Viper Team Seven (The Viper Team Seven Series Book 1)

by Lewis, Rykar

  “This is only a step toward our goal, but we have to start somewhere. The former administrations saw to it that we as Americans have a lot to clean up and a lot to accomplish, but as your President I will do my utmost best.”

  “As I said, this fence is only one of many projects that have been conveniently overlooked or destroyed by America’s leaders in times past. I think of our missile defense projects. They are a definite must-have in this era of nuclear weapons. Regretfully I must tell you we are not where we should be on our missile defenses. Our U.S. Missile Defense Agency has been in tatters with their hands tied behind their backs. Upon taking the office of the President of the United States I have been giving my all trying to restore our missile defenses and bring them back up to the standards they should be. I think of our intelligence agencies such as the CIA who have been decimated for no just reason. Our agents are heroes and should be treated like ones, not ridiculed and punished for patriotism.”

  “For me,” he said more quietly, “my eyes have been wide open since 1/16. Yes, I always knew our national security was going downhill at the hands of our former leaders, and for the past year I’ve been fighting to get it going in the right direction. But now things are different. I have seen firsthand what is capable of happening, and I don’t like it. I have realized that the things I did on 1/15 and previously – things even my own staff thought were squared away – were really sub-standard. I’m referring to our nation’s security. I thought I was doing a good job of getting our national security where it should be – every White House official did – until the night of 1/16. And then my eyes were opened as to how bad everything really was and how much I still needed to do. America, from now on I will do everything humanly possible to see that our nation is as secure as possible.”

  The President cast his eyes to the floor for a second and then looked again into the camera. “This fence is the first step to greater national security. It is only the beginning of the long road we have to walk, but it will be worth it, America. I can promise you that.”

  41

  Wednesday, March 26th – 0605 hours

  The Eisenhower Executive Office Building

  An email suddenly popped up on Parks’ email account, titled as all the others, “TOP SECRET – PRESIDENT’S EYES ONLY.”

  “Oh joy,” Parks mumbled. “Right when I clear my inbox look at what happens.”

  Hesitantly, he clicked on the message and began quickly scanning the heading, not really caring what he was reading, until he came across the name Alka vun Buvka. His mouth went dry and his heart rate increased as he scrolled back up to the top of the report so he could read it more slowly and carefully. It read:

  TOP SECRET – PRESIDENT’S EYES ONLY

  FM: CIA HEADQUARTERS LANGLEY, VA

  TO: NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT

  DTD: 26 MAR 14

  1._FIELD AGENTS CONFIRM THAT ALKA VUN BUVKA WAS SIGHTED IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE AT 0530 HOURS 26 MAR 2014. CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS. LAST SIGHTED ON INTERSTATE 40 NE DRIVING A SILVER SUBURBAN NEW MEXICO LICENSE PLATE NO. 91309. VEHICLE OCCUPANTS ESTIMATED AT EIGHT OTHER PASSENGERS ALSO CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS.

  2._INTENT OF TERRORISTS IS UNCERTAIN BUT CONSIDERED TO BE HOSTILE. THE MEANS BY WHICH ALKA VUN BUVKA HAS ENTERED CONUS IS UNCERTAIN AS OF THIS TIME.

  3._AWAITING ORDERS FROM D/CIA. GATHERING INTELLIGENCE ON TERRORISTS AND WILL REPORT WHEN INTEL HAS BEEN GATHERED.

  /BT/

  Parks logged off his email account and swiveled around in his chair. He had to report to the NSA as quickly as possible. There was no time to lose.

  * * *

  Parks swung open the door to the Situation Room, stepped inside, and stood at attention. To his surprise, the room was empty save the National Security Advisor.

  “Come in, Keith,” the NSA said in a rather monotone voice. “You’re just a bit early; the others will be here in a minute.”

  Parks walked over and sat down.

