Read Seal Team Seven #20: Attack Mode Online
Authors: Keith Douglass
Seal Team Seven #20: Attack Mode (35 page)
Ching smiled as he thought of it. Yes, it would work. The young man would recover. He wouldn’t be identified. Yes. Ching looked at the window. It was multi-paned, with narrow strips of bamboo holding the panes together. He looked again and saw that the two men watched a movie on TV. He was about ready to make his move when a door down the side of the building opened on the patio and a man came out. He was older, moved slower than the first guard, but he carried a pistol.
“Chung, where are you?” the man called in a voice that carried across the rooftop. “If you’re drunk on duty again, I’ll have your ears and your father will disinherit you. Come on, come out from where you’re hiding.”
The second guard walked toward Ching, who edged against the building, past a small out-thrust that gave him cover. The guard kept talking as he came. At the last second, Ching leaped out from his hiding spot and hit the extended wrist of the guard’s pistol arm with the butt of his .45. He heard the bones crack. The guard gave a startled cry of pain; then the .45 slashed across his forehead and he passed out. Ching caught him and put him on the roof. He tied his hands and ankles and put on a gag. Then he looked back inside. The two men were as they had been before.
Ching backed up and judged the distance. Then he ran, ducked his head, lowered his shoulder, and hit the multi-panel window, smashing it inward, jolting many of the glass panels out of their holders, and breaking others. He hit the window shoulder-high, dove to the carpet inside,
rolled, and came to his feet with the .45 up and pointed at the pair.
“Don’t move, don’t make a sound, or I’ll kill both of you,” Ching said.
Kwan Tung squinted. “Yes, I know you. The disloyal son of an old friend from San Francisco. Yes. Ching. I remember.”
“Good, old man. I’m here to pay you back for trying to kill me, and for trying to frame me for one of your killings. She was probably just one of your prostitutes, but she was a human being.”
The young man moved his arm, and Ching fired a silenced round into the chair beside him.
“I don’t know who you are, kid, but one more move like that and you’re dead meat, understand?
“Yes, yes.” Sweat poured off the young Chinese man’s forehead and ran into his eyes. He shivered.
“I want you to know who I am,” Ching said. “When this is over, you’ll never send any of your men near me, understand? You’ll never again try to harm me, or I’ll go to the police with what I know.” Ching looked around the room. A vase sat on a coffee table. Nothing was in it. It was a delicate design, and Ching knew it must be one of the famous collection of Ming Dynasty vases the old man was so proud of.
Ching backed toward the table, keeping the men under his gun. He picked up the vase and threw it against the wall. It shattered into a hundred pieces.
Kwan Tung gasped, then his face turned red and he blurted out words that made little sense. He calmed slowly and glared at Ching.
“That vase was a Ming. It had been valued at more than a million and a half dollars. You are a beast.”
“I’m just getting started. Right now I want you, old man, to strip naked. Now. Do it now or I’ll put a bullet in each of your knees and you’ll never walk again.”
Slowly the old Chinese stripped off the robe. He wore little under it, an undershirt and boxer shorts. He pulled them off and sat back in the chair.
“Yes,” Ching said. “Good. Now, young Chinese man, on your knees in front of him, then bury your face in his crotch.”
“No,” Tung bellowed. “I won’t permit it.” Ching shot him in the right arm and the old man screamed in pain and frustration. Ching pushed the young man down until his face was over the old man’s genitals. Then he took out his pocket-sized digital camera and took five shots. He made the young man strip, and the men changed places so the old Chinese had his head in the young man’s crotch. Ching took ten pictures this time, so the side of Tung’s face would show but not that of the young man.
“You’ll never get away with it,” Tung shouted. “I have many contacts. I know people in high places.”
“You also know how the Chinese community hates homosexuals. They don’t foster the benefits of the family. They don’t produce offspring to maintain a family line. They don’t grow an extended family to create wealth. They are a festering boil on the backside of humanity.” He watched Tung’s face blanch white and sweat bead his wrinkled forehead.
“When I send copies of these pictures to the honorable men in the Chinese community, you’ll be finished, Tung. The police won’t care, but every Chinese in town will spit on you. No one will work for you. You’ll have to sell your restaurant and other businesses at a fraction of what they are worth. You’re finished, Tung—done, through, busted.”
