Day of Mourning

The door to the communications room opened and Captain Wade strolled in. The security officer ignored Katz and McCarter. He stopped to face April at the console.

'Yes, Captain?'

'I've learned that my file has been subjected to a security scan at your request, Miss Rose.'

She reacted coolly to the officer towering above her.

'That was routine.'

'Routine, shit,' growled Wade. 'It was done under orders from Colonel Phoenix, wasn't it? That man didn't trust me worth a damn when he eyeballed me awhile ago. I resent that.'

'Maybe you oughta take that up with the colonel, mate,' McCarter suggested from across the room. 'Give the lady a break, as you lads like to say.'

'You might also try acting like a soldier,' Katz put in. 'Your place is with your men, Captain. This will go on your record.'

The security officer glared at April.

'I want an answer.'

April lifted a cautionary hand to the Phoenix Force men.

'I can handle this, gentlemen.' She continued to address Wade. 'Colonel Phoenix exercised his prerogative as your commanding officer to rescan your security clearance because of the vital nature of the position you hold. And this man is right, Captain. Your place is out there maintaining the security of this operation. Why are you behaving in this manner?'

Wade looked contrite.

'You're right, of course. Excuse me.'

Before Wade could leave the room, a quadrant on an electronic security screen in front of April began to flash frantically, sequenced with an urgent buzzing alarm.

The perimeter of Stony Man Farm was wired for sound with amplifiers containing filters that screened out every sound except movement and voices. These were magnified more than two hundred times within the sixty- meter range of the devices.

'It's a hit,' grunted Yakov Katzenelenbogen, starting for the door with his M-16.

'Come on,' McCarter growled at Captain Wade as the Briton hustled along with Yakov. 'It's time to scrap.'

April Rose unleathered her .44 Magnum.

This time she was not to check anything; this time she would use it.

She could not take her eyes off the flashing quadrant on the screen. They're hitting the airfield. Stony Man Farm was under attack!

18

'Stony Man Farm is under attack,' Hal Brognola informed the president of the United States. 'That's what we got before all communication was cut off.'

Brognola, the president and Lee Farnsworth had been joined by Brigadier General James Crawford, retired, for another top-secret Oval Office meeting to discuss the Phoenix situation, which now could only be regarded as critical.

The president scrutinized Farnsworth.

'What can you tell us about this, Lee?'

The CFB boss bristled but held himself in check, considering the source of the question.

'I assure you, sir, neither the Central Foreign Bureau nor I have anything to do with what is happening at Stony Man Farm tonight.'

'Tell that to the men of Able Team in the goddamn Hindu Kush,' Brognola grumbled.

'Stony Man has been unable to establish communications with those people?' asked the president.

'Afraid so, sir,' Brognola reported. 'Their contact point is a connection in New Delhi who monitors our signals. We've been unable to contact our man via satellite, of course, and we can't contact him any other way due to the, uh, highly sensitive nature of his cover. Able Team is still set to hit that fortress of The Dragon. Unless they already have, in which case they're all probably dead.'

'This is hardball, and they struck out,' growled Farnsworth. He turned to the president, his tone softening respectfully. 'It just shows how in need we are of paring down our clandestine operations.'

The Man glanced at Hal.

'Is there any indication at all of the source of this attack on the Farm, who is responsible?'

'We don't know, sir. Colonel Phoenix is pursuing that area.'

'Where is Colonel Phoenix?'

'Uh, we don't know, sir,' Brognola admitted.

'We're not the only ones who'd like to talk to Colonel Phoenix,' said Farnsworth. 'The CIA is out for his hide.'

The president sighed.

'I guess I'd better hear the bloody details.'

'They are bloody, sir. The Company has an all points issued to its field personnel in the area regarding Phoenix. He walked into a setup the CIA had on some Armenian hit men who showed on the scene yesterday. Phoenix apparently figured the Armenians were tied in with this Stony Man thing, or he thought they might be involved and he wanted to confirm or deny. Several people were killed including one agent. His partner, an older man named Gridell, was wounded. The Company says it would not have happened if Phoenix had kept out of their operation.'

General Crawford had listened to all of this without missing a word or inflection. Now he joined the conversation.

'I've known Phoenix longer than any man in this room. I understand the man. I'm on his side one hundred percent. I, uh, actually have a personal interest in this, believe it or not.'

The general briefly sketched for the others his encounter with Bolan when he brought Kelly Crawford home.

'I owe the man,' the general continued. 'But after what happened after he left my home, I must confess the best thing for security purposes would be for the colonel to come in immediately and cease all of this unsanctioned activity.'

'Unsanctioned?' Brognola almost shouted. 'Then I say we should damn well sanction it! I've known the man we call Phoenix quite awhile myself, and I know he's never killed anyone who didn't have it coming.'

'I quite agree,' nodded Crawford, 'but that is immaterial in this case, Hal. I monitor the D.C. police. Of course they haven't put it together yet but the killer of three men in a black bar and at the scene of another homicide crosstown matches Colonel Phoenix to a T. 'I have the interests of Stony Man and the CFB in mind, believe me. I helped create both units. Which is why I believe Phoenix must come in. You know the way the media and the eager beavers on the Hill are these days.

'They practically destroyed the effectiveness of our espionage apparatus during the seventies after Watergate to the point where it's barely been built back up to where it once was. And all of that is being jeopardized by Colonel Phoenix running all over D.C. wasting everyone he comes in contact with. If the local authorities stumble on to this, it's over. The press has the Department better wired than we do. No, I'm sorry, Hal. Phoenix must come in.'

'And what about Stony Man Farm?' Hal asked the president.

The Man shook his head.

'I'm sorry, Hal. You're asking the impossible. I can't order troops in to protect an installation that doesn't exist. Neither can anyone else. That has always been the case.'

Brognola was angry enough to yank out a cigar and light it. Fuck the president if he didn't like smokers and there were no ashtrays. The ashes would have to be dropped on the goddamn floor and if they wanted him to leave, he would be damn glad for the fresh air.