Undeclared War

by Dennis Chalker

  There was no graffiti on the north face of the Factory above the sidewalk level, the upper wall was clean. If none of the local artists felt like going up those inviting fire escapes, then Reaper and Bear weren’t going to climb them either. Going in the easy way to a target had never proved to be the safe way.

  Going north along a side street away from the Factory, Bear turned right and then drove the van across a bridge to the eastern side of the highway. At this point, the Chrysler Freeway was eight lanes of divided highway at the bottom of a man-made valley.

  Facing the east end of the Factory building from across the highway was a five-story storage warehouse. Half-filled dumpsters and scattered construction vehicles were the only signs that the place was still active. The dumpsters had a lot of cardboard boxes in them that were unweathered. Since it had rained just the week before, the condition of the boxes told Reaper and Bear that somebody had been working around these dumpsters recently.

  Trash had to be generated by somebody, and that meant there was probably activity in the building, something neither of the two SEALs were particularly pleased to note. The storage building had a clear view of the east side of the Factory on the other side of the highway. It was from the roof of this building that Reaper wanted to set up their observation post.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Reaper and Bear were conducting their mission as if they were well behind enemy lines with no support. They had no backup on call, no emergency extraction, no fire support. Everyone in the area of the Factory or the chosen observation post (OP) location would be assumed to be the enemy, with no exceptions. The rules of engagement were simple, there would be no engagements. Contact would be avoided—period.

  The two SEALs had worked on operations like this before, but never where the stakes had been so high. It wasn’t their own lives the two men had to be concerned with, it was the lives of Reaper’s wife and son. If discovered, they could expect no mercy from the kidnappers. And if they were caught by the police, the only thing they could reasonably expect would be for the kidnappers to cut their losses, and eliminate any witnesses.

  There was no question that Bear would support his Teammate in any way that he was capable of. But the real cost of their success or failure would be held by Reaper alone. The only way he could operate under this much pressure was to cut it off, shut out personal feelings, and deal with the task at hand. This was something they learned in the Teams, you could either compartmentalize your life and concentrate on your job, or not remain an operator.

  The ability to ignore the pain, the distractions, and keep going, was something Reaper needed very badly right now. For the time being, those aspects of his personality that made him a father, a husband, a lover, were closed off. The compartments in his psyche that were left open were the ones that made him an experienced, efficient, Navy SEAL chief.

  But he was not alone on this operation. His Teammate being with him meant a very great deal to Reaper. SEALs didn’t operate alone, they were always part of a Team, even a team as small as two men. Bear and Reaper had trained together, frozen, sweated, and ached as one unit. In the field, one would know what the other was thinking automatically. In any situation, they knew what the other man would do, how he would react.

  So Reaper was not completely alone; he had Bear and Deckert to work with. Deckert had proven himself a very valuable resource. From his desktop computer, Deckert had come up with hard intelligence that was proving very valuable right now.

  Besides detailed maps of the area they were traveling in, Deckert had located aerial and satellite photos on the Internet. These shots gave a lot of information about the Factory and the area surrounding it. The drive-by that the two SEALs had completed confirmed the intel Deckert had developed.

  The east end of the Factory faced another fenced-in parking lot. Then there were the lanes and ramps of the highway intersection. There was nothing close-in that the two SEALs could use for cover, no place where they could park a vehicle overnight without drawing attention. It was the building complex across the highway from the Factory that looked good. Behind the storage building were a number of areas where vehicles were parked and construction equipment stored. They would launch their mission from that area.

  Up close against the side of the warehouse was a large billboard mounted on tall posts. The billboard would supply cover for the two men as they climbed up to the roof of the main building. On top of the roof were two huge elevated billboards, plainly visible from the highway and the area across the street. It was there, at the base of those huge signs, that the SEALs would set up their hide, their camouflaged hidden position, and establish their observation post.

  Bear’s bike was secured in the back of the van along with the rest of their gear. Some of the equipment was very high tech. Other pieces were from the much lower end of the technology scale. Two sets of generic dark coveralls would cover the two SEALs and help them to blend in with any workmen in the area. In the pockets of each of the coveralls were a pair of FOGs (Fast-rope Operator Gloves) and a Hatch balaclava hood made of lightweight black Nomex. Two five-gallon plastic buckets with lids, some rolled-up dark cloths, a couple of sections of carpeting not much bigger than medium-sized throw rugs, and a few coils of parachute cord made up the bulk of their equipment.

  Two additional pieces of gear would look odd to anyone but a SEAL: a pair of extendable aluminum painter’s poles. The top of each pole had a two-pronged steel hook attached to it, the prongs of the hooks well padded with heavy tape. With a line that was fixed to it, the hook slipped down into the hollow pole. Catching the tines of the hook on an object would pull it from the pole, securely attaching a climbing line to the target.

  The modifications had converted the painter’s poles into climber’s extension poles, the same kind of tool that the SEALs used to board ships with. Normally, a coiled caving ladder was used with the hooks. Instead of the ladders, Reaper was using lengths of 9/16-inch tubular nylon webbing. The flat nylon webbing took up little space and was very strong. Using it to scale a building wall took a lot of upper-body and grip strength, something Bear and Reaper had plenty of.

