"That's where we went ashore to bring back the invasion plans," Magic said.
"True. This is a small island south of that somewhere. According to the satellite guy, it's named Tayu. Tightly guarded, accessible only by ship, and about three miles off the mainland. As far as the spy guys know, this is the only facility in China where they store ready-to-use nuclear weapons. Logic tells us that the Chinese nuke bomb should come out of that hole. Our job is to stop it from emerging."
"This our first attack?" Lieutenant Dewitt asked.
"Should be," Jaybird said. "They'll need some lead time to get the bomb to the surface, then loaded on a secure boat and taken to a port were it will be loaded on a secure truck and taken to the airfield where the delivery plane is waiting. At least a twenty-four-hour lead time to be safe."
"So we hit this first," Murdock said. "Just how, we'll work out soon. What's the next-priority target?"
"The gas missiles, looks like to me," Magic Brown said.
"Doubtful if they would keep anything that potent in place on one of their ships. It would be on an 'on need' basis. So they would have to use transportation again. Where is their gas-warfare center?"
Murdock went to the gas-warfare table. He left the other three at the nuke table to start working out a plan of attack and destruction without setting off one of the nuclear weapons.
Doc Ellsworth looked up at his L-T and shook his head. "These bastards have some rugged shit in their inventory. Where did they get all of this potent nerve gas? Amazing. If the spy guys are right, they could wipe out everyone on Taiwan and send over a couple of million new inhabitants and have it all their own way."
"Where do they make the stuff?" Murdock asked.
Doc pointed to a map of China. "Way to hell and gone up in here at a little place called Chitai. That's almost all the way across China, about twenty-five hundred miles from Fuching."
"They keep the shit there?"
"Nope, make it there. The ready-for-delivery gas is kept in rockets ready to use at the Amoy Naval Base, maybe two hundred miles south of Fuching. Big fucking navy base there with all the goodies."
"Do they know where on the base?" Murdock asked.
"All the spy people can tell us is that the missiles loaded with poison gas are in building twenty-eight," Doc said. "We don't have the slightest where that shack is situated."
"At least the two hundred miles is within our transport capability. That all-the-way-across-China shit didn't sound good at all. Work at it. Figure out some ingress into the navy base. How secure is it? Where can we get in, under, around, or through?"
Murdock went to the next target in line, the airfields that would launch the three-thousand-paratroop drop to seal off any opposition and capture the port facilities needed to land the invasion troops.
Gunner's Mate First Class Miguel Fernandez led the SEALS working over the airfield data. "Could be one of two fields, L-T. Not the fuck sure which one. We'll have to wait for the satellite to show us a buildup of some kind. Latest photos were eighteen hours ago. They're repositioning the satellite to get a better sweep on this coastal area. Figures to be close to the coast, which narrows it down to two fields. There's a new one just south of Amoy, big with long runways.
"The other one is inland about five miles from Foochow. That's about thirty miles north of Fuching. So far the spy boys can't give us any positive on either one. They lean toward the Amoy field since it's newest and has the best facilities. Oh, they said there were new barracks there that could house the three thousand troops for a limited number of days. They'll watch for the troop buildup and the gathering of transport planes around either field."
Murdock nodded, and told them to work out some attack plans on each of the fields — infiltration, weapons use, and how to haul ass without losing any men.
At the last table he saw better intel. Ron Holt, his radioman, had taken charge of the troop transport table. He grinned and showed Murdock satellite photos. They detailed three huge troop transport ships at the harbor in Amoy.
"Looks like they are loaded and waiting," Holt said. "Look at the waterline. Must mean that each one has its complement of five thousand troops, equipment, ammo, and supplies. Ready and waiting to hear that the docks are captured in Taiwan."
Murdock grinned. "So that makes your job easier. We have two targets in Amoy harbor. Once we penetrate, we can send one squad at each target, get the job done, and E and E."
"We thinking some limpet mines to blow off the screws or to sink the turkeys right there in the mud dockside?" Holt asked.
"Either one. We'll be ready for either chance and see how our time is working out. This will be the second night. About twenty-four hours before their attack time. We've got to make each phase work."
Holt nodded. "Right now we're trying to figure out the distance from the harbor mouth to the transports. Just a nice swim. We shouldn't even break a sweat."
Murdock told them to keep planning. "Work out the equipment, arms, transport, IBS, timing, coordination with the carrier. I'll be back."
He went to the nuke table and huddled with Dewitt and Jaybird.
"We've got three targets tied down and a question for the fourth," Murdock said. "Two of them are in Amoy harbor. That would be the second night. One is near Fuching here, and the other one either up thirty miles north at Foochow or down at Amoy airfield. This is looking more doable all the time."
"Get a submarine next door to Fuching and go in with IBSS, do the job, and then back to the sub?" Dewitt asked.
"Could," Murdock said. "Then if it's Foochow, we can go by sub up that way and use the IBSS again to go ashore and blast that field wing tip to wing tip with transport planes. Then back to the sub and lay over during the day.
"The next night we meet a chopper and get airlifted two hundred miles south to Amoy and do our work there. By the time we're done, the sub should be off Amoy to pick us up, or we can beacon in a chopper for an airlift home."
Dewitt held up his hand for a high five and the three grinned.
"Now, let's get down to the dirty-dirty details," Murdock said. "Everything on paper now."
8
Somewhere in the afternoon or evening they had eaten. Food had been brought to them in the classroom as they worked over plans and equipment and details for each of the four missions. An officer came in from the commo room.
"Lieutenant Murdock, we have confirmation from the satellite photos. There is a definite buildup of aircraft and personnel around the airfield near Foochow. It's a definite."
Murdock thanked the ensign and hurried over to the table detailing the strike on the airfield. He told them the news and they adjusted their plans, mostly for transport, infiltration, and egress.
At the Amoy table he checked the plans. They looked solid. He talked to Lieutenant Dewitt.
"So we go first on the nuke. That's up at Fuching. Fine. If all goes well we get in and out in an hour. Then we need to move our asses all the way up to Foochow. That's over thirty klicks, and how the hell we gonna get there?"
"Use our IBSS in and out of the island and the nuke, right?" Dewitt asked. "Probably the best, give us a base of operation."
"We bug off the nuke island after our hit, then call in our handy-dandy little submarine for a joyride thirty miles north. At twenty knots, that's going to take an hour and a half. Lots of night still left."