Direct Action - 03

by Jack Murphy

  With the three of them combined, the oligarchs controlled an entire political dialectic in America. Through their media holdings and lobbyist firms, the left and the right ends of the spectrum were routinely played off each other for the gain of the three oligarchs. Ted, on the other hand, was firmly inside the defense establishment and had spent his entire professional life there since retiring as a commander in the Navy.

  But you couldn't run a fixed game in a free market, so these titans of the finance sector had to employ various tools to maintain their oligarchy. One of those tools was espionage. Another was direct action by mercenary soldiers. Lately, their hobby had been assassinating pro-democracy advocates in certain parts of the world. They encouraged the Arab Spring in places where they wanted regime change, like in Egypt or Libya, and suppressed it to maintain the status quo in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

  “I just heard back from my people,” Szabo said as he took his seat. “I had them test for some specific chemical markers.”

  The Biermann brothers looked on with identical expressions. Ted swallowed.

  “McCoy took a suicide pill. The type we issue to spies and assassins for deniable operations.”

  “Fuck me,” Ted gasped.

  Szabo ignored the foul language.

  “We'll just let the media continue to run with the story about the heart attack. Worked with Bill Colby back when. Might as well leave well enough alone.”

  “Was it Deckard?” Ted asked.

  “We don't know for sure. Our analysts are combing through some interesting metadata though. Nothing definitive yet but...”

  “But?” the older Biermann spoke up.

  “They are ninety percent sure that he survived Syria.”

  “Fuck,” Ted cursed again.

  Szabo looked at him disapprovingly.

  “The mission in Syria was an abject failure. As near as we can tell, Deckard was the only survivor. Somehow, he actually infiltrated Liquid Sky before Ted discovered that he was the one who did Area 14.”

  “We've also heard from our contacts,” the younger Biermann said.

  “In the Pentagon,” the older brother said finishing the other's sentence. “Chemical sensors picked up the detonation of one of the weapons. They think it was sub-surface and mostly contained.”

  “The other weapon is in possession of the Syrian government,” the younger brother picked up. “They are asking for some serious collateral if we want it back. This embarrassment is seriously limiting our kinetic options with the regime right now.”

  “This has the potential to turn into a real shit show,” Ted said. “We barely contained G3's role in Nevada and Mexico. Now we've got to contend with the Assad regime and Deckard on the loose.”

  “Not to mention controlled leaks from foreign intelligence services trying to thwart our plans,” The younger Biermann said.

  “A few nihilistic young people being manipulated by the FSB and MSS. Nothing we haven't handled in the past,” Szabo said as the server brought him his own bourbon. The young woman took all of their brunch orders. Once she left the room, Szabo continued the conversation.

  “Liquid Sky no longer exists. I want Cobra Gold pulled off the sabotage operation in Pakistan and Green Light taken off standby for Iran. Both teams need to be on Deckard full time until he is eliminated. The CIA has had him on a target deck for a while, but I know he has his fans at the Agency. That ends now. We start putting pressure on this issue from all sides.”

  “He also has an operation in Kazakhstan, with tacit approval from the country's government,” Ted said.

  Szabo looked at the Biermann brothers.

  “We'll handle it,” they said in unison. It was an annoying habit that the twins had.

  “I don't know how he has managed it and I don't care, but Deckard has compromised huge portions of our ongoing operations. The amount of damage he can still do is impossible to calculate,” Szabo lectured. “I want all resources re-tasked and dedicated to destroying him immediately.”

  “We're on the same page,” the older Biermann said.

  “Same here,” Ted confirmed.

  “Tomorrow morning I have a meeting with the director-”

  Szabo's words were cut off as they heard a loud thud outside in the hall.

  The four men turned as the door swung open. Deckard stood in the doorway. Walking inside, he pulled a chair from one of the other tables and sat himself with the oligarchs. None of them said a word. The Biermann brothers were literally speechless. Ted may or may not have defecated in his pants judging from the expression on his face. Szabo remained stoic.

  Deckard reached into the pocket of the black leather jacket he wore and pulled out four cellophane wrappers, each containing a tiny white pill inside. He tossed one onto each of their plates.

  “Same deal I gave McCoy. It is far better than any of you deserve.”

  “If we refuse?” Szabo taunted.

  Deckard shrugged.

  “Ask your bodyguards outside, if any of them can still talk.”

  Ted looked down at his suicide pill.

