"Cap, we put down six of the nine," Jaybird whispered into his Motorola. "I think the others are crawling back the way they came. Should we pursue?"

"Negative," Murdock said. "At least they didn't fire, alerting anyone else. Let them go. Keep watch. We should have some action from those planes at any minute."

"I've got aircraft, two of them," Lam said. "Might be at ten or fifteen thousand, coming our way."

"Right, Lam. Alert, everyone. Keep your eyes open. We don't want any more surprises. Prescott, is that laser on and working?"

"Up to speed and lighting up that elevator shaft."

"I've got three trucks coming into the factory from the north," Gardner said. "We let them pa.s.s. Might be on hand for the reception. I can hear the planes now, too."

A minute later they all heard something. It wasn't the whish, whish, whish of an artillery round going over. It was more of a whistle of air rushing past a falling object. They all watched the factory complex and the elevator building. One truck geared down and stopped in front of the building.

At almost the same time a flash lit up the sky and a roaring blast thundered across the desert. Moments later the ground shook as the penetrator bomb, the GBU-28, exploded underground.

Seconds later a second bomb flashed as the first charge bored a small hole through the concrete and the nineteen-foot-long bomb blasted into the underground complex and detonated the main charge. Again the ground shook. The other two trucks had stopped short of the elevator house. The third bomb struck the elevator structure itself, and it and its lights evaporated in the blast; and the third huge explosion reverberated through the ground to the SEALs over a mile away. One more flash came, the fourth, followed by the resulting detonation of the six hundred and thirty pounds of tritonal high explosive deep underground.

Smoke poured out of where the elevator shaft used to be. Murdock studied the complex with binoculars Jaybird had brought for him. The near side looked like it had sunk ten feet below the desert level. Farther along he saw another huge ball of smoke gushing out of the underground factory. He used the thermal imager and scanned the front of the area. He saw one man near the truck. He lay on his back, evidently wounded. Another form near him glowed for a moment, then the image faded into the black background.

Nowhere else did he spot any live figures. Where were the workers and the scientists from the nuclear bomb factory? Another exit? An emergency exit? He scanned again, and this time far down the side he saw more than twenty images of men as they ran out of a depression in the desert and hurried away from the complex.

Murdock talked to his Motorola. "Lam, you know where those dead Iraqi soldiers are?"

"Yes, sir."

"Go out there and bring back one of the uniforms. Move fast."

"I'm gone."

"Rafii, find me. I'm near the laser."

Two minutes later, Rafii slid in beside Murdock. He let Rafii look through the thermal imager.

"Quite a bunch of them out there. We need you to go down and find out what they're saying. Talk to them. Get an idea how bad it was underground. Learn if the bombs were destroyed or if they are still inside and if so how many. We have to know this. If you can find somebody in charge, bring him back with you. Tie him up and gag him if you have to. We need a body to question."

Just then the ground shook again and this time there was a rumble of breaking and smashing. Murdock used the binoculars on the factory. "Most of the roof of the place has crashed down. It must have flattened everything inside. Almost all of the factory is now nothing but a ten to twenty-foot hole in the ground. Lam, where is that uniform?"

"Coming. This dead guy didn't want to give it up."

Murdock used the thermal imager to look at the surrounding desert. He spotted three groups of soldiers moving slowly toward the factory. He wondered how many more there were. Had there really been two hundred? They had spotted no more than fifty in their travels.

Lam slid in beside Rafii. "This must be for you. Hope it fits. Oh, it's got three bullet holes in it, but there isn't much blood."

Rafii snorted and pulled off his civvies and put on the uniform including a floppy hat.

"Take an AK with you, Rafii, and go now," Murdock said. "Keep your Motorola out of sight, but give us a radio report as soon as you can. Move it."

"I'm going most of the way with him," Lam said. "Nothing for me to do here."

Murdock frowned, then nodded. "Gardner, put twenties into those two trucks you have out there. When they are reduced, come on back here to the home base."

"That's a roger. Give them something new to think about."

"I want everyone here on a perimeter defense," Murdock said. "You silent weapon guys get back here fast. We don't know who might come calling. We're holding tight here until we get more intel on the factory's insides."

Murdock heard the familiar crack of the 20mm rifles and soon the explosion when the rounds. .h.i.t the two trucks. One of them burst into a fireball of vaporized fuel and soon both were burning furiously.

"Scratch two trucks," Gardner said. "Returning to home base. Don't shoot us as we come in."

Lam and Rafii jogged toward the dust pall that showed even in the desert night. It hovered over the factory that now was a hole in the ground.

"We get there, you stay in the boonies, and I'll go in and see what I can find out," Rafii said. "My guess is there weren't many soldiers inside. I can fake it coming from one of the protection units."

They jogged down a wadi that would lead almost to the edge of the factory area. There were no fences, no protection. Fifty yards from the gaggle of men they saw and heard just outside the factory, the two SEALs stopped.

"Stay here," Rafii told Lam. "I'm going to appear out of the dark for a report for my sergeant."

"Luck," Lam said.

Rafii nodded, went over the lip of the wadi, and jogged toward the men standing around talking. As he came closer, he picked up bits and pieces of conversations.

"...then suddenly the whole side of the wall caved in and I ran like h.e.l.l. I heard the explosion, but we've had accidents before."

"...I saw my supervisor blown through a wall and land in a heap near my desk. Didn't know where to run."

As Rafii came up, the civilians paid no attention to him. He looked from one small group to another until, in the shifting moonlight from the partly cloudy sky, he saw a man who could be a boss of some kind. He wore a white shirt and a tie. His jacket had one sleeve partly burned away. Rafii hurried up to him and gave a salute.

