Red Phoenix Burning (41 page)

Over Incheon, United Han Republic

It had been awhile since Tony felt so good. He was in heaven, literally. The sixteen F-16Cs of the Hellcat strike were organized into four flights, flying high above Incheon as they headed north to their loiter station. Each flight had one bird with two GBU-31 2,000-pound armor-penetrating bombs for the hardened missile storage bunkers, and three aircraft with four GBU-38B 500-pound high-explosive bombs for everything else. Once the SOF guys pinpointed the location of the armored bunkers, fifty-six bombs would descend on them like a pack of wild dogs, or cats, in this case.

General Carter was fuming, and he let Tony know it as the strike passed by Seoul. But Carter wasn’t so angry that he ordered Tony to abort. No, Carter knew this raid had to work, or else. And as much as he would hate to admit it, both men knew Tony was the right guy, in the right place, at the right time. Oh, there might be a disciplinary hearing afterward; perhaps a letter of reprimand would find its way into Tony’s record, maybe. But in the end, he was at peace with his decision. This would be his last chance to fly a combat mission, and any punishment the air force could come up with would be well worth it.

Still, Tony knew there would be hell to pay when Ann found out about his little junket. And Randy Carter would make sure Ann knew about it. “
C’est la guerre
,” Tony mumbled to himself.

“Puma lead, this is Lighthouse. Hold you on course three four five, speed five hundred, angels thirty. Nightstalker one and two have delivered the package and are holding to the west. There are no friendlies above angels five. There are no bogies to report,” concluded the air battle manager on the E-3C Sentry.

“Roger, Lighthouse. Hellcat strike proceeding to station,” replied Tony.

“Puma lead, DPI coordinates will be relayed by Dog Pound via JTIDS.”

Tony acknowledged the report that the E-8C JSTARS command and control aircraft, code named Dog Pound, would be relaying the aim points from the special ops team to his strikers by digital data link. All the pilots had to do was release the weapons within parameters and the GPS guidance would do the rest. With the team on the ground providing a differential GPS correction, the bombs should land within a handful of inches of the target—more than close enough.

As Tony was signing off, the air battle manager chimed back in once more with a cheery, “It’s good to see you back in the saddle again, Saint. Good luck. Lighthouse out.”

Smiling, Tony radioed his instructions to the other three flights. They’d be on station in fifteen minutes.

X Corps Headquarters

Tae was pleasantly surprised that the commandos took so little time to secure the airfield. On the one hand, the general was pleased with their rapid progress; on the other he knew the air base had been practically unprotected. Only a minimal troop complement had defended it, and rather badly at that. Most were untrained conscripts; they were zealous, but had no chance against Ro’s professionals. Very few surrendered.

“Comrade General, Major Ro reports the bridging units will be in place shortly and his commandos are ready to forge ahead,” reported Ryeon.

“Very good! Tell Ro to have his commandos scout out these two main roads to the southwest.” Tae pointed on a map to the roads that climbed into the foothills. “I need to have a better idea of what defenses are up there. We’ve met almost nothing! They must be concentrating their forces up there in those heights. And get some of those miniature UAVs up there as well!”

“Yes, sir!” shouted Ryeon on the run.

Tae shook his head.
Where were the Kim forces?
he silently wondered. Both the Chinese to the north and the American and Han armies to the east and south had met very light resistance and were advancing quickly into the hilly terrain. Either they had grossly misjudged the Kim faction’s strength, or they were holed up in a reinforced central core. Tae was betting on the latter. Frowning, the general started trotting over toward his aide. “Major Ryeon! Get me a vehicle! We’re heading in!”

Ghost Brigade

Rhee’s half of the company worked their way quietly up the ridgeline a little over a kilometer from the landing zone. Major Maeng’s half landed about four kilometers to the east and would be making their way to the northwest. With any luck both groups would get a fix on the target and set up their real-time differential GPS transmitters. The US fighter-bombers tasked with making the main attack would have the most precise target fix possible.

