Turning to his squad, Roland ordered them to place the explosives that they had lugged up from the RHIBs. The placement was precise, designed to destroy the cave’s contents milliseconds before collapsing the roof onto the remnants. The facility would be buried under tons of volcanic rock; sealed forever from the outside.
The agitated Dr. Aswal ordered his workers to exit. He gathered his team at the cave exit. They huddled under the watchful scrutiny of two heavily armed SEALs.
As the last of the charges were being placed, automatic weapons fire erupted outside the cave. The staccato rattle of M-60s was interspersed with the louder, lower rumble of a heavy machine gun.
Several grenades exploded as the SEALs exited the cave. A fierce firefight was underway. An armored personnel carrier and a squad of infantry were trying to force their way up the main road. They had the SEAL gunners pinned down under a fusillade of fire from the 23-mm automatic cannon and light machine gun fire. The SEALs were returning fire at a furious rate. Several of the attacking infantry lay sprawled on the ground and a grenade explosion blackened the side of the APC.
With no time to waste before the explosive charges brought down the mountain, Roland surveyed the situation from behind the cover of a large rock.
Boats yelled, "Lieutenant, we got to get moving! Can't hold them much longer. We're running out of ammo."
The added firepower from the SEALs at the cave entrance stalled the assault. The terrorists scrambled to find cover and return fire. The fight was approaching a standoff. Tracer fire from the APC stitched across the rock face. The SEALs had to get out, but the way they came was blocked.
Boats, shooting from behind a tree five feet to Roland's left, signaled that there was an escape route in that direction. Roland rallied his troops and began a covered withdrawal down a narrow footpath.
There was no time to herd the prisoners away. The scientists were on their own. Aswal and his cronies skittered off to the right, away from the escaping SEALs.
The squad leapfrogged down the mountain, away from the entrance. Roland and Boats were the last two to leave. "Get movin', Lieutenant, I'll cover!" Boats yelled. He turned and opened fire. As Roland started to slither across the ten feet of open ground to the next cover, he saw Boats fall. "You okay?" he yelled.
No answer. Roland crouched low and ran back to Boats. He lay sprawled behind the tree, holding his blood-soaked side and vainly trying to reach for his weapon.
Roland threw the Chief over his shoulder and ran toward his retreating squad. They were using the last of their precious ammo to give him cover.
Crossing the open ground took an eternity. Bullets kicked up dust around him and showered leaves and debris on him. Roland's lungs burned like they were afire. His knees felt like rubber. He ran down the trail past the rest of the SEALs until he reached a protected clearing.
He could hear the firefight continuing as the rest of the SEALs executed their covered withdrawal. All but the last person provided covering fire while he rushed several feet ahead of the squad. This process was rapidly repeated several times, until they were all clear of the cave area.
A sudden blast and cloud of dark gray smoke billowed from the cave. The cave roof collapsed on the remnants of the factory, entombing everything under tons of rock. The massive shock loosened a rocky outcropping above the cavern. The rockslide buried the entrance and upended the armored personnel carrier.
Left without their heavy weapons and badly out-maneuvered, the terrorists ran back toward the compound.
Roland checked the wounded Chief. The bullet had passed through his side, leaving a neat little entrance hole an inch below and outside his right nipple. The exit hole, just below Boat's right clavicle, was not so tiny or neat. His blouse was saturated with blood.
"Boats, you alright? Stay with us now!"
A pair of pressure bandages staunched most of the bleeding. A shot of morphine took the edge off the pain. Better medical attention would have to wait until they were back on ESSEX.
Boats groaned, "Damn it, Lieutenant. That was a damn fool thing to do. I've told you a hundred times, you run like a duck."
23 Jun 2000, 0115LT (22 Jun, 1815Z)
SAN FRANCISCO raced at flank speed to return from the Tomahawk launch basket to Nusa Funata. Hunter was worried about the FFG that they encountered on the outbound journey. He had an uneasy feeling about it. Nothing that he could really put his finger on, but…
If it was aiding the terrorists, it could lend supporting fire against the SEALs or, more importantly, prevent the OSPREYs from reaching their landing zone. These birds were easy targets for the AAW systems on the FFG-7, which were designed to attack supersonic jets and low flying cruise missiles. Without the OSPREYs, the SEALs and hostages were stranded on Nusa Funata, to share the fate of the terrorists there.
The empty missile canisters remaining in the torpedo tubes from the launch were jettisoned. The torpedomen rushed to reload tube one with an ADCAP torpedo and reload the other three tubes with more Tomahawks.
The torpedo room was starting to look empty. Out of the twenty-six stowage positions available in the room and tubes; with the KILO attack, the SEAL equipment
