Covert Commando: A Sam Harper Military Thriller

by Thomas Sewell

  He couldn't let Raven down, but his CO was quickly reducing his options.

  "The intelligence Harper's platoon deigned to share with this headquarters indicated that woman was Omar's wife. Was the spotter for his assassination team. Hardly clean hands. Certainly not someone this command is prepared to start a war with China over. That would require Presidential authorization. Want to know the odds of me running that request up the flagpole for you, captain?"

  "You've made your position clear, sir." Just don't actually forbid me from going after Raven while we're still here. "We'll work to complete the CIA's requested mission here and then plan our return to Seoul."

  "And figure out how to return those limpet mines for a refund. Can't believe 7th fleet even had those in stores in Japan. Some navy clerk probably jumped on the opportunity to unload them on the army."

  And was unlikely to want to take them back without a hefty delivery fee charged to their account.

  "Roger that, sir. I'll get my clerk right on it."

  "See to it personally. I want no more excuses."

  "Sir, yes, sir."

  "This isn't over. I doubt you still have a career with the rangers, but depending on how you handle the rest of your command there, I might let you complete your current two-year rotation."

  "Working on it, sir."

  The major disconnected the line.

  Schnier wouldn't receive any assistance from the other platoons in his company in retrieving Raven, but maybe Sam or Michelle would have some ideas.

  One thing's for sure, he wasn't about to leave her in Pahk's hands, even if he had to swim over to the PLAN fleet, scale the hull, and free her himself.

  He had responsibilities to his command, but Sam couldn't always have all the fun.

  * * *

  After checking on Watkins and Madsen, I let the local leeches jab me with their diagnostic tools. Rated my pain for them each time they pushed on a different bruise.

  Laying on a gray infirmary bed with an IV dripping into me was almost as bad as being Omar's guest of honor.

  Almost.

  More annoying than painful. They claimed they'd release me once they got an IV of fluids along with some drugs into me.

  Never did like corpsmen when they were treating me. Much preferred they paid attention to other dudes.

  They left as Michelle arrived. "Maybe you can talk some sense into him," the last one to leave remarked.

  She just laughed. "Been trying for over a decade. Not likely to succeed now."

  I ignored their little jabs. "Madsen is fine. He'll get a boot and crutches, but only have to be off his leg for a few months."

  "Watkins?"

  That killed the mood as fast as a rainstorm at a bonfire.

  "Wouldn't let me see him, they're still working, but the corpsman said he's stable, although in critical condition. I guess they'll get his physical injuries fixed up alright, as long as he's not paralyzed long-term, but until he regains consciousness, we won't know about any brain damage from oxygen deprivation."

  She laid her hand on my arm. "You did everything you could. Got him out of there as fast as possible."

  "Got him into there, you mean." I slumped over. "If I hadn't pushed Robbie so fast, I might've noticed the tripwire before it was too late."

  "Twenty-twenty hindsight is the worst kind." She gave me a hug. "If we all knew now what we didn't know then, this world would be a much different place. You and I might've even ended up together again."

  I sighed. "Now you're really reaching. No, I told Schnier I needed to take it slower, but I didn't have the courage of my convictions to disobey his orders. My responsibility."

  "He'd see it as his responsibility, not yours, if they were his orders."

  "Doesn't mean he's right. I pushed the lever forward for full speed. Tripped the wire. Had the last opportunity to avoid it all."

  "Have you checked your email?"

  "No, Omar's men took my phone. Why? Let me guess, more bureaucratic spam? Do I have a new assignment to the arctic wildlife refuge?"

  Michelle logged into my email on her phone. Handed it to me. Sat down in the visitor's chair.

  She had access to everyone's data in order to both vet the mission's communications for leaks and protect our cover stories while in the field.

  "Just read it. I'll be here for you when you're done."

  The tenderness in her voice scared me. Michelle was never gentle. Not to anyone.

  Not unless they were an intelligence target. A Mark. Not without wanting something.

  But she hadn't asked me for anything. What was going on?

