by Tom Carroll
Colt started to dress for the day — khaki slacks, light blue button-down shirt, brown oxford shoes — his default choice for business casual attire when he didn’t want to put too much thought into it. While tying his shoes, Colt let his mind wander to another thing President Kim had said at the end of yesterday’s meeting: “I’ve given you everything I can.” What did he mean by that? Kim denied the weapons are in South Korea and had abruptly ended the meeting, but he had given me nothing . . . except for that tour book.
Colt quickly crossed the cabin to the table where he had placed his gift from President Kim. It was a small, pretty standard, paperback book titled A Westerner’s Guide to South Korea. Picking it up, Colt noticed that a tiny section of one page had been folded over in the middle of the book. He sat down on the edge of a chair and opened the book to the folded page. It marked the beginning of a chapter on Ulleungdo Island.
O3 Level Fitness Room, the Reagan
Although Jen Abrams hoped that her warning to Lieutenant Commander Bryant was sufficient to end his harassment of Rebecca Clarke, she decided the only sure way to protect the young woman was to be in the gym whenever Rebecca worked out. The two female officers had agreed to meet before breakfast and get in a workout together before the day began.
When Jen entered the gym, she saw that Rebecca had already arrived and was working on her pectoral and anterior deltoid muscles with the Machine Fly. Watching her perform the seated exercise prompted Jen to reflect on her own physical condition. She was fifteen years older than the attractive, young ensign, and gravity had started taking its toll. Jen thought it was unfair that men’s looks seemed to improve with age, while women waged a never-ending battle to reverse the effects of time. Despite her nightly ritual of costly creams and special serums — all intended to halt the effects of aging — Jen still saw a middle-aged woman in the mirror, looking back at her with sad eyes and a worsening complexion.
Jen seated herself on the Lat Pull/Low Row machine to work on her back, which had recently begun bothering her. She blamed the pain on having to sit most of the day at a desk while reading message traffic, and she had considered ordering a standing desk to help with the problem. While resting between sets, Jen looked over and saw that Rebecca had also taken a break.
“How have you been, Rebecca?” asked Jen.
“Great, Commander. Hey, I really appreciated your talking with me the other day. I just wanted to thank you again for that.”
“Any more issues since then?”
“No, ma’am.” Rebecca paused to look around the gym before going on, “Since we talked, I’ve had no issues at all. Did you speak with him?”
Jen looked around to ensure that nobody was within earshot and paying attention to the two women.
“I did have a conversation with him about you. I said I’d been approached by a few others who had observed him harassing you on several occasions. Although I didn’t demand a confession, I made it clear that this kind of behavior would put his career in jeopardy, and that if he continued, I would file an official complaint. I’m fairly certain you won’t be bothered by him anymore.”
Rebecca was obviously relieved. She let out a sigh and said, “Thank you, Commander! You honestly don’t know how grateful I am for your help.” Rebecca stood up and walked over to the seated bench press machine, while Jen finished her third set and then shifted to the Fly Machine vacated by Rebecca. Jen added twenty more pounds of resistance and began a three-set exercise. She enjoyed helping the young woman and thought perhaps she had made a new friend on board — something she hadn’t anticipated.
Defense Secretary Cabin, the Reagan
Lenny came into his boss’s cabin to find the secretary seated at the conference table looking at the guidebook he had been given yesterday by President Kim.
“What can I do for you, sir?” he asked as he pulled up a chair for himself.
“Lenny, I think I might have an idea of where those stolen warheads are. So, I want to walk through my reasoning with you to see if you can poke any holes in my theory.”
“I’m all ears,” Wilson responded, clearly curious to hear Colt’s idea.
Colt proceeded to explain how he had arrived at his hypothesis that the warheads could be hidden on Ulleungdo Island. He added that he was considering tasking the SISTINE BEACON system to search the island before the rest of South Korea.
“Well, what do you think?” he asked Lenny.
