On the ridgeline, Magic and Fernandez kept up occasional fire into the spot where the Chinese had been, then aimed farther down the hill. Magic gave a little grunt when his AK ran dry. He dropped it and waved at Fernandez. They crawled down the far slope until they could stand with safety, then jogged south to the bottom of the hill and into the rice paddies.
Three minutes later they caught up with the platoon as they slogged on south.
"Where the fuck is the damned coast highway?" Jaybird said to Murdock.
"Let you know when we find it."
A small village showed a half mile to the left. Far enough away, Murdock decided, and he kept aiming at the star he had picked to be due south. South and east. They'd get to the east soon. To the left, he could see the shadows of some low hills. A few lights glowed in the area, but no big village. Far to the right he thought he could see a spray of headlights now and then, but he couldn't be sure.
Two jets screamed overhead, probably the same two SU-27's they had seen in daylight. Not a chance they could be dangerous until morning. However, they did indicate that the Chinese must be serious about trying to rout out the raiders still on Chinese soil.
Their route led down a wide valley. They kept to the left side where there were some woods and barren spots. Well behind them they saw headlights, and then heard the chatter and unmistakable sounds of troops getting off transport. The Marines were on their tail again, and too close for the SEALS to think too much about collecting Social Security. They speeded up their march.
Ten minutes later they had neared the end of the low row of hills when they heard a new sound.
"Choppers," Red said.
Murdock listened. "Yes, larger ones, troop-transporting birds. More than one."
They saw the running lights first — red, green, and white. The helicopters came in low from the south almost straight at Murdock and his platoon. Then they swung in a circle and a half mile ahead moved into a six-bird front. Then all six snapped on landing lights and they dropped down to the ground about fifty feet apart. Murdock and his men could hear doors opening and troops hitting the ground.
The platoon leader scowled. If each of the birds carried twenty combat troops that would be 120 fighters ahead of them.
He looked behind. Now he could see more headlights with flashes of shadows walking in front of them.
Murdock shook his head. Airborne troops in front of them, Chinese Marines in back of them. Just what the fucking hell did they do now?
35
"Wish to hell we still had our fifties," Magic Brown said. "We could blow them damn choppers into kindling."
"Roger that, Magic, but we don't," Murdock said. "So what comes next?
We've got too fucking many Chinese out there. We can't go forward. No sense going backward and running into those fresh troops off the trucks."
He looked at the terrain. "Tactics depend on the situation and the terrain." He'd had that axiom drilled into him for ten years. He knew the situation. What about the terrain? He stared into the half light of the moon. They were near a small valley that drifted up to the left, and into a partly forested hill. It couldn't be over three hundred feet high.
Potential. "Move up that little valley," he told Red, and the rest of them followed. Halfway up, Murdock angled his squad to the left and sent Dewitt with Second Squad to the right. "Find firing positions and cover behind a tree or rock. We'll wait and see if these guys send a detail up here to check it out. If they do we teach them better manners."
"After we let them know where we are, what comes next?" Jaybird asked from where he had settled down behind a foot-thick pine tree.
"Straight over the hill and see what's on the other side. Red is up there now taking a gander."
"Want to talk to the carrier again while we have a chance?" Holt asked.
"Set up the antenna and put it on receive," Murdock said. "If they have any word for us they'll put it on a three-hour repeat. We might catch something. I don't hold much hope that the Taiwanese Air Force will help us. Too political. They haven't raised a hand against China in fifty years. Why should they start now?"
"I'd say they have thirteen good reasons," Holt said. Then he unslung the SATCOM and began hitting switches, unfolded the small dish antenna, and angled it at the right spot in the sky to find the satellite.
When it was aimed, he snapped another switch, but the radio remained quiet.
"Figures," Murdock said.
The SEALS went rock silent then. They had heard something at the mouth of the small valley.
"Incoming," Jaybird whispered.
The Chinese troops were not trying to be quiet. They talked to each other. Equipment jangled, metal scraped against metal. Now and then someone laughed. Murdock tried to see through the nighttime gloom, but couldn't. The nightscope was up the hill. They waited.
The first troops were thirty yards away when Murdock saw them. There were twelve to fifteen men spread out at three-yard intervals across the floor of the valley moving slowly forward. Holt silently folded the SATCOM antenna and stowed it, and buttoned up the radio and slung it over his shoulder. No messages.
Murdock aimed his AK-47 at the man in the center who could be the detail leader. The Chinese soldier looked upward toward him and Murdock fired. The chest shot slammed the trooper backwards into the grass and weeds.
The rest of the platoon fired, and Murdock got off four more rounds before the Chinese troops were either dead or had run into the haze of the darkness.
Red Nicholson slid onto the ground beside Murdock. "Nothing on the other side I can see, Skipper. No lights, no people. Another small ridgeline. Looks like we're in a batch of woods that goes on a while."
"Move it," Murdock said into his lip mike, and the SEALS lifted up and trotted behind Red as he led them up the hill, over the top, and down the other side.
"Southeast," Murdock said to Red. They both looked at the stars and Murdock found the one he had been using. "Right about twenty degrees," he said.
"Yeah, about what I'd say too," Red said, and they swung that direction across another small ridge, through more trees, and away from any sign of the Chinese troops that almost had boxed them in.
For a moment Murdock thought he smelled salt air. Then he shook his head. Fantasizing. They pushed hard for half an hour, then came out of the woods and ahead saw a good-sized road with an occasional car or truck rolling along with headlights glaring.
"No curfew here," Magic said.
"Could be trouble to get across," Murdock said. They worked up through a field until they were within a quarter of a mile of the road. It was built up above the level of the fields on each side. A truck labored past, then all was quiet.
Murdock frowned.
"Yeah," Jaybird said. "I heard it again. That's a fucking shovel hitting a rock. Somebody on the other side of the road is digging in. Looks like they're waiting for us."
"Red, go take a look."
Red Nicholson could slip up on an Indian. He knew how to move without making a sound. He was the best point man Murdock had ever seen. The SEALS went to ground and rested.
Murdock worried about the choppers. The men in the trucks he could get away from, for a while. The choppers could rush men in ahead and behind them before they knew which way was up. That worried him. He looked at his watch. The dull glow showed that it was a little after 2230. Maybe eight hours to daylight. There was no chance they would be lucky and find another cave like the one they stayed in during the day. No chance in hell. He tried to spot Red on his movement forward. He couldn't.