“I believe so, Sir,” West said with a nod.
“Yes, Sir,” Sanford said.
“Outline the mission and have a brief for me in the next seventy-two hours,” Olsen said. “Coordinate with however many other units you think it will take. West, you’re in charge of this and I’m leaving it up to you, but commit whatever force you think necessary to do it in a single strike. Dismissed.”
Chapter Two
May 26, 2013 - Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Lieutenant Mathis was in the communications room when the radio came to life with a call from Fort Bragg on the HAM radio.
“At some point,” Mathis thought, “I really need to tell the Colonel about those.”
The message was short and tersely worded. “Prepare for an attack,” the voice on the other end said, “within the next ninety-six hours.”
“We need to tell the Major,” Sergeant Yale said as he reached for the board that managed on-base communications.
“I’ll take care of it,” Lieutenant Mathis said.
Just then one of the on-base radios came to life and Yale was happy to let the Lieutenant take care of notifying the Major.
…
“Mathis,” Major Ben Franklin said as he caught up with him outside one of ammo dumps on base. “Any word from Lejeune or Bragg, or even Promised Land?” Mathis shook his head. “Nothing sir,” he said. “Not a peep. I’m sure they’re just as busy with the day-to-day as we are, though.”
Ben nodded and looked around as they passed one of the vehicle depots. “Where do we sit as far as getting some of this equipment spread out and deployed around the base,” he asked. “I don’t like keeping all my eggs in one basket, and leaving the bulk of our ground equipment consolidated at the depots is just bad tactics.”
“Understood, sir,” Mathis said. “We’ve emptied three of the other depots, and I’m working on getting these last two cleared out. We’ve only got so much time and manpower available to redeploy everything, though.” Shuffling the vehicles from one lot to another to keep Ben of his back had been a bigger pain than he’d anticipated when the Major had originally mentioned it. He was proud of the idea he’d had to put a number of their vehicles into maintenance to get them out of the depots and out of commission at the same time.
“Fair enough,” Ben said.
A couple of months after the power went out, Ben had begun questioning Mathis’s loyalty. Recently, however, Mathis had really stepped up and taken a lot off of Ben’s plate, freeing him from to focus on managing the day-to-day interaction between the base and the surrounding area.
“Keep me in the loop and let me know if you need anything,” Ben said.
“Yes, Sir,” Mathis replied.
…
Sergeant Yale hadn’t exactly been a model soldier before things went sideways with the power, but he’d learned quick enough to take his job seriously after that. Yale was disturbed that he hadn’t heard anything about preparing the base for an attack, or seen any activity that indicated the Major was taking the warning from Bragg seriously. His biggest beef before the power went out had been with Officers who felt the enlisted ranks were beneath them.
It had been two-and-a-half days since the transmission warning them to prepare for an attack; over half the time the warning had given them. He really didn’t have any ideas as to why the Major wasn’t doing anything, but it was obvious that nothing was being done and he felt it was his duty to find out how come.
After his shift, Yale headed down to speak with the Major, but pulled up short when he saw Mathis at the desk outside the Major’s office.
“Why isn’t the Lieutenant in his own office,” Yale wondered to himself, but decided it didn’t matter. He walked towards the office with the intention of knocking on the door directly instead of going through Mathis.
“Can I help you, Sergeant,” Mathis asked as Yale got closer, barring him from the office with the question.
“I need to speak with the Major, Sir,” Yale said.
Mathis frowned. “Is there something I can help you with,” he asked.
“No, Sir,” Yale said. “I’d like to speak with the Major.”
Mathis looked down at some papers on his desk and replied, “I don’t believe the Major has time to speak with you right now.”
“With all due respect, Sir,” Yale started to say.
“I said,” Mathis said as he looked back up from the desk, “the Major is busy.”
Yale had seen through the window in the Major’s office on the way by that he was in fact not too busy, in his opinion, to discuss why nothing was being done to prepare the base for an attack. He took a step back from the desk and craned his neck back towards the window to show he didn’t believe what he was being told.
“Yale,” Mathis said, “if I have to tell you one more time, I’ll bust you all the way to Private.”
“Sir, that won’t matter a hill of beans if we’re unprepared for an attack in the next couple of days,” Yale said.
Mathis narrowed his eyes and pulled the radio from his belt. “Security to the Major’s office,” he said. “NOW.”
Yale knew something was wrong and wasn’t going to go away quietly, but now time was short so he yelled for the Major.
Mathis came around the desk to confront Yale, but the Sergeant began walking to Ben’s door. Mathis had to take several steps to get in front of Yale and physically block him from going further.
“What is it,” Ben asked from his office and Mathis heard him get up from behind his desk.
“Nothing, Sir,” Mathis said. “I’ve got it under control.”
Yale disagreed and yelled around Mathis towards the office. “Sir,” he started, “why aren’t we…”
Yale’s voice cut off as Mathis did the only thing he could think of to shut the man up and hit him in the jaw.
While the blow had silenced Yale, his reaction was immediate and violent. This was exactly the kind of crap he had a problem with and he’d had enough. Yale launched himself at Mathis and the force of the impact took them both to the ground.
