by K M Dean
After listening to everything Damian had to say, Rothschild said, “Damian, stand by, Admiral Miller needs to hear this.”
Shortly Admiral Miller came on the radio and Damian repeated the information.
Miller said, “Damian, this is critical. You need to mount a rescue. We must make certain those people are safe. As long as the Justices know their loved ones are safe they can make a ruling based in the law rather than being coerced by Hawthorne. And timing is everything, if Hawthorne gets wind of the rescue he will have the hostages dispatched and have the Colgorane troops on the ground within twelve hours. We are certain they are just waiting in the outer system.”
“Damian, you know Gunnery Sergeant Adam Scott, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do Admiral,” replied Damian.
Admiral Miller said, “I will be talking to him shortly, and you can expect a call from him by morning. Use him and his people. It is imperative that we stop this. And maybe discredit Hawthorne. I don’t know what we are going to do about the Colgorane Troops. The Federation has denied every request I have made to take the fleet in and protect Earth, but that’s my problem. You take care of this hostage situation.”
“Alright Admiral, we will handle it sir.”
After hanging up, Admiral Miller dialed a number he had committed to memory. The phone was answered with “This is Gunny”.
“Gunny, do you know who this is?”
“Yes, I do, what can I do for you?”
Admiral Miller said, “Gunny, did you and your people receive the new order advising you that you are released from active duty effective immediately?”
“Yes, we did, but just so I know. We are free to pursue any activities we like? No limitations?”
“That is correct Gunny. You are officially detached from service. We will give you ample notice about when or if you will be recalled.”
“Thank you, sir, some friends and I had planned some activities and we wanted to be sure they didn’t interfere with anything.”
“Gunny, I would like to have you contact a friend of mine at World travel. His name is Damian. I think you may know him. They have some activities planned that could keep you and your buddies busy for a while. In fact, do it now. I am certain his planned activities are going to be much more interesting than anything else you had planned. Here is his number.”
After hanging up the phone, Gunny dialed the number Admiral Miller had given him. It was answered with an upbeat voice saying, “Hello, how can I help you?”
Gunny replied,” Hey Damian, this is Adam Scott. I just talked to my boss, and it is official, we have been laid off for the time being, so we are free to pursue other activities.”
“Good deal Adam. Your call came just in time. We are having a special planning meeting, for the more adventurous among you. The meeting is at seven o’clock tomorrow night. We are meeting at the same park we have used before. Do you remember it?”
“I do remember it, great place” replied Gunny. “My friends and I will see you tomorrow night.”
The following evening Gunnery Sergeant Adam Scott, and six members of his team arrived at the site. Wave hill park near the Gazebo in Wild Garden, New York City.
In addition to Gunny Scott, there was Sergeant Aaron “dead head” Tierney, Corporal Augie “Joker” Hanson, Private Wiley “coyote” Preston, Private Andy “big bird” Robin, Private Richard “Dog” Barker, and Private Ernesto “Taco” Grande.
Although dressed in civvies, it was virtually impossible to hide the fact that these young men were in extremely good condition. They were, in fact, all ex-navy seals. Now detached SOL/FED Marines with the Nanno-bot infusion augmentation all SOL/FED Marines receive. They were stronger and faster than even Seals, and with their temporal com units, able to communicate silently and instantly.
As usual the first to sound off was “Coyote”. He said, “if I had known we were coming to a garden I would have brought my tea set.”
“You gotta tea set Coyote? I’m surprised you know how to spell tea.” Responded “Dog” Barker.
“Yeah ‘Dog’, maybe he means his T-equila set.” chimed in “Taco”.
“Hey” responded Coyote, “I got both”.
Corporal “Joker” Hanson broke in and said, “Listen up guys, cut the bullshit, we have some serious stuff going on tonight so knock it off.” Just then Gunny Scott strode up with a Damian Thompson and everyone got serious.
“Dead Head”, is the perimeter secure?”
“Yes Gunny “, replied Sergeant Tierney, “and I have drones up, so we will have warning of any intrusion.”