He saw three more vases, these in a protected glass case. He shot the door to the case and the glass shattered. Then he shot all three of the vases with the silenced rounds, blasting them into dozens of pieces.
Tung cried as he watched. Then he began sobbing. “You are a beast.”
“Tell that to the next man you try to coerce into your foul tong. Try to make me believe that, when you tried to kill me and frame me when I wouldn’t accept your offer. You’re the outlaw here, Tung. You’re the bastard
grinding everyone down to fit into your plan and your scheme.”
He looked at the young man, still on the big chair. Tung had collapsed on the thick carpet. “You can get your clothes on now, young one. You will never repeat a word about what happened here tonight. You’ll be as surprised as everyone else when it turns out that Tung here is a pedophile and a homosexual. You will wait here for an hour before you leave. You will not let Tung use the phone or his cell phone or summon any help. Then you will leave and never think of this night again. Agreed?”
The man nodded and grabbed his shorts and pants. Ching looked around the room. There were some more Ming vases, he was sure, but the old man had paid his retribution. Ching held the pistol as he moved toward the broken window.
“There are two guards tied up out here. Young man, after your hour, go outside and untie them. Understood?”
The young Chinese’s teeth had stopped chattering. The sweat had eased somewhat on his forehead. He slipped into his silk shirt and spoke softly. “Yes. I will do that. I’ll do what you say.”
Ching stepped through the broken window and hurried across the second-story roof and down the same way he had come up. Soon he was in the alley and jogging toward the end. The .45 with its long silencer was safely stowed in his waistband. He checked with caution at the street, saw only one car moving away, and turned and walked briskly toward his Ford Expedition. He was liking the utility rig more and more. Gas mileage was terrible, but he could stand that. He grinned as he thought of how he had taken down Kwan Tung. He wondered how long it would be before the old Chinese man moved out of town.
Ching hurried home to his apartment in Coronado, turned on his computer and color printer and printed out the digital pictures of Kwan Tung seemingly in the throes of a homosexual act. Yes, they would work. Before morning he would have a dozen posted on various telephone poles in Chinatown. Tomorrow six prominent Chinese
community leaders would receive letters, each with four of the pictures inside. No note, no message, just the pictures that had been carefully handled with latex gloves, so they would show no fingerprints. He’d be up late, but should get to muster tomorrow morning on time. Yeah, Ching decided. A damn good night’s work.
That same evening, after duty with the SEALs was over, Murdock turned his car over the bridge and toward the surfside community of Ocean Beach, halfway across town. He and Ardith had moved into the new condo on the very edge of La Jolla. Technically it was in La Jolla, but it had more of the flavor of the downscale Ocean Beach. In the condo, boxes were everywhere; some new furniture had arrived. They had pitched out some of the old stuff. Murdock got home just before Ardith did, from her job as a creative analyst in a computer-driven operation. She still wasn’t quite sure what she was supposed to be doing.
Murdock slumped in a new recliner chair and stared at the spot where the TV would be. Second-floor condo. No yard work, no repairs or house maintenance, no yard either, or anywhere to plant a vegetable garden if he wanted one. Three hundred and twenty thousand dollars. He’d never dreamed he would buy anything that cost that much.
Ardith came in and sat on his lap. She nuzzled his neck a minute and then kissed him slow and long and hard.
“I think the lady is trying to tell me something,” Murdock said.
“I don’t know about the lady. But this woman is giving you a big, fat signal that I want your lean and mean body in the bedroom so we can test that new king-sized mattress. I mean, we have to initiate it. What if it doesn’t work?”
Murdock grinned. “So far, sexy lady, everything we have tested, from the backseat of our car to the kitchen floor in the other apartment, has worked just dandy.”
Ardith smiled, kissed him again, and reached for his
crotch. He caught her hand, lifted her away from him, and stood.
“Race you to the bedroom,” Ardith said, unbuttoning her blouse.
“You’ll win. I don’t even remember where the bedroom is.”
“Follow me, oh noble warrior. I’m going to have you jumping through the noodle before you know it.”
Much, much later that night, or early morning, Murdock cupped one of Ardith’s breasts with his hand and listened to her purr. He jolted his mind back to business. They had been beat up badly on the last mission. Four men wounded. At least no KIAs. They needed at least a month to get back into the swing, to get the coordination, to integrate two new men into the squads. Would they have that much time? There were so many hot spots around the globe right now, it was a crapshoot where they might end up next. In a strangely exciting way, Murdock couldn’t wait for their next assignment.
