Conway reacted first, as the lead dog leaped at the throat of Lt. Nathan. He raised his unsilenced MP-5 and almost blew its head off.
The second dog swerved toward Lt. Commander Schaeffer, and Dan Conway almost cut it in half with a short burst into its neck. By now the guards had their hands on their own weapons, but like the dogs they were too late, and Ryan Combs aimed a withering round of fire from the M-60E4 straight at them. Both died instantly, but the whistles had done their job, and all 12 of the SEALs could hear the roar of a jeep heading from the main pipeline straight toward them.
“
The light was poor, but they all saw the lights of the jeep as it came screaming into the clearing between the towers. And they saw the two new guards jump out. Ryan Combs opened up again with the machine gun, and as the guards went down, Ray Schaeffer and Charlie charged forward.
But they did not see a third guard in the back seat who swung his Kalashnikov on them, and shot Ray Schaeffer through the head at point-blank range. His second burst caught Charlie high on the right-hand side of his chest, and both SEALs fell to the ground together.
Again Ryan Combs opened fire, and instantly took out the third guard, leaving just the jeep running noisily, with one dying SEAL on the ground, and another unconscious beside him. There were also five dead Chinese.
Lieutenant Conway took command, ordering the rookie SEALs to get the two wounded men into the jeep. He jumped into the driver’s seat himself and told the rest of them to get in or on, anywhere, but to hold tight while he drove for the southwestern perimeter.
Somehow they all hung on, as the ex-Connecticut baseball catcher gunned the jeep forward, slamming it over the railroad tracks, swerving through the sand, going for the dark pylon, second from the end.
Fifty yards from the fence, he rammed on the brakes, and Clouds Nathan scrambled out and bolted into the holding tanks to their right, where he swiftly set the timing clock on the previous night’s mines for 61 minutes. At this time an eerie siren went off loudly in the control center, just as Clouds came charging around the corner and reboarded the jeep.
“
It was just about 0200. The action had taken less than five minutes, and their team leader was down. Dan Conway rammed the jeep right up against the fence, and two more SEALs opened up their private doorway. They piled out and dragged the two wounded men through the gap in the fence. Then the Lieutenant reversed the jeep right against the gap, jumped out and crawled under it to safety on the other side of the wire. Before they left, he tossed their one grenade into the vehicle and blew it to smithereens, covering the gap in the wire with red-hot metal and burning fuel.
And then they set off on their longest journey, carrying their leader and the rookie Charlie between them. They no longer had the mines and the explosives. But their burden was heavy, pursuit was inevitable and their chances of survival were not much better than 60–40.
They reached base camp, administering morphine to the badly wounded Charlie and desperately trying to stop the blood seeping from Lt. Commander Schaeffer’s shattered skull.
But they all knew it was hopeless. Ray was breathing very erratically, and he died in the arms of Lt. Dan Conway, who was unable to stop the tears cascading down his camouflaged face.
The task of carrying the body back out through the ocean was plainly Herculean — and might even result in their capture, if the Chinese had a further squadron of guards. But the SEALs would not leave him. They changed into their wet suits, and big Rob Cafiero hoisted the Lieutenant Commander over his shoulders and began walking steadily to the beach.
Clouds Nathan and Dan Conway carried Charlie, who was losing blood at a serious rate. They were unable to stop the flow, but they got him into a wet suit and just kept going forward.
At the beach, they regrouped. They had no option but to drag the body of Ray Schaeffer into the water and tow it out to the submarine. The time was 0240, and they had to move, and they had to get their big flippers on, and it took too long because of the mild trauma, despite their training in dealing with death.
But they made it to the shallows and Dan Conway led the way, pulling Ray behind them, much lighter now as the water grew deeper.
Twenty minutes later they were in about four feet, a half mile offshore, and they stopped to look back and witness whatever damage they had wrought. For a few moments nothing happened, then an unbelievable explosion ripped into the night air as the big refining towers went up, every last one of them, sending a bright orange-and- purple sheet of flame into the heavens.
Seconds later the ocean seemed to shake as 60 massive gasoline storage tanks blew up like an atomic bomb. They heard the distant rumble as the control center exploded in a crashing, rolling fireball of flame and falling masonry, and the sky seemed to light up as the oil fire took hold, thousands of barrels of prime crude from Kazakhstan thundering into the inferno, fueling a fire that would burn for six days.
They could feel the heat out there in the water, almost two miles away.
“Jesus Christ,” said Ryan Combs. “Whatever they wanted, I guess we’ve done it.”
“But it wasn’t damn well worth it, was it?” said Dan Conway.
“Steady, Dan,” said Rob. “I don’t think Ray would have wanted you to say that.”
The new team leader just nodded. And the two SEALs turned out to sea, to the west, where the ASDV awaited them. And they kept swimming just below the surface, towing the still and silent body of Lt. Commander Schaeffer between them.
7
The message from the communication room was not very clear.
“XO-comms. We’re getting something on VHF. But it’s kinda shaky. I’d say about twelve miles away, from the ASDV. I guess they’ve surfaced and may be using a hand-held aerial. But they keep breaking up. We’re still trying. Whatever it is, doesn’t sound good.”
“Comms-XO. You’re not dealing with a
“Nossir. But they’re in some kind of trouble…wait a minute, sir…there’s something right now…oh, Jesus, they’ve lost a man, sir…wait a minute…I’ll be right back…stay on the line, sir.”
Lieutenant Commander Dan Headley could hear the background noise in comms…. “
He heard
Three minutes later, the comms chief was back on the line. “As far as I can make out, sir, Lieutenant Commander Ray Schaeffer has been killed, and one of the rookie SEALs, Charlie Mitchell, is very badly wounded… they’re afraid he might die…and they’re asking if we can get the ship in any closer…you know, of course, the ASDV makes only six knots flat out…”
By now Commander Rusty Bennett had materialized in the control room, and Dan Headley repeated to him the bad news.
No one heard the mission commander mutter, “Oh, no. Not Ray.” He just said formally, “Are they sure it’s Ray?”
Dan Headley added, “They were broadcasting from the ASDV. It wasn’t very clear, but I’m afraid we better prepare for the worst.”
“Did they say how badly Charlie Mitchell was hurt?”
“Badly. They’re afraid he might die if he doesn’t get attention soonest. They want us to bring the ship in to meet them. And I’m happy to do so, but you know what happened with the CO last time. He nearly had a heart
