The conference was immediately cancelled as Homeland Security, FBI, ATF and local law enforcement arrived to take control.
45
Bozeman, Montana
2016
Dirk Morgan waited in the forest just off a dirt road two miles west of Highway 89 near the town of Chico. Morgan hiked into the area, having been dropped by helicopter ten miles from Hendricks’s ranch. Previously, he was provided pictures and satellite imagery by Orson. He had watched the ranch house now for five days waiting on the General to return from Washington. Orson believed the ranch hands stayed in town when the General was away. After seeing no activity, Dirk went to the house. Everyone was gone. He removed the heavy backpack and rigged the C-4 charges to take the house down. Once finished, he placed a small charge on the phone line, electrical box and propane tank. He effectively cut off all communications to the outside world with exception of a satellite phone. Cell phone service did not work in the area and therefore was not a problem. After finishing planting the devices, Dirk returned to his hide on the mountain.
Being on the mountain made Dirk remember operations from the past. He recalled working with Stryker and smiled. Stryker was calm until provoked, then without warning became a stone cold killer.
He was certainly glad they never tested Stryker at Fort Bragg. He laughed.
His thoughts turned to his new friend Sara. On their trip to Tel Aviv, she was quiet but after a while he spoke to her about his favorite subject, knives. Since that time, she viewed him as a confidante to be there if she needed help. Dirk liked her and heard her background story from Stryker. She had no friends and had suffered great losses to the Iranians as a child. Dirk smiled to himself knowing Sara now had him as her friend and God help anyone who hurt her or her best friend Rachel.
Some of the shrinks at Bragg had thought Morgan was too unstable to move from the Rangers to Delta. Stryker and several other Deltas had come to his aid and the rest was history. He left Delta before Stryker, having been injured. He could have returned from his injury but decided to do contractor work, which paid more money with less politics. He quickly became the go-to guy for dirty work. Eventually, he went off the grid and worked for himself, mostly taking killing contracts. By the time he met Jake in El Paso he was one of the most feared assassins in the world. No one knew his name or his background, including the CIA. His file reflected redacted military operations and an honorable discharge. Stryker never asked about his past work because Dirk believed Jake had a good idea about what he did. Dirk still had not killed as many men as Stryker’s 163 confirmed.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of an approaching truck. Probably the ranch hands, he thought as the truck came closer. Yep, the hands had arrived and turned into the parking area. He counted three young Mexican men. They opened the bunkhouse and went inside then came back outside and opened the main house. Soon Dirk saw smoke coming from both fireplaces. They were getting ready for the General’s arrival, which would likely be after dark. The sun was going down behind the hills and dark shadows appeared over the ranch house.
Dirk finished his MRE and heard a diesel truck in the distance. Orson had advised that the General drove a Ford pickup with a diesel engine. Headlights were coming down the road and sure enough turned into the house. Dirk watched through his night vision binoculars and confirmed it was the General. Several of the ranch hands helped with his luggage and he went inside. Lights came on and the ranch hands exited back to the bunkhouse. Now came the wait.
Dirk busied himself cleaning the hide of all evidence he had been there. He packed all of his gear into the large backpack and his garbage in black bags. Dirk planned to reach the bunkhouse at 3:00 a.m. Research revealed deep sleep occurred after 3:00 a.m., at which time a person is least likely to respond quickly. He planned to drug the ranch hands before going to the main house. He started toward the ranch at 2:00 a.m., going slowly down through the forest. His helmet with night vision made navigating easy. He had checked for dogs previously and found no signs. At close to 3:00 a.m. he arrived at the rear of the bunkhouse, ready to move to the front door. He had lubricated the door hinges on his first visit and entered slowly, making no noise. The sleeping sounds and snores continued uninterrupted. He went to the first man and put his hand over his mouth while plunging the needle into his neck. The man struggled momentarily then fell back on the bed. He moved to the remaining men and injected them. The drug would last for over twelve hours and they would awake unharmed.
Dirk was now ready for the General and some answers. Stryker had told him to scorch the earth and Dirk would begin that process prepared to dispense justice.
The main door opened and Dirk moved like a ghost to the bedroom. He found the General sound asleep and crept to his bed. Quickly, he stuck a needle in his neck with a drug to keep him out for an hour. Then he moved the General to the main room and secured him to a chair with duct tape. Next, he went to the bathroom, stripped out of his clothes and took a shower. He put on fresh replacements and was done in fifteen minutes. He called Orson on the satellite phone and ordered the helicopter to pick him up at 5:30 a.m. down the road one mile from the house.
Now he waited for the General to awaken and answer questions. He did not have to wait long as the drug wore off.
Dirk was dressed in black tactical pants and a black long sleeve shirt. Tactical gloves covered his hands and a black balaclava his head and face. It was dark in the room and he used his night vision. The General would not be able to identify him should he choose to let him live. He started to awaken slowly, thrashing at his bindings. As his eyes began to focus, he saw Dirk and tried to speak through the duct tape. Dirk slapped him hard on the face, knocking the chair over against the fireplace stones. Dirk then set the chair up and told him he was going to remove the tape and for him not to make noise. The General had wide eyes and nodded he understood. Dirk knew about this guy. He never saw one moment of combat but rather was a rear echelon asshole sending others to their deaths. He was a pathetic excuse of a human being.
