SIXTY-THREE
Fort Knox, Kentucky
22:00 hours
Richard Kilmer’s team completed the final preparations for the Fort Knox incursion precisely on schedule. The men donned black battle fatigues and inventoried personal gear a final time. Few words were spoken; tension descended on them like a thick San Francisco fog. The mood had never been this somber preceding a mission, and the last hours of waiting had become interminable. With everything staged, they counted down the final minutes before mobilizing.
For this mission the team would be using customized personal defense weapons comprised of Heckler and Koch MP7s-fully automatic concealable machine pistols with sound suppressors that could fire 1,000 rounds per minute. The 4.6 X 30mm bullets were armorpiercing, with a range of 200 meters. The MP7 was an ideal close- quarters weapon that could spray bullets with awesome range and accuracy. Each of the men also carried a small backpack containing five forty-round clips; night-vision goggles and voice-activated radios completed their personal gear. They were well equipped for fighting the elite Army Rangers stationed just five miles from the depository.
Colt Hamil kept himself busy as usual with the vehicles. Both the Peterbilt tractor-trailer and Kenworth dump truck sat idling in the parking lot. Ever since arriving at Wildcat, Colt had spent the bulk of his time traveling the roads they would take to Fort Knox. He went to the base Visitor Control Center, run by military police, and located the Brandenburg Gate, the main access used for commercial vehicles and staffed 24/7 by MPs. He drove the distance between Struffeneger’s farm and the base several times to get a feel for landmarks or any complexities along the way. His reconnaissance proved the trip would take about forty minutes.
Colt was surprised to learn Fort Knox was an actual town; over 2,500 families called the base home. Typical of any community there were restaurants, shopping malls, a movie theater, a bank, schools, a hospital, and everything a normal suburban municipality would usually have. The Southern-style residential neighborhoods were comprised of small to mid-sized homes with postage-stamp lawns and porches gracefully shaded by large elm and maple trees, giving the area a hometown feel. Other areas of the base presented large three-story barracks, where the enlisted men were housed; each building closely connected to the Base Exchange, cafeteria, and a training facility. Everything appeared very orderly.
Colt also learned that Fort Knox was named after Henry Knox, the Continental Army’s chief of artillery during the Revolutionary War, who became the country’s first secretary of war. It was Colonel Knox who had conceived of and commanded the first artillery regiment that helped defeat the British with cannons his troops confiscated from Fort Ticonderoga following the Boston Massacre. Fort Knox ultimately became the training ground for the Army’s armored tank division and graduated legendary World War II tank commander General George Patton. Oversized statues of Colonel Knox and General Patton-with his trademark ivory-gripped. 45-caliber sidearm-prominently stood guard over the base headquarters.
Except for driving through town on Bullion Boulevard to access the depository, Colt didn’t think the transport would raise inordinate attention. If questions unexpectedly arose about the unusual hour of the transport, he would present the manifest for the classified load, and the visitor’s pass the MPs would issue at the Brandenburg Gate. Colt was confident with this part of the plan.
Before the team’s departure, the hostages were moved into the great room of Struffeneger’s house. Farley lashed four chairs back-to-back in the center of the room and each of the hostages except Jarrod was individually tied to a chair. Once the hostages were in place, he wound a length of sturdy rope around all four, binding them securely together; tape across their mouths nullified their persistent verbal protests.
When Ryan continued to struggle, Farley slugged him forcefully in the solar plexus, warning that continued resistance would be taken out on the women. To drive home his point, he violently slapped Sarah’s face, raising an ugly welt. Her muted scream pitched Ryan into an angry spasm. Farley’s perverse enjoyment of Sarah’s useless fight made it all the more demeaning.
Farley planned to hold the hostages until Kilmer confirmed they were no longer needed-presumably when Conrad had completed his part of the operation. Upon Kilmer’s command, the hostages would be taken outside and executed with a bullet in the head, their bodies later discarded in the fish ponds. Farley showed not a glint of remorse or hesitation about his responsibility. Rather, he kept his fiendish intentions in check, secretly waiting to be left alone with his quarry to satisfy his perverse pleasures.
