Lean on Me (48 page)

“
They work with
reconfigured Minuteman II facilities,” Sergeant Dusty said. “I know
a guy who worked in this field. He should be here in a minute or
two.”

“
We’re hoping he’ll know,”
Alex said. “Leena, you and Margaret were going to look into the
backgrounds of Larry’s team.”

“
I researched the team
members’ military history,” Leena said. “Margaret thinks she found
something.”

“
I talked to their
families,” Margaret said. “One of Larry’s teammates has a best
friend who was an Air Force brat. His family spent some time in
Grand Forks. I need to confirm this with his father but they don’t
seem to be home.”

“
Sergeant?” Alex asked.
“Can you help Margaret find the family in question?”

Sergeant Dusty nodded to Margaret. She went
with him.

“
That would make sense,”
Raz said. “If one of the team members knew something about the
launch facilities, they could figure a way out. Could Larry have
turned his own GPS signal off?”

“
Sure. I told him how to do
it when we were ordered to shut it off,” Alex said. “But why would
he do that?”

“
Impossible situation,”
Matthew said. “Monitored in some way so they would know he had it.
Remember he was around when your arm got sliced open for one of
those things.”

“
And almost a year of
sepsis,” Troy said.

Alex nodded. She noticed a man in his
sixties enter the tarmac. He wore a US Air Force cap and a bushy
white mustache. He stopped to talk to a young woman near him. The
US Air Force Sergeant escorted him toward the Chinook.

“
Sergeant?” Alex asked. “I
think your guy is here.”

Sergeant Dusty looked up from where he was
working with Margaret. His face lit up and he ran to the man. The
man clasped him in a hug. Laughing, they made their way back to the
Chinook.

“
Lieutenant Colonel
Hargreaves, this is my Uncle Don,” Sergeant Dusty said. “Uncle Don
used to work maintenance in this field.”

“
Master Sergeant Donald
Cummings, ma’am, US Air Force, retired,” he said. “You can call me,
Don.”

“
Alex,” she said. “You may
call me Alex but most people refer to me as sir.”

“
Good to know,” Don said.
“Say, you wouldn’t happen to be related to General
Hargreaves?”

“
My father,” Alex
said.

“
Then it is a pleasure to
meet you,” Don said. A cold blast of wind hit them. “You know
there’s a blizzard coming in?”

“
We’ve been a little
stuck,” Alex said. “We believe a team of missing US Army soldiers
is being held captive on the H-flight, specifically H-29. My
Sergeant tells me you have some experience with this field. With
your help, we hope to get the men and get out before the real snow
starts.”

“
H-29?” Don
nodded.

“
You don’t seem surprised,”
Alex said. “I thought the sites were decommissioned.”

“
They hired contractors,”
Don said. “I’m sure they did a thorough job most of the time. But
they had to drill holes in the concrete and steel, fill the holes
with explosive and then light the thing. It is tough work in the
best of circumstances. I’m not surprised that they didn’t drill as
many holes in some of the facilities.”

“
Was there word they
weren’t being thorough at the time?” Alex asked.

“
Know any people?” Don
asked. “Seems like some people are always cutting corners. Sure, we
thought they might not be doing their job. But who would ever know?
Plus, H-29 is in the middle of nowhere. I doubt anyone has been
there since it was decommissioned in ’98. And when I say anyone, I
mean not a single soul.”

“
Agent Rasmussen, sir,
Homeland Security,” Raz said. “We’re not sure how anyone could have
gotten into the facility.”

“
The silos were destroyed.
I checked that myself,” Don said. “How much do you know about these
launch facilities?”

“
We have diagrams,” Royce
said. “Chief Petty Officer Tubman, sir.”

“
Then you know the silos
are long tubes and the LEBs are just off them,” Royce
said.

“
LEB?” Raz
asked.

“
Launch Equipment
Building,” Don said. “They were oval-shaped steel covered in
concrete. Kind of like a hollow, concrete covered steel jelly bean.
These missiles were launched remotely at Launch Control Centers.
The LEB was a room for equipment, computers, generators, climate
control,…”

“
Generators?” Alex asked.
“Climate control?”

“
Sure,” Don said. “You
probably know the current active fields are reconfigured Minuteman
II facilities. The big difference is the Minuteman III facilities
have a large LEB for the generators.”

“
How long could the
generators work?” Alex asked.

“
Three days? Four?” Don
said. “Maybe more. You’d have to know how to work a generator.
Who’s down there?”

“
Special Forces team,” Alex
said. “Green Berets.”

“
They’d know how to work
the generator,” Don said. “Of course, all of the equipment was
supposed to be taken out of the LEB before they were
destroyed.”

“
Supposed?” Alex
asked.

“
Ever seen the Air Force’s
accounting system?” Don asked. “They’re never sure how many
missiles they have. You think they’d keep track of some generators
in the middle of nowhere North Dakota?”

“
We think the men are
enhancing a GPS signal,” Raz said.

“
The Launch Facilities had
antennas,” Don said. “If someone knew what they were doing, and the
antenna survived, they could hook up the antenna.”

“
Could the antenna have
survived?” Alex asked.

“
Who knows?” Don shrugged.
“We won’t know until we get there.”

“
We?” Raz asked.

“
Sir,” Margaret
yelled.

Alex looked up at her.

“
Larry’s teammate won his
six grade science fair with a mock missile silo for a science
project,” Margaret said.

“
Sounds like it’s time to
go,” Don said.

Alex made a motion with her hand and the
team boarded the Chinook. On Joseph’s order, the Delta team loaded
in behind them. Alex left the rest of their growing security escort
with orders to remain ready and on-base until the situation had
been evaluated.

“
Let’s do this thing,”
Matthew yelled.

