by Dirk Patton
“Commander Teller Sam,” Master Chief Gonzales said in my ear. “His big brother. He was leading the team that Barinov assassinated in Australia.”
The wake was just getting started, the alcohol flowing freely. I was content to circle the room with a beer in my hand and listen to some of the stories the men were telling.
A couple of hours later, there was a change in the voices near the door and I looked around, surprised to see Admiral Packard, Captain West and Captain Britt walk in. Britt, the SEAL commanding officer, walked directly to the front of the room to stand between the caskets. Cigarettes were quickly put out and the room fell silent.
After a moment, he began speaking in a loud voice, telling the story of how Teller Sam had died. He kept it short, not feeling the need to expand upon the man’s bravery or sacrifice. Every man in the room knew the score and didn’t need to hear it. We all paid rapt attention. When Britt was done, he looked directly at me and asked me to join him.
As I walked to the front, he introduced me and explained that I was with the Lieutenant when he’d died. Taking my cue from Captain Britt, I kept my comments brief and to the point. When I was finished, I removed the Special Forces crest from my beret, turned and slammed it against Lieutenant Sam’s coffin. The pins on the back sank deeply into the highly polished wood, securing it in place.
One by one, every SEAL in the room filed by, doing the same to each coffin with their Trident pins. When they were done, a toast was given by Commander Sherman, then each man silently filed out into the night.
“Thank you,” Sherman said.
We were alone, driving away from the compound. Gonzales and Baldwin had headed off on their own.
“Did you know them?” I asked.
“Went through BUDS with Teller. He was my swim buddy.”
I nodded, falling silent for the rest of the drive. When I let myself into my quarters, the lights were off and I nearly tripped over one of the shopping bags Rachel had left lying on the floor. Grumbling, I picked it up and put it on the sofa. Dog had been disturbed by my entrance and had to go out, so we slipped through the door to the lanai.
I smoked the day’s last cigarette as he sniffed at several trees before finding one that was worthy of his mark. Once he was done, we went back inside and I quietly undressed. Four new uniforms, still wrapped in plastic from the laundry, hung in the closet. Undressing, I slipped beneath the sheet, pulling Rachel close when she reached for me.
“Sorry about leaving,” I said.
“What time is it?” she asked, voice thick with sleep.
“Almost three,” I said.
“What happened?”
“Wake for Lieutenant Sam and his brother.”
“His brother?” Rachel asked, coming awake.
She raised her head and looked at me in the faint light. I told her an abbreviated version of the story.
“I’m glad you got to go,” Rachel said when I was done.
She rolled away to take a drink from a water bottle on her nightstand.
“Me too,” I said, honestly. “Hate these damn things. Been to too many of them, but I won’t miss one if I can help it.”
She was quiet for a minute as I stared at the ceiling, enjoying the feeling of her hand on my bare chest.
“What’s on the agenda for tomorrow?” she asked, yawning.
“Got some plans in the works,” I said.
“Like what?”
“Can’t talk about them,” I said, doubting that would satisfy her curiosity.
“Don’t even try that with me,” she said, a warning tone in her voice.
“Real world, remember? That means classified information that I can’t share.”
She watched me closely, taking a slow, deliberate drink of water. After only a few seconds, I started feeling like a mouse that was about to be pounced on by a cat.
“Not sure how I feel about that,” she finally said.
“I’ll say this as gently as I can,” I said. “It doesn’t matter how you feel about it. It’s just the way life is in the military.”
“Bet I can get it out of you,” she said, tugging at the sheet that covered my lower body.
“I’ll have you know I was unbreakable in SERE training,” I said pompously, and exaggerating just a little. “So, go ahead and do your best.”
“What’s SERE?”
“Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape.”
“So, which are you going to use? Evasion? You can’t resist me, and I sure as hell aren’t letting you escape.”
“Right now, survival. That means sleep. I’ve got a meeting in four hours, and you start at the hospital today.”
