Chapter 41

 FORTY-ONE

Morgan listened to the monotonous beating of the Huey’s rotors as the helicopter rushed over the treetops. The flight had been silent the moment they had departed the bar’s shattered parking lot. The Helicopter’s crew was silent, as was Fick, Zhao and Trigger. The pilot looked almost shell shocked as the adrenaline had drained from his system. For once, the Marine couldn’t blame him, taking a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it. He exhaled a cloud of smoke that was instantly dispersed by the rushing air inside the cabin. It hadn’t been his first firefight, and not even the closest he had come to dying but, for once Morgan did feel a twinge of dread thinking back on what had happened.

 

Every other engagement, he either had others he could rely on, or enough firepower and training to overcome the enemy. This time he had neither. Even with the Belkan’s assistance, whoever their attackers were had breached the bar and were seconds from killing the three of them. Morgan pulled his Dan Wesson Specialist 1911 from his holster and dropped the magazine. He frowned at the empty witness holes.

Was I down to only three rounds? He thought.

 
Fick looked up at the dulled yellow and red pentagon of the Yuktobanian Air Force painted underneath the helicopter as it flew away.

“Guess we’ll have to move again.” He lamented as the helicopter reduced to a black dot, before vanishing over the horizon.

 

The four trudged their way up to the front of the main house where they found Bandog. He looked tired, his cloths were dirty and disheveled, and A small mound of cigarette butts sat at his feet. He weakly stood up “Gentlemen, glad to see you made it.”

Fick nodded “Arrived just in time. Glad you were able to help out.”

“Not everyone was as lucky.” Trigger said slowly, before brushing past Bandog and into the house.

 

Bandog frowned. “I heard already about Lauren. They just landed in Axel and are working on her, but.” His voice trailed off.

“Has her husband been informed?” Zhao asked.

Bandog nodded, “David is escorting him and Erwin there now.” He turned to Lieutenant Fick

“I took the liberty of calling the Old Man ahead of time. He should be at your HQ awaiting your report.”

Fick “Do we know who did it?”

Bandog grimaced. “Yeah, it was members of the Cartel’s enforcement arm. Ex-professional military. We pissed them off all right, and they overnighted their goons to get back at us for it.” he shrugged “I got stupid, but luckily for us, this wasn’t an entire waste.”

Morgan raised an eyebrow “Explain.”

Bandog grinned “Thanks to those hard-drives you recovered, got my hands on all sorts of intel. Most of it was boring stuff; Drugs, gambling, and other ne’er-do-well things we don’t care about, but I can make a killing selling to the right governments. Buried deep in the details though was their base of operations in the region.”

 

Zhao scoffed “You’re kidding.” Bandog shook his head “Well, close. While my past life wasn’t intel, doesn’t mean I didn’t hang out with any SIGINT guys. The analogy they kept using was that of planning a wedding. You might not have seen the invite, but you don’t need to. You look at what venues are booked, what Bands have a gig, any orders of flowers. It takes a bit more time but there’s more than one way to find it out.”

Zhao nodded his head “So instead of blushing brides, we have powerful gangsters with fighter jets.”

Bandog snapped his fingers “Exactly.”

Fick cracked a smile “I should at least tell the Old Man our status, then we can get a plan thrown together on how to take these bastards out.”

***

Mancuso sat in his office uncomfortably. It was still mid-day in Oured, so his staff was still in the office working when his personal cellphone had gone off. It was the Broker who had been the one to tell him that something had happened to their Chopinburg team and possibly one of the singularities, but the details would follow later. He stared hard at the plastic phone sitting on his desk. His teams would routinely get themselves into trouble, it was par for the course, but rarely did missions go as sideways as the Chopinburg’s team had and let allowed to continue without a withdrawal and reevaluation of their mission.

