many assignments, so many persons you get thrown together with to get the job done. It all kinda gets jumbled together. Boyfriends don’t hang around too long if they don’t like being second banana to the job.”
“Sounds lonely—like you’re never by yourself, but always by yourself at the same time.”
“It is.” As if she was afraid she was opening up too much, she straightened her shoulders. “But it’s exciting, and it pays well, and once in a while I get to do something really cool…” She patted his chest playfully and added, “…like work with Superman.”
He took her hand in his. The toughness she tried to portray instantly melted away. She used her other hand to pull him to her, and they kissed. The friendly kiss turned into a long, passionate one.
Jason didn’t quite know what happened next, except that she had slipped her rental car keys into his hand, then the keys to her room at the Clovis Inn just a few minutes later when they pulled up, and then they were in each other’s arms and undressing one another. They didn’t do much talking that night either.
Hours later, she kissed him good-bye and dropped him off again at the airport terminal. Ari had caught a ride back to the base on her own, as he knew she would do. Partners to the last, she knew it would not look right for a world-famous investigative reporter to be dropping off the commander of a secret military task force at the gate to a military base late at night.
Pecos East Training Range, Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico
Several days later
The eighteen commandos who formed the operational strike members of Task Force TALON, along with Kelsey DeLaine, Carl Bolton, and Sergeant Major Ray Jefferson, were assembled on a weapons-training range in a special area of Pecos East shortly before dawn. With them were six specialized vehicles resembling narrow, fat- tired, high-tech dune buggies they had nicknamed the “Rat Patrol,” designed to fit inside large transport helicopters or small fixed-wing transports. Out in the distance was a group of buildings they were going to use for target practice as a warm-up for their big training exercise later that morning.
Standing apart from the other task force members were Jason Richter and Doug Moore, both mounted inside Cybernetic Infantry Device units. Richter had a grenade launcher backpack, while Moore wore another backpack that launched small observation drones called GUOS, or “Goose,” short for Grenade-Launched Unmanned Observation System. The two CID units were not really part of the morning exercise, but were allowed to use the range and targets after the rest of the task force were finished.
Again, Jason thought ruefully, Kelsey and the sergeant major still weren’t interested in merging CID’s capabilities with Task Force TALON. What an incredible waste.
The other members of Task Force TALON were busy checking their weapons, equipment, and radios, and were now standing before a short platform awaiting their final briefing. “Okay, ladies and gents, listen up,” Sergeant Major Raymond Jefferson began. “Welcome to Task Force TALON’s first field exercise. Our first objective this morning is simple: get used to moving and communicating as a team.
“Our primary means of tactical transportation on our missions will be by helicopter, which is why we’ve chosen to use the ‘Rat Patrol’ dune buggies for fast ingress and egress,” he went on. “There are three men per vehicle. Each vehicle is fitted with a machine gun or M19 grenade launcher. Top speed is about a hundred kilometers an hour. They’re designed for rough terrain but they’re nimble and top-heavy with the guns mounted on their pedestals, so be careful your first time out and get the feel of steering and handling these things on uneven ground.
“In about an hour we’ll bring in a couple of MH-53 Pave Low special-ops helicopters and try a helicopter assault on a simulated oil refinery out on the range, but right now we’re going to get the hang of riding and attacking from the dune buggies by attacking that small group of buildings out there. Hop in, try some turns and fast starts and stops, then spread out and try firing on the buildings from the buggies and on foot. Charlie Range is heavily instrumented, so we’ll have multiple cameras on all players and will be able to do an intensive debrief later on. All communications, weapon hits, and player movements will be recorded. We’ll have some time to iron out procedural problems later on, so let the glitches happen. Questions?”
The officer in charge, Jake Maxwell, nodded toward Richter and Moore. “What are the CIDs’ roles today, Sergeant Major?”
“They are here to observe,” Jefferson responded. “They will test-fire their grenade launchers after you are finished. Sergeant Moore in CID Two will use his drones when we move on to the second phase.”
“I’d like to watch those things in action,” one of the commandos said. “Why don’t they come along with us and see if they can keep up?”
“We can wax your ass, Yonker,” Moore said with his electronically synthesized voice.
“In your dreams, robo-toy…”
“Can it,” Jefferson interjected. “CID tactics will be merged with the task force once a training syllabus has been drawn up and approved. Any other questions?” There were none, so he turned to the others beside him. “Ma’am?”
Special Agent Kelsey DeLaine stepped up before the team. Unlike the others, she and Special Agent Carl Bolton wore black FBI fatigues and headgear instead of the high-tech pixilated fatigues worn by the commandos. “Welcome to our first field training exercise,” she began. “This will be the first of many exercises we’ll do to fine- tune our daytime procedures; then, we’ll advance into night exercises and finally some urban terrain training. Our team members come from all segments of the special ops and tactical law-enforcement community. You are all superstars in your own units—now, we need to see what it will take for us to work together as a team.” The troops appeared very anxious to get out into the field to prove what they could do. “Be careful out there. Lieutenant Maxwell, take charge.”
“Yes, ma’am,” army First Lieutenant Jake Maxwell, the TALON platoon leader, responded. Maxwell looked impossibly young, but he was an experienced Army Ranger and special-operations commando. He turned to his platoon and asked, “Any other last-second questions?” He waited only a few heartbeats, but no one said anything. “Okay, mount up and let’s do it. Follow me.”
As Kelsey moved off, she said over her shoulder, “Major, Sergeant, we’ll meet you over at the oil refinery.”
“I thought I’d do some target practice with the team,” Jason said. “I’ll bet CID can move faster and shoot better than the guys on those buggies.”
“We’re trying the GUOS drones today,” Kelsey said. “We’ll try assaults later. See you there.”
The commandos loaded into their buggies, started them up, then lined up in a column behind Maxwell. They started out on a paved road up to maximum speed for a few miles, then took the buggies off-road, first on a dirt road and then cross-country. The gunners stayed seated for the first few minutes off-road, but soon Maxwell directed the gunners to take their places up in their braced mounts behind the weapon pedestals to get the feel of riding while standing. Soon the buggies were racing across the open range at full speed. A few of the buggies had to stop because the gunners got jostled a little harder than they expected, and several had some scary moments when the drivers took a few turns too tightly and they threatened to roll over, but it did not take long for all six vehicles to stay in a tight column while racing full speed across the desert with the gunners standing behind their weapon mounts.
“Pretty damned impressive,” Kelsey DeLaine said as she watched through binoculars. “Looks like they’ve been doing this for years.”
“These guys are pros, ma’am,” Jefferson said approvingly. “They’ll be up to speed in no time. Shall I send them over to the target buildings?”
“Absolutely,” Kelsey said. “I’m anxious to see how well they shoot while moving.”
Jefferson made the radio calls, and the buggies headed south toward a small group of metal and plywood target buildings located in a circular berm made of sand, rock, and dirt dug up from the desert. The buggies lined up at a range of fifty meters and began firing smoke rounds into the buildings from the grenade launchers mounted on the back of the buggies and from the M203 grenade launchers carried by the commando riding in the passenger’s seat. They moved out to one hundred meters, then two, and finally three hundred meters. After firing several rounds from stationary positions, the buggies lined up and began firing from fifty meters with the buggies traveling just twenty kilometers an hour, gradually stepping up the speed.
“Amazing,” was all Kelsey could say after the exercise was completed and they had assembled to talk about their performance. “My hat’s off to you guys. You were up to sixty kilometers per hour and consistently making hits. Well done.”
