Soon the other Legionnaires, the CBII, and state and local law enforcement personnel arrived in the camp. Marcus ordered the prisoners and the intel cache to be transported to ASGuard HQ transported by helicopter. Personnel set about immediately transferring the prisoners and intel to the nearby helicopters. LTC Roman gathered the leaders of the other agencies and turned the camp over to them for further analysis and clean up.
Marcus made his initial report to General Roman over the comm system on the way back to the Armory. GEN Roman congratulated him on an excellent mission and updated him on the status of the attacks on the other camps. One had been captured much the same as the one the Legion tackled while the other was putting up a strong resistance. "We should have that camp under our control shortly, though," said the elder Roman. "See ya when you get home!"
Back at the Armory, Marcus ordered the Legion to get their vehicles and equipment resupplied, then get themselves cleaned up and get some chow. Marcus, his senior officers, and staff spent the better part of the night documenting the events of the day. Shortly before midnight, Marcus stepped into his quarters, stripped off his gear and uniform, and collapsed on his bed; asleep moments after his head hit the pillow.
***
June 7th
Omega Mining Compound
Northwestern, AZ
Rafiq Aswad entered the liquid transfer room. Once the door closed, he stepped over to where he had been standing when the watch fell from his pocket. Squatting down, he searched around and under the work bench. Suddenly, his gloved hand felt something hard in the puddle of liquid under the bench. His fingers closed around the object, pulled it from the puddle, and into the dim light provided by the bulb overhead.
It was his watch! Not wishing to waste another second, Rafiq stuck the timepiece in his pocket. He quickly set about the task of transferring liquid from another drum into another mobile tank. All too soon, one of his comrades pounded on the door telling him his time was up. Rafiq stowed the container, secured the drum, and shut the lid on the portable tank.
As he disrobed, Rafiq carefully palmed the gold watch in his bare hand to hide it from any prying eyes. As he removed his hazardous materials suit, he noticed a trail of liquid down his arm. In the shower, he carefully washed the unknown chemicals from his arm, hand, and precious watch. In the dressing room, he examined the watch for any damage. Surprisingly, he found none and it still ran. Shrugging his shoulders, he put the watch back on his wrist and finished dressing.
Across the compound, Mustafa Muhammad Al-Fakeeh stepped into Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al Zahrani's office. "Amir, the transfer of the liquid is proceeding well."
Al Zahrani smiled, which always reminded Al-Fakeeh of the appearance of a cobra preparing to strike. "Very good, Mustafa," said Al Zahrani. "I need you to go to Kingman the day after tomorrow to pick up more supplies. Take one of the young men along to assist you." Al Zahrani dismissed his lieutenant and returned his attention to the computer on his desk. He had been carefully encoding a message to his contact, the Cleric, in Iran.
***
June 9th
Kingman, AZ
Two days later, Mustafa Muhammad Al-Fakeeh and Rafiq Aswad were in Kingman, backing a cargo truck up to a loading dock at a large warehouse. With the help of one of the warehouse workers, Rafiq was successful in positioning the vehicle to be loaded with supplies.
"Remember," Al-Fakeeh said, "do not speak with the infidels if you can avoid it. If you must talk with them, keep your answers short and simple. You may lie to them, if necessary, otherwise remain silent."
The two men climbed out of the cab of the vehicle and walked back to the dock. The warehouse owner and manager, Dave Johnson, walked up to greet them. "Ah, Mr. Al-Fakeeh, welcome back! Your supplies have been palletized and are ready for us to load."
Al-Fakeeh smiled at Johnson and replied, "Thank you, Mr. Johnson! Allow us to open the doors for you. Rafiq, please assist me." Al-Fakeeh and Rafiq climbed up onto the dock and proceeded to open the twin doors to the truck's cargo space. Mr. Johnson noticed the glint of the expensive gold watch on the younger man's wrist as he unlocked the truck's cargo doors. Johnson shrugged and stepped over to a control box to activate the extendable ramp that would allow the forklift to drive from the dock into the truck's cargo area.
