The truck came to a stop at a lone house that sat in the middle of an expansive open area consisting of a mixture of sand and rock.
“Let’s go,” Johnson said.
The team climbed out of the back of the truck and entered the house. They found the stairs and headed downward into the basement. At one end of the basement there was a tunnel opening of four foot wide by seven foot tall. By the opening of the tunnel stood two SEALs from Johnson’s original unit. In the corner, there were three people tied up with cloth sacks over their heads and lying on their side.
“Any problem?” Johnson asked.
“No, sir,” said one of the SEALs. “They’re DEA agents, so we went kind of easy on them,” he said and smiled at Johnson. “We’ll make a call after the op and let their people know to come and get them.”
“Is everything ready?” Johnson asked.
“Yes, sir,” the other one replied. “There has been no activity from the listening devices in the tunnel.”
“Good.” Johnson said, as he gestured for Dimitri to come closer so as to hear the conversation. “One hour is the limit of this op,” Johnson said. “If we aren’t back in that time, blow the tunnel and activate the collars. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Understood,” Dimitri answered.
“Cover up, gentleman,” Johnson said, as he pulled on his mask. When all the men had covered up their faces, he continued, “The tunnel is about 1500 feet in length. I will lead and—”
“Lieutenant,” Dimitri said. “If I may suggest, one of us should go first in case there is any danger or booby traps.”
“Negative,” Johnson said curtly. “I lead.”
Dimitri eyed him warily but did not say anything.
“These might come in handy,” Johnson said, as he handed them night vision goggles.”
“They are not necessary,” Dimitri said. “We can see fine in the darkness.”
Johnson didn’t say anything but took the glasses back from them. He fastened his own pair around his neck. “Let’s go.”
They entered into the darkness of the tunnel. Johnson moved ahead cautiously as he observed and studied the green glowing areas of the heat from the rock structure. Stopping, he looked behind him and did not see his team. Suddenly he felt a cool hand on his shoulder.
“You will not see us in this state,” Dimitri said softly. “After we have fed, you will see an indication of body heat.”
“Right,” Johnson said as he remembered.
They continued on for several minutes, although it seemed like hours for Johnson, because he couldn’t see the enemy ahead of him or the vampires behind him. He wasn’t sure which to fear more. He touched the remote device in his web belt and felt some reassurance. The creatures could not harm him in any way without the device going off and ending their own lives.
“We are close,” he heard Dimitri whisper nearby him. “We can smell them.”
“Affirmative,” Johnson answered. He hated talking out loud, but Stone had limited the technical gear they could bring with them, which included their communication devices.
As they turned a corner in the tunnel, the first indications of artificial light and sounds of people reached Johnson. He felt a hand on his shoulder.
“There is some form of light beam ahead,” Dimitri whispered. “I can see it.”
“How the hell can you see—” Johnson began but then stopped as he remembered what Reese had said, superior vision as well as hearing. “Motion sensor.”
“It will not detect us,” Dimitri replied. “We give off no heat so there is no motion to detect. We should go first.”
“No,” Johnson said.
“Why are you so foolish?” Dimitri asked. “You put yourself in harm’s way for no reason.”
“I am in charge,” Johnson replied, as if those words were enough to explain his reason. Although Dimitri’s logic was correct, he felt the need to prove that he was in control of the operation. He also was aware of Dimitri’s ability with words and persuasion and he didn’t want any influence on how the operation would be run. “You will show me where the sensor is and I will step over it.”
Without waiting for an answer, Johnson stepped in front of Dimitri and motioned for them to fall in behind him. With Johnson in the lead, he continued on step by step, waiting for Dimitri to give him the signal that they had reached the motion sensor beam.
Suddenly an alarm sounded and high intensity lights lit the area. Johnson was blinded. He ripped his night vision goggles off of his face, but the sudden transition from the subtle green light of the night vision goggles to the intense bright halogens which now blazed directly at him left him helplessly blind. There were voices shouting, and then the sound of gunfire erupted. He heard the bullets and their telltale whine as they passed close to him. His immediate instinct told him to dive for the ground, but before he could act, he felt himself being thrown hard against the wall with such force that he blacked out.
When he opened his eyes again, it was quiet. There was a distinct smell around him—death. The air was heavy with the smell of gun powder mixed with sour sweat and blood. He rose to his knees, fighting the dizziness that accompanied his movement. He drew his Glock 9 mm pistol and took slow cautious steps forward.
Someone had turned the halogen lamps off. The illumination came from a string of light bulbs that hung from the ceiling at three-foot intervals. The cavernous corridor led to a large open area. He felt a breeze tickle his skin on his face indicating that an entrance was nearby, probably the staging area for the drugs that were to traverse from Mexico into the United States. A few more steps brought him to the open room, and that was when he saw the bodies piled in the center of the room. Dimitri and his men stood off to one side, their own clothing covered in blood. Dimitri, seeing him enter, approached Johnson.
