by Robert Cuma
If the sandstorm continued, it certainly would work toward our advantage. As soon as that thought left my mind, I looked through Young’s camera and the sandstorm was beginning to let up. Still looking through Young’s camera, I saw something unusual. Via the radio, I said, “Captain, turn your camera 90 degrees to the right.” He complied. Then we both saw a serious problem. There was a band of armed tribesmen headed their way on foot. Captain Young immediately ordered his men to disperse into combat ready positions. A quick look in the other direction showed another group coming at them. After a few minutes, it appeared that they were pinned down. It looked as if the enemy, about two hundred strong, had heavy weapons in tow. Mike quickly ran outside with the rest of the soldiers from our command post. They tore the tops off the jeeps and rapidly mounted a 50-caliber machine gun on each of the two vehicles. They both took off to the perimeter area to lend support. I picked up the satellite radio and contacted Miller in Taipei. He was on the line instantly. I briefed him on our current situation. He said, “Stand-by one!” After two minutes, he was back on the radio. He continued, “Tell the Captain to mark his location in fifteen minutes. We’re in luck. We have several F-16s airborne on the border in Afghanistan close to your area. Make sure yellow smoke will mark all locations of your people. Use channel 12 on your short-range radio to contact the pilots when they are in your area. Call me back after this is over.”
“Roger that, Frank.” I immediately got in touch with Young and gave him the news.
His reply was, “I hope we can hold out that long!”
“The two jeeps should be in your area about now for ground support.”
“Yes! I see them. They are holding the enemy back. I have about 50 percent causalities as of now.”
“You have almost ten minutes to mark your area with the yellow flares. I’m going to mark our building also.”
“Steven, get a call to our plane on the ground if you can. The F-16s will destroy everything in the area that’s not marked.”
“Will do, Captain and good luck to you all!” I called the troops at the plane and told them of the situation. They responded in the affirmative like the good soldiers they were. I looked at my watch and called the two jeeps running out there shooting up the world. I reached both of them at the same time. I told them they had five minutes to get out of the strike zone of the F-16s. Next, I found some flares in the military gear in the building. I gave several to Gina and I took some as we circled the building about fifty feet away.
The flares were lit and I grabbed the girls and huddled with them in a corner of the building. Tina seemed to be taking it all in stride. Then all hell broke loose. On their first pass, the F-16s wing guns fired at the enemy as the jets screamed overhead. Moments after, on their second pass, it seemed like the whole world exploded from the bombs they dropped. The building we were in shook until the roof collapsed on us. It was made out of light material sparing us from serious harm. I quickly contacted the pilots on the radio and asked them to stand by while I assessed the damage. One of the pilots replied, “Roger that, ground control.” I heard the jets take off to a higher altitude. I contacted Captain Young for an assessment of the damage. He told me the enemy had been eliminated along with the processing plant. The Captain also told me there were no signs of Hawk or Hannah. Then he said he would return with his dead and wounded.
The Captain took the wounded and the dead back to Afghanistan using the C-130 under the protection of the F-16s. We had two jeeps and three soldiers left to begin a search mission. The Captain told us he would return as soon as he got his men some medical attention. His losses were serious - eleven men dead and many wounded. Once they left, I contacted Miller and gave him a full report. I let him know Hannah and Hawk were missing and we were starting to search for them. He said, “We must find them! I will conduct a thorough investigation in this matter!”
“That’s something we both have to do. Someone is dirty within our contacts.”
“I’ll see you soon. In the meantime, stay warm out there.”
“Will do, Frank.” We broke our connection. The soldiers put the jeep tops together to protect us from the desert elements. The girls and I, along with a driver, began to navigate the desert. Mike followed in the second jeep. Before the F-16 pilot left, he told me that during the attacks he saw two small vehicles headed north. He didn’t take them out because they might have been our guys. That was the only clue we had, so we drove north staying about two miles apart. I still had the radios in the jeep, one to contact Miller and another to hopefully, locate Hawk. Gina and I took turns trying to contact Hawk and Hannah. About every minute, we put out a voice message over the radio simply saying “Hawk.” After several hours, it was dark and cold. We stopped the search for the night and regrouped the jeeps. We continued to put out the signal for Hawk. The jeeps ran throughout the night with the heaters going. About 3 a.m., we heard a faint signal over the radio, “Hawk here.”
I shouted, “Turn the engines off, everyone quiet now!” Everything went silent.
The faint voice said again, “Hawk here.” It was a female voice.
“Identify yourself.” If it were Hannah, she would respond with no hesitation.
“The dragon slayer is coming.”
My response was, “And he’s going to slay the fire breathing dragon.” One of the soldiers told me these radios have about a five-mile range. We could move toward the origin of the signal by watching the meter on the radio. We started moving the jeeps in a distinct pattern. It took about an hour to locate them in the darkness of the cold night. They were in a small overturned truck. All of us got to them in a hurry. I asked, “Are you guys hurt?”
Hannah responded, “I got hit in my arm but Hawk is out. He was shot in the shoulder and I think he has hypothermia.”
