Captain Browser came up with a man packing a SATCOM. “The force on Beach B ran into a whole shitpot full of trouble. Underwater obstacles ruptured the first LCU. Only half the men made it to shore. They hit ten or twelve mines before they detoured around the open sand and ran into a force of two hundred men who had them pinned down for three hours. Only now are they starting to move toward the capital.”
“We picked the right beach, Captain.”
“Yeah, but that puts them way behind schedule. We were supposed to have this wrapped up before nightfall.”
“Not now,” Murdock said. “Not if the B team was supposed to capture the army headquarters.”
“So, we take over the airport, leave a force there, and charge on into town eight miles away and do a frontal assault on the army’s GHQ?”
“I hope no frontal assault,” Murdock said. “It all depends on the situation…”
Captain Browser stopped him. “And the terrain. I took that same course at the academy. Hell, let’s take down the airport, then we worry about what to do next. Maybe the other battalion can move fast enough to get it done without help.”
“Wouldn’t count on it,” Murdock said.
They ran into no more trouble or even enemy snipers and came to the boundary fence to the airport just before 0900. Captain Browser and Murdock surveyed the airport from the roof of a small building near the fence. Lam and the Marine scout also studied the layout.
“Kid gloves in here,” Browser said. “We’re supposed to do as little damage as we can while we take over the airport, without getting ourselves killed.”
“No fifties into the control tower or into the military transports on the macadam,” Murdock said.
“Yeah. The tower and the administration offices are the primary targets. Also, we’ve learned there is a hangar being used for troop housing. Three targets. A hundred men for each one. I’ll split up the force and make assignments. Murdock, you come with my group. We’ll do the admin building.”
“Right. Captain, can your SATCOM contact your ship? I need to know how my wounded man is doing.”
The captain nodded and pointed Murdock at his radio operator.
The corporal made two calls on the box and gave the phone-type handset to Murdock.
“I’ve got sick bay for you, sir. They say your man is there. The doctor who treated him will be on in a minute.”
17
“Commander? This is Dr. Alspaugh on board the Boxer. You’re inquiring about Petty Officer Adams?”
“Yes sir. How is he?”
“He’s alive. It was questionable when we received him here. We stabilized him and treated his other wounds. He’s out of danger now. The arm is the problem. We have the body part on ice and will try to reattach it when he’s ready.”
“Do your best, Doctor. He’s a good man. What about Holt?”
“Superficial wounds, but we’re worried about his eyes. It may be a temporary blindness. The intensity of the light from the blast could have damaged the retina. We’re watching him closely.”
“Thanks, Doc. Do your best.”
Murdock and the radioman ran to catch up with Captain Browser and his men. They were on an end run around the airport to come in through the main entrance. They moved down a side road around this back part of the airport and saw no military units.
Their lead men came around a corner, and they could see the main entrance. Two military trucks sat there across the lanes of traffic. A dozen soldiers stood around with their weapons slung, muzzles pointing down.
The Marines went to the ground along the side of the road and began firing at the trucks. The Bahrainian troops scattered, then the trucks started, backed around, and raced down the highway away, from the airport.
The Marines moved up cautiously. Murdock had his SEALs in the second unit. When they arrived at the entrance to the airport off the highway, there was only some broken glass on the pavement to show the encounter. The Marines rushed through the driveway and turned left down a circular road toward a five-story building away from the passenger terminal.
“Administration building?” Jaybird asked Murdock.
“Must be. Where are all the troops? Is this colonel a military man or a ringer?”
Just after Murdock said it, six RPGs slammed into the Marine force. A dozen men went down, injured or dying. None of the rounds hit near the SEALs. Captain Browser dispersed his men and moved them forward slowly, clearing cars and vehicles parked along the road. He made sure the medics took care of the wounded. Then he called for choppers from the Boxer to do a medical evacuation.
“Yes, Lieutenant. I said we have wounded. Nine men who need immediate medical care and two KIA. We want them out of here at once. Get those choppers moving.”
Captain Browser left six Marines behind to protect the wounded and the medics, then they moved toward the big building.
The Marines were running, charging across the parking lot at the front door of the five-story building. Murdock and his SEALs went with them.
“A fucking frontal assault,” Murdock shouted at Jaybird. “I told the captain not to do this.”
They were thirty yards from the front door when Murdock realized they weren’t taking any enemy fire. Browser split his force, sent half of them to the back and the rest of them charged directly into the building.
Murdock and the SEALs went in the front and stayed on the first floor as some of the Marines moved up the stairs and others froze the elevators and generally cleared the building. Murdock heard no firing.
Five minutes later, Captain Browser came back to the lobby.
“Not a single military man in the place,” he said. I talked to one of the people who spoke English. He said the military had been here, but they pulled out this morning. They said something about going to the beach to fight an invasion.”
Browser used his radio and contacted his other units attacking the other two targets. The Marines had taken their objectives. They, too, had found no military. The captain told the units to hold fast, let the normal business go on uninterrupted. Flight schedules would be maintained.
He called up his radioman and talked on the SATCOM to a colonel on the B force that had landed on the other beach.
“Yes sir. Understood. Two miles from the edge of the airport. Yes sir. Right away.”
He hung up the handset and shook his head. “We leave twenty men at each of the three facilities here and push on to the army GHQ two miles toward town. You want to stay here or come with us?”
“Captain, I’ve been wondering who fired those six RPGs. Had to be somebody in this facility. Why don’t we do security here and try to find those shooters. Should be at least three men, from the way the rounds came in.”
“Yes, hadn’t thought about that. We’ll leave this place in your hands. There should be some choppers from the Boxer here soon to evacuate those wounded. When they do, keep the security Marines with you. We’ll link up later.”
“Make some noise leaving, Captain. We’ll lay low here and try and find the shooters.”
The Marines left the building, formed up outside, and marched away through the airport parking lot, back out the entrance, and toward town.
Murdock told his men the problem. He put two SEALs in the stairways on each floor with instructions to crack the door an inch and watch for any uniformed men or men with weapons. He and Dobler went behind the reception desk and crouched down, waiting.
Ten minutes after the Marines had left, Murdock heard his earpiece come on.
“Skip, third floor. Just saw three men in brown uniforms get on the elevator. Didn’t see any weapons, but they wouldn’t be showing them off, would they. Should be in the lobby shortly.”