Chapter 4. Kate?
During the afternoon of the next day they approached Santo at Espiritu Santo. Smoke was seen above the port. The Hammersley was slowly approaching. The port was quiet. A few small boats along the quay, but nothing that indicated a normal harbour activity. Mike and Kate stood at the outside bridge and were watching for any hostile movement. Mike turned to Kate.
"Right, prepare the teams. You lead one and Dutchy the other one. Only pistols, no guns. Otherwise it would look too offensive. You have the locations where our people ought to be? And be careful."
"Roger that," she answered, their eyes were locked for a few moments and then she went inside.
When they reached the jetty they saw several rough looking men armed with machetes, rifles and machine guns. The two teams had just arrived on shore when a black Mercedes drove in high speed to the quay. A coloured man in a black suit jumped out and came towards Kate.
"You are not allowed here. We haven't given you any authorisation to moor here," he said irritated to her.
"Sir, we are only here to …"
"Leave our island! ", he interrupted her.
"SIR, we want to evacuate our Australian civilians."
"You do not understand. Go away. There are no Aussies here, and also no Kiwi's."
"Sir, how are you so sure? We have instructions from our government that there are."
"I am sure, and now, go away. You don't have to look for anything here."
Meanwhile a few body guards armed with machine guns stood behind the man in the suit.
"Ok, ok sir, we are leaving." She stepped slightly backwards, still looking at that man.
"Guys, return to the vessel," she ordered.
Kate headed to Mike on the bridge who was looking at her with a questioning glance.
"Sir, we've been chased away. He says there are no Australians here. But I don't believe him."
"Hmm, neither do I. Okay, let's get back to sea."
"Sir, do we give up?", Kate wondered a bit surprised.
"No, not at all. We will go on shore out of the sight of the harbour and we will check some of the villages. "
The Hammersley sailed to another coastline without a port and anchored as close they could. From where they lay, the coastline was a deep blue-green horizontal stripe. No village, no rocks, just forest and a narrow beach.
"Right, X, Dutchy, Swain,2Dads follow me to the command room," Mike ordered.
In the command room he started.
"Listen, the authorities don't like our presence here and they say there are no Australians or other nationalities here. But I don't believe them. We have from the government a list with locations where they ought to be. So we will go with two rhibs to the coast and there we will split into four teams to check out the different locations. Inform or insist that they will come with you."
"And if they don't want to?", Swain asked.
Mike shrugged. "We can't force them, but try to persuade them to come with you. It's advice from the government."
The other nodded.
"Right, X, you are team X-Ray, Dutchy you lead team Bravo, Swain you're Sierra and 2Dads is Delta. X Compose the teams, but I'll keep RO here for the communications and Bomber as a medic.
And I expect you all back before dusk. If the targets are not reached, we will return tomorrow morning."
He marked on the map which villages they had to inspect.
"Roger that," they replied.
"Ok, go for it. X, do you have a second."
The others left the room and Kate stayed. Mike waited until everyone was gone.
"Sir?", Kate asked.
"Kate, be careful. Don't take any risks, will you? I have a strange feeling about this."
"Mike, don't worry, we've done this earlier," she said to comfort him.
"Okay, see you this evening." And he tapped her on her shoulder.
She smiled at him and left the room also.
Both rhibs were launched and rushed to the coast. There they split up.
"Lance with me, George, you with Swain, Bird with Dutchy and Harpie, you go with 2Dads. You know your location? No unnecessary risks, keep a low profile. That are orders from the boss. And keep in touch. Let's go," Kate ordered.
At the bridge Mike was pacing back and forth between the radar and the outside of the bridge to look with his binoculars to the coast where you could see smoke clouds from time to time and faint gun fire.
"Charge, warn me if you see something on the radar. It might be possible that they will chase us away.
And RO any news?"
"No sir, not yet."
"All right. Keep listening," Mike answered.
Damn why they are not give a feed back? Hmm probably they didn't reach the villages yet. Did I have to go instead of Kate? No, she's experienced enough.
"RO, call them! I want to know how they progress."
"Aye sir.
Charlie-82 to X-Ray, Bravo, Sierra and Delta teams, how's progress?", RO asked.
After a few seconds, it was Kate who responded first."
"X-Ray-82 to Charlie-82. We are advancing slowly on the slope. Nothing special to report," Kate mentioned.
Then a few instances later, the others came in too."
"Delta-82 to Charlie-82. Here 2Dads. Everything smooth here, no bogeys yet."
"Bravo-82 to Charlie-82. We hear gun fire in the distance, target not reached yet," Dutchy said.
"Sierra-82 to Charlie-82. We're still in the bush. There was an explosion in the distance. No hostiles yet," Swain replied.
Mike paced back and forth on the bridge, from time to time sipping from his coffee en watching his wrist watch.
Then there was a first response.
"Delta-82 to Charlie-82?" It was 2Dads' voice.
