The two patrol boats behind them did seem to slack off their forward charge.
"They are regrouping," Dewitt said. The other rubber boat had come alongside. "Wish we could capture one of those patrol boats and use it to charge straight out the bay and into the night to the east."
"Dreaming, L-T," Ronson said. "I figure we'll be swimming before this fracas is over. These Mainlanders don't like to lose even a little skirmish, and we spanked their asses good back there at the airfield."
The sniper rifles continued to send messages to the patrol boats. Murdock had checked ammo totals and told the men to conserve. They didn't know what they might need the big fifties for down the road. The two patrol boats were definitely holding back. Murdock wished he knew why.
Then he found out.
Both the Chinese boats opened up with.50-caliber machine guns. They must have had to change mounts or bring them from the aft decks. The big rounds began slapping into the water short. Murdock and Dewitt turned their boats away from each other. Dewitt was closest to the shore and he hugged it. Murdock guided his IBS thirty meters away toward the center of the bay.
"Cease fire," Murdock said into his lip mike. "Hide, don't give them a target."
The fifties went silent. The attacking boats behind them closed to a shorter range and fired the heavy fifties in bursts now that tracked across the water where the SEALS still moved slowly toward the mouth of the bay.
Murdock cautioned his men to stay low in the boat. "They probably don't have radar on those buckets, but we don't want to give anything away."
They moved forward, the silent IBS engines propelling them closer to the mouth. Murdock figured they were still a mile short of the ocean.
The machine guns behind them fired again, picking up the series of five-round bursts. Most of them went toward the shore.
"Trouble!" Murdock heard in his earpiece. It was Dewitt.
"We've taken two rounds, our IBS is going limp, and we have a casualty. We can make shore. Will save all of the masks and fins. Mind joining us?"
Murdock turned his boat toward the shore. Before he motored into the hail of.50-caliber rounds, the Chinese slowed, then stopped the firing.
"They must be encouraged that they haven't had any return fire," Ronson said. Murdock agreed.
"Dewitt, some help here?" Murdock said into his mike.
Murdock's radio sounded. "I see you. Turn left about ten meters and then straight into the shore. We've found a little cover here. Some logs and an old foundation of a building. Our IBS is flat."
"Roger that."
Murdock had almost thirty seconds to decide what to do. One boat down meant both boats were down.
"We're going in. Grab your masks and fins and hope we can use them later. Right now we have some dogface ground-soldier work to do. That L in SEAL still stands for land. Let's hit the beach running. If we can hide the boat, fine.
There was no way to hide the boat. When they were all out with their equipment, Murdock slashed it twice with his combat knife and pushed it into the water to deflate and sink.
They found Dewitt and his men behind crumbling rock foundations ten meters from the shoreline.
It was the best protection Murdock had seen all night.
"We stay silent unless they spot us," Murdock said. "Don't even breathe heavy."
The fourteen men crouched in place. Only Doc Ellsworth was busy.
"We have one casualty," Dewitt whispered to Murdock. "Johnson took a hit through the chest up high, but it's one of those damn fifties. We patched him some. The round went out his back. Missed his lung, I'd say."
They heard the Chinese patrol craft working slowly toward them. The boats fired now and then. Once they put on a burst of speed and snapped on searchlights working both sides of the shoreline. "Gonna fucking miss us," Jaybird whispered.
Doc crawled over and touched Murdock's shoulder. "He's hit bad. Lost a lot of blood. I patched him up some. Took two shots of morphine to keep him quiet. He won't travel good."
"Swim?"
"Float in a body bag."
"Thanks. Stay with him."
The boats worked closer. The one on the side of the bay snapped on its lights every ten seconds or so, let it burn for a quick look at the shore, then snapped it off.
Murdock had a hole in the foundation through which he watched the boat come closer. The searchlight jolted on and swept the beach directly in front of them. Murdock sucked in a breath. Half of one of the IBSS showed on the muddy bank. It was deflated flat, but looked out of place. It would be a bright beacon for the Chinese.
The light held on the raft. The patrol boat cut its engine. Machine-gun fire raked the beach and the tall grass behind it. When the firing stopped, the SEALS could hear the Chinese chattering.
The boat still had its running lights on. Murdock figured it was no more than forty meters off shore. The heavy machine gun spoke again, this time spraying the grass and the end of the foundations. Everyone was in the Chinese dirt two feet below the top of the native rocks and mortar.
Murdock checked his peephole. The boat came forward slowly toward shore.
"We've got to take them out," Murdock whispered in his mike. "Let's get ready. On me. Here we go." He lifted up and put his CAR-15 over the top of the foundation. The searchlight on the boat was off. He sighted it on the bow where the machine gun had to be and fired a five-round burst.
Ten.50-caliber weapons and three CARS fired a half second after he did. The rounds ripped into the suspicious boat with the force of a 105 round exploding. The small pilothouse windows crashed, the deck was swept with.223-caliber rounds, and the exploding fifties broke up the ship from stem to stern. For a moment it wallowed, then went dead in the bay waters.
They heard splashes on the far side. No more sound came from the patrol boat.
Murdock called a cease-fire. All was quiet. They could see the running lights on the other patrol boat a half mile away on the far side of the bay.
"Will it run?" Murdock asked his mike. "If it will it's an even trade. Ronson and Sterling, get out there and see if we left enough of that tub intact so we can use it to make a run down the bay for glory."
15
Lieutenant Blake Murdock watched his two men slide into the water and swim strongly toward the Chinese patrol boat. It drifted slowly toward the mouth of the bay. Outgoing tide. He had forgotten about that. It could be a help. The dead craft floated twenty meters offshore.
He heard the growl of the other Chinese patrol boat across the bay. It was less than half a mile away and coming toward them fast. Murdock could see the lights on the craft as it cut slightly downstream to counter the tidal current. It would be five minutes before the Chinese came close enough to evaluate their sister ship.
He watched through the dusky China night as Ronson and Sterling climbed on board and vanished inside the patrol boat. His other men had strung out along the shoreline at combat intervals. Two men faced back the way they had come as a rear guard.
It seemed like an hour before Murdock heard the Chinese patrol boat's engine turn over, then catch and the heavy pounding of the diesel engine steadied down. The craft edged slowly toward shore. Ronson showed at the rail and waved. His fist pumped up and down. The Platoon Leader pointed at the two men nearest him and then at the boat.
They carried their gear, waded out, then swam the last twenty feet to the side of the craft, where they could push their weapons on board and crawl up. They waited to take Johnson on board until the boat was almost aground. Magic Brown and Ken Ching carried and floated the wounded SEAL to the craft, and four men lifted him on board. Doc was there, and put him on the deck and went to work on him again. Doc swore as he tended the bullet wound. Murdock scowled. That meant that Johnson was in bad shape.