"Be right back," Johnson said before stepping into the warehouse through one of the roll-up cargo doors. He returned shortly and passed a clipboard to Al-Fakeeh, "Here's your cargo manifest, if you'd like to check things over. Bill Hansen will be bringing out the first pallet in a second."
True to Johnson's word, a forklift pulled up to the doorway leading out onto the dock. The driver beeped the vehicle's horn to warn of his approach. Johnson signaled his man to pause for a moment to allow the customer to look at the load before loading each pallet onto the cargo truck. Hansen wheeled his forklift onto the dock and stopped. Al-Fakeeh checked the manifest on the palletized cargo to the list on his clipboard, then smiled and waved Hansen into the vehicle. Once that pallet was in place, Hansen backed out of the truck onto the dock, spun the little vehicle around, and drove into the warehouse for the next load.
They repeated the process several times until the cargo truck was full. Al-Fakeeh waved his seemingly cheerful thanks to Hansen and shook hands with Johnson before signaling Rafiq to get in the vehicle. Once back in their vehicle, Al-Fakeeh told Rafiq, "You did very well, Rafiq." The younger man thanked him then put the vehicle in gear.
As they drove across the lot towards the gate, Rafiq had his left arm resting on the window sill of his door. The front left wheel of the truck hit a small pot hole and the truck bounced slightly. Rafiq felt the wristband of his watch strike the edge of the window sill. The damaged metal band broke and the watch slid from his wrist. Rafiq quickly hit the truck's brakes and brought the vehicle to a sudden halt.
"What is wrong, Rafiq?" Al-Fakeeh asked sharply, his mood changing dramatically. "Keep going or you will draw undo attention to us! Drive!"
Rafiq found he could not disobey Al-Fakeeh, even if it meant losing the wristwatch his father had given him. Rafiq drove on, stopping only at the gate to allow Al-Fakeeh to speak with the gate guard. Then the gate guard waved them through and Rafiq turned onto the road.
Later that morning, one of the warehouse employees walked up to Dave Johnson and handed him the watch. "Mr. Johnson, I found this out in the yard. Any idea who it belongs to?"
Johnson looked at the watch closely then replied, "Yeah, I think I do. The driver from the Omega Mine was wearing one just like this. Tell you what, give it to me and I'll give it back to him on their next visit." Johnson put the watch in his left trouser pocket. Better hold on to it myself, he thought. Wouldn't want anyone to take it from the office.
Chapter 6
June 11th
ASGuard HQ
Phoenix, AZ
The next few days passed peacefully across the State of Arizona. The prisoners captured by the ASGuard and their allies were slowly processed and the captured intel was being analyzed by top personnel at various state and federal agencies.
One morning, as Marcus stepped into the chow hall, his father waved him over to a table in one corner of the room. Major Bennett Garry and CBII agents Halsted and Caldwell were seated at the table with the general. Marcus waved back and went through the chow line quickly, selecting a light breakfast and orange juice to start his day.
After Marcus had taken his seat, General Roman said, "Great news, son! Your mother should arrive here tonight!"
"That is good news, sir!" said Marcus smiling. "Uh...she's not traveling in a commercial aircraft is she?"
Titus Roman shook his head. "Uh uh...as a representative to the new Constitutional Convention, she's a prime target and even with the current level of airline security, it's too dangerous. Ellie contracted a private airliner to bring her, the other delegates, and a number of other VIPs home. My team and I will pick her up at Goldwater International tonight."
Marcus br
eathed a sigh of relief. With an ASGuard Security team on the job, his mother should be safe enough. He turned his attention to Halsted and Caldwell. "So, you're going to perform this...DIHI...on the prisoners this morning?"
Caldwell's eyes narrowed upon hearing Marcus Roman use the nickname of the classified interrogation method. Caldwell looked over at Halsted who chose to ignore him. "Yes...we received full authorization to use the drug about an hour ago. We'll get started with the ones captured at the Old Capitol first. They should be blabbing everything they know to us soon."
The conversation turned to the list of questions that they wanted to ask the prisoners during the interrogation. Major Garry used his e-tablet to document the questions, then the group reorganized the sequence in which the questions would be asked. Before they could finish, a Sec Force sergeant stepped into the large open room, swept the room with his eyes, and moved swiftly towards their table. She stopped a couple of paces from General Roman and snapped to attention.
