The Arizona State Guard Trilogy

by Jeffrey M. Fortney

  Al Zahrani set his coffee cup on the table before him. "Very good, Mustafa. We will need them to land over the course of many nights."

  "Yes sir, they have been so told and are studying 3-dimensional maps of the mountains around here to aid them in arriving safely," responded Al-Fakeeh.

  "I believe we are now close to having sufficient men to conduct our mission, Mustafa. The barracks in Shaft B is full and this busload shall fill the primary dormitory. Our personnel have been training with the weapons we 'imported' for their use. Our special cargo has arrived and is in Shaft A ready to be transferred. It is only matter of weeks, Mustafa...only a matter of weeks!" Al Zahrani smiled, which greatly pleased his lieutenant. Their mission was moving forward. Soon they would join their brothers scattered across the North American continent in striking at the Great Satan and the infidels!

  Chapter 3

  June 3rd

  ASGuard HQ

  Phoenix, AZ

  GEN Titus Roman, CBII Agents Halsted and Caldwell, LTC Marcus Roman, MAJ Thompson, SGM Templeton, and MAJ Garry were just leaving the conference room when Colonel Anna Miller raced up, a shocked look upon her face.

  "General," she began, "there's been some explosions at the Old State Capitol Building! We're getting conflicting reports from emergency responders."

  The general snapped into action. "Miller, get your unit ready to deploy...now! Bennett, get our tac gear and meet us in the garage ASAP!" Seeing the look in Halsted's eyes, Titus called after Garry who was already racing down the hallway. "Grab Halsted's and Caldwell's equipment while you're at it!"

  Marcus looked over to Miller who was using her personal comm unit to contact her executive officer as she took off. Then he turned to his father. "We're tagging along also! We'll beg whatever ammo and other supplies we'll need from your team, sir!"

  Titus nodded and the other followed him as he led the way to the main garage where the general's personal command vehicle was kept ready. Entering the garage, they saw Garry run up carrying rifles slung over his shoulders, web belts bearing pistol holsters, and battle harnesses. The general's aide passed out the weapons and harnesses to their owners before donning his own.

  Personnel scrambled around the garage, prepping a number of vehicles for immediate deployment, opening the giant doors to the bay, and loading troops and equipment. Marcus and his teammates climbed into the general's command vehicle and found seats out of the way. With everyone aboard and the hatch sealed, GEN Roman ordered his driver to move out. The heavy Stryker roared out of the garage and toward the main gate of the Armory, the ASGuard's main base. Other vehicles followed from the garage and the vehicle staging area.

  Flashing lights and sirens mounted to the top of each vehicle helped clear the roadway ahead. Still, the large military vehicles were hard pressed to make their way through the wide, yet crowded streets of Phoenix. The roads were packed with cars, trucks, and people trying to move away from the Old State Capitol Building and emergency vehicles trying to reach the site of the explosion.

  Titus spent the response time on the radio communicating with city, county, and state emergency agencies. Marcus could see that his father was not pleased with the information he was receiving. Eleanor "Ellie" Alvarez, Governor of the Grand Canyon State and a family friend, was known to be at the Old Capitol but her current whereabouts were unknown. The general signaled to his communications tech to launch a drone and turn on the monitors. The comm tech nodded and set to work.

  A compartment opened on the roof of the Stryker and a quad-rotor drone lifted into the air and moved out ahead of the ASGuard column. The monitors showed the scene they were racing toward. The copper dome of the Old Capitol Building was blown open and the wind vane was missing. Glass had been blown out of many windows and smoke poured from every opening. The bodies of the injured and the dead littered the grounds of the Old Capitol Complex. Rescuers and security were arriving on the scene from all directions and personnel were beginning to help the injured.

  GEN Roman broadcast orders to ASGuard HQ to go to full alert, recall personnel on leave or off-post, then dispatch additional resources to the New Capitol Complex. Next, he ordered COL Miller's unit to deploy around the older complex of buildings and set up a security cord with law enforcement personnel. Finally, he turned to the personnel in his vehicle.

  "We're going to make entry into the Old Capitol Building itself, conduct search and recovery operations, locate the governor, and evac her to a safe location." He looked at each person in turn. "Be ready for anything! There may be secondary explosions or a ground attack."

