sure everything was water tight and then dropped on their bunks. Tran went to sleep at once. Chang turned over three times before he dropped off. Hunter lay there wide awake for three hours.
He kept going over the plans, the problems that could crop up, and what would he do in each situation. He worked out logical solutions, but would they hold up in combat?
Hunter dozed off and figured it could have been no more than fifteen minutes later when somebody shook his shoulder.
“Sir, it’s nineteen forty five. You have chow in fifteen at the officer’s mess.”
Hunter looked up at a young sailor and swung his feet off the bunk. “Yeah, thanks.”
An hour later they stepped off the stern of the destroyer down a ladder to the bobbing IBS with Coxswain Urick in the stern. The three SEALs settled down in the Zodiac. It was fifteen feet long and six feet wide, weighed 265 pounds and could carry up to eight fully armed SEALs. It has a top speed with its outboard motor of eighteen knots and can travel sixty five nautical miles on a tank of gas.
“Ready when you are Urick,” Hunter said and the sailor pushed forward on the throttle and they jolted away from the huge looking destroyer.
An hour later the bright lights of Hwajil-Il came up on the right.
“We should be about five miles north of that town,” Urick said.
“We should see some surf up here pretty soon. I figure we’re about half a mile off the coast.”
A moment later Tran looked up. “Cap, we’ve got a patrol boat coming up on us from the right, moving fast.”
“Shut down the engine and everyone lie down in the boat,” Hunter said. “Maybe we can get under their radar.”
The coxswain frowned. “I don’t hear anything.”
“You will,” Hunter said. “Down.”
They flattened out and two minutes later they could hear the whine of the big engine as a North Korean patrol craft sliced through the water toward them. A searchlight beam jolted into the darkness and cut a swath of danger as the boat slammed through the calm bay coming closer to where their IBS idled in the swells.
CHAPTER FIVE
The big searchlight on the patrol boat swept the sea for two hundred feet, swung back again, then took a new angle and lit up the swells back and forth. The boat came on slightly seaward from them. Then without slowing, the patrol craft swung ninety degrees shoreward with the searchlight on the far side away from the IBS. It charged towards the breakers for a quarter of a mile or more, then turned north and followed the shore with the bright light showing the small waves and vegetation on the beach in the sweep of the beam.
“Missed us,” Hunter said. “Urick, fire up that box and let’s get in another four hundred yards, then we’ll bail out.”
The sound of the patrol boat faded in the distance on its northward track. Hunter kept the IBS moving shoreward until he could see the small waves hitting the beach.
“Thanks for the ride, Urick; we’re going for a swim.” The three SEALs slid over the side into the water without a sound and automatically went down three feet and began swimming toward shore. They didn’t have their rebreathers on, so it was ten strokes and then take a breath operation.
Hunter came up the last time when he felt his hands hit the sand. He eased up for a sneak and a peek letting only his face come out of the water. Yes, the shore with sparse brush and trees just inland. No barbed wire, no fortifications, and he saw no sentries or guards. He spotted a SEAL on each side of him and waved his arm forward. They surged toward the beach with the next wave and soon rolled on the sand like a trio of wet logs. They remained totally still.
Hunter watched the twenty yards of beach and then the tree line.
Nothing.
The SEALs lifted up and ran into the trees where they stopped and dug into their waterproof back packs for their personal radios and put them on.
“Net check,” Hunter said.
“Chang
He kept going over the plans, the problems that could crop up, and what would he do in each situation. He worked out logical solutions, but would they hold up in combat?
Hunter dozed off and figured it could have been no more than fifteen minutes later when somebody shook his shoulder.
“Sir, it’s nineteen forty five. You have chow in fifteen at the officer’s mess.”
Hunter looked up at a young sailor and swung his feet off the bunk. “Yeah, thanks.”
An hour later they stepped off the stern of the destroyer down a ladder to the bobbing IBS with Coxswain Urick in the stern. The three SEALs settled down in the Zodiac. It was fifteen feet long and six feet wide, weighed 265 pounds and could carry up to eight fully armed SEALs. It has a top speed with its outboard motor of eighteen knots and can travel sixty five nautical miles on a tank of gas.
“Ready when you are Urick,” Hunter said and the sailor pushed forward on the throttle and they jolted away from the huge looking destroyer.
An hour later the bright lights of Hwajil-Il came up on the right.
“We should be about five miles north of that town,” Urick said.
“We should see some surf up here pretty soon. I figure we’re about half a mile off the coast.”
A moment later Tran looked up. “Cap, we’ve got a patrol boat coming up on us from the right, moving fast.”
“Shut down the engine and everyone lie down in the boat,” Hunter said. “Maybe we can get under their radar.”
The coxswain frowned. “I don’t hear anything.”
“You will,” Hunter said. “Down.”
They flattened out and two minutes later they could hear the whine of the big engine as a North Korean patrol craft sliced through the water toward them. A searchlight beam jolted into the darkness and cut a swath of danger as the boat slammed through the calm bay coming closer to where their IBS idled in the swells.
CHAPTER FIVE
The big searchlight on the patrol boat swept the sea for two hundred feet, swung back again, then took a new angle and lit up the swells back and forth. The boat came on slightly seaward from them. Then without slowing, the patrol craft swung ninety degrees shoreward with the searchlight on the far side away from the IBS. It charged towards the breakers for a quarter of a mile or more, then turned north and followed the shore with the bright light showing the small waves and vegetation on the beach in the sweep of the beam.
“Missed us,” Hunter said. “Urick, fire up that box and let’s get in another four hundred yards, then we’ll bail out.”
The sound of the patrol boat faded in the distance on its northward track. Hunter kept the IBS moving shoreward until he could see the small waves hitting the beach.
“Thanks for the ride, Urick; we’re going for a swim.” The three SEALs slid over the side into the water without a sound and automatically went down three feet and began swimming toward shore. They didn’t have their rebreathers on, so it was ten strokes and then take a breath operation.
Hunter came up the last time when he felt his hands hit the sand. He eased up for a sneak and a peek letting only his face come out of the water. Yes, the shore with sparse brush and trees just inland. No barbed wire, no fortifications, and he saw no sentries or guards. He spotted a SEAL on each side of him and waved his arm forward. They surged toward the beach with the next wave and soon rolled on the sand like a trio of wet logs. They remained totally still.
Hunter watched the twenty yards of beach and then the tree line.
Nothing.
The SEALs lifted up and ran into the trees where they stopped and dug into their waterproof back packs for their personal radios and put them on.
“Net check,” Hunter said.
“Chang
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