Prelude to War

Post Op

    The fighting over the last few hours had been intense and the casualties much higher then expected. Captain Hiatt had been receiving intense radio communications from both that of the CIA headquarters and the ground forces he was there commanding. The operation was going as planned with the exception of a few issue which where always to be expected. No plan ever lasted the first bullet. Very soon his forces should be finishing with the explosives at the Radio communications towers and begin there final decent on the Forces of the PD at there main encampment. With any luck they should be done with this god forsaken mission and heading on there way out of these damn jungles before the thunder storms over the horizon came in. Rain showers in this part of the world could be extremely dangerous this high into the hills. Hiatt had already lost more men the he had cared to count at this point from human intervention he didn’t need god taking more by his own hand.   

    Dankavitch had known from the first moment when his men had reported troop movements south of the mine fields that this was going to be a bad day. Yet never in all of his thoughts had he ever expected it to be this bad no one could have foreseen the CIA learning of there location so quickly. The initial attack through the minefields had been promising many of the dead bodies of that of the CIA force still laid along the river bed. Yet he couldn’t help but think this was all for show when the CIA wanted something it usually took a miracle to remove them from there desires. All he had hoped for in the beginning was to take out there initial assault it could take weeks to get more units back into these hills. In that time he could remove most of the infrastructure and possibly secure a new location to begin again, he was sure that the “sleepy man” had already had plans of a second location. He was always thinking ahead on cases like this its one of the many reasons why Dankavitch and the rest of the men had aligned them selves with him.

    The gun fire around the Team leader of Bravo Team was intense he had almost completely lost his voice from yelling over the fighting and talking over the radio had become a very hard thing to do. “Bravo team leader to Command over”

    Hiatt had known this call was coming he had already heard the explosives ring off through the valley moments prior. “This is CIA Command what do you got for me Bravo team” The sound of C4 has very distinct and after awhile reassuring tone from some of like himself but one could never be completely sure who set it off.

    “The radio communications tower has been destroyed requesting permission to Rejoin with the rest of the ground forces and take the base so we can get the hell out of Here! Over” there was nothing more then he wanted at this time then to get out of here he Had seen many good mean die today. Yet in the back of his head he knew they had to stay to complete this mission, without finding out who was behind all of this, those deaths would have been for nothing.

    “Roger that proceed to rendezvous with alpha one six and hawk one for final movement. Good luck down there boys we’ll see you at the LZ shortly.” Now it was time for Captain Hiatt to call back to headquarters and begin securing the transport to get these men out of here.

    The sound of the explosion off to the east could only mean one thing the communications tower was down and the only thing left for the CIA was the base in which Dankavitch now stood. Most of his men where dead, exhausted, or missing one could call this the Alamo but at this point it would be a sad, sad comparison. This had been exactly what he had been warning “the sleepy man”, as he was known by the CIA, of happening. Sleepy man what a foolish name they had tagged a man with which they knew nothing about, not even a name at this point. Well had not known before this, Dankavitch was sure by the time it was all said and done the CIA would know every thing they needed to know after this. Funny in its own way, that was a prefect name for him, in many ways although the CIA no way of knowing this at this point. As far as they knew the real man behind the name was still dead in their eyes, of that he was sure. He wasn’t going to like what Dankavitch was going to tell him but at this point he could see nothing else to do it was time to inform the so called “sleepy man”.

     “Sir this is Captain Hiatt with the ground forces at the Attack on the PEDAR base the mission is nearing accomplishment we are requesting the helicopters be sent in for pick up.”

    “Copy that Captain Hiatt glad to hear it a large storm cell is heading your way any longer and we would have been in some serious trouble. The helicopters are in route they should be there within the hour. Proceed with mission and pick up what Intel you can we’ll see you there.”

    “Should be plenty of time they are beginning the final assault as we speak you bring the smokes I’ll bring the men. Once we clear this mess up I’ll send a detail to grab the dead along the river for transport back.”  He was glad he was not the only one concerned about the building storm clouds headquarters some times had a way of forgetting such details.
 
    The decent down the hill was quick the remaining PD forces where scared, tired, and hurting. Within a few short minutes the troops had reached the base. Something did not sit right with the Team leader of Fox Trot this objective had been way to easy even for the decline in amount of troops that PD still had. To many of there forces had taken of running to the west upon there attack. To his knowledge there was nothing west of here but more hills no civilization for hundreds of miles.
   
