“Ms. Kowalksi, this is Captain Noble of the Navy SEALs,” Laredo said.
“Please help us, Captain.” Her voice cracked. “The ambassador is a good man.”
“We’re going to try, ma’am,” Captain Noble said.
“Do we have the blueprints, Ms. Kowalski?” Laredo asked.
“They’re spread out on the ambassador’s desk.”
“Thank you.”
Zack and Captain Noble followed Bruce Laredo into the room. On the ambassador’s desk were several blueprints of a large building.
“Captain, Commanders, these drawings of the interior of Merdeka Palace are courtesy of our Dutch allies. The Dutch designed and built the palace, and Dutch engineering firms have performed maintenance projects on the building over the years.
“These papers diagram every inch of the building. From the entrances on the roof, to the power generation plants, to the data storage rooms, to the location of every electrical socket.”
Captain Noble leaned over the desk and studied the drawings. “Hmm. You speak like a man with an intel background, Mr. Laredo.”
“You pick up on that, Captain?”
“Nuances in your voice make me suspicious.”
“It’s that obvious?”
“You tell me.”
“You’re good, Captain. Interagency transfer from CIA to State Department five years ago. They want us interspersed throughout our embassies abroad. Particularly potential hotspots.”
“Okay,” Captain Noble said. “I’ll need thirty minutes here with Commander Garcia to construct an operational plan. Then we’ll need to meet with the team. Meanwhile, Mr. Laredo, I’ll need the basic floor plan reduced and copied for every one of my men. Can we make that happen?”
“Absolutely, Captain,” Laredo said. “We’ve already started working on it. Ms. Kowalksi?”
“Copies should be ready now. I’ll bring them up.”
“You’re good, Mr. Laredo.”
“No problem, Captain.”
Noble looked at Garcia. “What do you think, XO?”
“Just like we said earlier, Captain. We need to strike quickly to take their power out. Then we’ve gotta move. Looks like a power generation plant is here, and outside electrical lines are running here.” The XO pointed at various spots on the drawing. “We hit those areas with RPGs and then move quickly. We’ll need to take out their people, then do a rapid search for the ambassador and Commander Colcernian.
“And just as important, our orders are to take out General Perkasa. We may have twenty minutes max before they get organized from the outside and realize that their inside security has been taken out.”
“Agreed,” Captain Noble said. “We’ll divide into groups of three. I’ll take team one into the central section of the palace. XO, take team two into the east wing. Lieutenant Jones leads team three into the west section. We reconvene on the roof twenty minutes later and wait for our birds. From there, we fly straight to the carrier. We’ve gotta be swift, and we’ve gotta be effective.”
“Assuming we get the order from Washington to launch,” Laredo said.
“Of course,” Noble replied.
“Question,” Zack said.
“Yes, Zack.”
“Sir, remember you just said if there was ever anything you could do for me?”
“Sure thing. What’s on your mind?”
“I want to go, sir.”
A puzzled look crossed the captain’s face. “You want to go where?”
“On the mission. Diane’s in there. I want to go in with the SEAL team.”
“Are you crazy, Zack?” Captain Noble frowned. “I said I’d be glad to help you in any way, son. Getting you killed is not my idea of helping you.”
“Captain,” Zack said, “I’m a naval officer. I’ve taken the same oath to protect and defend the Constitution that you’ve taken, sir.” Zack’s blood was rushing. “I took that oath voluntarily, knowing that it could cost me my life. And if this mission costs me my life, then that’s the price I’m prepared to pay.”
“But, Zack, you’re a JAG officer. You’re not trained for this mission.”
“Captain,” Zack said, “you know what great respect I have for our SEAL teams. I’ve represented the interest of the SEALs as a trial counsel. I’ve spent tons of time with you and our SEAL teams at the amphib base in Coronado. But, sir, when it comes to handling a weapon, I grew up with weapons in eastern North Carolina. I was firing a gun before I was weaned off a pacifier. I could pick off a water moccasin’s head with a rifle at a hundred yards from a boat drifting up and down the Roanoke River. Did it hundreds of times. I was firing shotguns and rifles and pistols on my granddaddy’s farm in Martin County before most of the members of your SEAL team ever thought of joining the navy. Sir, with all respect, I can hang with any members of your team when it comes to handling a weapon.”
Silence.
“I’m sure you’re good with a rifle, Zack. But it’s not just about that. There’s physical training…”
“Just ran a marathon last December when I was on leave back on Kiawah Island, South Carolina. I’m in shape, Skipper. Trust me.”
The captain and Commander Garcia stared at each other. Commander Garcia was shaking his head no way.
“Please, sir,” Zack persisted. A desperation entered his chest. The desperation was for Diane. Whether she was dead or alive, he had to be there. He could not live with himself otherwise. “You said that if I ever needed anything. Please. Diane is in there. We don’t know what kind of shape we’ll find her in.” Their eyes locked. “She might need me.”
A pause. More looks between the CO and the XO. Captain Noble checked his watch. “Look. We don’t have much time. I’m not saying yes and I’m not saying no. But get downstairs and hook up with Master Chief Stoudemier. Tell him I said to get your face painted and get you into gear, and issue you an Uzi. I’ll make a decision on you if and when we get orders from Washington to go. But if I were to say yes”-he was wagging his finger-“and this is a big if, then you are to stick with me like white on rice. Understand?”
“Aye, aye, Captain. Thank you, sir!”
The White House
8:00 a.m.
I don’t know, Mr. President.” This was the voice of Secretary of State Robert Mauney, who was being conferenced into the Oval Office via secure line from his east-bound jet, somewhere over Arkansas. They were discussing the proposed military operation against Merdeka Palace, which had been put together and brought to the president by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “My problem is that we’re launching a military action from a United States embassy. We’re opening a can of worms if we establish a precedent that it’s okay to launch military strikes against host nations from embassies in that nation. Suppose Iran launched a raid on the US Capitol from its embassy in DC?”
“That’s form over substance,” the secretary of defense responded. “This is a rescue operation. We know our ambassador and our naval attaché are in that building, we know there has been some sort of coup there, and we have every right under international law to defend ourselves, sir. This action is tantamount to self-defense, Mr. President.”
“It isn’t self-defense if we’re trying to go in to kill this General Perkasa,” the secretary of state’s voice boomed over the loudspeakers. “That’s an offensive operation. Again, sir, I don’t object to a military mission. It’s just that we can’t justify launching a military mission from an embassy.”
“But this self-defense mission was technically launched from the aircraft carrier.” Secretary Lopez was now standing and waving his arms in the air. “Besides, we jammed their airways. We’ve already flown three choppers into our embassy undetected under our jamming signals. They’ll never know that our choppers lifted off from the embassy, Mr. President.”