Steve Abbott - Devil's Gambit

“What’ve you got, Smoke?” Hunter’s voice was a barely audible growl.

Smoke held up the cigarette butt. “Our friend up ahead is a litter bug.”

The rest of the team moved to defensive positions around the two men. Gayle stayed by Sean. Harris stayed by Chun.

Hunter grinned. The commander scanned the foliage and the condition of the mud road. “And he shall be punished. Looks like our friends have been busy in this neck of the woods.”

“Feels like they brought at least one heavy truck up this way. The funny thing is that they left the peninsula alone. If it had been me, I’d have stuck at least one SAM battery there.”

Hunter nodded. “Could be that they’re too taxed on the asset side to afford another battery of missiles. And face it, they have to know that our satellites can see through camouflage netting.”

“So do you want me to catch up with our buddy?”

“No. Let him get back to where he camps for the night. They won’t be expecting anything from this direction. If we take him out before he gets back to camp or whatever, it could tip our hand. The last thing we want is for his buddies to suspect something.” Hunter motioned the team leaders closer. “I want you guys to try and take out all of the sites we come across with maximum silence, understand? We’ll use the Alfa pattern. The closer we are to Smoke, the better. Tell the others.” Hunter put his hand on Smoke’s shoulder. “You’re back on point.” Hunter looked over at Gayle. “Keep to the rear, Captain. This is our show. The last thing we need is to have any of your team hit by stray rounds.”

The huddle broke up. Each team and its leader moved into their positions in the line. Harris and Addison were the last two in line. Harris waited until everybody was facing forward before he tapped Sean on the arm.

Sean looked over. Harris handed him one of the SEAL silenced assault pistols and three clips of ammunition. Sean took the weapon and the ammo. At least this way if things went sour, he would be able to shoot back and not give away his position. Everybody was carrying a minimum of gear. Just a small rucksack for rations and extra ammunition. Speed was going to be the deciding factor in this race.

Smoke felt the missile battery before he reached it. The jungle had an unnatural silence around the SA-6 site. Perhaps it was the slight smell of gear oils, ozone and propellant that fought with the dank jungle rot. It smelled of man, and it did not belong. Smoke edged closer through the clinging jungle foliage. He could hear guttural Korean.

Thirty meters later, he reached the edge of the section cleared for the site. The jungle had been beaten down and removed. A professional job. Somewhere around the area lurked at least a platoon of combat engineers. The local population wouldn’t have been so thorough or knowledgeable in the preparation and survey of a site like this. It would have been out of character to allow the common people any closer than necessary to the secret workings of the army of the people. He slung his rifle across his back and drew his silenced pistol. No need to go loud and give the entire game away.

He quietly relayed his find. “First site located. What do I do?”

Hunter’s reply was immediate. “Wait one. I want to see it for myself.”

Smoke moved right to the edge of the cleared vegetation to get a better idea of the site layout. The surface to air missile launcher and its accompanying command truck were deployed about thirty feet apart. There was no sign of guards. He strained his ears to hear any man made sound. Smoke became part of the jungle around him.

On the other side of the clearing, a match flared for the third time that night. Smoke saw it all in perfect clarity. The soldier was facing away from him. Through the goggles, the match flare surrounded the man’s helmeted head with a green halo. He was sure it was his friend from the trail. Smoke took a step forward, so intent on the guard that he didn’t see the twig until it broke with a snap under his foot. The guard turned around. Smoke, swearing to himself for being so careless, put three 9mm hollow point rounds into the soldier’s chest. The guard went down in a heap.

Smoke whispered “base hit” into his comlink. Things were not going according to plan. His team had to know.

He ran for the communications truck, tore open the back door and sprayed the interior. Sparks and bits of hot metal flew as slugs tore off the steel walls and into the radio gear that lined the walls of the vehicle. The two men inside died without even knowing how. The remaining SA-6 crew were brought out of their tents by the sounds of destruction. The tree line erupted with muzzle flashes and the muffled pop of silenced weapons. The deadly firefly red glow of tracers streaked into the staggering forms of the Korean soldiers cutting them down. It was all over in seconds.

Hunter looked over the carnage. He nudged the dead Korean guard with the toe of his boot. “No use bitching about this. Thermite the control panels in the launch truck and cut the battery leads on the SAM igniters. Booby trap anything that looks like it could be pushed in an emergency. They’re going to send out a patrol to check out why these guys aren’t talking to them anymore and I want the jungle to swallow them up as well.” Hunter looked up from the dead Korean, right at Smoke. “Smoke, you’re back on point, but I want you to stick closer to the team.” The team leader looked hard at Smoke. “And this time, try to be quiet about it.”

Chun looked down at the dead soldier. His heart was a ball of ice. His revenge was proving to have a terrible price. Another comrade dead because of the actions of the inner circle. They would pay for their betrayal to the people.

Sean ignored the dead Korean guard. He kept his eyes riveted to the bent back of Chun. The Korean reached over and patted the dead man’s chest in consolation. If it looked like he was having problems with the mission, Sean would kill him now, where it could be done quietly. Chun straightened up and once again, Sean had a sense of some kind of resolution being made. He slid his commando dagger back into its sheath.

Any attempt made to hide the second SA-6 site had been rudimentary. The launcher sat under a camouflage net, about a kilometer away, on the curve of the bay to the southeast of the docks. Its communications truck and radar unit sat out in the open. The radar unit looked larger than normal for an SA-6. Behind the site ran a Soviet-standard, narrow-gauge railway. Sean knew from maps that a quarter mile past the railway, a winding two lane highway connected the entire east coast of North Korea.

A heavily guarded diesel electric train sat on the rails by the closest dock. The sub tender they had all seen in satellite imagery sat on the other side of the same dock. Sean started counting the number of soldiers he could see. He stopped at forty. This was not good. Sean moved up the line to Hunter. “Doesn’t look good, Bob.”

“I’ve got eyes, Addison.”

“Can your Alpha team take out the missile battery?”

“Smoke’s already on it. I told him to be quiet this time.”

Sean smiled. “Why don’t you send him our way after this and we’ll see if we can’t get him some decent training for a change?”

“Fuck you Addison.”

Sean smiled. “Maybe later, when we’re not so pressed for time. I could manage a quick cuddle though.”

Hunter smiled. “You’re a total bastard, Addison. What do you want?”

“Just need to borrow your binoculars. There’s something about that SA-6 set-up that bothers me.”

“Like what?”

“The radar unit is too big.”