Chuck
Monday
John and I put our harnesses on before shouldering our packs; we then jumped up and down. No noise, so we were ready. I handed John the .308 case while I shouldered the fifty and we both looked at the Marshal. He said, "Okay, let's go."
Out in the hallway, one of the fatigues from yesterday was there and led us to a cart that drove us through a tunnel, and ended up in the hangar where my Learjet was. It was good to see it. It didn't look as if anyone had touched the plane since I parked it.
There was a strange Huey over by the doors that was making a whooshing noise. There was a slight thump, thump, thump of blades, but it was hardly noticeable. The Marshal shook our hands as a guy waved from the door of the helicopter.
As soon as we climbed into the helicopter, the guy in the door set what looked like a modern M-60 in a mount, laid some ammo in the breech and locked it before pulling the lever back and chambering a round.
I noticed the big hangar doors opening and felt the Huey lifting off. The engine was louder than the blades. Eerie!
We never gained much altitude, probably around four or five hundred feet, but we gained a lot of speed. This chopper could move. We were soon in forested, more mountainous terrain, rushing through valleys and barely raising over hilltops. Another guy in fatigues opened up a map and pointed at our LZ and said loudly, as it was noisy inside the cabin area, "We're just about to your drop off point. Take this map so you have two. You each have a compass and the handheld GPS unit, so you should be able to navigate. Good luck. When we set down, we'll let you get away from the chopper before we lift off. We'll spin and go back the way we came. Good luck and give us a call."
Just as he stopped talking, we were settling on a flat spot. John and I climbed down from the chopper and moved away. We were clear of the rotor wash when it lifted off and spun around to head back the other way, barely raising up a hundred feet. I was amazed at how quiet it was.
John and I pulled and shifted, settling our packs on our shoulders, and then John pointed in the direction we would be going and said quietly, "I'll take point first. We have about a mile to where our best look out is. If we have enough time, we might want to check out the other observation points while it's still dark. It looks like we have about two hours before first light.
The terrain wasn't too bad. There weren't a lot of rocks for me to have to dodge. I was impressed as John started out pretty noisy, but in a matter of less than fifty yards, we were quietly moving through the heavy forest.
It took us about thirty minutes to make the mile and a half. We checked our position and John used his scope to sight in the target area. He said, "Looks like right at seven hundred forty yards from this location. There's another a little closer, let's check it out next."
We walked to the next location and saw that it was about two hundred yards closer, but sighting was limited. There was a decent hole but not very wide. It might be difficult if we had to do more than just a single target.
Because we were high, we could see the border area, which was just a low fence with tire path roads on each side. John was looking at the map and pointed out toward the east, "There's a tower out that way that is supposed to pick up human movement in the area on both sides of the fence. We're far enough back they shouldn't be able to note our movement. Let's check on the one other ops point before we make up our mind."
We walked down through a gully, then back up a steep hill to find a spot within a bunch of trees. There had been a human here before. There were cigarette butts on the ground. It looked like someone had buried them, but a critter had dug them up. You could see signs of a fairly recent visitor here. John said, "If this is from our people, we need to teach them how to hide their trail. We're seeing this just as someone else watching our target would see it. Let's clean this up and go to our best location."
When we were back at our first location, I said, "Give me the collapsible bucket and I'll get some water from the stream. We can make some coffee and wait for light."
I went down to the fast moving stream, constantly looking for any sign of traffic in the area. I didn't see any, but wondered about the site where we had seen previous traffic.
Back at the site, John had his scope out and set up on a low tripod, checking the buildings. After a bit, he said, "I see a light in what looks like a bunkhouse. There's no light coming from the house yet. I think we should get an idea of how many people are there at a time. It could be important. We're almost a half mile from the house, but if some of their people are fast, they could reach here in five to eight minutes, even in this terrain. We won't have a lot of time to get out."
I nodded, heating the coffee in the special pouch. We enjoyed our cup of coffee then got busy setting up. I opened both cases and pulled the .308 out to see where I would lay or sit to fire. There was a perfect log that let me brace the rifle across it. I clicked the sights to reflect the slightly more that seven hundred yards, then sighted in. As the sun rose to our east, I checked to make sure no sunlight would reflect on the scopes. John had a hood over his scope so he was able to use it freely.