  “You've run out of moves. It's over,” Deckard said as he looked at the old man. “Take the pills. Go out with what ever sorry fucking excuse for dignity you have left. You're still pieces of shit, but your legacies are secure. Like McCoy, no one will ever know of the crimes that have been done in your names.”

  “Hey, listen,” Ted began. “You've got it all wrong-”

  “Shut up,” Szabo ordered.

  “Exactly,” Deckard agreed. “I'm sick of looking at your goddamn faces. Let's get this over with.”

  One by one the men sitting around the table opened the plastic wrapper, put the pills in their mouth, and then washed them down with their drinks.

  Deckard sat back in his chair and waited for them to die.

  Epilogue:

  The twin rotor blades on the CH-47 helicopter slowly, almost lazily, began to turn as the pilots cranked the engine.

  The forward operating base at Tarin Kot, Afghanistan was stirring, slowly at first, but more and more Multi-Cam clad Special Operations soldiers began to arrive at the airfield. They carried an assortment of weapons and kit but all Special Operations soldiers basically looked the same at this stage in the war. They had all worked together, shared tactics, shared experiences, and even shared grief when they lost their own.

  Although they wore almost identical uniforms and equipment, the tribes of Special Operations often spoke different languages. From Polish, to Italian, to Danish, they hailed from across the Western world. Perhaps the one thing they had in common was the belief that they were the only thing holding their societies together. Although they were not American, the tribe arriving at the airfield spoke English.

  One of the operators set his M4 carbine on the hood of the white land cruiser he had driven to the airfield while he readjusted the plate carrier he wore. His helmet also went on the hood. He wouldn't bother putting it on until they were ready to board the CH-47 Chinook. The Americans were prone to sarcastically calling it the shit-hook. His unit just called it the heli.

  The Special Operations soldier then snapped on his belt which had his pistol, extra magazines, and a few other tools of the trade on it. He slapped at the pouches, brushing off the fine layer of dust that was still there from the last mission. As he moved the belt around until it was comfortable, one of the younger soldiers in his unit approached.

  “Hey, mate,” the other operator began. “What's that on your belt there?”

  “Oh that?” he said, looking down at his hip.

  “Yeah, is that a hatchet?”

  “Yes, it is,” the older soldier responded. The hatchet was mounted horizontally on the side of his belt in a special sheath.

  “Why in the hell are you carrying a hatchet?”

  The operator shrugged. The rotor blades on the CH-47 were beginning to pick up speed. Soon they would get the call from the flight crew and they could then climb up the ramp and find a place to sit d
own inside. It was going to be another long night.

  “Did a rotation last year with the guys from Dam Neck,” he told the younger troop. They were both in the same squadron but did not know each other very well, not yet anyway. “Most of those boys carry hatchets. They have them specially made with their unit insignia on them and such.”

  “It looks pretty wicked mate.”

  “It does. They gave me this one as a parting gift at the end of the rotation. They are specially made for Dev Group. Do you want me to look into getting one for you?”

  “Yeah, I'd really appreciate that.”

  “Stick with me when we get out there then. I'll show you the right way to use one.”

  The younger Special Operations soldier nodded his head approvingly.

  “Will do,” he said. “Will do.”

  Final note from the author:

  Thanks for reading Direct Action. I'm sure that the graphic content in this book offended many readers, but I assure you that I did not write the book for shock value. I had reasons for writing the previous two Deckard novels, like wanting to write the ultimate action-adventure novel, or writing a novel that depicts modern day counter-terrorism operations. This book was different. I wrote this book as a message to a very specific group of people and to those who know what is going on but have been running top cover instead of putting a stop to it. I hope this book begins a dialog because not talking about the problem is not helping to solve it.

  Please consider reviewing this novel on Amazon.com if you have a moment. Your feedback is very helpful. Also, you can connect with me and my other work by following the links below.

  Website: www.Reflexivefire.com

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/JackMurphyAuthor

  Twitter: @JackMurphyRGR.com

  E-mail: Reflexivefire@yahoo.com

  Also by Jack Murphy:

  The PROMIS series:

  PROMIS: Vietnam

  PROMIS: Rhodesia

  PROMIS: South Africa

  PROMIS: Lebanon (forthcoming)

  The Deckard series:

  Reflexive Fire

  Target Deck

  Direct Action

  Non-Fiction

  US Special Forces: Weapons Report Card

  Benghazi: The Definitive Report

  Glossary:

  160th SOAR: Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Army helicopter unit which flies Special Operations missions, often delivering Special Operations soldiers to their targets.