They met no opposition as they landed, and a quick survey of the area showed it had been hit repeatedly by aircraft ordnance. Many of the destroyed positions they inspected were decoys—the gun emplacements made of steel barrels and piping. Rhee had expected some of this, but the lack of any bodies made him wonder where the Kim faction had put its strength. Did the earlier Chinese attempt to cross the Chongchon River draw most of their assets to the north? Rumblings of artillery from all around him told him the battle along the perimeter still raged.

Cho hung close to Master Sergeant Oh and an American colonel named Little. After jumping out of the helicopter, Cho briefly considered hugging the ground. The ride in through the valleys was unspeakably bumpy. Rhee’s warning that things would get “a bit rough” was a gross understatement. Cho reminded himself to thank Oh for the ginger gum again. Without it, Cho would have certainly embarrassed himself.

Cresting the rise slowly, Rhee pulled up his night vision binoculars, made a quick sweep, and then focused on where they needed to go. What he saw answered his earlier question. Some two hundred meters ahead was a heavily reinforced defensive line with real machine gun emplacements and what looked like mortars. The defensive positions were hidden in a grove of trees and had multispectral camouflage netting over the top. Rhee couldn’t see the bunkers behind the tree line—their intended overlook position.

Dropping back down, he motioned for Little and sergeants Cho and Oh to get close. Whispering he said, “We have a little problem. We can’t use our preplanned survey site. There is a strong defensive position in the trees ahead. We’ll have to maneuver to the secondary site to our right.”

“Rhee, that grove of trees is almost a semicircle,” observed Kevin. “We have to assume the Kim defenses will follow along the tree line. There isn’t a lot of cover to our right; you’ll have to set up the DGPS transmitter in the open. You’ll need a little distraction to shift their attention from that part of the line.”

“True. Any suggestions?”

“Colonel,” volunteered Cho. “There is a slight ravine that curves along this rocky outcropping, here. It’s not on your map, but it will offer some cover while allowing a clear line of sight to the target area.”

Little nodded. “Yes, that should work. Particularly if we combine it with a diversion to the left.”

“Care to take that on, Colonel Little?” Rhee asked.

“Absolutely. I can take the four FLASH teams and set up over here.” Kevin pointed to a rock ledge that would give them a slight elevation advantage. “If the incendiary rockets don’t scare the shit out of them, they’ll have to stay hunkered down. The blast should wreck their night vision, and the Apaches can use the heat signature for suppression fire if we need it.”

“Excellent! Master Sergeant Oh, you go with Colonel Little . . .”

“Sir, if I may,” interrupted the Korean senior NCO. “I think it best I stay with you and the DGPS transmitter. I can get it set up and calibrated faster than anyone else here. Staff Sergeant Jeo is more than capable to assist Colonel Little.”

“Very well, Master Sergeant. Colonel Little, you take two-thirds of the men and make a lot of noise. The rest of us will set up the DGPS station.”

Hellcat Strike

They had been milling about smartly for almost half an hour. Fortunately, the trip from Kunsan to the loitering station only required the fuel in the two drop tanks, leaving a full internal load for the attack run and return trip. Still, just hanging around wasn’t Tony’s idea of fun. So far, there was no word from Dog Pound. He knew the SOF team had to hike their way to their survey sites, set up their gear, and calibrate it before they could transmit the data. He just hoped they weren’t taking the long way around.

X Corps Headquarters

The explosion was far off to Tae’s left, but pieces of dirt and rock rained down on him and Ryeon. The X Corps had plunged almost ten kilometers into the hills before they ran into any real resistance. The defenses weren’t along the mountainside as he expected, but were placed at ground level by key intersections of the limited road network. This suggested a lack of experience, or time, or both. Regardless, Tae’s forces were now fully engaged and, at the moment, pinned down.

A South Korean officer wiped off the dust from his micro-UAV display and pointed to several mortar batteries just behind the ridge off to their right. The video feed showed the mortar crews loading and firing furiously. There seemed to be no attempt at adjusting their fire, just an emphasis on volume. Tae was dismissive. “Very sloppy. Probably some incompetent political commissar! Major Ryeon, have the Second Field Artillery Group put counter-battery fire on that location immediately. And where are my tanks?”

“General, the Fourth Armored Battalion is coming up now with twenty Chonma-ho tanks. They’ve been alerted to the positions of the machine gun emplacements.”