“Sounds like evasion to me,” Rachel said, getting back under the sheet and snuggling against me.
“Whatever works,” I said, eyes drifting shut. “Thanks for the uniforms, by the way.”
“No problem. They went on your card, too.”
I snorted, but didn’t answer. Sleep was too close and the brain was shutting down.
“How long are we going to stay here?”
Rachel’s voice brought me back from the edge of slumber.
“What?”
“Here. These quarters. Not that they aren’t very nice, fabulous in fact, but wouldn’t it be great to have a place of our own? Maybe something on the beach?”
I opened my eyes and looked at her, resisting the impulse to tell her what was about to happen to the world. She was happy. For the first time since I’d known her, she seemed to have hope for the future. Was it fair for me to dash her dreams? To tell her the truth?
For that matter, the truth was a very closely held secret. If I did tell her, I could wind up with my ass in a huge sling. Lying there with Rachel in my arms, I thought about that, all chances of sleep evaporating into the darkness. After several minutes, I sighed in resignation. She deserved to know. Turning to look at her, I sighed again when I saw her eyes were closed and heard a gentle snore.
9
I managed to get two hours of sleep, rising with the sun and taking a quick shower. Rachel was still dead to the world and I quietly walked Dog before waking her. Our time spent running, hiding and fighting wasn’t far behind us and her eyes flew open in alarm when I touched her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” I said, leaning down and kissing her cheek. “I’m leaving. Just wanted to make sure you didn’t oversleep and miss your first day.”
Rachel smiled and reached for me, but I ducked away before she could pull me back into the bed. It would have been too easy to get wrapped up in her and lose all track of time.
“Behave,” I said, stepping away and giving myself a final check in the mirror.
“Really?” she asked, pulling the sheet to the side to expose her nude body.
I sighed and shook my head in frustration, barely resisting the urge to accept her invitation.
“Not fair,” I said, grabbing my beret and walking to the door.
I paused with my hand on the knob and looked at her laying there, smiling at me. Saw how happy she was, and felt a pang of guilt that I hadn’t already told her what was coming.
“Leaving the driver for you. See you tonight,” I said, quickly getting out of there before I changed my mind.
I set out at a fast walk, enjoying the fresh morning air. A strong breeze was blowing, bringing the smell of the sea and clearing the fogginess in my brain from not having gotten enough sleep. It was a gorgeous day, but I didn’t really notice as I looked and listened for birds.
That was one of the things that had been mentioned during dinner with the Admiral. The absence of birds as a harbinger of things to come. And try as I might, I couldn’t find a single one. There was no song to greet the new day. Captain West had likened their disappearance to a canary in a coal mine. Long before humans realized there was a problem, the birds had fallen victim to the virus.
My first stop was to see Jessica. It was a ten minute walk and I was warmed up and feeling pretty good, despite the gloomy thou
ghts in my head, by the time I arrived. But I didn’t have ID to check through security. There hadn’t been time yet to go over to Schofield Barracks and stop into BUPERS to have one made.
For that matter, I was a little like a man without a home at the moment. As far as the Army was concerned, I wasn’t sure I really existed. Yes, I’d been recalled to service, and Colonel Crawford had given me a stack of paperwork I’d signed and delivered to the JAG office at Arnold Air Force Base.
They were supposed to transmit it on to the Army, which would have then made things official, but there had been an outbreak within hours that had devastated the base. And even if the paperwork had been scanned in and forwarded, I wasn’t at all confident the Army would have bothered to get it entered into the system. Not with everything that had been happening at the time.
But some of this was my fault. It was my responsibility to report, and I’d failed to do so. I should have trotted my happy ass over to Schofield when I arrived, found the base commander and made things official. I’d have been assigned to something and would probably have a Colonel to whom I’d report.
