Murdock popped for soft drinks in his quarters, and the SEALS relaxed.
"We've got the poison gas and the troop transports for tonight," Jaybird said.
Murdock looked at the notes he had made and left on the carrier from the first planning session.
"We talked about neutralizing the gas or the delivery vehicles. The gas was set to be delivered by Navy missile-launchers. We need to take out the merchandise before it gets loaded on those ships."
"We have any intel where the damned poison-gas missiles are kept?" Brown asked.
Murdock got on a ship's phone and found Don Stroh. The CIA man was in Murdock's room in three minutes. He carried two file folders.
"You want to know what we know about the poison gas?" he said. "The quick answer is not one hell of a lot. There are two places where our satellite printouts show that they store that class of missile. One is right on the docks, the other a half mile inland, where we suspect that they do the final assembly and loading the buckets with their share of the deadly gas. Right now we're not even sure what kind of gas they plan to use. Whatever it is, it will be airborne and deadly."
Magic Brown grinned at him. "Hell, Don, all we wanted to know was if you had a nice birthday."
Stroh laughed. "Hear you boys kicked ass good at that airport. That takes out the paratroops and any chance they might use those planes to drop the missiles with the gas. We should have some satellite pics in another two or three hours showing how many of those planes you destroyed."
"All of them," Jaybird said. "Every damned one of them. We can tell you that right now."
Stroh looked at him. He lifted his brows, then spread out the printouts he'd brought on the bunk, and they all looked at them.
"So the loaded missiles about to be used should be in the port warehouse," Jaybird said.
"Should be, but we can't count on it."
"Could split up for two attacks," Murdock said. "First Squad takes out the port facility, and Second Squad drives inland and hits the plant and storage area."
Jaybird shook his head. "Not a chance, L-T. A half mile through Amoy where they have a million damn Chinese? We don't even have any transport and no way to get much in there except those damn bicycles they ride. We might get in and blow the plane or burn it down without releasing any gas, but we damn well would never get out. There must be four or five thousand Army and Marines around this base."
Stroh rubbed his face and nodded. "I'm with Jaybird. I wouldn't want to try a run in there with no transport and no air support."
"So we take out the missiles at the port — and hit the two missile ships they used," Murdock said. "Do we know what ships they would use for the delivery?"
Stroh brought out more prints of the Amoy port area. They were in perfect focus and so detailed the SEALS could see a rowboat on the shore near the missile sheds.
"Here are the two ships we think they would use," Stroh said. "They are tied up a block or so from the missile warehouse. They're not as big as a cruiser. I'm not sure what their designation is, but our boat people tell us that these ships are rigged for missile-launching. They can handle up to twenty missiles each. They aren't huge missiles. Don't have to be with a poison-gas payload."
"So now we take out the storage and the two destroyer types?" Brown asked.
"You don't need to sink them," Stroh said. "Just mess up the time schedule so they don't have any time to repair the damage you do and still load the missiles at the storage area."
"What about the three troop transports?" Murdock asked.
Jaybird shrugged. "Probably should be our lowest priority, Skipper. If the paratroopers didn't land on Taiwan, those troops won't have any secure docks to come into. They must not be set up to do an amphibious landing, and don't reckon they're too damn good at swimming."
Murdock lifted his brows and agreed. "I'm with you. That means we have two main targets and a secondary if we have the time. What about transport?"
"Our ships routinely stay at least fifteen miles off shore so we don't antagonize the Chinese," Stroh said. "Any deviation from that would throw up alarms."
"So we use the sub again and move in to a mile offshore," Murdock said. "Probably be best to stick to an underwater approach since we have to breach their harbor security. Don't know what they have, but there must be something, at least patrol boats. We'll use our rebreathers in and out."
"Depending on the situation and the terrain, we'll have to play your retrieve by ear," Stroh said. "I know it's best to plan it all, but we don't know when you'll be coming out or what shape you'll be in."
Brown snorted. "Damn right. We could get cut up bad in there. They must have a whole fucking shit-pot of troops and guards around those missiles."
"We know that for sure from the movement of men and vehicles around that building we looked at. It's right on the dock with gantry tracks on the pier so they can load the missiles."
"Sounds spooky," Jaybird said. "Wish to hell we had some schematics of that warehouse. We have any people on shore?"
"Lost the only man we had there, as you know," Stroh said. "No time to get a new man in there and working."
"So we go with what we know," Murdock said. He looked at the photo printouts of the warehouse where the missiles should be. "Not a chance we can take that place down with seven men," Murdock said. "We won't split up. We do the missiles themselves first; then we all go get those two warships. Then if we have time and gear, we take on the three troop transports."
Jaybird gave a big sigh. "Yes, L-T, like that. We can have some security around the warehouse for the guys doing the work inside."
They talked over the options for retrieval. There was the sub a mile offshore, but by then there would be patrol boats and maybe some small warships working over the close-in areas.
"Three miles out we could do an easier submarine pickup, or even a chopper lift," Stroh said. "If it's still dark we could send a launch out for you."
"We'll leave it open. We'll have our radio, the big SATCOM type, and we'll make sure we have it cued in to your frequency here before we leave. Oh, the blessed wireless might get shot up. So we make contingency plans. That would be the sub, one to three miles offshore, and contact with the sonar beeper."
Stroh made notes on a pad. "Captain Victor has his orders. He'll give us anything we need. His only restriction is against engaging in any overt action against Chinese armed forces unless it's well beyond the twelve-mile limit and his ship is in imminent danger of attack."
"We'll need more ordnance than I figured before, and quite a lot of TNAZ explosives," Murdock said. "We'll go for the longer-range weapons this time. We'll have a list of what we need in half an hour. Jaybird, let's see that preliminary list we made yesterday."
"Decided on the timing?" Stroh asked.
"We're steaming south at twenty knots," Murdock said. "It'll be dark here when? About 1900? I'd like to be swimming to shore at 2300. Gets them when they're tired and sleepy. We want to catch the guards with their britches down."
"We've been moving south now for a little over eight hours at twenty knots," Stroh said. "The captain says he can have you positioned off Amoy in about two hours."
"Tell him to slow us down so we arrive off Amoy no earlier than nightfall," Murdock said. "We'll be at least twelve miles offshore and over the horizon, but we don't want to be caught loitering out there. Let's say we'll rendezvous with the sub at 2200, move in, and exit the sub at 2300 and start our swim. We should be in the harbor by 2330."
Stroh continued making notes. When Murdock finished, Stroh looked up and nodded. "Roger. I'll get up to the captain and tell him what you need. He'll contact the sub and have him on station at the right time."