“I’m not sure, sir, it seems weak to me. You’re assuming that President Kim actually wants us to find the warheads. You’re also assuming he purposely gave you a tour book containing a clue to the warheads’ location, and which has led you to conclude the warheads are on the remote island of Ulleungdo. If we had any kind of corroborating intelligence, that would be one thing. But to base the entire hypothesis on a single, tiny fold in a paperback book, is a stretch, in my opinion.”
“I know,” Colt agreed, “but my gut is telling me we have something here. It’s the only thing I can come up with that explains yesterday’s meeting in Seoul and some of the weird things Kim said.”
Colt could tell by the look on Lenny’s face that he wasn’t convinced. He reminded himself that Lenny’s background was policy and politics rather than intelligence analysis. Colt hadn’t assumed anything. He felt he had logically worked the problem and had developed a plausible explanation. He was just going to have to trust his own interpretation of the events to drive the next steps.
“Lenny, I appreciate your candid feedback. Your view makes you the perfect person to write this up as a brief for Steve Holmes and our team at the Pentagon. For right now, I’ve been asked by Commander Robinson to come to Ready Room 4 and watch a holiday video some of the families made for the squadron. Get a conference call set up with Steve and the team for noon, our time, to see what they think. That should give you enough time to put the brief together and get it to Steve so they can be prepared for the call.”
Lenny left his boss looking at the tour book as he made his way to the new defense secretary operations room. He just wasn’t sure about Colt’s Ulleungdo Island theory, and he was concerned that Steve Holmes and the other senior DOD executives would be similarly skeptical. He knew that the Ulleungdo Island idea was a very long shot, and the right political move would be to continue the search as planned. He was certain about one thing, however. Once Colt Garrett became convinced about something, there were few people who could change his mind.
Ready Room 4, the Reagan
The holiday season is a difficult time for those deployed at sea. On the one hand, you’re thinking of those at home and how they miss you. On the other hand, you’re being reminded of what you are missing.
Colt Garrett sat in the front row of Ready Room 4, watching the squadron’s holiday video as it played on the large screen secured to the room’s forward bulkhead. Produced by the skipper’s wife, the video included several short video clips submitted by squadron family members and friends back home on Whidbey Island. Even though access to the Internet provides Sailors with plenty of opportunities to video chat with their families, the holiday video is a decades-long Navy tradition, and traditions were important when people were separated from their families at Christmas. The annual video productions started many years ago with simple clips of family and friends in front of a decorated Christmas tree, but in recent years the videos have evolved into a major competition between families to see who can create the most unusual or hilarious message. This year’s edition started with a shot of Katrina Pierce’s husband Gene in his woodworking shop, ripping a long pine plank on his table saw. An accomplished woodworker, Gene prided himself on following safety precautions, and so the entire ready room was shocked to watch him slip and run his right hand directly into the blade of the 10-inch saw. Katrina screamed as endless spurts of blood coated the table saw and the shop floor with red, while Gene stumbled and fell against the wall. Just then, the camera zoomed into a closeup of Gene’s face as he smiled and said, “Just
kidding, HURRICANE! I love you! Merry Christmas!” The ready room exploded with laughter as Katrina attempted to regain her composure.
“Wow, that was impressive, Katrina!” Dan Garrett teased. “You must want to kill him!”
Once Katrina had caught her breath again, she answered, “Oh, he’s already dead. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
The next video was of three young women performing a karaoke version of Taylor Swift’s, Shake It Off, singing the same song in numerous bars around Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island’s main town. The women were dating three of the squadron’s NFO. In each scene, they changed their clothes into skimpier and more provocative attire. The ready room once again roared as the women danced and flirted with the men in the bars, with the clear intent of making certain their boyfriends in the squadron knew what they were missing this holiday season.
Colt turned to the skipper and chuckled, “Hey, Commander, good luck keeping those men focused on flying!”