 

He stared at the last report from the Lieutenant. While a vast majority of their body count had been combatants, their brazen raid had also been on the front pages of dozens of newspapers across the world. Every intelligence agency and crackpot conspiracy theorist had their own interpretation of what had transpired, very few made the connection to the Machados, and fewer had recognized it was a Professional military that had carried out the assault.

 

The Phone rang. Jack cleared his throat before answering.

“This is Colonel Mancuso Speaking.”

“Colonel Its Lieutenant Fick”

Jack breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s the word Lieutenant?”

“Nothing good. We are compromised, but don’t sure to what extent.”

Mancuso listened intently as Fick gave him a synopsis of the situation. A local asset, the Singularity and one of the Marines had been caught in an establishment by the Machados. A brief firefight ensued leaving around two dozen civilians dead and the local asset to the team critically wounded. It wasn’t until the rest of his Marines arrived with a cavalry force furnished by the Broker that they were able to secure the team.

Jack nodded as he jotted down notes. “Is that everything?” Jack asked.

“Bandog thinks he found the location of their base of operations out here. We’re going to get a plan together and will let you know what we will need sir.” Fick replied.

“Just get it done.” Mancuso ordered before hanging up.

 

Despite his external demeanor, he was relieved at the outcome. He only needed to glance at a report dated to July 6^th, over a year prior to see what could have potentially happened.

 

The phone rang again, Mancuso stood a big straighter in his seat before answering.

“Mancuso” he spoke.

 

“Jack, glad I caught you” The voice wasn’t that of the young Lieutenant, but instead that of Senator Angela Schmidt from North Osea, one of the few politicians he had to deal with on the Armed Services committee and fewer who was aware of Basilisk’s existence as more than an engineering battalion.

Jack bit his tongue for a moment, the taste of copper filled his mouth before he bared a grin “Senator Schmidt! It’s been a while, congratulations to your nephew on his engagement. They look like a lovely couple” Jack said going through the motions of the pleasantries. “Ah yes, Alex is set to bring Rosa to meet with the entire family in a few weeks. But of course, that’s not why I came to talk to you.” She continued.

 

The forced grin fell from Jack’s face. “Understood Senator. What can I do for you?”

“We both know what is going on.” She began.

***

Trigger had fallen asleep almost the second he had hit his bed. Everything that had happened over the past day left him drained.

 

Between the aching in his muscles, the hangover, and continuing ringing in his ears from gunfire, the pilot found it hard to focus on anything else. Somewhere in his mind he wondered how the Belkan pilot was. It was his stupid plan that had gotten her shot, and he now only had hope that their rescuers could get her to a hospital in time to save her life. What was taking up the forefront of his mind as he tried to sleep was an overwhelming feeling of separation from everything. Instead of anger, agony or grief.

 

He felt nothing.

 

It was the same feeling he had had dozens of times during the war. It was always “the Mission” that would occupy his mind, that was often kept in balance with his port of safe harbor. While in the 444, it was as simple as his regular life as an Inmate. The minutia of constant cell inspections, cell block lockdowns and solitary would distract him. When he had moved into the LRSSG, and especially during the darkest days of the war for him, it was his own squadron that had kept him grounded. And finally, at the end of all that, he had found happiness with a woman he truly loved.

 

He tried to visualize Cossette the last night they had together. The Party. Trigger had gone over that day in his mind countless times to understand everything that had happened. Details he had missed in their relationship. He thought about how she had looked that night. Blue dress, golden hair and.

 

and

 

nothing.

 

Despite her status, she was the most normal thing in his life. She was his anchor, his way to ‘Normal’. Now, she was gone, along with his last hopes of returning to his life before the war. He was a wanted man by his own country. He had been lied to by the same people who had sworn to help him, and due to his own selfish actions of self-pity, dozens were dead and someone he had tried to protect was clinging to life away from her family.

 

There was a quick banging at the door.

Groggily, Trigger opened it to see Adams.

“Yo, meeting downstairs in 5.” The Marine reported.

