Lean on Me (46 page)

“
Fort Carson command wants
to speak with the Colonel,” Zack said.

“
Can you open a line for
Joseph and Matthew?” Alex asked. “We need to gather the
team.”

“
Done,” Zack said.
“Patching through Fort Carson command.”

While Joseph and Matthew herded the Fey Team
back to Denver, Colonel Gordon went over the basic details of the
situation at Cheyenne Mountain with Fort Carson Command.

“
Alex, I’m thinking about
going to that reunion after all,” Zack said.

“
Really? I thought that was
impossible,” Alex said.

Setting down her headset, Alex went up to
the Pave Hawk’s cockpit. Zack gave the control over to Cliff. He
took off his helmet and stood so that they were inches apart. She
kissed his cheek and he smiled.

“
Merry Christmas, Zack,”
Alex said. “I’m glad you’re here.”

He smiled at her. Gathering his thoughts, he
looked out the window. She touched his arm. He smiled at her again
and leaned in to speak in her ear.

“
The Minuteman sites at
Grand Forks AFB were deactivated in 1998,” Zack said. “The chatter
on the line is that they are reconfiguring the base.”

“
For what?”

“
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,”
Zack said.

“
Drones,” Alex whispered.
“Oh God. This connects back to the micro-drones?”

“
I don’t know,” Zack said.
“The experimental lab is in Ohio at Wright Patterson
AFB.”

“
Know anyone at Wright
Patterson?” Alex asked.

Zack gave a slight nod.

“
See what you can find
out,” Alex said. “I’d hate to walk into some machine vs. human
scenario.”

“
Did Troy find anything on
his brother’s laptop?” Zack asked.

“
Lots of things, lots of
gibberish,” Alex said. “Maybe ramblings of a mad man
or…?”

Zack nodded.

“
We’re close,” Cliff said.
“I don’t think you want me to drop the bird on the
street.”

Zack moved back to the pilot’s seat.

“
Zack?” Alex touched his
shoulder as he was putting on his helmet. He took off his helmet.
“Thanks. You know I’d go to the reunion with you.”

He put on his helmet. Alex turned to
leave.

“
You’re not my lover,
Alex,” Zack said. “I keep telling you. We can’t go together. Too
much gossip.”

Walking back to her seat, her mind shifted
through the information. Only Alex, her team, and her father’s team
stood in the way of Eniac reaching his goals.

What were his goals? Alex refused to
complete the next thought. As Colonel Gordon left the helicopter,
she leaned back to think through what was next.

“
I don’t get it,” Jesse
appeared next to her. “What is all this drone stuff
about?”

Alex shook her head. She didn’t know.

“
Why use them against us?”
Jesse asked. “We’re a military team. Everything we do is documented
somewhere.”

Alex looked at him for a moment. Very
subtly, she shook her head and pointed to herself.

“
It’s not about us?” Jesse
asked. “Then who? What?”

Alex shrugged. Knowing she needed time to
think, he stayed close to give her time. She didn’t move until the
helicopter began its descent into Buckley.

“
You okay?” Raz asked as
the helicopter landed at Buckley.

“
Just not sure of what’s
going on,” Alex said.

“
Know the feeling,” Raz
said.

Alex nodded in agreement. MJ threw open the
helicopter door. The cold drove them from the helicopter into the
building.

“
The team is waiting for us
in our offices,” Joseph said once they were out of the wind. “When
the Admiral left this morning, Dusty told them to prepare for
duty.”

“
They are all accounted for
and on their way to base,” Matthew said.

“
Margaret?” Alex asked as
they moved down the hall.

“
Her family came to Denver
to spend the holiday with her,” Matthew said.

“
Trece and White Boy?” Alex
asked. “They were going to California.”

“
It seems that the Bachelor
Pad was… uh…” Matthew blushed.

“
Luz wants another baby,”
Trece met them in the hallway. “Can’t have just one. Oh no! Have to
have at least two. At least two.”

