Battlecraft (2006) (31 page)

TAIMUR NAVAL BASE, OMAN

18 N0VEMBER

0530 HOURS LOCAL

THE
bugler marched out to the front of the headquarters building and came to a halt. He raised his instrument in a sharp military manner to his lips and blew reveille. He made a right-face and repeated the call, then an about-face to send the blaring notes out in that direction. Afterward, he brought the bugle down, performed a left-face, and marched back toward the edifice, his morning duty done.

The sailors stationed in the barracks streamed out in their clean white uniforms, falling in formation to respond to the roll calls of their chief petty officers. The crews aboard the ships in the harbor were already doing the same; and that included the missile vessel
Shams-min-Oman--Sun of Oman.
This had once been the flagship of Commodore Muhammad Mahamat, but now had been claimed and renamed by the sultanate's navy. They had no record of the vessel ever being purchased by their government, but since it was in the possession of their armed forces, they made claim to it. So far no objection had been raised from any part of the international community.

The Zauba Squadron, which had once occupied the base, was disbanded. The remaining officers were arrested and charged with treason, but its remaining well-trained sailors were forgiven after placing their hands on the Holy Koran and swearing loyalty to the nation's government. Two young mujahideen named Imran and Ayuub had been discovered living and working in the kitchen of the officers' mess. They were arrested, questioned, and found to be bewildered and frightened. The pair of ex-baker apprentices were then driven to the city of Salalah and dumped out on the streets to fend for themselves.

Meanwhile, antismuggling operations along the Oman coast were brought back to normal--a half-ass program of patrolling the coast in a sporadic, careless manner, replete with bribes and other corruption. .

.

MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES

THE
national media had been filled with the news of the arrest of a respected police official on charges of selling contraband seized during raids on vessels at sea. A two-year investigation by a special anticorruption unit of the Federal Police had revealed that Inspector Francisco Reyes had been receiving goods his son-in-law, the late Commander Carlos Batanza, took from ships hauling illegal cargo within his jurisdiction. The goods included narcotics, liquor, and tobacco. Evidence indicated the practice had gone on for almost five years.

The newspaper articles and television broadcasts noted that the son-in-law had been killed by persons unknown early the previous month. A few days after the murder, the wreckage of his previous ship along with bodies of the crew had been discovered by the United States Navy in the Indian Ocean. The cause of the disaster, which occurred under mysterious circumstances, had never been discovered.

.

KUPANG, TIMOR ISLAND

ABDURUDDIN
Suhanto, owner of the Greater Sunda Shipping Line, sat at the desk in his office studying the new prosthesis on his right wrist. It wasn't a very realistic-looking hand, but a leather glove had come with it. With the covering on it, people would assume his hand was crippled or scarred, not missing. In the Muslim world, that saved him from the embarrassment of having people assume the missing member had been lopped off for thievery. It also made it more acceptable that he had to eat with the same hand he wiped himself with after going to the toilet.

With al-Mimkhalif collapsed and the loss of the SS
Yogyakarta
, Suhanto prepared himself for a long struggle to rebuild business dealings with his former clients. He was blissfully unaware that Western intelligence agencies knew all about him and his activities. They were keeping him under surveillance to see if he might lead them to other persons or organizations "of interest."

Within a few days after he began his comeback program, he was contacted by no less a personage than Captain Bashar Bashir of the dhow
Nijm Zarik.
Bashir, also under clandestine observation, was in the middle of getting back to his old life. Things quickly looked up when a brother-in-law came to him with a job offer. This one did not involve terrorists. A highly placed Afghanistan political figure needed an unobtrusive way to ship opium poppy gum to the outside world. This type of smuggling was normally done by aircraft, but lately the authorities were having no trouble in locating the pilots and the airfields they used. Countless personnel, aircraft, and cargo were lost through raids by the police and military. It occurred to the Afghan dealer that one of the dilapidated old dhows that sailed that part of the world would be a great way to get the product to market. Since the range of such vessels would be limited, they needed an inconspicuous merchant ship of low value and performance to take on the cargo at sea and transport it to the final debarkation point in Saudi Arabia for Europe.

Bashir remembered the Greater Sunda Shipping Line's SS
Jakarta
from the work done for al-Mimkhalif. He gave the name to his brother-in-law, who came to Kupang, Timor Island, to make a deal with Suhanto. A business arrangement was quickly formed and within forty-eight hours no less than three trips had been made to bring the politician's enterprise back up to speed.

Suhanto earned a big payoff and was able to purchase the artificial hand. If things kept going as they were, he would be able to afford one of the fancy models with moving fingers.

.

DRESDEN, GERMANY

HILDEGARD
Keppler was returned to her native country through the courtesy of the United States Government. Before departing for Europe, she was rewarded with a payment of fifty thousand dollars, and she told Sam Paulsen and Mort Koenig that she planned on getting out of prostitution and opening a beauty salon with the funds when she got back home.

But before leaving, Hildegard spent a week at Langley, Virginia, deep in the confines of the CIA. She provided them with an account of all she had seen and observed while working as a courtesan aboard the Royal Yacht
Sayih.
She dropped many names, mostly of Saudis, which gave American intelligence solid confirmation of which subjects of the kingdom could lead them deeper into terrorist groups.

