More Than Courage (34 page)

261

rear of the room. With a single motion of his hand, the producer of this stage play brought the opening session to an abrupt close.

For the moment he had enough footage with which to proceed.

They no longer needed the Americans. Through careful editing, a body-double shot from behind^ and a dubbed voice delivered by a Syrian soldier who was even able to mimic Hashmi's accent, the Syrian Ministry of Information would be able to complete the tribunal without having to worry about any further interference from the accused. Their goal would be met and on schedule. By the next day a story that had been fading from the public's radar would once more be dictating the agendas of decision makers in the United States and around the world.

Fort Irwin, California

07:00 LOCAL (14:00 ZULU)

Seated on the hood of his humvee with his feet resting on the I-beam front bumper, Lieutenant Colonel Harry Shaddock watched the Air Force transport as it taxied its way over to where the hangars were. Standing to either Side were his sergeant major, John Harris and his XO, Ben Castalane. When the roar of the aircraft's engines had subsided somewhat, Shaddock grunted. "Am I the only one who feels like a Trojan soldier watching a horse being hauled through the gates of his city?"

With a chuckle Castalane looked up at his commanding officer.

"What's the matter, sir? Don't trust our good buddies from Puzzle Palace?"

Shaddock looked at his XO. "You know, when I was doing my time at Fort Benning a Russian officer who was visiting us presented a briefing on the war plans the former Soviet Union had drawn up for waging war against the United States. When he listed the primary targets the Strategic Rocket Force would take out in their first strike, all of us noticed that the Pentagon was not included. Well," Shaddock continued as he waved his hand about,

"being the spring butt that I am, I took the bait. In a flash I threw my hand up. When the Russian stopped and called on me I pointed this out, asking him why the Pentagon had been left out.

With a straight face and without missing a beat the Russian looked at me, and replied, 'Well, after careful analysis of your nation's command-and-control structure, it was determined that destroying the Pentagon would only serve to enhance the combat capability of your armed forces.'"

264

HAROLD COYLE

Amidst the chorus of laughter, Sergeant Major Harris lifted the lapel of his uniform. "Ah, sir, could you repeat that? I don't think my hidden mike got everything you said."

Shaddock threw his hands up. "Sergeant'Major, I'm only relating to you a true 'story."

Castalane chuckled. "That's right, Sergeant Major, with the

|

emphasis on 'story.'"

The laughter faded as the transport rolled to a stop. Not being privy to what exactly was going on behind the scenes, Har Iris

looked up at his commanding officer. "I take it from your demeanor, Colonel, this is a new wrinkle."

Shaddock didn't respond as he sat there wondering what the sudden appearance of this aircraft, its passengers, and the cargo it carried would mean to his battalion. Those suspicions he did harbor could not be shared with his subordinates. In an eyes-only I message that had been

hand delivered to him the night before by a

courier who had been flown in, Shaddock was made aware of how much the situation in Syria was in flux. The message was as short as it was encrypted. "Original goals of Fanfare no longer applicable.

Fanfare is now the primary response. Personnel with revised orders as well as additional equipment required for execution of revised iFanfare will be arriving your location by air 1400 hours Zulu."

When his colonel didn't respond to his comment Harris let the matter drop. He haci no doubt in his military mind that he would find out what all of this was about soon enough.

After easing himself down, Shaddock reached behind with his right hand and pounded on the hood, shouting to his driver who tended to drift off to sleep whenever the engine wasn't running

"Jackson, crank it up!" Turning to his XO and sergeant major, the commander of the 3rd of the 75th Rangers pointed to the transport.

"What do you say we go over there and see what the pros from Dover have for us."

1

MORE THAN COURAGE

265

By the time the crew chief of the transport had the ramp down, Robert Dclmont was up, out of his seat, and ready to go. Leaving the project manager for the Land Warrior system and his training NCOs to deal with the load of equipment, Delmont trooped down the ramp and into the bright desert dawn. Pausing as soon as his feet were on the ground, he glanced at his watch, then up at the sun. It was still early morning and already he was perspiring.