I set the fifty case next to me on my left, loaded a round in it, but then had a second thought. I took the first round out and loaded an explosive round in it. I sighted it in at what was probably the max distance for me to use the big gun, but it was ready anyway.
I picked the .308 back up and began viewing each building, finally settling on the barn. The door was slightly open and I said, "John, look at that barn door. Just look at it and tell me what you see on the other side, or at least what you think is on the other side."
"Shit, helicopter. They didn't say anything about a helicopter on site," John said.
"They can't see us from above where we are right now. We're well hidden, better than the other two positions. We have a heavy canopy over us and good brush all around. I didn't make a path to the stream, so we're fairly invisible."
John said, "You know, we should have checked out a couple of rifles. All we have are the target weapons and our sidearms. We didn't think about this very well."
"I guess we'll have to play the game with what we have. Look, there's a light on in the house. The curtain, in what must be a kitchen, moved and there's a dog in the yard." I was looking at the house, watching for any movement.
A man opened the door and walked toward what we thought might be a bunkhouse. John said, "That's a secondary, check out the brown shirt with the white collar."
A woman walked out of the house, carrying a little dog. She let it down and it ran to where the bigger dog was and the two looked to be playing. The lady walked along the house, looking at the flowers planted there.
Two men, one the guy with the brown shirt with white collar, walked back toward the house. The lady looked like she was calling the dogs and both ran toward the door. Everyone went inside.
From the supposed bunkhouse two men came out and opened the barn door. Yep, that was a helicopter. They pulled a car out of the barn and pulled it up near the house. John said, "Seven twenty to the vehicle."
I was sighting in on that, but swung over to see the two guys doing something with the helicopter. I said, "They're refueling the chopper down there. If we make the target, I'm going to use one of the explosive fifties on that thing. It should go up in a big bang."
John said, "If you can get the JP-4 or Jet A to burn then it will be a boom. Remember though, our primary is first. We might get lucky as there does seem to be activity down there."
We were talking very quietly, almost a whisper when we heard, "Clump, crash, crackle, crunch."
John turned, pulling his sidearm as I swung around, pulling mine. I reached into my pack and pulled the two suppressors out and handed one to John. We screwed them into place and kept watch, as the noise headed toward the place we had seen that had previous activity. I said to John, "I'm going to scout this out and see what we have. This is too much of a coincidence."
I slid through the forest until I could see the position that we had gone to and cleaned up. There was a man there with some kind of rifle. I looked at him through my scope and could see what looked like an SKS with a scope. This wasn't an experienced person using that rifle at this distance. He was really noisy and had already lit a cigarette.
I went back to John to tell him what I saw and he asked, "How close do you have to get to neutralize him? He could screw up the mission."
"With a sidearm, I need to get within fifty yards max to ensure a good hit. I'll only get one shot before the guy starts firing, making a lot of noise."
He asked, "Can you get that close?"
I nodded, "I can but I have to go down and around. There's too much open area on the way up to his position. I'm worried about how he got here. There might be someone else waiting for him or covering him."
John said, "Following how the guy got in won't be a problem. Let's split, you take care of that problem, and I'll follow his path for a mile or so and see what's up. He could have used a four wheel drive near the stream."
"This sucks, John. We need a bigger team."
"I know, but this is what we have. Let's do it."
I said, "If you get in trouble, use the radio. I'll put my earpiece in."
Going down the hill was a bitch, then climbing up the back side without making any noise, was an equal bitch. It took me a precious thirty minutes to get to where I had a clear shot. The guy was chain smoking and I could smell him long before I saw him. He was standing out at the side of his position taking a leak. If someone from the house had binoculars they could have seen him.
I let the guy get back into position. He was still smoking, but pulled a thermos and poured himself some coffee. He would look through his scope every once in a while, then take a puff and have a sip.
Leveling off across a heavy limb, I brought the Glock up to aim at his head and squeezed the trigger. The man threw his hands up sending the lit cigarette and coffee flying. He then lay forward onto the log in front of him.
I picked up my brass and moved as quickly as possible to the target. I found the cigarette, then gathered his other butts and put them into the thermos and screwed the top back on. After wiping my prints from everything, I saw the guy had rubber gloves on. I pulled them off his hands and put them on. I rolled him over cleaning out his pockets. He had a bunch of stuff. I pushed him down on the side of the log then covered him with old dead brush until he was invisible. I picked up the SKS and the extra thirty round magazine he had, and began heading back to our position.
