korea two years ago, not the other way around.”

Murdock and DeWitt went to the clearing and looked for any kind of papers or plans. They found a map on one of the bodies, and some papers in Korean on another. The rest of the men had no identification of any kind, not even dog tags. DeWitt found the SATCOM in the riddled tent. It had taken three slugs and was ruined. He slung it over his shoulder. Maybe they could repair it. They never did find the Secret Service radio.

Murdock went to where he saw Lam, and knelt down in front of the nation's highest elected official.

“Mr. President, do you feel like walking back to the ranch house?”

“Ready right now. You're Murdock? Lieutenant Commander Murdock of SEAL Team Seven, Third Platoon?”

“Yes, sir.”

“We've talked several times on the phone. Strange that we meet this way. But I'm grateful. How are my people?”

“My senior chief told me that all of your staff people are fine except for one we can't find, Maria Alvarez.”

“I know, I saw that bastard shoot her in the head. I thought
he was bluffing. He also killed one of the waitresses. How many North Korean bodies did you count down there? I hope to God that you nailed him.”

“There were fifteen dead North Koreans, sir. We had them boxed in, in a cross fire. Not much of a chance anyone could get away.”

“Thank God for that. But it won't bring back Maria. She was a good one. They also killed Barney Bronson, who owns the ranch. What about General Arnold?”

“Yes, we found her in the brush. She has on cammies and is packing a rifle. She helped us on the perimeter defense.”

“Sounds like her.” The President paused. “Well, I'm ready to travel anytime you are. Have you notified my office about this yet?”

“They know you were attacked. We didn't tell them that you were captured. Now we don't have to. We have a SATCOM that you can use as soon as we get back to the ranch house.”

“Move us out, Commander.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. President.”

They left the camp and the bodies where they lay. Someone would come in the next day or two, bury the bodies, pick up the weapons, and clean up the area so it could revert back to the natural Sierra woodland. In five years no one would be able to find the exact spot where the President had been held captive by a foreign power. It would be better that way.

The hike back to the ranch house took an hour and a half. Murdock and the President were in front, and the SEAL let the nation's leader set the pace.

Back at the ranch house, the President at once called his office on the SATCOM and had a long private talk.

Murdock got the SEALs collected. They had taken no casualties in the firefight. Lillian Bronson, wife of the murdered owner of the ranch, said that they could sleep in the bunkhouse, off to the left of the main house. It turned out to be a dormitory with thirty beds in two big rooms.

Murdock used his SATCOM and called the Quarter Deck in Coronado. They had their ears on.

“Murdock, hoped you would call,” Master Chief Petty
Officer MacKenzie said. “How is the mission going?”

“Wrapped up, Master Chief. You still blacked out there?”

“On and off, mostly off. Wrapped up? You found the man and he's safe.”

“Safe and sound and talking with his office right now. We'll stay here tonight and do any cleanup work we need to tomorrow. Hold the paperwork for me.”

“Can do that, Commander. Glad he's all right. When you move, use that chopper you left at the bridge. He's still there and getting hungry. The jet is waiting for you at Sacramento. Keep up the good work, Commander.”

“You too, Master Chief. See you tomorrow.”

Murdock talked to Mrs. Bronson, and had a car take a big pot of coffee and a dozen sandwiches down to the men at the helicopter near the bridge. There was a good road that went down there and the lady said it would be no problem. Murdock knew the men wouldn't leave the chopper unprotected. They'd sleep beside it all night.

General Arnold came in, still wearing her cammies and watch cap. “I like them,” she said when the men with the President looked at her. “We going to have another meeting tonight, or are you wimps so tired you need to go to sleep.”

President Dunnington came up and grinned at her comment.

“If they aren't too tired, I am. The SEALs saved all the papers we had been working on. North Korea would have loved to have had them.” He looked at Murdock and walked over and shook his hand. “This mission wasn't covert, so I'm going to have a unit citation struck for your platoon. Also I'm giving your man Lampedusa an instant promotion to first class. Figure it out any way you can. The man deserves it big-time. He grabbed me right out from under the noses of fifteen armed killers.” The civilians stared at the President. “Yes, I'll tell all of you about it when we have time.”