“Very good. Tell the battalion commander to engage those emplacements at his earliest opportunity and have him set up his 122mm howitzers here.” Tae pointed to a flat piece of land behind him and to the right. “I want fire laid down on that ravine, right here, where the road runs straight between these two hills. That’s a perfect place for an ambush.”

“Yes, sir, at once,” responded Ryeon as he grabbed the battlefield radio handset.

Tae didn’t bother to wait for his aide; he’d catch up when he was done. The general slapped the South Korean sergeant on the back and roared, “Come, Sergeant, let’s see what more mischief we can cause with that toy of yours!”

Ghost Brigade

Kevin kept low as he and Lieutenant Guk and Staff Sergeant Jeo hugged the rocks, positioning themselves to direct fire as necessary. The fifty commandos were spread out in a rough line some seventy meters long. The FLASH teams were placed at regular intervals. Although an old weapon, the four-barreled bazooka-like flame assault shoulder weapon was perfect for close-in fighting. It could fire incendiary rockets out to a range of seven hundred fifty meters, but it was aimed with a standard reflex sight, which meant it wasn’t all that accurate. However, in this situation, Kevin was counting more on the shock value of the weapon. Besides, they were firing from much less than half the maximum range; hitting wouldn’t be an issue.

“Ghost One Alpha, this is Ghost One Bravo. We are in position and ready to initiate,” he said over the secure radio.

“Ghost One Bravo, initiate,” ordered Rhee.

Kevin flashed a small light toward Guk and Jeo. They flashed back; the troops were ready to commence firing. Kevin then held down on the light and the four commandos with the FLASH launchers perched them on their shoulders, took aim, and fired. Chaos descended on the Kim positions.

Rhee saw one explosion after another erupt along the left side. The FLASH launchers kept up their volley of rockets, while disciplined rifle fire came from Little’s troops. The Kim defenses fell into total panic and began spraying machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades inaccurately back in the general direction of their assailants. The colonel motioned, and his men took off at a run across a short opening and down the hillside. They scurried down loose rock and gravel and finally down into the ravine that Cho had mentioned. The location was perfect.

While Master Sergeant Oh and two corporals began setting up the DGPS transmitter, Rhee positioned his men to defend against any potential attack. He then took his binoculars and looked down into the small trough behind the elevated grove of trees. There he saw the doors of the armored bunkers were open, and four missile TELs positioned at their launch pads some hundred meters away from the cave entrances. Three of the missiles had been raised into a vertical position and were being fueled. He watched as the fourth was raised to the vertical. They were bigger than any mobile missile he’d seen before.

“Ghost One Alpha, this is Ghost Two. We are in position and ready to take ranges, over,” squawked his headset. Major Maeng’s team was set up and ready to use their laser rangefinder to take the measurements.

“Ghost Two, stand by,” Rhee instructed.

“Standing by. Ghost Two, out.”

It took Oh just a few more minutes to finish setting up and check the calibration; after one last inspection, he signaled Rhee he was ready. The colonel waved for him to take the ranges.

“Stay here,” Oh told Cho. The master sergeant then crawled on his belly to a small cluster of rocks several meters away. Peeking over the top, he raised the laser rangefinder and started measuring the distance to the bunker doors and launch pads. Within moments of Oh triggering the rangefinder, machine gun fire began peppering their location. The master sergeant was hit in the shoulder and thrown to the ground—out in the open. Without thinking, Cho dove across and pushed Oh out of the line of fire. The man had been hit twice and was badly wounded.

“Didn’t I tell you not to do anything heroic!” Oh gasped in pain.

Cho didn’t reply but grabbed his first aid kit and tore open the master sergeant’s uniform near the wound sites. Oh pushed back and grunted angrily, “Take the damn ranges, you moron!”

Feeling frantically around the ground, Cho found the cable and pulled the laser gun toward him. Rhee signaled him to hurry as the commandos began returning fire. Crawling to the rock, he raised the laser and, exposing as little of himself as possible, began shooting the ranges. A bullet ricocheted off a boulder to his right, stinging his face with small shards of rock. It took all of twenty seconds to get the ranges. Once Rhee gave Cho thumbs-up, the former spy threw down the laser gun and crawled back to Oh.