Читать книгу Armed Resistance - Don Pendleton - Страница 8

CHAPTER TWO

Stony Man Farm, Virginia

The help would come in the form of the five men who sat awaiting the arrival of Harold Brognola and Barbara Price.

Many briefings had occurred in the confines of the War Room, as well as a good many debriefings following more successful missions than any of those men cared to count. Their presence signaled the results of what just one man can do when he’s trying to make a difference. The covert unit at this table, Phoenix Force, had been born from the courage and bravery of the inimitable Mack Bolan. Bolan’s war started against the American Mafia but eventually broadened to a fight against worldwide terrorism.

Forged from the spirit and unswerving abilities of Mack “the Executioner” Bolan, the men of Phoenix Force had earned a reputation as one of the finest fighting units in the world. Not even the President of the United States and a good number of his predecessors knew their identities; that was a privilege reserved only for the select few whom this band of brothers trusted with their lives.

Leading the team of warriors was David McCarter, a fox-faced Briton who’d begun his career serving with the SAS. To his left sat Rafael Encizo, whose life had started as a prisoner in the death prisons of Fidel Castro. The lone Canadian was Gary Manning. A former explosives expert with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Manning had a penchant for hunting rifles and possessed uncanny knowledge of terrorist groups around the world.

The other two men of Phoenix Force were successors but no less effective in their own rights. Calvin James had been handpicked by the late leader of Phoenix Force, Yakov Katzenelenbogen. A former Navy SEAL and member of a Chicago P.D. SWAT team, James was a human force with which to be reckoned. Finally, the youngest and newest member of the group was Thomas Jefferson Hawkins. Hailing from the Lone Star State and known for his quick wit, Hawkins had served honorably with Delta Force until leaping at the opportunity to join his elite friends.

Together these men had battled and overcome the forces of evil around the globe under the guidance of the most covert special operations agency in the world: Stony Man.

The Phoenix Force warriors greeted the arrival of Brognola and Price with little fanfare. While nobody pointed out the fact the pair was fifteen minutes late for the briefing—something rather unusual for these particular individuals—there was no mistaking the air of anticipation in the room. It hung like an electrically charged cloud above the Phoenix Force warriors, and Hal Brognola, director of the Special Operations Group, immediately noticed it.

“I’m sorry we’re behind schedule but it was unavoidable,” Brognola said. “I know you’re itching for action so we’re going to keep this as short and sweet as possible.”

“As soon as you’re briefed,” Price said, “there’s a chopper waiting to take you to Andrews. Jack is there now doing the preflight so we’ll skip the ceremony.”

It seemed as if everyone simultaneously issued a sigh of relief. Not that they would have done anything other than sit patiently while Price laid it out for them in ever-arduous detail. The mission controller was cool and calm under the worst situations, often treating them in a very maternal fashion, although only because of her natural personality; she had no real desire to flutter around them like a mother hen.

“We’re sending all of the main details to your portable devices,” Price continued as she sat at the table and flipped a strand of the honey-blond hair behind her ear. “You can study those on the flight out.”

“Where are we headed, love?” McCarter asked.

“We’re sending you for several days of fun-filled adventure in Sudan,” Brognola said. “There’s a time factor involved here and I want to give you as much time as possible, hence the brevity of this particular meeting.”

“Here’s the short story,” Price said. “Four days ago, a CIA agent in Khartoum received communication from a man named Rahmad Kiir, the general and leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Contact with Kiir isn’t apparently that uncommon for the CIA, since they’re able to provide a considerable amount of information regarding activities inside the Sudanese government. Those activities are of course the real story about what’s happening and not merely the bull hooky they like to feed our embassy. To break it down succinctly, some of Kiir’s men were on a mission to rescue villagers who had been taken by members of the Lord’s Resistance Army.”

“Also known as the Lakwena,” Brognola interjected helpfully.

“I thought the LRA was practically obsolete these days,” T. J. Hawkins remarked.

“Hardly,” Manning said. “Even since al-Bashir was elected president, Sudan still hasn’t fully complied with the minimal standards for effective elimination of human trafficking. The situation has been complicated by a civil war between North and South Sudan, which the LRA has exploited.”

“That’s for sure,” Encizo added.

