Yes, sandy, no habitation. It had been cleared years ago of shacks and houses when they built the military air base; then the Iranian Air Force moved to a better location. The land remained undeveloped.
When First Squad hit the sand with its weapons pointing shoreward, Murdock came up to a crouch, then ran with his wet cammies pasted against his legs. On such a short swim, they elected not to wear wet suits. He pulled on his wet, floppy hat and slid in behind a small mound of sand that had been half claimed by hearty beach grass.
He sensed the other SEALs leaving the wet and lining up ten yards apart down the beach on both sides of him. Slowly, he lifted up and peered over the small dune.
Yes, he could see lights, lots of lights, as if it were a carnival or a huge outdoor display area. Which is what it was supposed to be. He heard some small motors running, generators probably, for some of the individual display areas. Then the flat snarl of an AK-47 jolted through the air with six rounds, then six more.
Someone slid into the sand beside Murdock.
“Somebody checking to see if a weapon fires,” Operations Specialist Second Class Joe “Ricochet” Lampedusa said. He was the platoon’s best tracker and lead scout.
“How far to them?” Murdock whispered.
“Half a mile, maybe a little more. A long flat space to come back across in daylight with them fuckers shooting at us.”
“We fix it so not many of them are able to shoot at us,” Murdock said. He took the Motorola out of his waterproof pouch on his combat vest. The Motorola was a person-to-person communication radio for short distances. Each of the SEALs had one. A belt pack contained the operational transceiver and battery. A wire led to an earplug and attached lip mike. When Murdock had his radio in place and saw that Lampedusa did as well, he spoke.
“Radio check, Alpha.”
One by one, the seven men in Alpha Squad checked in. Then Murdock heard Senior Chief Dobler call for a radio check on Bravo Squad. All present and accounted for.
“Half mile to our objective. We’ll move in our usual twin diamonds, but at half speed. No rush. Full dark now, and our job planting the explosives shouldn’t take more than two hours, even if we run into some opposition. Drag bags. Let’s dump them here and hang the goodies around your neck, in your belt, any way you can. We don’t want to pull those fuckers over the ground.”
Only Murdock and Lam had NVGs, Night Vision Goggles. Murdock pulled his down from where they had perched on his head and checked the objective. The pale green glow gave him a clear look at the sales area. They were at the back of it. Evidently, there was one long line of booths and display areas that faced the other way. There could be an old runway they were working on. He watched for security.
It was barely 2100. Many men still milled around, evidently working on their displays, getting them ready for the rush of customers in the morning.
Now and then, a light blinked out, and Murdock figured they should stay put for a while. He hoped the place would be deserted by the time they got there to place the explosives.
He frowned as he saw a soldier walking what must be a guard post. He went behind two shapes that must be tents, then moved thirty yards north and went back between displays.
Lam groaned beside him. “See that fucking guard?”
“Yeah. Complicates things.”
Murdock used the Motorola. “We’ve spotted some Army guards patrolling. Changes things. We’ll hunker down here and wait until all the lights go out. By that time, we’ll figure out what to do about the guards and our whole timing operation.”
They moved forward slowly for a quarter of a mile and found a small ravine a hundred yards from the display that would hide them. The SEALs spread out and settled down. Murdock, Dobler, Lam, and Jaybird talked it over.
Jaybird had watched the sales area and reported what looked like a series of guards who were on the whole layout.
“No chance we can get in and get out without being spotted,” Jaybird said. “If we take out three or four of the guards, they’ll find that out in a rush, and we’ll have to fight our way in and out. They might not want to give us a hell of a lot of time to booby-trap all of those goods.”
“How about a diversion?” Lam said. “We can use the forty-mikes to cause a problem for them two hundred yards the other side of the strip. They bug out over there, we put down the charges and haul ass out of there before they get back.”
“Yeah, but would all of the guards go out there, or do they have a company of troops somewhere waiting for trouble?” Dobler asked.
“Probably,” Murdock said. “We’ve got to count on them having a good-sized force here. Iran doesn’t want a black eye, especially on bin Laden’s show. So we go with the worst scenario. If it doesn’t happen, we’re glad and get the job done and get our asses back in the water.”
They all looked at the objective again through the glasses.
“I figure about twenty guards,” Lam said. “They each seem to have a zone about twenty-five yards long. They go around and around.”
“We move in and take out ten of them,” Dobler said. “On their next round, we take out the other ten. Then we dig in and plant our bombs and TNAZ and get the hell out.”
“How long to plant all the goods?” Murdock asked.
Jaybird shrugged. “Each of us has fifty yards. That’s maybe twenty bombs. I’ve got thirty. By rushing and having the detonators in first, we should be able to do it in twenty minutes.”
Murdock rubbed his face with one hand. He needed a shave.
“So, say we try it that way. We snuff half the guards, and ten minutes later, they make the second round and we get the rest. If all goes right, we have twenty minutes to lay down the explosives and haul ass.
“If things get out of hand, say there’s a shot or two fired by the guards, that would alert the rest of the forces and a jeep or two. Then we send out our forty-mikes on my command and create our diversion. We hope to drain off the manpower there until we get done with the goop.”
“They’ll know they’ve been hit by then and come right here to the prize and start checking,” Lam said. “No way we can wait until morning to blow the bombs.”
“Why they give us that time line, anyway?” Dobler asked.
“Said they wanted to catch the buyers in the area and snuff as many of them as possible.”
“Probably won’t go down that way,” Jaybird said.
Murdock looked back at the target. “Fewer lights now. One generator must still be working.”
“By 2400, that place will be dead black,” Lam said. “I hope.”
Murdock called up Petard Canzoneri.
“Yes, sir, all ready to go. Each man has enough explosives for twenty bombs. He also has twenty detonator-receivers. They will be handed out in groups of sixty, working from one end of the line to the other. Each group of sixty detonators will have a separate frequency to explode the bombs.”
“Not all at once?” Murdock asked.
“No, sir. I don’t have that many hands. This way I can work from one end, or from both ends, or from the middle outward, depending which will do the most damage.”
“Sounds like a good plan, Canzoneri. Get some rest. We won’t be moving for some time.”
The plans made, they waited. Murdock knew they had five grenade launchers. On command, each man with a carbine would launch four rounds across the target and well inland to maximum range.
He had posted guards, one on each end of the SEALs’ gully, and one in the center, all watching the target. None of the Iranian Army men had even looked outward toward the SEALs’ location.
They waited.