  The general's Stryker pulled up to the entry control point set up by the Arizona Capitol Police. The officer in charge recognized the general's vehicle and flag and directed the vehicle to a place where it could park. GEN Roman and the others disembarked quickly and made their way to a command post set up nearby.

  "Mike!" Titus called out to the head of the AZ Capitol Police, Michael Parsons. Gray dust covered the stocky, black man's face; blood trickled down the side of his face from a minor scalp wound. "What have we got?"

  Parsons turned to Titus and replied, "Titus, glad you're here. We had a series of explosions in the rotunda area of the building. We've got personnel reviewing the surveillance records but we suspect a number of terrorists carrying backpack or similar suicide devices. The greatest amount of damage is confined to the rotunda area and surrounding rooms and offices. We started an evacuation..."

  "Has the governor been found?" the general asked.

  Parsons shook his head. "We've got personnel searching for her but...we haven't found her yet!" A medic stepped over and started to clean Parsons' wound. Parsons jerked his head back and swatted the medic's hand away. "Later!" he said as he moved over to a table on which plans of the Old Capitol Complex were being laid out.

  Parsons pointed to the plans of the main building. "We've cleared out these sections. The governor was on a tour with some architects from Arizona State University, discussing some ideas for repairs to the complex. They could be anywhere in these two sections here." Parsons had hardly finished with what he was saying when GEN Roman, Marcus, Halsted, and the others turned and raced from the command post.

  The ASGuard and CBII personnel covered the distance from the command post to the Old Capitol Building quickly and ran into the building. They made their way past rescuers helping the injured and firefighters battling a number of small fires. The general waved his personnel to follow him and they made their way into the unsearched part of the damaged structure.

  Along the way, they encountered the injured, the dead, and the dying. With each find, Major Garry used his comm unit to let rescuers know of the location of those they had found. Room by room, the ASGuard and CBII made their way deeper and deeper into the building. At times, they would call out loud, then pause to listen for the weakest reply. Coming around a corner into a wide hallway, they ran into four people: the governor and three others.

  Before they could approach, one man called out to them in a heavy Middle Eastern accent. "Do not move. Stay where you are or I will detonate my bomb!" To illustrate his point, he pulled his right hand away from behind the governor's back to show a dead man's switch gripped tightly in his fist. Titus and his team halted in their tracks.

  Marcus looked at the governor. Other than a few small cuts and some damage to her suit, she looked unharmed. Titus raised his hands and spoke to the terrorist. "We won't advance. You do not have to kill yourself or the others. Governor, are you okay?"

  Governor Alvarez nodded and replied, "Yes, Titus! I'm...uninjured."

  Titus spoke with the bomb-wielding hostage taker again. "Mister, I'm willing to let you walk out of here, free and clear, on my word as an officer and a gentleman. Just let the governor and the others go." Marcus realized his father was merely trying to buy some time...hoping to keep the man talking and give the ASGuard, CBII, or Capitol Police a chance to disarm and capture him.

  The man held his right hand out
in front of the governor. "Listen to me! All I have to do is release this switch and you and the other infidels will die! Allahu Ak..." Governor Alvarez reached forward quickly and gripped the man's hand in her two smaller hands. Alvarez clamped her hands together with all of her strength. Realizing what she was doing, the two young architects sprinted away!

  "Don't just stand there...help me!" the governor yelled.

  Marcus, Templeton, and Thompson leaped forward. Templeton got behind the bomber and put an arm around the man's throat in a choke hold. Thompson gripped the man's left arm and hand, keeping him from using that hand to pull the governor's hands from the deadman switch. Marcus took the man's right arm and gripped the detonator as well, keeping the plunger down!

  The man continued to thrash about for a couple of minutes before Templeton's choke hold cut off his blood flow and oxygen to his brain sufficiently to cause him to pass out. Marcus took control of the dead man's switch from the governor while Templeton and Thompson lowered the man to the ground and zip tied his hands and feet.

  Titus crossed the hall quickly to the governor. "Ellie, that was pretty brave!" Titus said. "Now, let's get you out of here!" Titus and Halsted escorted Alvarez away while Caldwell stepped over to assist Marcus and his two team mates.