“Ok, you bastard, we are going to play question and answer. If you lie, I will cut off one of your ears. If you continue to lie, I’ll keep cutting off parts until there’s nothing left. You understand the game?” asked Dirk.
“Let’s start with the name of the shooter in Central Park?”
The General squirmed as Dirk put the Gerber fighting knife against his right ear.
“I can’t hear you, General. Ten seconds and the ear goes.”
“No, don’t please, his name is Amir Jafari.”
“Where is he now?” asked Dirk.
“I don’t know, he is a private contractor. I have a file on my computer.”
Dirk found the computer and the General gave him the password. Soon he found the shooter’s file and copied it onto a flash drive. He then copied all the hard disk to the flash drive along with the General’s contact lists. He next took the General’s cell phone and put it in his backpack.
“All right General, you have been helpful so far. Now tell me who ordered the hit? We are now entering into the painful part of our conversation, because to tell me you will possibly be killed by others, or if you don’t I will certainly kill you very slowly. So what will it be? Your choice,” said Dirk.
“The Chief of Staff and the Secretary of State ordered the hit. I know the president was briefed but I don’t know when. I just got back from a meeting with all of them to find a way to save face should it come out,” said the General.
“You do know what happens when you try to kill the next Director of the Mossad? They have a long reach and never forget,” said Dirk.
“Everyone involved will be wondering the time and place for their response. The Israelis believe in the feud dating back to medieval times. No amount of security can keep you safe from them. Every car that passes and every leaf that blows could be the sign of a killer,” said Dirk. “But today is your lucky day General, for you will write down everything you have told me and sig
n the paper. Then you will live without fear of the Kidon’s slow death. You will go to Washington, resign, and tell them what has happened. Tell them we have the contractor and know they ordered the hit. Make sure they understand Israel will respond at a time and place of its choosing. You will tell them you are going off the grid and wish them well. Then you will show them a picture I will give you. Now I will cut you free to write the letter,” said Dirk.
The General wrote the letter. Dirk had him put on his clothes and boots, then stand while he taped his hands behind his back. They walked out the front door and into the forest. After five hundred yards, Dirk directed him to stop. Dirk pulled out his phone and dialed the number. The blast was overwhelming, blowing material and dust hundreds of feet into the air. All that remained of the house was burning wreckage. The General dropped to his knees, muttering. The flames were bright enough for Dirk to capture the image on a small disposable camera, which he stuck in the General’s pocket.
“That is your proof of our meeting and a small price to pay for your life. I would not like to be the others, for their fate is sealed,” said Dirk. You need to get off the grid and make sure you deliver the message or we could change our mind about you,” said Dirk.
“I am going to put you to sleep while I leave. When you awake make plans to return to Washington and remember we will be watching. Do not contact the FBI or other law enforcement for we will know. Just deliver the message and move on with your life. Are we clear, General?”
“Crystal,” he replied, as the needle entered his neck.
46
Bozeman, Montana
2016
The General moved, then rolled over and sat up, his eyes adjusting to the sunlight. He was stiff and hurt along the back of his neck. Then it all came back to him in a rush as he looked at the still smoldering remains of his ranch house. He saw his men wondering, around and he called to them. He walked from the forest and met them and they examined the remains of what had been a beautiful ranch house. He asked the men what happened and all said a man in black drugged them. They did not remember the explosion. He told the men that he believed the propane tank exploded and never mentioned a man in black. He told them he would take them into town and pay them in advance for three weeks while he worked with the insurance company to rebuild. They could go visit relatives in Mexico until he called them to return. The men were happy, got their things together, and put them into his truck. Not having any personal belongings, the General found his hidden key to the truck and drove toward Bozeman where he could get cash and take the men to the bus station.
After paying his men and leaving them at the bus station, the General went shopping for clothes and personal items. When he finished he checked into a motel and made some secure calls to Washington, telling the Chief of Staff there was a crisis and he was on the next flight out of Bozeman. He next booked a flight leaving at 5:00 p.m., which gave him time to shower, get dressed, pack his new bags and go to the airport. When he found the camera there was also a burner phone. The phone had a note to call when the meeting was done. The number was preprogrammed by Orson and untraceable.
The flight to Washington provided the General with time to rehearse what he would say about the encounter. He decided to tell them he signed a statement that mirrored what they already knew from the shooter. He would tell them the Israelis found the shooter, from a leak in the White House. He would say exactly what the man told him about the feud. He would resign, go into hiding, stay off the grid, and hope he would not be killed. That’s what he would say, and suggest they do the same.
Simple and direct, then file for insurance on the propane explosion, he thought.
The flight arrived on time and he called the Chief of Staff and was told a meeting was scheduled for 9:00 a.m., first thing in the morning. He hung up the phone and checked into the Ritz Carlton, his favorite place to stay when in the Capitol. He put a clean dressing on the cut under his left eye, which was nearly closed and very bruised. He used dark glasses to hide the damage but still considered himself lucky to be alive. He slept, waking up several times sweating, seeing the man in black. His eyes, dark orbs radiating death, clearly a man without a soul. Finally, he got out of bed, showered, and got ready for the day. The time was 5:30 a.m. The breakfast bar would open at 6:00 a.m. and he planned to be first in line.
