Brown, Dale - Independent 02 (78 page)

 
          
“Yet
he tells us he doesn’t have passengers,” Ricardo said. “Ask him to verify.”

           
Suddenly the platform’s emergency
buzzer sounded three times and Becker promptly got on the address system:
“Attention on the platform, this is the command center. We have received
notification that the aerostat radar unit on
Grand Bahama
Island
has just come under attack and has been
destroyed by hostile aircraft. I am placing this platform on yellow alert.
Clear the flight deck and prepare for aircraft launch and recovery. Off-duty
crew, report to emergency stations. Repeat, this platform is on yellow alert.”
He turned to Ricardo. “Broadcast an alert warning on all Border Security, Coast
Guard and military channels, and clear the airspace for fifty miles around this
platform.”

 
          
Most
of the controllers and crewmen were watching the activity up on the commander’s
podium. “Take your seats and watch your sectors,” Becker told them. “Get your
life jackets on but continue monitoring your sectors. Do it.”

 
          
One
person did not get to her feet. Angel Mink only pressed her headphones tighter
on her head against the noise in the control center and repeated into her
radio, “Sundstrand three-fifty-one, acknowledge. You are exiting the entry
corridor and approaching restricted airspace. Turn left to heading
three-five-zero immediately.” No reply. On interphone she called out, “Mike,
Sundstrand three- fifty-one has left the entry corridor and is heading for us.
No response. His speed has increased to two-eightv. He’s thirty-eight miles
southwest, ETA eight minutes.”

 
          
Aboard Lion Two-Nine Heading Toward
Hammerhead Two Platform

           
Hardcastle was making his way back
to his seat in the rear of the V-22 shuttle with a cup of coffee—decaffeinated
this time—when Lee Tanner touched his shoulder. “Excuse me, sir . . .”

 
          
“Tanner,
aren’t you ever going to let me sleep?” But Tanner’s face was serious this
time. “What is it? The Bills score again?”

 
          
“Broadcast
on all freqs from Hammerhead One,” the controller said. “They are at yellow
alert. They said CARABAL was just attacked from the air—”

 
          
Hardcastle
nearly took off Tanner’s ears as he grabbed he headphones. “Ken, what’s going
on?” he called up to the cockpit.

 
          
“No
contact with CARABAL,” the pilot, Ken Sherry, replied. “Platforms one and two
are at yellow alert.
Key West
and the Zoc have been alerted.”

 
          
“What
was that about an air attack?”

 
          
“LYiconfirmed,
sir,” Sherry told him. “But Hammerhead One said something about an air attack
on CARABAL.”

 
          
Hardcastle
looked out the observation window on the starboard- side entry-hatch but it was
pitch black outside. The crew in the back of the Sea Lion started to rustle
uneasily, sensing the tension in Hardcastle’s voice. “Where are we?”

 
          
“Twenty
miles west of the coast. Hammerhead Two is off the nose at twenty-five miles.”

 
          
“Turn
us around and land us somewhere,” Hardcastle ordered. “Somewhere close—
Naples
or Southwest Regional ...”

 
          
“But
what about Hammerhead Two?”

 
          
“If
they come under attack I don’t want twenty-five more crewmembers on that
platform. We can evacuate crewmembers better with an empty plane. Turn us
around and get us on the ground pronto.”

 
          
The White House, Washington, D. C.

 
          
The
President was in his familiar blue, red and white nylon warm-up suit, a
reminder of his former football years—when he met in the White House Situation
Room with Vice President Martindale, Secretary of Defense Thomas Preston, the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Army General Randolph McKyer, the newly promoted
White House Chief of Staff Jack Pledgeman, CIA Director Kenneth Mitchell and
the just appointed National Security Advisor, Air Force General Wilbur Curtis.
Other NSA and Cabinet officials were represented by top aides or deputies.
Along with the top White House brass and their aides were Brad Elliott and
Patrick McLanahan, sitting away from the group with their briefing boards and
notes.

 
          
“With
all due respect, General Elliott,” the President began irritably, “what I see
are a bunch of ifs and maybes here.” He turned to Vice President Martindale.
“What about it, Kevin? You send McLanahan and a kid pilot over
Haiti
in a”—he stopped, disbelieving what he was
about to say—“a Russian fighter plane. They’re forced to land and are damn near
taken into custody. Or worse. Now you’re claiming that this military unit is a
drug-smuggling ring?”

 
          
“The
evidence may appear circumstantial but it’s documented and verified, sir,”
Martindale said. “This base has been under surveillance by Border Security for
some time.” He was stretching the truth a bit, McLanahan thought, but it was
necessary for now. “Major McLanahan has evidence that the smugglers that killed
those children,
threw
them out of
their aircraft, landed at the base in question. I did therefore authorize
General Elliott to use whatever assets at his disposal to investigate, and do
it in a timely manner.”

