The Fall of America: Winter Ops (27 page)

Standing, he said, “Corporal, I am going to bed now.  Make sure I am awakened at 0500, because I have a full day of court tomorrow.  In the mean time, call the base commander and tell him at 0730 hours, I want to see Lieutenant Colonel Vasiliev and his legal counsel in my courtroom.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir, and I will call the commander as soon as you are in bed, sir.”

At 0730 hours, Vasiliev and Motya were seated at the defense table waiting for the Major General to arrive.  The Lieutenant Colonel was nervous, expecting to be taken out and shot.  He still reeked of Vodka and vomit, from his night of heavy drinking.

“All stand!”  the Sergeant yelled.

“Be seated, please.” the General said as he moved to his chair.

Sitting, he paused a few minutes and then said, “Lieutenant Colonel Vasiliev, you will now stand.”

Shaking, his stomach in knots, Vasiliev stood and stared straight ahead.

“Last night in my quarters, I received a Top Secret message pertaining to this case.  A military review board has reviewed your case after a thorough investigation, and have decided you not only acted properly on the night of the partisan attack, but valiantly. Effective immediately, all charges against you have been dropped. You are to be decorated for your bravery in the near future, and you have been promoted to the permanent rank of Colonel.”

“Am I free to leave, sir?”  Vasiliev asked as he stood in shock. The last thing he expected was to have the charges against him dropped.

“Oh, yes, and my aide will escort you to your new quarters. However, please allow for the formalities of this court to complete, before you leave, sir.”

“Thank you, sir. I will wait.”

“You are a very lucky man, Colonel, and never in my thirty years in the army have I seen this happen.  If you are a practicing Christian, you need to say a prayer of thanks.” Then, looking around the courtroom, the General added, “This case is dismissed.”

Motya looked that the Colonel and then asked, “Well, is that not a surprise?”

“It is to me, but I think Moscow decided the Russian people need a hero and I am awfully glad they chose me. Only in Russia, can a man be close to a firing squad, then be proclaimed a hero five minutes later.”

Standing, the lawyer extended his hand and smiled.

Vasiliev grunted, met the man's eyes and said, “Avoid me, Motya, because I have little use for men with no backbone.”  

Before the lawyer could reply, a Corporal neared and said, “Colonel, you are the new base commander here and if you will follow me, sir, I will take you to your quarters.”

As he walked away, he turned, pointed his finger like a gun at the lawyer and said, “Stay away from me, Major.”

Motya felt a shiver go through his body.

Master Sergeant Morozov was standing in Colonel Vasiliev's office early the next morning and the Sergeant was almost completely healed.  His earlier injuries pained him at times, but the pain was managed easily by a few sips of vodka.  The senior NCO was standing about three feet in front of the officers desk at attention.

“Master Sergeant, do you understand your mission?  I know my directions are vague and I do not know for sure where I was being held, but the partisans have five of our senior officers and they must be rescued.”

“If you are sure it was in this area, we will find the camp, unless they have moved.  With your escape, it is not likely they remained there.”

“I want you to take three dog teams and look for them.  It is absolutely essential that we rescue the officers.  Now, what I am about to tell you is not to be spoken of outside this room, understand?”

“Yes, sir, and I have a security clearance.”

“This pertains to your mission too, or I would not bring it up.”

“Then I have a need to know, sir.”

“A few days after the attack on the base, two tactical nuclear weapons were taken by the partisans following an attack on a train. These weapons are small, just big enough that a man can parachute in, set the timer, and then get safely away.  The blast is small, but sufficient to destroy a city, lets say, the size of Saint Louis, Moscow, or Jackson.”

“Sir, they are useless to the partisans if they cannot arm them.”

“That is true, if these were a bunch of peasants, but they are not.”  The Colonel opened his top desk drawer, pulled out a bottle of vodka and two glasses.  Nodding toward his chair, he asked, “Drink?”

“Oh, yes, sir.  Once in the field, I will not get much vodka.”  He moved to the chair and sat.

“My intelligence section is positive they have a number of learned men with the resistance and some are known scientists.  I feel over time they will be able to arm both weapons.”

“Oh, that is not good, because they could kill a lot of Russians, sir.”

Pouring two crystal glasses full of the clear alcohol, he handed one to the Sergeant, and then said, “I can assure you, if you happen to recover the tactical nuclear weapons, of a promotion, medal and an immediate return to Russia, Sergeant.”

“Sir, I lack the formal education to be promoted to a higher rank.”

“The message I have from headquarters is the man who is responsible for the recovery of the weapons will be immediately promoted to the rank of Captain, regardless of his current rank.  In your case, since you are a Master Sergeant, I am sure I can have you promoted to the rank of Major, or maybe even Lieutenant Colonel, due to your obvious intelligence and combat experience.  It is something to think about during your mission.”

“But what of my limited education?”

“This is a war, Sergeant, and I think education means much less than experience.  I do not know much more than what I just told you.  So, I want you to lead a group of men, along with a Lieutenant Ioann Oleg, after the partisans. The Lieutenant will be on his first mission, so he will be more or less useless to you, but he will be in charge, on paper.  I will personally brief him that he is to listen to you and agree with your suggestions.  In other words, he will be there for show, while you will be calling the shots.”

