"Any radiation?"

"Sure, but not a lot. We won't use that much C-4. I might cut back on the amount. Now let me get to work."

"How long on each one?" Murdock asked.

"About an hour. This has to be done right."

Murdock left and crawled up the dirt slope to the surface of the desert. He used the radio.

"Anybody found Gypsy?"

Ching came on. "Yeah, Skipper, just found her. That first sniper in the box must have hit her. Then she nailed the b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Not sure how bad she's. .h.i.t. Shoulder, maybe her chest. Better get Mahanani over here."

"I'm running," Mahanani said on the radio. "Stop any bleeding if you can. She doesn't have much blood she can afford to lose. Be there in about five minutes. Where are you from the crane?"

"About fifty feet south of it, twenty feet from the edge of the cave-in. Can't miss us. I'll have a red carnation in my lapel."

Murdock ran to the south looking for Gypsy and Ching. As he ran, the radio came on again.

"Skipper, I've got two trucks coming down the road from the north," Gardner said. "Could be reserves coming in from that little town. That supervisor said he talked to Baghdad after the bombing. What the h.e.l.l you want me to do about these two trucks?"

20.

Murdock kept running toward where he could see Mahanani bending over someone. "Two trucks," he said on the Motorola. Let them get within half a mile of you, and then hit them with your twenties. You have enough rounds?"

"We have three twenties and fifteen rounds per gun."

"Stop the trucks and then airburst the troops if there are any inside, which there must be. Reinforcements, Iraq style. No air, thank G.o.d. Keep me posted."

He came to the two on the ground and knelt beside Gypsy. Mahanani had his shirt spread over her and was working on her upper chest.

"She's in and out of consciousness," the medic said. "Shock mostly, I'd guess. You have an extra shirt? We could use some. Hey, guys, bring us some shirts, south of the crane."

"Breathing?"

"Ragged and shallow. Probably some damage to her right lung. We need an airlift out of here p.r.o.nto. Can you use the SATCOM and get a bird?"

"Bradford," Murdock said on the radio. "Move to me south of the crane. Get the set aligned, we need to talk."

Murdock watched the medic. He had cleaned and bandaged the wound. The rifle bullet probably went right on through.

"She must have fired at that sniper after she was. .h.i.t. That's one gutsy lady. Save her for us, Doc. I'll get a chopper here as soon as we're finished with the d.a.m.n bombs. They have to be first priority. I know, I know. But it's got to be this way."

He lifted up, ran back to the crane, and called down into the pit. "Kat, how you doing?"

"A half hour more here, then about forty minutes on the other one. Senior Chief Neal is taking the plate off on the other bomb. That will help. So about an hour and a half, more or less."

"Don't waste any time. You heard about the trucks coming in. We'll have a fight. Then we need to get Gypsy out of here as soon as we can. She took a round into her lung."

"s.h.i.t," Kat said.

Murdock pulled back, caught Bradford, and had him set up the SATCOM and align the small dish antenna. Before he was done, they heard the twenties go off just north of them.

"They came and we're shooting," Gardner said. "We've stopped both trucks and I can see maybe twenty men scattering out of each truck. We're on airbursts now. Some of them will get away, so we'll have to watch for them."

"Nail all you can. Follow them with the thermal imager and hara.s.s them with the twenties. Save a few rounds. We might need them before we get out of here."

"How bad is Gypsy?"

"Not good. We need an air evac as soon as possible. Kat says about an hour and a half more. I'm going to talk to Stroh now."

"That's a roger."

Bradford handed Murdock the handset. "She's ready. We're on the frequency we usually use for Stroh."

"Underground looking for Big Daddy."

The response was immediate.

"Yes, Underground. Progress?"

"The sky guys came and dropped about two-thirds of the six-foot-thick roof into the complex. One of the bombs was crushed and is worthless. Two more are getting Kat's treatment now. Our report by an insider supervisor is that they made four and one left yesterday morning by highway truck heading north. We don't know where it might be. That's your problem now."

"We're on it. They could have gone to Baghdad for a flyout on a sale, or maybe to Jordan. We're out of a.s.sets in Baghdad, but we do have good people in Jordan. We'll check the airports for any private charters out of there today. Money in Jordan can get any information. Any casualties?"

"Yes, one of your Company people from Baghdad. She's with us and took a round through her lung. We need air evac as fast as possible. Where will they be coming from?"

"My home port from where you took off."

"That's two hours away," Murdock said. "I thought they might be closer, where Gardner came in from."

"We could do that. You need two. When will you be ready for a pickup?"

"Get them here on our red flares an hour and a half from now. It might be starting to get light by then. We've got ten or fifteen men from the home country contesting our right to go on living. We're working on them. How long from Saudia Arabia to us?"

"Twenty minutes to the border, but we don't have the medical there she'll need. Two hours from Kuwait to you and two back. Best we can do for top medical help."

Murdock sucked in a long breath. Even if they got out of Iraq to Saudi Arabia, that wouldn't save Gypsy. "Okay, get those birds warmed up and moving from Kuwait. We'll see you here in two hours. The pilots have the coordinates. Two hours, get their a.s.ses in motion."

"It's done; the air chief here is listening. They'll be in the air in five minutes. Stay safe. Let me know when the bang-bang comes eliminating those other two nukes."

"Will do. Underground out. Gardner, come in."

"Go, Skipper."

"You heard my talk with Stroh. We've got two hours to wrap this up. How is your seek and destroy doing?"

"Two trucks burning. We figure we nailed about half of the Arabs. That leaves fifteen out here somewhere. You better put out some security down there. We won't come in unless they get behind us. They probably will circle, so watch your hind side."

