A body fell into the water to her left and she turned, fearing it was Hamilton, but she saw a man she didn’t recognize staring back at her, his eyes wide open in shock. He was one of the North Korean soldiers, and he had a pair of bullet holes in his face.
Kristen was numb. She could hear nothing any longer. Nothing felt real. She looked back at Grogan and he was trying to tell her something. As if in a dream she leaned down to him, and she felt his hands grip her arms. “Take the radio,” he managed, referring to the waterproof radio he carried on his back to communicate with the Seawolf. “Take it.”
“But…” she felt she should be doing something to save him. Then cold reality again gripped her. If she sat there and allowed her fear to take over, she would die. She helped the injured SEAL roll onto his side and as she did so, she felt the warm wash of blood from a terrible wound in his side. She removed one of the two radios he carried and then rolled him back over.
“Go,” he tried to bark, but only managed to croak.
Kristen thought about the medical kits they each carried. There had to be something she could do for him. She couldn’t just runaway and leave him to die or be captured. She reached for his medical kit and grabbed a battle dressing, thinking maybe if she cinched it down tight enough she might be able to staunch the flow of blood pouring from his chest. But as she looked back up at him, she saw his lifeless eyes staring back at her.“Chief?” she asked in shock.
Hamilton ducked back down in the horseshoe and shouted, “Last mag!”
She looked at the SEAL as he inserted his last magazine, and she saw at least one tear in his body armor where he’d been hit, but there was nothing in his appearance that made her think he was close to giving up. Just the opposite in fact.
“The Chief….” she mumbled numbly.
Hamilton hardly glanced at — who she assumed — had been a close friend. “He’s gone.”
Kristen knew she needed to move. She looked at the radio and then at her rifle.
Hamilton grabbed her and brutishly shook her. “Wake the fuck up, lady,” he barked. “Either move or die!”
His words dragged her out of her shock, and she keyed the radio trying to remember the call signs. “Delta Six, Delta Six, this is Jackhammer,” she called to the Seawolf, not sure if they would respond.
Less than three seconds later, she heard a voice over the radio, “Jackhammer, this is Delta-Six. What’s your situation, over?”
“We’re under heavy fire and pinned on the beach,” she replied. “Multiple casualties,” she added, trying to think about what she should say. But before she could say more, Hamilton thrust her into the waves, and she was instantly underwater. She heard a muffled explosion and came up sputtering. She had lost the radio in the surf, but saw Hamilton back on his feet. He was over Grogan’s body and she saw the level-headed SEAL destroy Grogan’s emergency beacon and second radio.
He then turned toward her. Kristen was searching for the second radio she’d lost in the surf. “Let’s move, lady!” Hamilton barked.
“I lost the radio,” she argued.
“Fuck it,” he answered. “Get out of here, I’ll cover you!”
Kristen, taking his advice waded back into the surf as Hamilton fired the last few rounds he had in his rifle. She was in waist deep water as he discarded his rifle and drew his pistol. It was then she realized he was sacrificing himself so she might get clear.
Kristen wasn’t a commando. She had no business questioning anything Hamilton told her to do. But without thought, she moved back toward him, raising her rifle. As she moved toward him, she fumbled with her rifle’s harness. On reaching him, she handed the rifle to him, “Take it!” she insisted, “I’m worthless with it.”
“I said get the fuck out of here!” he growled as he took the rifle and resumed firing short controlled bursts.
“Not without you!” she replied and grabbed his armor and began pulling the husky commando back into the surf.
Once they were back in water nearly chest deep, she released him. He ejected another spent magazine and she handed him a fresh one. He took it and reloaded as he barked, “Mask on!”
Kristen pulled on her mask with trembling hands. She could see the shadows of North Korean soldiers dancing in the light of the flares and vehicle headlights.
“Fall back!” he shouted as he moved between her and the incoming bullets. Kristen had regained some of her composure, and once more grabbed Hamilton by the back of his armor and pulled the hard-hitting SEAL into deeper water.
“Not without you!” she reminded him, refusing to leave anyone else behind.
She again saw Alvarez’s body floating on the waves and she felt bitter bile rising in her gut. “We shouldn’t leave him,” she protested, knowing they had no choice.
Hamilton probably knew both Grogan and Alvarez better than most, but the SEAL swallowed his grief at the loss of his two comrades and pushed her toward deeper water. “Keep moving,” he ordered grimly. Leaving the bodies of their comrades behind went against everything she’d ever been taught. But Hoover was gone under the waves with Choi and heading for the mini-sub. There was no way they could evacuate the bodies, and if she and Hamilton didn’t join Hoover soon, they would die beside their comrades.
Hamilton spun and she saw what could only be called a snarl appear on his face. She pulled him to her. “Where are you hit?!”
He ignored her, and she saw a grenade appear in his meaty hand. “Frag out!” he shouted and hurled the grenade.
Kristen was turning to get into deeper water when she felt something strike her. It hit with the force of a sledgehammer. The wind was knocked out of her, and she was slammed backward into the water. The pain was intense but she managed to right herself and look down at her chest. There was a pair of neat holes in the front of her rebreather.
“I’ve been shot?” she asked in disbelief.
She then felt a strong hand grab her by her armor and pull her under the waves.
Chapter Fifty Two
Tense. Anxious. On edge. All of these rang somewhat hollow as Graves considered the mood in the control center.
A combination of Emergency Action Messages ordering the Seawolf to load one of the nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and stand by for a launch order that was considered imminent; what looked like the entire North Korean Eastern fleet heading right for the Seawolf in response to the SEALs being discovered ashore; and — not the least of their worries — the fact that it had been three hours since they’d heard the cryptic message from Kristen informing them that the mission had gone bad.
All combined to create a mood of impending disaster that felt inevitable.
The first indication that Kristen and the SEALs were in trouble had occurred three hours earlier, when the Seawolf’s reed-like ESM antenna had picked up a sharp increase in the North Korean military communications of all types. Many of these transmissions had been in the clear, indicating an emergency. Then they’d received the message from Kristen. Since then, they’d heard nothing from Grogan or the others.
The team was now an hour overdue.
An underwater shockwave hit the hull, sending a tremor through the entire submarine. Every eye turned anxiously toward Brodie while Graves and COB looked at the status board to make certain the Seawolf was unharmed. Once they saw that the sub was okay, they too looked toward Brodie as if he might know what had caused the shockwave. Over the past three hours, sonar had reported smaller explosions in the direction of the minefield, indicating the North Koreans were pursuing the retreating SDV and surviving SEALs as they tried to withdraw through the narrow channel. Sonar had classified the small explosions as regular hand grenades dropped into the water like makeshift depth charges trying to disable the SDV.