“When do we leave, sir?”

“We had to borrow some helicopters from Jackson, but as of right now, you will leave at 0400 in the morning. You and a company of men will be inserted near a swamp that is slightly north of where I think the camp is located.  Then, moving due south, you should find the place.  I want hourly radio reports or when something important is discovered or happening.  I have a squadron of fighter jets on standby to support you, along with ten Black Shark helicopters.  We must recover these weapons at all costs.”

Knowing the conversation was over, Morozov stood and saluted.  

Returning his salute, the Colonel said, “Good hunting.”

The Master Sergeant nodded, did an about face, and left the office.  

That evening, right after supper there was a little knock on his door. Morozov moved to the door and opened it.  Unlike the junior enlisted, his quarters was actually a small prefabricated structure with many luxuries denied the common soldier. The lower grades slept in tents, while the Master Sergeant actually had a bathroom and bed.

A small squirrely looking Lieutenant asked, “Master Sergeant Morozov?”

“Yes, sir.  Please enter my humble quarters, sir.”

The man was small, maybe five feet four inches, about a 54 kgs, with short blonde hair.  He wore thick glasses with military issue black frames and he looked about fourteen years old.  

“Have a seat, sir.  Drink?”

“Uh, no thank you, Master Sergeant. I do not drink.”  Oleg sat in a wooden chair.

Pouring himself a drink, the Sergeant asked, “So, what can I do for you?”

“I am here mainly to meet you and let you know I have no combat experience.  I will have to depend on you a great deal during our mission.”

“I will keep you out of trouble, sir, and try to save lives.  How old are you?”

“Twenty, why?”

“How did you finish a university so quickly?”

“During my secondary school years I attended a military academy and when I entered college, they gave me two years of college credits.  Then, once I finished the university, I was made a Junior Lieutenant.”

“Do you speak any languages?”

“Some English. I took the language at the both the academy and university.  I have never spoken to an English speaking person, so I have no idea if I can do the job well or not.”

“If we take prisoners, you might come in handy in the field.”

“We will see.”

“What was your major at the university?”

“Arts; I am a painter of sorts.”

Arts?  For God's sake, the partisans will eat this man for breakfast
, he thought and then asked, “Do you have all your gear packed, sir?”

“All but my chemical biological gear.”

“Leave it.  We are the only ones with the capability to release either, and it will not be done while we are on this mission.”

“Because of what we are looking for?”

“Yes, sir, and I take it the Colonel has briefed you?”

“Oh, yes, and made it clear that you are really in charge.  He has a lot of respect for you and your skills.”

“Well, no disrespect intended sir, but I have been in the army longer than you have been alive.  So, I know a few things that can keep us safe and alive.”

“Good, because I hope to learn much from you.” The officer stood and made his way to the door.

Morozov moved to the door and said, “Enjoy your evening, sir.”

“You as well, Master Sergeant.”

As the young officer walked away, Master Sergeant Morozov thought,
If he is alive twenty-four hours from now, I will be surprised as all hell.  He is like a big baby.

W
e moved quickly and by dark, were in the new building. I immediately had a squad of carpenters building cells for our prisoners, and selected a private office for Colonel Lee.  As I was setting his office up, Silverwolf walked into the room and said, “Our men on drag and two fellows I left near our old headquarters state Russians are all over the place, with an estimated strength of a company.  I ordered them to come here in a roundabout way and for two men to shadow the Russians as they move.”

“I think they're looking for the Nukes.”

“They can't know we have them.”

“No, but obviously the escaping Colonel remembered where we were located.  It's a damned good thing we moved. I want all trails and roads to this place heavily mined and booby-trapped. I want snipers planted in trees, with assigned areas of responsibility for shooting.  Rush the job too, because if they have dogs, they'll trail us easily enough.” I said, and then scratched Dolly's ear.  She was closer to me now that Sandra was gone. She was all I had to remind me of the old life.

“I hear you, and John, Colonel Lee is looking so much better now than earlier. I honestly thought the man was dying on us.”

“He is, but slowly and over time.  John, we don't have time for small talk, so get people working on the mines and such.  Thanks for your help, too.”

“Will do.”  He turned and left.

As I was moving some books, the Colonel entered and said, “Good news, I guess.  Our scientists say the nukes can be activated with a magnetic key and code. They've managed to reset the code and a key is being made.  I pray we never have to use a tactical nuke, but we may.”

“How are you feeling, sir?”

“Weak and like hell warmed over. Thank you for putting my office together, because I can't do it.  I suspect within a month, John, I'll be forced to turn command over to you.  You're intelligent, have the needed skills and experience.  You'll have to make some rough decisions, son.”

“Oh, I know it, and don't really want the job.  I've seen a lot of good commanders come and go, but count you and Willy two of the best.”

“Thank you, I'm flattered.”

I then explained about the Russians and Lee thought for a moment and then said, “Once we know the trail they are using, we need to set up an L shaped ambush and take 'em out.  I'm positive they don't know we have the nukes, so I doubt that is the reason they are after us.  Most likely the Colonel remembered where our camp was, is all.”

“Sergeant Fox!”  I turned and yelled from the Colonel's door.