Price nodded. “Sudan is a source country for men, women and children trafficked internally for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. It’s also a transit and destination country for Ethiopian women who are sent abroad as domestic servants. The Lord’s Resistance Army is one of the chief entrepreneurs in this business and they harbor a good number of children from both Sudan and Uganda for forced labor, sex slavery and myriad other atrocities. Often they have integrated themselves with militia groups in Darfur and abduct young women and girls for every kind of perversion you can imagine.”

Calvin James made a show of cracking his knuckles and said, “Sounds just like the kind of group we specialize in eradicating.”

“While I’d love to tell you to go forth and conquer all, I’m afraid that there’s a significant U.S. interest in this,” Brognola said. “While some of General Kiir’s men were hitting this village, they killed a number of LRA terrorists who, as it turns out, were carrying military-grade weapons. Those weapons were stamped with markings naming them as property of the United States Army.”

“How do we know they’re real?” Manning asked.

“Oh, they’re real,” Price said. “The serial numbers have already been verified and we have positive photographic identification from our CIA contact. There’s just one problem and that’s where the President decided it was time to involve Phoenix Force. In fact, even Able Team is going to have a hand in this one.”

“I can already see I’m not going to like this,” McCarter said.

“You’re too ugly to live forever anyway,” Hawkins ribbed him.

As the men responded with laughter, Price dimmed the lights and directed their attention to the screen at one end of the War Room. The image of a young, good-looking man in a suit materialized and the room fell quiet.

“Here’s complication one,” Price said. “This is a case file photo from the dossier of one Jodi Leighton, a CIA case officer who up until two days ago was serving as General Kiir’s contact and feeding information back to his higher-ups in Washington. Now Leighton has disappeared along with the evidence recently given to him by Kiir’s men.”

“Before you ask and because I know you will, we have no idea what happened to Leighton,” Brognola said. “He’s just disappeared into thin air and his friend and contact who acts as liaison between him and Kiir has been unable to find out anything.”

“I hate to bring it up, but have we considered the possibility this chap’s gone rogue?” McCarter asked.

“It’s not an unfair question but our general feeling is that it’s not Leighton’s style,” Price said. “First of all, the guy didn’t have any reason to suddenly pack it in and split. If anything, his efforts here would have won him a commendation and possibly even a ticket out of that place. Naturally when a CIA officer comes into information of this nature it automatically puts him in a dangerous situation. The world of espionage is filled with double agents, deception and betrayal.”

“Okay, fine,” Encizo said. “But it’s also not unlike a CIA spook to simply walk away if they think their identity has been compromised. Six months later they turn up in the Bahamas wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a bad dye job.”

“That’s true, but we’re still not convinced that’s the case here,” Brognola said. “Tell them about Able Team, Barb.”

“And so complication two,” Price said. “A few hours ago we called Able Team off of vacation and sent them to Camp Shelby.”

“In Mississippi,” Hawkins said.

“That’s the place,” Brognola replied.

“As I mentioned before, we were able to trace the serial numbers of those weapons to determine their authenticity,” Price said. “But we were also able to determine the place of origin right on down to the actual armory from which they were stolen. The numbers fell on Camp Shelby and recently the chief Army officer who oversees the S1 facility there, a career supply man by the name of Colonel Jordan Scott, has no explanation.”

“Okay, I’m with you guys now,” Manning said. “This is no damn coincidence.”

“We thought you’d see it our way,” Price replied sweetly. “The fact is the appearance of these weapons in Sudan coupled with the disappearance of two high-ranking officials has the Man’s skin crawling. The President wants to see action and he wants to see it in the next twenty-four hours. Tops. We have a very short time to accomplish our mission objectives.”

“Which are?” McCarter asked.

“Your job is to meet up with Leighton’s contact in the Sudanese government,” Brognola said. “From there, he will take you to General Kiir’s team, who discovered the weapons. We’ve had a personal request from Kiir and that is to help them retrieve the some fifty women and children who were taken from this camp.”

“Begging your pardon here,” James said. “I’m not sure I understand why you’re sending us to rescue these Sudanese villagers. I mean, I have absolutely no problem doing this but it seems a departure from the normal mission objectives. We typically are asked to run away from the problems internal to countries, avoid any sort of press, as it were. Now you’re asking us to do just the opposite? Help me out here.”

“Well, first, we’ve obtained a lot of good information from General Kiir over the years and we’ve tried to support him every chance we get,” Price said. “Second, we believe that if you follow the trail of the Lord’s Resistance Army and find the people they’ve kidnapped, chances are good you will find Leighton, as well. Nothing else makes sense in lieu of the fact that these weapons were found on deceased members of the LRA.”

