"I agree," Kate replied. "I really appreciate everything you've told me. I'm not sure any of it matters now anyway. They've alerted 5th Group and some other units on Campbell to deal with this problem, so at least Dave won't be out there alone anymore."
"That's good. Let me know if you need anything else."
"All right, Drew. Thanks a lot. I owe you one."
"Out here."
As she put down the phone, Kate considered what she'd been told. It really didn't amount to much useful information. She wrote a summary of it and picked up the phone. She had to get it to Powers before he deployed, so he could pass it on to Dave.
Chapter 15
"Slow. Slow. Lower." Sergeant Major Powers was leaning out the side of the UH-60 helicopter, looking at the surface of the water as he spoke into the headset, guiding the pilot down. The dark water of Lake Barkley was being churned by the downdraft of the blades as the helicopter glided along slowly at an altitude of ten feet and a forward speed of ten knots.
Powers glanced at the other three men in the aircraft. He received thumbs-up from all. "We're launching," he announced to the pilots.
"Roger." The left pilot was looking over his shoulder at the men in the back while the right one flew the aircraft.
"Releasing!" Powers yelled as he slammed his open palm on the quick release for the Zodiac slung beneath the helicopter. The boat separated and dropped.
Powers pointed at the two forwardmost men sitting on either edge of the cargo bay. "GO!" They threw their waterproofed rucksacks overboard and immediately pushed off, following the rucks.
Powers slid his legs over the edge of the aircraft. "GO!" he yelled over his shoulder, and the other man went as he did. The four men were all out within six seconds.
As Powers had exited the aircraft he threw his ruck — attached with a fifteen-foot safety line — out ahead, then pushed himself off, tucking his head into his chin and putting his hands behind his neck. The shock of the cold water as he speared into it took his breath away. The air that was trapped inside his dry suit popped him to the surface. He put on his fins, pulled his ruck in close, and, lying on his back, stroked toward the Zodiac.
He clambered on board, his injured knee protesting the contortion. Two of the other members of the team were already putting the forty-horsepower engine onto its mounting and priming it. They were from the B Company, 3d Battalion, scuba team. The team sergeant had been on emergency leave all week, so Powers had quickly volunteered to be acting team sergeant for this operation. In the confusion of the alert and deployment, the battalion commander had not discovered the move.
The engine roared to life, and Powers directed them to their designated position. As they moved, Powers had one of the men unzip his dry suit; he peeled it off, then returned the favor.
A second helicopter flashed by overhead and another boat was dropped along with four men a hundred meters farther up the lake. Within ten minutes there were nine boats in the water, spread out in a loose line from the Bacon Creek Boat Ramp, south to below Fords Bay. Overhead, an OH-6 gunship from Task Force 160 flitted by, minigun slung off the right skid, pilots scanning the water.
Powers slid a round into the chamber of his M16 and smiled. He was back in action. The pain from his injured knee was a dull ache submerged in the rush of adrenaline.
Riley watched the bustle of activity going on around him: Helicopters landed and took off and a secure communications network was set up so that General Williams could control his forces. A colonel from General Williams's staff was giving an updated operations briefing on the situation, and Riley was hanging on the fringes of the command group, listening in. His disheveled appearance and the glare in his eye kept the young lieutenant flunky from shooing him out of the area.
"Both bridges over Route 68, traversing the LBL area, are now sealed. We have Special Forces soldiers from 2d Battalion, 5th Group, guarding the exit routes, and Kentucky State Police on the far sides keeping people from coming in." The man slapped a pointer on a map tacked to an easel. "The only other bridge, twenty miles north, here where the Trace exits the park, is also in the process of being closed off. We are allowing traffic out but none in.
"We are primarily using 5th Group soldiers on this mission because of their security clearances. However, the southern perimeter to the park is entirely land and will require more troops to secure than 5th Group can provide. Because of that, two battalions from the 101st Division are currently loading out to deploy along the length of Route 79 from where it crosses Lake Barkley to Kentucky Lake. They will use the road as their picket line, orienting north."
The pointer slid up along Lake Barkley and then bounced over to Kentucky Lake. "In addition to the Special Forces' Zodiacs in the water, helicopters from Task Force 160 are overflying both lakes, searching for any movement in the water. In all, we are surrounding almost one hundred seventy thousand acres of forest."
That seemed like a heck of a lot of forest for three creatures to hide in, Riley thought. He was glad that they were finally bringing in what seemed to be an adequate force to deal with the problem, but he wished it had happened twenty-four hours ago.
"How are you going to find the Synbats once you get the perimeter secure?" General Trollers asked.
"We will use OH-6 helicopter gunships from Task Force 160 against the Synbats. The integrated thermal sights on the aircraft should be able to find the creatures, even under the trees." The briefer paused. "Unfortunately, there are still civilians in the park and the heat signature from a Synbat and a human is too similar. We have to hold off until we get the park clear.
"The basic concept is to use the remaining daylight today to seal the park and use tomorrow to clear the park of all civilians. Then Saturday night, the OH-6 gunships will overfly the park using thermal sights to aim their miniguns. We also have a Spectre gunship en route from Hurlburt Air Force Base right now, which will give us a platform that can stay on target for a continuous period of time and use its low-level-light television to supplement the helicopters. Anything that has two arms and two legs will be gunned down and the location marked. Teams from 5th Group will be in the air on UH-60 lift aircraft and immediately land at all shooting sites to investigate the remains."
Riley's team was one of those designated. There were two other A teams at the headquarters site with the same mission. Riley agreed with the decision to go after the Synbats from the air. He didn't relish the idea of going after them on the ground again, even with dogs, especially now that the creatures were armed.
"If you don't get them tomorrow night, the pods will initiate the next morning. It doesn't leave you much slack." Merrit's comment caught the briefing officer off guard.
Trollers stood to reply. "We know that. We don't have much choice. The weather is still too bad to use the tracking dogs. We have no other means to go after them tonight. We could try the thermals, but there is a Civil War reenactment group just four miles from here, which means almost a thousand people, and they're spread out, getting ready to play war tomorrow. There are also a few campers and hunters in the park area. We're in the process of getting those people out of here, but I don't think we can find them all before dawn. Tomorrow we'll go along all the trails with loudspeakers. That ought to get everyone alerted and out.