Commander Tom Robinson replied, “It’s already difficult enough! It’s a good thing we’ll be standing down from flight ops this week. It’ll let people take a bit of a break and think about home.”
While Colt thought it unlikely that there would be a break from operations, he decided that news could wait until he knew more.
The next video was of a young woman who was obviously very pregnant. Her message for her deployed husband was simple. “David, I miss you, and so does our baby. Come home to us soon!”
The holiday video continued with a series of ordinary, heartfelt “we miss you” messages, although they were anything but ordinary to the Sailors they were meant for. The next video was recorded in a location very familiar to Colt and Dan — their living room in Olympia. On the sofa sat Colt’s wife, Linda, his daughter, Alexandra, and Alexandra’s husband, Kyle, who was holding their cat, Uncle Rico.
Linda Garrett smiled and said, “Dan and Colt, we love you, and we miss you! We wish we could be with you this Christmas. And congratulations, Colt, on your appointment as secretary of defense! We know you’ll do an amazing job.”
“And Danny, don’t worry,” Alexandra Garrett added. “I’m recording all your favorite chick flicks, so you will have hours and hours of romantic comedies to watch when you return!”
Several items were hurled at Dan as his squadron mates howled at his expense. Suddenly, Uncle Rico decided he had had enough and tore his way clear from Kyle’s grip, scratching both Alexandra and Kyle in the process. The unplanned scene ended with the Garrett family scattering and leaving the living room.
The final family video was of a young woman holding a cute little toddler on her lap wearing pigtails with pink ribbons. “Hi, Rick,” the young mom said. “Heather has a question for you.”
The camera zoomed in close to little Heather, who asked sweetly, “Daddy, do you still remember me?”
Lieutenant Commander Rick Becker’s eyes teared up as a chorus of voices went, “Aww,” causing the mood in the room to come down considerably. The squadron duty officer turned off the display screen, and the lights in the Ready Room were turned back on.
Commander Robinson stood and commented, “That’s what happens with these videos. Sometimes they make us feel better, and sometimes they make us feel worse. But today, we have something else very special to do. Mr. Secretary,” he said, facing Colt. “Would you join me up here, please?”
Taken a bit by surprise, Colt stood to join Commander Robinson at the front of the Ready Room.
“Sir,” Robinson began, “we’re very proud to know that a fellow Scorpion is leading the DOD, but we’re also a bit embarrassed that you seem to be out of uniform. Dan, can you help me out?”
Dan Garrett rose and stepped forward and proudly handed his father a Navy issue brown leather flight jacket. Colt noticed a leather nameplate had been sewn on the front, with a gold embossed Surface Warfare Officer insignia. Under it were the words, “Colton Garrett, SECDEF.”
Commander Robinson continued, “Sir, while it is a bit unusual for a Black Shoe to have a flight jacket, we figured there is only one person who would dare complain, and he’s probably too busy being president to worry about Navy uniform regulations!”
The officers in the ready room stood up in unison and applauded as Dan helped Colt put the jacket on.
“Thank you, Commander!” Colt said. “I really appreciate this! Now, if I could just get a ride in one of your Growlers!”
Commander Robinson looked at Dan Garrett standing next to his father, and an idea began to form in his mind. He’d need to check with the Air Wing Commander, but the chance to get the secretary of defense a hop in a Growler was too good an opportunity to pass up.
Secure Video Conference Room, the Reagan
The secretary of defense and his special assistant sat at a conference table as Anna DeSantis stood in her spot by the door. They waited for the secure video link with the Pentagon to sync. The display screen momentarily flashed and then revealed the faces of Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Holmes, JCS Chairman General David Schmidt, and CIA Director Michelle Walker.
Steve Holmes spoke first. “Good morning, Mr. Secretary. Can you hear us okay?”
“Yes, Steve, five-by-five. So, what did you think of the brief that Lenny sent you earlier this morning?”