About halfway back, I sensed someone else and lay on the side of hill, hidden by the brush. John came slipping up the hill about twenty feet from me. As he got a little closer, he looked back around then quietly said, "I know you're here, I can smell the cigarettes on your hands."
I raised my hands, still in gloves, and he smiled. "Thank goodness we're careful. There's a beat up jeep down there, and it doesn't look like anyone got out of the other side of it."
We went up to our position and immediately began checking our target area. The car was still in front of the house and the helicopter was still in the barn.
I told John what I had done with the target at the other position. I said, "I left the place clean, so it should be okay. When that guy starts smelling, then there will be a problem."
John said, "If we are clean on this one, or we have to stay overnight, we'll bury him and cover that jeep up. I didn't take time to cover it now. Probably should have, but I didn't want to take the time."
Time crawled by. Someone would come out of the house do something then go back in. Someone would come from one of the outbuildings and go into the house, then come back out.
Right at one in the afternoon, two Mercedes sedans pulled up in front of the house. About six men got out and stood around talking. Our target came out of the house and spoke with the men. I kept trying to acquire a clear target, but someone was constantly in front of him. They all went into the house. I said to John, "There were two secondary targets in that group."
John said, "I got them. Now if we can get a clear target."
We stayed put and didn't move around a lot. About four, a man came from the barn with a big bloodhound. He walked down the road then a little later he came walking up the fence line on the Mexican side. He must have walked about the same distance that way, as he was walking back toward the barn about five.
Light was fading, so we both began getting ready for available light. The distance was going to be really iffy. If there was enough light in the target area, no sweat, but if it was dark, the distance would make acquiring a target really tough.
It got dark. Around seven, the barn was closed up and lights were on in the bunkhouse. There were lights in the house, but no yard light around the cars or the main yard. John said, "Looks like we get to spend the night. Come on, let's bury that guy and make it neat. We'll go cover the jeep too."
It took us three hours to dig a deep enough hole to bury the guy and make the area look like no one had ever been there.
We went to where the Jeep was and looked through it thoroughly before camouflaging it with old brush. It takes a hell of a lot of brush to hide even a little Jeep. We made it back to our position, and after checking the target area, we decided to eat. We made coffee and enjoyed a great MRE. It was full of high protein food that really didn't taste that bad.
After we had cleaned everything up and were ready to either split or nap, John said, "We were lucky that there was no movement while we took care of the other business today. Hopefully we'll do better tomorrow. Let's decide on who stays awake first."
I said, "Go to sleep. I'll wake you up in three, and then you give me three. That should take us up to when we were on site this morning. We should each get six hours total in the morning if we can."
I was looking at the target area and saw a flash of light. I said, "Check your scope."
I used my regular scope and looked at the target area. A huge light was on over the house doorway and the men who had gone into the house were all standing in the yard. Brown shirt with the white collar was standing beside the door, and our target was framed in the doorway. I flipped off the safety and said "Aquired."
John said, "No wind, when ready."
I squeezed off the round and shifted to brown shirt. He was frozen and died looking at his collapsing boss. I shifted to the next target to see men ducking for the car. I had a clear shot at a secondary, I didn't wait and let it fly.
John was saying, "Hit, hit, hit."
The one car began moving so I picked up the fifty and was able to see the car trying to maneuver around the other Mercedes. I said "Acquired."
John said, "When ready," and the car exploded. Three men were standing in shock, looking up toward us. After sliding another round into the fifty I picked up the .308 and sighted in on one of the men looking up toward us. John and I exchanged commands and another secondary dropped. The second car began moving so I picked up the fifty and didn't even announce target acquisition, I just fired. That car exploded.
John said, "They're opening the barn up. Someone is pulling the helicopter out."
I said, "Let's let them get it started, and let whoever is going for a ride get in. I'd like to do as much damage as possible."
John said, "There are two men running toward the fence."
I picked up the 308 and pushed up the available light scope. The lead guy was at the fence. He was hit as he put his foot on the bottom wire. The second guy began firing a handgun toward us. The flash from the muzzle just about blinded me, but I used it as a reference and squeezed off a round. I watched him fall.
I shifted back up to the helicopter to see the blades turning as it must have started and began to wind up.
John said, "There is a pilot, someone in the other front seat, plus one in the back. No one else has come out."
