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They were just completing sailing preparations, and Sam was discussing some last-minute details in his cabin with Hopkins. “I just saw Major Roberts and his crew off an hour ago. Has Dr. Simmons left yet, Chief?”
“Yes, sir. He and his pal slithered off while you were tied up with the admiral. Good riddance.”
Sam sat back and rubbed his eyes. “I know how you feel and would like to pile on, but the man was just doing his job this time around. He can’t be blamed for what happened. I also talked to him afterward, and he’s pretty twisted up about the XO. You might want to cut him some slack.”
“With respect, sir, not going to happen.”
“OK, just a thought,” Sam said and stood up when his cell phone rang. Hopkins recognized the ring tone as belonging to Joana and said, “I can step out, Captain.”
“No, please stay.” He picked up the phone and pressed the speaker button. “Hello, sailor. I’m here with Emilia, and I hope you have some good news.”
“Better than that, hang on,” Joana said, followed by a ruffling sound.
“Hello, skipper.” It was Ben’s voice, a little raspy sounding but clear.
“Ben!”
“Yes, sir, back from the dead. Sorry to give you such a rough time.”
Sam tried to say something but couldn’t get the words to come out. Hopkins, blinking back tears herself, noted his struggle and gently took the phone from his shaking hand. “XO, is that really you?” she said.
“Chief? Yes, it’s me. Is the captain alright?”
“He’s... temporarily indisposed. How are you, sir?”
“Still a little loopy from the drugs and all, but everything seems to work.”
“I’m so glad to hear that! Hang on, the captain’s back.” She handed the phone back to Sam, who had just finished wiping his eyes.
“Ben, words fail me. We didn’t expect you awake for another day or so.”
“Oh, Captain, you know Wyporeks are too ornery to follow the rules.”
“So it would seem. Truthfully, you can’t imagine how relieved I am to hear your voice. Is there anything you need?”
“Captain, Victoria is here holding my hand and smiling at me. I can’t think of a single thing I could add to that, but thank you. Before I hand the phone back to the captain’s spouse, do you have any orders for me, sir?”
“Yes. I order you to take it easy, mend, and enjoy your time with your lady. Clear?”
“Aye, aye, sir! Here’s Jo.”
More shuffling, then Joana’s voice returned. “OK, my captain, I’ve stepped out of the room. How are you?”
“Absolutely exhausted and deliriously relieved. How did this come about?”
“I was on my way and almost at the hospital when I got the call from Victoria. When I got to the room, the scene was one for the ages.”
“Wow, I wish I could have seen that. What do you think of her?”
“Victoria? She had me crying like a baby within a minute of meeting her. She’s amazing! If Ben doesn’t marry her, I’ll ditch you and marry her myself.”
“I’m crushed!”
“It’s not personal. Men are just soooo overrated,” she teased. “Seriously, I can see why Ben is so bowled over by her and hope they can make it work.”
“OK. Emilia is pointing at her watch, and I need to get us underway for home. I’ll call you when we are snugged down at PC.”
“Do it safely, please, and get some rest. I’ll see you soon, my captain.”
“Goodbye, my love.” After hanging up, Sam turned off the phone and dropped it in his desk drawer. “Chief, it looks like we have a pre-sailing announcement that should put some spring in everybody’s step.”
“That we do, Captain!”
“Well, let’s get it done. Set the Special Sea Detail, and I’ll see you on the Bridge.
“Very good, sir.”
The attack began with a twelve-man assault team landing just north of the fortified position of the Gate and pushing south. They used silenced pistols to kill anyone they met and were guided by observations of a small, infrared camera-equipped UAV hovering overhead. Resistance was surprisingly light, but even had it been heavy, it would have made no difference—former Spetsnaz soldiers trained and led the team while their opponents barely knew how to aim and pull the trigger. They had pushed to the water’s edge within fifteen minutes, leaving no survivors. After setting remote-controlled and booby-trapped demolition charges on the heavy machine gun and in the ammunition magazine, they reembarked on their rubber boats to rejoin the main force.
The assault on the quay was carried out by a twenty-man party split into equal groups and landing at opposite ends. The operation proceeded much like the landing at the Gate: the two groups swept inward from each end, silently dispatching any person they encountered until finally converging in the center. It was here that the men discovered that their target, OSV Carlos Rojas, was missing. The only evidence of her presence was the discarded mooring lines still hanging in the water from the quay. The assault team leader quickly changed the rules of engagement to kill only armed persons on sight—he needed prisoners to interrogate. Now augmented by the twelve-man team, the primary force spread out to assault the hacienda and dormitories.
