Necessary Retribution (17 page)

Robin turned to Mark. “Nervous?”

“No. I'm terrified.”

“Me too.”

“Let me get this straight. The success of this mission depends on us remaining undetected going into the Vladivostok cargo docks, getting onto the ship, setting the charges in the hold, disabling the communications on the bridge, getting off the ship before the charges go off and successfully rendezvousing with the helicopter in the open sea…at night and now apparently in a storm. We're going on what seems to me to be a very iffy mission because our government doesn't have the balls to piss the Russians off. Right?”

“Simply put, but essentially the case.”

“It kinda pisses me off, boss.”

“The problem is we are supposedly in détente with the Soviets. So our government doesn't want to be the ones who publicly jeopardizes the negotiations.”

“That's crazy! The Russkies are the ones supporting these terrorists and in cahoots with Saddam Hussein!”

“As they always have. The problem is two nuclear armed nations trying to keep each other at bay…by the throat. So the negotiations go on while the shooting war is mostly covert.”

“Why aren't Delta or SEALs doing this mission? Why little ol’ us?”

“It is a big deal for a ship under a national flag to be assaulted by another country. Even though pirates do it all the time without much repercussion, if another country does it, it's an act of war. In this case, probably nuclear war. If U.S. military assets get caught in such an assault, the government would have to admit the U.S. did it and try to negotiate their release. That would put tensions right to the edge. That's why Delta or the SEALs can't do this mission, even though I'm sure if they know about it they're mightily pissed off they're not.” He turned to Mark. “You know the score with us.”

“Yeah, if we get caught, we're just fucked. What did they do about situations like this before we came along?”

“Oh, I doubt we are the only team like this out there. We just pulled the short straw on this one.”

Having explained this to Mark suddenly made Robin feel a little better about the situation.

“Yeah, but Rob, if the ship does an attack with a Russian or North Korean flag, it's the same thing. Things will explode anyway.”

“I'm sure that flag will disappear just before the attack. They're flying them so they won't be molested enroute to their target.”

“Hell, if you put it that way, looks like you and I are about to save the world!”

Robin looked at Mark who grinned ear to ear and patted him on shoulder. “It's good to have my old Mark back.”

“I'm always with you, Rob. Just sometimes it helps to talk it through.”

“I know, it just helped me.”

Shosi signaled they were ready and Robin and Mark picked up their gear and headed for the chopper. The pilot took the gear, which included an RIB, and started distributing it in the helicopter to maintain the balance of the aircraft. With the equipment secured, the pilot got in and began his start checklist. Minutes later, they were in the air and headed out to Toyama where they would refuel…and then on to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

T
WENTY
-O
NE

AT FIRST LIGHT
the Taiwan team continued the surveillance. Taiwanese Marine Intelligence sent an agent into the area in a telephone company service truck. He attached the bug receiver to a phone line at the box servicing the target house and put a tap on the telephone. The intercepts were fed to David's house to a recorder and relayed by satellite to NSA by burst transmission. They translated the intercepts and sent the information back to the team.

The intercepts indicated the tangos weren't spooked the night before. They were acting normally and by the end of the first tape, they were in contact with someone who updated them on the location and estimated time of arrival of the ship, now less than twenty-four hours away. Emmett's brain worked overtime.

Emmett received an urgent message from Robin saying he now commanded the strategic and tactical aspects of the Taiwan operation. He wanted to do a good job commanding his first operation. He had a thousand questions he wanted ask Robin, but he realized he needed to settle down and figure things out for himself. He decided to split the team up. He would take Rick and Kwan with him and leave Doug to handle the tango recon team with the help of the Taiwanese Marines. He reasoned since the tango recon team were operating on Taiwanese soil, they were fair game for the Marines.

The tangos didn't move much as the surveillance day wore on, but they had a steady stream of communications traffic. Early in the afternoon, David radioed Emmett and told him they should terminate the physical surveillance and meet back at his house. When they returned to the house, David told Emmett the intercepts indicated the
recon team would meet the rest of the assault team on the beach just off Road 9 by the Taroko Bridge tonight. That meant the team taking down the ship needed to leave and get set up at Yonaguni Island to intercept the freighter.

Emmett addressed the team. “Okay, listen up. We are going to split up. Rick and Cái, you're going with me and David to take down the ship. Doug, I need you to take care of the tango recon team with the help of the Marines…”

“Whoa there, bud, you're not taking down that ship without me!”

“Doug, I need someone on the tango recon team.”

“The Marines don't need my help, but you're going to need my help with that ship.”

Emmett started to argue, but David spoke up. “Emmett, I don't mean to interfere, but Doug may be right. By the time you board the ship, I suspect the entire crew and the assault team will be awake and on edge. It could be a difficult endeavor.”

