Thunder in the Morning Calm (27 page)

“All right, let’s let ‘em have it, boys!” Jackrabbit yelled.

Gunner got up from the floor of the boat. The Zodiac was drifting just outside the glare of the spotlight. Jackrabbit was already up, his M-16 on his shoulder and aimed at the North Korean launch, which was still illuminated by the searchlight from the ship.

Bang bang bang bang bang bang!
Jackrabbit’s rifle unleashed six quick shots.

“Aaaaahhhh!” Screams from the Korean launch filled the air. Two North Korean sailors fell overboard, both clutching their throats. Two others, whose heads had just exploded, slumped lifeless in the boat. The two others, the one who had been snapping with the bullhorn and the one who had thrown the rope, scrambled in the boat like a couple of panicked chickens.

“Holy smokes, Jackrabbit!”

“Commander, fire about ten rounds in the engine. I’ll take the other two out.”

Bang! Bang!

Before Gunner could even bring his rifle to his shoulder, the heads of the bullhorn guy and the line thrower exploded like watermelons smashing against concrete. One body fell into the ocean, the other fell into the boat.

“Hold your fire, Commander,” Jackrabbit said. “No point in wasting valuable ammunition on an engine when there’s nobody in the boat to drive it. I got a feeling we’re gonna need those bullets later.”

“I guess you’re right,” Gunner said. He sat back down in the front of the boat and put his M-16 on the floor beside him.

“Jung-Hoon, cut a course due west at full power. Let’s get as far away from that spotlight as possible. They might find us out here again, but no point in making it any easier on them than we have to.”

“Got it.”

The engine revved again, and the boat shot across rolling waves, headed in a direction that would take it across the pathway of the ship’s bow, from the left to the right, on a course straight for the North Korean coastline.

NKN Frigate
Najin

G
et the spotlight off our boat, you stupid idiot!” Petty Officer Cheong Tae-hee screamed at the junior petty officer, Kim Won-tu, who had stood there with the spotlight on the North Korean launch while bullets whizzed in from the dark. “You have made them blind sitting ducks for the Navy SEALs!”

Cheong rushed over and pushed the junior petty officer out of the way. He retook control of the spotlight and started sweeping out over the black rolling waves. “Which way did they go, Petty Officer?”

“I think that way.” He pointed off to the left of the bow.

“You
think
that way?” He swung the light off the lifeless North Korean boat, concentrating on the black waters off the port bow.

Nothing.

“Why did you not follow the SEALs with the light when they got away? Why did you keep the light on our sailors and Marines?” he yelled as he moved the searchlight to the right and swept the waters right in front of the ship.

“I … I do not know. I did not know what to do. I … I froze.”

“You froze!” Cheong screamed. “You froze! And now they could be anywhere out there!” Still nothing. “I am the one who will get blamed by the captain for this! If the Navy does not court-martial you, I will personally shoot you.”

He swung the light farther to the right. Then … there! Scooting across swells and now out to the right side of the ship’s path, the Zodiac sped away from the ship.

“Petty Officer, you hold this light on that boat while I get the machine gun. If you lose that boat again, I will shoot you on the spot. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

Zodiac boat

T
he searchlight lit them up again, causing Jackrabbit to unleash a string of expletives.

“Commander, get down! I’m gonna see if I can take out that spotlight!”

Gunner went head down again, behind the inflated tube of the small rubber craft. He looked back and saw Jackrabbit crawling with his rifle to the back of the boat. Jung-Hoon moved over to the back left, hand still on the throttle of the outboard. Jackrabbit slipped into the back right and started firing multiple volleys back toward the ship.

USS
Boise
depth 100 feet in the Sea of Japan

S
kipper, we’re now broadside to the target. Range to target, five hundred yards. Awaiting your orders.”

“Very well,” Commander Hardison said. “Fire torp one!”

“Fire torp one! Aye, sir.”

Swish.
The sensation of a huge air puff rocked the sub as the first Mark 48 torpedo shot from the bow of the submarine.

“Fire torp three!”

“Fire torp three! Aye, sir.”

