“What crazy motherfucker told you all this?” Lobato shouted.
“The same one that will kick your ass all the way to Peabody’s Tavern when you get back,” Pakstas replied. He holstered his pistol and raised the middle finger of both hands at Lobato. The Lithuanian officer smiled and added, “Do you understand the meaning of this message, Gunnery Sergeant?”
Lobato had to subdue a laugh. “I sure do, Major,” he replied. He could see and feel every team member relax when the Lithuanian officer said those words and made that obscene gesture. One of Paul White’s quirks was the insistence on code words and phrases, backed up by a coded gesture. “Kick your ass all the way to Peabody’s Tavern” was a reference to a popular bar in Plattsburgh, the city in upstate New York where Lobato went to college — it was a code phrase that only White would use and only team members that knew Lobato would remember; and, of course, only Paul White would punctuate the message with the finger: not one, but two.
Lobato shouldered his rifle, walked up to Pakstas, and shook his hand. “We can sure use your help, sir. We have two injured, one seriously, and one casualty, and we need to destroy our aircraft.”
“Not necessary,” Pakstas said. “Golf Company will be here in five to ten minutes to transport your casualties. They have been briefed by your embassy on which black boxes to take from your aircraft in the event it was rendered inoperable. We’ll even try to transport your aircraft out of the area before the Byelorussians get it, but no guarantees on that. But we need to get moving — we have two fuel stops to make before sundown, and then we have to sneak into Byelorussian airspace after nightfall so you’ll be in position. With all your gear, we can only take one Marine per helicopter, but more are on the way.”
“Very well, sir. Thank you.” Lobato issued orders to his men, and they formed up to get on board the tiny Defenders. As the COBRA VENOM members climbed on board their assigned helicopters, Lobato asked Pakstas, “Your English is very good, sir. If you don’t mind me asking, where did you learn it so well?”
“No big deal. I was born in America,” Pakstas replied. “Shaker Heights, Ohio — my folks still live there. They were Lithuanian refugees from Hitler and the Russians in the thirties, just before the war. I grew up in Ohio but came back to Lithuania in 1991 after independence. General Palcikas made me an officer in the Self-Defense Force when I became a dual national. I graduated from Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, class of 1978. Psychology major. I think I’ve even been to Peabody’s Tavern in Plattsburgh on a road trip to Lake Placid once — right down the street from Mother’s Night Club, right?”
“You got it, sir.”
“Sauletumas vandenys, as we say in Lithuania. Awesome party town. When this is over, I’ll take you guys to some clubs in Klaipeda — you’ll think you’re right back in Plattsburgh. We’ve got the best Feast of St. Patrick’s parties this side of Dublin — nothing like Boston or Plattsburgh, but pretty close. Meanwhile we’ve got a long way to go before nightfall. We’d better get moving.”
“The situation is changing rapidly, sir,” the Pentagon “War Room” briefer said. His audience was very small — only four persons in all, not including aides and staffers — but it was the top military leaders and Presidential advisers in the United States of America: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Wilbur Curtis; the Secretary of Defense, Thomas Preston; and the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Vance Kundert. They were seated in the front row of the large, amphitheater-like National Military Command Center, the main communications center of the Pentagon. From here the decision-makers in the Pentagon and the White House could speak with almost any unit commander, any aircraft, or any foreign government or embassy, and receive real-time data on the progress of a military operation.
Right now the status of the Byelorussian invasion of Lithuania and the U.S. response were the main topics of concern. “As expected, the Byelorussian Army’s advance into Lithuania has taken place on two main avenues — externally and internally,” the briefer said. “Internally, the advances have been very slow and rather disorganized, mostly due to the guerrilla raids accomplished by the Lithuanian Self-Defense Force. The Byelorussians are occupying big chunks of land around their air base at Siauliai, but most other gains have been slowed by miscommunication and poor coordination. Guerrilla attacks by larger and better-equipped Lithuanian forces are continuing.
“The invasion of Lithuania from outside, however, is progressing very well. Unexpectedly, the Byelorussian Army has swept aside all challenges from the Russians in Kalinin oblast and in Kaliningrad itself, which has allowed the Byelorussian Army to advance towards Lithuania.
“The Russians offered no resistance at all?” Kundert asked, astonished. “What the hell is going on here? Why did that happen?”
“We assume it was a combination of factors, sir,” the briefer replied. “The Byelorussians’ strikes were swift and decisive, and resistance was probably useless. We are also not discounting the possibility of a deal struck between Voshchanka and the Russian generals in Kalinin. The territory has always been rather autonomous from Moscow and even more so from the Commonwealth — many local warlords have emerged in the confusion following the end of the USSR and the beginning of the Commonwealth—”
“I thought Kaliningrad was a Russian stronghold,” Secretary of Defense Preston interjected. “What makes it so divisive now?”
“Kalinin oblast has always been a part of Russia,” the briefer explained, “but it was historically part of the Polish-Lithuanian empire. It was taken from Poland during World War Two when the Soviets recaptured Poland from the Nazis. Kaliningrad is very much a Soviet/Russian city, but after the breakup of the USSR and the weakening of the Soviet military, the ethnic forces have taken precedence.”
“Faced with annihilation or cooperation, the ex-Soviet warlords in Kalinin obviously chose cooperation,” Curtis summarized.
“The Byelorussian forces are continuing along three main fronts outside Lithuania: along the coast, target the port city of Klaipeda; from Kalinin oblast, target the city of Kaunas; and from the east, target Vilnius,” the briefer continued. “Advance forces have already penetrated the border itself and are joining with supply groups from within Lithuania itself.”
“So we’re too late, then,” Secretary of Defense Preston said. “Whatever we do, it won’t stop the Byelorussians, will it?”
A second briefer stepped up to a podium on the other side of the stage, and the first briefer deferred immediately to him: “I don’t think so, Mr. Secretary,” Air Force Lieutenant General Brad Elliott replied. “My — our — Megafortress strike force can slow those three advancing armies down considerably.”
Preston inwardly scowled at Elliott’s remark. He knew that something dramatic had to be done to stop this war, but accepting Elliott’s plan and sending in high-tech B-52s was not his ideal solution. He disliked having to accept a military plan that he didn’t devise, and now he disliked having someone else — especially Elliott — supervising it. But the President and Wilbur Curtis had been won over, and it was their main defensive force right now. “I understand the objective of the EB-52 strikes, General Elliott,” Preston said, “but if the Byelorussians have advanced into Lithuania, what good are they now?”
“Satellite imagery reveals that the advance forces are light armored scouts, light vehicles, and helicopter patrols only,” Elliott explained. “The main tank battle forces are still some hours away. We can still strike some Byelorussian armor units before they cross into Lithuania.”