Ardith purred again, then turned his face around and kissed him with all sorts of promises. “Hey, big guy, you just teasing me, or do you want to see if we can get sexy again?”
He rolled her over on top of him. “Hey, little one. Ready when you are, C.B.”
MILITARY GLOSSARY
Aalvin
: Small U.S. two-man submarine.
Admin
: Short for administration.
Aegis
: Advanced Naval air defense radar system.
AH-1W Super Cobra
: Has M179 undernose turret with 20mm Gatling gun.
AK-47
: 7.64-round Russian Kalashnikov automatic rifle. Most widely used assault rifle in the world.
AK-74
: New, improved version of the Kalashnikov. Fires the 5.45mm round. Has 30-round magazine. Rate of fire: 600 rounds per minute. Many slight variations made for many different nations.
AN/PRC-117D
: Radio, also called SATCOM. Works with Milstar satellite in 22,300-mile equatorial orbit for instant worldwide radio, voice, or video communications. Size: 15 inches high, 3 inches wide, 3 inches deep. Weighs 15 pounds. Microphone and voice output. Has encrypter, capable of burst transmissions of less than a second.
AN/PUS-7
: Night-vision goggles. Weighs 1.5 pounds.
ANVIS-6
: Night-vision goggles on air crewmen’s helmets.
APC
: Armored Personnel Carrier.
ASROC
: Nuclear-tipped antisubmarine rocket torpedoes launched by Navy ships.
Assault Vest
: Combat vest with full loadouts of ammo, gear.
ASW
: Anti-Submarine Warfare.
Attack Board
: Molded plastic with two handgrips with bubble compass on it. Also depth gauge and Cyalume chemical lights with twist knob to regulate amount of light. Used for underwater guidance on long swim.
Aurora
: Air Force recon plane. Can circle at 90,000 feet. Can’t be seen or heard from ground. Used for thermal imaging.
AWACS
: Airborne Warning And Control System. Radar units in high-flying aircraft to scan for planes at any altitude out 200 miles. Controls air-to-air engagements with enemy forces. Planes have a mass of communication and electronic equipment.
Balaclavas
: Headgear worn by some SEALs.
Bent Spear
: Less serious nuclear violation of safety.
BKA, Bundeskriminant
: Germany’s federal investigation unit.
Black Talon
: Lethal hollow-point ammunition made by Winchester. Outlawed some places.
Blivet
: A collapsible fuel container. SEALs sometimes use it.
BLU-43B
: Antipersonnel mine used by SEALs.
BLU-96
: A fuel-air explosive bomb. It disperses a fuel oil into the air, then explodes the cloud. Many times more powerful than conventional bombs because it doesn’t carry its own chemical oxidizers.
BMP-1
: Soviet armored fighting vehicle (AFV), low, boxy, crew of 3 and 8 combat troops. Has tracks and a 73mm cannon. Also an AT-3 Sagger antitank missile and coaxial machine gun.
Body Armor
: Far too heavy for SEAL use in the water.
Bogey
: Pilots’ word for an unidentified aircraft.
Boghammar Boat
: Long, narrow, low dagger boat; highspeed patrol craft. Swedish make. Iran had 40 of them in 1993.
Boomer
: A nuclear-powered missile submarine.
Bought It
: A man has been killed. Also “bought the farm.”
Bow Cat
: The bow catapult on a carrier to launch jets.
Broken Arrow
: Any accident with nuclear weapons, or any incident of nuclear material lost, shot down, crashed, stolen, hijacked.
Browning 9mm High Power
: A Belgian 9mm pistol, 13 rounds in magazine. First made 1935.
Buddy Line
: 6 feet long, ties 2 SEALs together in the water for control and help if needed.
BUD/S
: Coronado, California, nickname for SEAL training facility for six months’ course.
Bull Pup
: Still in testing; new soldier’s rifle. SEALs have a dozen of them for regular use. Army gets them in 2005. Has a 5.56 kinetic round, 30-shot clip. Also 20mm high-explosive round and 5-shot magazine. Twenties can be fused for proximity airbursts with use of video camera, laser range finder, and laser targeting. Fuses by number of turns the round needs to reach laser spot. Max range: 1200 yards. Twenty round can also detonate on contact, and has delay fuse. Weapon weighs 14 pounds. SEALs love it. Can in effect “shoot around corners” with the airburst feature.