"Sir, SGT Foley reporting!" she said, "Dr. Williams compliments. He said to tell you and COL Halsted that the older prisoner is dying and that you should come to the Med Center quickly."
Titus, Halsted, Marcus, and the others bolted from their chairs with Foley racing to keep up. Moments later they entered the security bay of the Med Center to find Dr. Charles Williams drawing a sheet over the body of the now deceased prisoner.
General Roman stepped over to the doctor and asked, "Charlie, what happened?"
Williams finished with the sheet then turned to his commanding officer before replying. "General, I'm sorry but we couldn't save him, sir. His general physical condition apparently wasn't all that good prior to his injury."
Titus Roman's face softened. Williams was an excellent doctor and the ASGuard were fortunate to have him in the outfit. "Charlie, you and your personnel did your best! It just wasn't meant to be."
SAIC Ken Halsted of the Combined Bureau of Intelligence and Investigation stepped forward and asked, "Dr. Williams, did the prisoner say anything before he died?"
Williams nodded. "Yes, he did. It didn't make much sense. He mumbled something about 'rani' and 'ome' then he became unresponsive. We've had a recorder microphone on him since he arrived. I'll get you the recordings for you to review."
"Thank you, doctor," Halsted said. He followed Williams into another room then returned a few moments later with a flash drive containing the digital recordings.
General Roman looked at Halsted and said, "Well, there's nothing more we can do here. Let's get Caldwell over to the detention center and have him start working on the other two prisoners. Maybe we can get something from them. If not them, maybe the new captures...after you get clearance to DIHI them, as well." Halsted nodded to his old friend, stepped over to Caldwell, and gave him his orders. Caldwell promptly left the room and the Romans, Halsted, and Garry followed shortly thereafter.
While Caldwell made his way to the detention center, Marcus walked over to his battalion's offices and checked in with Major Thompson. The major reported that all personnel in Roman's Legion were 'cocked, locked, and ready to rock'. "Oh, there're a number of reports and requisition forms on your desk awaiting your signature, sir," said Thompson. Marcus stepped into his personal office. True to form, Thompson had left a neat stack of forms on Marcus' desk. Ten minutes later, Templeton walked in as Marcus finished signing the last form.
"A military unit would be nothing without its paperwork," Marcus grumbled to his old friend and top NCO. Templeton waited patiently as the young officer carefully organized the stack and set it to one side of his desk for Thompson to pick up later.
"So, Temp," said Marcus, "shall we head over to detention and watch Caldwell work his magic."
Templeton smiled and responded, "Sounds like a good idea, sir! We should keep an eye on him, so he doesn't go ape shit on the prisoners." As Marcus and Templeton walked through the outer office, Marcus told Thompson where they were heading and that he'd caught up on his paperwork.
They found Caldwell sitting in a darkened observation room watching the two prisoners through separate two-way mirrors set in one wall. The prisoners were handcuffed to tables in separate interrogation rooms beyond the mirrors. Both were staring at the mirrors in front of them; the one on the left glaring hatefully, the one on the right stared blankly.
"What's with this guy?" Marcus asked Caldwell, pointing at the blank faced prisoner.
"He's starting to feel the effects of the new drugs," replied Caldwell. The CBII agent opened a small case on the table before him and drew out a cylindrical device. "This is a hyposprayer. In this end, we insert a pressurized ampule with a pre-measured dose of the DIHI drugs. The drugs place the person being interrogated into a hypnotic/suggestive state. The drugs allows us to bypass their mental defenses. To activate the hyposprayer, we place this end against the person's neck and press this button. The drugs pass harmlessly through the person's skin and subdermal tissues and into their bloodstream. Within a couple minutes, we learn if either of them will have a negative reaction to the drugs..."
Templeton raised an eyebrow. "What kind of negative reaction?" he asked.
"A form of anaphylaxis...their air passages swell up, close off, and they die!" Caldwell answered. "Doesn't happen all that often."
"So you've already injected our glazy-eyed thug?" Templeton inquired.