“Not to mention the fact that the Lord’s Resistance Army was categorized as a terrorist organization many years ago by U.S. authorities,” Brognola added. “If you can take a few of the bastards down while you’re at it, I’m sure nobody on this end of the world is going to lose much sleep.”

James nodded and with a firm tone replied, “That works for me.”

“I assume you’ll be coordinating our information with Ironman and friends?” Encizo asked, referring to Able Team’s hot-tempered leader, Carl Lyons.

“Absolutely,” Price said. “It will be the status quo and we’ll make sure any information they come upon will get into your hands ASAP.”

“And what about this Leighton bloke?” McCarter asked. “What happens if we find him dead or, dare I think about it, we don’t find him at all? I would think that will pretty much end the trail and kill any further chance of accomplishing mission objectives.”

“If you find him dead, then there’s a pretty good chance that whoever killed him will have left a trail,” Brognola said. “But even if they didn’t, the main objective is to retrieve the Sudanese hostages and get those weapons back. Failing that, see to it that they’re destroyed. If the United States Army can’t use them, we’re certainly not going to let a band of terrorists have their way with them.”

“The other thing to remember is that you won’t be able to trust a soul on this one,” Price said.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, love,” McCarter replied.

“We have to assume that nobody can be trusted with this outside of our own teams,” Brognola said. “Even if you find Leighton alive, until we get some answers from Colonel Scott and can verify the transshipment pipeline that allowed those weapons off the base, let alone out of the country, we have to assume there’s treachery on both sides.”

“One thing that stumps me is why we weren’t alerted earlier that these weapons had gone missing from the armory at Camp Shelby,” Hawkins said. “I mean, we’re talking about a massive installation, utterly secure with the largest Army reserve unit in the free world stationed there.”

“That’s part of what Able Team is going to be looking into,” Price said. “They’ll be carrying credentials identifying them as agents with the Army’s Criminal Intelligence Division.”

“That’s a new one,” Encizo observed.

Brognola said, “Since these are military weapons that have gone missing, this would normally fall into their purview. We knew if we sent them posing as members of Homeland Security or the FBI, there was a chance they’d get stonewalled out of the gate.”

“At least from this angle the sending of Army CID agents has the dubious distinction of looking like we’re trying to keep it inside the family, so to speak,” Hawkins observed.

“A very astute observation, T.J.,” Price said.

“My mom says I’m smart,” Hawkins replied with a cheesy grin.

“Any other questions?” Price said.

“Just one,” Manning said. “We know that the situation in Sudan is tumultuous at best. You told us that we basically can’t trust anybody over there. What other opposition could we expect to encounter beside that of the Lord’s Resistance Army?”

“I wish I had better news but the question is fair all the same,” Price said with a deep sigh. “The fact is you’re right, there has been an almost constant ethnic and rebel militia going up against some other ethnic and rebel militia since the 1960s. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have been forced out of the country and into the neighboring territories of Ethiopia, Kenya and the DRC. The Sudanese government army hasn’t had the resources to combat the widespread terror and violence in the country. These groups aren’t just fighting for food and water. In some cases they’re filled with religious fervor, as well.

“In fact, the larger part of General Kiir’s SPLA fighters are self-proclaimed Christians. They view themselves as men of God and feel it is their solemn duty to protect all citizens of the country. But there are many atrocities committed even among their own groups, something you would not consider all that uncommon in a country filled with this type of strife. Basically, outside of a handful of General Kiir’s men you are persona non grata and you will have to rely heavily on the skill of your Sudanese contact.”

“I’m surprised they’d even let us into the country,” James said.

“They wouldn’t and we never intended to bring you in that way,” Brognola replied. “Your contact will meet you at the Ugandan capital city of Kampala. You’ll fly in posing as oil barons, not an uncommon sight there by any means. He’ll then smuggle you over the border into the areas held secure by the SPLA, specifically General Kiir’s men.”

“Your contact is a man named Kumar,” Price said. “General Kiir has assured us that Kumar will conduct your safe passage both into and out of the country.”

“Remember, don’t take chances,” Brognola said. “If the situation gets out of control then do whatever you must to get out of the country alive. That’s your top priority if at any point things fall apart. Don’t get yourself killed over a few military weapons, men. It’s not worth it unless you gain ground and find that it’s worth it. Understood?”

The men nodded and mumbled an agreement.

“Then Godspeed, Phoenix Force,” Brognola said.