Seal Team Seven #20: Attack Mode (32 page)

Murdock’s head snapped up at the words. “Well, ladies, this is a surprise. I expected some hairy chested Iranian soldiers.”

“So were we,” the voice said. One of the women stepped forward into Murdock’s flashlight beam.

“Hi, sweetheart. I’m Molly, and me and my friends here had a date with some dumb-assed Iranian officers. They stink and talk funny but they pay damn well. What the fuck is your excuse for being in this stupid country?”

“We’re trying to blow those same officers right off the face of the earth. We need to borrow your truck.”

“Climb on board. You can’t leave us stuck out here in the desert.”

“True, so we’ll share. Okay, guys, jump on board. Don’t sit on any of the girls up there.”

It was a tight fit and one of the girls giggled.

Murdock went to the front, where Izzy had the engine started and the lights back on. The red flare had long since burned out. Mahanani held up the cap, shirt, pants, and rifle from the dead driver. He waved and jumped in the rear of the truck. They drove down the road, watching closely for anything that might give them trouble.

Over ten miles later they saw lights ahead. Izzy cut the headlamps on the truck and they moved forward at ten miles an hour.

“Might be our target,” Murdock said.

“Enough lights,” Izzy said. “They must be protecting something.” He shook his head. “What can we do with the women?”

“They must be expected. You suppose one of them can drive this rig?”

Izzy pulled to the side of the road and stopped. “Ask them,” he said.

After Murdock asked the question over the tailgate, Molly spoke up.

“Hell yes. Is it a stick with a five-speed, or what? I used to drive a school bus, for God’s sake. I can handle this.”

Murdock helped her down and tried not to notice when the skirt she wore slid up to her waist. She pulled it down and went around to the driver’s side.

“Single-range tranny with a five-speed box,” Izzy told her.

“Piece of cake. You guys want to drop off before we get to the lights, right? Damn. I’ve never met a real live SEAL before. You guys do good work. I used to be with a Navy guy. What are you two grinning about?”

“You,” Murdock said. “You came along at just the right time, with the ability to drive this truck.”

“Yeah, and you and your guys don’t even get one pop. What the hell, it’s a tough life all over. You should hear how most of us girls got shanghaied into this hooker mess.”

Izzy let her drive and sat in the middle. The lights were closer now. “How the fuck close you want to get to this place?” Molly asked.

“Slow down when we can see a gate or a guard post,” Murdock said. “Our guys will drop off the back and charge off the road and into the boonies.”

“You mean something that blocks the road like those two trucks parked end to end up there?” Molly asked.

“That would be it. Okay, SEALs, we’re slowing to five miles an hour. Drop off the rear and move to the righthand side of the road. Go now.”

“I better turn the lights back on so I don’t surprise them. The driver? I’ll say he got sick and fell out of the truck and we couldn’t get him back inside. No problem. These guys are so desperate for a hard-on they’ll believe anything
I tell them, as long as I show them a little tit.”

The truck slowed but kept moving forward. The men at the roadblock wouldn’t be able to tell how fast the truck was moving forward. Murdock and Izzy dropped off the front running board and jogged into the desert-scape to the right. It was mostly sand and rocks, with a few short bushes. Probably had wildflowers and cactus flowers after the few times it rained each year. The men bunched up, and Lam and Murdock got together.

“Half mile up to the lights,” Lam said.

“Let’s move out a half mile to the right and hike around the place to see what we can see,” Murdock said. “One file, five yards apart by squads.”

They hiked forward. Lam was out two hundred yards. This time Murdock went with him.

“Not a big outfit,” Lam said. “Looks like maybe three prefab buildings, a couple of generators, and half a dozen trucks. Probably a barracks, a mess building, and one for working on the plut.”

“Could be. No fence, no exterior guards that I can see.”

“Let’s move up closer,” Lam suggested. “They could have some exterior fixed guard spots, maybe with machine-gun dugouts.”

The line swung in toward the side of the small complex. At two hundred yards, they stopped and both Murdock and Lam used their field glasses to check the building.

“Oh yeah,” Lam said. “The truck with the women just stopped at the farthest building.” Murdock caught the movement and watched as the women slithered down from the truck into the arms of eager Iranians who led them into the building.