“Thanks, Dead head.”
“Gentlemen, this is a Damian. You can all introduce yourselves later. He has some information for us. Listen to what he has to say, and we can kick around how we want to handle it after he finishes. Damian, tell us what you have.”
Damian filled the team in on current information available from his network. He said, “we can’t do anything about the Colgorane troops that are coming, but we can do something to short circuit Lucas Hawthorne’s plans with the Supreme Court.”
“He has kidnapped the primary families of the Supreme Court Justices and is holding them hostage until the Supreme Court validates his illegal coup. We need to free those captives and let the Judges declare Hawthorne the traitorous piece of crap that he is.”
“This means we could be going up against some pretty tough mercenaries.”
“Just remember, they have chosen sides and it isn’t with the American people. This is strictly a volunteer gig. It is almost certainly going to get ugly. Your Country, Hell, the entire world needs you, what do you say?”
First to chime in was “Joker.” In a marine marching cadence, he said, “I don’t want to take a pass, let’s go kick some turncoat ass.”
The rest of the team chimed in with “hell yes, let’s do it, and gonna be some serious ass kickin goin on.”
Gunny Scott said, “I’ll take that as a yes. What do we need to do Damian?”
Damian said, “The hostages are being held at a site on the south-east corner of the old Loring Airforce base in Maine. The civilian agency that controls it has no knowledge of the secure location. It is maintained by a shell corporation named Preuzeti Assemblage that is linked to one of Hawthorne’s big money supporters. The hostages are being held in a building that is like an OCS barracks. There are several rooms and the prisoners are segregated by family.”
“There are twenty-one guards plus a couple of REMF’s that seem to be running the show. They are housed in a facility roughly sixty yards away. In the guard’s barracks, there is a main entry. And a rear entry. All windows are high and too small for egress. There is no way to completely block the exits from the barracks, but those are the only exits so we only have the two to contend with.”
“We will need two teams. Before the second team can take out the guard barracks we must neutralize the four perimeter guards. They walk their assigned side of the fence and meet at the corners. Guard change is at ten pm, six am and two pm. We will need to take all four of them in the middle of their side of the fence at the same time.”
“It must be done silently. We also need to keep the loss of life to a minimum. The Preuzeti Assemblage can cover up two or three deaths, but we can’t just take out the entire bunch. Even if we wanted to.”
Gunny said, “we could take out the four perimeter guards and replace them with our own. We don’t need to kill them, just disable them. Once that is done, and our own people are walking the perimeter, we can disable the guards in the reserve barracks.”
Damian said, “I have some new sleepy juice the guys in our labs put together. I have both injectable and free gas canisters. I also have tranquillizer guns with a temporary sedative. If you use the tranq guns, you will still have to inject the happy gas. The tranq gun tranquilizer is only good for about half an hour.”
“Based on the square footage of the guard quarters it will take four canisters of the gas to take care of
the guys in the barracks. The bad guys will sleep soundly for at least twenty-four hours. And yes, it does get messy, but that is their problem. We just need to decide the best way to deploy it. The windows in the barracks are generally open for ventilation. They are located about eight feet high. The gas is heavier than air so if we can disburse the gas through the windows, the guards will never know what hit them. That leaves the two in the anteroom to take care of before they can give an alert to their bosses.”
“All right, what’s the timing on this raid Damian?”
“Gunny we need to do this on the night of the fifteenth. Any sooner than that and Hawthorne will just have the Justices arrested and close the supreme court down. We need to do this without letting him know he no longer has leverage. It won’t work any other way.”
“The only way to do that is to make certain no one can talk. That means making sure everyone has their share of happy gas. If you must put someone down, do it. This is too important to be squeamish.”
“The hostages are held in separate accommodations located in the first nine rooms. The only entrance is via the front door. All of the personnel are civilian employees of the Preuzeti Assemblage.
The Guards are mercenaries that work for the Preuzeti Assemblage as well. The Guards are the only ones in direct contact with the families. The kitchen staff are on site only during the day.”
