Chapter 27

The women moved in and out of the security perimeter of the mine with impunity! At first Asha worried that there might be electronic sensors around the site, but after two weeks ... nothing!

The Valkyrie team was working a two days on two days off cycle. In other words two of the team would be inside the perimeter for two days trying to gather intel while the other two were off hunting for food. Then they would switch.

The hardest thing was to keep their edge. Things were getting so boring that Asha feared one of the women would screw up out of utter boredom.

After two weeks Asha pulled the whole team out for a strategy meeting.

"Look guys this is getting us nowhere, and I haven't a clue how to change things. Yumi do you have any suggestions?"

Yumi nodded and then said, "First let me state the obvious here. These people, though they may be great fighters, haven't a clue how to secure a site such as this. The patrols follow the same track each time that they go out. They have actually created a worn path! And have you noticed how slack they are in actually looking for intruders? I mean they look like they are having a Sunday stroll in the park, smoking and talking ... it's disgusting!

"Our problem is that there is an underground base, here, that we can not see or enter without giving our mission away. There is, however, an aircraft hangar that is poorly guarded and if not covered electronically would be a good place to be more proactive.

"I suggest an operation to target the hangar. If we can get one of their radios or some paperwork we might be able to gather some intel, and in a more expeditious manner."

Asha thought for a minute, nodded and turned to the remaining two women and asked, "What about you two? Any ideas?"

"I've been thinking the same thing. I mean we have been staring at that big building for two weeks without doing a thing," said Cara.

They all then turned toward Dixie.

"That's all well and good, but I still think that we need to map out the whole installation. There must be vents, and antenna arrays ... and remember that bunker we passed on the way here? I bet it was an automated defense weapon of some sort. I have the feeling that we are actually inside one of two distinct perimeters. I think that is why the patrols are so sloppy. They are just cover for the electronic perimeter that is on the ridges all around this place. I think that they are more worried about a major air assault than a small ground force assault.

"We might be able to move around so well because we are too small a group to trip the warning. Think about it, if the sensitivity were too high the animals would continually set off false alarms.

"We're just too small a group and these guys are expecting something big, an all out offensive!"

The three others mulled over what Dixie had said and then looked at Asha, "Any other thoughts?"

The other women shook their heads.

Asha said, "Right then, Dixie and Yumi map out the area while Cara and I will check out the hangar."

The women moved out.

Jacob sat across from the tall black man as he had for days now. No matter what Jacob asked, the man just sat silently with his hands folded on the table in front of him stoically, the other three prisoners behaved exactly the same. Finally Jacob rose and left the room. As he walked to the next interrogation room he thought, "These men have been well trained but not by us. Are they plants or what?"

Jacob decided that he would look at the men's files, yet again! "Perhaps this time I'll see something, a pattern maybe," thought Jacob.

With all four files lying in front of him simultaneously this time, instead of individually as before, Jacob started to read.

The first thing that he took note of was that these men had not been with his command for very long.

"Ok they're fairly new to us, but I knew that. Wait one! They were all recruited on the same day," he exclaimed in surprise.

Jacob then went down the list of experiences of each man, and there it was. While here in his unit these men were split up and assigned different duties but at their previous units they were a team. Personnel had not done a thorough job!

"What a waste! These guys are a recon team!" he muttered angrily. "HOW THE HELL DID WE MISS THAT?"

As he read further another fact suddenly jumped up from the page! Each man was qualified as a sniper!

"I bet dollars to donuts that these guys were black-ops!" shouted Jacob as he pounded his fists on the desk?"

Jacob pushed the call button on the intercom.

"Yes, Sir?" Answered the aide-de-camp.

"Would you come in here please, Jack?"

"Yes, Sir, right away."

Corporal Jack Wright entered the room and stood at attention before Jacob and said "Sir?"

"Jack I want you to find out who was handling personnel when these men were taken on," said Jacob as he handed the files to Jack.

"Sir," said Jack as he took the files and turned to leave, opening the top file as he walked. He paused and then looked at the other files. He returned to the desk and said, "Sir, I can tell you now that it was Lieutenant Sanchez. He is an excellent example of the 'Peter Principle', Sir."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, Sir, that he is an excellent man in the field or for training duty, but an abysmal failure behind a desk."

