By the time he was through talking, he could hear the platoon members moving around. He ducked in where he had been. Kat was saddled up and ready to move.
"I don't want to swim in this brush," she said.
"Not sure we'd have to. Want to be ready."
The Motorola spoke.
"L-T, I'm about a hundred yards along the gully and working up to the side. It just keeps going. Around this little curve I can see it stretch up here for a mile, with more drainage coming into it. If we get a cloudburst, it'll pour down on you like the Niagara waterfall. I'd say fifty feet off the bottom to be safe. Don't spot any rain yet. Lots more thunder up here and the sky is almost black to the north. I'd say it's moving this way."
"Thanks, Lam. We read you."
He got the rest of his gear together, fitted the pack on his back, and picked up his weapon. Kat was ready to go.
"So, we moving yet?"
"Not until we get some idea it's gonna be wet here," he said.
"Douglas," he said into the mike. "You spot that dirty dozen yet?"
"Not yet. Another fifty feet to the top. Does look nasty to the north. I'd say wet is for sure."
"Roger."
"Doc, how is Magic doing?"
"We woke him and gave him two shots, and he's lucid but hurting. He polished off an MRE, and half of mine. Ching has him back in hypnosis in case we have to move quickly. We're ready. Rest of the guys around here are, too."
They sat there waiting. Murdock checked his watch. It was only a little after 1000. Why did the daytime have to go so damned slow? "L-T, might have something," the Motorola said.
"Go, Douglas."
"Those twelve guys are camped out in the middle of that valley. Looks more like a walled drainage ditch. Damn cut is twenty feet on each side. They've set up two tents, have a fire going. Can't tell about weapons, but they sure don't look like they expect any trouble. No lookouts I can tell. Fat and happy."
"Good, keep watch on them, and let us know of any change. How far from us are they?"
"My guess, about a mile. Our gorge bends around a forty-five-degree turn. They are maybe two hundred yards below, where it empties into the valley."
"Right. If any of them move this way, bellow at us."
"That's a Roger, sir. I've got all my gear. If you bug out, I'll catch you."
Murdock looked at Kat.
"What's a Ph.D in physics doing out in a rathole like this with sudden death hanging all around you?"
"I'm a thrill junkie, remember? Like somebody else I know."
They both grinned.
"Murdock, I've got some news."
"Lam, go."
"It's raining out there north where I can see. Maybe ten raining miles up to the tops of the mountains. I'd guess it's damn hard. I can't see any runoff yet, but if it comes, I should see it a long time before it gets here. My guess is you should move now. Upslope at least seventy-five feet from the bottom of that brush. No rush, but now is the best time. I've got two hundred feet of elevation here off the bottom."
"Roger that, Lam. Hold your spot, and keep sending us intel."
He looked at Kat. "Now is the time." They pushed through the brush to the side of the gully.
"Okay, platoon, you heard Lam. Let's all move to the right-hand side of the place, looking uphill. That's easiest to climb. We get up there a hundred feet from the brush if we can. Now is the time."
It took them ten minutes to move up on the slope where they wanted to be. There was no brush or growth of any kind up there. They sat beside their gear with cammo cloths spread over them the best they could.
A light wind whipped up.
"Troops in the valley still on a picnic," Douglas said. "Damn, I can smell something cooking down there. I must be downwind from them. Did I hear the water is coming?"
"Not yet, but Lam said it's raining on the mountain. He's watching for a flash flood."
They waited.
"At least they don't have any more air up looking for us," Kat said. "I wonder how many groups of twelve they have out in blocking positions?"
Murdock grinned. "You're starting to sound like a military ma-person." He shook his head. "No way to tell, but I'd guess that they have twenty, twenty-five such groups out, saturating the southern route."
"How can we get around all of them?"
"We take them. One at a time." He closed his eyes a little. "If you're a religious person, it might not hurt to do a little praying."
She looked at him, her face serious. "Murdock, we are going to get out of this. I have total and complete trust in your ability, and your special will to live."
"Great. You don't worry about turning up the pressure on me, do you?"
She had started to reply, when the radio chattered in both their ears.
"This is it, L-T. I can see a wave of water heading our way. Must be half a mile away, and roaring downhill like a steam engine with no brakes. No telling how long it'll take to get here. Five minutes, maybe ten. Damn thing is washing away brush and a few trees that must grow up that high. Christ, look at that thing come!"
30
Murdock checked his men again. All were well up the slope, a hundred feet from the bottom. "Lam, keep talking to me. How close is the water? How fast is it moving? We're a hundred feet up, is that enough?"
"Damn, sir, I don't know. It's still a quarter of a mile from me. I'm moving up higher. I can see it now sweeping everything in front of it. A wall of water? Well, not really. It keeps tumbling over itself, almost like a breaking wave. But the whole thing must be twenty, maybe twenty-five, feet high. Like a giant breaker that never quite breaks, just keeps rolling forward."
"How fast is it moving, Lam?"
"No idea. A good fast run, fifteen, twenty miles an hour, maybe more. Seems like it's picking up speed as it comes. Strange, though, I've seen floods and things float by. Not here. Just dirty, sandy water. Not even a stick or a tree or a bush. Water ripping at the dirt, roaring along. "Oh, God, it's almost here. There is a roar, like the ocean. Never heard anything like it. It's right in front of me. Hope to hell you're all high enough. It must reach up fifty feet on the canyon wall here."
"You above it, Lam? You safe?"
"Yeah, unless I fall in. I've never seen a current quite like that."
"Let us know when it comes around the corner you talked about," Murdock said.
"Any minute now, L-T. Now you should be able to see it."
Murdock and the rest of the platoon looked up the canyon, and weren't sure whether to believe their eyes. The water roared around the bend in the gully and headed right for them.
The only thing Murdock could compare it with was pictures of a tidal wave he had seen. The water blasted forward, tearing at the walls of the canyon, tumbling, crashing over itself, sweeping small bushes and brush before it, then pounding them underwater until they could surface far to the rear.
"L-T, it seems to be slowing down a bit up here," Lam reported. "Looks like a big, muddy river with a killer of a current."
"We've got it here now, Lam. We're all up out of the way. The crest is past us now, a hundred yards downstream. Douglas, are those Iranians still having lunch out there?"
"Oh, yeah. Fat and happy. I'd figure they are about three minutes from taking a swim."