“Thanks, Tom One. Be careful up there.”
Captain Prestwick had been staring to the rear and he nodded. “Yes, I can see the frigate. She’s showing lights and charging along. Maybe a mile behind us. What time is it?”
“Four twenty-five,” Murdock said. “It gets light here about what oh five thirty? Another hour of darkness.”
“Frigate should overtake us in another half hour. See the island over there? That’s Pok Liu Chau. I’ve seen her on the charts often enough. Five miles long and the end of Chinese territory around here. Three miles beyond that and we’re in better shape.”
“Queen, this is Skyhigh.”
“Skyhigh, the frigate is closing,” Murdock said. “We’ll just about be in the three-mile area when she matches us.”
“If she fires any weapons at or near you, we have weapons free,” the pilot said.
“Any plans before then?”
“Yeah, going to do our circus act. Two and I will do a fly-by at mast-top level one on each side of the ship, coming from her bow. Shake her up a little. Let her know for sure that we’re up here.”
“When is the show? We figure she’s about half a mile behind us.”
“Any minute now, we’re making our turn and lining up. You’ll hear us after we pass you.”
“That damn frigate is gaining on us. I’m waiting for her to fire a shot across our bow and order us to stop.”
“Would you?”
“Not a chance. Another few minutes and we’ll be past the island and then three lousy miles and we’ll be in generally considered to be international water. She won’t have the guts to fire into us, even with a machine gun.”
“We hope,” Murdock said.
The two jets screamed past the big ship a quarter of a mile away not over fifty feet off the water and roared into the distance showing fiery jet exhausts behind them.
“I’m always amazed at the raw power those jets have,” Captain Prestwick said. “I wonder if this will slow down the frigate at all? I better get back to the bridge.” He turned and left.
“Couldn’t we use the EAR on the frigate?” Howie Anderson asked.
“She won’t get close enough for that,” Murdock said. “They know about the patrol boats, that they were disabled. They won’t know how we did it, but they’ll stand off just to make sure. She might try to cut in front of us and make the liner turn, hoping to turn her all the way round and back into Chinese waters.”
“We just cleared that big island,” Howie said.
“Queen, I guess you heard us go by.”
“Skyhigh, you were low on that one. Any reaction from the frigate?”
“Not that we could see. She’s about a thousand yards behind you and gaining.”
“Anything else you can do, Skyhigh?”
“Only thing we’re authorized to do is fire some twenty millimeter over her bow. Discouragement.”
“We’re well within range of her guns, but I don’t think she’ll fire on us. Will she fire on you?”
“I don’t think so, unless we hit her with some of our warning shots. We’ll make damn sure not to hit the frigate. We’re moving on her now before she gets too close.”
Murdock and Howie ran to the other side of the ship where they had a better view of the dark shadow of the frigate boiling up behind them. Now she was about five hundred yards back.
The F18s came in one at a time, strafing with 20mm rounds across the bow of the destroyer thirty yards out. The big ship hesitated, then went back to full throttle.
Murdock and Howie Anderson ran up to the bridge and got in contact with the planes again.
“Queen, she isn’t going to give way. I can’t shoot her until she shows some aggressive act.”
“Understand, Skyhigh.”
“She’s coming closer,” Captain Prestwik said. “She’s trying to cut us off.”
Murdock touched the Motorola mike. “EAR guns, get on the port side, both of you now.”
Murdock watched the 350-foot-long Chinese frigate bristling with guns, rockets, and antennas charging toward them. The Chinese man-of-war was less than fifty yards behind them and Murdock felt his stomach twist.
“She’s not trying to cut us off, Captain, she’s going to ram us. EARs are you ready?”
Murdock listened to the earpiece.
“Go, go,” both SEALs said.
“When she gets to twenty-five yards and is still aimed at us amidships, blast the bridge and control area with three shots each. On my command.”
Murdock watched the Chinese frigate move closer, it turned away a moment, then came back heading directly for the side of the big luxury liner.
“Fire,” Murdock said into the Motorola mike.
“Captain, hard right rudder to get away from her.”
The captain hesitated, then gave the command and slowly the big ship began to turn away from the frigate.
The first two rounds hit the frigate’s bridge, but Murdock couldn’t tell if they penetrated through the row of windows. He watched the second two rounds hit and sensed a change in the big frigate. It slowed, then slowed more until it was simply coasting ahead on its momentum.
The shooters sensed it too and aimed their third shots at men near deck guns. The men went down and didn’t get up. The big luxury liner turned like a four hundred foot long log. Slowly, ever so slowly. The frigate came closer, closed the gap but it was only coasting along on the speed it had built up.
“Nobody at the controls,” Murdock said. “Our enhanced audio rifle knocked out everyone on the bridge. She’s dead in the water until new personnel realize something is wrong and rush to the bridge. By that time we’ll be well out to sea.”
They watched as the Queen veered away from the frigate that slowed and then stopped. It was a half mile behind them in minutes and the Captain shook Murdock’s hand.
“She was going to ram us, damage us so we would have to return to the closest port, Hong Kong. It would be reported as an accidental collision in the South China Sea. Those damn Chinese are always plotting, aren’t they?”
“They were this time.”
“Queen, what the hell happened down there?” Skyhigh asked on the SATCOM. “Looked like that frigate was going to slam into the Queen amidships, then she slowed and stopped.”
“Our secret,” Murdock said. “We zapped them with our new secret weapon. We knocked out everyone on the bridge. They’ll wake up in four hours with the granddaddy of all headaches.”
“Can we fit one on my eighteen?”
“Sorry, these are for grunts only. Thanks for slowing her down.”
“We’ll cap you until you’re outside their twenty-mile zone, then we better head for the home field.”
“Roger that, Skyhigh, and thank the Tomcats for us, too.”
20
Master Chief Petty Officer Gordon MacKenzie, switched the phone to the other hand. He wiped perspiration off his palm and then mopped his forehead with a tissue from a box on his desk.
“Oh yes, Mrs. Fernandez, I am worried about what this might do to Nancy Dobler. That’s why I want you to be the one to tell her. Will Dobler has been wounded in action and survived and is still in the platoon. I want to be sure that she understands that the wound is not critical, he’s in no danger of dying, and that he should be treated there in the hospital onboard the aircraft carrier and then he’ll be sent home to Balboa here in about two weeks.”