Standing at the entrance to the building where Jessica worked, I thought about that, as well as how I was going to get in to see her. I wanted to get a real-time look at Barinov’s residence, and didn’t know anywhere else to go. Looking around in indecision, I spotted a man in a pristine, white uniform seated on a bench across a broad stretch of lawn that overlooked the harbor.
He was too far away for me to make out features, but the squad of Marines that formed a perimeter around the area where he sat gave away that it was the Admiral. I headed off in his direction, hoping he would have one of his guards walk me through security without any problems.
Captain Black saw me coming well in advance. He reached up to touch his ear and I guessed he was alerting the security detail that I was approaching. A couple of the Marines gave me a look, but didn’t try to stop me as I passed. Black turned and spoke to the Admiral who stood and turned to face me. When I was close enough, I came to attention and saluted, holding it until Packard returned it.
“Good morning, Major,” he said.
“Morning, sir.”
“Something I can do for you?”
“Sorry to bother you, sir. I need to get in to see Chief Simmons, but don’t have any ID. I was hoping you could have one of your protection detail get me through security.”
“Have a seat, Major. I’m heading there myself in a moment and you can come through with me.”
The Admiral resumed his seat and I sat down next to him, facing the harbor. The view was simply stunning, and I could understand why he had chosen the spot to take a break.
“Smoke?” he asked, extending a pack towards me.
I took the offered cigarette and lit it with the Zippo I carried. After clicking the top closed, I held it in my hand, looking at the globe and anchor with USMC below it.
“What’s a Soldier doing with that?” Packard asked.
“Took it off a dead Spetsnaz,” I said.
The Admiral nodded and didn’t ask for any details.
“What’s your opinion of the planning, Major?”
His question surprised me, but also reminded me that he was a good commander. I had no doubt he had been thoroughly briefed by Captain West, but he wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to receive another opinion.
“Barinov is a hell of a hard target, sir,” I said after collecting my thoughts. “I don’t see how we’re going to get to him without killing half the citizens of Australia. There’s just too much security to get in unnoticed, and I have no doubt that old bastard will release the nerve agent the moment he realizes he’s under attack.”
Packard didn’t say anything, just kept staring at a heavily damaged ship that was anchored near the USS Arizona memorial.
“Camp 7 is a different story,” I continued when it was apparent he was waiting for me. “The SEALs can get in place, but it’s going to be a hell of an operation just to reach it, then they’ve got to get out of Russia.”
“You avoided answering my question,” he said, staring at me from beneath bushy eyebrows. “I asked what your opinion is of the planning, not to recite something I already know.”
“Sorry, sir,” I said before going quiet and taking a drag from my smoke.
“Major, I’ve gotten a good feel for you in the past few months. At first, I thought you were just a very effective blunt instrument. But you’ve shown yourself to have a keen tactical mind. Not that you don’t sometimes take a risk, but without risk there’s no reward. I know my SEALs. They’re the best warriors the United States military has ever produced. No offense.”
“None taken, sir,” I lied.
He looked at me again and snorted a laugh.
“Heard you impressed Master Chief Baldwin yesterday. I’ve known him for close to twenty-five years. You know how many times he’s said someone impressed him?”
“I’m guessing not very many, sir,” I answered.
“How about zero. None. You two are cut from the same cloth, Major. Like mirror images of each other. That tells me I was right about you.”
I had no idea where the old man was taking this conversation. It felt disjointed, almost as if he were just saying whatever came to mind. But I had a feeling he was building up to a point.
“Those officers in there are some of the best and brightest. A couple of them spent a lot of time in the Middle East over the past decade. They know their stuff. But they didn’t just spend the last six months fighting the infected and the Russians face to face. And despite the time spent in combat, I’m afraid they’re still being influenced by the way life was before the world fell apart. What I’m asking is, are they too averse to taking the risks that need to be taken?”
“I’m not sure I understand, sir,” I said, playing with the lighter in my hand.