  Marcus looked over at Caldwell. "Open his shirt slowly. Watch out for booby traps."

  Caldwell carefully unbuttoned the terrorist's shirt. He checked under one side then the other. "No booby traps. I can see the suicide vest and detonator assembly. Templeton, lift him up a bit so I can look at his back." The sergeant major complied and Caldwell looked down the man's collar and back. "Nothing here either. Want me to remove the assembly?"

  Marcus knew that Caldwell had received explosive ordnance disposal training at one point during his time in the Army. Better to try to disarm it now. EOD people may be awhile yet, Marcus thought. "Go ahead," he said to Caldwell. The CBII reached under the man's shirt and took a firm grip on the detonator assembly.

  "Here goes!" Caldwell said then he applied a firm upward pressure and drew the cylinder from the plastic explosive sewn into the vest. "Here ya go!" he said, handing it to Marcus.

  With the detonator in one hand and the dead man's switch in the other, Marcus stepped over to a nearby window that was broken out. He looked out in the courtyard beyond to find it empty. He lowered the detonator out the window as far the wire would allow and yelled, "Fire in the hole!" three times. He dropped the deadman switch out the window, turned, and ducked down. A small blast roared outside but inflicted little further damage to the room.

  "Damn, that was close!" said Templeton softly. Marcus and Thompson nodded their agreement with the top noncom.

  "Let's get this vest off this sonuvabitch," said Caldwell. He drew a knife from his combat harness and carefully cut the man's shirt away to expose the explosive vest. Caldwell ran his blade along the seams of the vest until it was cut into two halves, front and back. Then he lifted the back half of the vest and set it to one side. Templeton and Thompson lifted the unconscious terrorist and moved him to the other side of the hallway and sat him up against the wall. Caldwell lifted the front half of the vest and laid it atop the other half then stepped away.

  Caldwell stared at the terrorist for a moment then crossed the wide hallway to the man, who was just beginning to regain consciousness. The CBII agent slid an arm under the man's right arm, hoisted him to his feet, then half-carried half-dragged the man to one of the broken windows. Caldwell laid the man's upper body against the broken windowsill and broken shards of glass. The agent stepped behind the terrorist and gripped the man's belt with one hand and a calf of the man's trousers with the other.

  "You awake, you bastard?" Caldwell yelled at the terrorist. "You awake now?" He lifted the man's lower body threatening to topple the terrorist out the window. The man screamed as broken glass ground into his abdomen.

  Marcus stepped forward, his hand on his pistol grip. "Caldwell, stand down! We need information from him, but not this way! We take him in for interrogation." Caldwell snarled a reply and, ignoring Roman, lifted the man's legs higher.

  LTC Roman signaled to MAJ Thompson and SGM Templeton and the two troopers jumped forward to grab the terrorist's legs while Roman gripped Caldwell's left arm.

  "Dammit, Caldwell, enough! Stand down!" Marcus yelled.

  Caldwell released the terrorist then spun and swung his right fist at Marcus' head. Marcus shifted his grip on Caldwell's arm and, jumping behind the CBII agent, avoided the punch while twisting Caldwell's arm up behind his back. The ASGuard officer spun and shoved the intel agent across the hallway.

  Phillip Caldwell's left hand shot towards the pistol holstered on his hip. Before he could reach his weapon, he saw Thompson and Templeton had already set the prisoner down on the floor and drawn their weapons. Caldwell raised both his hands and backed up a step. "Sorry, man," he said to Marcus. "I got carried away."

  Marcus returned Caldwell's stare and answered. "Yeah, like you got carried away at the Point...and in Afghanistan. You get carried away too easily, Caldwell. One day..."

  "One day, what? Get off your damned high horse, Roman! This is war, man." growled Caldwell.

  "One day," said Marcus, "we'll find out just how good each of us really is. For now, move out. Head back down the hall. I'll follow. Tommi, Temp...check the prisoner. Bind his cuts quickly then we'll move out!" Templeton used a battle dressing and bandage to cover the man's abdominal cuts. Then he and Thompson helped the prisoner to his feet and cut the zip ties around the man's ankles.