By noon his brown-and-tan desert BDUs would be soaked with sweat.

He hadn't been on the ground for more than a few moments when a covey of three humvecs roared up to the transport and came to a screeching halt, throwing up a cloud of dust that drifted into the open cargo bay. Despite the fact that the people who emerged from the humvees outranked him, the transport's crew chief gave Lieutenant Colonel Shaddock, Major Castalane, and Sergeant Major Harris a look that could kill.

Ignoring the Air Force sergeant, Shaddock marched up to Delmont. "Are you in charge here?"

Somewhat taken aback by Shaddock's brusque manner, the special ops plans officer raised his right hand in preparation to receive Shaddock's in greeting. "I am Lieutenant Colonel Robert Delmont from the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army for Special Operations."

"I'm Shaddock," the Ranger officer snapped without making any effort whatsoever to take Delmont's proffered hand. "You're supposed to have orders for me."

For a moment Delmont stared at the commander of the 3rd of the 75th with his hand held out between them. When he finally realized how things stood, the plans officer withdrew his hand behind his back, where he clasped it with his other hand. Rocking back on his heels, he took a moment to size up both the man before him and the situation. Well, Delmont thought as they eyed each other like a pair of pit bulls in the ring, if this is the way you want to play it, then by God that's the way it will go down. "Is there

^T

266

HAROLD COYLE

a secure area where we can go, Colonel, and discuss those orders?"

With a smile that reflected not a whit of warmth, Shaddock reached out with his right hand, took Delmont by the forearm, and raised his left hand in the direction of the open desert.

"Please, Colonel. Step into my office."

Making no effort to mask the scathing expression that clouded his face, Delmont fell in behind Shaddock as the two stormed off in silence. When Shaddock was sure that he was out of earshot of everyone gathered about the rear of the transport he stopped and pivoted. "Before we get started here," he stated, making no effort to hide his anger and frustration, "are you someone who knows what's going on or are you simply another messenger boy who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground?"

Having had a few seconds to collect himself in the wake of Shaddock's less-than-cordial greeting, Delmont folded his arms across his chest and leaned over to look down at the toes of his boots for a second. When he was ready he glanced up at Shaddock.

"I suppose I could say that I understand how you feel, that I am well aware of the goat rope we have been putting you through these past few weeks without allowing you the freedom to level with your men. Well, I'm not going to bullshit you. I'm not going to because you're a professional soldier and an officer who's been in the Army long enough to know how things work."

"You have no need to remind me of that, mister."

"Then climb down off your high horse, Colonel, and start acting like it!"

Having been called on his less-than-exemplary behavior by a fellow officer, Shaddock felt a sudden pang of regret. Though he was still angry over the way he was being kept in the dark about what was going on at echelons above him, Shaddock knew that he had been wrong to carry on the way he had. Tucking his hands up under his arms, Shaddock pulled away a few steps. Looking down at the ground, he kicked some dirt about with the toe of his boot as he regrouped. "Okay, Colonel. What are my new orders?"

MORE THAN COURAGE

267

While the Ranger's demeanor was still far from being friendly, at least he had ratcheted down his tone to something resembling civility.

Delmont answered accordingly. "When Fanfare was originally planned it was meant to be nothing more than a deception plan, a not-so-veiled threat that would serve as a warning to the Syrians."

Without looking up from the circles he was drawing in the sand with the toe of his boot, Shaddock nodded. "Yes, that part I understood. We were to be the sword of Damocles hanging above the negotiating table."

"Something like that, yes," Delmont affirmed. "From the beginning, the administration took the position that this crisis would be resolved through diplomacy."

Glancing up from his sand art for a moment, Shaddock looked beyond Delmont and out into the open desert. "Let me guess. Someone forgot to fax the president's talking points to the Syrians."

Sharing the Ranger's contempt for the manner with which the crisis had been handled up to this point, Delmont agreed as he also gazed out into the vast, barren distance. "Yeah, something like that." Then, looking back at Shaddock, he picked up where he had left off. "The Commander in Chief has finally come to realize that something must be done to bring this crisis to an end."

