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Flashing his teeth behind his painted face, Coleman smiled and said, “Yeah, you’re a real Girl Scout. Let me take one guess where you’re going to be during all this.”
Rapp allowed himself a small smile. C
oleman knew him well. “Let’s get back to picking your plan apart for a minute.”
“Nope. Not until you tell me what you’ve got planned for yourself.”
“You know where I’m gonna be. Someone has to go in there and check things out before we hit the tent.”
“Aren’t you married now?” asked Coleman in a smart-ass tone.
Rapp ignored him. Coleman knew the answer. “Let’s get back to the CP and put the finishing touches on this thing before this storm gets any worse.”
39
Rapp didn’t like what he was hearing. Odds were a big thing to him. He was by no means risk averse, but he liked the probability stacked as much in his favor as possible. Invariably, what bothered him most were things that were out of his control, and the weather was typically one such thing. Captain Forester had just informed them that the storm was in fact growing in strength. Gusts were now topping 60 mph and until they got around to the other side of the island all flight operations were suspended.
Forester assured Rapp, however, that the extraction was still on. The captain maintained that his pilots could handle the winds. The ride just might be a little bumpy. This did absolutely nothing to assuage Rapp’s concerns. Bravado and blustering were one thing but reality was something entirely different. Could the captain’s pilots pull off the extraction? Yes, was the answer, but could they also crash? Most definitely. Nighttime helicopter operations were delicate even in calm weather, but throw in a little wind, rain and a mountainous terrain and you had a recipe for disaster.
As Forester spoke of the competency of his aviators, the CIA counterterrorism operative was acutely aware of one vital statistic: more U.S. Special Forces personnel had been killed in helicopter accidents in the last two decades than in all other mishaps combined.
Rapp, Coleman and Jackson were all kneeling under the relative protection of a large dense tree. Covering his lip mike, Rapp looked at Coleman and said, “I’ve got a bad feeling about our extraction.” Rapp could tell immediately by the look on Coleman’s face that the man shared his concern.
“I’m not crazy about it either, but what are our alternatives? Do you want to wait to see if this thing blows over and go in just before first light?”
That option also didn’t sound good to Rapp. “No, we’re not going to wait. Now’s the right time to hit ’em.”
“We brought along plenty of explosives,” offered Jackson. “We could try expanding the perimeter of the landing area.”
“That might help,” conceded Rapp, “but I’m still not crazy about getting on a helicopter in this weather.”
Coleman was struck with an idea. “What if we march back to the beach?”
“That’s fine if we’re not pursued or worse.” Jackson pointed over his shoulder toward the Abu Sayyaf camp. “If they manage to get off a radio transmission that they’ve been hit, we could get cut off on our way to the beach, and even then we still have to get on a chopper.”
“Not necessarily,” said Coleman. Thumbing the transmit button on his radio he asked, “Captain, what are the seas like on the leeward side of the island?”
There was a brief delay while the captain radioed one of the ships in the group that was out ahead. “Right now we’re looking at ten-foot swells.”
He knew the answer to the next question but asked it anyway. “Any problem launching the Mark Fives in those seas?”
“No. I can turn the ship into the storm, and we’ll have no problem.”
“What do you think?” Coleman looked at Rapp. “If the takedown goes off clean we can have the captain launch the Mark Fives and meet them on the beach. It’ll take us at least an hour to get there. That should give them more than enough time to launch the boats and pick us up. We can bring the boats right in on the beach, load up and head out to the Belleau Wood.”
“And if we run into any resistance,” added Rapp, “or we think they’ve alerted their comrades in arms, we call for the helicopter extraction.”
“Exactly,” answered Coleman.
Rapp looked at Jackson. “What do you think?”
“I like it. It gives us some options to work with.”
“Good.” Coleman was also relieved. Lifting the handset of the secure radio he said, “Captain, here’s what we’re going to do.”
While Coleman worked out the details with Forester, Rapp took the opportunity to discuss something very delicate with Jackson. He hadn’t given the subject much thought until he’d got a good look at the enemy camp, but now, in light of the fact that they might need more time to get off the island, the sensitive issue needed to be dealt with.
Rapp looked the younger man square in the eye. “Lieutenant, have you ever seen combat before?”