  Caldwell paused for a moment, perhaps thinking Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Aurelius Roman would shoot him in the back. Then, realizing Roman's sense of honor wouldn't allow that, Caldwell began walking back the way they had come. Marcus followed him, maintaining a cautious distance. The two other ASGuard troopers marched the prisoner behind Marcus.

  Before they had gone far, they ran across three ASGuard security personnel. Marcus briefed them on where to find the suicide vest and requested that they contact their supervisor to take charge of the prisoner at the Command Post.

  Once outside the damaged Old Capitol Building, they moved quickly to return to the Command Post. Marcus was not the least bit surprised to find Governor Alvarez in the CP. Medics were busy cleaning and dressing her minor cuts as she sat listening to status reports from GEN Roman, Capitol Police Chief Mike Parsons, and the incident commanders of the local emergency responders. Alvarez smiled at Marcus as he entered the tent.

  Four ASGuard security personnel stepped forward. The officer saluted Marcus before ordering his personnel to take the prisoner into custody. With the prisoner off his hands, Marcus paused a moment to tell Thompson and Templeton to keep an eye on Caldwell then stepped over to where his father and Kenneth Halsted stood.

  "Sir, LTC Roman reports," Marcus began, saluting his father. "We have the terrorist in custody and ready to transport to ASGuard HQ for interrogation."

  "Good job, Marcus!" Titus Roman replied. "Standby for a moment, we've got intel coming in from all across the continent. There have been additional attacks in each state capitol, U.S. and Piss Ant, as well as in Denver and D.C." He pointed to the monitors set up along one wall. Images of disaster and chaos were displayed on each. The scrolling tickers at the bottom of each screen identified each location and a growing count of the wounded and the dead.

  "Good God!" Marcus exclaimed. "Denver?!?! Mom?!?!" The general's wife, Marion, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention still underway in the new U.S. Capitol of Denver.

  "She's safe, son," Titus responded. "She just contacted me through secure communications. The attackers were halted before they could enter the new federal Capitol Building. Security took a heavy beating on the steps but kept them out of the building." Marcus heaved a sigh of relief. His mother was alive! Hopefully she would be able to return to Arizona soon.

  "That's great news, sir! What do we know that's actionable?" Marcus asked, pointing to the displays.
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  CBII Agent Kenneth Halsted answered. "These were a combination of suicide bombings and small arms attacks. Carefully timed and coordinated to inflict serious casualties at state and federal government facilities in both the U.S. and PSSA. Carrington's administration is trying to spin and lay the blame on the U.S. but even her most diehard supporters see the bloody hand of the IGC behind it. A number of the terrorists have been captured alive! I've received orders to conduct the interrogations of the prisoners we've got here in Arizona."

  "Prisoners?!?" asked Marcus. "We have more than one?"

  Halsted nodded. "Yes, three to be exact, although one of them, an older man, is in pretty bad shape. He may not make it. I've been given permission from the Mountain to use a new interrogation method on these guys...we expect to get some info from them."

  "Well, whatever technique you use, I recommend keeping Caldwell away from the prisoners." Marcus looked into Halsted's and his father's eyes before explaining Caldwell's actions inside the Old Arizona Capitol Building. Both Halsted and the senior Roman were well aware of the bad blood between Marcus and Phillip Caldwell. And they knew that Caldwell was behind that bad blood.

  "Shit!" Halsted cursed. Marcus looked questioningly at his former commander. Halsted added, "Caldwell was sent here to teach the new interrogation method to my agents. We need him to use it on the prisoners. Otherwise, I'd ship his arrogant ass back to Denver this instant."

  "Shit is right," Marcus snarled. "And just for the record...one of these days, Caldwell's going to go too far..." Marcus let the threat hang there for his father and Halsted to understand.

  "Well, for now, we need that shit bag," General Roman said. "Get the prisoners to HQ, now! Ken, Caldwell, and I will be there shortly." Marcus saluted his father, turned, and crossed the room to his two friends. Along the way, he noticed Caldwell making kissing faces at him like Marcus had been kissing his father's and Halsted's asses. For a second, Marcus almost lost his temper...almost. Flipping Caldwell the bird, Marcus gathered his friends and left the CP.