“Bullshit, Major. You understand exactly what I mean. These are good men. Damn fine war fighters. But the last time any of them were in combat, they were worried about being second guessed by a roomful of DOD lawyers. That makes a man cautious. Sometimes, too cautious.
“Not necessarily a bad thing in the times we lived in, but that world is gone. The gloves are off now. Hell, the gloves are gone. If we fail, the world doesn’t just keep on spinning. We fail, we’re all dead. Military and civilian. This is our one and only shot at saving the million souls that are what’s left of America. So, I’ll ask again. What’s your opinion?”
I glanced over at the Admiral, then turned my attention back to the blue water below us. Wind ruffled the surface, sunlight glinting off small wavelets. It was almost mesmerizing. There was a crinkle of cellophane as the Admiral held out the pack of cigarettes again. Taking another, I lit it and turned to face him.
“They’re circling the right path, but you’re right,” I said, deciding to give him the unvarnished truth. “It’s taking too long to pick apart every little detail, many of them that don’t matter. Part of the problem is NIS being involved. They should be providing intel, not actively participating in the planning. And there is a strong degree of risk aversion. It’s concern over collateral damage in Sydney.”
“What would you do different?” he asked.
“I’d go into Sydney with a suitcase full of gold and pay off one of the hookers that visits Barinov’s building. There’s also the supply deliveries, the maids, and a local cardiologist that shows up once a week, but we don’t know who he’s seeing. Lots of people going in and out every day. Every one of them is a potential source. Once I had the lay of the land, I’d go in, posing as one of them. I’d kill every motherfucker in the building, nice and quiet so Barinov doesn’t know what’s happening until my hands are around his throat.”
The Admiral’s expression didn’t change and he didn’t blink.
“What if the release for the nerve agent is on a Deadman switch?”
“I’m willing to bet it’s not.”
“Why?” he asked.
“
Because Barinov doesn’t think it’s possible that we can get to him. He’s supremely arrogant, and is confident that he will have time to trigger the gas if we try anything. He can’t conceive of being defeated.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
“What if Nimitz had been wrong about Midway in World War II? What if Patton had been wrong about where the Germans were in North Africa? Or if Harry Truman had been wrong and the Japanese kept fighting even after we dropped the atom bomb? There’re no guarantees, sir. Only best guesses based on the available information.”
“Interesting assessment, Major,” he said, slowly drawing on his cigarette. “But speaking of supremely arrogant, what makes you think you could pull this off like you’ve described? There’s over a hundred Spetsnaz pulling security outside the building, and the Australian military is keeping an eye on the people that are allowed inside. Why won’t they notice you until it’s too late?”
I took a breath and let it out slowly, having an internal debate. I hadn’t told him anything he didn’t already know, or suspect. Was I ready to reveal that I had a plan that didn’t involve any of the SEALs?
“Major?” the Admiral prompted.
Fuck it. In for a penny…
“I’ve got someone in Australia who will help me,” I said. “Retired senior NCO with their SASR. Well, I think he got recalled, but it won’t matter. I’ve fought beside him, and a bunch of other Aussies, sir. This caving in to the Russians is bullshit. It’s their PM. I guarantee you the people and the military are mad as hell. They just haven’t had the right opportunity to do anything yet. I’m going to be that opportunity.”
“With one eye?” Packard looked at me intently.
“If need be, sir,” I said firmly.
“Tell me why it should be you? Even if I agree to your plan, why you? Why not someone with two functioning eyes? Or a whole team of SEALs posing as food deliverymen, for that matter?”
I was quiet for a moment before answering.
“Sir, if they had my contacts, they’d already be talking about that option. They apparently don’t, and aren’t going to create them in the next week. If I show up, and I’m the one going in, I’m a known quantity. The Aussies are going to be worried about those gas canisters in their cities getting set off. We need someone on the inside over there to convince them that the man going inside can get the job done. I have that credibility. Your SEALs don’t. If we want the Australians’ help, which we absolutely need, it has to be me.”