“For what?” Trigger said stifling a yawn.

“Sounds like we found the bastards, we need to plan a counter-attack.” He replied nonchalantly.

Sure, like we’re going to go pick up a gallon of milk at the store. For some people this would be the most important day of their lives, but for these guys, its Tuesday.

 

Changing his shirt, Trigger walked into the dining room to find a series of maps and other documents hastily scattered across the table and taped to a nearby wall. In the corner was a coffee maker, loudly preparing another pot. Trigger judged by the various refuse surrounding the appliance the Marines had been busy for some time. Bandog glanced up “Sleeping Beauty finally woke up I see.”

Trigger raised a middle finger tiredly but brushed off the comment. “What are we looking at?” he asked pushing his way to the table.

 

The largest map was a satellite image that had grids overlayed onto it. In low resolution he could see a long runway with a series of dilapidated hangars to one side; all situated on a mesa shelf jutting out of a dense jungle.

 

“Charming vacation pictures.” Trigger said as he pilfered a cup of coffee. “What are we looking at?”

“Depends what year and who you ask.” Bandog replied. “FCU called it Scion Aux Six some decades ago. Grunder then bought it and called it their Chopinburg facility, but then that all dried up when the Insurrection occurred. It languished for a few years after until Erusea swept through, but they didn’t use it. When ISAF Retook the base, they cleared off the runways and facilities but withdrew quickly thereafter. Now? We can call it our target. Bad guy central if you will.”

“So, we don’t actually have a name for it. Got it.” Trigger quipped back.

“Yeah, not at all. Most important thing though, like with everything out here, its no longer on a map.”

“So, a perfect place to hide your saying.” Morgan spoke up.

 

Trigger studied the image, something struck him about it.

The Marines and Bandog started to plan how to assault the compound. Unlike previous raids where they would march in, the plan was a more direct approach. The Marines would arrive via helicopter and break off into two teams. Zhao and Adams would stay in the Helicopter and provide fire support from above, while the second team of Morgan, Dennings, Fick, Hernandez, Haver and Kyle would be the ground unit; Trigger would once again be flying solo and providing close-air-support for the assault in the Longsword.

 

As Trigger explained his thoughts on what weapons to bring for the Longsword, something was still nagging at him about the compound.

 

He Paused.

“Hey, how long is this place anyways?” Trigger asked.

“About a mile or so, why?” Bandog asked befuddled.

 

Trigger snatched a piece of paper from Dennings and quickly scratched some numbers down.

“You said this was their main hideout, right?” Trigger asked.

“It’s possibly, but what are you getting at?” Bandog asked.

 

Trigger looked to Morgan “Guesstimate on how long a runway say, a C-130, would need to operate out of at a bare minimum?”

The marine thought for a moment. “Uhh, probably half a mile or so? Why?”

Trigger continued his writing until he threw the pencil down in satisfaction. “That runway is too long.”

 

There was a confused silence around the table as they stared at Trigger.

Fick folded his arms. “You want to run that by us again?”

 

Trigger nodded “That runway, by my napkin math here is over a mile long. If you were running a secret compound like this-“ Trigger paused and gestured around himself “-You wouldn’t operate a runway that long.”

 

Hernandez chuckled “Great, they like some extra wiggle room on takeoff. Is that really worth noting?”

Trigger shook his head “For the planes their operating, you wouldn’t need all that room, Hell the runway wouldn’t need to be more than dirt that didn’t have too many potholes or tree stumps. But let’s assume this isn’t like their other Podunk operations. Those fighters we’ve been running across? My guess is they’d need at least that long a runway to take off.”

 

Zhao leaned back, “So instead of being a drug operation, you think it’s a fighter base?” he asked incredulously.

 

Trigger shrugged “I’ve seen weirder things this past year.”