"Charlie-82 to Delta-82, come in?", Mike answered.
"We entered a village with locals and a French doctor wants to come with us. He said he has been threatened by the rebels."
"Ok, 2Dads, return with him asap. Over."
"Sir, a call from Navcom," RO mentioned to Mike.
"Mike Flynn speaking," he said after he took over the phone from RO.
"Mike, it's Maxine. Bad news. The government warned me that these terrorists are extreme violent. Return to the initial patrol area. Any incident could have serious consequences, even when it's not the fault of one of your men."
"Maxine, I have actually four teams on shore," he answered worried.
"Mike, see that you get them asap back on board."
"Okay, okay. I'll do. I'll keep you in touch. Over."
Damn, just now. Couldn't she say that a little earlier? All my people are there now. Hopefully they'll use their brains there. I'll call them back right now.
"Sierra-82 to Charlie-82?" He heard Swain in the microphone.
"Charlie-82 to Sierra-82. I'm listening."
"Boss, we reached the farm and we have the farmer and his wife and an employee who will be coming with us. They told us groups of terrorists are in the neighbourhood. "
"Swain, quit the mission and return immediately with these people to the ship. And keep a low profile. The rebels are dangerous."
"Roger Sir."
That's one. Now the others.
"Charlie-82 to X-Ray, Bravo and Delta teams. Quit the operation. Return to the Hammersley. Watch out for hostiles, they are dangerous," Mike said while he looked at the green shore line if he could look through it.
"Delta-82 to Charlie-82. We're on our way back. Don't worry." 2Dads sounded carefree.
"Bravo-82 to Charlie-82. We're in the village. Everything is abandoned here. It looked like they left it in a hurry. Doors are open, but we can't see people, nor bodies or destructions. We return," said Dutchy as sober as usual.
Mike waited a few minutes.
"Charlie-82 to X-Ray-82. Come in?"
He stared blankly to the coast, internally counting the seconds.
"Charlie-82 to X-Ray-82. X answer me."
Mike was pacing nervous at the bridge.
Damn! Kate why don't you answer?
"Charlie-82 to X-Ray-82. X where are you? Return to the Hammersley. That's an order!"
He waited another minute.
"Charlie-82 to X-Ray-82. X answer me," his voice sounded concerned.
Kate, damn. I should have been there and she here.
"Charlie-82 to Bravo, Delta and Sierra. Did you see X-Ray-82, the X?"
"Delta-82 to Charlie-82. Sir we're back on the beach. X-Ray-82 is not here yet," 2Dads answered.
"Sierra-82 to X-Ray-82. Swain here boss, we reached the beach. No sign of the X and Lance."
"Sir, there's some new black smoke above the island. Not that far from the coast," Bird announced.
Mike lifted his binoculars to look at it.
"Hmm, that's burning petrol."
"Right, Delta-82 and Sierra-82, bring the evacuees to the boat."
Mike sighed. He pinched almost the microphone.
For God's sake, where is she?
"Bravo-82 to Charlie-82. We're on the beach now sir. We still hear some gun fire," Dutchy mentioned.
"Dutchy, the X? … And Lance?"
"Negative sir. We will wait."
"Right, do that." Mike was tapping nervously with the microphone in the palm of his other hand.
"Charlie-82 to X-Ray-82. X answer me," Mike tried again.
Silence.
Kate! Answer me! Goddamn!
Meanwhile it became dusk.
"Charlie-82 to Bravo-82. Return to the Hammersley." Mike ordered.
"Bravo-82 to Charlie-82, sir and X-Ray-82?"
"Later Dutchy, return to the Hammersley."
"Copy that sir," Dutchy sounded that he wasn't agree with Mike's order.
A few minutes later the Rhib was back at the Hammersley and Dutchy went to the bridge to talk at Mike.
"Sir, permission to return to look for Ka ... the X and Lance."
"No Dutchy," he said brief.
"But sir, we can't leave them there," Dutchy tried to convince Mike.
"Dutchy, I said no."
"Sir, I can handle this and I know men who are capable to follow me. For sure she… they expect us," Dutchy replied fierce.
"Petty Officer Mulholland, I gave you an order. It will be dark when you arrive there and you will be ambushed before you even know because they know their environment better then anyone else. We are now missing two people and I don't want to miss any more people. Understood," Mike said angry.
"Gentlemen, we are all a bit nervous. Let's face the problem tomorrow morning again. The boss has right Dutchy, it's too risky," Charge intervened to avoid worse.
They looked both at Charge and they realised they were working out their personal worries onto each other.
"Dutchy, Tomorrow morning, at dawn, you leave with a team to look for them. Full kevlar and with rifles. Take Swain as well, I want to have a medic there," Mike said.
"Right sir."
"Dutchy you have the ship. I go to the evacuees."
"Buffer has the ship," Dutchy announced.