Swish …
Another air puff sensation. The second torpedo raced away through the water toward the target.

Hardison said, “Range to target.”

“Sir, torp one range to target is three hundred fifty yards and closing. Torp two range is four hundred fifty yards and closing.”

“Any indication that we’ve been detected?” Hardison asked.

“Sir, there’s a Russian Yankee class out of Vladivostok in the general area, but nothing to indicate that either the North Korean frigate or the Russian sub has detected us,” the XO said.

“Good,” Hardison said. “Let’s sit back and enjoy the fireworks.”

NKN Frigate
Najin

B
ecause the Zodiac had moved from the forward left of the ship, at about ten o’clock, to the forward right of the ship, now at about two o’clock, Cheong moved the machine gun onto the right forward bow. His assistant had kept the spotlight on the Zodiac.

Ping … ping …

What was that?

“Aahhhhhhhhhhh? I’m hit! I’m hit! Oh, my arm!”

Cheong glanced over at the junior petty officer, Kim Won-tu. Kim was grasping his bleeding forearm.

Ping … ping …

The Navy SEALs had opened fire! Cheong pulled back on the firing mechanism and aimed the powerful machine gun out toward the SEALs’ boat. He pulled the trigger. The jackhammer sound of the mighty NSV echoed at the front of the ship.

Chit-a-chit-a — chit-a — chit-a — chit-a — chit-a — chit-a — chit.

Zodiac boat

S
plash-slash-splash — slash-splash — slash-splash — slash-splash.
“They’re banging us with machine gun fire!” Jackrabbit said, as water sprayed all around the boat.

“Take this, sucker.” Jackrabbit, ignoring the machine gun fire, aimed his rifle back at the ship and pulled the trigger in quick succession.

Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam.

The fireball erupted from the forward section of the ship just as Jackrabbit fired his fourth shot. A loud booming noise rumbled across the water.

The second fireball amidships was more blinding than the first. Then a second later another
BOOM!

The rain of deadly bullets that had peppered the sea around the Zodiac stopped. Screams from the ship could be heard against the roaring sound of crackling flames leaping into the night air.

“Slow down, Jung-Hoon. I want to see this.”

The Zodiac slowed to a crawl, riding the waves as its occupants witnessed the shocking, fiery display. The ship, a sudden and magnificent flaming hulk, cast a bright reflection on the rolling swells. Gunner looked through his binoculars. Multiple fireballs exploded along the deck. Against the image of the exploding fireballs, they saw silhouettes of men diving into the cold water of the Sea of Japan.

“Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?” Gunner asked. “I think it’s breaking in half.”

“Sure is, Commander,” Jackrabbit said. “Right down the middle.”

The two sections of the ship, both now burning silhouettes in the water, had separated. The front two-thirds, which contained the ship’s superstructure and command center, was drifting away from the aft section.

The aft section started rising up into the night sky, the propellers pointing up to the crescent moon like one end of a giant see-saw.

As the aft section continued rising, the forward section, floating perhaps a hundred yards off to the right, started doing the same thing, The bow rose from the water as the other end sank. Haunting metallic groaning sounds, the eerie sounds of a ship dying, filled the air.

“That baby’s going down fast,” Jackrabbit said. And no sooner had he said it, than the aft section slid under the surface.

The front section, now almost vertical in the water, seemed to be pointing up at the North Star. A moment later, as if someone had opened the trapdoor to the graveyard of the sea, the front section slipped under the water and disappeared.

Fire on the water, from oil and fuel, flickered for a while and then burned out.

The three men stared at the empty sea where, moments before, an enemy warship had been firing at them. Even the sailors who had jumped overboard seemed to have vanished. All that was left was the Korean launch, bobbing aimlessly in the swells.

Peace, almost a supernatural peace, enveloped the Zodiac and its occupants.

“I wonder what hit it,” Gunner said.

“It sure wasn’t my M-16,” Jackrabbit said. “Although I’d love to take credit for it.”

Jung-Hoon said, “I would guess either a floating mine or possibly a missile fired by a plane over the horizon out to the east of here. Or a submarine.”