Emmett rubbed his forehead. “Doug, I'm also worried about your shoulder and the fact you haven't trained for over two months.”

“My shoulder is fine and I've been training Whisky's sons and nephews on tactical movements and such. We went on the range two or three times a week this last month and I've been running. I'm good to go.”

“Okay, we'll leave the tango recon team to the Marines. Cái, since you'll be our boat man, who will be our contact with the Marines?”

The Marine who had been driving Rick, Lieutenant Martin Cho, raised his hand. “I'll be commanding that aspect of the operation, Emmett.”

“Sounds good, Marty. Keep the radio you've been using so we can coordinate your take down with ours. As soon as we hit the ship, we'll let you know and you can take down the recon team.”

“Will do.”

“Well, David, I guess it's time to load up your boat and head to Yonaguni Island.”

Even though exhausted, Ernie and Gary spent hours rounding up MREs, rice, other food staples and medicine to take back to Col. Sinchu's battalion. He turned the women over to U.S. military intelligence agents, but didn't tell them about Lt. Chong. During the trip back, he and Lt. Chong convinced the women not to mention Chong to the intelligence guys. To give the women incentive to do so, Ernie promised to give them money to help them in the relocation. He gave each of them $5,000 when they got to Sokcho and promised to send them more later. The women were extremely thankful and happy…so far so good.

Ernie surprised himself by deciding to try to keep Chong as part of the team. During the trip back to Sokcho, Chong fit easily into the group and Rocky and Burke started calling Chong “Gunner” because his given first name was Gun-woo. The next part of his future plans for Gunner needed Robin's approval and Bill Grassley's help. After setting this all up, he went to the hotel where the team rented rooms, called his wife, and collapsed into bed for a few hours’ sleep.

T
WENTY
-T
WO

KURO FLEW THE HELICOPTER
at a low altitude even though they already had clearance to enter Vladivostok airspace. Night had wrapped itself around them as they approached the coast of the Vladivostok Peninsula at 1722 hours. A sprinkle of lights appeared ahead of them, growing more intense to the right where Vladivostok sat along the bay.

Winds buffeted the chopper the entire trip and Mark and Shosi, weren't looking too good.

Robin talked to Kuro over the intercom. “Kuro, are you going to make it back to Toyama all right in this weather?”

“Yes, we will make it back just fine. It takes very heavy weather to stop us from flying.”

“How ’bout picking us up?”

“Same thing. Get ready to push the RIB out. There is a patch of brush near the clearing you can reach by following the road I showed you on the satellite photos.”

Robin moved back to the cargo area and began untying the lines securing the RIB. Mark started helping.

“Hold on to those two lines, Mark and we'll lower the boat into the bushes Kuro hovers over.” Mark nodded.

“Thirty seconds to go, Robin,” Kuro announced.

Robin pulled the door latch and pushed the door open. A blast of cold, wet air hit him. The chopper went into a hover and Robin could make out the bushes through his night vision goggles.

“Okay, drop it.”

Robin signaled Mark and they pushed the RIB out and let it dangle for a moment and then lowered it into the bushes, letting the lines go.

“We're good, Kuro. Take off.” The big chopper moved forward at a slow speed to the landing pad just over the next hill. Robin and Mark went to a large tarp at the back of the helicopter and got underneath it with their gear. Just before securing the tarp, Robin signaled Shosi they were good to land.

Kuro maneuvered the helicopter for landing while Ryuu lowered the landing gear. The pad lay in between a row of trees bordering an empty field on the left and an open storage area on the right with the harbor directly in front of them. He saw a truck waiting for him at the entrance to the pad area and also noticed the target ship further to the left. He set the big chopper gently down and began shutdown and the turbines started to wind down from a roar to a whine.

The truck moved closer and two men got. Kuro recognized Sergey Bostroff, his customer in this area. Sergey waved and Kuro waved back. He let Ryuu continue the shutdown while he went to the back to greet Sergey. He slid open the door and greeted the Russian in English, the mutual language the men spoke. “Good evening, Sergey, how are you?”

“I am well, Kuro. I am glad you decided to come early. I have a customer who immediately needs one of the electronic parts you brought because they are leaving tonight.”

“I'm happy we can accommodate your demanding customers.”

“Ha, I only sell to them because I need the money. They are damn Arabs and none too friendly looking. Are you staying with us tonight?”

“Unfortunately, we have to get back.”

“But surely you can stay for one cup of vodka.”

“Of course, Sergey. I cannot leave without toasting our friendship.”

“Ah, good. Let's load the truck and get over to my shop. We'll drink first and do business later.”

The men unloaded several boxes of parts and got them into the truck. When they were finished, Sergey wanted them all to crowd into the cab, but Kuro told them he needed to check something in the helicopter and he would walk over to the shop. The truck left and he went to the helicopter and undid the tarp hiding Robin and Mark.