    Upon entering the main building and a short scan of the Intel it became horribly obvious as to what they where after.  

    Dankavitch was sweating in a dead run to get out the way of the CIA forces before he became just another body amongst the debris. At this time he carried nothing more then his Colt 1911 and a satellite phone with the sleepy man on the other end “Sir they have taken the base there is nothing left they made it into the main building.”

    “Jesus what a mess, every thing gone?”

    “Yes sir for the most part nothing useful any ways. Sir they took the base they got our Intel, I have already sent men out to the cave to the west”

    “The choppers are in bound as we speak, just get them and get out of there”
 
    “Fox Trot team leader to Command”
   
    “This is command go-ahead Fox Trot” Hiatt was sure this could be nothing more then the report to inform him the base was secure and the mission was a success.

    “The Russian nukes sir there here on site to the west of us inside a cave, both of them. Apparently they where moved there a few weeks back.”

    “Good god, stop what ever you are doing I want all available resources on this immediately those nukes must make it into our hands.” Captain Hiatt had been informed of the possibility of the nukes at this location but never had he actually thought they would be here.

    “One other thing sir, when we where making our assault on the base I witnessed a number of troops moving that way in a dead rush. I had assumed they where just running scared but now I fear they we making there way to the nukes”

    “What ever you have to do make damn sure those Nukes do not leave this site in there hands we may not get another chance to get them back. Over” good god they actually had the nukes, Jesus. Franticly Hiatt reached for his satellite phone he was going to have to buy more time with headquarters to make sure his men could get those nukes out of here safely.

    Dankovitches forces reached the nuke in short time, but looking behind him he could see the CIA forces following up in close pursuit. The sleepy man had promised he would meet him at the designated landing zone in short order. The problem was due to in climate weather there wouldn’t be much hope in varying plans.

    “This is Captain Hiatt with the ground forces at the Attack on the PEDAR. Sir the nukes, they are here on site.”

    “Well that’s good news Captain retrieve those nukes and proceed to the LZ”

    “Yes sir we plan on it but there is a minor issue the PEDAR forces have a pretty good dead start on us sir so it going to take us a while to get those nukes. Requesting permission to hold off the helicopters until we are able to get the nuke back to safety?”

    “Negative Captain there in no time that storm rolls in and our helicopters won’t be able to make it. If you cannot retrieve those nukes in time then we will be forced to bomb the entire area. Those are F46 case nukes there is no threat of detonation by the air strike but it will sure as hell kill the forces holding on to it. We cannot allow them to be lost again. Now can you or can you not get those nukes in time?”

    Hiatt had to take a deep breath for a moment and think about what was happening his men would not like to know that every thing that had accrued this day was for so little when this goal was attainable. The lives they had lost for nothing if in the end it was all bombed any ways all this shit for nothing more then an Intel gathering operation. Then what happened if the PEDAR made it out of the blast area with those nukes. Jesus what a waste but there was no way of knowing if his men could get to them in time. “Sir there is no way of knowing for sure if we can get them and get back to the helicopters in time. But I’m telling you this is large mistake.”

    “Only time will tell that for sure. Pull off the hunt for those nukes the risk is to great we will be bombing that whole area at 12:45 your men have until 12:30 to get to those choppers.”

    “With all do respect sir, fuck you! I’m not about to tell these men this whole mission and all those lives lost was for nothing that you ass holes now decided an air strike instead of losing American lives is the way to go.”

    “Captain you had better hold your tongue if you know what is best for you now get your men to that ….” the word landing could just barely be herd as the bullet from Captain Hiatt’s pistol slammed through the satellite phone. He had heard a number of idiotic orders from above but this was by far one of the worst, an air strike what where these people thinking. Picking up his radio he regained his composure and called out.

    “To all remaining CIA forces inside of the Area, we have been ordered to abandon our pursuit of the nuclear devices. After all we have been through today, after fighting though the masses, and after having seen out brothers in arms our friends die right in front of us we have been ordered to give up. I don’t know about all of you but I don’t want to wake up tomorrow knowing that the nuclear devices that just blow up New York City is the same one that my friend died trying to save that I needlessly gave up pursuit after because some asshole thousands of miles away worried you couldn’t do your job. This site as of 12:45 will be nothing more then a pile of Rubble from an Air strike ordered on this site, making our mission here and the lives of those men over nothing more then a few peaces of useless Intel very costly. So as of right now you have your orders any man that wishes to head to the LZ now will have no mixed words from any one else. But those of you that continue this fight will have my backing for their actions and will not be held accountable to blame…..”

