The adjacent green-scale image showed the slowly approaching flight deck of a low-profile combat ship from one of the pilot’s helmet-mounted cameras. One of the two hangar bays situated forward of the flight deck was open, swallowing the tail rotor of a recently landed helicopter. The image switched to the crew chief’s helmet, revealing a secret that would never extend beyond the handful of men and women in this room or on board the helicopters.
RAINFOREST redefined the concept of “need to know.” Not even the ships’ commanding officers had been told what the stealth helicopters had ferried across the Indian coast or where they had stopped. Each Arleigh Burke destroyer had capably served as a two-billion-dollar taxi for one of the most classified military operations in recent U.S. history.
Shelby sensed a shift in the White House chief of staff’s posture and took his eyes off the body-armor-clad soldiers seated inside the helicopter to meet her glare. Beverly Stark’s words were quick to follow.
“Well, that was a bust.”
He held back, knowing that nothing good would come out of his mouth for the next several seconds. Better to let someone else speak first.
“The operational pieces are undamaged and appear to have remained undetected,” said General Gordon. “That’s all that matters at this point.”
President Alan Crane continued watching the helicopter on its final approach to the ship’s flight deck. Without turning away from the screen, he directed a question at Shelby.
“Any new information from our friends in Moscow?”
Shelby scanned his laptop screen for any last second messages transmitted from the Defense Clandestine Service (NCS) Operations Center. A single-sentence post appeared moments before he responded.
“Interesting. The Russians left a skeleton team behind to try to pick up Reznikov’s trail,” said Shelby, typing a question for the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) team talking to Moscow.
“They did what?” said Gordon, furiously typing on his own laptop.
“Is that confirmed?” asked Beverly Stark.
Gordon looked up, nodding. “Confirmed. A three-man team from Gladiator-One stayed behind.”
“How did we miss that?” asked President Crane. “More importantly, how the hell did it go unreported?”
“I’m trying to get to the bottom of that,” Gordon replied.
“Please do,” said Beverly Stark, turning to Shelby. “And you need to make it crystal clear to our Russian friends that this is unacceptable. There was no mention of purposefully leaving a team behind during any of the mission briefings. This leaves us exposed.”
Shelby couldn’t see how it left them exposed, but instead of addressing the obvious kneejerk question, he summarized the answer relayed by the DIA. “Intelligence strongly suggested that Reznikov was on site when—”
“I don’t see how he could have escaped if that was the case,” interrupted Gerald Simmons. “It’s not like he had many options.”
Shelby feigned a smile. He hated Simmons. For the life of him, he didn’t understand how this smarmy little shit had landed the position of White House Counterterrorism director. Prior to the 2008 election, Simmons had played a relatively obscure role in the Pentagon as the assistant secretary for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict. Shelby had only run into this turd a few times prior to the 2008 election and remembered wanting to smash a computer over his head the last time they were together.
In fact, the meeting had taken place in this very room, during the failed raid on Sanderson’s Argentina compound. Operation BOLD SCIMITAR. What a cluster fuck that had turned out to be. He wouldn’t be surprised if Simmons brought it up, especially since Shelby had provided the initial intelligence for that operation. Guys like Simmons thrived on other people’s failures.
With a strained game face, Shelby replied, “That’s precisely why they insisted on leaving a team behind. With few exfiltration options available, the Alpha Group commander felt they stood a solid chance of either catching up with Reznikov or uncovering a solid lead regarding his next move.”
“With the state’s Indian armed forces on full alert,” added Stark. “Not to mention every law enforcement asset in the area.”
“The Russians left behind are no longer our concern,” said Shelby.
“Except for the fact that we deposited them on Indian soil,” stated the president.
“Nobody will ever know that, Mr. President. We’ve run through the scenarios—”
“Not this one,” Stark cut in. “At no point did we discuss leaving a team behind to investigate.”
“I’m sure they don’t plan on lingering at the site,” Shelby explained, starting to get annoyed.
What was done was done. Everyone in the room knew the risks going in. Ferrying Russian commandos into India to conduct a raid against a suspected bioweapons target was unheard of in the first place. Now they were squabbling about three Spetsnaz operators that could probably live off the land, remaining undetected for weeks? He hated this kind of shortsighted pettiness.
“The Russians know what they’re doing,” said General Gordon. “And I suspect the detachment they left behind is part of Spetsgruppa Charlie, or Smerch.”
“Smerch? Sounds like something out of a James Bond movie,” said Stark, eliciting a few stifled laughs.
“Service of Special Operations,” said Shelby, who had made it a point to learn everything there was to know about Russian Special Operations (Spetsnaz) groups. “It’s a relatively new group that specializes in the capture and transfer of high-profile mafiya or bandit leaders throughout Russia. If Reznikov or his handlers left a trail, they’ll find it, and will stay out of sight.”
General Gordon interrupted the conversation. “Gladiator-Two is secure on board USS Mustin. The taskforce is headed southwest at top speed. There’s no indication that either the ships or helicopters have been detected by Indian sensors. I’d say we’re free and clear.”
The video feed next to the map changed to a black screen blinking the words LINK LOST.
“The helicopters flew over thousands of people and shot up several buildings just a few miles away from some reasonably populated towns,” stated Nora Crawford, secretary of state. “I expect State to hear from the Indian embassy tomorrow, especially when they determine that the buildings are part of a laboratory facility.”
“Surely not blaming us,” said Erik Glass, secretary of Defense.
“Not directly, but I’ll get the call nonetheless,” said Crawford. “There’s only one military capable of flying helicopters in and out of another country undetected.”
“Rumored to be capable,” said the secretary of Defense.
Crawford took a deep breath, exhaling before she replied, “I’d get these two warships back into their regular deployment schedules immediately. I guarantee that India’s Research and Analysis Wing will be monitoring our ships’ movements closely.”
“They can watch our ships all they like,” said Glass. “The USS Mustin is on its way to the Arabian Gulf from Japan. Part of a scheduled deployment. And the USS Howard is on its way home to San Diego after an extended deployment. They’ll adjust their speeds, supported by fuel tankers, to maintain their schedules after diverting close enough to Diego Garcia to launch the helicopters. The Navy has worked out the timing for a late night landing at the air base on the island.”