Mathis didn’t know what he’d expected, but being tackled by the Sergeant hadn’t been on the list. He was struggling to pull his sidearm while wrestling with the Sergeant and trading the occasional blows when Ben came out of his office.
“What is going on,” Ben snapped.
“This man,” Mathis started to say, but was temporarily silenced by a jab to the gut.
Just then the MPs arrived and Mathis was able to push Yale off of himself and stand up.
“Mathis,” Ben said, trying to keep his voice level. “Why were you brawling with Sergeant…Yale?”
“He wouldn’t let me,” Yale started to speak, but the MPs had arrived with their weapons drawn. When one of them raised the butt of their rifle to hit him, he shut his mouth with a click.
“It’s a long story,” Mathis said, hoping Ben would let it go for the time being.
“Yale,” Ben said, looking at the Sergeant. “Care to add anything?”
“I’ll take care of this,” Mathis interrupted.
“No,” Ben said, “you’ll let me talk to the man.”
“Sir,” Mathis started, but was interrupted by Ben asking Yale if he had anything to say.
“Why aren’t you doing anything to prepare for the attack,” Yale blurted out all at once.
“Excuse me,” Ben asked, suddenly tense and even more serious than he had been.
“I think I can explain,” Mathis said.
“If you interrupt me one more time,” Ben said to Mathis, “I may be tempted to pick up where Yale here left off. Not another word.”
Mathis glared daggers at Yale, but didn’t interrupt. Instead, he put his hands on his hips in a slightly rebellious pose which put his right hand next to the grip of his .45.
“We got a warning from Fort Bragg two days ago,” Yale said. “Prepare for an attack in the next ninety six hours.”
The MPs were behind Yale and to Mathis�
��s side at this point.
“Why wasn’t I informed,” Ben demanded, looking from Yale to Mathis and back again.
“Lieutenant Mathis was in the radio room when the call came in,” Yale said. “I said we needed to let you know and he,” Yale motioned to Mathis with his chin, “said he’d take care of it.”
Ben turned to glare at Mathis and was surprised to see one of the MPs reach out and grab Mathis’s right wrist. The other guard, trained to deal with the more immediate threat first, stepped to the side of Yale and leveled his rifle at Mathis.
“He was reaching for his sidearm, Sir,” the guard holding Mathis’s wrist said. “I have a feeling it wasn’t for Sergeant Yale, either.”
Ben gritted his teeth and then nodded to the MP who took the .45 out of Mathis’s holster, handed it to the Major, and then proceeded to put handcuffs on Mathis.
“Why,” Ben asked, not really expecting an answer. “What could he possibly be holding over you?”
“You know nothing,” Mathis said, “nothing.”
…
Mallory took the middle-of-the-night radio call from Ben in her office. “How’re things holding together up there,” she asked.
“I wish you’d asked me that a week ago,” Ben said. “It’s about to come completely unraveled. I was just informed that we got a warning call from Bragg almost three days ago.”
Mallory was stunned and couldn’t respond right away.
“The warning gave us a four-day window,” Ben said, “which is just about to close.”
“What happened,” Mallory said.
“My mole happened,” Ben said. “He has been running interference for the last couple of months and now he’s intercepting messages to me. We have a general plan in case an attack happens, but we’re really short on time now. We may be in trouble.”
“Is there anything I can do,” Mallory asked.
“Not right now,” Ben said, “and I have to get to evacuating and preparing the base. I just wanted to make sure you knew what was going on.”
“Let me know as soon as anything happens,” Mallory said. “Don’t keep me in the dark on this.”
“You’ll be the third person to find out,” Ben said.
...
May 27, 2013 - Fort Campbell, Kentucky
“We’re cutting this close,” the radar operator said.
“We’re operating on an imaginary timeline,” Ben said. “But we have to get as many people out of here as we can. We have no idea when they plan to hit us, or really from where. Has there been any more word from Bragg?”
The radio operator, Sergeant Yale, shook his head. “And Lejeune has been silent too,” he said.
Ben cursed. “Well, almost all of the heavy equipment left this morning,” Ben said, “and we’ve been going nonstop since then. Whatever happens, the Colonel is going to get quite a surprise when he finally gains control of the base.”
“I just wish we could get all of the civilians out of here in time,” he said.
“They’ve been leaving at almost the same rate we have,” one of the Sergeants who’d stepped up in Mathis’s absence said. “The ones that are sticking around either can’t leave, really don’t have much to offer the Colonel without the infrastructure we’re taking with us, or plan on going down in flames giving the Colonel hell.”
“I’m afraid of what the Colonel will do to them,” Ben said, “regardless of why they’re still here. A tyrant doesn’t care why you’re in his way; you’re just an obstacle that needs to be removed. These are all human beings, people we have sworn to protect and…we’re running out on them.”
“We’ll bloody his nose before we go,” the Sergeant said.
“And that’s why I worry,” Ben said, “that’s why I worry.”
…
May 27, 2013 - Staging Areas - Clarksville, Tennessee & Hopkinsville, Kentucky
“We are go for the final assault on Fort Campbell,” came the command over the radio. “Air support will be supplied by aviation units from the 3rd ID out of Hunter and Fort Stewart.
