between us…closing at forty-seven knots. Probably see ’em from the bridge in around ten minutes.”
Lieutenant Pearson spoke as if the CO were not even in the control room, never mind in control of the ship.
And the XO turned once more back to Commander Reid, and said quietly, “I’m putting you on the sick list, sir. I think that would be best for everyone.”
“XO, you are doing no such thing. I am taking command of this ship and I am turning around, and going below the surface, where I intend to remain. If the SEAL team arrives being pursued by the Helix helicopters, I will remain below the surface. Because, XO, unlike yourself and others in this room, I am governed by Navy regulations. Nuclear submarines do not travel on the surface in the face of the enemy. NOW STEP ASIDE.”
Lieutenant Commander Headley did not move. He simply said, “Under Section one-zero-eight-eight of United States Navy Regulations I am relieving you of further duty. Since you have refused my offer of placement on the sick list, I am placing you under arrest. I am next in the succession to command. I am plainly unable to refer the matter to a common superior, and I am confident that your prejudicial actions are not caused by instructions unknown to me…”
Commander Reid raised his arms in exasperation, holding them high and slightly to the front, like a Catholic priest before communion. “MY ‘PREJUDICIAL ACTIONS’! How dare you, XO. This entire episode has been caused by your childhood friendship with Commander Hunter. We all know you and the SEALs have been buddy-buddy ever since we arrived in Diego Garcia. And this has come down to loyalty. Your loyalty to those damn brutes in the rubber inflatables, against my loyalty to the one hundred seven officers and men on this nuclear submarine. YOU ARE A DAMNED CHARLATAN, Lieutenant Commander. And you may have fooled some of the crew. But you have not damned well fooled me. SO STEP ASIDE.”
“COMMANDER REID. YOU ARE UNDER ARREST.” Dan Headley was not speaking kindly anymore. “Chief Fisher, go and round up six seamen and escort the former Commanding Officer to his room, where he will be confined until further notice….
“
Every man so addressed replied with a sharp “Aye, sir.” And then Lt. Commander Headley turned back to Commander Reid. “I would very much like to think you are just undergoing psychological problems, which may have been with you for a long time. However, the only alternative view available to me is that you are nothing short of a damned coward.”
“Those are the remarks of an insolent and very misguided officer,” replied the ex-CO. “I have the lives of the one hundred seven officers and men on this ship very much on my mind. And I am aware that in order to save your friend Hunter, you are quite prepared to sacrifice the lives of every one of us.”
“I suppose it would never occur to a man like you that we can fight and win this thing, down the Chinese helicopters flying out of their burned-out base. And then save the lives of perhaps ten of the bravest men ever to have operated on behalf of our country. I don’t suppose it would have occurred either to that French creep you so admire, or think you once were, or whatever crackpot thoughts go on in your mind.”
“You’ll damned well pay for this, Headley. I’ll have you court-martialed the moment we return to an American port.”
“You may try; of course that’s your prerogative. I’d be surprised if you didn’t have a few questions to answer yourself, about the death of yet another SEAL you flatly refused to help. Charlie Mitchell was his name, and I can tell you now, Commander Bennett is not pleased.”
At that point, Master Chief Fisher arrived with a group of seamen. “Take him below, Drew,” ordered the XO. “Lock him in his quarters until further notice. If he resists, carry him. Just get him out of my sight.”
“And what am I supposed to do shut up in there until you feel inclined to release me?”
“I neither know nor care. Why don’t you ask your dead friend Captain Grigory Lyachin. He’d probably help. I wouldn’t bother to contact Villeneuve. He’d probably tell you to commit suicide, as he did.”
Commander Reid departed under escort, hissing venomously, “You out-and-out bastard, Headley.”
The two fast inflatables, throttles wide open, raced across the flat sea. Out to the east, the skies were colored rose-pink, but the sun had not yet risen out of the endless rice fields of the delta. No sun, no sign of the helicopters returning.
They made a course change, heading now roughly west nor’west, two-nine-zero, directly toward USS
They raced on for another mile, and then the lookout in the rear boat spotted them — the two Chinese Helix-A choppers battering their way across Burma’s western headland, slowly, making a search along the shore, under strict instructions now from the gathering of surviving officers at Haing Gyi to hunt down and destroy the criminals who had blown up the base.
Instantly, Commander Rick Hunter shouted, “Man both the M-60s…don’t waste your ammunition by firing too soon…they’ll probably come in right on our six o’clock and then bank away…all three of us go for the cockpits first… then, Dallas, go for the rear doors…try to take out the gunners…Mike, you again go for the engines…I’ll keep banging away at the pilots. FIRE on my command.”
Moments later, the Chinese pilots spotted the little boats, almost two miles away now, holding a steady course, separated by a distance of only 30 yards. Commander Hunter then ordered the boats to split up. “Just make sure neither helo can fire at both boats at the same time.”
Thirty seconds later the Helix-As were on them, coming in low, dead astern. “
But now they came around again, and the leader banked right, giving his gunner a clear shot, and he raked the water and then the inflatable with bullets, ripping four large tears in the rubberized hull, and hitting Commander Hunter in his upper thigh and one of the rookies in the chest. A blistering fusillade of bullets from Dallas and Mike Hook drove the other one away, but neither chopper was damaged, and with blood pouring from his wound, Rick Hunter swung his machine gun around and turned to face them again.
But now the two pilots flew back to the east. One of their machine gunners was badly wounded, and they needed to caucus. That gave the SEALs three more minutes to restore order. Buster Townsend, using his good arm, tried to get a tourniquet around Commander Hunter’s thigh but it was not very successful, and the blood kept flowing.
And then they saw it, the black hull of USS
Commander Hunter, gritting his teeth, shouted, “
There was about a mile distance between them now, and they were closing at 47 knots. That represented only a little over a minute’s running time. Too long. The Helix-As were heading back toward them, and they had the hang of it now. They came in low at an angle, the machine gunners now firing at will.
Rick and Dallas both went for the rear door, and again they hit one of the gunners, but the Chinese fired four lethal bursts, and again they hit the lead boat, which was now shipping water. A vicious line of bullets ripped through the little craft, hitting Buster Townsend three times in the chest, and killing him instantly as he tried to bandage the Commander. One of the rookies was also killed, and Rattlesnake Davies took a bullet in his upper right arm.
The SEALs could not possibly survive such an onslaught. And now both helos were on their way back again.