  “Look, Major, I don’t think there’s a need to say this but just in case, I’ll say it anyway. Alka vun Buvka is my primary target. He’s the only living terrorist from 1/16, and we need to get him. He’s like Osama bin Laden during the War on Terrorism. We have to take him out, Keith, we have to. This man is dangerous because he knows how to topple the system and get away without leaving any trace. He’s probably pretty high in his game by now, and he most likely knows who coordinated 1/16, and who is leading this entire terror operation. If we get him, we just may have the key to it all, Major. Everything. It could all be exposed and then we could take action.”

  Smith was half-standing, half-sitting from excitement. “If there are any people in the world who can do this job, it’s you and your team.”

  To Parks’ surprise, the National Security Advisor wasn’t making any threats or if-then statements. He seemed calm and confident and totally excited that this was going to finally break the lock.

  Just then the President and Vice President burst through the door. Parks shot up to attention until they sat at their usual places.

  “Where is everyone?” the President demanded.

  “They’re on their way, Mr. President,” the NSA assured him. Before the words were out of his mouth the Directors of the CIA, FBI, and National Intelligence, came into the room.

  “Good morning, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, everyone,” Watkins greeted as he took his seat at the table. “Fine morning isn’t it?”

  No one answered the question.

  “Mike, do you have the file on vun Buvka?” the President asked impatiently. “We need to get rolling, with or without the Secret Service Director.”

  “All right, Mr. President,” the D/CIA complied. “Here’s what we’ve got.” Cummins set a folder on the table and opened it to the first page. “Uh, let’s see...ahh, here we are. Alka vun Buvka: born in Tehran, Iran in 1977; has worked with Hamas for approximately seventeen years; found guilty for the Paramount Hotel bombing on January the 16th of this year; vanished from off the face of the planet after that time.” The Director pushed a picture of the terrorist over to Parks. “That’s so you’ll recognize his mug when you see it.”

  Parks studied the photo and then gave it back to the D/CIA.

  “Here’s vun Buvka’s file too.” Cummins handed it to Parks. “You look it over, there’s lots of information in there that you will need to know.”

  Light flickered on a screen on the Situation Room’s wall, and then the fully-colored image – courtesy of yet another drone down-linked to a ROVER – appeared. The screen held the scene of a highway with several vehicles on it, and Parks wondered which held the killers.

  The D/CIA rose from his chair and walked up to the image. “See this silver Suburban? That’s the one. It’s full to the gills with terrorists. If you opened that vehicle’s door uninvited it’d be like opening Pandora’s Box.”

  Parks mustered a smile but that was the only acknowledgement Cummins received for his weak stab at humor.

  “Hang on a second, Mike,” the President ordered. “Where’s the Secret Service Director? It’s been a while.”

  The question hung in the air and each man hoped the other man had the answer. But of course, no one did.

  “Tom, give him a call and see where he is, will you?” the VP asked politely.

  As if on cue, the Secret Service Director entered the room and nodded to the officials superior to him. “Am I late?” he wondered although he knew the answer.

  “Who cares now, let’s get on with this,” the NSA pleaded. “We’re wasting time.”

  Roxon trotted to his seat and sat quietly as the briefing continued.

  “They are heading east, and from what it looks like they’re, uh...well if they stay on the same road they’re on now, they’ve got a straight shot for us,” Cummins admitted. “But there is a lot of road separating us, and at any time they could divert. We’ll be shooting blind on this job because we just don’t know where they’re going or what they’r
e planning.”

  “How probable is it that they are indeed coming for us?” the Vice President point-blank asked. It was a question he knew no one had an answer for.

  “Let me put it to you this way, Mr. Vice President,” the D/CIA started. “That highway will take them through a number of big cities and we just can’t be sure they’re not planning to strike one of them. I don’t think we have the luxury of assuming anything right now.”

  “That swings the door a little wider, doesn’t it,” the Secret Service Director pointed out.

  “Well if we’re fast enough we can slam the door in their faces before they get a chance to step through the threshold,” Smith optimized. “We’re just going to have to set your team, Keith, somewhere on that highway and hope the terrorists stay on it. That’s the best bet we have.”

