“Clear, sir,” Guerrin replied.
“Your cover mission, the open source mission, is to train on mountain operations with the Keldara,” Nielson said. “As I pointed out, they’re gone. Your confidential mission is to cover their backs while they are out of town. Which gets to what they are doing.
“For a number of reasons, among others that the Keldara are good enough, they got handed one hell of a fucked up mission. You’ll note the nature of the terrain between Chechnya and here.”
“High alpine, looks like,” Guerrin said. “I saw the mountains on the way in. Nasty. You’ve already had a couple of snows I see.”
“They are ‘out of town’ doing a penetration of Chechen controlled Georgia for the purposes of a raid,” Nielson said. “The area is one that even the Russian Spetznaz hasn’t penetrated. It’s been in Chechen hands for at least ten years. The nature of that raid is not in your need-to-know at this time. However, when they attempt to extract, on foot, they are likely to have every damned Chechen in the entire region on their ass. If they are in contact or being closely pursued it is likely that DC will authorize you to engage the Chechens to stop them from crossing into Keldara territory. At the very least you are authorized to keep them from taking this valley and its infrastructure. Do you understand the three level structure of this brief?”
“Yes, sir,” Guerrin said. “We play like we’re doing training ops with the Keldara, we really make sure they’ve got a home to come back to and if they get dropped in the shit we screen them on their way out. The first is confidential, the second TS and the third absolutely black.”
“The Keldara are using very out-of-the-way areas for their penetrations,” Nielson said. “But the best egress routes are here, here and here,” he added, pointing to three passes. “They didn’t go in that way because the Chechens have outposts and patrols covering those routes. But those are the egress routes. They are also the primary routes the Chechens use to penetrate our area and the area that the Keldara do most of their missions.”
“So if I ran my patrol ops up through there… my teams would be in position to support the Keldara,” Guerrin said.
“Exactly. You’re not quite a Go-To-Hell Plan, captain, but you’re close.”
“What is the Go-To-Hell plan?” Guerrin asked.
“Falls very strictly into need-to-know,” Nielson replied. “There are… five people who know it. Including NCA in its entirety.”
“I… ” Guerrin started to ask a question then shut his mouth.
“Go ahead, captain,” Nielson said mildly.
“Is this some sort of CIA black op or something?” Guerrin asked. “I figure the answer is going to be NtN but I figured I’d ask.”
“The Kildar is entirely an independent operator,” the colonel said. “We are not employed by the US Government in any capacity. The Kildar does, however, often take on missions that require a high degree of deniability or that the US government isn’t willing to touch with its own forces. Even the extremely black ones. I will not detail the nature of those missions but suffice to say they are important enough that the rewards from the missions pay for… ” Nielson just shrugged and gestured around. “I will say this: the Kildar is the only person I’ve ever personally met who has a direct line to the president on the speed-dial of his phone. He rarely picks it up just to chat, but I’ve seen the opposite happen.”
“You know, the first sergeant said this mission had a high rank ‘smell’ to it,” Guerrin said. “I guess he was right.”
“But be clear, captain,” Nielson said. “This mission has a high priority due to the nature of the raid. Not because the Kildar can pick up the phone and talk to the president. More the opposite. We got the mission because the president knew we could do it and because Mike is on his speed-dial. This was a mission that had to be black, it had to be politically correct in a very real meaning of the word — there were huge problems with the both the Georgians and the Russians but both were willing to trust the Kildar — and it had to be successful. That is why the Kildar was tapped. Because he hasn’t failed in a mission yet. Let’s hope this isn’t a first.”
“Oh, hoowah!” Lane said.
Serris, looking around the new quarters, had to agree. The harem quarters were two stories and circular, the upper balcony and lower rooms facing into a center atrium with a fountain in the middle. The fountain had a sculpture in it, probably marble, so worn by the water the original statue had faded into something that looked modernist. But there was enough left of the original shape to determine that it had been two forms, horizontal and superimposed. Murals depicting pastoral scenes, some of the tiles missing, covered the walls between the doorways.
The south facing outer wall was mostly glass with complex metal filigree supporting it. It took Serris a second to realize that the metal was both thick enough and closely enough spaced that it was, effectively, bars.
“I wonder what the rooms are like?” Lane said, leaning his M4 against the wall and dumping his ruck on the marble floor.
“Girl froo-froo,” Staff Sergeant Gordon Keller their squad leader said, emerging from one of the rooms. “The one with hundred mile and hour tape on it is off-limits. I have a reliable report that it may have one or more IEDs in it. The girl who uses it is not part of the harem and currently ‘out of town’ with the rest of the group. There’s a half dozen rooms that aren’t occupied. Junior guys get those.”
“So where are the girls?” Lane said, grinning.
“Lane, did you hear the first sergeant?” Keller asked. “If you so much as talk to any of them, you are going to have an Article Fifteen so fast it will make your head spin and you are going to be out of the Batt and up at Ft. Bragg picking trash with the rest of the trash. Is that clear enough for you?”
“Clear, sergeant,” Lane said with a grin. “But it also didn’t answer the question.”
“That’s it,” Keller snapped. “You are official brass detail for the rest of the mission.”
“Fuck.”
“Just to keep you from getting too fucking curious, I’ve arranged a tour of the castle,” Keller said. “Among other things, it will point out the secure areas and the no-go areas. Effectively, you’re restricted to this area the main foyer, the dining area and the living rooms. There are three offices on the first floor and the kitchen in addition. You are restricted from all of those areas. You are also restricted from the basement areas and the upper floors. You’re going to be shown some of that, but you are otherwise restricted from entering those areas.”
“When are we going to get the tour?” Serris asked.
Keller turned at a quiet knock on the door and opened it to reveal a very pretty, and very young lady wearing a school uniform.
“Staff Sergeant Gordon Keller?” the girl asked in good, if accented, English. “My name is Martya. I was instructed to give you and your soldiers a tour of the facility. I am at your disposal.”
“Hoowah,” Lane said making damned sure it was a whisper.