“Roger,” was the sole acknowledgement by all of the units involved.
“I really hoped it wouldn’t come to this,” Major Weaver from Fort Bragg said. “And I can’t even get a message to Ben at this point!” he thought.
…
May 27, 2013 - Elkton, Kentucky
Chief Warrant Officer Fourth Class Diego Hobbs kept his face expressionless, but he wanted to be anywhere rather than here. He’d been tapped, not as the battalion leader, but as the entire flight leader for this mission since his bird was mission-capable again. For a month he’d been “assisting” his mechanic and had managed to keep his bird from being mission ready. But two weeks ago, command finally told him to leave it to the guys who really knew what they were doing. Luckily, his mechanic had known exactly what Diego was doing, and made sure to take another week to “figure out what was wrong.”
“Now I’m back in the game,” Diego thought, “and I’m in charge. Curse the luck. Do or die time.”
“Buzzard Hawk flight,” came the controller over the radio, “begin thru-flight. Lift-off in twelve minutes.”
“Roger base,” Diego said, and then began his final pre-mission briefing.
“Communications check,” Diego said. “Coopers.”
“Check,” came the reply.
“Harris.”
“Go.”
“Flight channel check…”
Chapter Three
“We have contact,” the radar operator said. “Spotters saw the dust plumes just after we picked up radar contacts.”
Ben crossed himself.
“I didn’t know you were Catholic, Sir,” Yale said.
“Lapsed,” Ben said. “Beginning to think I need to spend a little more time at church on Sundays. How long have we got?”
“Assuming they want to soften us up first with Black Hawks,” the radar operator said, “and we’ll know that in about a minute from radar, fifteen minutes on the Hawks, and another ten minutes for the ground troops.”
Ben’s radio crackled to life. “Major, you have an incoming call from Colonel Olsen.”
“Put it through to this handset,” Ben said.
“Major Franklin,” Olsen said.
“Colonel,” Ben answered, allowing just the right amount of annoyance to creep into his voice. “May I ask just what in the hell is going on? I just got word that I have a number of inbound aircraft. Judging by their speed, I would assume they are helicopters. And I’m now being told that there are several incoming land vehicles, from the north and south. If I didn’t know better, I would think my base was under attack.”
“Major,” Olsen said, “I think you know very well what’s going to happen, and whether or not your base actually comes under attack is completely up to you.”
“Would you care to explain that, Colonel,” Ben asked.
“No more than I’m sure you would care to explain your lack of compliance with direct orders to subdue and disarm your local civilian population,” Olsen said.
“So, the gloves are completely off,” Ben thought.
“Yale, I want the rest of this exchange on the PA system and rebroadcast on every channel we have the ability to broadcast on, unless I tell you to sever it,” Ben said. “Everyone needs to hear this. I’m going inside so he doesn’t hear the feedback.
“In that case, Colonel,” Ben said, less than a minute later, “you won’t mind explaining yourself at all. I’m refusing to comply with the patently illegal and unconstitutional orders of an egomaniacal tin dictator with delusions of grandeur.”
Ben took a breath and checked to see if his handheld was still transmitting, which it was. He expected his radio to shut off at any second, but he was prepared for that. “Nothing in the mission statement of the US Army, or any branch of the military for that matter, gives you or I the right to do the things that have been outlined in your new ‘orders.’ The first thing we swear to, as both Officers and enlisted
soldiers, is to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. You are in direct violation of that oath, Colonel, and have become an enemy domestic.”
Ben was still transmitting, so he kept talking. “Colonel, stand down and turn your men around. Nobody needs to die today.”
Ben’s transmit light finally shut off and he put in the code to allow his handheld unit to continue to function now that his satellite link had been severed. The Colonel didn’t know he wasn’t in the radio room.
“Bravo, Major, very well spoken,” Olsen said. “I’m sure you spent quite some time on that little speech. Just so you know, it didn’t go out like you had hoped, though. I’m sure your people heard it like you wanted, but I had control of your radio board and it wasn’t retransmitted back to my people. Nice try, though.”
“Damn, maybe it got out on UHF and VHF,” Ben thought.
“Unfortunately, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Olsen said. “The Constitution hasn’t been our guiding document for almost a hundred years now, and the oath you speak of is just so many words. If anyone is going to stand down, it’s going to be you. Save your people and let us in, only a few people need to die today.”
“How can you say that,” Ben asked. “What do you mean it hasn’t been our guiding document? Honor is alive and well, and if the Oath means nothing to you, it still means something to hundreds of thousands of men and women who won’t let you destroy what they have sworn to protect.”
“Then this is on your head, Major,” Olsen said. “You’ve had your last chance.”
…
“…last chance.”
Diego switched to the private channel used by the flight for the mission.
“Battalion leaders,” Diego said in his typical cool, no-nonsense mission voice, “check in.”
After all of his leaders checked in, he asked the first of two questions.
“Did everyone copy the last transmission,” he asked.
All of his leaders answered in the affirmative and even though they tried to play it as cool as Diego, there was some heat in the one-word answers.
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