Warshot (The Hunter Killer Series Book 6) by Don Keith (top ten ebook reader TXT) 📗

men who had set up the initial perimeter, were already fully engaged in an active firefight with an unknown number of Chinese marines on the other side of the road. Readly’s unit was clearly outgunned. Time was not on their side.

The situation was going sideways fast.

The colonel knew he needed more firepower and he needed it now. He shifted channels on his radio and reached out to both Osprey pilots. That was all the big guns he had at his beck and call until the 53s, the King Stallions, arrived with their door-mounted seven-point-six two-millimeter machine guns mounted on each door. Mike Hotel Two—the other Osprey—responded first. That team of Marines had quickly taken control of the boat with no opposition. So far, though, they had not figured out how to operate it since the Tongan captors had apparently done something to the boat’s control room systems. They would need help and some time to get the engines going and the ship underway. But Mike Hotel Two was already in the air, heading back to the courthouse to help out Readly and his team.

Mike Hotel One chimed in next. He was still in the party but running low on ammo.

“Sarge, where are the hostages?” Readly yelled.

“In a ditch on the other side of the building. The female hostages are there now, too. I got two guys with them, but we need some help or...”

Then, just as the colonel could make out above the crack of rifle fire the welcome roar of the triple turbines of the approaching CH-53Ks, a rocket-propelled grenade arced over his head from the direction of the Chinese troops. It crashed through a window into the courthouse behind him. The explosion blew out several windows and started a fire in the building.

Osprey Mike Hotel Two showed up just in time to pepper the area where the round emanated with .50 caliber fire. The night sky above Neiafu was getting crowded.

Another enemy RPG flew overhead from a point to the right of the previous one. It, too, exploded into the building. The night was lit up by the rapidly spreading fire now roaring within the structure. As a sudden burst of fire from the just-arrived Mike Hotel Three concentrated on that patch of palms and brush, Readly and Martinez waved for their men to abandon their positions. They needed to pull back before the next RPG landed in their midst.

Readly knew that the parking lot was not going to work as the extract site, as planned. It was too open and exposed to the Chinese fire. The only option that he could see was to use the dirt road along the back side of the building. The hostages were already in the area and the burning courthouse offered a modicum of cover. He could only hope there was room for the helicopters to set down.

“Mike Hotel Three, extract site moved to backside of courthouse, on Pouono Road. Be aware LZ is hot,” Readly informed the approaching helicopters. “Repeat, LZ is hot.”

The chopper pilot curtly acknowledged.

“Sarge, confirm your guys with the hostages got the change of plans!” Readly yelled as they ran.

“Roger, Colonel.”

Rifle fire from the Chinese troops had lessened a bit as the Ospreys and King Stallions continued to shoot at them from a reasonably safe distance. Ramirez and his men dashed around the raging flames of the old wooden courthouse, covering each other as they pulled back.

Readly and Ramirez started moving the civilians—and the lone Tongan legal official—from the vegetation cover around the ditch to the new extract site. But two of the civilians ran over and kneeled down next to Readly.

“Colonel, you aren’t going to be able to get Deep Ocean Explorer out of here without help. We jimmied the drive system computer so they couldn’t move her except by tow. I’m Rex Smith. I own her. This is Bill Bix. He’s the captain. We can help you run her.”

Readly nodded and turned to Ramirez.

“Get me a fire team to make a run with us to the waterfront when we get everybody on their ride out of here.”

The first King Stallion made another roaring pass over the courthouse as her door gunners unloaded on the Chinese marines. Then the bird flared out and somehow managed to squeeze into the little open lot and roadway behind the building as the second 53K took its place in the sky above the burning building. The landing aircraft’s rotors were only inches from the fronds of nearby palm trees. Along with the two Ospreys, the bird above them continued to ferociously spit deadly fire at where the Chinese had last been shooting at them from the far side of the road.

Meanwhile, the civilians from the research ship piled onto the chopper as the marines helped them. A mere thirty seconds after setting down, the helicopter was airborne once again. Then the second 53K settled down in the same spot. The rest of the civilians—except Bix and Smith—and most of the Marines piled onboard.

As the second helicopter lifted off, Readly, Ramirez, the Marine fire team, Bix, and Smith sprinted down Pouono Road toward the waterfront. Mike Hotel One and Two kept the Chinese marines pinned down with their machine gun fire. Mike Hotel Three and Four and their passengers were well on their way back toward Pago Pago.

As the group charged down the coral road and then turned onto Fatafehi Road, they could hear almost continuous firing behind them, but no one seemed to be in pursuit. The Chinese must have assumed all the fighters had left onboard the King Stallions. The run to the dock was only eight hundred meters, but with the adrenaline and the exercise, all of them were winded when they finally piled onboard the research ship. Older and not in nearly as good a shape as the Marines, Bix and Smith were struggling, but the fighters helped them climb aboard their vessel.

“Colonel, Mike Hotel One.” Readly paused to hear the update from the Osprey pilot. “We