We put both of them in one jeep and ran the heater. One of the soldiers was a medic and began to try to revive Hawk. Tina said, “I was trained in how to treat hypothermia. I can help.”
The medic said, “Okay then start the circulation process.” Tina began from Hawks heart and worked her way to his outer extremities. The medic began to work on Hawk’s wound. He said, “The bullet is still in him. He’s lost a lot of blood. More important he needs to regain consciousness so we can remove the bullet.” Gina began to help Tina get Hawk’s circulation going. While the medic worked on Hannah, I tried to contact Miller several times to no avail. The medic told us Hannah would be okay. The bullet went completely through her arm so he bandaged her up. The jeep was very crowded but the medic said, “The more heat in here the better for Hawk.”
After about a half-hour, we heard Hawk say, “I know that I’ve met my maker with these two angels massaging me this way.”
Tina replied, “We can’t stop now Colonel, you’re too irresistible.” That brought a smile to his face. The girls continued to keep his circulation going.
I said, “Welcome back, Hawk.”
“It’s good to be back. Where is that incredible soldier Hannah? She is one heck of a fighter. I saw her take out at least ten men on her own even after one of them shot her.”
I said, “She is a rare breed. That’s why she’s on my team,” as I patted her head.
Hannah spoke, “We were chased by a group of tribesmen in trucks. I got to one of the trucks and eliminated its occupants. We couldn’t head for the perimeter because the tribesmen were coming toward us. We went north with hopes of circling around the enemy. There were too many of them, we had no choice but to keep going. We were so far north that we missed the fireworks. Hawk was driving and when the tribesmen got close enough they opened fire hitting him. The truck turned over and they came charging at us. I did a little hand to hand combat and the rest is history.”
Hawk exclaimed, “Steven, I never saw anyone neither man nor beast as skilled as Hannah! She is a remarkable trooper.”
The medic said, “Okay, let’s give him some space now. I can take the bullet out afterwards. Tina covered Hawk up with blanke
ts and some overcoats. I tried to call Miller again, this time with success.
Miller answered, “Steven, is that you?”
“Yes, Frank we’re still out here. Where are you?”
“I’m on the C-130 headed for your location.”
“How did you get here so fast?”
“Steven, I was airborne before your first call. I didn’t like the situation you guys were getting into, so I went with my instincts.”
“I’m sure glad you did.”
“What is your location?”
“We are about fifty miles directly north of the target area. Hawk needs a doctor. Is there one with you?”
“Sure is. We’ll be there in an hour. Light up you area at that time. See you soon.”
“Roger that.” One hour later, we placed flares to mark off some kind of runway and the C-130 came to a safe landing. In a matter of minutes, we were all airborne headed for Athens.
When we landed in Athens the doctor immediately took Hawk to the hospital to remove the bullet lodged in his shoulder. Hannah was treated for her wound also. After we cleaned up at the barracks, some of the team lay down to rest. While everyone was asleep, I went to Hawk’s office to meet with Colonel Miller. I thanked him for all his assistance. He was kind of quiet for a while.
Then I asked, “Other than the obvious, what is on your mind, Frank?”
Frank responded, “I’m trying to piece this all together but I can’t. There are too many parts missing.”
“Maybe if we get everyone together we can sort this out.”
“How about Gina, do you really trust her?”
“During the last episode of treachery, Gina never left my side. I think that’s enough for me.”
“I had to ask, Steven.”
“I understand, Frank. I think we should be able to get Gina involved with this inquiry now that I am ninety percent convinced of her trustworthiness.”
“Okay, Steven you should take care of your team while I see when Hawk can leave the hospital.”
“Good, we’ll get together later.” I patted Frank on his shoulder as I left the office. I knew he was hurting bad after the casualties we sustained. Even though they were Hawk’s men, they’re all Miller’s soldiers.
I went to wake up Gina but she was sitting on her bunk deep in thought. I sat next to her and asked, “Are you alright, Gina?”
“I feel bad for all those good soldiers who gave their lives to try to take down a creep like Bono.” She began to cry a little.
I put my arm around her and said, “That’s another reason why we will rid the world of Bono and his cohorts.”
“I’m just frustrated that we are not making better progress.”
“We have traitors within our group of contacts and we have to smoke them out.”
“You’re right, Steven, I think I have an idea. Since Carlo is monitoring all of Bono’s calls, we may be able to find out who leaked the information by tracking all calls within the specific time frame. Get me to a phone where I can call Carlo and tell me what time you called Miller to set up the raid.” I complied with her request and found her a secure phone to call Carlo. On the phone with Carlo, she told him to find all the phone numbers that went to Bono or his people during the time periods I gave her. Within minutes, he faxed us a list of all the phone numbers going to Bono or his lieutenants.
I had to ask, “Gina, do you trust Carlo?”
“Not one-hundred percent but his ego would not allow him to be a flunky to a goon like Bono. That’s my guess.” We went over the numbers to try to find any unusual ones. We found one that was very suspicious.