“It’s over,” Dimitri said. “You were knocked out and I saw no other alternative but to continue the attack.”
“You deliberately pushed me into the wall,” Johnson said, the Glock still in his hand and pointed at Dimitri.
“You would have been killed,” Dimitri said simply, with his hands open in front of him. “If you die, then WE die as well. I cannot have that.”
“But you know nothing about tactics. That is why I am here,” Johnson said.
“You speak of tactics, but what you really mean is killing. We know how to do that. There were six men here when we found them and now there are six bodies. Is that not what you sought?”
“Yes,” Johnson answered. There was no point in arguing the obvious intent of this mission. “But the risk you placed yourself in—”
“My men and I were shot at least a dozen times each.” Dimitri showed him the bullet holes in his clothing. “But we are uninjured,” he said, as he pulled away part of the cloth to show the areas on his flesh beneath. “You would have been slaughtered.”
Johnson looked closely at the flesh, seeing only vague blemishes where there should have been tearing holes in the flesh from the bullets. He found their recuperative powers amazing.
“We were rather…vicious in our dealing with them, a result of the intentional starving. I hope you will suggest to General Stone that perhaps allowing us to feed a little prior to the mission would be beneficial.”
Johnson walked over and examined the bodies. They had been hideously torn apart and were extremely pale in coloring. It was obvious that their blood had been removed from the bodies. Johnson had been in numerous scenarios when men had to be killed; however, the sight of the pale and ripped apart bodies gave him a cold chill. It could not be completely attributed to the gruesomeness of the attack: one part was an admiration for the strength of these creatures to overcome the attackers without any help from a weapon or superior firepower—just brute killing rage.
“There are large bales in the adjoining room,” Dimitri said.
Johnson looked at him, glad that he would no longer have to look at the bodies.
“We assume thes
e are the drugs you spoke of earlier,” Dimitri asserted.
“Yes. Burn them, then let’s get the hell out of here.”
They proceeded back down the corridor. The lighting had been turned on and there was no need for Johnson to use his night vision device to see. Dimitri walked beside him. They didn’t speak until they neared the point they had entered the cavern.
“I would appreciate it if you did not mention to the general what happened,” Dimitri said. “It would make him…suspicious.”
Johnson stopped and faced Dimitri. “I won’t tell him under one condition,” Johnson said.
“And that is?” Dimitri asked.
“The next time we go on a mission, you do not go out of your way to keep me safe.”
“I do not understand you, Lieutenant,” Dimitri argued. “Why do you have this…death wish, when you can have us do it for you at no risk?”
“Life is about risk, Dimitri,” Johnson said. “If there is no risk involved, then there is no point in life. Now, do we have a deal?”
“I have much to learn about this new world and the people in it,” Dimitri said. “You are different then I was—your motivations—your feelings. You risk your life when you do not have to.”
“I asked if we have an understanding?” Johnson repeated the question.
“We have an understanding, Lieutenant,” Dimitri replied.
“There is to be no word about this op with Commander Reese. It was a training mission, nothing more. Is that understood?”
“I understand perfectly. We would not want to scare off our teacher. But doesn’t it make an interesting contrast?”
“What’s that?” Johnson asked.
“Commander Reese tries to understand me and my men, while I try and understand you.”
“Reese belongs in the past,” Johnson said. “He yearns for what once was instead of what he can have today.”
“Perhaps, but does he not have the past today with us? It is, how do you say, a perfect symmetry.”
“Maybe, but he blinds himself intentionally in order to live his dream,” Johnson said.
“Yes, perhaps you are correct in that regard,” Dimitri agreed. “But then, don’t we all blind ourselves to see what we want?”
Johnson did not respond.
Chapter Forty-eight
“We gutted them!” General Stone shouted at the debriefing. “They’ll stay on their own side for a while before thinking about coming back. They probably think the Columbians did it! DEA and the Mexican authorities can’t say anything because they don’t have a clue either. Goddamned! This is fucking perfect!”
Johnson and Scott sat on his left and right respectively, listening to the joyful ranting.
“No problems with the creatures?” he asked Johnson.
“No, sir,” Johnson replied. “They performed as well as we anticipated, considering the absence of any heavy weaponry. If there had been, we would have suffered casualties, given the tunnel entrance and the motion sensors.”
“Understood, Lieutenant,” Stone answered. “That is one of the main issues I want you to focus on with their training. They need to learn the intricacies of modern-day warfare.”
“Yes, sir,” Johnson answered. “I’ll see to it.”
“At least we know for sure what capability we have in the creatures,” Stone said. “Tell me, Lieutenant, did they seem to enjoy killing them?”
Johnson hesitated for a few seconds before answering. “Yes, sir, I believe they did. They had been starved for an extended period and that contributed significantly to their ferocity. Dimitri asked that you take that under advisement before any future missions. He seems to believe that what you seek would be better obtained if they had not been denied sustenance.”
