Seal Team Seven: Hostile Fire Part 12

"Find the Hussein Parkway and head east," Gypsy said. "Then watch for the turnoff to Al Kazimiyah. That will be the highway to Jordan. I don't remember its number. It will be close to a small river."

Ten minutes later they found the parkway, and soon the turnoff to the highway leading west.

"This is the main highway?" Murdock asked. "It's only two lanes."

"We're lucky it's blacktopped," Gypsy said. "Our glorious president would rather spend money on missiles and bombs than on roads and bread. We're holding on by our teeth here." She sat up and frowned. "I guess I should say the Iraqis are holding on, since I won't be with them much longer." She looked out the window. "I really didn't expect to be alive by this time," she said. "Once the Secret Police get a kill order on you, there's no way to last more than a day or two."

"That's when there aren't three U.S. Navy SEALs watching your back," Ching said. "I hear you can fire an AK-47?"

Gypsy turned to him and smiled. "Yes, that I can do. I was second in marksmanship in my women's army battalion of four hundred. Oh, I forgot to tell you. The colonel said that he took two hundred troops to the desert to protect the bomb plant. He said they had heavy weapons. Would that be fifty-caliber machine guns and maybe some shoulder-fired rockets?"

"Probably, which is not good news for our side," Murdock said.

A half hour later they were through the little towns near Baghdad and racing down the road almost due east. The Chevy's odometer was calibrated in miles not meters, so it must have been an import.

"How long until it gets dark?" Murdock asked.

"Probably about seven o'clock," Gypsy said.

"How big a gas tank on this bucket?" Ching asked. "Maybe fourteen gallons? If this crate can get twenty miles to the gallon, we'll be lucky. That's two hundred and eighty miles. How far is the target?"

"We figured about two hundred and forty to that little town, then whatever south we need," Rafii said. "We might have enough petrol."

"If we don't?" Gypsy asked.

"Easy," Rafii said. "We dump this one, steal a car in that town, Ar Rutbah, and drive south until we hit those two hundred troops."

"Just how the h.e.l.l do we link up with the rest of the platoon?" Ching asked.

"All we can do is use the SATCOM and tell them where we are," Murdock said. "They'll have to come find us. Or if we hear a firefight somewhere, we circle around and try to get behind the good guys."

"Lights ahead," Ching said.

Murdock saw them about the same time. Looked like a pair of army trucks parked across the road. They were at a hundred yards now and no way they could fade into the desert. Murdock slowed and Rafii slid under him as Murdock went high and they changed places, with the Iraq native now driving. He rolled up to the barrier. Near the two trucks stood four soldiers, each holding a submachine gun at the ready.

"What's our story?" Rafii whispered. Before anyone could answer, one guard tapped on the window that was halfway down.

"We don't get much traffic this late at night," the guard said. "Where are you from and where are you going?"

15.

Rafii held out his papers. "We're from Baghdad and we're heading for a little town called Ubaylah. Hope we haven't missed it. They didn't tell us it was this far out here. My uncle's funeral. Tomorrow morning. We should have started earlier. What time is it, anyway?"

The guard shrugged. "You didn't miss it. Not far now. You'll come to Ar Rutbah. A few kilometers past that place you turn right. A funeral? It's a bad time to die."

"Anytime is bad for dying. Did you see a fairly new Citron coming this way? I thought our relatives would be ahead of us."

"Haven't seen them tonight. Maybe you beat them." The soldier guard looked at Rafii's papers in the beam of his flashlight, then handed them back. "Time? I don't have a watch. Get out of here so I can take a nap."

Rafii waved at the guard, the trucks pulled apart, and the old Chevy eased through, then sped up and drove away from the soldiers.

"Good thinking, Rafii," Gypsy said. "Funerals are highly important in this country. Almost everyone comes to a good funeral."

"We should be fairly close," Murdock said. "We need to decide when to ditch the car and hike."

"We drive until we get stopped or see lights around the place," Rafii said. "If there are any lights."

"We've got the two sub guns and our pistols if we get stopped at a checkpoint," Ching said. "They'll have at least one, maybe two or three, on that dirt road. My guess is we get stopped not far down the dirt road from that little town."

"If we don't want to advertise that we're here, we better ditch the truck before we get stopped," Murdock said. "Gypsy, you have good shoes on?"

"I can hike in what I have. No heels. I could use a shirt if one of you has an extra one. It gets cold out here in the desert at night."

"Rafii," Murdock said.

Rafii grinned and took off the shirt he wore as he drove. Murdock held the wheel as he got it off his shoulders. They all had put on two shirts before they left Gypsy's place. Rafii was the smallest of the three; even so, his shirt hung on Gypsy like a blanket. She pinched it in and then tucked it into the top of the long skirt she wore that came almost to her ankles.