She also told them about the other women on the yacht along with all the particulars she knew about them. This information was sent to their nations' intelligence services for further investigation. Unfortunately, the five had all disappeared. A thorough search of the royal yacht gave ample evidence of their having been aboard, but it was impossible to leam their fate from any members of the crew. It was assumed they had been killed to keep them from passing on any information on al-Mimkhalif. None of the survivors at Fortress Mikhbayi purported to have any knowledge of the harem.

When Hildegard first arrived home, she was closely watched by the German Nachrichtendienst intelligence service to see if she had any more Arab contacts in Europe. The agents noted that at the first chance, she leased a fancy apartment in the well-to-do Uppigschaft section of Berlin, then began advertising herself as an escort service in several local pornographic publications.

A month later she was broke, and looked up her former madam to go back to working ritzy hotels again.

EPILOGUE:

THE FOULED ANCHOR TAVERN

CORONADO, CALIFORNIA

THANKSGIVING DAY

1515 HOURS LOCAL

SALTY
and Dixie Donovan closed the bar for the holiday and hired a caterer to come in and serve traditional turkey dinners to their special guests, Brannigan's Brigands and their families and girlfriends. Thanksgiving was going to be observed in a very special way with great emotion that year; the detachment had returned without a single casualty during their operation ashore and aboard the ACV
Battlecraft.
There was no better reason for a sincere celebration of gratitude.

A total of forty adults and children attended the event, including the newlyweds Lieutenants (JG) Jim Cruiser and Veronica Rivers. Everyone at the dinner had also attended the small wedding in addition to the bride and groom's immediate families. It was a quietly happy occasion held in the base chapel. Lieutenant Bill Brannigan had been the best man and Veronica's sister had been the maid of honor. The new bride was already processing out of the United States Navy, and would be a civilian around the first of December. She was scheduled to start her job as an engineer with a San Diego electronics firm the first Monday after her discharge.

Another special couple was Chad Murchison and his girlfriend Penny Brubaker. She was stationed in Afghanistan with a UN relief team and was on furlough for the holidays. Both were from wealthy families and had grown up together in Boston amidst affluence, luxury, and privilege. But they were not in the least turned off by the plain surroundings of the Fouled Anchor. His SEAL service and her time in the wilderness had taken the edges off their inbred snobbery.

Mike Assad was there with his pal Dave Leibowitz. They were double-dating a couple of National City girls, but everyone kept asking Mike if he'd heard from Hildegard Keppler since he'd gotten back Stateside. His date was beginning to turn cold toward him and it looked like he might not get lucky that night. Dave started to worry because if Mike's girl became angry and wouldn't be in a romantic mood, then his date probably wouldn't either. Luckily, Mike came up with a story that Ms. Keppler was a middle-aged, unattractive missionary working in a refugee camp in Pakistan. He enhanced the falsehood by saying she was teaching girls who had been victimized by the Taliban. The poor children were illiterate, and old Ms. Keppler was preparing them for a life of fulfillment and independence.

Everyone had the holiday season to look forward to, and the only damper on the situation was the new orders that had come down. After the first of the year, the entire detachment would be shipped back to the USS
Dan Daly
in Middle Eastern waters as a permanent assignment. That would mean a minimum of a year's deployment overseas. Consequently, most of them would be taking furloughs to visit family and friends in their hometowns before reporting for their new duties.

Most of the wives would wait for their men in the San Diego area where their kids attended school. Frank Gomez's wife was the exception. She was already four months pregnant and wanted to go home to have their baby in the bosom of her family.

Before they went through the buffet line, everyone charged their glasses while Lieutenant Wild Bill Brannigan, with his arm around his wife Lisa, proposed a toast.

"Here's to the camaraderie we all enjoy as SEALs," he began. "We are honored that our country has called on us to serve her in this great cause of freedom. We don't fight for conquest, plunder, or empty glory. We fight to maintain our liberty and to bring it to others less fortunate than us." He raised his glass. "To the United States Navy SEALs and everything the trident badge represents."

"Hear! Hear!" came the yells as the drinks were downed.

Retired Chief Petty Officer Salty Donovan gave the crowd a look of stem fondness, then shouted, 'The mess deck is open!"

The stampede toward the food was fierce, loud, and rowdy in a good-natured way.

.

GLOSSARY

2IC:
Second in Command

AA:
Anti-Aircraft

ACV:
Air-Cushion Vehicle (hovercraft)

AFSOC:
Air Force Special Operations Command

AGL:
Above Ground Level

AKA:
Also Known As

Angel:
A thousand feet above ground level; i. E., Angels Two is two thousand feet.

ARG:
Amphibious Ready Group

ASAP:
As Soon As Possible

ASL:
Above Sea Level

AT-4:
Antiarmor rocket launchers

Attack Board
(also Compass Board): A board with a compass, watch, and depth gauge used by subsurface swimmers

AWOL:
Away Without Leave, i. E., absent from one's unit without permission, aka French leave.

BOQ:
Bachelor Officers' Quarters

Briefback:
A briefing given to staff by a SEAL platoon regarding their assigned mission. This must be approved before it is implemented.
BDU:
Battle Dress Uniform

BUD
/S: Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training course C4: Plastic explosive

CAR-15:
Compact model of the
M-16
rifle

CATF:
Commander, Amphibious Task Force

CDC:
Combat Direction Center aboard a ship

CNO:
Chief of Naval Operations

CO:
Commanding Officer

Cover:
Hat, headgear

CP:
Command Post

CPU:
Computer Processing Unit

CPX:
Command Post Exercise

CRRC:
Combat Rubber Raiding Craft