It took Shaddock several seconds to realize that Delmont's pause was deliberate, Very deliberate. When he looked back into the eyes of the special ops plans officer, the commanding officer of the 3rd of the 75th Rangers understood what this unexpected silence implied. Whatever bitterness he still harbored left him.

"We are actually going to be sent in?" he finally managed to ask.

"There's nothing we can do to save Sergeant Hashmi," Delrnont explained. "And as well as our sources can determine, both Burman and Ciszak are beyond our reach."

Shaddock didn't need to ask what the Department of the Army staff officer meant by "beyond our reach." He was enough

'°f a pragmatist to understand.

268

HAROLD COYLE

"Even the others," Delmont went on as he began to shuffle his own feet as he started in delve into a subject that he found difficult to verbalize, "may be a lost cause."

"Yet we are still going to try," Shaddock stated glumly. "That is why you are here, isn't it?"

Delmont decided that it was time to drop his evasive manner and get to the point. Stomping his feet as if he were shaking something off his boots, the special ops officer looked into Shaddock's eyes. "Fanfare has been modified. Instead of using Delta and Task Force 160, your battalion is responsible for the entire operation, from beginning to end. Delta and Task Force 160 will now become the deception while this battalion deploys from here directly into combat."

While he had been expecting something radical, it took Shaddock a moment to do the math. "We are going to fly halfway around the world nonstop, make a combat jump, and storm a military prison in downtown Damascus."

Delmont nodded. "Yes, something like that. Which," he added as he jerked his thumb up over his shoulder and toward the transport, "is why we brought along an entire company's worth of the new Land Warrior system the folks at Belvoir have been working on. It should give us enough of an edge over any resistance we encounter to pull this thing off."

"We?" Shaddock asked incredulously.

"For better or worse, Colonel, I'm here to stay."

Try as they might, the training NCOs who had accompanied Lieutenant Colonel Neil Kaplan, could not keep the soldiers of Company A, 3rd of the 75th Rangers from tearing into the boxes and crates they had been issued. The refrain, "Take it easy on the gear" could be heard echoing around the maintenance bay that had been converted into an ad hoc issue point and classroom Even the fact that their beloved company commander had been summarily relieved in the field and replaced by a total stranger was MORE THAN COURAGE

269

forgotten as the Rangers of Alpha Company inspected the high tech gear that they would soon have a chance to play with.

In the middle of the organized bedlam, First Lieutenant Emmett DeWitt stood next to the officer responsible for issuing the Land Warrior systems to DeWitt's company and training them in its use. "You realize," Kaplan muttered, "we do not have the time needed to fully qualify your men on this system. At best they will be able to use but a fraction of its full capability."

As he watched his men go about defying the dictates of Kaplan's NCOs, and continue to rip into boxes like hyperactive kids on Christmas morn, DeWitt grinned. "Colonel, those are Rangers you're talking about. Every now and then they've been known to surprise folks with what they-can do."

Making no effort to hide the deadly earnest tone of his voice, Kaplan looked over at the new commander of Alpha. "For our sake and the sake of those poor bastards in Damascus, let's hope you're right."

Taking the hint, DeWitt nodded. "Yes, sir. You do have a point."

Not wishing to linger on that grim thought any longer than necessary, Kaplan cleared his throat. "If you follow me, Lieutenant, I will introduce you to the latest version of the new and improved Land Warrior. While it pales when compared to what the folks in Hollywood can dream up, it is the system that will revolutionize ground warfare."

"Colonel, I'm the last person in the world you need to convince.

I'm a believer."

With a sly smile, Kaplan cocked his head. "Good. Now, let's get down to making you a practitioner."

Weaving their way through the clutter of soldiers, instructors, empty boxes, packing material, and high-tech gear, Kaplan led DeWitt to a table off to one side of the room where DeWitt's executive officer and platoon leaders were gathered. On the table one of Kaplan's NCOs had laid out complete sets of the Land Warrior for each of them. "This is Master Sergeant Benoit, the 270