The main assault was almost anticlimactic. Two ten-man teams each took a dormitory while the twelve-man team attacked the hacienda. The guards’ dispatch was the last silent operation of the day—the teams used grenades and automatic rifles for the buildings’ forced entry, since there was no further need for stealth. True to form, the Salinas members resisted to the last, futilely, as their opponents hopelessly over-matched them. At the end of the assault, only a couple dozen day workers remained alive. These were interrogated and then penned up while the team leader called in for instructions.
“Boss, this is Piotr,” the leader said, once his satellite phone achieved a connection.
“Yes, Piotr. Give me some good news,” Creţu responded.
“Sir, the good news is the assault on the port was completely successful. We have liquidated all Salinas members on Barbello.”
“I am awaiting the news of the boat.”
“There is no news, sir. The boat is gone.”
“What?”
“It apparently sailed two nights ago. The day workers we took said there was a big firefight off the point. The mooring lines we found dangling off the dock suggest that someone came in and took the boat out from under the Salinas’s noses.”
“Who in the hell would have the resources to do something like that? What did those workers see?”
“Practically nothing, sir. The fighting occurred off the point at the entrance to the harbor. None of these people could see anything in detail in the dark or with the storms at that distance. We found that heavy machine gun emplacement beat to hell and picked up a couple of dud M792 rounds lying around it.”
“What is an M792?”
“Sir, the M792 is a high-explosive round fired by the American Bushmaster cannon. The Americans and Canadians are the only ones in this hemisphere who use them. My conclusion is the American navy came in under cover of darkness and extracted the vessel.”
“Shit!”
“What do you want me to do, sir?”
“Alright. We can at least complete the punitive aim of this raid. Search the warehouses for product. If you find a worthwhile amount, use the day workers to load it on the command vessel. Then blow up any magazines and arms or munitions and burn every building to the ground.”
“Shall I dispose of the day workers when we are done?”
“No. Kill any who resist or refuse to work, but leave the rest alive with any food and water you find. Make sure they know you are with the 252 Syndicate. We want this object lesson to be shared far and wide. Report back when you are done. Questions?”
“No, sir.”
“Get on with it. I want all our men off that island by sunset. Out.” The call disconnected.
“Captain, quarterdeck here. There’s a captain headed this way with another lady officer, sir.”
Sam cringed, then said, “Right, I’m on my way. And Connally, there are no ‘lady officers,’ just ‘officers.’ OK?”
“Yes, sir,” the young fireman replied.
Sam hung up the phone and grabbed his cap. “Another lady officer” implied the captain was female, and a female captain was almost certainly his boss, Captain Mercier. That was quick—they’d only secured from mooring stations about half an hour ago. With her crane and boat destroyed and possible structural damage from the rocket hit, Kauai was in no shape to go out again, thank God. So, he wondered what mischief would put the Seventh District’s Chief of Response on a three-hour car trip up from Miami instead of just picking up the phone. Fortunately, Sam was well rested for the encounter after six good hours of sleep—exhaustion, relief, and a thorough but respectful browbeating from Hopkins and Drake had seen to that.
Sam made his way to the quarterdeck and stepped over onto the pier. He saw it was Captain Mercier and a female lieutenant he did not recognize, and Sam rendered a crisp salute as they approached. “Good morning, Captain.”
“Good morning, Sam,” Mercier said as she and the lieutenant returned the salute. She shook hands, saying, “I’m delighted to see you back in one piece.” She turned to her companion. “This is Lena Huang from SFLC Norfolk, and she’s here to have a look at your damage and get the ball rolling on repairs.”
“Lena, Sam. Pleased to meet you,” Sam said, shaking her hand.
“Same here.”
“Ma’am, if you’ll follow me, please.” Sam led the other two officers past Kauai’s bow, stopping when they were alongside and could see the damage clearly.
“Holy shit!” Huang said. “What happened?”
Sam looked at Mercier, who said, “The action is classified. Sam will share whatever aspects are needed to complete repairs, but the location and nature of the mission are ‘need to know’ only.”
“I understand, Captain,” Huang said. “Sam?”