  Bear pulled the van around and parked it among some trucks and other vehicles. The van was beat up enough that it didn’t stand out in the lot. A little maneuvering parked the van so that the back end was clear and Bear’s bike could be rolled out. The area in front of the van was clear so that it could be driven forward and onto the road quickly.

  The two SEALs were now in their element. They were operational on a hot op. It didn’t matter that they were in civilian territory. Working together as they were was like putting on an old coat. They were comfortable and at ease while also working at a heightened state of awareness.

  The two men changed into their coveralls, gathered up their gear, and left the van. Both men had a set of keys to the van and to Bear’s Harley. The devil was in the details. Little things like spare keys was something that couldn’t be missed. Eventually, your luck would run out. Mr. Murphy was always prepared to screw over you and your mission.

  Anyone who noticed the two men leaving the parking lot would only see another pair of workers. An observer would have had to look fast to see the two workers disappear next to an old and faded billboard.

  While Bear kept watch, Reaper scrambled up the side of a ladder attached to the billboard. The bottom of the ladder was slightly out of reach overhead, but Reaper just jumped and started up the ladder using the strength of his arms. A platform surrounded the billboard and that was where Reaper stopped. The gear buckets came up next on the ends of the nylon lines. Bear clambered up the ladder not as gracefully as Reaper had, but with just as much obvious strength.

  The five-story storage building that Reaper wanted to reach was at the northwest corner of a block of four structures. They were now within reach of the top of the two-story building at the southeast corner of the block. This place seemed a little newer than the others in the area. It did have more security than t
he others. Someone had secured concertina coils of shiny, sharp new razor wire along the edge of the roof coaming to block possible burglars.

  Razor wire was sharp, it was nasty, and it was something that Reaper and Bear had seen a number of times during their training and while out on missions. They had faced much more sophisticated barriers during some of their training when they penetrated classified Navy installations to test security.

  This was the only avenue of approach the SEALs could use to get on the roof in broad daylight. The upper part of the billboard stuck up past the edge of the roof, protecting it from view.

  The billboard was not going to be enough to protect the two SEALs from the observation of anyone who was on the roof of any of the buildings in the block. The aerial photos that Deckert had located showed plain, flat tar roofs on two of the structures they would have to cross. The two men would have to get on the roof and cross it quickly to avoid being seen.

  Both men quickly set to work without a word being spoken between them. They broke out and secured the gear, then left the buckets on the platform. As Bear extended a climbing pole and attached a webbing coil to the hook, Reaper undid one of the cloth bundles. Wrapped around the outside of the bundle was one of the sections of carpeting.

  Using the extended climbing pole, Bear set the hook on the edge of the roof. Reaper secured the carpet section to his belt with a piece of nylon webbing. Then he grabbed the webbing leading to the hook, stepped out, and walked up the side of the building, ignoring the three-story drop below him. Grabbing hold of the edge of the roof, Reaper pulled himself up enough to peer out across the flat tar.

  No one was there. It was just a flat expanse of roof with about sixteen inches of wall surrounding it. The only movement was the fluttering of some plastic shreds where discarded bags had stuck to the razor wire coils. A quick glance across the other roofs didn’t uncover any possible observers to Reaper.

  Pulling the carpet section up, Reaper tossed it across the razor wire. Pulling himself up and over the carpet, Reaper made climbing onto the roof look easy.

  Now that one of them was exposed on the roof, speed became essential. Bear quickly got onto the roof and pulled up the climbing pole. Crouching low, the two men crossed over to the next building they had to climb. This roof only went up a single story above the one they were on and part of the structure blocked anyone’s view of the two SEALs.

  No fancy climbing technique was used to get to the next roof. Reaper secured one end of the nylon webbing to his belt. Then Bear cupped his hands and Reaper stepped into them. Bear lifted Reaper up to where he could look out over the next roof. No razor wire or observers could be seen, only the dark, dirty windows of another wall.

  Pulling himself up to the roof, Reaper pulled the web line off his belt. Bracing his feet against the wall, Reaper leaned back with the webbing tight in his hands. A quick yank on the line and Bear climbed up to the roof.

  Crossing to the last wall, the two SEALs repeated their technique and within a minute, both men were on top of the building where Reaper wanted to set up the observation post. It was a good location and both men could see the Factory plainly on the far side of the highway.

  There were two huge billboards on top of the storage building. Reaper wanted to set up their OP at the base of one of those billboards. A small shacklike building up against the western side of the roof topped a stairwell to the inside of the building. The doorway of that shack was where any guard or observer could be expected.

  A worn fiberglass and metal tubing chair next to the stairwell door was a bad sign. The chair was flipped over and leaning against the stairwell top, just as it would be if someone used it regularly and didn’t want rain to be caught in the seat. For the moment, the roof was empty of people except for the two SEALs.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Now that both men were finally on the target roof itself, they moved fast to get into a concealed position—what they called their hide. The huge billboards were set on top of steel columns that were secured to the roof by a heavy girder and mesh frame. There was almost two feet of space between the steel mesh on the frame and the tar and gravel surface of the roof itself. Reaper intended to set up their observation post in the space under the frame.

