Evil Deeds (Bob Danforth 1) (54 page)

After contacting NATO Headquarters, Colonel Sweeney mobilized a battalion of the 82nd Airborne. He ordered it to move up to the Yugoslav border, to stop every person moving north into Serbia. At 0430 hours – one hour after the kidnapping – his senior staff waited for him in the headquarters building.

“Attention!” someone shouted when Colonel Sweeney entered the room.

All stood.

“As you were, gentlemen.” Sweeney headed for a chair. “Jim, let’s hear what you’ve got.”

Major Jim Taylor, Sweeney’s Executive Officer, cleared his throat. “The old Gypsy we picked up on the road outside the base entrance claimed five men kidnapped Captain Danforth. The men claimed to be Bosnian farmers, but he didn’t buy their story. He thought they might be Serb paramilitary types. We’ve tried to get additional information out of him, but he’s not cooperating. Our best guess is Danforth’s abduction was a random act performed by a Serb special operations unit. Because of the heavy NATO night bombing missions, it’s highly unlikely the kidnappers would take Danforth through Kosovo Province. Albania and Bulgaria aren’t good alternatives either. And we know they wouldn’t have gone south, deeper into Macedonia. So they’re probably on the road running north toward Serbia.”

Sweeney asked, “Jim, how do we know they didn’t connect with a helicopter and fly out?”

“Because our radar units have detected no Serb aircraft activity within fifty miles of the kidnapping site.”

“Good,” Sweeney said. He looked at Captain Jess Dombrowsky, his Chopper Squadron Leader, and said, “I want gunships overflying the Yugoslav border from now on.”

“Yes, sir,” Dombrowsky said.

“So, what are our–” Sweeney stopped when Sergeant Major Luther Jewell walked into the room and nodded at him. Sweeney waved Jewell over.

The Sergeant Major approached the Colonel, bent down, and whispered, “I got a guy outside who wants to sit in with you. He’s got CIA credentials. Name’s Jack Cole. Says he’s a friend of Captain Danforth’s. What do you want me to tell him, sir?”

Sweeney scratched his ear. “Show him in, Sergeant Major. I’ll take all the help I can get.”

Jewell walked to the door, opened it and called out in his deep, rumbling voice, “This way, Mr. Cole.”

“Please take a seat, Mr. Cole,” Sweeney said. “Major Taylor here just briefed us on his analysis of the situation. It looks like the Serbs were looking to grab an American, probably for political and psychological reasons. Michael Danforth was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“With all due respect to Major Taylor, I don’t believe there’s anything random about Michael Danforth’s kidnapping,” Jack said. “Stefan Radko’s involvement–”

“Stefan Radko?” Sweeney interrupted.

Jack held up a finger and said, “Give me a minute, Colonel.” He then continued and said, “Stefan Radko’s involvement convinced me that this kidnapping is not random. We don’t have time to go into all the details, but Michael Danforth has now been kidnapped twice in his life. The first time was when he was two years old.
Then
it
was
random. Stefan Radko was behind that kidnapping, too. Michael’s father, now a colleague of mine, killed Radko’s son while trying to rescue Michael. Radko has never forgiven him.”

Jack paused to let his words sink in. He could see shocked looks directed at him.

“Recent events in the States,” Jack continued, “lead me to believe the Yugoslav leadership, the Serbs running the country, also have a grudge against Michael’s father because of a clandestine mission he headed up. Michael Danforth’s kidnapping is a blatant act of revenge against a U.S. citizen. The Serbs in the Yugoslav leadership will never admit they have Michael. He’s either going to be killed or will be kept in a slave-labor camp.”

“Pretty fantastic story, Mr. Cole,” Taylor said.

“Every word of it’s true. And if we don’t figure out a way in the next hour or two to find the men who took Michael, we’ll never get him back,” Jack said. “Once they get Michael into the heart of Serbia, it’s all over.”

“Any ideas, Mr. Cole?”

“Yeah, a couple. Let’s assume our President isn’t going to approve an invasion of Yugoslavia over the kidnapping of one soldier, and any operation of any size, approved or unapproved, would be detected by the Serbs – and the Russians, for that matter. And we don’t need the political fallout that would bring. I think we should send in a Special Forces or Marine Force Recon unit.”