“We were hit by a rocket in the crane’s arm. As you can see, it’s severed. My chief engineer says the boat has had it—the console is smashed, and the hull tubes are shredded. We have minor shock damage on the rear superstructure and, I suspect, the deck below the crane and boat, and the windows of the port bridge wing door are blown in. We haven’t done a thorough assessment yet.”
“Right,” Huang looked at him in wonder. “Did you have casualties?”
“Just one from this hit. Shrapnel wound. He’ll recover.”
“Wow. I’m glad to hear that,” Huang said.
“Sam, could Chief Drake take Lena around for the inspection? There are some things I need to discuss with you in private.”
“Yes, ma’am. Excuse me, please.” Sam stepped over to the quarterdeck and picked up the phone. Within a minute, Drake had come ashore and rendered the proper greeting. “COB, Lieutenant Huang is from the Surface Force Logistics Center, and she’s here to do an assessment for repairs.”
“Glad to have you, Lieutenant,” Drake said. “I hope you brought something to crawl around in besides tropical blue.”
“What engineer would leave home without coveralls, Chief?” Huang smiled, patting her gym bag.
“Ma’am, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Will you follow me, please?” Drake said.
As they walked off in deep discussion, Sam said, “Well, I guess ‘he knows a guy’ up at SFLC now.”
*******************
Sam had finished providing his action report, recorded on an encrypted audio recorder Mercier had brought. They had moved on to award recommendations. “I want the Silver Star for Ben and Lee.”
“That’s a pretty tall order. It will be hard to push that through without going public on a lot of stuff,” Mercier said.
“That’s my recommendation, ma’am. I understand I’m not the last word, but there it is.”
“OK, I’ll do my best. But Lee? Are you sure?”
“Ma’am, do I need to remind you she went out into the open, under rocket and automatic gunfire, and single-handedly cut away the towline wreckage with an ax, saving the ship and mission? They should name a Fast Response Cutter after her, for God’s sake.”
“Touché. Next?”
“Bronze Stars for Hopkins, Bondurant, and Williams. Also, for Roberts, if you can push it through the army.”
“Those should be doable. Anyone else?”
“Yes, Commendation Medals for Drake, Bryant, Brown, and Lopez. Achievement Medals for Hebert and Jenkins. Oh, yes, Purple Hearts for Jenkins and Ben if we can swing it.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
“I appreciate that, ma’am.”
“That was fun. Now on to the hard stuff. I’ve combed the lists for a good J.O. to send up here, and I’ll need your opinion on some candidates.”
Sam’s face darkened, and he said coldly, “Why, ma’am?”
“I think you know why.”
“It will be at least a month before we’re repaired and operational again. Ben will be back in a couple of weeks.”
“You don’t know that, Sam. The initial report looks promising, yes. But I read up on this type of injury. We have to come to terms with the fact that he might be finished. In that case, we need to have a replacement in the pipeline.”
“It’s only been one day, ma’am. I’m not ready to just write him off like that!”
“We haven’t written him off, Sam. Believe me, if he can come back, he will. But you need to face reality here. If he can’t return, you need to have an XO who can do the job. If nothing else, you’ll have help to put things back together while Ben is healing up.” She paused as Sam’s head sank. “C’mon, you know I’m right about this.”
Sam squeezed his eyes closed for a few seconds. He was so relieved and happy Ben was awake that he had not considered the long-term implications. Now, that realization had come home with a vengeance. “Yes, I understand, ma’am. I’ll look at whoever you decide to send up.”
“Thank you, Sam. Do you want me to swing by the hospital and tell him when I get back?”
Sam looked up and shook his head. “No, ma’am. That’s my responsibility. I’ll head down there as soon as I have things squared away here.”
“I’m sorry about this, Sam. Is there anything I can do for you? Anything you need?”
“I guess I’ll know better when Lena is done with her inspection. I’ll let you know, ma’am.”
Simmons looked around the table at the select committee’s assembled members, and his thoughts went back to the last such mission debriefing he had attended, sitting in the hot seat with Sam Powell and Ben Wyporek. Those poor men thought they would be hanged as they went into that meeting—keeping the secret that they were already acquitted was very distasteful to him. At least I’m on my own this time, right where I belong. Kevin Welles, the Director of National Intelligence, led the committee. It included the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Directors of the CIA and NSA, and Vice Admiral Irving, the DIA Director.
“Dr. Simmons, we have your report,” Welles said. “And we would like to ask a few follow-up questions. Do you have questions before we start?”