 

“Even then, what is the end game?” Kyle asked

Bandog shook his head “Who knows, but I think Trigger may be onto something. Theres a definite connection there. I’m willing to bet if there are answers, its going to be here.”  

Morgan cleared his throat “Speaking of answers. I think we are owed some, particularly me and Trigger.”

 

Trigger shifted uncomfortably in his seat; the air seemed to cool slightly as Bandog stood up straight.

 

Bandogs face contorted into a grimace “Right, I guess you are.” His voice had trailed off. He took a deep breath. “I screwed up.”

“No shit.” Morgan interjected. Bandog winced slightly before continuing.

 

“You all missed one target the other day. Lisa Park. Grew up in South Osea, Degrees in Software and Aeronautical Engineering, and worked with Northrop for a time. Last official record of her was back in 2004 working on a contract with the Kingdom of Sapin, but she disappeared on a hiking trip and was presumed dead.”

 

“Great, we pissed off a dead girl. I’ve seen the movies; I know how this end.” Adams interrupted trying to add a bit of levity. The sullen response from his colleagues and glare from Bandog made him sink back into his chair.

 

“As you can guess, Park wasn’t dead at all. I couldn’t figure out entirely what her job with the Cartel has been, but she rose through their ranks pretty damn quickly. And that’s where I screwed up. Those hard drives you captured the other day? Well, I missed that by going in, it opened a door to my system. She had hidden a trojan horse, probably to see what authorities had been trying to access Cartel files. Instead, she got my network and files instead.”

“What was on it?” Fick asked coldly.

“We were lucky. Just the aliases I had for Trigger, Morgan, and Kyle there and the previous documentation I already had on them. Nothing to point the finger at Osea but enough to compromise three of you.”

“Dick. Move.” Kyle said sharply.

“Yeah, I screwed up with that one.” Bandog sighed heavily.

“Yeah, and Lauren had to pay the price for it.” Trigger said, his voice rising in intensity.

Bandog nodded “It was an accident-”

Trigger slammed his fist on the table “Bullshit! You-“

 

Fick held up a hand cutting him off. “Enough! What happened, happened. We still have a mission to do.”

Morgan spoke up “Triggers right though, we are down a pilot.”

Fick leaned forward on the table “I was thinking about that. I think Berserker is still in theater, they were working with some Army units for aviation assets.”

 

“What about enemy air defense?” Trigger asked.

“Unknown. Scrounging through their recent records doesn’t look like they have any purchases like that. But the Eruseans abandoned a ton of old equipment during the last war so its not to say they couldn’t have reactivated some of it. As for now, assume if they do have any triple A, it will be of the MANPAD variety and nothing more.” Bandog reported.

 

“Any chance we can get a fighter sweep? Make sure those jets stay cornered?” Trigger pressed.

“That will have to come from the Old Man if we get it. The closest fighter units would be Selatapura, followed by Stonehenge.” Fick replied.

 

Trigger listened intently as the plan was finalized. The plan was far from fool proof, but the Marines with Bandogs intelligence had a plan and contingencies from the infil all the way through to exfil. The sun had just begun to set over the jungle.

 

The men sat around the table silently. “Is that it?” Adams spoke up.

Fick nodded. “I’ll have to run it past the Old Man, but I think this should be good enough. Trigger, take Haver and Kyle and get your plane ready. Everyone else, get the gear.” The Lieutenant ordered.

“I’ll go make some calls myself.” Bandog said excusing himself.

 

Kyle looked to Trigger “What are we loading.”

Trigger thought for a moment.

“Since we know they may jam up the systems, Dumb ordinance only. Gunpods and Rockets only.”

Haver raised an eyebrow “No Bombs?”

Trigger shook his head. “Odds are it will be close quarters, and I don’t want to eyeball it without the CCIP.”

“How courteous” Kyle quipped.

 

***

 

“Colonel, can you please repeat that?” Fick asked coldly into the phone.