  I scrolled through my recent email. Nothing out of the ordinary. No new military orders.

  Just a message from Hyo-jin.

  I read through it. Her words hit me with a wallop. Then pissed me off. Then another jolt. Racked me across the breaks like a pummeling wave.

  Yet another wipe out.

  Michelle sat with her hands folded in her lap. Quietly waited for me to finish reading.

  Would she understand? She must, if she was acting this way.

  "What am I doing here, anyway? Getting locked up in caves and beaten? For what? So my girlfriend feels neglected and leaves me?"

  "Your parents? Remember? You've always said someone needed to be the sheepdog protecting the flock. Protecting people like them."

  "Sure, someone has to do this kind of thing. Someone needs to protect everyone else." And I believed I was good at it, so always thought it might as well be me, "But does it really have to be me? Why not someone else?"

  "Lots of people need your protection. People like me, Raven, the other rangers. Someone must stop the bad guys."

  "They need protection, but why must I sacrifice not just my life, but my heart and mind as well to be the one to protect them? Someone else can do it. Schnier, for one. There's plenty more who want to be heroes like him. They can take the next best guy at the next Ranger Selection."

  "Second best?"

  "Second best would be almost as effective. Someone else could've engineered an electronic surfboard besides me, but I might've kept doing that kind of work in an office somewhere. I had a normal life until you talked me into this at WARCOM."

  I didn't really blame her for getting me into this, but I was lashing out now. Probably not the best time to talk to me. I took a deep breath, but didn't yet feel like coming down off my rage.

  She ignored the direct attack to focus on the substance of my argument. "You think you care about Hyo-jin, but without you going to Seoul, she'd be dead along with millions of others. No one else would've talked to the North Koreans. They couldn't stop that dead man's switch from going off. At best, Schnier would've shot Kwon Chol and killed everyone. Is that what you'd prefer?"

  I hate it when she has a point. Especially when I'm mad about something.

  "So what's the solution? Wait until I'm out of the army to care about anyone? To have someone care about me?"

  "Hyo-jin wasn't good enough for you, that's all. Didn't deserve you. You aren't the only one who has to sacrifice. She just doesn't have the level of dedication loving a soldier takes. She's not the only one, but that doesn't mean no one else does."

  I wasn't ready to concede that one. "Maybe." She'd sure seemed good enough for me at the time.

  Smart. Cute. Tall. Clever. Athletic. Loving.

  "Give it some time. Pretend she doesn't exist. It's tough right now, but with time and distance, you'll heal." She smiled. "I mean, I've almost gotten over our break-up, and it's been less than a decade."

  This is why I've always liked Michelle. She could talk at least some sense into me.

  I took another deep breath. I could put on a brave face. Lock this hurt away for a while. Get on with my job.

  Someone needed to do it. Might as well be me, if I was the only one with the skills to do it in my own unique way.

  I handed Michelle's phone back to her. Gave her a weak smile. "We can revisit that later. What's the next job? H
ow do we get Raven back?"

  "We're working on that. Right now, we have a joint project with the SAF to show them how we hijacked their communications and processed it so effectively."

  "I wondered what you gave them in order to keep our mission here quiet. To get help for Schnier. That makes more sense now."

  She slugged me in the arm.

  Ouch.

  "To get help for you, you mean. You aren't the only one who protects other people. Sometimes you get yourself into scrapes where we have to get you out again."

  The old Michelle was back. Good. I could use a dose of bracing reality again.

  "Okay. Once they let me out of here, I'll gather up the troops and we'll take your SAF friend to the cable on the beach by the resort. Want to see what you did to the place, anyway."

  That'd keep me too busy to dwell on Hyo-jin. To reply to her break-up message.

  What would be the use, anyway?

  At least Michelle was here for me.

  Chapter Thirty-One: Information Problems

  I stood and stared at the sea from the torched resort's beach. Maybe I should go surfing.

  Michelle salvaged my eSurfboard prototypes and brought them to the LCS, mostly because I'd stored them next to the rafts she and my platoon used to escape.

