Without remorse - Tom Clancy [209]
The first Marines appeared, dragging the simulated prisoners in relays. Kelly could see Irvin checking and doing a count at the gate. There were shouts now, men calling off numbers and names, and the roar of the big Sikorsky choppers almost covered it all. The last Marines in were the fire-support teams, and then the rescue choppers increased power and lifted off into the darkness.
'That was fast,' Ritter breathed as the sound faded. A moment later two fire engines appeared to extinguish the blazes left behind by the various explosive devices.
'That was fifteen seconds under nominal,' Kelly said, holding up his watch.
'What if something goes wrong, Mr Clark?' Ritter asked.
Kelly's face lit up in a wicked grin. 'Some things did, sir. Four of the team were "killed" coming in. I assume maybe a broken leg or two -'
'Wait a minute, you mean there's a chance -'
'Let me explain, sir?' Kelly said. 'From the photos there is no reason to believe there are any people between the LZ and the objective. No farming on those hills, okay? For tonight's exercise, I eliminated four people at random. Call all of them broken legs. The people had to be carried into the objective and carried out, in case you didn't notice. Backups on everything. Sir, I expect a clean mission, but I messed it up some tonight just to check.'
Ritter nodded, impressed. 'I expected everything to be run by the book for this rehearsal.'
'In combat things go wrong, sir. I allowed for that. Every man is cross-trained for at least one alternate job.' Kelly rubbed his nose. He'd been nervous, too. 'What you just saw was a successful simulated mission despite greater-than-expected complications. This one's going to work, sir.'
'Mr Clark, you sold me.' The CIA field officer turned to the others. 'What about medical support, that sort of thing?'
'When Ogden forms up with Task Force 77, we cross-deck medical personnel over to her,' Maxwell said. 'Cas is on his way there now to brief the people in. CTF-77 is one of my people, and he'll play ball. Ogden's a pretty large boat. We'll have everything we need to care for them, medics, intel guys to debrief, the works. She sails them right to Subic Bay. We hop them out of Clark ASAP. From the time the rescue choppers get off, we'll have them in California in ... four and a half days.'
'Okay, this part of the mission looks fine. What about the rest?'
Maxwell handled the answer. 'Constellation's whole air group will be in support. Enterprise will be farther up north working the Haiphong area. That should get the attention of their air-defense net and their high command. Newport News will be trolling the coast shooting up triple-A sites for the next few weeks. It's to be done randomly, and this area will be the fifth. She lays ten miles out and lobs in heavy fire. The big antiaircraft belt is within the range of her guns. Between the cruiser and the air group, we can blast a corridor for the helos to get in and out. Essentially we'll be doing so much that they oughtn't to notice this mission until it's already over.'
Ritter nodded. He'd read through the plan, and had only wished to hear it from Maxwell - more to the point, to hear how he expressed himself. The Admiral was calm and confident, more so than Ritter had expected.
'It's still very risky,' he said after a moment.
'It is that,' Marty Young agreed.
'What's the risk to our country if the people in that camp tell everything they know?' Maxwell asked.
Kelly wanted to step back from this part of the discussion. Danger to country was something beyond his purview. His reality was at the small-unit level - or, more recently, even lower than that - and though his country's health and welfare started at that lowest common denominator, the big stuff required a perspective he didn't have. But there was no gracious way for him to withdraw, and so he stayed and listened and learned.
'You want an honest answer?' Ritter asked. 'I'll give you one - none.'
Maxwell took it with surprising calm that concealed outrage. 'Son, you want to explain