“But, to where?” one of the staff officers asked.

“Good question,” Jack said, running his fingers through his hair. “Before coming over here, I called Langley and instructed them to contact NIMA, the National Imagery & Mapping Association. They should be calling back soon.”

“What do you have in mind?” Taylor asked.

“We’re asking NIMA to run up some change detection,” Jack said. “They’ll compare current satellite images against past images over the last twenty-four hours from the Macedonian border with Serbia to a point fifty miles north of the border. The National Reconnaissance Office flies satellites all over the world. I’ll bet they’ve got several in orbit over the Balkans. NIMA’s got to have data off those satellites. They’re going to look for anomalies – vehicles where they shouldn’t be, troops moving on the road. Maybe something will turn up.”

“We dealing with infrared, or something else?” Taylor asked.

“Probably Synthetic Aperture Radar. We should be able to get an SAR phase history analysis.”

“And what if there’s no imagery?” Taylor said.

Jack’s heart seemed to become too heavy for his chest. The same question had come to mind during his call to Langley. “Then we’re up the creek,” he said. “We’d have to ask for tasking – get the NRO to change the inclination of one of its satellites. They probably couldn’t do that without getting permission from the White House, or from CINCEUCOM, at a minimum.”

“Oh shit!” Taylor exclaimed. “What about going to a commercial satellite operator?”

“Neither is a viable option,” Jack explained. “Michael would be in the Serb capital by the time we got an answer from either one.”

The room went quiet for a few seconds.

Finally, Sweeney turned to Major Jim Taylor. “Jim, call Colonel Mumphrey at the Marine detachment. Tell him I need to talk to him. I want his men on standby.” He swiveled around and nodded to Major Harris Krumka, his Intelligence Chief. “I want you to work with Mr. Cole. Get him a line to the National Security Agency and keep it open.”

“What do you want me to tell our commanders up on the border?” Jim Taylor asked.

“Tell them to get their men ready in case we need to cross the border. This is top secret. I don’t want anyone outside this room to know what we’re preparing to do. Now get to it! Captain Dombrowsky, Mr. Cole, you’ll stay here with me.” Sweeney turned to Major Taylor who was leaving the room. “Jim, as soon as you make the call to the company commanders, come back here.”

After the others filed out of the room, Sweeney walked to the door, closed it, returned to his chair, and said to Dombrowsky. “Jess, how quickly can you get two Apaches in the air over southern Yugoslavia?”

“You mean on the border?”

“No, I mean into Yugoslavia.”

“How far into Yugoslavia?” Dombrowsky asked.

“No more than fifty miles.”

“Jeez!” Dombrowsky exhaled. “No disrespect intended, Colonel, but why don’t you just ask how long it would take me to fly to Belgrade?”

“Listen, Jess. I know I’m asking a lot. But one of our own is in trouble. As long as I’m in charge, there ain’t going to be any POWs or MIAs from this unit.”

“Don’t get me wrong, sir. I’ll do whatever it takes to get Mike back. But fifty miles into Yugoslavia! We’re not going to be able to keep that quiet.”

“Answer my question, Jess,” Sweeney said, as Major Taylor walked back into the room and sat down.

“Forty, fifty minutes. I’ll need to find three men who won’t mind being courts-martialed, fuel the birds, complete preflight checks.”

“You can get in undetected?”

“Possible. But, I’ll have to clip the treetops.”

“Do it, Jess!”

“Yes, sir!”

The pilot walked out of the room. After he was gone, Major Taylor squinted at Colonel Sweeney. “I think I was here long enough to get the gist of what you want Dombrowsky to do,” he said. “With all due respect, Colonel, are you crazy?”

“Probably, Jim. I want you to type up orders saying I ordered Dombrowsky to cross into Yugoslavia. I’ll sign them. And get Colonel Nye over at Air Force on the horn. Tell him we’re putting two, two-man Apache crews into the Red Zone. We don’t want the AWACS boys to report them.”

Taylor stood and came to attention. “Yes, sir,” he snapped.

After Taylor left the room, Jack turned to Sweeney and said, “If you lose your job over this, Colonel, come see me. I can use a man like you.”