Rather than remind him of his obvious
choices, Alex raised an eyebrow and smiled. Scowling, he pointed at
her head.

“
Get your mind off my
jewels,” Trece said.

Alex laughed.

“
Our families are spending
Christmas in Denver,” White Boy said. “Yvonne wanted a chance to
get to know Leena and her daughter.”

“
And another baby,” Trece
said. “Why don’t you talk to him about his jewels?”

“
My what?” White Boy
asked.

“
Their women are crazy,”
Royce said. “Who could possibly want more diapers? 2 a.m. feedings?
No thank you.”

Alex smirked at him.

“
What?” Royce asked. “No
disrespect, sir, but I hate that look.”

“
She didn’t tell you?” Alex
asked.

“
Tell me what?” Royce
asked.

Raz patted his shoulder and moved into their
big work room.

“
How do you know something
I don’t know?” Royce asked.

“
She signs the insurance
forms,” Sergeant Dusty said.

“
You sign the insurance
forms,” Royce said.

“
He talks,” Alex
said.

Muttering to himself, Royce followed them
into the team room.

“
Merry Christmas everyone,”
Joseph said.

A general grumble passed through the
team.

“
It’s tough to miss
Halloween and Christmas,” Alex said. “So I appreciate you coming
this morning.”

She smiled when Raz gave her a cup of
coffee. She looked up to see Zack and Cliff walk in and settle in
the back of the room. When Bill’s collar rattled as he lay down at
Pete’s feet, she figured she may as well start. She had just opened
her mouth when Colin slid in the doorway. She raised a disapproving
eyebrow at him and Leena shut the door. Alex nodded to Joseph.

“
We’ve received credible
information on the location of Sergeant Lawrence Flagg,” Joseph
said. “Sir?”

“
Over command and Major
Walter’s objections, we implanted a GPS tracking device into
Sergeant Flagg,” Alex said.

“
I held him down and made
him cry,” Troy said as he walked into the room. Every face asked
him the question, he smiled, “The boys are with Cian. They know
what it’s like to not be at home on Christmas. They want me to
bring Larry home.”

“
Welcome,” Alex
nodded.

“
That sums it up.” Joseph
nodded to Troy. “Larry’s GPS signal went dark when he was captured.
It lit up about two hours ago. We’re going to get him.”

“
While we were in the air
here, the signal was narrowed to a Grand Forks Minuteman site.
North Dakota,” Alex said.

“
H flight out of GFAFB
field,” Joseph said. “H-29.”

“
Yes!” Vince said. “That’s
one of mine.”

“
Seems like Captain
Hutchins won the decommissioned ICBM field lotto,” Alex nodded to
Matthew. He took out a hundred dollar bill and gave it to
Vince.

“
We’ll need every bit of
intel on those silos,” Matthew said to Vince. He nodded.

“
The Admiral has been on
the phone with the commanders of the wings who monitor these
fields. He will update us when we are in the air,” Alex said. “We
can expect air and ground support from Minot and Grand Forks. The
Fey Team will lead.”

“
We’ll know more in the
air,” Joseph said.

“
The moment we hit the air,
we are working,” Matthew said.

“
We need intel. We need
imaging – radar, heat, photographic – everything you can come up
with,” Alex said.

“
Make sure your laptops are
charged,” Joseph said.

“
Any questions?” Matthew
asked.

They looked from face to face. No one had a
question.

“
My hope is that we’ll
retrieve this team and return home before lunch. But there’s no way
to know. I’m sorry.”

“
Would the Fey Team come
and get me if I was lost on Christmas?” Leena asked.

“
Of course,” Alex said.
“It’s what we do.”

“
That’s what we do,” the
team called.

“
Damn straight,” Trece
said.

There was a knock on the door. Troy opened
the door to a US Air Force flight team.

“
Someone order a few pilot
reindeer?” Troy asked.

