The Chairman broke the resulting moment of silence, “Mr. President, we may have just lost the ability to manufacture military ground vehicles and replacement parts. At this point we have to assume we are at a state of war with some unknown entity, and that this is not a random or terrorist attack such as the World Trade Center attack. This is a first strike, but it will not be the last. In my professional opinion these attacks are being aimed at destroying our ability to respond militarily over the long term. One attack near a military manufacturing facility is bad luck. Two of them do not add up to be a coincidence. This appears to be an enemy who picked their targets with care.”
“May God help us,” was all the President could say.
AP NEWS FLASH: The United States was attacked today with the detonation of two nuclear weapons. The detonations were in Detroit and the Dallas Fort Worth Metropolitan Area. The level of damage is not immediately known. <STORY DEVELOPING>
AP ECONOMIC NEWS FLASH: Trading on all of the US markets was immediately suspended due to the detonations of multiple nuclear weapons. Internationally, oil costs per barrel nearly doubled in the minutes following the news of the attacks. <STORY DEVELOPING>
Chapter Ten
Frank had just gotten out of the shower after his morning run when he got a call to come to Fort Bragg immediately. The call was short, “Captain Banner, we need you to report in right now, with all of your gear, ready for immediate deployment.”
Responding to these types of calls was something that the teams did so often as training exercises that his response was reflex. It happened so often at randomly chosen times that Frank barely gave it a second thought. To him it didn’t matter if this was training or real, the reaction would always the same. Grab the go bag and get moving. Once he was in the car on the way to the Bragg he caught some disjointed news reports on the radio that made him believe this was not a drill. He could not bring himself to believe what he was hearing, but something strange was certainly going on.
Each member of his team arrived within moments of one another. On the way in everyone had listened to the news. From what they could cobble together the broadcasts were fragmented and confused, to say the least. They all knew from experience that putting any faith in the accuracy of any form of news radio station was a bad idea, but today something was different.
Everyone agreed this was not a drill. Something bad had happened, and it had happened here at home. Each man grabbed their gear and went straight at it. Equipment checks began immediately. Then each man double-checked one another.
Just as the team was finishing up Colonel Jacobs entered the room. His entrance gathered everyone’s attention even before he began addressing the team. “Men,” he stated, “I just spoke with the Base Commander, and he had just spoken with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who was with the President. What little information I have for you is new, and from those individuals, or whatever reliable sources they have.”
He took a very deep breath before continuing, as if searching for the right words, or perhaps that he couldn’t believe what he was about to say, “The United States has been hit by two nuclear devices. One strike was in Fort Worth, Texas, and the other in Detroit, Michigan. We do not yet have any intelligence as to who is behind these attacks. We also do not have any information yet as to the extent of the damage, or the overall size of the devices. I ask you to pray for the many civilians who will have died today.”
No one said a word.
They all knew that this was completely uncharted territory for the modern military.
“These attacks have all the hallmarks of being an opening salvo. Once this conflict goes to the next stage this may very well be the most challenging test that those of us in our rarified profession have ever experienced. This is one that I have never even considered training you for. I wouldn’t have ever thought it could happen. I am certain that those of us in the Special Operations will respond in whatever fashion we are called upon. Right now, I want everyone to double-check every vehicle in our inventory. Make a current assessment of readiness as well as spare parts, and report that status up the chain of command,” he looked around at the team, looking each member in the eyes, before continuing in a more somber tone.
“If you have family in either location be sure to pass that information up the Chain of Command as well. We will be sure to update you with any casualty information we have as quickly as any credible information becomes available, especially once names become known of any dead or injured. Now, get to work,” he concluded.
Frank looked at his men. They had responded to military hot spots all over the world, whenever and wherever they were needed. Now, they were needed again. This one was different. This one was at home. It was more than that. The looks on each of their faces could not be mistaken. There was shock and disbelief. This sort of an attack, especially on the homeland, was just too awful to have even considered, before today.
They were accustomed to fighting the enemy. This fight was on their doorstep, and that was new.
Frank was wondering just how to respond to an enemy willing to use a nuclear weapon on a civilian population.
There wasn’t even an enemy identified to go shoot back at. Defense was not their normal mode of thinking, but today they would have to. Frank preferred, and they had all volunteered for Special Operations, so they could be on offense.
He couldn’t help but be furious with the massive failure of all the intelligence services, as well as whoever had not let them go into the nuclear facility earlier. He knew in his gut that this attack had to be connected to that theft of materials. They had been right on top of the material that was probably used in this attack, and those same intelligence services said that what was stolen couldn’t possibly be used to make a weapon. Frank wondered if they had been given the go order sooner, could they have stopped these attacks. Was it that same material, or had it come from someplace else?
If Frank had to bet, he would bet it was that same material they missed by less then an hour due to someone not being able to make a damn decision. Then some intelligence services had also said that even if you could use that material to make a nuclear weapon that there was no way anyone would, or could, use that type of a device inside the United States. They even went so far as to say that the problem was being dealt with, and that the Army did not need to be concerned.
They had one point correct.
Someone else did deal with that material. Someone got exactly what they wanted, and then they put it to use right where they wanted to. Frank was happy now, perhaps more than ever, that the President who held them back from stopping this thing when we could have made a difference had been impeached. That man had to be the one that made the decision that night to keep them out of the fight until it was way too late, and two of Frank’s men died in the process. How many more had now been killed due to poor leadership.
These thoughts had to be stifled so he could focus on the tasks at hand. The team had to be ready to respond to this unprovoked attack. Frank decided that he would do everything he could to prevent this kind of attack and failure of intelligence in the future, even if he had to go above and beyond his normal duties more than normal.
He felt that he should have forced the pilot to let them jump, orders be damned. No, he had to focus. Orders still mattered, the chain of command still mattered, and they had to be followed.