“Whatever it was, I thank the Good Lord,” Gunner said. “That ship was a whole lot bigger than this little boat and had a whole lot more firepower.” He exhaled as if he had been holding his breath. “I sure didn’t want to become the first American naval officer captured by those Communists since the
Pueblo
.”

“You a praying man, Commander?” Jackrabbit asked.

“Not like I should be, Jackrabbit, but I sure have been praying like crazy today.”

“Seems like God’s in a listening mood,” Jackrabbit said. “But right now, we got work to do. The portable GPS device is in that pack over there, Commander. Can you get it for me?”

“You got it.”

“Jung-Hoon, give us some light over here.”

The powerful flashlight lit up the interior of the Zodiac again. Jackrabbit turned on the GPS and pulled out a nautical chart.

“Okay, we must assume the ship got off a distress message before she went down. This area will be crawling with search planes and other ships looking for survivors. We need to get the heck outa here.

“Look at this nautical chart. Here is our last position when we ditched.” Jackrabbit looked at the GPS. “According to the GPS, we should be right here.” He pointed to a position on the chart. “That means our nearest landfall is twenty-five miles northwest … right about here” — he fingered a section of shoreline on the chart — “between the towns of Sinch’ang and Iwon . I know I’ve kind of taken control out here, but once we hit land, Jung-Hoon, you speak their language and you look like ‘em. So you’re in charge.”

The distant roar of a propeller aircraft droned in the skies from the west.

“Search parties are headed this way,” Jackrabbit said. “We better get this boat moving. The GPS is ready. I set a course for the northwest, three-one-five. Gunner, you sit up front. I’ll sit in the middle. We’ll make better time if we even out the weight. Less drag. I’ll watch our track on the GPS, Jung-Hoon, to make sure we stay on course.”

“I’m ready,” Jung-Hoon said, his hand on the throttle of the idling
outboard. Jackrabbit held up the GPS and pointed out the direction. Jung-Hoon throttled up the engine just enough to get the boat turned toward the northwest.

“Ready, Commander?”

“Ready.”

“Let ‘er rip, Jung-Hoon.”

Jung-Hoon revved the engine, and the boat picked up speed as it cut across the rolling black water, bouncing and splashing across the swells.

Spurts of cold water sprayed Gunner as the boat moved out, running from the area of the sunken ship.

Gunner checked his watch. In two hours, they would be approaching the North Korean coastline, with a whole host of dangers and challenges that he probably had not even contemplated. He looked back at the two men who had so willingly taken on this rescue mission. And he thanked God.

Soon, with the hum of the engine and the splash of the waves and the sliver crescent of the moon offering a peaceful respite, Gunner closed his eyes, thought of his grandfather, and prayed for protection.

Hongwon State Psychiatric Hospital
Hongwon, North Korea

H
ongwon, a town on the east coast of North Korea, sat forty miles as the crow flies from the prison. As they drove there, Staff Sergeant Kang seemed bent on driving as fast as the jeep would go, slinging them around steep curves in the road and then pressing down hard on the accelerator again to pick up more speed, always checking the rearview to see how his passengers were reacting to the ride. Pak sensed that his anger was not only directed at her. She decided that his anger was also focused against Staff Sergeant Mang, who sat beside Pak in the back all the while glaring back at Kang via the rearview mirror.

As they approached the outskirts of Hongwon, Kang hit the brakes, slowed the jeep, and turned off the winding, two-lane concrete road onto a long gravel drive with thick woods on both sides.

Kang’s words reverberated in her mind —
I am going to kill you.

Did his turn down this long winding gravel road mark the beginning of the end? The jeep rounded a curve and came to a large opening in the trees.

In the distance was a large single-story stone building. Lights shone in some of the windows, but most were dark. Parked outside were four cars and three vans. The sign over the main entrance proclaimed in large red letters on a white background “Hongwon State Psychiatric Hospital.” Next to the sign hung a side-view photographic profile of Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il.

Kang slowed as he turned onto the circular driveway, passing by the cars parked on it. He stopped in front of the building.