Chapter 20

The trip to Iraq was a long one. I don't remember how many hours, but it was long. Military transports are not the most luxurious way to travel anyway. After several stops, and many hours, I arrived. Much better, right? Wrong!

It was hot. Well, what did I expect; it was a desert, right? Still, it was hot even for a desert. By this time, I was beginning to question my sanity for coming here. These guys could take care of what needed to be done without me looking over their shoulders. But, it was too late to back out now; I was in to the finish. I wouldn't have backed out anyway. Sometimes, you just wanted to whine, without really expecting a resolution.

Shortly after landing, I met with the Marine officer that I had met at the hospital where Elizabeth had been taken. I was immediately impressed, as I had been then, by his professionalism and his competence. I never did find out what branch he belonged to. As near as I can tell, the Marines have no special forces group, like Delta Force, Green Berets, Rangers, or Seals. They have the people to do the job, very well in fact; they just don't call them by a special name, I guess.

He led me through the whole process step by step, every aspect of the plan. I probably got a lot more briefings on it, and more information, than a civilian normally would have. That's what happens when the Secretary of Defense, and my Dad, whatever his real title is, get involved. I was part of the team, even though I wouldn't be doing much. I was impressed with how much time, effort, and planning had gone into this. They had everything planned right down to the coffee breaks!

I don't remember which famous general said it, but the old saying is: "No battle plan survives the first contact with the enemy." This one didn't even get that far.

The first indication that things were not going to go smoothly was the day before the action was to start when intelligence told us that the location of the camp we were to attack had moved. Boy, did it move! By 250 miles. That meant either we aborted the mission and planned it again, or we threw the plans out and redid it on the fly. The problem with planning it again was that they would only be there for a short time. Not enough time to start over. That left winging it.

The first thing that changed was that instead of getting there by ground transport, we were now going by helicopter. I felt the lump in my throat as that was announced. All I could think of was Amy, in tears, telling me she saw my helicopter crash and burn. The problem was, my suggestion to Amy that since she didn't feel the black empty space, I didn't die was largely just to make her feel better. Both Cindi and Becky in the last cycle had not died, yet that black empty space had been there. Presumably, it could be fooled the other way too. It was nice to believe in, but it didn't necessarily mean it was so. I would have been just utterly delighted not to have to fly in a helicopter!

The guys that were planning and executing this now had to get all the men and equipment 250 miles farther in less than 24 hours. It seemed simple enough; you would assume in a big war theatre like Iraq, you could just pick up new stuff nearer to the needed location. Unfortunately, it didn't work that way.

First, there were the men involved. These were very highly specialized, very highly trained men, experts in exactly what we wanted to do. Not just any Marine, as good as they were, would do. I had some experience in this by knowing Robert well. There weren't more than a handful of men that could do what he could do. He actually would have been an ideal candidate for this job.

The equipment we needed was very specialized also, and in limited supply. Everything had to work well together and seamlessly. There would be no second chance on this. Once this happened, if it was not a success, the enemy would know what we did and how we did it, and it wouldn't work again. There was also the safety of the men involved, and yes, me, that had to be considered.

The timing was going to be critical. It had to be an absolute surprise. We couldn't just fly the men in, let them sit at the local bar drinking beer and eating ribs until it was time to go, then go in and blast the place. Ok, so there was no bar, beer or ribs, but you see the point. No, they would fly in, kill everything in sight in a very few minutes, then beat feet out of there before anyone knew what was going on.

Ok, so it was going to be tough. That was why these guys were good, why they got the big money. Ok, it was why they were good. It was just going to be a tougher day at the office than usual, that's all.

We were up most of the night redoing the battle plans. The new location was in a narrow valley, with just enough room for helicopters to land. There were hills and mountains pretty much all around. In other words, if you couldn't get out by copter the same way you came in, it was going to be a long walk home through mountainous territory and desert. There were some known caves in the area, and a few buildings that were used by the terrorists for various functions. There were also underground bunkers under the buildings.

The plan now was to come in low and fast over the mountains in two Blackhawk helicopters, with 6 men in each, and me. These were not the Blackhawks you saw on TV. Each was loaded to the teeth with guns and rockets. There would also be two Apache Longbows patrolling the area above. They decided against the F-15's for air support as too visible. Stealth and surprise was everything for this action.

These guys planned for everything. The two main objectives were first, my safety, and second, taking out the two individuals we were after. The really impressive part was the plans for my safety.

I had my own officer assigned only to me. His only job was to take care of me, and if things went south, to make sure I got out of the area intact. To ensure that, he had a special package just for me. I had an M-16 rifle with an under slung M203 5 shot grenade launcher, 30 extra grenades for the launcher, 500 rounds of ammo for the M-16, food, water and all the necessities for surviving in the wild. Normally, a civilian wouldn't have had the weapon, but with my extensive training in the FBI and... well, with the interest being shown by certain high level people concerning my safety, they were taking no chances. No one expected I would ever have to use it, but it was loaded and ready to go, near me at all times. The whole package weighed maybe fifty pounds, but if I had to make a run for it, it would be a lifesaver. David, the officer assigned to me, was serious about his job. Dead serious, no pun intended. None of the men resented my presence as making their job harder. It was their job; if it was easy, the Army would be doing it (their words, not mine!).

After much last minute planning, it was time to go. It was dark when we took off, as we were planning on arriving right at dawn. It was not noticed until we were in the air that my equipment, except for the M-16 I was holding, was in the second Blackhawk, not in the first one with me. It was a minor error in a large operation, but it would be one that I would always be grateful that someone had overlooked. After that was discovered, the plan was that David and I would leave the helicopter on landing and go back to helicopter two to retrieve my package and wait until the coast was clear.

I'm not sure we will ever know exactly what happened. The area was quiet as we came in. There didn't even appear to be any sentries out. The infrared scan showed no life except inside the building. As we were landing, still a couple feet off the ground, I heard David shout a warning and he pushed me out of the helicopter, jumping immediately after me. We hit the ground running and headed immediately for the second helicopter, landing behind us. I saw him fire a couple of rounds from his rifle just as I saw the streak of light head for the first helicopter.

The RPG hit the first helicopter dead on the open door and the whole thing exploded. My officer took one look at that, heard the bullets hitting the second copter, and must have known immediately that the operation was a bust, and that it was unlikely the second copter would ever make it out of there either. He grabbed my package and yelled at me to head for the hills; they would pick me up later. He turned and started firing as he called in the Apache's for support. I unslung my rifle, intending to support the men, when he pushed me and yelled "Go!".

I went. I ran for the hills, firing behind me at the men coming from behind the building, just to keep their heads down. When I grabbed a quick look behind me, I saw them dropping all over the place. I thought that was strange, since there weren't that many people firing on our side. I realized with a sense of shock what was happening. I was hitting targets without even looking at them, just as I had seen Amy and Megan do before! This was easier than I thought! I heard a loud noise above me, and looked up just in time to see Apache # 1 make its first run.