'And the sun comes up at what, 0524 hours,' said the team sergeant. We need to move.'
'Yup.'
'You know something, Joey? I don't like this plan.' Beasley grinned.
'Neither do I.'
They banged fists, the words and act a little ritual often repeated during exfiltration.
Headlights shone behind them, and Ramirez whirled. 'Captain's early? But I just saw him on—'
'No,' grunted Beasley. 'That ain't him. Get down!'
Beasley, who was in the driver's seat, shut off the engine and lowered the window, pistol in hand.
Ramirez clutched his own pistol and hit the window button as the headlights drew nearer.
'Ghost Lead, this is Bravo Lead.'
'Go ahead.'
'Boss, we might have a problem.'
Jenkins had found the fishing boat's engine key in Buddha's pocket, and once down at the boat, he and Smith had climbed aboard, and Jenkins had inserted the key. He didn't start the engine. Not yet. Beasley had ordered them to lay low until he signaled.
'This thing's a piece of crap,' said Jenkins. 'We'll sink before we're saved.'
'And this water is a freaking biohazard.'
'You're not kidding. And hey, what if she doesn't start?'
'Dude, don't jinx us.'
A flash of light on his peripheral vision stole Jenkins's attention. 'Maybe I already have.'
'Bro, there's a four-by-four up there,' said Smith. 'You see him? That ain't the captain! That looks military!'
'Matt, this is Bo,' called Jenkins. 'What's going on up there?'
Chances were high that the four-by-four belonged to the army and that the Spring Tigers had ordered patrols out during the predawn hours as part of their larger plans. Ramirez held his breath as the truck pulled up behind them and stopped.
The side-view mirror reflected a green truck not unlike the Brave Warrior but with a canvas top and large windows. Two armed soldiers got out and came toward them, pistols drawn.
Ramirez looked at Beasley, whose gaze was trained on his side-view mirror.
'Here we go, bro,' Beasley whispered.
Suddenly, more lights wiped across the overpass, and the two soldiers whirled to face yet another military truck turning off the road and coming down toward them.
The second truck rolled to a stop behind the first, and the soldiers turned to face it.
'Joey, now!' stage-whispered Beasley.
In unison they bolted up, hung out their windows, and shot both men, who dropped, even as a third soldier was emerging from the second truck.
Before he could get back inside to take cover, and before either Ramirez or Beasley could fire, the soldier's chest blew outward, and he slumped below his open door.
Ramirez detected movement in the passenger's seat. Yet another troop.
As he shifted his aim, a thump came from the canvas window in back, and blood clouded the windshield.
'Bravo Team, this is Diaz. You're clear now. We're coming down.'
'Roger that,' said Beasley.
Ramirez turned back into the SUV and slumped in his seat, taking long, slow breaths. 'She could've told us they stopped,' he snapped.
Beasley frowned. 'She does that.' He opened his door and started out of the SUV.
'So much for the quiet exit,' said Ramirez, joining Beasley outside. They grimaced over the dead soldiers, the fourth lying in a pulp inside the other car.
The sight of death hardly bothered them. The ramifications of those deaths did. 'They've lost contact with their unit.'
'Yep. We have their attention,' said Beasley with a groan. 'Give me a hand with these bodies.'
Ramirez snorted and gestured with his sling. 'One is all you're getting.'
Tanner had thought it was high time that he and his blond, freckle-faced colleague got more involved in the Ghost Team's exfiltration, and after the captain had briefed them on the mission and asked if they had questions, Tanner had answered, 'Sir, SEAL Chief Phillips and I have just one question.'
'And that is?'
'We don't understand why Mitchell and his team didn't join the navy.'
Gummerson had grinned and dismissed them.
Now they sprinted up from the beach and reached the woods, where they wove a breathtaking path through the trees and neared the pier, just as Gummerson called to say there'd been trouble back at the boat dock. Four soldiers dead. More undoubtedly on the way. The Ghosts were loading up now, but they couldn't sit at the dock. They'd have to putter down the coast a thousand yards or so, slip up to another pier, and wait there, while hell broke loose behind them.
So Tanner and Phillips had even less time to get the job done. Wearing a pair of NVGs, Tanner studied the ferry and crane, just as the operator lowered a pallet of fifty-five-gallon fuel drums onto the pier under the watchful gazes of three members of the barge crew.
Tanner gave Phillips the signal.
They moved in.
Mitchell had ordered Jenkins and Beasley to haul Buddha's body onto the fishing boat and lay him along the rail. Boy Scout lay beside him. The DIA had been emphatic about returning the bodies and not allowing them to remain in China, where they might provide clues that could topple an even larger network of spies still in the country, some of whom also worked for the National Security Agency.
Mitchell remained on the deck at the stern, monitoring the SEALs' progress via his HUD, while Jenkins took the wheel. They chugged slowly away from the pier, everyone down low, weapons at the ready. Dark waves thumped and lapped at the hull, and their foamy wake was quickly swallowed back by the harbor.
About a kilometer ahead, to the southwest, the pier jutted out from the sand spit, and Mitchell barely made out the silhouette of the crane with his naked eye.
'Well that didn't take long,' said Diaz, pointing toward the stern.
A pair of headlights came down the shoreline road, and the vehicle appeared, another military truck turning toward the boat docks.
'Jenkins, throttle up a little bit,' said Mitchell.
'You got it, Boss.'
'Joey, how are you doing?' Mitchell asked, raising his voice over the engine's higher-pitched gurgles and whine.
'Alex gave me that shot,' answered Ramirez. 'Arm's numb.'
'The dragon didn't pounce on Taiwan, but it stepped on us pretty good, eh?' asked Mitchell.
'Yes, sir. But it was worth it.'
'I agree,' added Diaz. 'In more ways than one.' She pursed her lips and nodded at Mitchell.