  AAR: After Action Review. Soldiers typically conduct an AAR post-mission to evaluate what was done wrong and how to improve performance for the next mission.

  AK-103: An updated form of the AK-47 rifle that can be fitted with a variety of different optics.

  AK-47: Avtomat Kalashnikova-1947, following the standard Soviet weapons naming convention. Avtomat meaning the type of rifle: automatic. Kalashnikov comes from the last name of the inventor, Mikhail Kalashnikov and the year 1947 is when the rifle went into production. The AK-47 is the world's most ubiquitous battle rifle, having been used in virtually every conflict since the Cold War.

  An-125: Large Russian-made cargo airplane.

  AO: Area of Operations.

  APC: Armored Personnel Carrier.

  AQ: Al Qaeda.

  BW: Blackwater. A now defunct private security company.

  C-27J: Medium-sized military transport aircraft.

  C4: Composition Four plastic explosives.

  Carl Gustav: Recoiless rifle.

  CH-47: Twin rotor military transport helicopter.

  CI: Counter-Intelligence.

  SOP:Standard Operating Procedure

  CIA: Central Intelligence Agency

  CIF: Commander's In-Extremis Force

  CISEN: Mexican Intelligence Agency

  Commo: Communications

  CQB: Close Quarter Battle

  CYPRES: Emergency device on a Military parachute.

  DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

  Delta Force: US Army Counter-Terrorism unit. Also known as Combat Applications Group, Task Force Green, or simply The Unit.

  Dev Group: US Navy SEAL Counter-Terrorism unit. Also known as Task Force Blue, Naval Special Warfare Development Group, and more recently, TACDEVRON.

  DUI: Driving While Intoxicated.

  E&E: Escape and Evasion.

  ECT: Explosive Cutting Tape. A type of explosive used for breaching targets.

  EMP: Electro-Magnetic Pulse.

  EOD: Explosive Ordinance Disposal.

  Exfil: Exfiltrate.

  FDA: Food and Drug Administration

  FN-FAL: Belgium 7.62 rifle.

  FRP: Final Reference Point, used as a known point that can be paced off to help find a previously hidden cache.

  FSA: Free Syrian Army.

  FSB: Russian intelligence agency.

  G3 Communications: Fictional security firm.

  GPS: Global Positioning System.

  GROM: Polish Counter-Terrorism unit.

  Ground Branch: CIA para-military unit.

  GRS: Global Response Staff, CIA contractor that often escort and protect case officers in dangerous parts of the world.

  GSG-9: German police unit that conducts counter-terrorist operations.

  HAHO: High Altitude, High Opening.

  HALO: High Altitude, Low Opening.

  HERF: High-Energy Radio Frequency.

  HK 417: Heckler and Koch 7.62 gas piston operated rifle.

  HK USP: Series of Heckler and Koch pistols.

  HME: Home Made Explosives.

  HQ: Headquarters.

  HUMINT: Human Intelligence.

  IED: Improvised Explosive Device.

  Infil: Infiltrate.

  ISA: Intelligence Support Activity. A classified Army unit which collects intelligence information, often to support SEAL Team Six and Delta Force operations.

  ISU-90: US military enclosed pallet for transporting equipment.

  J2: Joint Staff Intelligence.

  JCET: Joint Combined Exchange Training.

  JPL: Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

  JSOC: Joint Special Operations Command.

  LED: light-emitting diode.

  Liquid Sky: Fictional mercenary strike force.

  LPC: Leather Personnel Carriers (ie: boots).

  M4: Standard issue US military rifle.

  MAC-10: Sub-Machine Gun.

  MC-5: HALO/HAHO military parachute.

  MEK: Iranian terrorist organization sponsored by the United States.

  MFF: Military Free Fall.

  Mk 48: A 7.62 machine gun that is smaller and lighter than the M240B.

  MO: Method of operation.

  MSS: Chinese intelligence agency.

  NASA: National Air and Space Association.

  NGO: Non-Governmental Organization.

  NODS: Night Optical Device.

  NPA: New People's Army.

  NSA: National Security Agency.

  OD: Olive Drab.

  OGA: Other Governmental Organizations such as Ground Branch or Global Response Staff.

  ONI: Office of Naval Intelligence.

  OP: Observation Point. A vantage point for snipers of reconnaissance troops to use to over watch enemy movements.

  OPB: Operational Preparation of the Battlefield.

  Operator: Soldier assigned to SEAL Team Six or Delta Force.

  OPSEC: Operational Security.