“That one we don’t hit if and when we start shooting,” Murdock said. “You spot any machine-gun emplacements?”

“No, but there could be some. What time is it?”

Murdock looked at his lighted-dial watch. “Just after oh-three-hundred.”

“Not time enough to do good recon tonight and hit them,” Lam said. “We need to know how many men they
have, which building has the plut, and what kind of guards they have out.”

“Get Izzy up here,” Murdock said into his mike.

Three minutes later the Iranian CIA agent pushed down beside them in the weeds.

“We still have the uniform from that truck driver?” Murdock asked.

“Yo, I have it,” Mahanani said. “Got some bad bullet holes in the chest, but it would fit Izzy.”

“Get it up here,” Murdock said. He turned to Izzy. “Your chance to do some close-up field work, buddy. You put on the uniform and drop in on your countrymen up there and find out everything you can: how many men, how many scientists, if they have broken down any of the plut yet. We need all the intel we can get. Can you do that?”

“Been waiting four years for a chance like this. Do I have to pack along the guy’s AK-47?”

“Best. You have to blend in. Can you do it?”

“Hell yes. We’re talking about saving the lives of twenty or thirty million people here. I’ve got to give it my best shot. I’ll radio you back what I get, if I can use one of your Motorolas.”

Lam took his set off and put it on Izzy, showing him how it worked in a no-hands operation.

“Go,” Murdock said. The rest of the platoon heard the talk and settled down in resting spots ten yards apart.

“What can we do if they have a hundred armed troops in that barracks building?” Jaybird asked on the net.

“No chance,” Rafii said. “This is a small operation. They won’t risk that many troops when the scientists might goof and radiate everybody in the complex.”

“Yeah,” Fernandez said. “My guess is about twenty guards, five officers, and six scientists in the plut building. They probably are working around the clock.”

“So when we get the word, we should hit them tonight,” Jaybird said. “Fuck this waiting until tomorrow night. They could spot us out here in the daylight and then we’d be in big trouble.”

“Possible to hit them tonight,” Murdock said. “If Professor Fernandez’s estimates hold up. We have only three twenties. That could be enough. Remember, when we start shooting, we take out the middle building. We don’t touch the other two. One has to be where the women are, and the plut should be in the other one. We’ll know as soon as Izzy gets back.”

“Must be all the officers in the far building,” Gardner said.

“Yeah, but with the first few shots the officers will grab their pants and run out with their sub guns,” Prescott said.

“We hope,” Jaybird said.

Then it was quiet for a while.

Izzy had been gone a half hour when the Motorola came on. “I wandered into the middle building trying to burn a cigarette. There were twenty men in there sleeping. It’s a barracks all right and a kitchen in the far end. I can’t get in the plut building. It’s got a guard out front, and he says nobody, not even the officers, get in. He didn’t have any smokes either. I asked if all five of the radiation guys were inside. He told me there were seven. Two more came up yesterday with a whole batch of lead blankets. That’s about it. Three men on the roadblock front gate. I didn’t see any interior guards, or any perimeter guards, so I’d say that’s about the extent of their manpower.”

“Get your CIA ass back here,” Murdock said. “Good work. Let’s have a net check. Gardner, count up your men.”

The men of Bravo Squad sounded off. Then Murdock’s men checked in.

“Okay, move up to us here in a line of skirmishers. Gardner. You have one twenty. Your job is to take out the roadblock and kill the two trucks there with the twenties, then do twenties on the barracks building. That’s the middle building, Izzy told us. The plut building is the one closest to us. When Izzy gets back, we’ll use our twenties on the barracks as Gardner hits the front gate. We move up to a hundred yards before we open fire. Then when
the officers come out of their building, we pick them off with rifle and MP-5 fire. When we have reduced the guards, and taken care of the officers’ building, we’ll take down the plut lab. From there we’ll play it by ear. We want at least two or three trucks that will run, so don’t trash any more of the six-bys except those at the gate. Everybody on the same page?”

Lam nudged Murdock and pointed out front. Two men were coming toward them, both in Iranian soldier uniforms.