  “I think we’d better look at all the options before we decide that, Tom,” the President suggested. “We only have one chance at this one so let’s get it right.”

  “I’m not so sure there are too many options, Mr. President,” the NSA reiterated. “There’s just no way to know what these guys are thinking.”

  “Actually we do have a couple options,” the D/CIA countered. “One would be to do as the National Security Advisor has said, and two would be to just track them with our UAV until we get a better lead on where they’re going.”

  “There is another way, Mr. President,” the DNI spoke up reluctantly. “We could shoot a missile from our drone and take them out for sure.”

  “And how many civilians with them?” Roxon retorted. “That would be an irresponsible move on our part.”

  “I’m not talking about when they’re in that kind of traffic, I’m talking about when it gets clearer,” Travis restated with added vigor.

  “Oh be quiet both of you,” the Vice President commanded. “In my opinion that’s not an option given the circumstances. However that might change in the next few minutes, I don’t know. But for now, let’s put that one on the shelf and forget about it.”

  Parks was almost biting his tongue to keep from giving his input. He knew the capabilities of his team and the ins and outs of why he had failed his last mission. He had a perfect plan for dealing with these terrorists that would take them out before they even knew what hit them. But he knew it was improper for him to speak up without being asked when so many superior officials were present.

  “Listen,” the NSA said, “there is no other way to handle this except to do it the same way we did the last operation. We don’t know what to expect with this and we have to play things by ear. We can drop off the Viper Team Seven at an intercepting point on the highway but keep BIG BIRD and support helicopters close by just in case things don’t work out. That is the only way.”

  “And what if Parks and his team fail this time too?” the Secret Service Director questioned. “Then the terrorists will run for it like last time. Most likely they’ll escape too. There won’t be a second shot.”

  “No, because we’ll play it smart and keep this drone stuck on them until they’re taken out. There’s no possible way we can lose them,” Smith concluded.

  “I’m not so sure putting Parks on a highway and leaving him is a good way to go,” the FBI Director interceded.

  Oh forget about what’s proper and just say it, Parks told himself. And he obeyed. “Excuse me for speaking out of line, Mr. President, sir, but I–”

  “Forget the apologies and spit it out,” the President ordered.

  “Yes sir. Anyway, I have to agree with the National Security Advisor, sir. I can relate firsthand that terrorists are unpredictable and just when you think you’ve got everything figured out, they throw you for a loop.” Parks’ stomach turned as he saw the Directors roll their eyes and sigh loudly. “I’d have to say, Mr. President, sir, that we’re going to have to take this one jump at a time and take what we can get.”

  “Which is?”

  “Well sir, we know the terrorists are on the highway, and as the National Security Advisor said, that’s about all we can count on for now. Maybe not even that, sir. But will we ever really get a better hint as to where they’re going to attack? Even if we did, look at what happened last time when we guessed that they were heading for San Antonio, sir.”

  “You messed that one up, Parks,” the D/CIA fired back. “Don’t shift the blame to me.”

  “Yes sir, I know that, and I’m not shifting anything around. But the fact of the matter is, the terrorists did not go to San Antonio. Your agency made a guess, sir, and it seemed very probable, but it just didn’t happen.”

  Cummins’ face went ashen and then it reddened deeply. “So you’re saying my agency was the reason we lost the terrorists?”

  “All right, all right, that’s beside the point,” the President stepped in. “Mike, you keep quiet, let Parks finish.”

  “Thank you, Mr. President, sir,” Parks said. “Now’s the time to strike because I really don’t think we’ll ever know where the terrorists are going until it’s too late. That’s all I wanted to say, sir.”

  “What guarantee do we have that you’ll fulfill your end of the bargain?” the FBI Director shot out. “If the last operation was any indication, we’d just as soon not do anything.”

  “Guarantees aren’t for you to worry about, Mr. Director,” Smith countered. “Your job is to brief, not to ask for guarantees.”

  “What are you going to do to make things go better, Parks?” Roxon asked.

  All eyes turned to Parks. He nervously looked to the President for permission to speak and the request was granted.

