Part Four
Vasquez stole a quick glance up above the thick Pine treetop canopy and saw the silhouette of the Sea Knight making its way back to the HLA. The forest was cool and quiet. It seemed like the insertion had gone undetected. That was a great first step. Now came the thirty mile hike to the rendezvous point. They had a few more hours of darkness to use and he knew making their way across the pine forest would be much safer while the sun wasn't shining down on them. After a quick check to make sure everyone was ok and all the gear made it down unscathed, they started towards their objective.
The hike was long and the air was nice and chilly. Although the snow seemed to have melted already, the late spring air this far north was still crisp in the middle of the night - perfect weather for hauling fifty pounds of equipment thirty miles and back. The six men in the patrol were very used to this kind of work. They are all part of the Marine 3rd Recon team stationed in Okinawa. It had been 26 hours since they received their orders while back on base. Luckily, some were able to catch a couple quick winks of sleep and a hot meal on board the LHA Peleliu as they made their way along the almost 2,000 mile trip here. The first few hundred miles of the trip, like the last few hundred, was made by air. It was a harried trip consisting of stowing gear, grabbing quick flights here and there with little chance to rest. When going out on a mission like this, resting before hand, if you can, helps out in the long run. There is no way of knowing how long you'll be expected to stay awake and alert.
When Lt. Marks contacted Vasquez aboard the Peleliu to let him know that his squad would be going in alone, he was excited. A small six man recon patrol into enemy territory was what they trained for. Quick Silent Deadly! Now, the reality of the situaton was kicking in. He was still excited. But now he was also cautious. He channeled that cautiousness into alertness as they continued to move across the forest for a few more hours.
Shortly after daybreak, the patrol made it to the Orlovo River. The mountains were just a few miles off in the distance to the north - right where they should be according to the map. So far, they had traveled about twenty miles towards the objective and stayed exactly on target. Excellent start.
Ordering his men to stay back a few yards and out of sight, Vasquez moved towards the river slowly and cautiously. There was a few meters between the grass and the river bank. The cover wasn't great but not too bad. The river looked about 20 meters across and wasn't moving too quickly at this point. On the opposite side of the river was a field that sloped upward. The opposite bank was not steep and had a nice rock grouping a few meters in that would provide cover once across. A crossing was definitely possible here.
He moved back to his men and began to give his orders.
"Frick take off your pack and leave it here with Taylor. Keep your M4."
Miller and Thompson, set up the SAW about 10 meters down stream from here. Stay out of sight but make sure you can see across the river to the opposing bank. Taylor and Paterno stay here with the equipment."
Then he ended with, "Frick, your first!"
Frick replied with a quick, "Absolutley Seargant".
The men quickly went about their tasks. Miller and Thompson set up the M249 SAW where they could return fire if anyone saw Frick crossing and took some shots at him.
They snuck up through the grass just to the edge so they could poke the barrel out. They could see the opposite bank nicely. A good view. mostly grass going up the hill but the pine trees that started about half way up were dark and a little menacing looking. Miller took out his binoculars and made constant sweeps into the dense foliage while Thompson kept his gaze to looking through the SAW's sight.
Once he was covered as best that the group could, Frick made his way across the river. At its highest point, it was about 4 feet deep. Not as bad as some of the tests in the combat water survival training they had all taken. As soon as he was on the other side, Frick made his way behind a rock grouping and signaled back to Vasquez. Paterno was next. He crossed quickly and then Taylor made his way across carrying his load plus Frick's. Miller and Thompson, packed up the SAW and made their way across followed finally by Vasquez. The obstacle only cost them about 20 minutes and they were able to make the crossing as safely as possible. Vasquez just hoped they had the same opportunity of time on the way back.
With one more hurdle out of the way the patrol started moving across the last few miles towards the objective. The operation was a search and rescue of a special operative. All that the Lt. could tell him was that he was an American Agent working for an undisclosed agency. No one knew he was on Skira until they received some cryptic radio messages about 48 hours ago. The agent's cover was blown and he was making his way to a rendezvous point for pick-up. He had the only good intel on what was happening on the island and the brass wanted to know what that was.
Air cover on the island was limited. The Chinese were patrolling the shores which made getting onto the island very difficult. All civilian ports and airports had been seized. The only way on or off the island that wasn't controlled by the Chinese was by force or stealth. Vasquez half wondered why this James Bond cat couldn't just steal a chopper and fly off. This isn't a movie he guessed and, truth be told, he was glad for the mission.
As they moved towards the objective, they could see lots of examples of that Chinese air power. Fighters were moving across the island at a consistent rate and PLA z-9 helicopters were seen a few times on this side of the mountain range - Maybe 10 miles away. They were in a small valley in the center of the island. There was definitely a lot of activity across the mountain range to the east. They could see plumes of smoke rising up and could hear distant explosions. He supposed that was some of the Russian military making a few last stands against the overwhelming Chinese forces.
Shortly before noon, they arrived on a hilltop overlooking the rendezvous point. It was an abandoned shack at the end of a farm. There was plenty of cover on this side, as the shack was built at the end of the field and only about 10 meters from the start of the pine tree forest. They could see some activity back at the farm house, which was about 200 meters away.
Vasquez took a look through his binoculars and could see a Chinese version of a Humvee, the "Brave Warrior", parked outside the farm house. There were also 6 infantrymen standing outside. The agent was supposedly inside the shack. Hidden and would only respond in a friendly fashion to a voice uttering the code name "Rusty".
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