Caldwell nodded. "I gave him his shot first. Both have made it past the reaction stage. The DIHI drugs should start working on this other guy any time now." True enough, that prisoner's eyes slowly widened, his facial muscles relaxed, and his breathing slowed. "There he goes!" said Caldwell. "A couple more minutes and we can start the interrogations."
General Titus Roman and CBII SAIC Kenneth Halsted chose that moment to step into the observation room. "Let's get to it, Caldwell," the senior spy told his younger counterpart. The two CBII agents left the room and soon each stepped into one of the interrogation rooms. They sat down across from their respective prisoners, activated video and sound recording devices, and began to ask their questions.
Slowly, carefully Halsted and Caldwell pulled information from their prisoners...their names, countries of origin, contacts within their organization, how they had entered the United States and Arizona, their missions, and so much more. The older, deceased prisoner had been a leader in their cell. No, they did not know who he reported to. Yes, they both had contacts in other cells in the event their leader and those above became compromised.
The two prisoners were assigned to the attack upon the Arizona Capitol. Others in their organization would attack several large malls, sports arenas, and other locations where large numbers of people assembled in Arizona's larger cities of Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Peoria, Tucson, Prescott, and Flagstaff. Throughout the interrogations, Halsted and Caldwell made occasional notes into secure laptops on the tables before them. After two straight hours of interrogating the prisoners, Halsted and Caldwell left the interrogation rooms to return to the observation room.
"Titus, I've already sent a copy of my notes and the recordings to your Intelligence Officer for transcription and review. I've also reported to the CBII to get word out to other agencies across the country. This can't be just a plot against Arizona alone...not with the level of activity they're talking about." Ken Halsted told his old friend. "Caldwell and I will continue the interrogations but I suggest you contact the governor and other Arizona state agencies and recommend that they go on high alert."
General Roman nodded grimly, clapped his old friend on the shoulder, and left the room. He pulled his comm unit from his pocket and contacted his aide, Major Garry. "Bennett, put the Armory and all ASGuard units across the state on full alert. Get the battle staff together for a priority meeting. Call the governor, give her my compliments, and ask her to meet me in my office ASAP. I'll be in there in a couple minutes."
While Halsted and Caldwell resumed the interrogations, Marcus and Templeton walked back across the quad towards their battal
ion offices in the Headquarters Building. As they walked outside, the two old friends took a few minutes to enjoy the peace and quiet of the morning. Neither knew how long that peace and quiet would last but they both suspected it wouldn't be long.
***
Part way to his office, LTC Marcus Roman stopped, pulled out his comm unit, and ordered the members of Roman's Legion to assemble in the vehicle parking area. Marcus and SGM Templeton altered their course and jogged over to the area where their battalion's vehicles were waiting. Upon their arrival, they heard Major Thompson order the troops to fall into formation then putting them at ease.
Marcus climbed atop one of the Strykers and faced his unit. "Folks, I called you together because we could be deployed again at any moment. We've got intel of some more possible terror attacks coming from Islamist Radicals. We don't know what, where, or when just yet."
A hand rose from a knot of ASGuard troopers. "Colonel, Private Jenna Richards, sir. I was just assigned to the 1st Tactical Battalion this morning. May I ask a question?" Marcus knew that Richards was not familiar with all of the protocols and history of the unit yet.
"Of course, Private Richards," said Marcus, "what is your question?"
"Sir, if these are Islamist Radicals; how did they get here in Arizona? And how can we be sure who the enemy is?" Richards asked.
Marcus chuckled as he answered, "Technically, that's two questions. Here's what we know. Many of these people may have entered the country as foreign students prior to the breakup of the old U.S. The immigration service didn't adequately track them if they over-stayed their visas and thus didn't return them to their home countries. Others, may have come here as immigrants or may be the children of immigrants. Failing to assimilate into the American culture, they became self-radicalized or actively sought out jihadist groups here and abroad. Muslim enclaves began to exist and grow in many states prior to the breakup. Still others came across the Southern Border. Before the Border Security System was completed, the Border Patrol frequently found a wide variety of items that had Middle Eastern or Muslim origins left in the desert along common border crossing routes." Marcus paused for a moment to let that sink in.
The Arizona State Guard Trilogy Page 22