"Sir, I'm here from my unit to ask for orders and to evaluate what happened. Was it an accident?"

The man in the shirt and tie snorted. "No accident. We were bombed. You were outside; did you hear the aircraft?"

"We heard nothing until the explosions."

"Four years of work gone in an instant," the man said.

"The bombs, they are safe?" Rafii asked.

"No. One of them was smashed when the first part of the roof fell in. The other two are in a position where we might be able to lift them out and save them. We have a crane and a backhoe. The work has begun already. Your army units can't help. We were worried about land invaders, probably from Saudi Arabia. We didn't think about penetrating bombs."

"Then we should maintain our positions?"

"Do whatever you wish. You will be relieved when the general is ready. There is nothing you can do here. We must get these men out of the desert and into that small town as quickly as possible. All of our food and water has been smashed into dust. I have one radio that still works. Baghdad knows about this attack. I'm sure they will send out rescue units and food and supplies. Now get back to your unit. The military is not in good favor with our men."

"My lieutenant asks that you come back with me to explain what he is to do with his men."

"Impossible. I have duties here. Half of our staff was killed. Dozens of workers are injured. I have to stay here to direct-"

Rafii moved quickly beside the man. His pistol pressed hard into the man's side.

"You will come with me now, or die on this spot. Your choice. I really don't care one way or the other."

"You must be joking..." The man's face clouded and he squinted at Rafii. "You have an accent that I don't recognize..."

Rafii pushed the pistol muzzle harder into the man's side.

"We will walk directly away from the men here. You will not look or speak to any of them. Otherwise you are dead. Do you understand me completely?"

"Yes. When we find your lieutenant, I will order him to cut out your eyes, then to chop off your b.a.l.l.s and shoot you in both knees before he kills you. Enjoy life while you can, you traitor."

"Keep walking, and no more talking. Hurry."

Fifty yards from the factory, Lam saw them coming and met them with a gag and plastic strips to tie the man's hands behind his back.

Lam grinned. "You did good, little buddy. I might put you in for a silver star."

"Is that good? I'd rather have a two-week leave in Maui."

"Who wouldn't?"

They worked ahead quickly but with Lam out front watching and listening. He spotted a ten-man patrol to the left, but they were heading for the factory complex and didn't see the three men crouched in the darkness.

Fifteen minutes later they came near the wadi where the SEALs lay.

Lam went in first. He took his time. Soon he spotted where two of the SEALs lay facing outward with guns at the ready. He moved slowly, without a sound, and, working between them, pa.s.sed both without their knowing it. He came up behind one and dropped on the sand beside him.

"Watch closely out there. Lam and Rafii are coming," Lam said.

Mahanani jolted to one side. "Lam, you son of a b.i.t.c.h. How did you do that? I've been watching for you."

"Trade secret. Rafii, bring in our guest."

Ten minutes later Murdock sat beside the supervisor from the bomb plant. Rafii had convinced him it would be better for him if he talked.

"What do you have to lose now? The bombs are destroyed, and your plant is a total loss. You said one of the bombs was smashed and was leaking radiation."

"Yes, the six-feet-thick concrete roof fell directly on it. It killed four men and two more were doused with radiation. They died almost at once."

"The other two bombs you said are intact?" Rafii prompted.

"Yes, they are in a section at the extreme far end. They were ready for shipment. The slab roof held on one side, so they were spared being smashed flat."

"You're starting tonight to get them out?" Murdock asked.

"Yes, a backhoe and a crane."

"But you have no trucks," Murdock said.

"Before I came out here, I told Baghdad of the disaster and they are sending rescue units and trucks to take the bombs away."

"When?" Rafii asked.

"They will leave Baghdad at daylight."

"When will you have the bombs to the surface?" Rafii asked.

"My men are experts at this. It should take them no more than six hours, unless the rest of the roof caves in."

Murdock motioned to Rafii and the two walked away. Lam stood over the Iraqi.

"Why don't we save them the trouble of lifting out the bombs?" Murdock said. "How much military did you see around the area?"

"None at all. One squad had started to hike into the place, but they hadn't made it there yet."

"If they can lift the bombs out of there, we can lower Kat into the hole and she can do her thing on them with timers."

"Should work. We take the whole platoon in as backup."

"Now, what about the fourth bomb? We know they had four. He's talking only about three."

They went back to the supervisor where he sat in the sand, and Rafii knelt down in front of him.

"You're doing fine. You may live to see your children. Now, tell us about the other two nuclear bombs that were built at this facility."

The man held up both hands. "Three bombs, we only built three, that's all we were ordered to build."

Rafii's fist slashed out and drove into the man's jaw, slamming him to the side, where he sprawled in the sand and rocks of the desert. Rafii jumped up and pushed his boot down on the supervisor's neck, pressing his face into the sand.

"For a man about to die, you seem unusually stupid. You will tell me about those other two bombs in ten seconds, or you will die in extreme pain where you lie."

19.

Rafii kept his boot on the supervisor's head, pressing the side of his face into the sand.

"Yes, I am with the Americans here to blow you apart, but I am also a Saudi Arabian. I know how pain feels, and I know how to inflict it in ways the Americans would never do. Do not think you can fool me. Now, I ask you once more. How many bombs did you build and where are they?"

Rafii took his foot off the prisoner's head and he sat up warily. He looked closer at Rafii and nodded. "Yes, I can see you are one of us. So I will tell you. We built three bombs and one left the complex yesterday. I don't know where they took it. The other two are still inside the wreck of our building."

"Only three bombs?" Rafii asked.

"Yes, only three."