“Justice Abramowitz has a wife and a daughter, they are in the first room on the left. The Daughter is sixteen the wife is forty-one. Both are mobile.”
“Justice Van Dorn has a son Andrew. The son, his wife and Van Dorn’s only grandchild, age seven are in the first room on the right. The family is mobile, and the son is a former swat commander. He is healthy and could possibly be some help if push comes to shove.”
“Justice Patterson’s wife is in the second room on the left. She is sixty-six mobile and active.”
“Justice Langhorne has no direct family, but he has been keeping company with fifty-four-year-old Marion Sachs. She is in the second room on the right.”
“Justice Angel Gutierrez has two sons, one fourteen the other twelve. He is a widower. The boys are both mobile and active. They are in the third room on the left.”
“Justice Mark Welch is not married. He has a partner named Andrew Westfield. Mr. Westfield is a retired Army Sergeant, mobile and capable. He is housed in the third room on the right.”
“Justice Fredrick Porter is married, his wife Margaret is in a wheel chair, her medical aid is with her, twenty-nine-year-old RN Angela Shorter. They are kept in the fourth room on the left.”
“Justice Harriet Reynolds is married. Her husband and seventeen-year-old son are in the fourth room on the right.”
“Chief Justice Dale Whitehead, is widowed. He has a Brother who is four years his senior. He is in the fifth room on the left and has severe arthritis. He will need help.”
“The families are not allowed out of the rooms. Their only outside contact is the guard that delivers their meals. There is one guard patrolling the hall. There are usually two guards in the foyer. There are four guards patrolling the perimeter fence. It is a ten-foot-high chain link with four strands of barbed wire along the top.”
“All the bad guys are comfortable and relaxed. I am confident that this facility and these people have been used for this sort of thing before.”
“The guards rotate. They are on for eight hours and off for sixteen. We have someone on the inside. She is one of the inside guards. When we go in if she is in danger, she will identify herself by calling out “Jericho”. Jericho is her safe word. She may or may not be working when we go in. If she is not working, she will take the “happy gas” with the other guards. Don’t blow her cover. We need her on the inside for other reasons. She does not know our plan.”
The two guys in the anteroom are in local command. They have been reporting in by radio. Every four hours they call someone code named “stone break”. They do the same thing every time. The guard says, “Stone Break, Stone break, this is Loring at ‘the reporting hour’, all clear”. The person on the other end of the transmission replies, “ten four Loring” and shuts down until the next call. It never deviates.
“Dead Head, you stay after the raid. and make the calls on time. We can’t afford to break the pattern until the Supreme Court has made their decision public.”
“Joker and Dog, you stay and cover Dead Head. We will be using two planes, a Gulfstream and a Dornier. The rest of us will leave in the Dornier with the victims. We will leave the Gulf Stream for you. As soon as you get our call to bugout, destroy the radio and get the hell out of dodge.”
On the morning of the fifteenth
Early morning on the fifteenth of June, a Gulfstream six fifty landed at Loring International Airport. Eight young men in business suits deplaned carrying briefcases. Four hours later a Fairchild Dornier 328, 30 passenger jet landed and parked at the same FBO. The pilots had the planes fueled and mentioned to line personnel that they were staying overnight.
At eleven hundred hours the team gathered in a rented warehouse. Over the last few days, equipment had been moved in to the site by box trucks bearing the logo of a small Corporation based in Delaware. After unloading, the trucks and the equipment remained in the warehouse.
Gunny Adam Scott said, “listen up. Guard change is at twenty-two hundred. We wait till zero one hundred to make our move. I will give the order as soon after zero one hundred as the drones show me a clear field. You all have your assignments. Check you armor and gear. Now, let’s go over it one more time. “Dead head”, lead off.”
Sergeant “Dead Head” Tierney said, “I will take Joker, Coyote and Big Bird. I have the front gate guard, Joker has the guard clockwise at three o’clock. Coyote has the guard clockwise at six o’clock and Big Bird has the guard at the nine o’clock. You guys report in position. Take them quietly on my mark. We want to take them as near to the center of their fence area as possible. Once your guard is disabled, inject him with the happy gas in the carotid. Hide your target and leave him in a position that will allow him to breathe. We don’t want to kill anyone we don’t have to.”