  With Schnier's platoon having helicoptered ahead and my platoon's destruction of most of their equipment, the rafts had plenty of spare room.

  The offshore breeze rushing across the beach did far more to heal my wounds, internal and external, than an overnight in the ship's infirmary hooked up to an IV had accomplished.

  I watched as my technical and intelligence analysts explained what we'd done with the Philippines' undersea communications cable to the locals.

  Per Michelle's agreement with Larrikowal, a group of six analysts from each country talked through the setup we'd used. They stood on the beach next to the wide rubberized cable, right where it protruded from the sand, but before it entered the water.

  My team only had to dig up a few feet of sand to expose the Filipino's communications for manipulation.

  We'd all ridden the same Seahawk to meet the local tech types. My dudes, Michelle, Schnier, and Larrikowal.

  This time, we got official permission to land.

  My tech analysts showed the SAF folks how to hook up and use an oversized fiber optic tap to intercept their communications.

  Schnier watched them chat for a moment, but then turned back to me and Michelle, standing around like government supervisors on a road project.

  "No offense, but all that nerd talk is boring. Let's go check out what's left of the resort."

  She shrugged. "The SAF already went through it looking for intelligence, but if you think we may've left something unmelted, then let's go."

  She walked down the beach, leaving us to catch up.

  I strode after her toward the water-side gate into the resort. "Curious what you did with the place, anyway. Not like you to carry a torch for anyone."

  "Funny," she said, "I'm not the fiery redhead here."

  Schnier frowned. His shoulders slumped as we walked. Didn't seem in the mood for our usual banter.

  "What's the deal?" I stepped up next to Schnier. "You're usually happy to look at some bombed out wreck the rangers left behind. Or is it just that you didn't get to do the burning? Jealous?"

  He shook his head. Said nothing until we followed Michelle through the gate.

  A series of cinder piles and dirt greeted us. The little rock paths they'd built between the nipa huts remained, but the huts themselves had turned the gravel and the interior of the resort compound's external walls into streaks of black, gray, and white.

  Schnier finally laughed, but it wasn't a joyful expression. "Wow, I thought you said Sam was usually the destructive one? All he did was collapse a cave, wreck a robot, and put my men in the infirmary. You've literally reduced this place to ashes."

  Ignoring his cave comment as born of pain, I pointed at one of the taller piles. "I guess that's what's left of our personal items."

  Michelle nodded. "Your platoon did an excellent job ensuring nothing remained for the SAF to identify us from. Sorry."

  Schnier grabbed one each of our arms. Tugged us around to face him. "Forget all this. I need you two to help me get Raven away from Pahk and the Chinese Navy. Whatever they're doing to her, it's not pleasant."

  Michelle pulled her arm away. "We can ask the State Department to intervene. She's an American citizen. They'll get her back. Can't start a war with China over her."

  "I don't care about all that. Pahk is our problem, not hers. If we hadn't let him back across the DMZ, she wouldn't be in this fix."

  "You can't save everyone. I know she's your ex, but we're talking about possibly getting involved in a war with a major power. It's not like playing shoot-'em-up in Manila to protect an ally where they'd just kick us out of the country. Millions could end up dead, just to get back one person. Let the diplomats handle it."

  They both looked at me.

  "Without her assistance, I'd still be chained up inside that cave, and Schnier's platoon would likely be dead in a shot-down helicopter. Besides, she's an American. I say we help her."

  Michelle wasn't about to concede. "Maybe, but she's also a terrorist. Don't forget that she was there in that parking garage, spotting for Omar, creating a cover identity for him as a couple."

  "Coercion." I could ride that wave if she wanted to toss it at me. "The women were effectively prisoners. Abused slaves. She participated just to get out of the cave in order to find opportunities to help them escape. That's bravery and sacrifice in a high-stress situation, not the act of a terrorist."

  Schnier piled on. "What if it were you held captive? Wouldn't you expect us to come after you, no matter what?"

  "That's different."

  "How?"