He ordered coffee and drank slowly, going over again in his mind what he would say in the meeting. He decided to make his comments short and to the point without offering solutions. The worst offender in the bunch would be the Chief of Staff, a woman named Samir Zada Franken. Iranian born, she escaped to the United States in 1979 and had attended Columbia. She married a little known politician named Sid Franken who later found his way into the United States Senate. She worked in the campaign for President Lee Bancock and then accepted the position of Chief of Staff. Her hatred of Israel was a centerpiece in the Bancock Administration’s policies. Last to be in the meeting was Herman Story, Secretary of State. His most notable accomplishment was his penchant for backstabbing and focusing blame on others. He had been a career bureaucrat at State for many years. He too hated Israel while blaming every wrong committed in the world on America.
The General arrived on time and was led to a secure conference room. He was greeted by the Chief of Staff and Secretary of State and several staffers. He promptly took off his glasses, revealing the injury to his eye. The staffers were hurriedly ushered out of the room before the questions began.
“What the hell happened to you?” asked Samir Zada.
“I was attacked and my ranch destroyed,” he replied, passing out pictures.
“Who did this?” asked Story.
“I don’t know because I never saw the man. He attacked me in the night and made me confess. He knew the shooter’s name and wanted the names of those ordering the hit. He made me write and sign a confession listing all of you and the president.
“You did what, you stupid bastard? Do you know what you have done? The president will fire you over this,” screamed Zada.
“He won’t have to because I resign, effective immediately. Before I leave this meeting the man told me to tell each of you that no place on Earth will you be safe. Once you leave office, none of you will be able to protect yourselves with enough security. The Israelis believe in the way of medieval feud. You should look this up, for once you understand, your great leader may have to shorten his legacy. Now I will be leaving and going off the grid. I would recommend all of you do the same and pray they don’t find you. Whoever of you came up with the idea to kill the next Director of the Mossad must be insane. I am sure the president will be happy to know what you have advised will be his downfall.”
The General stepped from the conference room and left the building. He drove back to the hotel, checked out and took a cab to the airport. On the way, he called the burner phone and left a message. “It is done.”
Back in the conference room there was pacing and wringing of hands. They agreed that all of them should tell the president exactly what the General had told them. They also knew that discussion needed to be in a secure and unrecorded room. The president would want a plan of action to resolve the mess but that was impossible. The genie was out of the bottle and he was going to be a civilian like themselves in mere months. They were screwed, their only hope being the Israelis would leave them alone. One thing was for sure, they would never know the time and place of their demise and the feud called for all family members to die.
The meeting with the president was terrible. He was clearly shaken and worried. He had already spoken with the acting Mossad Director, who told him he could not help him resolve the problem. The president had tried to sell the idea a rogue general was responsible, which the Director was not buying. The Director’s advice would be to lessen the situation by making a public announcement giving authority to Israel to attack Iran with full American backing whenever they desired. He should also cancel the Iranian nuclear deal to show support for Isr
ael. Everything he had worked for was going up in flames, but in the end he could not risk his family. The announcement would be made. The Chief of Staff started into some rant and before she could get going, the president cut her off.
“Samir, don’t go there. We made a tactical error and now we must extricate ourselves. The Israelis have the shooter and the confession. If we were dealing with anyone else other than the Kidon, I might be tempted to take another course of action. The hard reality is the next president will cancel the Iranian deal due to their breaches of the agreement. The new Administration, I am certain will be pro-Israel, so I don’t think we lose much other than my legacy. I will gladly trade that for my family. Samir, you are a zealot and have caused great harm to your Muslim friends. At this point at least you will be alive to fight another day. I am going to give the order to our commanders to shoot down any Iranian aircraft or sink any Iranian gunboats presenting hostile acts against our forces. We will blame the entire change in posture on Iran,” he said.
The meeting was over and the next move was up to the Iranians. They would play right into the narrative.
_____
Dirk received the call from the General indicating the message had been delivered and everyone made aware.
Rachel was helping her team make preparations to kill Igor while Dirk and Sara worked with Herb on Ali. The Alpha facility was a beehive of activity. Sparks had spoken with Daniel about the strike helicopter to be used on the yacht. He was told the helicopter had been shipped and should arrive soon. Daniel also said a pilot was being sent to the embassy in Washington and Sara could pick him up when he arrived. Since Sparks would be involved with Stryker and Rachel’s operation in Canada Alpha would depend totally on the Israeli pilot to get the helicopter armed and functional. Sparks had the armaments for the AH-6M Little Bird in the hangar, which would be trucked to boat in Fort Lauderdale.
The list of arms included various combinations of 2x M260 FFAR 2.75” 7/12 Rocket Pods; 2x .50 caliber gun pods; 2x AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missiles and 2xM134 7.62mm mini guns.
Deadly Resonse (The Jake Stryker Series Book 1) Page 15