  “Sir, if I work more closely with our intelligence personnel and keep good contact with the White House I’d say that’d do it. You see, Mr. President, sir, we didn’t have a real-time image tracking the last bunch of terrorists. This time we do, sir, and Langley will know if anything changes concerning the terrorists that would affect our plans. If we work with intelligence more closely, sir, we’d know everything that the terrorists would be doing. I don’t see how we could lose them, sir.”

  “Anything’s possible,” the President declared. “But that’s why you’re here, Keith, and I plan to use you for your intended purpose.”

  * * *

  The NSA took over the briefing. “You’ll intercept the terrorists around the Tennessee area. We’re going to place you and your team in a remote, low-traffic part of the highway,” he told Parks. “We’ll have a few police officers discreetly block the road by pulling over any civilian traffic once the terrorists are near you guys. Oh, Keith, I want this guy alive, understand?”

  “Yes sir, I understand.”

  “I know it’s going to be hard to capture vun Buvka but at least you’ve got one thing on your side – he won’t be willing to be a suicide bomber. How do I know? Just look at 1/16 and the Paramount Hotel. He was too scared to suicide bomb it like the other terrorists of the night, which tells me he’s got plans for his life – and death for that matter – and they don’t include suicide ‘sacrifice.’ Anyway, we need vun Buvka alive. He is the last surviving terrorist from 1/16, and if we catch him we just might be able to make him say enough to give us a clue as to who’s behind all this.”

  “Yes sir,” Parks agreed. He was beginning to think that this operation was going to be ten times harder than the last one, and ten times as critical.

  “Here’s what you’ll do, Major,” Smith continued. “You’ll fly on BIG BIRD to Arnold Air Force Base which is near Manchester, Tennessee. From there a pair of USAF UH-1N Iroquois-Hueys will take your team to the strike site – a safe distance below Lebanon, Tennessee – and you’ll set everything up.”

  The National Security Advisor stopped for a breath and then went on. “The Iroquois-Hueys will be standing by near your position just in case you need to do some fast and fancy scrambling. BIG BIRD will also be on the ready at Arnold. But the main thing is, you need to make sure vun Buvka doesn’t get killed. You can kill the other terrorists, I don’t care, just not vun Buvka
. You can wound him but do not kill him. We need him alive.”

  “How can we be sure which terrorist is him, sir?”

  “Your own judgment, Major. But it’d better be some good judging. You know what he looks like and that’s all we can offer.”

  “One more thing, sir; how will we know which vehicle is the terrorists’?”

  “Langley will notify you when their vehicle gets within five miles of your position. They’ll be watching the drone image, remember? Besides, you already know the vehicle’s description.” Smith paused and went back to his explanation. “If you want my opinion, I’d say you’ll need to kill just enough of the terrorists so vun Buvka will realize it’s hopeless and give up. But you will also have to work it out so he won’t kill any of your team while he’s giving up. But if it comes to it, we need vun Buvka alive. Period. Somebody on your team may have to give his life to reach that goal. It’s going to be a tough operation to do but you can do it.”

  Thanks for the vote of confidence, Parks thought to himself. But I know I’m going to have a hard time if I have to trade the life of one of my team members for the life of a dirty, murdering terrorist.

  42

  Wednesday, March 26th – 0715 hours

  BIG BIRD

  Parks and his team were aboard the C-17 heading for Arnold Air Force Base. He had briefed his team on the current situation and plan of attack. Their complicated and hopefully unstoppable plan was giving everyone qualms, more so factoring in the threats each man had received about his job.

  “I think I need to address one last thing,” Parks said to his team. “I hate to bring up bad memories but I’m sure most of you remember the, uh – how should I say this – incentive the National Security Advisor gave us concerning this operation. Look, I don’t believe we are an incompetent bunch of guys who can’t differentiate between right and left, but it’s a bad thing when my boss thinks that. To put it simply, if we don’t get this one right, we’re done. Now I don’t care whose fault it may be, if we fail we are fired. But I know we can get this operation done right, and I know we are going to.”