I sighted in with the fifty as I watched the blades wind up. I was using the twin tanks as a target, knowing that if I could get enough shrapnel I could blow the turbine. When I fired the helicopter was about ten feet off the ground but was hovering straight and steady. The explosion was better than the movies. There was fire everywhere on the ground. It looked like the barn may have a fire in it.
John said, "No other movement, let's book."
I had the fifty in its case immediately, then slid the 308 into the other case after reloading a magazine. We shouldered our packs along with the SKS, looked around to make sure our area was clean, then used some brush to scrub ourselves out of there.
We walked back the way we came, but it was slow going. We kept referring to our GPS and map until we were at our original LZ. John used his radio, "Mother, Eyes."
"Mother," came back over our earpieces.
"Ready, LZ1."
"Negative, LZ3 two hours."
John looked at the map then showed me. It was about three miles so we should be able to make it. The topography looked like valley all the way.
We moved quietly through the terrain watching, and listening, to make sure we were alone. When we reached the LZ, we stayed back in the brush so we couldn't be seen.
We faintly heard the whooshing, then in our ears, "Eyes, Mother, one minute."
John and I were ready to move toward the open area. We scanned the surroundings to make sure no one else was around and as the chopper was settling, we hustled to the chopper. We were barely in the door when the special Huey was lifting off and spinning at the same time. We went back the way they came, shifting our gear around to sit on the benches. The door guy nodded to us, but kept watch out the door.
The Huey actually flew right into the big hangar and turned around to set down about a hundred feet from my Lear. It was now facing the door. When we climbed out, a guy in fatigues said, "Your personal effects are all in your aircraft. You should leave now."
John asked, "Don't you want to debrief?"
The guy who had been the leader throughout, asked, "Debrief what?"
John nodded as the other two men in fatigues took the two rifles, the SKS and our packs. We were walked to the Lear that was already started. I wouldn't fly until I did a quick preflight, I don't care how good these guys are. I even checked the fuel covers to make sure they were secure.
John was in the right seat, as I began to enter. The guy following me said, "Don't fly over five thousand until you get to Amarillo. Land there, file a flight plan, and then turn on your transponder. We've already made you into Amarillo on the way down. Ah, you will have cover until you hit Amarillo approach control."
As I shut the door and climbed into the left seat, John asked, "Are you going to be able to fly all night? I know I'm tired."
I looked at John, "The adrenaline is still pumping through me so hard, I don't think I'll sleep for a while."
"No shit," John said.
John said, "I don't like that we didn't get to debrief and advise them of what all happened and what targets we hit."
I looked at John, "Somehow, John, I have a feeling they know exactly what all we've done tonight. The only question is for us to quietly find out who that other shooter was and who was he working for."
"That's going to be tough to do, considering we can't raise any suspicions as to any of this. We weren't there."
"Mother, Eyes."
"Eyes, you are cleared, to runway 27. Clear and fifteen, light and variable."
As we pulled from the hangar toward the taxiway, the lights came on. We followed a "Follow Me" truck to the runway where the truck turned away and left.
Since we were at the runway threshold, I went through the checklist and poured on the coal. We rotated seconds later. I always want to yell, "Up, up and away," but that wouldn't do with my boss with me. The runway lights went out before we passed the end of it.
Shortly after taking off, I was having a difficult time remembering to stay under five thousand feet. I was only doing about three hundred and ninety knots when we were bracketed by a couple of F16s. They stayed out from us a few hundred yards, then they vanished as soon as we hit Amarillo approach control.
I called in and was cleared in right away. We landed and called for a fuel truck. While I was watching the fuel truck, John said he was going for some sandwiches. I looked at him and said, "Do yourself a favor, change into your regular clothes. I'll do the same. I'm keeping the fatigues and boots, but I think we'll be less conspicuous in our civvies."
John quickly changed, with me doing the same. It took me longer to change the shoe on the prosthetic than it did to change clothes. The fuel truck driver must have been sleeping, as I totally changed clothes and had to call for the truck a second time. John came back and said, "I have a couple of sandwiches, but your coffee is better than the stuff they have in there."
I set up the coffee pot then watched as the plane was refueled. Once that was done, I used the radio to call in a flight plan. I had John use his cell phone to get clearance into Andrews before we began. We strapped in, turned on the transponder, and were off.
As soon as we were airborne, I reached back and punched the button for the coffee. It smelled great. We were right at thirty-nine thousand and being pushed by a nice tailwind. I kept looking for the F-16s but they were not around.
