“Yes it can, but it will be tricky. I would have to do it in such a way that no one knew about it. If the press got wind of it, they would create an unstable situation for the government,” the President told her.
“Goodness that sounds ominous. To shake the foundation of government takes something earth shattering. What happened, did someone find little green men from Mars running around on Earth?” she joked.
“That is closer to the truth that you may suspect,” he said, faking a laugh.
“I know this, the only way you will be satisfied is to see for yourself firsthand what this is all about. You are clever and tenacious and you will find some way to check this out, even if it means slipping away from your staff and the press. You will never be happy just taking a third party’s say so as proof. Instead of brooding, why don’t you put that big brain to work on figuring out how to see this mystery for yourself,” Megan said.
“Honey, you’re right. I am spending time on the wrong things. I need to sit down and figure out how to get away for a few hours to see what all of this is about,” he replied.
“Good, now will you come to bed? It’s lonely up there in that big old room with no one to protect me,” she said.
“You've got two big Marines right outside the door,” he said.
“So, you think I should invite them in?”
“Don’t be a scamp. I’ll be right there,” he promised.
“You have ten minutes. After that you had better knock, especially if you don’t see two Marines outside the door,” she teased.
“Get,” was all he said.
He decided that he would call General Devin and let him know of his intentions. It would have to be closely guarded and coordinated for this to be pulled off. He had the switchboard ring the general.
“General Devin. This had better be damned important,” he said picking up the phone.
“I consider it to be,” the President replied.
“It had better be, who is this?”
“The President.”
A silence followed.
“Sorry Mr. President. I thought it might be one of my staff wanting to know if they should zip their fly after they take a leak,” the general said.
“That’s more than I need to know general,” he said.
“Sorry. What can I do for you Mr. President?”
“I want to visit Area-51 or whatever you call it. I will need your help. This has to be accomplished in total secrecy. No one can get word of my visit,” he told the general.
“I totally agree, no one should know about this but do you think it is the proper time? Everyone watches what the President does during his first one hundred days in office. The timing might make this more difficult.”
“I understand your concern and I appreciate that but I need to see for myself just what it is that goes on out there. I have a responsibility to the people to know,” the President replied.
“Yes sir, I understand. What can I do to help?”
“Not a lot initially. That will be my problem. Once I get there I want as few as people to know about this as possible. No one that is not critical to my visit, if at all feasible. I don’t know enough about how your people operate to know if that can be done,” the President confessed.
“I will see to it that no one knows about your visit except the essential people. I will handle those details personally,” he assured the President.
“Excellent. I will get back to you with the date but I just wanted to give you a heads up,” he told the general.
“I appreciate that. Don’t worry Mr. President, I will take care of everything on this end.”
“Thank you general. I’ll be in touch,” the President said.
He hung up the phone and went up to meet his wife as promised.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The gloom hung like heavy woolen curtains permeating the entire room, overbearing and depressing. Even the sounds of the night seemed subdued. Eighteen men sat, each lost in thought.
“Attention on deck,” one of the men said, but even that was lacking the usual sharpness that was a trademark with Strike–1.
“At ease. You all know why I am here. The rescue of the captured Rangers did not go as planned. Six of our brothers were killed in action. Each and every one gave his life willingly for what he believed in. I know they were your associates and friends but we cannot let this dull the effectiveness of this unit. We will be looking for replacements in the near future, but for now we will have to make do with those of us who are left. The number two team was ambushed. The enemy was ready for them. That can only mean one thing, someone leaked the information.”
Heads snapped up at this comment. Was he saying that one of us leaked the details of the mission? That simply couldn’t be. No one knew for sure who would be selected until the last minute. You never knew if there was a possibility that you would get picked for the mission.
“I know what’s going through your heads. That can’t be. I have looked at this from every conceivable angle and it always points to the same thing. An informant. I do not believe that it came from our own Strike–1 force. Keep in mind that even a clandestine operation like this takes support and coordination. It includes the choppers that take you in and pick you up and the AWACS plane that coordinates the positions. Careless words to maintenance workers or the fuel handlers could compromise us. Any number of people could have let the cat out of the bag. The point is, others knew of our operation. Not the exact details but it wouldn’t take much for them to pull off an ambush. Just knowing when we were coming to rescue the Rangers would be enough. We are going through the personnel files to see if we can determine if anyone shot off his mouth inadvertently or intentionally. If so, they will be dealt with quickly and harshly. Six good men, some of the best soldiers in the world, were killed because someone said something they shouldn’t have.”
Almost to a man they were thinking that if they could get their hands on the individual they would choke the life out of them. It could have been any one of them lying in the morgue being readied to be shipped home in a casket.
“Sir, may I say a prayer for our men?”
“Of course. Here we don’t give a damn about separation of church and state. Here we are all God’s children,” he said.
They all stood and bowed their heads and the Lord’s Prayer was repeated by the remaining members.
When it was finished the commanding officer said, “Get some rest. We have a situation brewing that will need our attention very soon. I want you all physically and mentally capable of doing your jobs.”
“Yes Sir,” they shouted in unison.
They drifted off in twos and threes but Miller remained behind. Who would have enough information to be able to pass it along and how could it be done? None of the Strike Force would talk about a mission. It had to be one of the support people but who had both access to the information and the ability to get the word to the enemy? It had to be one of the chopper pilots or someone in the AWACS. The chopper pilots didn’t seem right either. They were taking a risk by dropping them off and then coming in for the extraction and dust-off. The AWACS operator would know the exact ETA and 20 of the force. It would be easy to let the enemy know that they were on the way. They would need to set a trap to find the guilty party and he had already worked up a plan by the time he got to the commander’s office.
“Come in,” the commander said.
“Thank you. Commander, I think I know of a way to find out who leaked the team’s plans,” he said.
“That didn’t take you long. What do you have in mind?”
“I figure it had to be one of the people on the AWACS. It only makes sense. They had the ETA, the 20 and the strength of the force. Someone on board the flight that night gave away the plans to rescue the prisoners,” Miller said.