  Michelle glared at him. "Lots of top secret stuff in my head you couldn't let the enemy have. What can Raven tell them? All about Omar's camp? So what? They already know that. We can afford to wait for a diplomatic effort to get her back. I'll call in a few favors at the embassy. Maybe we can trade China someone they want back for her."

  "Look," Schnier wasn't ready to raise the white flag, "when I was a kid, I didn't amount to much. Didn't do pop-warner, too small, wasn't the smartest in the class, didn't really stand out in any way. If anyone noticed me, it was to pick on me."

  Schnier? Despite his charms once we became friends, he seemed more like the type to be the bully than the bullied, but I didn't interrupt.

  "Then I got into rodeo. All I had to do was balance and hang on long enough. Ride with the bumps and jolts. That I could do. Better than anyone in town my age. Suddenly, people noticed me. I won awards. Got my picture in the paper with a big belt buckle. Pappy was proud. Rodeo skill was a big deal on the ranches."

  Michelle didn't appear impressed. "So?"

  "So I guess rodeo isn't such a thing at Berkeley. But in Texas? My coach explained it to me. People are like bulls. They fight each other for domination. Not to kill each other, but to make 'em submit. Establish a hierarchy. Decide who will be king. Well, in rodeo, I became the king."

  "What's this got to do with Raven?"

  "Everything. I had that attitude in college. King of rodeo. King of the football team. A linebacker smashing the other team's offense. Establishing domination."

  He sighed. "Pretty sure that's ultimately why I lost Raven, that attitude, but once she left, I didn't change. Rationalized that we weren't long term compatible anyway, not with her changing political views and my leading the ROTC hierarchy. Put me in the Army after college. Found bigger men to smash. Thought that's what it was all about, keeping America the biggest bull in the world."

  Michelle just glared at him. "I'd have broken up with you too."

  "Yeah, well, I've learned a little more since then. Wised up a bit. My coach was wrong, mostly because men aren't bulls, or dogs, or whatever. We don't have to dominate to compete. We can
cooperate instead. Bishop and Sam taught me that. As dense as I was, it finally got through."

  "Sheepdogs." I held up my hand. "Bear with me. I've been thinking about this a lot recently as well. We're the sheepdogs. Omar and Pahk are the bulls, or wolves, or whatever. They see people to dominate. Use. Make into their victims. But we're here to protect them. Scare off the wolves. Fight the bulls, but on our terms, to protect the regular folks, people like my parents, so they don't have to be fighting all the time. We do it for them."

  "Right," Schnier said, "Sheepdogs. That's what gives us the moral authority to come here and fight the Omars of the world. We're not here to dominate them, but to protect people from them. People like Raven. And that's why I need to go get her. It's my job and she needs me. Needs all of us, really, if you'll help me."

  Losing Hyo-jin, I knew how Schnier must've felt losing Raven. Knew this was more personal to him than just his job, but I left him some dignity in his outward denial.

  Maybe Michelle could be my Raven. We'd crossed in the night often enough. Could this time be different?

  "I'm in, of course. She saved me. You came for me. No way I'm not returning the favor, but I like to think I would anyway, dude. Unless, of course, it was your big fat ugly ginger mug in Pahk's hands. Might let him keep you. Would serve him right."

  He refused to take offense. "Thanks. Any ideas? Could really use some ideas how to get her back."

  Michelle could see the writing on the wall. "I'll do it, but not if you're going to just go start a war by attacking the Chinese navy in what they claim are their waters, or even international waters. You'll have to find some way to negotiate with them, or get them to attack the Philippines. Then we can spin it as just defending our allies. That they fired the first shot, and we just responded."

  Obviously, I needed to be the brains in this outfit. Too many problems and not enough solutions.

  "Hmm… not a bad idea. I can work with that. Just have to see if we can get them to come after us in a way that they fail. Give me some time. I'll get with my platoon and we'll do a little brainstorming. Got some pretty smart dudes working for me. Bishop taught me to take advantage of their help. Work together. We'll figure it out, if anyone can."