The Target(108)

Robie looked at the illuminated device on his wrist and reeled off his exact position to Nelson.

The chopper immediately circled and then came down closer to the ground in an opening among the trees.

Nelson’s voice came on the earwig again. “Afraid you’re going to have to make a skid grab, sir. We can’t land properly here.”

“On my way.”

Robie hustled across the open ground to where the chopper was hovering about six feet off the dirt.

Nelson’s voice said warningly, “We’ve got bogies on your six and four at ten meters. We have to go, sir. Right now.”

The North Koreans had made up a lot of ground. Maybe they had moved the trucks and gotten vehicles through. And now the chopper was acting like a beacon for them. None of it was good.

Bad wheel and all, Robie ran like he never had before. This was his absolute last chance.

Three feet from the chopper, with incoming fire slicing through the air, he jumped and his hands smacked against the left skid of the bird. He immediately wrapped his legs around the skid and held on with all his strength.

“Go! Go!” he screamed into his headset.

The chopper shot vertically with such speed that Robie’s stomach felt like it had been left back on the ground.

With rifle rounds still pinging all around them, the chopper cleared the trees, banked hard to the left, shot across the sky, and righted itself, and then the pilot slammed the throttle forward.

As they raced west across the darkened sky, the chopper’s side door slid open and a helmeted man peered down at him. He shouted, “Would you like to ride in the first-class section, sir?”

“If you’ve got room,” Robie shouted back. “Coach kind of sucks.”

The chopper’s winch was deployed and a weighted cable was lowered down to the skid. The pilot cut back on the power so the wind forces on the cable would be reduced.

Robie grabbed the cable, which had a harness attached, and wrapped it around his middle, cinching the belt tight. He gave the helmeted man a thumbs-up and the chopper reduced speed and hovered in the air.

Robie let go of the skid and swung out into space. The cable motor was engaged and he slowly rose. When he reached the door, two men there, who were attached to cables so they couldn’t fall to their deaths, maneuvered the winch closer to the chopper and then helped him inside. They took off the harness and the winch was retracted to its original position. The chopper’s door slid shut and Robie managed to grab a seat right before the pilot pushed the bird to full throttle and they raced across the sky.

“Are you injured, sir?” asked one of the men.

“Nothing that’ll kill me. But I need you to get a message to Agent Reel. I don’t want her to—”

“Already done, sir. She was the one who sent for us to assist you. They have reached their RIB and are on their way back out to sea. We’re from the same carrier that will be picking them up in Korea Bay. USS George Washington. We’ll rendezvous there.”

“Exactly what I wanted to hear,” said a relieved Robie.

“Oh, and Agent Reel asked me to pass a message along to you.”

“What’s that?”

The helmet came off, revealing a sandy-haired young man of about twenty. He was grinning. “To quote, sir, you owe her a kickass dinner and a very expensive bottle of wine.”

Robie smiled back. “Yes, I do.”





Chapter

58



USS GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS A floating city carrying thousands of personnel, nearly eighty aircraft, and a massive missile payload. Its bridge rose over seventy meters from the surface of the water. It displaced almost a hundred thousand tons and was longer than three football fields. When the chopper’s skids landed on the carrier’s deck, Robie breathed a final sigh of relief. He climbed out of the chopper under his own power but gripping his injured leg. The young airman on the chopper put an arm under his shoulder, supporting him.

“We’ll get you down to sick bay, sir. They’ll fix you right up.”

“Can a guy get a cup of coffee on this boat?” asked Robie with a weary smile.

“Hell, sir, this tin can is nothing but a big coffee pot.”





The ship’s doctor was nearly done taping up Robie’s wounds when Reel walked in.

He looked up at her. “So you didn’t think I could get my ass out without help?”

She perched on the side of the bed and said, “No, I just figured the chopper guys needed some practice in land grabs on North Korean soil, and I know how accommodating you are.”

The doctor smiled and said, “I’m pretty sure I’m not cleared for this.”

“Then you better leave,” said Reel. “I need to talk to this guy.”