  The billboard structure stood right next to the stairwell. With Bear next to him, Reaper crouched low and ran to the platform. Ignoring the sharp edges of the gravel, both Reaper and Bear lay down and scrambled underneath the edge of the frame. Crawling up to where they could look out over the roof coaming, they began to set up their observation post.

  Their first move was to secure the observation post from the view of anyone looking from the Factory. To do that, they unrolled a length of Hessian screen and hung it up in front of what was now their hide. Hessian screen was nothing more than plain, rough-woven jute cloth—simple burlap. The weave of the dark brown cloth was open enough to easily see through it if you were on the shaded side and looked out toward the light. Looking in from the lighted side, you couldn’t see past the cloth.

  The billboard platform was a heavy steel grid welded onto a framework of I-beams. The whole platform was raised above the surface of the roof on a bunch of short steel legs. The legs ran around the edge of the platform as well as down the middle the long way. To hang up the cloth screen, Reaper and Bear clipped it to the bottom flange of one of the I-beams with wooden spring clothespins. Once the screen was up, the rest of the observation post, now a camouflaged hide, could be completed.

  The two collapsed painter’s poles were used to support a dark drop-cloth cover over the hide. With the cloth in place, it would be very hard to see the two men in the shadows even if someone were standing on the grid. The poles leaned in against the front I-beam with their back ends on the gravel roof. The open end of the tentlike hide was covered with the Hessian screen.

  The carpet sections now proved additionally useful as Reaper and Bear pulled them up and rolled the strips out across the gravel. They would protect the men from some of the coarse chunks of rock as well as cut down on any noise they might make. A quick look around the outside edges of the hide didn’t show any light, so if the two SEALs couldn’t see out, no one could see in. The hide was secure and they were in place.

  Both men started to assemble their cameras and observation equipment. The Celestron C5 scope that Reaper was using was so big it sat on its own small folding tripod. There was a T-ring adapter on the back of the scope that connected it to the Nikon D100 digital camera.

  Bear had brought Deckert’s spare camera, a Minolta Dynax 7000i 35mm film camera. The film camera was a backup in case something went wrong with the digital system. The dozen rolls of film Bear had in his pack shouldn’t even need to be used on the mission.

  There was an old adage in the Teams regarding mission-critical gear. “Two is one, one is none.” If one piece of important gear was all you had brought with you and it failed, then so did the mission. And this mission was far too important for any details to have been overlooked.

  Picking up his binoculars, Reaper looked out across the highway to the Factory building about 275 meters away. He cupped his hands across the top and sides of the binoculars. With the sun still high in the midafternoon sky, Reaper’s hands protected the lenses from flashing in the light. The simple precaution was second nature to the man. To his right, Reaper could feel Bear setting out the spare camera and telephoto lens as well as his own binoculars.

  Not a word had been spoken between the two men since they had left the van. Now they settled in for a long vigil. From any side of the roof and even through the steel grid of the platform, all that could be seen was a dark pile of loose cloth, as if a tarp had been shoved up underneath the platform, or blown there by an errant wind.

  With their black balaclavas pulled over their heads, the two men disappeared into the shadows of their hide. There was no way that anyone from ground level could see up into the area five stories above where the SEALs lay. From the Factory, even a person
using a powerful telescope and who knew where to look would have seen nothing more than shadow.

  The basic infiltration of the target area had been completed. Now the two SEALs would take careful note of all activity around the Factory. This would be a long, painstaking operation. They were on the military equivalent of a police stakeout, only Reaper and Bear didn’t have anyone to come and relieve them. They could only lie still and watch.

  Through his binoculars, Reaper could see the entire east wall of the Factory building, the parking lot that lay between the building and the highway, and the fields to the north and south of the empty lot. Running along both the south and east sides of the fields were major multilane interstate highways.

  The Ford Freeway passed over the Chrysler only a few hundred meters south of where Reaper and Bear lay. The intersecting highways made for a mass of bridges and curved ramps crossing over one another. The ramps, lanes, shoulders, fences, and excavated area put a no-man’s-land more than a hundred meters wide between the hide and the beginning of the parking area to the east of the Factory.

  The east parking area of the Factory was a huge, square, fenced-in area of concrete—one hundred meters on a side. It appeared to have regular activity as the concrete surface was in fairly good repair. There were no signs of the weeds and grasses that broke through the surface of the parking area to the west of the Factory.

  Light poles stood in the parking lot and it was surrounded by a fifteen-foot-high chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. At each corner of the lot were closed-circuit TV cameras on top of tall poles.

  South of the parking area, across a two-lane road, was a weed-choked vacant lot. The most prominent feature of the lot was another massive billboard raised up on a steel framework. The advertising sign was huge, more than eighty feet wide and almost a third of that tall. The bottom of the billboard was raised up nearly a hundred feet into the air so that it could be clearly seen from both the northbound Chrysler and westbound Ford Freeways.