"Well, that explains this then," said Jacob as he waved at the files.

"Yes, Sir, I imagine it would."

"What is Sanchez doing now? He isn't still in personnel is he?"

"No, Sir, his ah ... failings became known quite early on, and he was transferred out to unarmed combat training. He's much happier and personnel is working much better, now."

"Good. We can't afford those kinds of snafus to go on. Now take the prisoners back to detention, and give them something to eat. I need to think, and perhaps make some phone calls."

"Yes, Sir."

Joey's knees gave out when he saw that his message had been answered. He had to just sit in his chair as he shook from the release of the tension of the past days. After some time, he reached for the play button on the recorder.

The man shook so much that it was difficult to transcribe and decode the message. Joey jumped for joy at what he read in the decoded message. Then he stopped, reread the message and turned white as the blood drained from his face. He only had two hours to acknowledge the message, and get to the meeting place.

Two and one quarter hours later found Joey walking up to an empty park bench. He began to fear that he had messed up and the meeting was off because he was late. He sat and waited, anyway ... after all, what else could he do?

"Remain absolutely still as we talk, Joey," said a voice out of nowhere. Well actually the voice was from a radio buried under the bench.

"Is that you Jackie?" asked Joey.

There was no answer and after a long wait Joey said, "Sorry, go ahead and I'll listen quietly."

"That's better," came the reply. "Now tonight..." the disembodied voice went on to instruct Joey what to do for the emergency extraction.

It was hard for Joey to control his emotions on the way home. He was afraid that he might tip off someone that might be following him.

"Behave naturally or you'll screw everything up, you jerk!" he kept thinking—like a mantra—over and over.

That evening a huge delivery truck from a local furniture and appliance center backed up to the garage door. Four movers exited the cab of the truck and began to unload new appliances. Half an hour later the same people brought out the old refrigerator, freezer, washer and dryer and left them at curbside (with the doors removed for safety.) The garage door closed and the truck drove away.

At three am the house blew into millions of pieces! Car alarms all around the area were honking, windows in most of the nearby houses were shattered and rubble rained down on the neighborhood, including body parts.

"Well? Any news?" asked Senator Walter Lockhart.

"The flyover didn't show anything of significance all along the flight path. In fact the only thing out there is an old converted mine; they store old files for small businesses," said Malcolm Woodridge.

"What? Don't you..."

"And before you get your shorts in a twist I looked into the operation and it's legit," interrupted Malcolm.

"How? How did you check them out?"

"The usual way. I checked their registration papers and then had a couple of my shell companies hire storage space for three months. I used the excuse that the offices were being redecorated and it was easier to store things off site until the work was finished. Like I said, they're legit. In fact, I may just use them to actually store real files."

Walter flopped onto the couch and actually sprawled out. Malcolm was shocked at how much the once dapper Walter had gone to pot. The man's complexion was ashen and his clothes were rumpled.

"What the hell has happened to you, man? You look like hell!"

"The doctor doesn't know, for sure. I have to go in for more tests tomorrow but he is already softening me up for a brain tumor. On top of that is this thing with our two ghost units."

"Man ... that sucks, a tumor! Shit man! I'm sorry..."

And Malcolm was sorry. Sorry that he hadn't made his move sooner. He should have gone after all of the secret contacts that Walter had, and the secret bank accounts, the locations and code numbers. He was sorry all right, sorry and afraid that Walter would die before Malcolm could get at those millions of dollars and everything else that he needed from the old man.

"I hate to add more to your pot but we lost Joey a couple of days ago."

Walter sat up quickly and asked, "He ran?"

"NO, no. Nothing like that," said Malcolm with a laugh. "No we didn't lose him like he ran away. No his house blew up. According to the police and fire reports Joey bought new gas appliances and the installer screwed up by breaking a fitting or some such thing. The resultant leak filled the house with natural gas. They were probably dead of asphyxiation before the place blew. The coroner's report has the correct number of bodies or parts there of, Mom, Pop and the kiddies. They even found pieces of the dog."

Walter eased back on the couch and held his head as if in great pain. Once the pain eased he said, "Good, good. That's one less loose end that we have to worry about then."

Malcolm actually felt sorry for the old bugger, he was obviously in great pain.