"Ready for duty," she said.

"You get one of the AKs," Murdock said. "Let's load up and get ready to travel."

Ten minutes later they saw lights ahead.

"Has to be the town," Rafii said. "Now all we need to do is find that dirt road leading south. I'll turn left off the main highway and work the back streets until we find something that looks like it could take a lot of heavy trucks, which must have had to run down this way just to build a complex out here. Everyone keep your eyes open. Even in the dark we might be able to spot something."

"Just after midnight," Murdock said. "Most of these houses are dark. Let's hope there isn't much military in town, and that the cops are all taking a break."

Three blocks down on a back street, Rafii pulled the Chevy to a stop. Fifty yards ahead a string of headlights cut into the night.

"Army trucks," Rafii said. "Like our six-by-sixes. Covered, haul men or equipment or supplies. Could be a nightly supply train to prevent it from being spotted by the satellites."

"Let them get a couple of miles ahead of us," Murdock said. "Then we'll follow them as far as we can. Move when you're ready, Rafii."

They waited five minutes after the last truck had gone past.

"I counted eighteen," Ching said. "Haul a heap of stuff in all those trucks."

"Let's hope they aren't two hundred more defensive troops," Murdock said.

Rafii pulled the Chevy onto the dirt road. The dust had settled, and they saw the camouflage fake trees and shrubs that evidently would be pulled back into the dirt trail before daylight.

"Not a straight road," Rafii said. "Taking some gentle curves one way and then the other. Make it harder to pick up by the satellite."

"We're two miles down the dirt," Ching said as he watched the odometer. "I'd say we're overdue for a checkpoint."

Rafii stopped and cut the lights, then he crept forward, trying to get his night vision established. "I want to see them before they see us," he said.

"Lock and load," Murdock said. The other three pushed magazines into weapons and checked chambers.

Two miles later, Rafii slowed and stopped. "I've got some lights about half a mile down the road. Could be a checkpoint or another truck coming this way. Up to you, Cap."

"Drive off the road to get the Chevy out of the wash of any truck lights," Murdock said. "We're on our shank's mares from here on in. Let's get the SATCOM up and running."

When the Chevy ground to a stop in the deep sand thirty yards off the dirt road, the four got out and Ching set up the SATCOM on the hood and positioned the antenna. Murdock took the handset.

"This is Underground One. We are in the area near the bomb factory. We are north of it. Figure you're coming up from the south. We'll try to circle the complex, when we find it. We're about five miles south of the town of Ar Rutbah on a dirt road. Our information is that there are two hundred troops defending the factory and they have heavy weapons. Be careful. Hope to find you soon."

The transmission went out in a quick burst when Murdock pushed the b.u.t.ton. They looked at each other in the darkness.

"Okay, troops, we move. Rafii and I out front with the sub guns, Gypsy with her AK follows us by ten yards and Ching brings up the rear with the other AK. If ten yards is too far to see each other, close it up. We'll stay at least fifty off the dirt track. Rafii, you keep the road in sight; I'll be on your left. Remember, this is a silent move. No firing unless you need to, to save your skin. Let's move."

There was almost no moon out and Murdock was both pleased and worried about that. A little moonlight would help them stay together and keep the road in sight. Too much and they'd be easy targets. He brought out the thermal imager and watched the area ahead as they walked. Nothing hot showed on the black screen. Then for a moment he saw something white skitter across the view screen and disappear. A desert hare, maybe a coyote. Did they have coyotes in the Syrian Desert? Murdock didn't know. He watched where he walked now and scanned ahead every two or three minutes.

They had moved out less than five hundred yards when Rafii dropped to the ground. Murdock saw him and went down. Behind him he saw the other two drop to the rocky desert sand. A moment later two sets of headlights bored through the darkness and they heard the growl of truck engines. Rafii skittered back beside Murdock.

"Sounds like they are loaded," Rafii said. "Hope they aren't hauling the bombs out to some strategic airstrip. Does Iraq have any planes big enough to haul a heavy, crudely made bomb aloft?"

"Not sure," Murdock said. Then they stopped talking as the two trucks rolled through the dirt on the road, setting up a good cloud of dust that settled back almost in place, with no wind to whip it around.

The two trucks moved slowly, and when they were past, Rafii jumped up, moved to his position, and waved the small party forward. Murdock was glad it was trucks and not a checkpoint. They could have a dozen men strung out at outposts on both sides at a roadblock. He certainly would. He hoped the Iraqis figured they were more secure than that.

They hiked for a half hour and in the distance could see a soft glow against some low clouds. Murdock brought them together still fifty yards off the dirt track.

"Gypsy, how are you doing?"

"Great. I'm a walker at home. This is no problem. We used to do twenty-mile marches in the battalion. I'd forgotten how heavy these d.a.m.n AKs really are."

