“As of late yesterday afternoon, they were still pulling bodies out of the wreckage at Fenway, Mr. President,” Fleming added. “There’s still hope that we’ll find some survivors and we don’t want to be in the way.”
“No, I get that. The last thing I want to do is get in the way, especially of something like this. At the same time, I need to get up there, and it’s more than just being seen. For that matter, I really don’t care if I’m seen by the press or not but for the people of both Boston and New York — they just need to know that I was up there.”
“Imam, this is Dr. Mohammed Kayani.”
“Dr. Kayani, it is a pleasure to meet you. I understand you worked with Dr. Khan towards the end of his career.”
“Imam, the pleasure is all mine. I did. Dr. Khan was a great mentor for me. General Shishani has advised me of everything. I must say, your plans are ambitious. I am very pleased to be a part of the operation.”
“Has Mohammed shown you our facilities yet?”
“He has, and everything looks perfect. It looks like you have everything I’ll need.”
“Excellent. If you find that you need something else, let us know right away. When the time comes, I don’t want any delays with your work.”
“Understood. I look forward to helping you out any way that I can.”
XIII
“Hey corporal!” sergeant Kuznetzov yelled at his underling. “It’s 0230, we’ve got guard duty this morning. Wake up Boris and Mikhail and meet me out front. If you guys want a ride, meet me out there in fifteen minutes. Otherwise, you guys can walk, you hear?”
“Yeah, yeah. Fifteen minutes,” the corporal groggily replied. “What’s this all about, anyway? I’ve been here close to a year and we’ve never had to pull guard duty, let alone at three in the morning.”
“Your guess is as good as mine. The major didn’t give me any reasons for this. He just told us that we needed to work up a detail for the tower and the rest of the base facilities, so that’s what I’m doing. We’ll be relieving the current detail at 0300 and no breaks for the next five hours so hope you guys already made your pit stops.”
“I thought we were early so I planned on hitting it at the tower,” Mikhail replied.
“Very well, just make it quick.”
“Hey Colonel, what’s with all the guards?” Petty Officer Dan ‘Reno’ Carpenter, one of the SEALs attached to Jackson’s team, quietly asked as the combined SEAL & Unit team concealed themselves in a small grove across from the tower. “We were told there wouldn’t be any guards.”
“Reno, do you always believe everything the Navy tells you?” Jackson replied. “I thought you were a SEAL. Don’t they train you guys for little surprises like this?”
“Speaking of surprises, here comes a truck. Wonder how many they have in back?” Reno replied, as the truck stopped at what appeared to be the main entrance of the operations building.
“Looks like a typical changing of the guard. Okay, we didn’t expect any of this. Arielle, go with Reno and his team. We need to take out all of these guards before we can get in the tower. I’ll stay with Levi’s team and we’ll take care of the guards at the tower.”
“Reno, let’s go. We got a job to do,” Arielle ordered as she tightened her pony tail.
“Yes, ma’am. Okay, guys,” Reno directed his three team mates, “you heard the lady. Let’s get over there and take care of these guys before the fireworks start.”
Reno’s team, now five strong, broke into two groups as they approached the operations building. A small outbuilding blocked a clear field of fire from a small outcropping of trees that would have otherwise provided excellent concealment for the team. Arielle and Reno took the more exposed side of this building while the rest of the team took the more concealed corner of the building.
“Okay, Mikhail, we’ll wait out here for you,” Sergeant Kuznetzov said to his fellow guard as he dropped him off at the entrance to the operations center. “Make it quick.”
“Yeah, I’ll be right out.”
“Looks like they dropped one guy off… and they’re still sitting there. Wonder what this is about?” Reno said to Arielle as they looked on.
“I don’t know but it’s almost kick off time,” Arielle replied.
“’Kick-off’ time? Where’d you get that?”
“Never mind. It’s 0259. We need to go. I’ll take the driver, you take the guy in the passenger seat. Have the rest of the team take anyone in back that comes out.”
“Yes, ma’am, you heard her guys.”
“On my mark,” Arielle indicated. “Three… two… one… mark!” And with that, two small holes emerged in the front wind shield of the Russian UAZ Patriot pickup holding the new guard detail for the tower.
Mikhail approached the front door of the operations building, after making his pit stop, just in time to see his sergeant’s head erupt in a bright red mass as he slumped forward against the steering wheel. Boris had already jumped out of the back of the truck and two more bullets dropped him as he ran towards the front of the building. However, Mikhail noticed the muzzle flashes that dropped his friend and, without even exiting the building, he grabbed his rifle, fell prone and began returning fire through the glass entrance doors.
“Umph,” came the only sound over Arielle’s headset.
“Who was that?” Reno asked immediately.
“Jonesy’s been hit. It’s bad,” came the reply.
“Okay, on the…” was all Reno got out before he took another of Mikhail’s rounds. “Ah!!! Damn it, I’m hit!” he yelled out. Reno had slipped out beyond Arielle and farther from the concealment of the outbuilding to get a better shot at the guard’s truck.
“I gotcha,” Arielle said as she ran to his position as a round hit the pavement directly behind her. “Where ya hit, sailor?” she asked, grabbing the back of his collar as she dragged him back behind the building.
“Right above the knee. Hurts like hell!”
“Okay, lay still while I take a look,” Arielle ordered as she ripped open the petty officer’s fatigues where she found a couple holes. “I’ve got two wounds here, looks like in and out. Can you move your leg?”
“Are you kidding?!? Aw jeez, that hurts!”
And at that moment, all hell broke loose as twenty javelin missiles hit four different radar emplacements surrounding the air base. The secondary explosions from several of sites clearly revealed that several missiles had been hit in the first volley.
“Dusty, you got Jonesy?” Reno called out to his teammate.
“Moose has him, I got the shooter.”
“Moose, how’s Jonesy?”
“He’s bad. He took a round in the side, underneath his arm. He’s losing a lot of blood.”
“Let me see,” Arielle ordered. “Okay, he’s got blood coming from his nose as well. I don’t see an exit wound either. He’s got some serious internal bleeding. We need to get him out of here, pronto. Moose, you take Jones. I’ll grab Reno. Dusty, you cover us.”
“Roger that.”
“Chaos, I’ve got two SEALs down over here. Neither one is mobile, one’s critical. We need to evacuate him to the safe house right away. Reno took a round in the knee. I’m sure he’s got a fracture of some sort and he’s with me. Hurts like hell but he isn’t losing too much blood. We’ll meet you at the tower.” Two squelches served as the affirmative reply.