A little later, we met up with Miller, Hawk and the rest of my team. We gathered in Hawk’s briefing room. Hawk was looking as tough as ever. He started the meeting by saying, “Are we any closer to finding the source of the leak?”
Gina stood up humbly and walked over to where Miller and Hawk were sitting. She laid the phone records down and asked the two men, “Do you recognize the phone number I have highlighted? The call was made shortly after Steven called Colonel Miller to set up the last raid. All these numbers were monitored by the Carabinieri in an ongoing investigation against Bono. Every call on these papers went to one of Bono’s phones.”
“Whoa,” Miller exclaimed, “this is Major Collins’ office phone!”
Hawk said, “We’ll need more information before we can accuse one of our own.” Then Gina pulled out another list of calls from the night of the raids in Sicily. The list indicated that the same number was called from Reed’s phone.
Gina quietly said, “I don’t want to implicate the Major but someone is using that phone number to contact Bono’s people. What you gentlemen do with it is up to you.”
Miller replied, “Gina, thank you for the information. We as Special Forces soldiers have a code of justice we all follow and we will proceed in our own way. Hawk, if you’re up to it, we’ll leave in a couple of hours to deal with this firsthand.”
“I’ll be ready and if Gina’s information is correct then god have mercy on his soul because I won’t!”
“Easy, Hawk. Let’s check it out first.”
During the next several hours, we all got ready for the flight to Naples. My complete team, along with Miller, Hawk and some of his men, boarded a C-5 jet cargo plane. The trip was short and quiet. Once we arrived, we parked in the usual hanger. Most of the people stayed in the hanger while Miller, Hawk and I went to confront Reed. Once inside his office, he jumped to attention in front of his superior officers. Miller, without greeting Reed, laid the phone records on his desk. He firmly said, “Tell me you did not make the highlighted phone calls on this document!” Reed picked up the paper with his hands trembling and sheepishly said, “I never thought any of our guys would get hurt in this situation.”
Hawk snapped, “Did you think the enemy was going to greet us in the desert waving American flags, you fool? Eleven great men died in that battle and you are responsible!”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Reed said with tears in his eyes.
Miller continued, “You are a disgrace to the U.S. Army and the Special Forces. You have two choices. One is that I pick up the phone and notify the military police and you’ll be tried in a military court martial. This will destroy your reputation and you certainly will be executed. Your second choice is to do the right thing, if you have any dignity left. Hand me you service weapon.” Reed handed over his service revolver to Miller. Miller then unloaded it leaving one round in the chamber. He put it down on the desk and said, “The choice is yours. We will be waiting outside for your answer. You have five minutes.” We all left the office and waited outside. Miller was looking at his watch when we all heard the shot. Hawk went back in the office. When he returned he said, “A tragic event has occurred, one of our Special Forces officers has taken his own life.”
9 - Return to Washington
_________
Soon after the incident, Miller informed Washington of what they found upon arriving here. He set up the arrangements for Captain Young to assume Reed’s position in Naples along with some troop support. He also asked Washington to notify the base commander here in Naples of the changes. The powers that be in DC complied with Miller’s requests.
After a while, I found some time alone with Miller. As we sat drinking coffee, he asked, “Steven, I was wondering, are you going to be out here much longer?”
“Why do you ask, Frank?”
“Well, back in Taipei, Tao Li is hearing rumors that Abdullah Azure is operating in the area.”
“Why didn’t anybody tell me?”
“Since it’s only a rumor at this time, they figured you’re too busy right now. I’m sure when they get more concrete information they’ll contact you.”
“If I’m going to take this kid, Tina, back to Taipei, I should go and get things better organized.”
“This is the kid whose mother was murdered, right?”
“Yeah, that’s her. She a great kid and has lived throu
gh a lot of troubled times.”
“I guess you’re going to open a halfway house out there.”
“Funny, that’s what Hannah said.”
“Steven, I have some good news.”
“What is it?”
“The powers that be in good old DC have decided to give me a star.”
“Finally, General Miller, I must admit that has a certain ring to it. When does the ceremony take place?”
“In four days from now, at Fort Myers, Virginia.”
“I’ll make it a point to be there. Will you have to change assignments?”
“Oh sure, I’m doing it the way Steven Cross did it. I’ll be Commander of the Special Forces in the Far East and work out of Tokyo instead of Hawaii. Oh, and I’ll maintain an office in Taipei.”
“So, we continue to work together. That’s great.”
“I’m going to ask Hawk if he wants to be my Executive Officer. What do you think of that?”
“I know he’ll love it and so will Hannah. A little piece of advice, if possible, let Hawk bring his detachment of troops with him. I know they are a great team. It would be good therapy for Hawk and the men who lost buddies. ”
“That’s good advice. I’ll discuss it with Hawk when I make him the offer. Of course, all of this will take some time”
A while later, I met with my people in private, I said, “Mike, I would like you to take Hannah and Tina with you back to Taipei. We might be having some problems again with our old nemesis, Abdullah back there.”