“I’m sorry Nate, but it’s already done. The Chopinburg Mission is hereby complete. I’ve already detached Berserker to assist in your exfil from the AO.” Colonel Mancuso said matter of factly. “But Sir! We have actionable intel, And even if it isn’t true, we’re still the best team-“ Fick’s protests were cut off “Regardless lieutenant. Oured considers the mission objectives to be complete. Not only did you track those weapon shipments, but you were also able to take out those responsible for them. You and your men did good.” Mancuso explained.

Fick took a moment to compose himself. “I understand sir.” The line went dead.

 

Rapidly, the young Officer slammed his fist through the sheetrock wall next to him. “Son of a bitch!” He hissed in frustration. Morgan, who had been waiting at the doorway during the call, folded his arms.

“So that’s it?” the Sergeant asked.

“Yes.” Fick said, exhaling sharply. “Politicians in Oured decided our body count was too high and pulled the plug. Captain Norris is on the way to relieve us.”

“What about Trigger and the others?” Morgan asked pragmatically.

Fick shook his head. “The deal with the Broker is off. Technically we should take them both into custody for Berserker. From there, who knows.” The Lieutenant shrugged.

Morgan frowned. “But we’re not going to; Are we?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.” Fick replied truthfully.

“Well either way we have to tell them.” Morgan replied.

 

Trigger made his way into the dining room to see Lieutenant Fick and Bandog both with grim looks.

“So, whats up?” Trigger asked.

Bandog glanced up to the lieutenant. “Do you want to tell him or shall I?” Bandog asked.

Fick shook his head. “Major, as of a few hours ago, our mission in Chopinburg, as well as our deal with you and the Broker have been scrubbed.”

Trigger felt a pit form in his stomach. “Whats that mean?”

Bandog sighed. “Frankly, we’ve been burned. The lieutenant here is just giving us a head start to run before he has to come and catch us.” Bandog interjected.

Trigger looked towards the young officer “Is that true? After everything we’ve done, everything I’ve done; You’re just going to turn us out like that?” he hissed.

Fick folded his arms nodding his head. “Believe me Major, I have no interest in doing that. This is just a courtesy since Berserker, the team coming to replace us, won’t have as many issues with taking you into custody.” The lieutenant explained.

“And what of that mission on the Cartel base?” Trigger asked.

“Scrubbed. Oured has taken a policy of ‘live and let live’ with the Cartel for years. They feel that with the recent body count, they’ve paid enough.” Fick explained.

“Bullshit! Those fuckers tried to kill me!” Trigger shouted, his face getting red with anger.

Fick held up his hands. “Look Major! If it were up to me, we’d be going right fucking now. But we don’t have a way in anymore, let alone all the risks involved of going against Oured on this.”

“Like?” Trigger interrogated

“B-52 carpet bombing. Won’t be the first time Osea has put down agents who stepped out of line that way.” Bandog interrupted. “How do you know that?” Fick asked pointedly. Bandog raised his hand to dismiss the question. “Lieutenant, I do thankyou but, I do have this as a counter point. We do have a way in. Not only do we have that CH-53 parked outside, we have a crew for it.” Bandog said.

“But how? Lauren got hit.” Trigger replied. “Or are you going to use those Yukes that flew us out here? Could we even trust them?” Fick added on.

Bandog shrugged “The Yukes are mercs but they’re loyal as long as the check clears. However, we have a group we can already trust. When I might have let it slip to Ben and Erwin about this plan of ours when I called for an update on Lauren. What can I say? Belkan’s love their revenge stories.”

Fick shook his head in disapproval “We can’t ask either of them to do that.”

Bandog tilted his head to the side “I don’t think you could stop them, even if you want to. They will be here within the hour.”

 

Trigger glanced to the lieutenant. “So, that solves one problem. What’s it going to be?” the pilot asked.

 

Fick shook his head. “I won’t order the men to do this. But I can bring it to their attention.”

Trigger grinned.