BUPERS
: BUreau of PERSonnel.
C-2A Greyhound
: 2-engine turboprop cargo plane that lands on carriers. Also called COD, Carrier Onboard Delivery. Two pilots and engineer. Rear fuselage loading ramp. Cruise speed 300 mph, range 1,000 miles. Will hold 39 combat troops. Lands on CVN carriers at sea.
C-4
: Plastic explosive. A claylike explosive that can be molded and shaped. It will burn. Fairly stable.
C-6 Plastique
: Plastic explosive. Developed from C-4 and C-5. Is often used in bombs with radio detonator or digital timer.
C-9 Nightingale
: Douglas DC-9 fitted as a medical-evacuation transport plane.
C-130 Hercules
: Air Force transporter for long haul. 4 engines.
C-141 Starlifter
: Airlift transport for cargo, paratroops, evac for long distances. Top speed 566 mph. Range with payload 2,935 miles. Ceiling 41,600 feet.
Caltrops
: Small four-pointed spikes used to flatten tires. Used in the Crusades to disable horses.
Camel Back
: Used with drinking tube for 70 ounces of water attached to vest.
Cammies
: Working camouflaged wear for SEALs. Two different patterns and colors. Jungle and desert.
Cannon Fodder
: Old term for soldiers in line of fire destined to die in the grand scheme of warfare.
CAP
: Continuous Air Patrol.
Capped
: Killed, shot, or otherwise snuffed.
CAR-15
: The Colt M-4A1. Sliding-stock carbine with grenade launcher under barrel. Knight sound-suppressor. Can have AN/PAQ-4 laser aiming light under the carrying handle. .223 round. 20- or 30-round magazine. Rate of fire: 700 to 1,000 rounds per minute.
Cascade Radiation
: U-235 triggers secondary radiation in other dense materials.
Castle Keep
: The main tower in any castle.
Cast Off
: Leave a dock, port, land. Get lost. Navy: long, then short signal of horn, whistle, or light.
Caving Ladder
: Roll-up ladder that can be let down to climb.
CH-46E
: Sea Knight chopper. Twin rotors, transport. Can carry 25 combat troops. Has a crew of 3. Cruise speed 154 mph. Range 420 miles.
CH-53D Sea Stallion
: Big Chopper. Not used much anymore.
Chaff
: A small cloud of thin pieces of metal, such as tinsel, that can be picked up by enemy radar and that can attract a radar-guided missile away from the plane to hit the chaff.
Charlie-Mike
: Code words for continue the mission.
Chief to Chief
: Bad conduct by EM handled by chiefs so no record shows or is passed up the chain of command.
Chocolate Mountains
: Land training center for SEALs near these mountains in the California desert.
Christians In Action
: SEAL talk for not-always-friendly CIA.
CIA
: Central Intelligence Agency.
CIC
: Combat Information Center. The place on a ship where communications and control areas are situated to open and control combat fire.
CINC
: Commander IN Chief.
CINCLANT
: Navy Commander-IN-Chief, atLANTtic.
CINCPAC
: Navy Commander-IN-Chief, PACific.
Class of 1978
: Not a single man finished BUD/S training in this class. All-time record.
Claymore
: An antipersonnel mine carried by SEALs on many of their missions.
Cluster Bombs
: A canister bomb that explodes and spreads small bomblets over a great area. Used against parked aircraft, massed troops, and unarmored vehicles.
CNO
: Chief of Naval Operations.
CO
: Commanding Officer.
CO-2 Poisoning
: During deep dives. Abort dive at once and surface.
COD
: Carrier Onboard Delivery plane.
Cold Pack Rations
: Food carried by SEALs to use if needed.
Combat Harness
: American Body Armor nylon-mesh special-operations vest. 6 2-magazine pouches for drum-fed belts, other pouches for other weapons, waterproof pouch for Motorola.
CONUS
: The Continental United States.
Corfams
: Dress shoes for SEALs.
Covert Action Staff
: A CIA group that handles all covert action by the SEALs.
CP
: Command Post.