"Right. Thanks, Gardner."

Murdock looked around. It wasn't getting light yet, but it could in another two hours. "Mahanani, you hear Gardner?"

"Yeah, Skipper."

"See if you can gently move Gypsy into some cover-a wadi or a ditch or something. We could be taking fire soon."

"Done, Skip. Jaybird and I moved her about ten minutes ago. Little wadi about three feet deep. She's stable now, or as stable as I can get her. I pumped in two morphine and all the liquid antibiotics I have. She's still in and out of reality. We're talking four hours to medical help?"

"Afraid so."

"That will be touch-and-go."

"Right, Doc. Kat, can you talk?"

"Since I was two."

"Who do you have helping down there?"

"The senior chief and Vinnie Van d.y.k.e. I sent Jaybird and Howard up a few minutes ago. You'll need them. I'm almost done with the first one. Second one won't be so hard. Another thirty, maybe fifty minutes."

"Take your time. We have two hours. Let's make certain. I don't want to crawl in there on a hangfire."

"Oh yeah, I'm with you, Skipper. Out."

"The rest of Alpha on me at the crane," Murdock said.

Soon the five men were there. "You know the situation. Best bet is that other squad of Iraqis out there will come at us from the south. So we want a picket line. s.p.a.ce yourselves thirty yards apart along the end of the complex to the right. Lam, take the thermal. Use your twenties on them if possible. We've got plenty of rounds and the kill ratio is higher. Doc, you stay with your patient but keep a lookout to the south. Don't gun down any of our guys, though. Questions?"

"Will it be light by the time the choppers get here?" Ching asked.

Murdock looked at Rafii.

"In this area, this time of year, should be daylight by oh-six-hundred. It's now about oh-four-hundred. So it will be just getting light when the birds come."

"Let's hope this squad doesn't have any RPGs with them," Jaybird said.

Murdock looked up. "Gardner. On those truck hits, did you hear any secondary explosions, like maybe rockets or RPG ammo?"

"Yeah, we did hear some, three or four, then the fuel tanks blew and that was all we heard."

"So, the troops in the field might have some heavier firepower. Let's keep alert. Get out there, stay in touch, and keep quiet. Lam, lead them out." He watched the men. Besides Lam there were Jaybird, Howard, Ching, Bradford, and Rafii. Bradford had left the set aligned on the satellite and all Murdock had to do to talk was. .h.i.t the talk b.u.t.ton on the handset.

He called the north squad. "Gardner, any ghosts on your thermal imager?"

"Nothing except some small animals I think must be rabbits. We haven't seen or heard of any of them since the big blast. Maybe they headed back north?"

"Probably not. At least not if one officer or one noncom survived. Just keep on the alert. We should be wrapped up here in less than an hour.

Twenty minutes later they had heard nothing more from the Iraqi army squad. Kat called to tell Murdock her status.

"I've just finished one, made all the internal changes I wanted to, and I have placed the C-4 inside but it has no timer or detonator. That comes last after the next one. Moving there now. Yes, the senior chief has the panel off so I can get right to work. I need him and Vinnie to hold the lights. Now that I've done one, the next one should wrap in about thirty minutes. Later."

Murdock kept watch to the south, but could see nothing. He tried to make the time go by faster, but it wouldn't. He checked twice with Kat, who said she was almost done.

"Taking longer than I figured. I'm going to be on this one most of an hour."

Later in the picket line of defenders across the south flank, Jaybird shielded his penlight under his shirt and checked his watch.

"All you locals out there in radio land, the time this morning is oh-five-oh-two. Which means we could see the start of the dawn in a half hour. Maybe we should find some wadi protection rather than up here in the good target area."

"Good idea, Jaybird," Murdock said. "I'm settling in on the side of the cut here like in a big foxhole. Those ten or fifteen riflemen aren't going to sit out there and wait for us to move."

Ten minutes later Murdock heard rifle fire from the south.

"Oh, yeah," Lam said. "We got company. Still dark enough they can't see much, but they figured out we're out here waiting for them. They popped up out of a wadi about two hundred from us, I figure, and jolted off a few shots and then vanished."

"Anybody hit?" Murdock asked.

"No rounds came even close," Ching said. "I think they were looking for some muzzle flashes from us."

"The thermal gadget helping any?" Murdock asked.

"Oh, yeah, now it is," Lam said. "I've got two of them crawling out of a branch wadi maybe fifty yards out." The radio went dead, and a moment later Murdock heard three three-round bursts from an MP-5.

"Oh, yeah, two down and dirty," Lam said. "They won't try coming around that end again."

"I've got a pair of uglies moving in up here," Gardner said. "I'll wait until they come in close and nail them. We're spread out the way Lam and his bunch are. I've got this pair of Iraqis on the thermal and they are dead meat in about two minutes."

The sound of an explosion came over the radio earpieces.

"What was that?" Murdock asked.

"Must be an RPG," Lam said. "Hit down the wadi about thirty yards. Missed us. No muzzle flash so it must have come from a gully somewhere south of us."

"Probably RPG-Sevens," Jaybird said. "The antipersonnel grenade they throw is good for over twelve hundred yards. No telling where they fired them from. Bad news is they can bring down a chopper. Remember we lost three or four Blackhawks in Mogadishu, Somalia, back in 1994. RPG-Sevens shot them down."

"Don't they have ant.i.tank rounds, too?" Lam asked.

"Sure do. The launcher is forty millimeter and it can throw an ant.i.tank round out a thousand yards," Jaybird said. "Now, what do we do about the d.a.m.n things?"