 
          
“With
a
Russian fighter plane?
Why did you
use a Russian fighter?”

           
“It was the only aircraft available
that could do the job, Mr. President,” Elliott put in. “We needed a plane that
was fast and maneuverable for self-defense, but we were also trying not to
spook the smugglers into running and hiding, which we felt would happen if we
sent an American fighter or bomber. There are Cuban fighter bases with Russian
planes near
Haiti
... a Russian plane seemed the logical choice—”

 
          
“And
if they got caught or killed? We’d have a hell of a lot of explaining to do.”

 
          
“General
Elliott’s group is deniable and highly classified, Mr. President,” Martindale
said. “White House or
U.S.
government involvement would have been
difficult if not impossible to prove.”

 
          
The
President looked at Secretary of Defense Thomas Preston, who gave a slight nod.
“Even I was not aware that we had a flyable Sukhoi-27 fighter being flown by
American pilots, Mr. President,”
Preston
said. “Although I would have preferred the use of a more . . . conventional
aircraft for this mission, I am impressed with the results. However, I am still
not entirely convinced that this group discovered by McLanahan here is a drug
smuggling ring, and I am even less convinced that we should do anything about
the situation at this time—”

 
          
“I
disagree,
” Martindale said. “We need
to go in there, with the Haitian government, such as it is, and break down that
bunch right now. If we wait they escape and set up shop somewhere else and we
have to find them all over again.”

 
          
Assistant
Secretary of State for Central America Janet Johnson said: “I checked on the
legal status of this Colonel Agusto Salazar that Lieutenant Powell discovered
in
Haiti
. It turns out Colonel Salazar is a district militia commander—”

 
          
“A
what?
You mean the guy’s legitimate?”

 
          
“Salazar
is a dual-national, a citizen of both
Haiti
and
Panama
, although he was born in
Cuba
and was a colonel in the Cuban
Revolutionary Air Force,” Johnson said. “He serves without compensation except
for the right to establish a local militia in the west-central region of
Haiti
. He is under nominal command of the Haitian
military and is authorized to arm and equip a fighting force in Verrettes.”

 
          
“The
man is also an ex-Cuban military officer, tried and convicted of drug smuggling
in
Cuba
,” CIA chief Kenneth Mitchell put in. “His supporters, probably most of
the soldiers and pilots there at Verrettes, broke him out of prison days before
he was to be executed. My sources say he lives under the good graces of the
Cuban regime by some big payoffs to the Cuban government. In exchange, his men
and planes have virtually unrestricted access to Cuban airspace and waters for
their activities, although they would never admit it, of course. After all, he
operates out of
Haiti
.”

 
          
“So
what’s the bottom line, people?” the President cut in. “Can we get this guy or
what?”

 
          
“We
can ask the Haitian government to turn him over to us,” Johnson replied.
“Salazar is a lot like Manual Noriega was in
Panama
—a military leader, a strongman, enjoying
full protection and immunity of a government official. He’s richer and more
powerful than anyone else in
Haiti
...”

 
          
“Once
we get permission from the Haitian government we can have him out of there in
no time,” General McKver said.

 
          
“Another
invasion force?” the President said. “We looked like bullies to the hemisphere
when Bush invaded
Panama
.”

 
          
“But
the operation worked, sir,” McKyer said. “We got Noriega. The man is serving time—”

 
          
“If
we move into
Haiti
we’ll lock in the condemnation of the entire world,” Johnson said.
“They’re already calling us empire-building bullies, invading neighboring
states whenever we feel we need to. I’d recommend against that course of
action.”

 
          
“I
must agree,” Thomas Preston said. Martindale’s shoulders slumped—he knew how
important
Preston
’s voice was in all of the President’s
decisions. “The situation with this Salazar character is much diflFerent from
that with Noriega. Noriega took control of
Panama
by trying to kill off the opposition and by
nullifying the free elections.
And
he
declared war on the
United States
and threatened to destroy the
Panama Canal
. The decision to invade
Panama
was a necessary one, a defensible one.
Besides, we already had a sizeable force in place. We would have no such
advantage in
Haiti
. We’re not at war with the government there, no one in
Haiti
has declared war on us, and this Salazar
doesn’t threaten the security of either
Haiti
or the
United States
. . .”

 
          
“I
agree, Thomas,” the President said to
Preston
. He
turned to Martindale. “We can begin actions against Salazar that will show our
displeasure at his actions—maybe even indict him for drug trafficking the way
we did Noriega, and we can get the cooperation of the Haitian government in
monitoring his activities. But nothing I’ve heard justifies a
military
action against this guy. It’s
out of the question. We can’t possibly identify
anything
he’s done.”