“Commander, good to see you. Where are the rest of you?”
“I told you, Ensign, they’re on the beach. I have two seriously wounded who can’t swim. We don’t leave our men behind. I want you to run into that beach. It’s just west of the channel in to the naval base, about two miles from here.”
“Can’t do that, Commander. That would seriously jeopardize the safety of my men and my ship.”
Murdock grabbed him by the shirtfront and pushed him against the bulkhead. “Listen up, shithead. I have fourteen men in there, and you are endangering their lives. I outrank you, mister. Now get this tub turned around and headed for shore. I’ll guide you when you get close enough.”
“No, Commander. On my boat I’m the captain, and I outrank you.”
“You’re putting your own safety ahead of fourteen men? Those are my SEALs in there, mister. You better reconsider your position. The admiral on the carrier personally sent us on this mission. He wouldn’t be at all happy with your orders.”
“Sorry, I won’t jeopardize my boat or my men. That’s final. Coxswain, let’s head back for the carrier.”
Murdock hit him flush on the jaw with his best right cross, and the ensign went down like a sack of wet concrete. The sailor grinned and tossed Murdock a .45 automatic. Murdock pulled back the slide and heard a round slip into the chamber.
“Coxswain, let’s head for shore. Low throttle. We don’t want to attract any attention. You have radio contact with the Enterprise?”
“Yes sir.”
“Get them. Tell them the situation and that we’ll want a search and rescue chopper to meet us once we get our men on board and we head for the ship. Have them get in the air now and be here soonest. We’re about two miles off Iran and picking up fourteen SEALs. One has a bad chest wound, the other a stomach wound. Both bullet wounds. Go.”
The sailor nodded and hurried into the small cockpit.
Murdock hung with the coxswain.
“Sir, the ensign is usually a good man, but tonight he was nervous as hell about this mission. He’s gun shy. Never been shot at.”
“Too bad he fell down that way and hit his jaw on the rail.”
The coxswain grinned. “Yeah, too damn bad, sir. That’s exactly what happened. I saw it.”
They lifted the throttle to ten knots and drove forward, not making much noise, but Murdock knew it was too much. He didn’t care. He wanted his men back.
Three minutes later, he could see the glow of the lights at the naval base.
“Yeah, now ten degrees left. The men are on the west bank of the channel. Ease off the throttle.”
Murdock took out his Motorola. “Hey, SEALs, you hear us coming?”
“That we do, Skipper,” Senior Chief Dobler said. “Probably half of Iran does, too. No action here. Must be afraid to find out what happened to that patrol.”
“Get the swimmers in the water. We’ll come in stern first. Use everyone to lift the injured into the boat. How close are we?”
“No way to tell,” Dobler said. “Hey, yeah, I can see a small wake, two hundred yards, maybe less. Keep it coming.”
Murdock went into the stern. The coxswain would turn the boat around and back in the last few yards until the stern grounded.
They turned, and Murdock could see his men moving into the water, getting ready with the two wounded. The Pegasus hit the sand of the point in two feet of water. Murdock stepped down to the platform and jumped into the water. Jaybird and Dobler had Bradford halfway to the boat. Four men helped lift him in and jumped in to put Bradford down on a stretcher the boat crewmen had brought out.
Then the JG came. He walked partway, then his knees caved in, and Lampedusa and Ronson caught him and carried him to the boat.
In a minute and a half, the wounded and the rest of the SEALs were on board. Lights of a vehicle cut through the night behind them and curved around the rise above them.
“All aboard,” Murdock bellowed.
“Hang on,” the coxswain shouted, and the Pegasus’s engines roared and the sleek boat ground off the shore sand and shot forward into the strait. Behind them, a machine gun chattered, but it was aimed at the wrong side of the beach.
They were almost a mile offshore when the coxswain called to Murdock.
“We’ve got a patrol boat showing on our radar. He’s three miles off to the east and making eighteen knots. He can’t catch us. We’ll kick it up to thirty knots if your wounded can take the shake.”
“Give it a try. How are we with that chopper?”
The crewman who manned the radio came up.
“Made contact, sir. They launched about twenty minutes ago. They want our speed and course so they can intercept.”
Murdock looked at the coxswain. “Tell him. I want these men to have medical attention as soon as possible.”
“Once we’re ten miles out from shore, we’ll turn on all our lights,” the Coxswain said.
“What happened to the ensign?” Murdock asked.
“He has a bad headache. He gave me the con until we get back to the carrier.”
Murdock chuckled. “Yeah, good move.”
He went inside the cabin where Bradford lay on a bunk. Mahanani bent over him, changing the bandage. He gave him another shot of morphine.
“In and out of consciousness, Skipper. “What I’m worried about is peritonitis. Round might have ruptured an intestine. All that shit mixed up in the cavity down there works the same way when an appendix bursts. It can kill a man damn fast. I’m watching him. The JG is not in any danger, just a hell of a lot of pain. Damn, Skipper, you know that makes seven of our sixteen men who have been wounded so far on this fucked-up mission?”
They saw no more Iranian patrol boats. Ten miles out, the Pegasus showed every light that it had and stood out in the dark gulf like a firefly looking for a mate.
Murdock heard the radioman talking with the search and rescue chopper.
Ten minutes later, the bird turned on its lights and came over the Pegasus, which had throttled down and stopped.
The radioman came out. “When the basket comes down, be sure not to touch it until it hits the deck. It will have a tremendous charge of static electricity from the rotor wash.
“When it hits, we hold it, get Bradford in first and strap him down, then they lift him away.”
Bradford was unconscious again when they carried him out on the boat’s stretcher. They eased him out of it, into the basket, and fastened the straps.
The loudspeaker came on when DeWitt was safely in the chopper.
“You men do good work. We have your SEALs safely stowed. We also have a doctor on board who will do what he can on our return trip. We’re about forty-five minutes from the carrier. See you there.”
The lights snapped off, the chopper slanted away, and then raced at full speed to the southwest.
The Pegasus got under way, then speeded up and hit forty knots, and Murdock used the radio. The radio operator on board the carrier said he’d find Don Stroh and have him call the Pegasus.
Twenty minutes later, Stroh called.
“Stroh, your little boats should be at the bottom of the naval base. We’ve had some casualties.”
“I heard your call for an S&R bird.”
“True, the JG and Bradford. Bradford is serious, maybe critical. I want you to get down to sick bay and ride herd on those medics. Let me know what happens. It’ll be at least three hours before we get on board. Get me a report on both of them.”
“Yes, will do. Congratulations on the prank. Mother is happy.”
“Enough of the wild talk, Stroh. Get down to sick bay. They should be landing any minute.”