Rogue Forces

asked.

“I’m a little worried about Jon. He looked pretty bad.”

“You look pretty beat up, too, sir.”

“I’ll be okay.” He smiled at the concerned expression on Boomer’s face. “I forgot what it’s like to be under a bombardment like that. It really rattles you.”

“Maybe you ought to get some rest.”

“I’ll be okay, Boomer,” Patrick repeated. He nodded at the young pilot and astronaut. “Thanks for being so concerned.”

“I know about your heart thing, sir,” Boomer said. “The only thing worse than reentry from space might be almost being clobbered by a string of thousand-pound bombs. Maybe you shouldn’t push your luck.”

“Let’s get the vice president down safely and get a clear picture of what’s going on, and then I’ll go take a little nap.” This didn’t ease Boomer’s concern one bit, and it showed on his face, but Patrick ignored it. “Any jets bothering the Loser?”

No use arguing with the guy, Boomer thought—he was going to work until he dropped, plain and simple. “Nope,” he replied. “Every fighter within fifty miles has lit it up, but nobody has attacked. They’re not bothering our UAVs either.”

“They know most of the planes flying up here are unarmed reconnaissance planes, and they’re not going to waste ammo,” Patrick guessed. “Pretty damned disciplined. They know there’s very little resistance to what they’re doing right now.”

“Lots of slow movers coming in, and several columns of vehicles headed our way,” Boomer said. They were intently watching several dozen slower-moving planes, mostly buzzing near Kirkuk and Irbil. One plane, however, was heading westbound directly for Nahla. “Any modes and codes on that one?” Patrick asked.

“Nope,” Boomer replied. “He’s very low and fast. No communications yet. The laser radar image shows it as a C-130-size twin turboprop, but he changes speed every now and then, slower than a tactical airlift plane should go. He might be having mechanical problems.”

“Do we have contact with the Avengers?”

“I think they’re all talking to Colonel Wilhelm in the Tank again.”

Patrick opened the command channel: “Scion One to Warhammer.”

“Good to see you’re still with us, Scion,” Wilhelm said from his command console in the Tank. “You’re still yelling into the mic. Get your bell rung out there?”

“Advise you get your Avengers to ensure positive visual ID before engaging, Warhammer.”

“The Turks just bombed the crap out of my runway, Scion, and they’ve got vehicles heading this way. We’ve received reports of three separate columns of armored vehicles. I’m not going to let them just traipse onto this base without taking a few down first.”

“That inbound to the east might not be a Turk.”

“Then who do you think it is?”

“Not on an open channel, Warhammer.”

Wilhelm fell silent for a few moments; then: “Roger, Scion.” He didn’t know who or what McLanahan was thinking of, but the guy was on a roll; better help him keep his streak alive. “Break. All Warhammer units, this is Alpha, be advised, we have no aircraft authorized to approach the base, and we couldn’t land them here if there were, but I want positive visual IDs of all inbound aircraft. Repeat, I want positive EO or direct visual ID. IR and no modes, and codes are not, repeat, not good enough.” He paused for a moment, re- thinking his next order, then continued: “If you don’t have positive ID, report direction, speed, altitude, and type, but let it go. If you are unclear, sing out, but keep weapons tight unless you have positive ID it’s a bandit. Warhammer out.”

It did not take long for the first report to come in: “Warhammer, this is Piney One-Two,” the easternmost Avenger unit called. “I have visual contact on single-ship bogey, one-five-zero degrees bullseye, heading west, one hundred and eighty knots, altitude base minus one-eight, negative modes and codes.” The “base” altitude was two thousand feet, meaning that the aircraft was two hundred feet aboveground. “Looks like a Victor Two-Two.”

“Oh, thank you, Lord,” Wilhelm muttered to himself. How the hell many drinks and dinners am I going to have to owe McLanahan after this is all over…? “Roger, One-Two. Continue patrol, weapons tight. All Warhammer units, this is Alpha, inbound aircraft approaching, weapons tight until it touches down, then back to FPCON Delta. Weatherly, take charge here. I’m headed out to the flight line. Thompson, get your guys out there to recover this inbound, and I want security as tight as a gnat’s bunghole. Air traffic, let this guy in, and make sure there are no tails. Thompson, park him in Alpha security.” He threw off his headset and sprinted for the door.

He found McLanahan and Kris Thompson at the secure aircraft parking area, a section of the aircraft apron surrounded by exhaust blast fences in front of the large hangar. Thompson had deployed his security forces along the south taxiway and the ramp leading from the taxiway to the apron. Wilhelm’s eyes narrowed as he saw McLanahan. The retired general’s head and the backs of his hands were covered in wounds from flying debris. “You should be in the infirmary, General,” he said.

McLanahan was wiping his face, head, and hands with a large white moistened towel, which was already dirty from his ministrations. “That can wait,” he said.

“How long? Until you pass out?”

“I dropped Jon off at the medic and had them take a look at me.”

Bullshit, Wilhelm thought, but he didn’t say it aloud. He shook his head ruefully, not wanting to argue with the guy, then nodded off to the east. “Why is he coming here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Not too smart, if you ask me.” Wilhelm pulled out his radio. “Two, this is Alpha. Where’s that closest column of vehicles?”

“Twenty klicks north, still approaching.”

“Roger. Continue to monitor, let me know when they’re within ten klicks.” Not yet in shoulder-fired missile range, but the inbound aircraft was in deadly danger if it was spotted by Turkish warplanes.

A few minutes later they heard the distinctive heavy high-speed whupwhupwhup of a large rotorcraft. A CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft zoomed in low and fast over the base, made a tight left turn while transitioning to vertical flight, then hover-taxied along the line of security vehicles up the ramp to the apron and touched down. It was directed inside the secure parking area, where it shut down.

Thompson’s security forces redeployed all around the entire aircraft parking area while Wilhelm, McLanahan, and Thompson approached the Osprey. The rear cargo ramp opened up, and three U.S. Secret Service agents, wearing body armor and carrying submachine guns, stepped out, followed by Vice President Kenneth Phoenix.

The vice president wore a Kevlar helmet, goggles, gloves, and body armor. Wilhelm approached him but did not salute him—he was already highlighted enough. Phoenix started to pull off his protective gear, but Wilhelm waved for him to stop. “Keep that stuff on for now just in case, sir,” he shouted over the roar of the twin rotors overhead. He escorted the vice president to a waiting up-armored Humvee, and they all piled in and sped off toward the upstairs conference room in the Tank.

Once they were safely inside and secured, the Secret Service agents helped Phoenix remove his protective gear. “What happened?” Phoenix asked. He looked at Wilhelm’s grim face, then at McLanahan’s. “Don’t tell me, let me guess: Turkey.”

“We detected the air assault, but they sent in a jamming aircraft that took out our eyes and ears,” Wilhelm said. “Damn good coordination; they were obviously poised to strike and just waited for the right opportunity.”

“Which was me, wanting to meet with everyone in Irbil,” Phoenix said. “Didn’t think I’d be their cover for their invasion.”

“If not you, sir, it would’ve been someone else—or they might have staged something, like I believe they staged that attack in Van,” Patrick said.

“You think that was staged?” Kris Thompson asked. “Why? It was classic PKK.”

“It was classic PKK—too classic,” Patrick said. “What got me was the timing. Why a daytime attack, in the morning no less, with the entire staff and security detail awake and alerted? Why not a nighttime attack? They would’ve had better chances of success and higher casualty counts.”

“I thought they were pretty successful.”