“No, sir.”
“Good. Admiral Irving?”
“Thank you, sir. Dr. Simmons, did you have difficulty understanding your orders before this mission?”
“No, ma’am.”
“In that case, why didn’t you follow them?”
“I am not aware of any breach of my orders, Admiral.”
“You were ordered to secure Dr. Gronkowsky and his research materials. Yet, you destroyed the latter.”
“My orders, Admiral, were to secure Dr. Gronkowsky and all his research materials, if practicable, and ensure their destruction otherwise. It was practicable to grab and extract Gronkowsky, but his research and data were all stored on air-gapped computers without removable hard drives. I could not ascertain a practicable means of extracting the data, so I ensured its destruction.” Which I would have done, anyway. My God! Don’t we have enough of this crap already?
“I find it difficult to believe that a man of your intelligence, learning, and skills could not find a means in the time available.”
“I am neither a computer scientist nor an IT engineer, Admiral. I do not have the learning and skills to crack into a cyber-protected computer.”
“You had plenty of manpower available between the SEAL team and Coast Guard personnel. You could easily have physically extracted the computers to the Coast Guard cutter.”
“And when they asked me, ‘What’s this?’, what was I to tell them? That they risked their lives and violated Honduran sovereignty to be accessories in a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention? I remind you that you gave your word to General Miller and Admiral Pennington that this horror would be destroyed, and I doubt they would have agreed to this mission otherwise.”
“Don’t pretend you’re an idiot, Doctor. You could have told them what you needed to in order to complete your mission. You serve the nation best by seizing opportunities, not catering to the sensibilities of people outside the community.”
So that’s how it is. You were trying to build brownie points with the President with a fait accompli over-delivery on the mission. You knew Miller and Pennington would raise a stink over something like this, so you lied to them.
“I think the nation is best served by adhering to core principles that separate us from rogue nations and criminal syndicates. If you wanted someone without scruples on this mission, Admiral, you should have sent one of your toadies, not me.”
“You insolent bastard! I’ll....”
“Enough!” Welles said as he slammed the table with his fist. Then he looked back and forth between them. “What the hell is the matter with you two?”
Simmons took a breath, then said, “I apologize for my outburst, sir.”
Irving glared at Simmons and said, “If I can continue....”
“No!” Welles said. “I move we rule that Dr. Simmons complied with his orders and table further discussion of that point. In favor?” All committee members except Irving raised their hands. “Carried.” Welles looked around the table. “Does anyone else have questions? No? Then I guess we can adjourn this one. Thank you, everyone.” As everyone at the table rose, he continued. “Dr. Simmons, can I have a moment with you, please?”
“Yes, sir,” Simmons replied. Irving glared at him as she picked up her notebook and walked out.
When only the two of them remained, Welles said, “Have a seat, please.” After they sat down, he continued. “I take it Admiral Irving did not discuss her issues with you beforehand.”
“No, sir.”
“How do you assess your present situation?”
“I not only failed to rid the king of the turbulent priest, but I also flipped him off for good measure. I don’t think I’m much of a contender for employee of the month over at DIA.”
The older man chuckled. “You really are a wiseass. What do you plan to do?”
“I think I’ll be looking for something else. This last one did it for me. Going down there with one hand tied behind our back sucked, sir! It ended up with one good man dead, four wounded, and the numbers would have been the other way around if Irving had had her way. She would have sent us in without medical support if Pennington hadn’t stood up to her. Did you know that?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“After tonight, I can’t work for her. She’ll be looking for payback, and I don’t need to be worrying about that, along with everything else. I guess I can fall back on the original career, maybe teach. I don’t know.”
“I understand, but I have to ask you for a favor. We really can’t spare you from the committee work. Let me set up a detail position for you to work directly for me. That way, you can stay in DIA but be out of her reach. The DIA Director is a temporary appointment, and you can think about moving back once she moves on. You won’t have the reachback into the organization you’re used to, but it will keep you in the game.”
Simmons was silent for a moment. “Give me a couple of days to think about it, but I’m inclined to accept. Thank you, sir.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I’ll get the ball rolling on my end. Let me know as soon as you can.”
“Yes, sir.”
They both stood, and the older man offered his hand. “Take it easy, Pete. Hope to hear from you soon.”
Simmons shook his hand firmly. “Thank you, sir. You will.”