    After a few moments of radio silence a single voice came back over the radio waves it sounded like that of the leader of Hawk one “I believe I speak for all of us Sir, fuck um. We are not leaving without those nukes in hand.”

    Hiatt laughed at the choice of words used “very well then we have all made our choices, retrieve those nukes and we’ll all meet at the landing zone”

    When Dankovitch finally reached the top of the hill over looking the landing zone he was disgruntled to see the CIA forces standing in it place. Every move he made was being watched by them and what was worse they had roaming patrols out after him. It was time for him to stash the nukes and get to the alternate landing zone time was of the essence.

    It was Alpha One Six that found the first Nuke, which lying under a bush with a horrible attempt to hide it from the sight of others. “Alpha One Six ti Command we have one of the two devices it was stashed under some random bush looked like that had tried to hide it.  We are heading to the LZ now to bring it home.”

    “That’s great news I knew you could do it. Keep sharp out there every one else if they tried to ditch one you can bet they ditched the second nuke too. We’re running out of time so pick up the pace I want every one back here before 12:30 to get off this rock. I won’t be able to hold the pilots any longer then that”

    Dankovitch watched as the CIA men took the nuke he had laid under the bush. He could still not figure out why it was he was told to leave it for them to find it. Or why he was suppose to make it obvious as to the location of it in the cave in the first place. Why would you want to let someone know where something was at just to take it and try to ditch it and make sure they knew where it was at so they could pick it up but not make it look like that what you where doing. It seemed like a useless show to him but the sleepy man was seldom wrong in his actions.

    “Alpha One Six to remaining CIA forces we are at the landing zone the pilots are telling us they don’t have any longer to wait you only have a short time before they have to take off this storms closing fast.” The radio transmission was weak and scratched from the interference due to the approaching storm.

    At exactly 12:30 the CIA helicopter took off Alpha One Six and the few others that made it sat in the helicopters as they took off watching there fellow Agents scramble to try and make it but at no luck. Some could be seen already trying to head south to evade the coming air strike. It was no use of course for the most part, the helicopters and Alpha One Six the remaining fire team passed the F117 on there way. The whole time wondering if those Air Force pilots knew they where not only going to cause the deaths of those terrorists but also the deaths of fellow Americans who risked there lives for freedom. Yet as is always the case with the CIA they didn’t and ever would know. The missing men were sure to be played off as just another series of accidents involving Americans such as a series of freak car accidents of some kind.  The bodies conveniently damaged beyond recognition.

    Hiatt, who had stormed away from the LZ as the first helicopter took to flight, watched from the ground as he headed south away from where the strikes should be with a few other Agents who did not make it to the LZ in time. He knew it was nothing more then sad attempt to save their lives and that no amount of running would save him, or his fellow agents at this point that much was for sure. His only regret was that the second nuke could not be found, what a sad creature this world can turn a man into that his remorse was not for the lives of his men but for not finding that nuke.

    When Dankovitch reached the helicopter he was surprised to see the so called sleepy man sitting inside. “Sir I didn’t expect to see you here”

    “Some times you just need to see first hand what it is you have caused. Did they find the nuke?” the sleepy men never said much and always keep to the point

    “I still don’t understand what the hell is going on, why did we give them the nuke. I mean even worse why did we give them the nuke twice couldn’t we have just let them take it from the cave why the big facade?” Dankovitch had been confused over the whole thing for hours now.

    “How many nukes did you leave them to believe was in the cave?”

    “Two nukes just like you had said Vincent, but you know full well the other nuke is not here” funny to say his name so openly truly what is in a name? He had been so adamant about not letting that simple thing get out in the beginning. Vincent never talked much about his past just about the future.
   
    "Yes and with any luck as of right now they still believe there where two nukes in that cave. Logically speaking if you got scared and ditched one you must have done the same with the second one. They will take the bait for now and it should take them months to figure out they where wrong, especially if my old friends are right and there is an Air strike headed this way.” Vincent always tried to have every angle covered in a war like he had just started moles where extremely important if not invaluable. “Any ways the second nukes already on its way to fulfilling it role in this whole thing. They will see first hand there mistakes...”