“We’re about the same place. Tough going at night. We should surprise them. Your two men are doing well.”
“Reception is good. This is as far apart as we will be. I’ll check later when we turn toward the target.”
They went back to the climb. It was tougher now, over the roots and vines and around the branches and trees. There were all kinds of trees here they didn’t have names for except the huge towering mahogany. They came to the top of a ridge, and ahead and to the left they could see the Eagle’s Nest. It was still above them on the next slope below the ridgeline. This was their last one. Now they could swing to the left and approach the target.
Murdock talked with Lam and they moved in that direction. There were still some slopes to climb, but not all the way up the ridge. That was progress.
Murdock called in the change in direction to the general. “Figure about twenty minutes to be in position,” Murdock said.
“We’re not quite that far along,” General Domingo said. “Hold your attack position until we contact you.”
“Roger that, General,” Murdock said, and moved quicker before he lost Lam in the darkness.
It took twenty-five minutes before Lam stopped, and Murdock almost stepped on him.
“Here we are,” Lam whispered. They were fifty yards from the blazing lights.
“We’re fifty yards out and holding,” Murdock said on the net.
“Give us ten minutes and we’ll be there,” Domingo said.
“I didn’t figure on all these lights,” Lam said.
“Might help us,” Murdock said. “We use the EAR to take out the guards and anyone we can see. Then when someone investigates, they are lit up like in a shooting gallery.”
“Right. And if we need to douse those lights we can do it with a few rounds later.”
“Wish we knew where the hostages are. Then we could put about six twenties into the barracks and wipe out half of their guard force.”
“We might do it yet. After we hit the guards with the EAR, a recon might be worthwhile.”
“You trying to get yourself killed, Lampedusa?” Murdock asked. He grinned. “Yeah, a recon might be good. But if we do one, I’m going with you.”
They waited.
The radio earpieces chirped.
“In place, fifty yards out, and setting up fields of fire,” General Domingo said.
“Right. We’re in position. We have a small exposed part here where we have excellent fire lanes. So far we’ve seen only one guard. He’s near the main house. Haven’t seen any roving guards. Must be some. Suggest we wait for twenty and check.”
“That’s a roger, Commander.”
“General, do your troops have any silencers on their weapons?”
“No.”
“We’re thinking of a recon after we use the EAR. Lam and I would go in and locate the hostages. Take out any guards who saw us with silenced rounds, then ID the guards’ barracks for a batch of twenties. You approve?”
“Let’s use the twenties when ready and see what reaction we get,” Domingo said.
“Roger.”
They waited the rest of the twenty minutes.
“I see one guard working the perimeter fence,” Lam said.
“Another guard on our side walks behind the house and the new barracks building,” one of the Filipino Rangers said.
Five minutes later they had six guards’ positions tied down and knew their routes.
“We’ll do the three we can see here on command,” General Domingo said. “Murdock, you have your man do the guards on that side. Not more than twenty seconds and we should have all of them. That’s with ten seconds between shots.”
“Roger that, General. Our EAR is up to power. Whenever you’re ready.”
“Ready, EAR weapons, aim, and… fire,” Domingo said.
Kenneth Ching took out the guard beside the front of the barracks first, then moved his sights to the roving guard who had just turned from the widest spot on the perimeter fence and started back to the big house. He never made it, crumpling and lying still in the warm night air. Chin nailed the third guard when he ran over to look at the fallen body of the first one.
“Three down,” Ching said.
“Three more hit the dirt,” Fernandez said.
“What about the big house and the windows in the barracks?” Domingo asked.
“Rather do a quick recon,” Murdock said. “We’re home free so far. We’ll take silenced weapons and take a look, then get out of the way when you want to use the EAR or the twenties.”
“Go,” Domingo said.
Murdock and Lam had already arranged to trade weapons, and both headed for the compound with their MP-5’s with silencers attached. They moved without a sound, paused at the edge of the lighted area, then carried the MP- 5’s by the top handles and walked across the lighted area to the edge of the first big building.
They would each check different buildings. Lam ran thorough the shadows to the door on the biggest building. He turned the knob and opened it slowly. Inside, night lights showed a barracks with double bunks, and military gear all over the place. No sign of hostages. He slipped out and closed the door without a sound.
Murdock checked the second large building. One guard had been near the door. He lay sleeping, his rifle a few feet away. Murdock opened the door gently, saw night lights in back, and behind a heavy wire fence partitioning off the far end of the building were bunks and civilian clothes. He ran in and made sure. Eighteen bunks, but only six women in them. He ran soundlessly back to the door, slipped out, and looked for Lam. He didn’t see him.
“Lam,” he said on the radio. “Let’s get out of the lights. Six hostages are in the second big building. We’ve got to check the garage. Might be more hostages in there. Let’s ramble.”
They ran to the garage and found the door open. They looked inside, but it was totally dark. Murdock pulled out his penlight, held it at arm’s distance from his body, and shone it around. A gun blasted from almost in front of him, but the round went under Murdock’s hand where the shooter figured the body would be.
Lam fired two three-round silent bursts into the muzzle flash area, and they heard a soft moan, then a scream and silence. Murdock shone the narrow beam of light ahead and on the floor, and found a rebel lying there with four bullets in his chest and face. They checked the rest of the garage. Two vehicles, some gasoline drums, but no hostages.
“Let’s chogie,” Murdock said.
They ran to the fence where they had come in, and jogged back to their positions just outside the floodlighted zone.
“We have the hostages pinpointed,” Murdock told the net. “General Domingo, there are six women hostages in the big building. We cleared the garage. No guards, no hostages. They must have moved the other twelve. Guessing there aren’t any in the big house. We’ve moving up to twenty-five yards off the fence and are ready. Suggest six EAR rounds into the main house and the barracks. There are at least forty men in there. Let’s put EAR rounds through the windows of the house and barracks until we run out of power. Okay?”
“Yes, let’s do it. Then after the EARs, we do the twenties into the barracks and the main house?” Domingo asked.
“That’s a roger, General. Open fire with the EARs now.”
He heard the whoosh of the EAR round, then ten seconds later a second. Glass smashed at the main house and at the barracks as the blasts of super-accelerated sound smashed inside the buildings. Murdock still didn’t understand exactly how they worked, but they sure did.
“Let’s do the twenties now,” Murdock said. The four twenties fired at the barracks windows, and quickly they heard the rounds exploding inside. Moments later a few half-dressed guards struggled out of the barracks, and the SEALs pounded them with searing streams of hot lead. Murdock heard firing from the other side as the general blasted the big house with the high-explosive 20mm rounds.