The flight team stood at attention when
greeting Zack. Cliff made the introductions and Zack released
them.

“
We’re taking a Chinook,”
Sergeant Dusty said.

“
Our hope is to get the men
and get them home,” Alex said. “Captain Jakkman will command the
pilots. You’re dismissed to get the Chinook ready for
takeoff.”

Zack nodded. The pilots left the room.

“
Medics, we need supplies.
We expect injuries including frostbite and malnutrition,” Matthew
said.

“
Get your supplies and get
on the bird,” Joseph said. “The longer we take, the longer we leave
the team in the cold.”

“
There’s a heavy snow storm
due at dawn,” Alex said. “We need to get the men before the serious
snow starts.”

When her team left to get their supplies,
Alex sat in a chair near the front of the room to think and come up
with a plan. She looked up when Joseph set a yellow pad and a
pencil in front of her. As a silent guard, Raz sat on the edge of
the table while she wrote furiously on the pad. The team moved
around her packing supplies, making certain they had the correct
gear and clothing. At one point, Alex stood so Royce could make
sure that her jacket fit.

“
Ready?” Joseph
asked.

Alex looked up at him.

“
I have a bad feeling about
this,” Alex said.

“
Bad feeling? Or really
bad?”

“
Really bad,” Alex
said.

“
Me too.” Joseph set an
additional Glock 9mm on the table for her. “Do you want to call the
mission?”

“
No,” Alex said. “This is
what we do.”

“
This is what we do,”
Joseph repeated.

Alex gave him a soft smile and took the
handgun. Raz laid out their winter gear. They dressed quickly,
checked each other, and made their way to the tarmac.

F

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Friday morning

December 25 – 4:07 a.m. MST

Over South Dakota

Alex looked around the helicopter. The
semi-dark interior of the Chinook was lit by the blue cast from the
team’s laptop screens. Trece and White Boy were working from person
to person to make sure the team was armed and had weather
protection. For the first time in a long time, no one joked,
teased, or laughed. They were professional soldiers and this
morning, they were all business.

Alex expected a report from each of them in
about fifteen minutes. In the meantime, it was up to her to make
sure they had a safe and effective strategy. Planning a hostage
rescue so near a hundred and fifty Minuteman III missile silos was
like trying to shoot a bullet into a nuclear minefield. She had to
be certain they didn’t set off a worldwide nuclear war.

Joseph was coordinating
efforts with Minot Missile support teams. Possibly because it was
Christmas, the entire 91
^st
Missile Wing was involved in
their extraction. The team from 91
^st
Maintenance Group, the group
that maintains the Minuteman Missiles and silos, was en route to
assess the H-29 site. A team from the 741
^st
Missile Squadron, which
handles the launch control facility, was en route to assess the
deactivated H-0 launch control facility just south of Whitman. The
entire 91
^st
Security Forces Group was scrambling to protect the Minot AFB
active missile fields. A team would meet them at Grand Forks AFB to
assist. A friend of hers from 1
^st
Special Forces Operational
Detachment-Delta, Delta Force, in Fort Bragg, NC, confirmed that
there was a US Army Special Forces team headed in her direction.
This meant that every elite team in the continental United States
had a team on the move to join this action in North
Dakota.

It was Christmas and this action was the
only game in town.

She had no idea what
Eniac’s end objective was for this particular hostage dump. Was he
attempting to light a nearby armed Minuteman III field as the
commander of the 91
^st
Missile Wing thought? Was he able to arm the H-29
missile silo as Joseph worried? Would he, in some grand display of
might, launch the nuclear missile? He’d been able to keep Larry’s
GPS signal quiet for all this time. Why did he let it go live
now?

Alex couldn’t shake the feeling that he
staged this Christmas action as a way of keeping them from noticing
something. But, as Raz reminded her, she was trained by Ben. He
thought every action was a diversion from something important.