“Sucks to be a hostage,” Adams said, repeating a common SEAL mantra. In most hostage rescue training missions, the “hostage”, invariably a dummy dressed as the hostage, was killed either by the rescuers or the holders.
“Try to make it suck less,” Mike said. “Anything else?”
“Well, I could use some better satellite intel,” Vanner said. “Specifically, better than one meter scale shots for the entire area.”
“You need them for map generation, yes?” the Russian officer said. “Would maps be better? We have high resolution maps for the area.”
“You do?” Vanner said. “I’ve been looking for maps for forever for this area.”
“What do you think our Spetznaz use?” Chechnik replied. “We can get you maps, in standard map file systems if you wish. Also the satellite photos. And we can provide real time satellite tasking during the mission.”
“I was going to ask Washington for that,” Mike admitted. “I’d like a Predator on station in support.”
“I have been made aware that the US is willing to supply such support,” Chechnik replied.
“Christ, talk about cooperation,” Adams snorted. “Am I the only one that’s having weird reality distortion here?”
“I’ve seen it before,” Mike admitted. “Once.”
“Paris,” the Russian said, nodding. “Yes, when one of our nuclear weapons becomes, as you American’s say it, ‘in play’, we become very cooperative.”
“We need everything you have on the players,” Nielson pointed out. “And the correlation of forces. Everything. Names of individuals in the battalion in the area if you have it.”
“Of course,” Chechnik said, opening up his briefcase and sliding a DVD onto the tabletop. “All of what we have is in here. It is everything that my office was able to find, at least. As with your American intelligence agencies, there is often something out there that one group knows that the rest do not. But I swear this is everything that the president of Russia could put his hand on in less than a week. It is in Russian, but I understand you can handle that.”
“One thing that might or might not be in there,” Mike said, musingly. “We need the name of a slaver that works the area. Preferably one that’s not terribly brutal. I’d prefer one that if he has a good worker doesn’t punch her around just to show her who is boss.”
“I only reviewed the information,” Chechnik said, cautiously. “And it focuses on the military groups in the area. I’m not sure what it has about the sex-slavers. Some of them are both, of course.”
“Everything you can get in a couple of days,” Mike said. “We are getting on short time for this op. And that request for info stays very close to the chest, understood? You don’t even pass it to Vladimir. Just inside your group on a need-to-know basis.”
“I will do it,” Chechnik said.
“I think that’s it for now,” Mike continued. “Colonel, we have a lot of planning and prep to do for this mission. I hope you won’t find it remiss if we cut this short. I’d appreciate it if you’d stay for dinner and overnight. I can have Anastasia show you around the area. I’d do it myself but I’m going to be pretty busy.”
“Of course,” Chechnik said. “I will leave you gentlemen to your business.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Okay, Ass-boy, why’s he really here?” Adams said as soon as the door was closed.
“I’m still assimilating that,” Mike said, looking at the wall. “Among other things, I had to promise to not tell the US government what he told me to get their cooperation. And that goes for you guys, too. I’m willing, not happy but willing, to go along for the time being. But… ”
“How serious is it?” Nielson asked. “I won’t ask what it is, but how serious?”
“Not sure I can say even that,” Mike replied. “But there’s a reason that I’m taking the mission to recover the WMD and Arensky. I know the Keldara will keep their mouths shut.”
“Well… ” Vanner said, uneasily. “I hate to say this, but at this point, American and all that, my primary loyalty is here. If you think we should keep this from the US government… ”
“I’m pretty sure I should be on the phone to Washington right now,” Mike said. “And I’m going to call them and ask them for a special tasking in case we fail. Put it that way.”
“Special tasking?” Adams said. “You mean you want them to bomb the area if you can’t get the materials?”
“Sort of.”
“This is rather unusual, Mike,” the president said over the video connection.
The secure room in the US Embassy, Tblisi was a windowless shield-room. But it had a video connecton on the securest possible system connected to the American military communications system. Mike simply didn’t have time to go to Washington for the conversation; this was the best compromise under the circumstances.
“I agree Mr. President,” Mike said, looking at the other connections. The Secretary of State, the former NSA, was on one of the screens, the Secretary of Defense on another. “And thank you for your time. But this was something that only you could decide upon.”
“Go ahead,” the president said.
“Yes, sir,” Mike said, trying not to swallow nervously. “I have been given some additional information by the Russians. However, I was given the information on the agreement that I would not pass it to the American government.”
“So why are we here?” the Secretary of Defense asked, angrily. “And how the hell could you agree to that?”
“Because Colonel Chechnik said I needed it,” Mike said. “And because I hope that I can convince you of something very serious without, in fact, divulging the information.”
“Do we need the information?” the Secretary of State asked.
“Probably,” Mike replied. “I’m playing a very hard game here, balancing a wire that’s damned thin. I will say that if my mission succeeds you probably don’t need it anymore. It will be history. And if I fail, well, that’s why I’m here.”
“Mike… ” the president said then paused. “Mike you’ve done a lot of good things for your country, for the world. I’m not about to sit here and question your patriotism. But I have to wonder about judgement.”
“So do I, sir,” Mike admitted. “But if my judgement was incredibly hot, I never would have made it to Syria.”
“Point,” the president said, grinning. “What do you want?”
“I think it’s what we all need, instead,” Mike replied. “I’m going to insert the Keldara, and an agent, into the area then attempt to intercept the transfer. One of the items I don’t feel bad about passing is that the Russians now think that Arensy is being forced by the terrorists. His daughter was probably kidnapped to get him to go along. That means we’re now trying to intercept the shipment, rescue Arensky and his daughter. With a very small force. The only thing that matters, though, is the shipment. In the event that we are unable to secure the shipment, I’m asking that you task a nuclear weapon to take it out.”
“You want us to drop a nuke on Georgian territory?” the Secretary of State said, evenly.
“Yes, ma’am,” Mike replied. “Here is my thinking on this. The Georgians are aware that there may be a passage of a weapon through their territory; that’s why I have the mission. If there is a nuclear event, we can say that it was a detonation of the package due to the terrorists. Just like the Bahamas. Put up a B-2 on station with a steerable special munition. If the package goes into play, if we fail, the B-2 takes out the package. It looks as if the terrorists set off the nuke rather than have it fall into our hands. I’d also like to request Predator tasking in support.”