F

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Friday morning

December 25 – 4:27 a.m. MST

Denver, CO

“
Cian!” a man’s voice came
from below the kitchen window.

They had retreated to the communal kitchen
to decide what to do next. Agitated from hiding out, Cian set to
work on pastries for Christmas breakfast.

“
That sounds like your
redheaded friend,” Wyatt said. “The one who giggles like a
girl.”

“
Like a girl?” Cian sneered
at Wyatt.

“
Come on, Cian, you know he
does,” John imitated Eoin’s girlish giggle. The men
laughed.

“
Just not something one
wants to hear about their best mate,” Cian sniffed.

“
Cian!” the voice said
again.

“
A best mate you’re leaving
out in the cold,” John walked to the window.

“
Could be anyone,” Cian
said.

John leaned out over the counter to look
down at the walkway below. Eoin waved at him. John pointed to the
back door.

“
It’s Eoin, Delilah, and
the baby,” John said.

“
He must have been bought
out,” Cian said.

“
Really?” Wyatt asked.
“Your best friend is here because he was bought out? On
Christmas?”

“
You have no idea the kind
of pressure…” Cian said. John went to open the back door. “What are
you doing?”

“
Putting my life in my own
hands,” John went through the milk porch to let Eoin, his wife and
newborn in. “Happy Christmas.”

“
And a Happy Christmas it
is!” Eoin said.

“
If you kill my brother…”
Cian stormed onto the milk porch.

Eoin’s wife, Delilah, hugged him.

“
Merry Christmas, Cian,”
Delilah said. “Thank you for opening your home to us.”

Confused, Cian looked at Eoin over Delilah’s
shoulders.

“
You’ve got troubles,
mate,” Eoin said. “And it’s not the flesh and blood you’re freezing
on the front porch.”

“
What’s going on?” Wyatt
asked.

“
That computer guy has Alex
off on some hopeless wild goose-chase so he can…” Eoin’s eyes
shifted to Delilah. “…entertain the team’s families. Destroy the
root on Christmas or something like that.”

“
He means he’s going to
kill us,” Delilah said. “Eoin said the safest place for us was here
at your house. We came right after he got the call.”

“
And the Kellys outside?”
John asked.

“
They’re here to protect
you,” Eoin said. “But you’d better let them in before they freeze.
We Irish are tough but we’re not known for our frost
hardiness.”

Max gave Eoin a long look before jogging to
Alex’s front door. Delilah moved into the house where she
introduced herself to Wyatt.

“
Jimmy’s with Rita and
Tom,” Eoin said. “You can call him. Do you have a way to call the
Fey gals?”

“
Phone tree,” John
said.

“
Good,” Eoin said. “He’s
coming for everyone at dawn.”

“
We’ll bring them here,”
John said. “The house can withstand almost anything.”

“
Good thinking,” Eoin
said.

“
Why did you come?” Still
unsure if Eoin was bought out, Cian gave him a hard
look.

“
I’m family too,” Eoin
said. “Aren’t I?”

Cian nodded despite himself. He shooed Eoin
into the house. He had just reached the kitchen door, when he heard
John yelling at someone in fast Ulster Gaelic, the language of the
Belfast slums. Cian ran to the front hall to find John arguing with
Eimilie Kelly, the woman John had been forced to marry when he was
a teenager. Cian was about to intervene when Max put his hand on
Cian’s arm.

“
I’ve got this,” Max
said.

FFFFFF

Friday morning

December 25 – 5:07 a.m. MST

H-29 decommissioned ICBM site, South of
Brockett, ND

With Joseph and Matthew at
her side, Alex walked with the commander of the
91
^st
Maintenance Group to the decommissioned ICBM site. Even
wearing her Fey winter gear with her scarf around her neck and
head, the bitter wind and cold penetrated her bones. They made slow
deliberate progress across the site. As far as anyone could tell,
the ICBM launch site had been destroyed. Raz and Troy were able to
follow the GPS signal to an antenna and confirmed that someone had
hooked Larry’s GPS to this antenna.

But who? And why?

The commander of the Maintenance Group was
certain this was a wild goose chase. The site had been
decommissioned, he reasoned. There could be no missing soldiers
here, he assured them. His statements were rational, thoughtful,
and accurate.

But the moment Alex’s feet hit the ground at
H-29, she knew the soldiers were there. Somewhere.

“
Any ideas on how anyone
could get into the LEB?” Alex asked Sergeant Dusty’s uncle
Don.

“
I’ve been thinking about
that since Dusty called,” Don said. “I think…”

Don stopped talking when a
Black Hawk landed nearby. The 91
^st
Security Forces Group hopped
out of the helicopter and made their way to their location. The
Delta Team shifted to cover the Fey Team.

“
Can you go with Captain
Ramirez to show him what you think?” Alex asked. “Trece, take Pete
and Bill. The entrance is likely to be booby trapped. Bill is
explosive trained.”

Nodding, Trece led Don away from the group.
After listening to Don, Pete sent Bill out across the field. Trece
whistled and waved. Vince, Leena and two Delta team members ran to
them. The group followed Bill.

“
Margaret,” Alex said.
“This information about the science fair project and the best
friend – was that in his file?”

“
No sir,” Margaret said.
“His mother mentioned it to me when I spoke with her. He lived with
his father during the school year. I wasn’t able to confirm the
science award and best friend until I spoke to his
father.”

“
So it’s just a coincidence
that Larry’s here with someone who knows these sites?” Raz asked.
“How is that possible?”

“
We won’t know until we
find them,” Alex said.

“
You still believe there
are men here?” the commander from the 91
^st
Maintenance Group
asked.

“
If you were lost, wouldn’t
you want us to be absolutely certain you weren’t here before we
left?” Joseph asked.

The commander gave Joseph a long look as he
appeared to suck on his teeth. He nodded.