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THE GULFSTREAM CARRYING Woody and Sparky landed at a remote desert airstrip in Nevada. The runway appeared to be freshly paved, and there were newly constructed hangars lining the ramp, but there were no other signs of life. The field had no air traffic control tower, no fire and rescue, and no other buildings anywhere to be found.
As the plane stopped in front of the western-most hangar, Woody and Sparky were escorted from the aircraft. Once safely inside and the door behind them closed, their hoods were removed.
“Welcome, gentlemen,” Spectre said, standing in front of a fold-out table. Next to him were two men neither Woody nor Sparky recognized.
“So where are the little green men?” Woody asked as he looked around the empty hangar.
“Little green men?” Spectre asked with a confused look.
“He thinks we’re at Area 51,” Sierra responded from behind the two men.
“Not quite,” Spectre said with a chuckle. “This is a little different. People actually know Area 51 exists.”
“You’ve piqued my interest,” Woody replied. “Go on...”
“First, Woody and Sparky, I’d like you to meet Kruger and Tuna,” Spectre said, indicating the men on either side of him. “You’ve already met Miss Carter, and there are a few others you’ll need to meet. But first, let’s get the motherhood out of the way. Have a seat.”
Spectre motioned to the table and then walked around to the other side. Woody and Sparky each sat in a folding chair. There were documents and pens on the table in front of each man.
“These are your nondisclosure agreements,” Spectre said. “Standard boilerplate language. If you say anything about anything you see or hear today to anyone, you’ll face ten years in prison and a ten thousand dollar fine per incident.”
“Didn’t seem to matter to Hillary,” Woody joked as he read the document.
“You’re not Hillary, bub,” Kruger said menacingly.
The smile suddenly vanished from Woody’s face as he looked up at the rather intimidating red-haired man standing over him.
“Copy that,” Woody said as he went back to reading the agreement.
Sparky immediately signed the highlighted portions and handed it back to Spectre. “When do we start?”
“Dude, did you sign one of these too? How are you going to write a book about this?” Woody asked as he read through the agreement.
“The sooner you sign it, the sooner we can get started,” Spectre saying, ignoring Woody’s joke.
Woody finished flipping through the document and then signed the highlighted portions. “I feel like I’m buying a house with all these signatures.”
Sierra collected the documents and then joined Spectre and company on the other side of the table.
“Sorry for the cloak and dagger stuff, but this is highly classified. What I’m about to tell you is only known by a handful of people, including the President, and the Director of Central Intelligence. It has the ability to severely damage national security in the event of inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure, thus the safeguards. If you decide to help, realize that the mission is strictly need-to-know. So, it may not make sense at first, but trust me, it will,” Spectre began.
Woody and Sparky nodded.
“With that said, I’ll let Agent Carter give the SITREP,” Spectre said before yielding the floor to Sierra Carter.
“Thank you, Spectre,” Sierra said as she stepped forward. “General Jon Chang-Ha was the number two scientist in the North Korean Nuclear and Ballistic Missile program. Just over two weeks ago, General Chang-Ha died while attempting to defect during an American Intelligence operation. Although the Americans were unable to question him, Chang-Ha was able to deliver a secure thumb drive to a CIA dead drop and the information we gathered from that is frightening to say the least.”
“Wait, I thought the North Koreans weren’t the bad guys anymore?” Woody interjected. “Didn’t they just declare peace and that their nuclear program was over?”
“What we’ve learned is that the North Koreans have developed an Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapon capable of reaching and detonating over California and most of the west coast of the United States. They’ve disbanded their nuclear program because they no longer need it – this would be just as devastating if not worse and, from our estimations, would be much harder to track and stop in time,” Sierra answered.
“So, they’re not looking for peace?” Sparky asked.
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“KIM JONG-UN’S NUMBER two man, Choe Il-Sung, is apparently much more powerful than we previously understood. Despite Jong-Un’s near godlike status within the country, Il-Sung appears to be the ‘man behind the curtain’ if you will. And from the classified documents General Chang-Ha was able to give us, we believe he intends to attack the U.S. mainland regardless of peace talks,” Sierra said. “And soon.”
“That’s suicide!” Woody said. “Surely they know we’d nuke them into oblivion if they did something like that.”
“That’s not a risk we’re willing to take,” Tuna answered. “It would cripple the United States.”
“And I’m assuming pre-emptive strikes are off the table to take out this capability?” Sparky asked.
“Based on the information obtained from the thumb drive and other third-party intelligence sources, the President believes that the peace talks are genuine and that the issue lies with Il-Sung. He does not want to risk an all-out war on the peninsula,” Tuna said. “This is on us.”
“What is on us, exactly?” Woody asked. “We’re both just pilots, remember?”
“And that’s exactly why we need you,” Spectre said with a knowing grin. “To fly airplanes.”
“To do what, exactly? Bomb the missile silos? Strafe this Il-Sung dude? Do you have some super stealthy F-45 fighter out here that’s completely invisible like Wonder Woman’s airplane?” Woody asked.
“Unfortunately, that’s as much as we can tell you even with the NDA you signed. This is the point where we need to know if you’re in or out,” Spectre said. “And if you’re in, you’re in it until the mission is accomplished.”
“I’m in,” Sparky said without hesitation.
“Oh c’mon!” Woody said. “You fly me all this way, put a bag on my head, and still tell me nothing?”
“Now you know what the stakes are, bub,” Kruger said. “The intelligence is credible and has been vetted through other sources. Everything else will be explained as needed.”
“Woody, I know you have a family and real estate business. I have my own family and private enterprise I’m trying to work on, but I wouldn’t be here if this weren’t a real danger to our freedom and way of life. We may not feel the immediate effects where we live, but within a few months our entire way of life will change, and not for the better. I wouldn’t have dragged you all the way out here if I didn’t think you could help stop that from happening,” Spectre said.
“Is this a suicide mission?” Woody asked softly.
Spectre shook his head. “No. Although we both know Murphy’s Law can and will make any plan fall apart on any given Sunday, we’re not planning it that way. Everyone comes home. That’s the deal.”
Woody sighed. “You know NAVY stands for Never Again Volunteer Yourself...but I guess I’m a slow learner. Fuck it, I’m in.”
“In that case, follow me,” Spectre said as he started toward the door they had entered through.