Read Online Seal Team Seven #20: Attack Mode by Keith Douglass - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Keith Douglass
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the water and drop all that plutonium into the ocean just off Majuro. Somehow we have to board her, take down the pirates, and regain control of the ten tons of plutonium.”
The captain lifted his brows. “Right now I’m glad that’s your job, Commander. Sounds like somebody could get hurt.”
“We hope it’s only the bad guys who pick up the bullet holes, Captain. We train for this almost every day.”
“I saw an odd-looking rig below deck this morning. Is that yours?”
“Must be our Turtle. Yes, sir. It’s ours. It’s a small amphibian that lets us swim up to an island or landmass, roll out of the water, and motor inland to an objective. She’s well armored and has a fifty-caliber on a mount over the driver.”
“Thought you’d go in by Sixties.”
“We usually do, when noise isn’t a factor. The Turtle will be used more for silent missions and sneaking in and out.”
A few minutes later the radio came on.
“Skycap Fourteen calling Home Base.”
“Go Fourteen.”
“We’re about five out. It’s almost full light. We’re picking up three or four small atolls on our right. We’re down to a thousand feet, and there doesn’t seem to be much development on any of the coral humps, and no freighters anchored. Now we have the big one coming up. String bean of land with a beautiful lagoon in the middle. Yes, she has an airport but not a lot of roll-out room. Docks, where are the docks?”
“Skycap, there might be only offshore anchoring.”
“Right, I see a tanker and two merchantmen. Right, small boats moving from each of them to a pier with warehouses behind. Figures. The two merchantmen are too large to be our baby. The whole island down therecan’t be more than thirty miles long. Two sections. No more freighters. Sorry. Our boy isn’t here at the capital.”
“Skycap, check once more, then start your return on a heading slightly northwest. You should be able to look over ten more atolls up there. Some you saw when you came in. The last one should be about five hundred miles from Majuro. Check them all out, then we’ll give you a new heading to come home.”
“Roger that, Home Base. We’re turning now and flying generally northwest, following the chain of atolls up that direction. Looks like slim pickings so far. Oh, we saw one freighter on our trip down. We checked it out, but it was far too large and had the wrong configuration. Skycap out and moving northwest.”
“So, if the ship isn’t in the Marshalls, where is she?” Murdock asked.
“There are thirty-four of those little chunks of sand and coral out there in the Marshalls. We’ll have to check all of them. They’re scattered all over the Pacific.”
“But if the ship isn’t here, where did it go?”
The captain shook his head. “Hell, the South Pacific is a monstrous place. Huge, with all sorts of chains of islands. Just to the west is the Federated States of Micronesia. It includes the Caroline Islands and a total of six hundred spots of land and atolls. If that ship gets in there, we’re in deep shit.”
“So first we check out all the other Marshalls,” Murdock said. “Don’t we have some people on Kwajalein?”
“Missile base, tracking I’d guess. Yeah, when we get inside the Marshalls, we’ll send a dozen planes out to check every atoll in the area. They’re spread out almost eight hundred miles from one side to the other and from top to bottom. Take us a while.”
“Now what can we do?” Murdock asked.
“Now, Commander, we wait. That’s the hardest part of this job. I was used to kicking a Fourteen around at twenty-five miles a minute. Now I sit here and wait for somebody else to have all the fun.”
He grinned, and Murdock knew he was only partly serious.But the SEALs knew something about waiting, as well.
“Skycap looking for Home Base.”
“Go, Skycap.”
“Captain, we’ve covered nine atolls so far, and nothing larger than a twenty-foot power boat at any of them. Moving on up to the
The captain lifted his brows. “Right now I’m glad that’s your job, Commander. Sounds like somebody could get hurt.”
“We hope it’s only the bad guys who pick up the bullet holes, Captain. We train for this almost every day.”
“I saw an odd-looking rig below deck this morning. Is that yours?”
“Must be our Turtle. Yes, sir. It’s ours. It’s a small amphibian that lets us swim up to an island or landmass, roll out of the water, and motor inland to an objective. She’s well armored and has a fifty-caliber on a mount over the driver.”
“Thought you’d go in by Sixties.”
“We usually do, when noise isn’t a factor. The Turtle will be used more for silent missions and sneaking in and out.”
A few minutes later the radio came on.
“Skycap Fourteen calling Home Base.”
“Go Fourteen.”
“We’re about five out. It’s almost full light. We’re picking up three or four small atolls on our right. We’re down to a thousand feet, and there doesn’t seem to be much development on any of the coral humps, and no freighters anchored. Now we have the big one coming up. String bean of land with a beautiful lagoon in the middle. Yes, she has an airport but not a lot of roll-out room. Docks, where are the docks?”
“Skycap, there might be only offshore anchoring.”
“Right, I see a tanker and two merchantmen. Right, small boats moving from each of them to a pier with warehouses behind. Figures. The two merchantmen are too large to be our baby. The whole island down therecan’t be more than thirty miles long. Two sections. No more freighters. Sorry. Our boy isn’t here at the capital.”
“Skycap, check once more, then start your return on a heading slightly northwest. You should be able to look over ten more atolls up there. Some you saw when you came in. The last one should be about five hundred miles from Majuro. Check them all out, then we’ll give you a new heading to come home.”
“Roger that, Home Base. We’re turning now and flying generally northwest, following the chain of atolls up that direction. Looks like slim pickings so far. Oh, we saw one freighter on our trip down. We checked it out, but it was far too large and had the wrong configuration. Skycap out and moving northwest.”
“So, if the ship isn’t in the Marshalls, where is she?” Murdock asked.
“There are thirty-four of those little chunks of sand and coral out there in the Marshalls. We’ll have to check all of them. They’re scattered all over the Pacific.”
“But if the ship isn’t here, where did it go?”
The captain shook his head. “Hell, the South Pacific is a monstrous place. Huge, with all sorts of chains of islands. Just to the west is the Federated States of Micronesia. It includes the Caroline Islands and a total of six hundred spots of land and atolls. If that ship gets in there, we’re in deep shit.”
“So first we check out all the other Marshalls,” Murdock said. “Don’t we have some people on Kwajalein?”
“Missile base, tracking I’d guess. Yeah, when we get inside the Marshalls, we’ll send a dozen planes out to check every atoll in the area. They’re spread out almost eight hundred miles from one side to the other and from top to bottom. Take us a while.”
“Now what can we do?” Murdock asked.
“Now, Commander, we wait. That’s the hardest part of this job. I was used to kicking a Fourteen around at twenty-five miles a minute. Now I sit here and wait for somebody else to have all the fun.”
He grinned, and Murdock knew he was only partly serious.But the SEALs knew something about waiting, as well.
“Skycap looking for Home Base.”
“Go, Skycap.”
“Captain, we’ve covered nine atolls so far, and nothing larger than a twenty-foot power boat at any of them. Moving on up to the
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