He stopped and looked around the dining room where most of the President's men, the staff, and the Secret Service men had congregated. “I've lost four good people on this trip. Three of my top Secret Service men and Maria Alvarez. The responsible parties have paid with their lives, but that doesn't bring the dead back with us. First order of business
tomorrow is to locate our dead and have them flown out by helicopter to Sacramento. I have ordered enough CH-53's into Sacramento from surrounding bases to take everyone out of here by noon. A graves-registration squad will come in with its own transport to take care of the North Koreans. They will not be sent back to their homeland. That team will also retrieve the weapons the terrorists used and tear down and dispose of the camp that was built there.” The President looked at Lillian Bronson, who now owned the ranch.

“Lillian, did you and Barney know about that camp?”

“We heard that it was being built. Some man from Sacramento said it would be a boy's camp for underprivileged children.”

“Was he Oriental?”

“Yes, he said he was Chinese.”

“So they really did a lot of planning,” the President said. “How did they know we would be coming here?”

“I can't figure it out, Mr. President. The camp went up in a week just before you arrived. They asked if they could drive across some of our pasture with a truck.”

“So, I've got a leak somewhere among my top advisors, or their staffs. I'll work on that.” The President turned and looked into the activity room. “Anybody want to shoot a game of nine ball? Pool always relaxes me after I exercise.”

Murdock excused himself and went out to the bunkhouse. He'd had enough exercise for one day.

 

The next morning the breakfast buffet began at 0600 for the staff and cowboys, and lasted until 0930. The SEALs all feasted on their choice of bacon, cheese omelets, breakfast steak, hash browns, pancakes, waffles, fruit salad, eggs to order, and lots of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate.

“Why don't we eat here every day,” Jaybird said.

The big cook with the chef's hat put out a fresh tray of crisp bacon. “Hey, SEAL, you can come to my kitchen anytime. I like a big eater,” the chef said.

By 0800 the President led six SEALs with two stretchers up the trail where he and the Secret Service men had been attacked. Both agents had been shot once in the forehead.

“They were on us before we knew what happened,” the
President said. “They could have killed me as well. Now I'm sure they wish they had.”

The SEALs wrapped the bodies in sheets, put them on the stretchers, and took turns carrying them a mile down through the woods and past a small cabin. A man with a dozer blade on a tractor pushed the five burned-out helicopters off the parking lot.

Promptly at 0930 three big CH-53's whupped their way up the mountain, circled, and then all landed on the now-empty parking lot.

They had found Maria Alvarez where she had fallen when the North Koreans executed her. They wrapped her in a sheet and took her to one of the helicopters with the three dead men. One Secret Service man went with the bodies to see that they were flown as soon as possible to Washington, D.C. Mrs. Bronson had found her husband's body, and had had her men put it on the bed in the master bedroom. She would call the sheriff about it later.

“The blackout is lifted at Sacramento,” Lillian said to the President. “I just got word on the telephone. Most of the coast is up and working again, and airliners are getting serviced and starting to meet their schedules.”

Murdock caught the President's attention. “Sir, is there anything else you need us for?”

The President shook Murdock's hand, then pulled him into a bear hug. He released the hold and stepped back. “Commander, I don't know how to thank you. I tried to promote you, but the CNO said if I did, they would have to bounce you out of the platoon and boot you upstairs somewhere. I don't want that. I might try a promotion order to take effect as soon as you leave the active SEAL platoon. That might work. I appreciate it. The nation is thankful. You're going to get a big blast of publicity about this because I'm turning loose my press secretary on it. You'll have many visitors from the press and TV. Now, to answer your question. Yes, you may be relieved of your duties here and report back to Coronado.”

Lillian had been listening. “I agree with what the President has said. I'm just sorry I couldn't talk my husband out of trying to fight off fifteen men with a pistol.” She turned away
and touched her eyes with a tissue. “At any rate, I have a stake truck that is available to take you and your SEALs down the hill to your helicopter, if that would be all right.”