Part 35 (1/2)

With GPS and radio, it was the easiest thing imaginable for two s.h.i.+ps to meet in an otherwise unoccupied stretch of ocean. It was not, however, all that easy for two s.h.i.+ps to transfer cargo in an open stretch of ocean. This depended on all kinds of powerful and unpredictable factors. Oh, certainly, wars.h.i.+ps of most of the major naval powers could conduct UNREP, UNderway REPlenishment, in some fairly heavy seas. They were built for it, had crews trained for it, had a lot of experience in it, and were, broadly speaking, equipped for such transfers.

The Merciful was not a naval vessel; it was a merchant s.h.i.+p. Moreover, while some modifications, even some substantial modifications, had been made, they'd not been made with the intent of transferring cargo on the high seas. Neither had there been any substantial changes to the s.h.i.+p Victor used to bring the two MI-28's donated by his father-in-law, nor the flight and ground crews.

In all, then, the operation was pretty d.a.m.ned early nineteenth century. This is to say, the two s.h.i.+ps needed a sheltering bay, both to operate the gantry and to run the small boats that would bring over Victor, the flight crews, and the ground crews.

”Which is, you know, oddly appropriate,” Reilly said to Lana, as they watched the transfer while sharing a drink on the deck forward of the superstructure. George, Fitz, and the platoon and section leaders were there, too. Some, like Reilly and Lana, had their backs to the superstructure. Others, like the first sergeant and exec, formed a circle farther out. A couple of bottles of scotch were pa.s.sed around the circle. Reilly considered war to be largely a social activity, thus social events, too, had their place in preparing for it.

”Why's that?” she asked. She sat straight, head resting against white painted steel. She was near but not next to him. Really, she ached to slide over and lay her head on his shoulder. With all the others present, though, that just wouldn't do. And it wasn't that anybody didn't know, at this point, that they were sleeping together. It was that the others could comfort themselves with the illusion that it was just recreational s.e.x, and that Reilly wouldn't care for her any more than he did for them, and wouldn't disadvantage them on her behalf. That required that they still be businesslike in public, with no obvious affection between them.

You've never heard of this place?”

”Don't think so, no. Should I have?”

Reilly smiled. ”Maybe.” He lifted his right index finger and twirled it around at the surrounding cliffs. ”This bay is called, 'Prosperous Bay.'” I'm pretty sure n.o.body knows why. G.o.d knows, I don't.”

”And so?”

He stuck the previously twirling finger in one ear, scratching more for effect than to relieve an itch. ”Well, if you were foolish enough to climb those cliffs-and, yes, by the way, it's been done-and walk west-southwest for about, oh, maybe four kilometers as the crow flies, you will come to a house. Its name is Longwood.”

The expression on Lana's face changed. She had heard that name before . . . but wasn't sure exactly where or what it meant.

Reilly wasn't about to give her any easy hints yet. ”Maybe two and half kilometers past that, edging more southwest than west-southwest, is a grave. There's no one in the grave, but there used to be. Some Corsican guy . . . you probably never heard of him . . . ”

”Napoleon?” Lana asked, wonder in her voice. ”Of course! Napoleon! Oh, we have to visit,” she said. ”We have to. Please? Pretty please?”

”Wish we could, Lana, but we can't. No time. See, they've almost finished swinging over the last container.”

She looked at the gantry. Mrs. Liu, the Chinese adept on all things crane and gantry related, was easing the third of three containers over the Merciful's side; a small crew waited on the deck to help guide it into position.

”Maybe on the return trip,” George suggested. ”a.s.suming, of course . . . ” a.s.suming there even is a return trip.

”Maybe, Top,” Reilly said. ”I'll bring it up to Stauer. 'a.s.suming, of course'.”

D-15, MV Merciful Merciful, 397 miles west of Luederitz, Namibia

Overhead and at a considerably distance, two unmanned aerial vehicles, which needed virtually nothing special to land on or take off from, circled at a distance of twenty-five to thirty miles, ensuring there were no s.h.i.+ps that close to the Merciful.

Among the other items brought from Base Alpha had been several tons of dirt in sandbags and a fair number of logs. The logs were laid out in two layers, crosswise, on top of five pairs of containers, thoroughly lashed and chained together. Above the logs were sandbags, layered five deep. Atop the sandbags were erected five Russian 120mm mortars, all set at very high elevation and aimed, generally, over the starboard side. The mortars, themselves, were along the port side. Aiming stakes, painted green but with a red and white strip bared once some tape put on during the painting had been peeled off, were laid out to the left front of each mortar, at twenty-five meter intervals. Getting the stakes stuck in had been a major pain in the a.s.s, involving the use of both more sandbags and considerable finesse.

Next to the mortars were three high-explosive sh.e.l.ls each, plus a couple each of illuminating and smoke. Around each were five crewman, three crews of Marines and two of Soldiers. A joint fire direction center sat behind them.

The mortars and FDC took up a good chunk of the main deck, which would become the flight deck. Behind that, the forward observers stood on the bridge, connected to the mortar FDC by land lines and field phones.

Between the superstructure and the mortars, Mrs. Liu busied herself with dropping half a dozen sealed containers over the side. The containers would sink on their own, eventually. The mortars hoped to hurry the process.

”Buuut,” Peters said to his jarhead opposite number, ”the odds of our hitting anything, even by direct lay, from a corks.c.r.e.w.i.n.g s.h.i.+p, are, at best, s.h.i.+tty.”

”Yeah,” agreed the Marine, Sergeant Benevides, a stubby, stocky Ecuadorian immigrant to the United States. ”But it'll be fun.”

As soon as Mrs. Liu dumped the last of the target containers over the side, Kosciusko ordered a long, wide and slow, one hundred and eighty degree turn. As soon as he was about two miles opposite the line of bobbing containers, he ordered the s.h.i.+p to come to a full stop in place and then turned to the senior of the forward observers, saying, ”You may fire when ready.”

Flukes, much like s.h.i.+t, sometimes just happen. After missing by as much as five hundred meters, the eleventh round managed to actually hit one of the container targets. Better, it pa.s.sed through the side above the water, through the side below the water, and then detonated a very short distance into the water. The container was blown skyward, spinning end over end before reaching apogee and beginning to plummet back to the sea.

”You couldn't do that again if your life depended on it,” Peters said.

”Nope,” the Marine agreed. ”And, in light of that, I think we ought to retire the guns on a positive note.”

”I concur,” said Peters. ”Out of ACTION!”

Kosciusko shook his head, watching the sundered container fly up and then splash down. Some people have all the luck.

The chief observer announced, ”Skipper, they're striking the guns.”

”Works for me,” Kosciusko agreed. He jabbed the intercom and announced, ”Reilly, get your Eland and ant.i.tank crews on deck to test fire. I'll have Mrs. Liu bring up the containers holding them and the ordnance.”

D-13, MV Merciful Merciful, 211 miles south of Cape Town, South Africa

Mrs. Liu plopped a container on a section of deck covered with PSP. Immediately, the container was opened on both sides, and a small crew of men entered it, scrunched over, and began pus.h.i.+ng out sections of the matting to other teams that waited to either side. She then moved the gantry to pick up and move another.

A siren blared, then the loudspeakers carried Kosciusko's voice. ”Cease work. Cease work. The time has run and we are not done. All decking teams, break down the flight deck. Gantry, replace the containers in their hide positions as they are filled.

”We're going to work on this all f.u.c.king night and tomorrow night, too, people, until you can a.s.semble the flight deck to standard and on time. Section leaders and company commanders, report when we are stowed and ready to begin again.

”That is all.”