The SEALs moved across the safe strip of sand and into the woods. No one else had been touched by the mine. Jaybird said it wasn’t a bouncing Betty or five or six of the men would be hurting.
They spread out in the brush facing inland while Lam took another scouting run. He came back thirty minutes later.
“Skip, I’d suggest we move inland about half a klick. There’s some good defensive areas there. My guess, there will be someone from the interior over here soon to investigate that mine going off.
Murdock sent them along. Ed Dewitt had the con and Dobler to help him set up an ambush.
Murdock and Jaybird stayed behind. They went back to the wet sand through the safe trail. They marked the trail with an orange flag, then went down to where the mine exploded and put another orange flag. The third one they put on the spot Jaybird had removed the first mine. The flags were three feet square on four-foot poles jammed into the wet sand.
At 0530, Murdock had heard nothing from Ed DeWitt. He said he’d call if they ran into trouble.
Murdock tried a call to the LCUs. They were supposed to have one radioman on board with a Motorola set to the SEAL’s frequency. He tried the call again. Nothing. That meant the Marines were still farther out than the three-mile radius of the small radios.
He had to wait. Just as Murdock sat down on the dry sand, his radio spoke.
“Murdock, we have contact. Looks like two jeeps and maybe a dozen men. Is it too early to take them out? If we let them come through, they will see the landing and cause all sorts of hell. The rigs have mounted fifty-caliber MGs.
Infantry tactics. It all depended on the situation and the terrain, they used to say. Only this time, there was another factor: time. If they blasted the rebels now, that might bring a much larger force to defend the beach before the Marines got there. If they didn’t take the rebels down now, they would come through to the beach and cause a passel of trouble.
Murdock spoke into the lip mike. “Light them up, Ed. Use all silenced weapons if you can and don’t let them fire a shot.”
“That’s a roger.”
Before Murdock could do more than offer a silent good luck to his men, his radio sputtered and a garbled voice came over.
“Bea… Beach. On t… way. Give us some…. Make them t… green on…”
“Marines. Broken reception. You want green stick lights?”
“Roger th…”
Murdock turned to Jaybird. “Let’s get in the middle of our little cleared path. I’ll tell him by radio about the mines. They have three cleared paths for single file.
That was when he heard some repeated rifle and machine gun fire from well into the trees.
16
Murdock stared into the trees where he heard the firefight. Too damn early. The Marines wouldn’t be there for another ten, fifteen minutes.
“DeWitt, talk to me,” he said on the Motorola.
“Busy, Skip. We nailed half of them, the rest came up shooting. These are well-trained troops. A little firefight right now. The Marines coming?”
“Talked to them, haven’t seen them. Ten minutes minimum.”
“No problem here other than time. Going to take ten to get rid of these guys. Don’t want any running back to the mother lode.”
“Roger that.”
Murdock tried to listen seaward. At last he heard the faint growl of the LCUs. How long would it take them? He touched the radio mike again.
“Marines, do you copy?”
“Roger, beach. Better reception. Arrive in six minutes.”
“Gently sloping beach here. Not sure how far you’ll get in. We have green light sticks. Found land mines here. Have three single-file paths cleared. No opposition for landing. Small firefight about half a mile inland. We have friendlies there.”
“Single file, beach? We can do that. Soon.”
Murdock and Jaybird could hear the motors now. It was growing lighter. Dawn was coming fast. The Marines should hit the beach just about at daylight. Both SEALs held green light sticks. They would bend them and break the seal and activate them the moment they could see the LCUs.
“Gunfire has tapered off inland,” Jaybird said. “Maybe the JG has it under control.”
Murdock nodded. He watched the water. At sea level you were supposed to be able to see seven miles before the curvature of the earth bent the land or water out of sight. The Marines had to be closer than seven miles.
Then he saw them, twin dark dots on the brightening waters.
“Got them,” Jaybird said. “Light sticks ain’t gonna be much good now that it’s light.”
“They can see them, and it’ll confirm they’re at the right spot. Let’s break the seals.”
Each of them held two of the green light sticks and started them glowing.
“Hey, we see your lights, beach. We’re on course. You have those cleared lanes marked for our boys?”
“Ready to go with three-by flags.”
Murdock waved Jaybird to one of the clear lanes, and he went to the other with its big marker flag. Single file meant it would take the Marines some time to get off the beach and into the woods. If they would run, that would be a help.
“Skip, looks like we’re about finished up here,” DeWitt said on the radio. “We stopped their vehicle and took down six or eight. But about that many vanished into the brush and must be making their way back to their people. Want us to track them?”
“No, JG. Hold there as a forward outpost. We’ll make damn sure the lead elements of the Marines know you’re there. They are just about ready to land.”
Murdock’s radio came on once more.
“Beach, ETA two minutes.”
They could see the 135-foot-long LSUs coming, their big defensive landing ramp straight up and charging for shore at ten knots. They were side by side. They corrected their angle a little, then charged head-on for shore.
The big landing craft nosed up on the beach, hit the sand with the bow in about two feet of water, and the big ramp splashed down. A wave of combat-clad Marines boiled out of the craft, splashed through the water, and thinned out into a single file, running smartly toward Murdock. He pointed to the flag and waved them forward.
“Straight up to the brush,” he bellowed. “Stay in line. Mines around here.”
He ran to the middle sign, and a line of Marines peeled off one of the LSUs and moved toward him. Then they had three files of combat Marines running across the beach and up to the brush. Murdock found a Marine captain and hailed him.
“Captain, Commander Murdock. I’ve got people up in front of you. Eleven SEALs who just put down an enemy patrol. Be sure your lead elements know they are there. I don’t want to lose any of my men to friendly fire.”
“They’ve been told, Commander. I’m Captain Browser. I’ll be with them. Heard you lost a man here to a mine.”
“Lost an arm, don’t know if he’ll make it or not. If you’re ready to go forward, my man and I will go with you. I want to be sure my lead men are safe up there.”
“Let’s go.”
They came to the lead elements of the Marines five minutes later. They had formed up and moved through the woods in squad formations with two scouts out front.
“DeWitt,” Murdock said on the Motorola. “The Marines have landed and are moving up to your rear. We’re friendly back here. Let’s hook up carefully.”
“That’s a roger. We can hear you coming. We’ll stay out of sight until you’re close enough to talk to. Any word on Adams?”
“No contact. Maybe the Marines have a SATCOM.”