“Hold your fire, SEALs. Izzy here with the catch of the day.” The two came into the line and Izzy pushed the other man down. He had captain’s bars on his shoulders. “Gents, meet Captain Sasdi. He’s the head of the guards. He tells me there are only four scientists inside the plut building and they are starting to break it down into the smaller packages. He told me he disagrees with the idea of Iran having nuclear weapons, or selling the plutonium to unstable nations here or in Africa or anywhere. That’s why I let him live.”

“Can you get anything else from him?”

“Not a lot.”

“How many officers in with the women?”

Izzy asked the captain, using Arabic.

“He says there are seven. He’s the Officer of the Day so he had to stay on duty outside.”

Murdock grinned, remembering Fernandez’s estimation. “Okay, guys, we’re moving up to a hundred yards off the nearest building. Gardner, take out the guards at the gate, but save the trucks if you can. All the rest is as before. We don’t fire into the plut building. We’ll have to do that carefully by hand. Let’s move up. Start shooting on my first twenty into the barracks.”

Murdock led the line of skirmishers forward. When he figured they were a hundred yards from the closest building, he went to the ground and brought up the Bull Pup, switched it to 20mm and aimed at the middle building they knew now to be the barracks. He sighted in midway along the side of the wooden structure and fired. Almost
at once four more weapons fired, then he saw his round hit the barracks, penetrate the thin wood sheeting, and explode inside. He put one more 20mm round into the barracks and then shifted to 5.56 and watched the first men come out of the far building. One man was trying to button his shirt. Another hopped on one foot working on pulling up his pants. Both met angry lead slugs from the SEAL guns and went down.

Murdock saw one of the trucks near the front gate blow up. Three soldiers there scattered but were soon hit by SEAL fire and dropped to the ground. He saw two more 20mm rounds go into the barracks. Half a dozen men staggered out a front door and were met by a barrage of small arms fire that cut them down quickly. Smoke poured out windows now as the barracks caught fire.

Two more officers came out the front door on the far structure, and Murdock’s men shot them down and dead.

“Hold fire,” Murdock said into his mike. “Watch for runners and nail them. Let’s move up. Keep a straight line. Gardner, take your squad and check out the officers’ building. Have Rafii yell into the door for the soldiers to come out or they will be hunted down and killed. Remember the women are still in there.”

“That’s a roger, Cap.”

“Alpha, we’ll concentrate on the plut building. Let’s sprint for it, and watch for any live ones outside.” They ran. Jaybird chopped a three-round burst at a soldier running for the front gate. He caught two of the three slugs, went down, sprawling in the powdery dirt, and never got up.

Alpha Squad hit the side of the building and held. Murdock and Lam edged around to the front. The guard who had been there before lay to the side moaning. Bradford put a round into the back of his head and Murdock checked the door. It was locked. He stepped back and fired three rounds of 5.56 into the area right beside the door handle. The door shuddered, then swung open an inch.

Murdock kicked the door open and held to the side of
the building, out of any line of fire. No shots came. He and Jaybird pointed directions, then they dove into the opening, Murdock to the right. He rolled and came up on a concrete slab in a brightly lighted building with no windows and just the one door. The rest of the squad came into the room right behind them. Ahead he could see the remains of one plut crate. The other bottle, still crated, stood to one side.

Izzy saw movement down the building and called out in Arabic. “Everyone in this building is under arrest. Put down any weapons you may have and stand and walk forward with your hands in the air.”

Two men in white labcoats came from behind a partial partition and walked forward. Bradford and Lam put them on the floor and bound their wrists and ankles with plastic riot cuffs.

Izzy called again, but no more Arabs came to them. Murdock checked the layout. The half wall was to the left and ahead twenty feet. Between here and there he saw a forklift, several four-wheel carts, but no sign of the large plut bottle. Murdock signaled to Jaybird, and they covered each other as they rushed down to the partition. Murdock looked around it. He jerked his head back and a rifle cracked ahead and the slug tore into the wooden wall about where Murdock’s head had been.

He dropped to the floor and fired six rounds from the 5.56. He looked around again and saw a man topple slowly from where he had hidden behind a cardboard box. Good concealment but no protection.