“Secure him in his own stockade,” Palcikas ordered. “Find who is second in rank and bring him to me.” Stepanov and his officers were led away.
“The arsenal was stocked for World War Three,” one of Palcikas’ officers reported a few minutes later. “We’ll be able to keep the battalion armed for at least three days. We even have a few more rounds for the tank.”
“Have the armorers and ordnance disposal teams check it out before distributing it,” Palcikas warned. “Every captured weapon and round has to be checked — they could have sabotaged it while we were surrounding the place. Get on that right away.
Zukauskas relayed the orders to the unit NCO, then added, “We also have almost a hundred MSB and OMON soldiers that say they want to defect, including two officers. How do you want to handle these men?”
“The same as the others. They can join us if they meet my conditions,” Palcikas replied. “We’ll accept only men with Lithuanian names and who kept their Lithuanian citizenship. If they swear loyalty to me in front of the other captives, we’ll separate them from the others and give them preferential treatment. But we can’t afford to give them a rifle in here— too many chances for cold feet and second thoughts. First chance we get, we’ll bus them out to Trakai and screen them, but in here they’ll have to be locked up.”
“Yes, sir,” Zukauskas said. He relayed that order as well, then commented happily, “It’s even more promising than I imagined, Colonel. Ten, twenty, even thirty percent of every unit we’ve encountered want to join us. I could only pray that we’d ever find this kind of support. There are many that I’d trust with my life right now, men that I know.”
“I know, Vitalis,” Palcikas said. “I recognize many as well — some of the officers captured here are from my hometown, and some had relatives that died during the Denerokin riot. But we can’t be too careful. There will be time to recruit soldiers from the prisoner ranks, but for now we secure our objective and prepare for the Soviet counterattack. Third and’ Fourth battalions still are engaged with Black Beret forces.”
A few moments later another soldier ran up to Palcikas, saluted, and said, “Sir, Charlie Company guards report a single fixed-wing and two heavy rotary-wing aircraft inbound. Negative identification. Alpha and Bravo companies report engaging security patrols but expect to be set up for antiair operations soon. Charlie Company reports ready for antiair and antiarmor action. Our company stationed near the parliament building is reporting considerable air activity near the City of Progress. They are investigating, but they believe it is the Byelorussian Army aviation units, possibly the heavy attack squadrons from Smorgon.”
“Make sure the antiaircraft artillery is deployed as planned as soon as possible,” Palcikas said, remembering the power of the attack helicopters that had slaughtered so many civilians just last week. “I need the report from Third and Fourth battalions as soon as possible. They are the key to this entire operation. If the Soviet helicopters attack before they get into position, we’ll lose our left flank. There won’t be anything to stop the Commonwealth from overrunning our position then.”
Dominikas Palcikas paused, scanning the faces of those around him. They showed shock, apprehension, and fear when they heard “Byelorussian Army.” The horrors of the Denerokin massacre were still too fresh on their minds as well.
“You men listen to me, and listen well,” Palcikas said. “You have done the impossible tonight, but the job isn’t done yet. You have marched a considerable distance through occupied Lithuania; successfully mounted attacks on dozens of Soviet military and Commonwealth bases; and occupied the strongest and most important Commonwealth facility in all of the Baltic besides the Baltic Sea Fleet headquarters itself. Our exploits tonight will go down in history as the most sweeping and successful raid by a Lithuanian army since the siege of Minsk by the Grand Duke Vytautas himself. What the Commonwealth used as a base of operations to slaughter our innocent, peace-loving people, we now control.
“We are not some rabble protest group throwing stones at soldiers and dodging rubber bullets. We are not revolutionary hotheads who want nothing but to see everything burn just for our amusement. We are liberators. We are protectors. We are the right arm of the free Lithuanian people, holding the sword of liberty in defense of our country for the first time in centuries. We are the Grand Duke’s Iron Wolf Brigade, and we have been blessed by God and christened in the fire and blood of the ones that died at Denerokin to carry the sword.
“We anticipated the arrival of the Commonwealth Army. We prepared for it. We occupy or destroyed all the Soviet aviation and infantry-support infrastructure in Lithuania, so when their counterattack comes it will be blunt and cannot be sustained. We knew the aviation units would begin the counterattack; in the same way, we know where the infantry and armor units will begin their counterattack, and we have aligned the Second Regiment against them.”
He paused, staring each one of his officers and senior NCOs in the eye, and concluded, “I don’t want you looking defeated. Look at what we’ve accomplished You all know our operations plan for this evening; you computed the expected losses, recommended where the units be deployed, suggested what equipment to bring. Your estimates were perfect. Our goals for this one evening are being met and exceeded. So it will be with the rest of our plan. Get your heads up, get your men together, and execute the plan that we have prepared. If you truly believe that what you are doing is right, for yourself and for your country, then you will prevail.”
Via MILSTAR, the satellite military communications network, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Wilbur Curtis, National Security Advisor George Russell, CIA Director Kenneth Mitchell, and Secretary of Defense Thomas Preston heard the report from Hammer Three at the same time Colonel Albert Kline, commander of the Amphibious Task Force of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard USS Wasp, got the message.
“Jesus, what a mess,” Russell said. Despite his outburst, he found himself undecided about what to do. “Tom, what are you going to recommend?”
Preston, the grizzled old veteran of the White House Cabinet, rested his chin on his fist, considered the words, then said, “My impulse is to yank them out of there back to the embassy and see how this thing rinses out. But I hate to leave my boys out there with their dorks hanging out. Wilbur?”
“I agree with you, sir,” Curtis replied instantly. He had a phone to Camp Lejeune cocked in one ear, waiting for General Kundert to get on the line. “I’ve got a call in to Vance to get his opinion, but my impression is to finish the raid on the research institute.”
“I agree,” Mitchell replied, “but I’m sure not for the same reason.”
Curtis turned an angry stare at Mitchell. “I get it,” he said. “You want to be sure Luger’s dead, don’t you? Only the Marines can tell you that. You probably instructed them to bring back evidence — what? His tongue? His vocal cords? His fucking head?”
“Don’t get dramatic, General,” Mitchell said, rolling his eyes. “Business is business.”
“We’re trying to rescue the man, not recover his body,” Curtis said irritably. He knew Mitchell was locked into a different version of this Lithuanian mission, one in which Luger was a heavy liability and worth far more dead than alive. “The forces are in place, Tom,” Curtis said to the Secretary of Defense. “The aircraft are over the target. At least let them give it a try. The on-scene commanders can call the abort if they feel it’s hopeless. The AC-130 gunship has completed its sweep of the Super Stallion loading zone — let’s divert him over Fisikous to help the Marines.”