CQB house
: Close Quarters Battle house. Training facility near Nyland in the desert training area. Also called the Kill House.
CQB
: Close Quarters Battle. A fight that’s up close, hand-to-hand, whites-of-his-eyes, blood all over you.
CRRC Bundle
: Roll it off plane, sub, boat. The assault boat for 8 SEALs. Also the IBS, Inflatable Boat Small.
Cutting Charge
: Lead-sheathed explosive. Triangular strip of high-velocity explosive sheathed in metal. Point of the triangle focuses a shaped-charge effect. Cuts a pencil-line-wide hole to slice a steel girder in half.
CVN
: A U.S. aircraft carrier with nuclear power. Largest that we have in fleet.
CYA
: Cover Your Ass, protect yourself from friendlies or officers above you and JAG people.
Damfino
: Damned if I know. SEAL talk.
DDS
: Dry Dock Shelter. A clamshell unit on subs to deliver SEALs and SDVs to a mission.
DEFCON
: DEFense CONdition. How serious is the threat?
Delta Forces
: Army special forces, much like SEALs.
Desert Cammies
: Three-color, desert tan and pale green with streaks of pink. For use on land.
DIA
: Defense Intelligence Agency.
Dilos Class Patrol Boat
: Greek, 29 feet long, 75 tons displacement.
Dirty Shirt Mess
: Officers can eat there in flying suits on board a carrier.
DNS
: Doppler Navigation System.
Draegr LAR V
: Rebreather that SEALs use. No bubbles.
DREC
: Digitally Reconnoiterable Electronic Component. Top-secret computer chip from NSA that lets it decipher any U.S. military electronic code.
E-2C Hawkeye
: Navy, carrier-based, Airborne Early Warning craft for long-range early warning and threat-assessment and fighter-direction. Has a 24-foot saucer-like rotodome over the wing. Crew 5, max speed 326 knots, ceiling 30,800 feet, radius 175 nautical miles with 4 hours on station.
E-3A Skywarrior
: Old electronic intelligence craft. Replaced by the newer ES-3A.
E-4B NEACP
: Called Kneecap. National Emergency Airborne Command Post. A greatly modified Boeing 747 used as a communications base for the President of the United States and other high-ranking officials in an emergency and in wartime.
E & E
: SEAL talk for escape and evasion.
EA-6B Prowler
: Navy plane with electronic countermea-sures. Crew of 4, max speed 566 knots, ceiling 41,200 feet, range with max load 955 nautical miles.
EAR
: Enhanced Acoustic Rifle. Fires not bullets, but a high-impact blast of sound that puts the target down and unconscious for up to six hours. Leaves him with almost no aftereffects. Used as a non-lethal weapon. The sound blast will bounce around inside a building, vehicle, or ship and knock out anyone who is within range. Ten shots before
the weapon must be electrically charged. Range: about 400 yards.
Easy
: The only easy day was yesterday. SEAL talk.
Ejection seat
: The seat is powered by a CAD, a shotgunlike shell that is activated when the pilot triggers the ejection. The shell is fired into a solid rocket, sets it off and propels the whole ejection seat and pilot into the air. No electronics are involved.
ELINT
: ELectronic INTelligence. Often from satellite in orbit, picture-taker, or other electronic communications.
EMP
: ElectroMagnetic Pulse: The result of an E-bomb detonation. One type E-bomb is the Flux Compression Generator or FCG. Can be built for $400 and is relatively simple to make. Emits a rampaging electromagnetic pulse that destroys anything electronic in a 100 mile diameter circle. Blows out and fries alt computers, telephone systems, TV broadcasts, radio, streetlights, and sends the area back into the Stone Age with no communications whatsoever. Stops all cars with electronic ignitions, drops jet planes out of the air including airliners, fighters and bombers, and stalls ships with electronic guidance and steering systems. When such a bomb is detonated the explosion is small but sounds like a giant lightning strike.
EOD
: Navy experts in nuclear material and radioactivity who do Explosive Ordnance Disposal.
Equatorial Satellite Pointing Guide
: To aim antenna for radio to pick up satellite signals.
ES-3A
: Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) intercept craft. The platform for the battle group Passive Horizon Extension System. Stays up for long patrol periods, has comprehensive set of sensors, lands and takes off from a carrier. Has 63 antennas.