With the hostages secured, as a final step Farley doused the lights to make it difficult for anyone to observe his actions. Under these conditions, he could guard the hostages alone without difficulty.
But unbeknownst to Stuart Farley, his every move was being closely scrutinized. Agent Henry and Lieutenant Morris were lying on a knoll overlooking the main quarters at Wildcat Fish Farm, closely watching the unfolding events from about one hundred yards away. The men painstakingly watched a tall, athletic-looking, bald man bring each of the hostages into the living room, restraining them in one of four chairs he had tied together. The equipment they purchased at Bass Pro Shop was perfect for this clandestine surveillance.
As Morris had predicated, Bass proved to have everything the men needed to rescue the hostages. He found a reliable bolt-action Winchester Model 70. 30–06, on which he mounted a Trident Pro night-vision scope. This was all the firepower needed to rescue the hostages. They also found ATN night-vision binoculars and Viper night-vision goggles. A couple of Motorola radios with Foxfire ear-wrap headsets rounded out the technical equipment the men needed. Finally they visited the clothing department and selected boots and camouflage clothes suitable for the conditions of their mission.
While Morris and Henry scoped out the back of the residence, Palmer and Angelina had remained near the front about 200 yards away. They sat in the Explorer, Palmer using a high-powered night-scope that brought every movement into high definition. He watched the men below conduct an orderly progression of tasks in preparation of leaving Wildcat Farm. The two semi-trucks were idling and their deployment seemed only moments away. Their increased activity spiked Palmer’s adrenaline. Things are about to get crazy; hunker down, Fort Knox…trouble’s coming.
“Looks like showtime,” Palmer whispered into his Foxfire voice-activated mic. “Have you got visual on the hostages?”
“We’re in a perfect location,” Henry replied. Morris was looking through the Trident night-scope on the rifle and relayed every move coming from inside the house. “Morris only sees one man guarding the hostages. There’s another with him…but he’s decked out in commando gear, and it looks like he’s giving final instructions. The good news…it seems we’ve only got one guard to deal with.”
“Excellent,” Palmer whispered. “Time to rendezvous; these guys are ready to roll.” Palmer and Henry were planning to meet at the Explorer and needed to vacate soon after the men departed.
“Ten-four…on my way,” Henry replied.
“Remind Morris about the timing. Precisely ten minutes after the trucks leave the yard, Angel begins the diversion. She’s got my watch and a radio but she’ll be out of contact after making her move,” Palmer reminded him.
“Affirmative. Morris will be awaiting her move ten minutes after the trucks roll. See you in five…”
Richard Kilmer escorted Dr. Conrad out of the house with his hands still tied behind his back and tape drawn across his mouth. The night air was chilly and the sky was clear. He noticed the thin sliver of a crescent moon but it wasn’t an issue like it was during the Livermore job; when the Army Rangers were activated, they would have the same night-vision capability the team was using. The months of planning and preparation finally over, a peculiar calm surrounded Kilmer, but all his senses were sharpened by the prospect of the coming battle.
Colt loosened the tarp on the trailer covering the antigravity machine and Marlon, Ventura, Mills, Metusack, and Kilmer scrambled underneath. Rafie assisted Dr. Conrad onto the trailer and then helped Colt re-tie the tarp. Both men were dressed in Army fatigues for entering the base, Rafie’s uniform sporting his officer’s rank of major. It was almost midnight when Colt climbed into the semi and slowly inched the truck out of the Wildcat parking lot, followed closely by Struffeneger and Starkovich. The Fort Knox operation was underway.
As the truck began to pick up speed, an unanticipated problem struck Kilmer. The men hidden in the trailer would be exposed if the MPs decided to check the load. The possibility was remote because the transfer manifest
