Smoke felt the missile battery before he reached it. The jungle had an unnatural silence around the SA-6 site. Perhaps it was the slight smell of gear oils, ozone and propellant that fought with the dank jungle rot. It smelled of man, and it did not belong. Smoke edged closer through the clinging jungle foliage. He could hear guttural Korean.
Thirty meters later, he reached the edge of the section cleared for the site. The jungle had been beaten down and removed. A professional job. Somewhere around the area lurked at least a platoon of combat engineers. The local population wouldn’t have been so thorough or knowledgeable in the preparation and survey of a site like this. It would have been out of character to allow the common people any closer than necessary to the secret workings of the army of the people. He slung his rifle across his back and drew his silenced pistol. No need to go loud and give the entire game away.
He quietly relayed his find. “First site located. What do I do?”
Hunter’s reply was immediate. “Wait one. I want to see it for myself.”
Smoke moved right to the edge of the cleared vegetation to get a better idea of the site layout. The surface to air missile launcher and its accompanying command truck were deployed about thirty feet apart. There was no sign of guards. He strained his ears to hear any man made sound. Smoke became part of the jungle around him.
On the other side of the clearing, a match flared for the third time that night. Smoke saw it all in perfect clarity. The soldier was facing away from him. Through the goggles, the match flare surrounded the man’s helmeted head with a green halo. He was sure it was his friend from the trail. Smoke took a step forward, so intent on the guard that he didn’t see the twig until it broke with a snap under his foot. The guard turned around. Smoke, swearing to himself for being so careless, put three 9mm hollow point rounds into the soldier’s chest. The guard went down in a heap.
Smoke whispered “base hit” into his comlink. Things were not going according to plan. His team had to know.
He ran for the communications truck, tore open the back door and sprayed the interior. Sparks and bits of hot metal flew as slugs tore off the steel walls and into the radio gear that lined the walls of the vehicle. The two men inside died without even knowing how. The remaining SA-6 crew were brought out of their tents by the sounds of destruction. The tree line erupted with muzzle flashes and the muffled pop of silenced weapons. The deadly firefly red glow of tracers streaked into the staggering forms of the Korean soldiers cutting them down. It was all over in seconds.
Hunter looked over the carnage. He nudged the dead Korean guard with the toe of his boot. “No use bitching about this. Thermite the control panels in the launch truck and cut the battery leads on the SAM igniters. Booby trap anything that looks like it could be pushed in an emergency. They’re going to send out a patrol to check out why these guys aren’t talking to them anymore and I want the jungle to swallow them up as well.” Hunter looked up from the dead Korean, right at Smoke. “Smoke, you’re back on point, but I want you to stick closer to the team.” The team leader looked hard at Smoke. “And this time, try to be quiet about it.”
Chun looked down at the dead soldier. His heart was a ball of ice. His revenge was proving to have a terrible price. Another comrade dead because of the actions of the inner circle. They would pay for their betrayal to the people.
Sean ignored the dead Korean guard. He kept his eyes riveted to the bent back of Chun. The Korean reached over and patted the dead man’s chest in consolation. If it looked like he was having problems with the mission, Sean would kill him now, where it could be done quietly. Chun straightened up and once again, Sean had a sense of some kind of resolution being made. He slid his commando dagger back into its sheath.
Any attempt made to hide the second SA-6 site had been rudimentary. The launcher sat under a camouflage net, about a kilometer away, on the curve of the bay to the southeast of the docks. Its communications truck and radar unit sat out in the open. The radar unit looked larger than normal for an SA-6. Behind the site ran a Soviet-standard, narrow-gauge railway. Sean knew from maps that a quarter mile past the railway, a winding two lane highway connected the entire east coast of North Korea.
A heavily guarded diesel electric train sat on the rails by the closest dock. The sub tender they had all seen in satellite imagery sat on the other side of the same dock. Sean started counting the number of soldiers he could see. He stopped at forty. This was not good. Sean moved up the line to Hunter. “Doesn’t look good, Bob.”
“I’ve got eyes, Addison.”
“Can your Alpha team take out the missile battery?”
“Smoke’s already on it. I told him to be quiet this time.”
Sean smiled. “Why don’t you send him our way after this and we’ll see if we can’t get him some decent training for a change?”
“Fuck you Addison.”
Sean smiled. “Maybe later, when we’re not so pressed for time. I could manage a quick cuddle though.”
Hunter smiled. “You’re a total bastard, Addison. What do you want?”
“Just need to borrow your binoculars. There’s something about that SA-6 set-up that bothers me.”
“Like what?”
“The radar unit is too big.”
“You sure about that?”
Sean shrugged. “Pretty sure, but I need to have a look with your eyes to be sure.”
Hunter handed him the Zeiss starlight glasses.
Sean hefted the compact field glasses. “Nice stuff. Not too heavy for low-light gear.”
Hunter chuckled. “It’s the upside of being on a classified budget.”
Sean panned the glasses around the harbor. “So what’s the plan?”
Hunter pointed to the dock and then to the train. “We’ve got two choices. We take them on the dock right after they offload, or we take them on the train. I’m leaning towards the dock. The fields of fire are better and we’re closer to the water if we have to beat feet in a hurry.”
Sean centered the SA-6 site in the glasses. “Okay, I’ve got me a Thin Skin height finder dead center of the site.” He swung the binoculars a little to the right. “And two Long Track surveillance units to the right of that. So far so good.” He panned back to the left. The sharp points of an SA-6 missile group sat on its launcher pointing up into the sky. Behind it was a large vehicle swathed in a heavy camouflage net. “Hold on.” Sean swung back to the center of the control vehicles and adjusted the binoculars’ focus. The offending radar dish sprang into clarity. It was dark green, oblong and stationary. “That looks more like a long range telemetry and tracking type than a fire control radar.” Fuzzy green and white soldiers moved in and out of the camouflage-shrouded launcher area. “There’s a lot more men on the second site than the one we took out earlier.” Sean focused on the launcher again. Something about the shape behind it was just plain wrong and then the pieces fell into place. “Oh Christ!”
“What?”
Sean dropped the glasses from his face. “That’s a TEL behind that SA-6 launcher. It’s a bloody TEL, they’re going to mount and launch the warheads from here.” He grabbed Hunter’s arm hard. “Call them back. Get all of them back. They’ll get cut to ribbons. Eisenhower can nail it with bombers.”
Hunter keyed his throat mike to Smoke’s frequency. “Umpire calls foul ball.” His ear piece squelched twice in acknowledgment. The SEAL commander looked at Sean. “You all right man?”
Sean looked gray and old. When he managed to smile it was just a shadow. “I wasn’t sure about it earlier, but this is my last op. I’ve been in the game too long. After all of that shit in the rock pile. The world’s not getting any better you know?” Sean shook his head. “Nah, that’s it for me, mate. After this, I’m out.”