We sat down right at six in the morning. We both got out and stretched as a fuel truck came up. John said, "Want to stay and get a nap?"
"I'm still awake, John. Tell you what, I have all the pocket stuff from that guy and will go through it. We shouldn't talk about any of this over an open line. If you want, I can call you on a secure phone to let you know."
John said, "Ah, how about you take a couple of days or weeks off, then let me know if you've come up with anything. Call me; I think we are owed some serious downtime."
"Maybe not, Boss. We didn't do anything, remember?"
"Damn," John said, "You're right. They get us to do that then run a scam on us. No sweat, I'll think of something. Call me tomorrow to let me know you got home okay."
"How are you getting home?" I asked.
John pointed at a big black Buick that was coming across the field. When it stopped, the Marshal got out and shook both of our hands. He said, "You two raised quite a ruckus. For not doing anything, you two did even better than planned. Glad you're back safe. I'll talk to John on the way home. Chuck, I may come down to talk to you, but probably not. That would be too unusual. If you're leaving now, be safe."
I climbed into the Lear, shut the door, and poured myself the last of the coffee. While I was going through the checklist, I realized that I could call home.
The phone rang exactly one time. Brandy answered, "Is that you?"
"Hi, Brandy. I just wanted to tell you I'm leaving DC now and will be home soon. I'll probably sleep most of the day, so let everyone know. No scratches, not even a hang nail. I really didn't do anything."
Another voice came on the phone. It was Wanda, she said, "Sure, you did nothing. Okay, whatever you say. You don't have to worry about the office. Everything is peaceful. I'll see you tonight." Her phone clicked off.
Brandy said, "I'm glad you're going to rest. We'll all come home early tonight. We won't even go out to Sue's and Mercy's."
I guess Steve has lost his stature, I thought.
Tiani came on a phone and said, "You were supposed to have called us Buster. You've been out of touch too long."
"Only a couple of days, Tiani, no big deal. Besides, there weren't any cell towers around." At least I didn't see any.
"Well, come home, we all miss you. Lisa left already. She had an early flight this morning. I love you, Chuck, fly safe."
With them off the phone, I finished up getting ready to go. I was soon on course to be home in a couple of hours.
At the airfield, I parked in front of the regular hangar, noting no aircraft in it. That means the other Lear, the two Gulfstreams, and the Cessna Citation were all gone. In the maintenance hangar, I could see the Learjet 55C I just purchased up in Detroit being painted. There were all kinds of interior stuff lying on the floor around it.
As I got out of the plane, DeDe came out of the charter office and said, "Wow! Perfect timing. I have another charter that I was just about to broker out and you're here. Are there any write-ups? Does it need heavy cleaning?"
"Let me get my stuff out of it and you can have it. The only trash is from a couple of coffee cups and the grounds."
DeDe said, "Good deal. I'll call a crew. We have about an hour before flight time, want to fly a run?"
"No way, Honey, I'm bushed. I haven't been to bed yet."
DeDe asked, "Where's your car? I don't see it around anywhere?"
I said, "Oh shit, I'll call a cab."
DeDe grinned and pointed, "You won't have to. I recognize that Chrysler."
Wanda pulled up and said, "Hey, Boss, from what my John said, I'll bet they're glad you brought your plane back. He said the charter service is covered up."
I said, "That's what DeDe was saying. Oh well, they can use it all they want right now. I'm too tired to go anywhere."
Wanda said, "I figured, that's why I'm here. Let me get you home and you can crash for the rest of the day."
I loaded up my stuff into Wanda's trunk and said, "How about stopping by Park Place for a late breakfast. They always have breakfast in the diner."
We had breakfast, then Wanda drove me home. I walked in, stripped, showered, and lay in bed, thinking about the strange shit that had gone on. Remembering the guy's pocket stuff, I got up and pulled everything from the fatigues I had worn. I took the pocket stuff and the necklace with GPS on it and put it in one of my gun cases. That would keep the curious females out of it.
I couldn't remember what day it was and tried to count backwards. John had called Sunday morning. We flew out there and did all that testing before bed Sunday night. We were in the field early Monday morning and extracted late Monday night. We flew back all night, so it's Tuesday. I yawned thinking I needed a couple of days sleep. That's when I lay down and slept.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious
Last one through — Deenara2000