Steve Holmes looked at his colleagues in the room with him and then into the video camera. “To be honest, Mr. Secretary, it seems like a long shot to us. Both the CIA and JCS agree that your scenario is based on too many assumptions. Also, it isn’t supported by any other intelligence we have. We agree that President Kim’s comments were cryptic, and the tour book with one page folded down was interesting. But the thinking here in the building and at Langley as well is that we should continue with the prioritized search of mainland South Korea with SISTINE BEACON we started yesterday unless we get something more solid. We do not believe that shifting SISTINE BEACON to Ulleungdo is the best course of action, and frankly, we’re afraid it would be a waste of time and effort.”
CIA Director Michelle Walker continued, “Mr. Secretary, my team strongly supports continuing the SISTINE BEACON search of the prioritized locations list we have developed with the Joint Staff. We’ve even run the decision through our system analytics, and the result is in agreement with our conclusion. We don’t believe we should shift the search to the island at this time. I have our country people looking into Ulleungdo and what the South Koreans have been doing there. So far, it all looks pretty benign.”
Colt could tell how the wind was blowing. The smart money was on working the problem in an ordered manner and not on chasing wild guesses.
“General,” he said to the JCS chairman, “you’ve been quiet so far. What do you think?”
The highly decorated general looked down at his notes and then into the video camera.
“Mr. Secretary,” he said, “I have to admit I’m in complete agreement with what’s been said here. The DIA agrees with the CIA and the Joint Staff that the smartest move is to keep SISTINE BEACON searching the peninsula unless we get hard evidence to the contrary. If we get some other strong indication that we’re going about the search in the wrong way, we’ll shift our efforts. I understand that you personally feel strongly about Ulleungdo, but it’s been my experience that the experts should be allowed to make these types of decisions.”
This was the first time since being appointed secretary that Colt questioned whether he was suited to the challenge of the job. Perhaps these three were all correct. Even Lenny didn’t buy his Ulleungdo Island theory. Colt had to agree it was thin and that conventional wisdom favored the more measured approach of a systematic search of South Korea. And yet . . .
“I want to be very clear on this,” Colt said. “You are strongly advising that SISTINE BEACON continue its search as currently tasked unless something changes. Do I have that correct?”
The three senior government officials simultaneously nodded and said, “Yes.”
Colt made a few notes on the pad o
f paper before him, then looking back into the camera, he continued. “General, you say the experts should be allowed to make these types of decisions. In my experience, the experts make recommendations, but commanders make the decisions. Are we clear, General?”
The four-star general was immediately reminded of when he was reprimanded by an upperclassman as a new cadet at West Point. He straightened his back and looked squarely into the camera. “Crystal clear, Mr. Secretary.”
Colt referred once more to the notes in front of him. “Ulleungdo Island is only 28 square miles,” he stated. “SISTINE BEACON could completely search the island in fewer than 15 hours. I understand that you three disagree, and I’ve made a note to that effect for the record. I’ve decided to shift the tasking. If I’m wrong, you will all be covered. General Schmidt, have the Joint Staff issue the appropriate orders, and inform me the moment Ulleungdo is being searched.”
General Schmidt opened his mouth to say something, but instead answered, “Yes, sir!”
“Director Walker,” Colt continued, “thank you very much for the CIA’s assessment and recommendation, but this is a Defense decision. I’m asking the Agency to stand up a team to gather everything you can on Ulleungdo Island, and I mean everything. I assume you have the resources to do that, Michelle?”
“Yes, Mr. Secretary. Of course. And will you will inform the president of the new tasking?”
“I will. Steve, hang on for a moment when we’re done; I’d like to cover a few more things with you.”
The general and the CIA director promptly exited the Pentagon conference room and walked down the long corridor together.
“Well, that was interesting,” commented Director Walker. “I can see he isn’t afraid to make a decision!”
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff stopped walking and turned to Director Walker. “I think we know who’s running the department of defense. I hope he knows what he’s doing!”
Back in the Pentagon conference room, Steve Holmes again looked directly into the video camera.