"You have some spare mags?"

"Three of them, in my shirt pockets."

"Let's pick up the pace. We're going to jog for two miles and see where that gets us." Murdock took the lead and set the pace. He didn't want to lose Gypsy. He put her right behind him and told her to sound off if she wanted to stop. She nodded.

After the first half mile they could see the lights in the distance. Not a lot, but in total darkness just a few stood out. Then, they all snapped off in a nanosecond.

Murdock stopped the crew.

"My guess is that they know a satellite is coming over and they don't want the lights to show. d.a.m.n smart of them. We've got the direction. We must be another three miles away. Let's keep moving. The satellite will be gone in ten or fifteen minutes. My guess is that the lights will come back on then."

They hiked forward again, Murdock using a bright star in the lightless night for his direction. Twenty minutes after the lights snapped off, they came back. Murdock put the people down on the ground and stared at the complex. They were closer than he had expected.

They were less than half a mile from the first building. It was one story and a line of trucks was parked near it as if waiting to unload.

"d.a.m.n," Ching said. "No fences, no barbed wire, no guard towers, just that one building and about twenty lights around it. Where is the factory?"

"Underground like the man told us," Murdock said. "That building must be an elevator housing to get goods down to the people working and living below."

"So where are the two hundred troops?" Gypsy asked. "They can't defend much underground."

"We might be right on top of them," Murdock said. "If I were defending this place, I'd take twenty squads of ten men each and position them in a ring around the factory. Put them out five hundred yards, which means we could be stumbling on them if they are there."

"Wait and listen" Rafii said. "These troops are well known for lack of discipline-jingling equipment, laughter, even smoking."

The other three looked at Murdock. "So we move and we listen," Murdock said in a soft whisper. "For starters we head due east away from the factory. We get out another half mile, then go south again to circle this place. Quiet, and listen for any enemy sounds. Rafii, lead out east."

Murdock dropped back beside Gypsy. He reached out for the rifle and she shook her head; then when he caught the barrel, she nodded and let go of the ten pounds of rifle and rounds. Murdock shouldered it with the muzzle up on the strap and moved forward.

They had gone what Murdock figured was almost a mile when Rafii dropped to the ground. The rest did the same. Murdock crawled up through the rocks and sand, and now and again cactus of some kind, to where Rafii lay at the edge of a wadi. The gully was twenty feet deep here and seemed to Murdock like it gradually became shallower as he looked south.

Murdock used the thermal imager. "Nothing," he said.

"Listen," Rafii whispered.

They did. Murdock heard it then, faintly but it was there-muted laughter, some conversation, the jingle of what could be mess gear, then a low soulful tune on a flute.

"Around, or through?" Rafii asked. "If they have a fire, we could wipe them out in our first volley."

"Too much noise. The next squad would surely hear and send out scouts. We stay silent and go around them. Find a place we can cross this wadi without breaking our legs."

The spot came south two hundred yards. Everyone knew about the Iraqi troops and moved silently. The flow of sudden downpour rainwater had formed a new small wadi that came in from the right, carving down the side of the larger gully. They went down there and up the far side, which wasn't as steep. They swept east again another half mile, then turned south.

Two more miles and Murdock turned them back west again. They could just make out the faint lights of the elevator house at the factory. Murdock figured they were two miles south of the complex now and moved another five hundred yards to hunt a wadi they could vanish into if daylight came before he expected it to.

Rafii found another wadi five minutes later, and the four of them dropped down the eight-foot slopes and rested on the smooth, dry watercourse bottom.

"We're here," Ching said. "Now what the h.e.l.l are we supposed to do?"

"First, we tell the rest of the platoon where we are," Murdock said. "Ching, do the honors again."

Ching set up the SATCOM and zeroed in the antenna at the orbiting relay satellite in the sky.

"This is Underground One," Murdock said. "We're in position about two miles south of the factory. Nothing shows aboveground except one camouflaged elevator house. I've an idea it may lower into the ground when not in use. We're waiting. I figure the factory is about eight or nine miles south of Ar Rutbah, which may put it in the Southern No-Fly Zone. How do we connect up with you guys? Out."

Ching lifted his brows, put away the radio, and slumped against the side of the wash. Murdock moved upward so he could see over the top of the wadi, and aimed the thermal imager into a small downslope. He pa.s.sed it over the area several times but came up with no hot-blooded man or animal. They hadn't had time to work out any kind of a hookup plan before they left Kuwait. It was his job to get his platoon back together again before they attacked the factory. He shook his head. He had absolutely no idea how to contact the rest of the platoon. All he could do now was wait and see what developed the rest of the night, and hope that tomorrow in the daylight they could hide from any roving Iraqi patrols.

16.