“Dimitri has no idea what I want,” Stone said, with a wave of his hand. “What they did was exactly what I want on all missions. In the future, we shall follow the same protocol. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you ensure that Dimitri and his men understand that they are not to mention the operation to Reese?”
“Yes, sir,” Johnson said. “We have an understanding.”
“Good. Good. Now get to work, Lieutenant. In a few weeks, they get a real taste, no pun intended, of what they are going to be used for.”
* * * *
The schedule for the next couple of weeks became a set routine whereby Dimitri and his men spent their first six hours after waking with Johnson, learning tactics and the art of warfare in the twenty-first century. The vampires were excellent students. In the classroom, they were attentive and grasped concepts quickly and then applied them without any difficulty. They questioned nothing and excelled at anything they were asked to do.
Their demeanors, however, were distinctly different from each other. Andre and Iliga always sat silently and asked no questions unless something was directed specifically toward them. Dimitri remained the dominant member of the team; he asked probing questions of Johnson and consistently had him explain things in depth and provide examples.
After their time with Johnson, the next couple of hours were reserved for feeding and free time. After that period, they ended the night with Reese and their educational period on the new world. Their times together usually ended up in a philosophical debate before they finished for the night and the sun rose.
During this time, the relationship between Reese and Johnson remained cold and neither one spoke to the other unless required. Johnson appeared to be enthusiastic and energetic in his work with the creatures as they held classes, conducted exercises in the field and used mock demos of facilities to put into use what they were learning. The creatures were excellent students and learned exceptionally fast. Johnson could not have been more pleased and in further awe at their abilities.
“Your time is better than yesterday,” Johnson said to Dimitri, as he checked his stopwatch. They emerged from the mock set-up they had arranged within the facility.
“Once we learn the proper motion, we constantly improve upon it. It is our way. We always seek to become efficient in what we do. It is a physical and mental quality that we possess.” Dimitri explained.
“You never tire, do you?” Johnson asked.
“Not in the manner that you are accustomed to. It is only from a lack of sustenance, not from physical exertion.”
“It’s fascinating.” Johnson said, as he stared at Dimitri. He had seen men come off similar training courses and drop to their knees from the physical exertion. Dimitri was not sweating or even breathing heavy. “If we had more like you, we could end a lot of the problems in the world today.”
Dimitri laughed and then said, “I think you would have more problems rather than less, Lieutenant. We have been learning about the history of this new world in which we live. There are too many instances that contradict your assertion.”
“Such as?” Johnson asked.
“It becomes apparent that those who do not have something that the other side does will take extraordinary measures to attain it. If they cannot attain or duplicate it, the solution is to get something that is better than the other side has. This escalation is what gets out of hand and leads to more and more trouble. For example, look at your Cold War. It was a continuous period of two sides building immense military machines to be used against one another. Your history is full of such examples.”
“But that’s what it is all about,” Johnson asserted. “It’s always a question of who is stronger and that prevents any attempts if one side knows the other will counter with a superior force. Think of it as a political and military stalemate. It has always been that way and will always be.”
“And where will it all end?” Dimitri asked. “How much will be wasted on useless efforts of preparation for a war that never comes?”
“One power maintains its dominance through this superiority and by that dominance, keeps the peace.”
“Peace through threat of retaliation—not exactly what I would call a mutual p
eace. How can people work together for the better good when in reality nobody trusts anyone?”
“You make it sound impossible,” Johnson countered. “However, as you must realize through your studies, it works.”
“That would be debatable,” Dimitri said, with a disbelieving look on his face. “To live under constant fear is like not living at all. Besides, all indications would tend to support the fact that this is nothing different than having a global dictatorship.”
Johnson appeared to think this over before he answered. “I am a soldier, not a politician. I carry out the orders I am given and leave policies and procedures to the ambassadors and diplomats.”
“But even a soldier has a conscience, does he not? Does he not have thoughts and feelings towards the policy that his masters dictate?”
“If sacrifices must be made along the way to meet the overall objective, then that is acceptable.”
“And you believe this?”
“Of course I do,” Johnson answered.
“Then you are more dangerous than I and my men are,” Dimitri said. “We may be creatures of unfathomable life, but we possess individual thinking and reasoning that governs our own choices. We accept the consequences of our actions. Do you?”
“I do,” Johnson said. “I carry out my orders knowing that I am doing the right thing. I have no attack of conscience. I have pledged my life to protecting this country.”
“Ah, I am in the presence of a true patriot. That is very noble. So you are unlike Commander Reese then in that respect.”
“How so?” Johnson asked.
“He has reservations of what you are training us to be prepared to do. He, you could say, is having a bad attack of conscience.”
“That’s his problem, not ours,” Johnson said sternly. “We know exactly what we are doing, don’t we?”
“Of course,” Dimitri answered, eyeing Johnson warily as he observed the shift in his demeanor.
“You will get all the human blood you want and we get the removal of certain elements that do not agree with the position of this country. As the general said, ‘perfect symmetry.’”
Operation Page 25