“Once you have completed your assignment, call in all clear. Take the place of the guard and continue his tour until we are ready for the main assault. Once the all clear is given the second team takes over.”
Gunnery Sergeant Adam Scott said, “I will be leading the second team.
“Dog” You will be with me on the northside of the barracks. “Taco” You will take “Centerfield” Thompson to the south side of the barracks. We flew a drone over the site earlier this afternoon and all windows were open for ventilation. The windows are a pain in the ass to open and close, so we are hoping they will remain open. If they are not, you each have a drill and bit that is capable of drilling thru the block construction. The bit is quiet enough, but time consuming. Let me know if you must use the drill”
“Once you have your dispensing tube in place, call ready. On my signal, turn your gas cylinder on to full and join me back at the staging area.”’
“It should take no more than ten minutes for the gas to work. Centerfield and I will take care of the two in the anteroom. The gas may not have penetrated to that area. Any questions?”
No one had a question. They were professionals. They were ready.
Precisely at zero one hundred, Gunny Scott said, “Team one, execute.”
Already in position, “Dead Head” Tierney moved in toward his target. Of course, things went sideways right off the bat. The guard was chatting with a friend directly in front of the gate to the guard barracks. He had the dart gun, but no time to reload after the first shot. Marines and Seals are taught to improvise and adapt. Sergeant Tierney removed his black cammo jacket, ruffled his hair and proceeded to stumble towards the two guards. Slurring his words as he said, “Angie, where the fuck did you go? Angie, you bitch, when I catch you I am going to whip your ass.”
The first guard said, “hey buddy, w
hat’s going on, you’re not supposed to be here. Get the hell out. Go home and sober up.”
Tierney continued to stumble forward while slurring, “have you seen my dog? She got loose and ran out here someplace? Angie get back here.”
The guard reiterated, “Hey you drunk asshole, if you wake my boss I am going to kick your ass. Get the hell out of here.” Both guards moved toward Tierney. As the guards began to grab his arms to physically remove him from the property, Tierney responded. In a flash, almost too fast to see. Tierney stuck the first guard in the aorta with the happy gas injector. As he first guard went down Tierney used his Marine Ka-bar knife to take the other guard out.
The second guard was quick, almost quick enough, but Sgt. Tierney knew his business and before the second guard could voice a warning Tierney cracked the temple of the guard causing him to stagger. He then followed up with a stab to the throat. The guards’ eyes grew large and then faded.
Quickly Tierney moved both bodies out of sight and donned the first guards cammo jacket. He had just begun to pace on the guards’ route when a voice from the door said, “What’s all the commotion out here?”
Tierney replied, “Nothing, just some drunk looking for his dog.” And continued to the corner.
Apparently, his answer was good enough for whoever was asking as they returned inside and closed the door. Tierney hated that he had been forced to kill someone, but it was just bad luck. Nothing to do about it now.
Sgt. Tierney made his call, “Dead Head, all clear.”
After all the calls came in Gunny Scott said, “Team two execute, He saw “Dog” Barker moving toward the rear window on the north side of the guard barracks. After he had hooked his hose over the opened window he waited. Finally, he received three calls of “ready”. Scott said, “execute.” He turned his gas canister to full open and returned to the staging area.
After waiting an extra five minutes, Damian and Gunny Scott quietly moved toward the door to the anteroom. Quickly, slamming the door open with a bang, both Gunny and Damian stepped in to the room. Both operators turned in surprise. Neither of them had a chance to realize what was happening before nine-millimeter slugs from silenced Glock nineteens silenced them forever. Gunny and Damian knew that this was the only way to be sure there would be no warning to Hawthorne. That is why they had taken this duty for themselves. Carefully opening the door to the darkened barracks Damian and Scott quietly checked each sleeping guard. They were all sound asleep and no amount of shaking woke them up.
