By midnight when they left the woods, the clouds had blown away and a cold half-moon rode high in the sky. They moved silently the mile to the resort building in a combat diamond. They saw no guards, and no lights bathed the outer walls. The platoon leaned against the wall and waited.
At the door, Charley got a thumbs-up from Murdock, and the small Korean pounded on the wooden door. Nothing happened. He pounded again, longer this time. A thin sliver of light showed under the door.
The third time he pounded, a pair of knocks came in response. Charley talked in Korean, waited, then said the words again.
Nothing happened.
Charley talked again, and slid three one-hundred-won notes under the door. The money vanished as someone grabbed it. He pushed three more of the bills under the door. They were pulled away. The door opened an inch and a Korean voice spoke softly. Charley held a stack of the one-hundred-won notes so the person beyond the door could see them.
A moment later a hand reached through the wider opening. Murdock grabbed the hand, rammed the door open, and pulled the Korean outside. Murdock's hand clamped over the frightened man's mouth. They kept the door open a crack. Then Charley pushed the North Korean civilian against the outside wall and began talking to him. His voice was low and threatening.
Slowly the North Korean shook his head. Charley punched him in the face three times so quick the man had no chance to duck. He slumped against the wall, then slid down to a sitting position.
Charley kicked him in the crotch, and the door guard gurgled in pain and terror. This time when Charley talked to him, he replied in a low voice filled with fear.
Charley stood and grinned. "The general is still here. He's on the top floor in the grand suite. There are armed military guards on the third floor, about a dozen of them. Some of them are drunk, others with women. When this misbegotten one can walk again, he'll lead the way."
Murdock nodded and checked the door. He pushed it inward until he could see around the dimly lit courtyard. In the center was a pool with a garden around it. The buildings on both sides were twenty feet away. This outer wall connected them.
Murdock went back to the North Korean civilian and lifted him to his feet. He motioned ahead, and the man struggled to take a step, then a second one. By the time they were through the door, he walked almost normally. He waved them toward the left-hand building. They saw no one in the courtyard, which was about a hundred feet across. Murdock told DeWitt to keep Bravo Sq uad near the first building and be ready to come to back him up.
Inside the nearest building, Murdock and Alpha Squad went up a stairway to the second floor, then down the hallway. They saw no one. Loud music came from one room. This building was set up like a good hotel. At the end of the hall they came to another door that led to stairs.
The Korean motioned them forward, but hung back. Murdock pushed him to lead them, and they went up the steps. When they came to the door, Murdock pushed it open an inch and looked through. They were on the third floor. Where were the armed guards?
He spotted two down the corridor. It was only twenty feet long here, and opened into a large reception area with four doors leading off it. The two NK Army men leaned against the wall outside the first door. Both had rifles, which they had slung over their shoulders with the muzzles down.
Murdock waved the man behind him, Jaybird, up to the door. Jaybird took a look. He flattened out on the floor and brought up his H&K subgun.
"I've got the one on the right," Jaybird whispered. Murdock knelt behind him and sighted in with his own MP-5.
"Fire," Murdock whispered, and both men triggered their weapons. The single shots stung the two NK guards. One took a heart shot and went down dead without a murmur. The second one caught the round in the chest, but it missed his heart. He staggered against the wall and tried to lift his rifle. Both Murdock and Jaybird got off single shots at about the same time, and the guard went down and didn't move.
Murdock checked the hallway. He saw no more guards. He was about ready to move into the hall when four uniformed soldiers came out of one room, laughing and buttoning their shirts and pants.
They saw the downed men and yelled. None had a weapon. Murdock and Jaybird switched to full auto on the MP-5 submachine guns and fired into the quartet. Two went down; one stormed back into the room he had just left. The fourth tried for the door beside the dead soldiers, but didn't make it.
"Go!" Murdock shrilled, and he led his seven men through the door. They covered each of the four doors and waited. When nothing happened. Murdock tried the door where the two guards had been. Locked. He stepped back and slammed his boot against the wood near the knob and jolted it inward. He had jumped to one side, but no gunfire sounded inside the room. He peered into it from floor level, and saw only a hotel type room with two beds and four naked bodies.
Two men and two women looked up and drunkenly waved, then went back to their sexual entertainment.
Murdock checked the uniforms thrown on the floor. No stars. The men were too young. He came out of the room just as four North Korean soldiers with AK-47's barged out of the middle door. Six SEAL weapons fired on them before they had targets, and all four went down dead or dying.
Jaybird rushed into the room they had just left and returned a moment later.
"Empty, Skip," he said softly.
Two more doors.
Murdock pointed men to doors, and they kicked down the doors at the same time. Gunfire blasted through one of the open doors. Murdock threw in a grenade, and he and three SEALs stormed in when the shrapnel stopped flying. They found two NK officers, naked and both dead from the fragger.
The other room held six women, in various stages of undress, awaiting the pleasure of the Army officers.
"Ask them where the general is," Murdock told Charley. He did, and the women giggled and rubbed his crotch until he backed away. "They say general old man, he don't fuck. He's down in the kitchen cooking."
Murdock and his men went down the stairs and picked up their talkative captive, and Charley had him lead them to the kitchen on the first floor.
They went in another building toward the back. They saw no soldiers outside. This was a secure area for them. Charley chattered with the North Korean captive.
"In this door, down a long corridor, and then to the right is kitchen."
Lam led out, with Murdock right behind him. Just as they came into the corridor, Lam saw a soldier come into the hall from the other end. Lam's Colt carbine put three silent slugs into the man before he knew they were there. He bounced off the wall, hit the floor, and rolled on his back, dead of lead poisoning.
They ran on rubber-soled boots down the hall. Lam peered around the corner of the hall, and saw two guards outside another door. Ching leaned around the corner at the same time. Both men fired three-round bursts and cut down the guards.
Murdock and his Alpha Squad lined up on both sides of the kitchen door. Murdock and Ronson jolted through the door and scanned the well-equipped kitchen.
General Soo Chung Chi stood at a stove, a large skillet in one hand and a measuring cup in the other. Behind him stood two naked Korean girls about twelve years old. He wore his Army uniform with the stars on his shoulders, a white apron, and a white chef's hat.
He put the skillet down gently on the stove and the measuring cup beside it. He turned toward the intruders, bowed, and looked at Charley. "Do not hurt the girls, they are innocents. No, I did not molest them. I am an artist by choice. I painted them.'" Charley translated the words quickly for Murdock.
General Soo turned and waved the girls away. They scampered past the stoves and refrigerators and out a door.