“Nothing at the moment, Colonel. My planning team will go over your data and information, then come up with an attack plan and consult with you for possible use of your choppers and a possible backup squad of your Marines. The planning will not take long. The time now is 1235. We should be able to stage an attack with first dark tonight. What helicopters do you use, Colonel?”
“We have the ones you are used to, Commander, the CH-46.”
“Good. Keep one on standby here. I’ll meet with my men and consult with you in two hours about our plan. We’ll want any input from you, the attachment of two guides who know the area we’ll move to, and the location of the two targets.”
“Commander, we’ll have that information and personnel all assigned as soon as you’re ready.”
The three SEALs went back to the quarters they had been assigned to and stared at the oversized map of Mindanao. It was an irregular island 350 miles wide and almost that long top to bottom. The two targets the Philippine Army colonel had designated were about fifty miles from Davao in the middle of the mountains. There were no roads or trails within twenty miles of the camps.
Murdock pulled in Jaybird and Lampedusa to help on the planning. Jaybird shook his head.
“Damn, they aren’t asking us for much. We go in and out by chopper, for fucking sure. How good is their intel?”
“Nobody knows. They got their asses kicked at Site A yesterday. There probably is a mole in the top echelons of the military feeding the rebels information.”
“So let’s try Camp B,” Lam said.
“We can’t blast the place with twenties; it would put the hostages in peril,” DeWitt said.
“How close can we land to Camp B?” Murdock asked. “If we get close enough to save our legs, the rebels will know we’re coming.”
“So we go in, land, recon the place, and wait twelve hours before we attack,” Jaybird said. “We catch them off stride, tire them out just waiting, while we sack out.”
“Weapons?” Murdock asked.
“Every goddamn thing we’ve got,” Jaybird said. “Maybe easy on the EAR so we don’t have to carry out the unconscious hostages.”
“So we’ll need three more forty-sixes on standby at Davao to pack out the hostages when we rescue them,” De Witt said. “Do they have them available?”
“Good idea, we’ll check,” Sadler said. “I didn’t see a lot of aircraft at this air base. We’ll ask the colonel.”
“Is there a double canopy of trees here like in Nam where the tops reach up sixty, seventy feet?” Lam asked. “If there is, will we be able to find a chopper LZ anywhere near the camp?”
“Have to find out,” Murdock said. “We’ve got more questions than plans. Let’s go see the colonel and the two locals he’s providing us with. Then do the rest of our prelim plans there.”
At the conference a half hour later they had questions answered. Yes, there were landing areas within five hundred yards of either camp along a river. Yes, lots of double canopy in places, single in others. They had six CH-46’s at Davao. That was all but one that the Philippine Air Force owned. They were ready to go when needed. Each had a door gunner with a mounted machine gun.
“We’ve picked Camp B to attack first,” Murdock told the group. “It’s more remote; they could be less ready for an attack there. Are there trails along the river to the camp?”
“Yes, trails that will be defended,” Philippine Army Master Sergeant Pedro Estrada said. He was about thirty, short and sturdy, and looked competent to Murdock. He had been introduced as one of the two men who would be their local guides and advisors.
“We can deal with that. What type weapons do they have?”
Army First Lieutenant Juan Ejercito, the other local now on the SEALs’ team, responded. “I was on the attack yesterday. They had machine guns and submachine guns. I heard some AK-47’s as well. They are well armed. I was one of four men in my section who didn’t get hit. They ambushed us on a trail. Complete surprise. They have never been that sophisticated before in their tactics.”
“They are getting outside help?” Murdock asked.
“Possible,” the officer said.
Murdock looked at Jaybird. “Speed of the forty-six and how long to travel the sixty miles to the target?”
“Cruises at about a hundred and fifty, so that would be two-point-five miles a minute. Put that into sixty miles and we get exactly twenty-four minutes flying time.”
“When is it dark here, Sergeant?” DeWitt asked.
“Sir, about 1800 this time of year.”
“Can we land and deplane at that site in the dark?” Sadler asked the lieutenant.
“We went in during the day. It might be safer to fly in so we land just before dusk, say at 1745, even 1730. We don’t want to crash on landing.”
“I agree since we don’t know the terrain,” Murdock said.
“Communications?” Lam asked.
The colonel frowned. “We’ll have our regular radio net with the pilot. It’s good, reliable. Distance no problem.”
“We could supply the pilot or his gunner with one of our Motorolas,” Jaybird said. “Then we could contact them for possible exfiltration and the pilot could bring in rescue birds if we free any hostages at this camp.”
“Done,” Murdock said. He looked around. “Anything else? Any questions?”
“You have adequate ammunition?” the colonel asked. “We have NATO rounds in most sizes and forty-millimeter grenades, fraggers, flares.”
“We should be good for this mission,” Sadler said. “Downstream we may need some resupply. I’ll keep our liaison with you up to date.”
“That’s a wrap then, gentlemen,” Murdock said. “We’ll be ready to leave here at 1700. We’d prefer the lieutenant and sergeant to bring their gear and weapons to our quarters soon so we can integrate them. This is a combat situation.”
Back at their quarters, the SEALs worked out weapons assignments, went over final preparations on their gear, and loaded ammo into their vests and pockets.
In the mess, the cooks worked up a steak dinner for the SEALs and their two friends.
“Damn, I feel like a fatted hog ready for slaughter,” Jaybird yelped.
“Stupid, wasn’t no fatted hog, it was a fatted calf, butchered for the Prodigal Son’s return,” Fernandez said.
“Right now I’d settle for a roasted Jaybird,” Mahanani brayed, and they all roared with laughter and finished the meal.
The SEALs were on the tarmac ready to load the chopper at 1700. Murdock had given the bird a quick inspection. It seemed to be in good repair, and the machine gun in the door was up and ready to fire. The Filipino pilot, Captain Pepe Gonzalez, was on hand early and shook hands with Murdock.
“Checked out the bird and she looks solid, Commander,” said Gonzalez. “I’ve flown this one every day for the past month and she’s sound and ready.”
“Have you been over the area where this river goes?” Murdock asked.
“Some of it, not up that high. A real wilderness back in there. No roads. A few trails an off-road motorcycle might cover.”
“We’ll need an LZ as close to the target as possible. You’ve done night landings?”
“Lots of them, and we have a new strobe searchlight I can use to be sure where the ground is. No sweat on that.”
Murdock gave him a Motorola.
“Our person-to-person radio,” Murdock said. “It’s good for about five miles. We’ll use it to call you in when we’re ready to leave or to have you call in the rescue choppers. You can clip the transceiver on your belt and put the earplug in and use a lip mike, or just hold it all in one hand.”
“Try it,” Captain Gonzalez said.
They walked apart a dozen yards and Murdock called the captain. It worked perfectly, and Gonzales called Murdock back.