Retribution (Soldier Up - Book Five 5) (5 page)

SFC Harris hadn’t returned to West Virginia as of yet. He was still waiting for the plan on how they were going to deal with Colonel Magnus and his bunch.  The plan was sidelined when one Colonel Lambert arrived on a huge behemoth of an armored train from Washington.  Then the subsequent contact with the President via shortwave radio that Colonel Lambert had brought with him.  The status quo had changed dramatically with civilian leadership being added back into the equation.  The President had been briefed on Colonel Magnus and his Army and what the Colonel’s plans were; however those plans were taking a backseat momentarily until one General John Clayton, formerly of US Army 1
st
Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta talked to the leadership about his.  SFC Harris and General Clayton were longtime friends and he himself was a former member of Delta.  He was also a very good friend of Sergeant Major Dognillo whom he had met for drinks at Fort Bragg a few months before the event. 

SFC Harris had tried to meet General Clayton when he first arrived at JFK Center, but General Moon had blocked all of his attempts at interjecting himself into General Clayton’s visit.  For his part General Clayton was unaware that SFC Harris, his old teammate, was even at Bragg right now.  SFC Harris, being the clever man that he was, was able to get a copy of General Moon’s itinerary from a mutual friend.  SCF Harris planned out an interception point per the itinerary at lunch when they left General Moon’s office to head to the mess hall to eat with the troops.  General Clayton loved to eat with his soldiers so all SFC Harris needed to do was to get into the mess hall before them and get a table near the VIP section and be in plain sight of the generals. That should do it.

SFC Harris arrived at the mess hall fifteen minutes prior to the General’s arrival, he wanted it to appear as normal as possible.  The mess hall had been notified earlier of the General’s arrival and set up the VIP section.  It was easy to get a seat near it. Soldiers generally speaking felt no need to associate or even be seen by General officers.  SFC Harris took a seat two tables away from where they would sit and took his time eating his lunch.  Right on time the two officers entered the facility and someone called “Atten- HUT!” and everyone jumped to attention.  General Moon responded “As you were.” And everyone sat down and continued eating their meal.

The two officers didn’t have to wait in line, but John Clayton wasn’t about to cut in front of the soldiers. He wasn’t that kind of officer they went to the end of the line and waited their turn.  Fortunately for SFC Harris he was seated right next to the line and General Clayton wouldn’t be able to miss him.  As the two officers inched closer and closer to where SFC Harris was sitting, SFC Harris acted as though he was lost in thought, not noticing the two officers nearly standing next to him.

“Romeo?” a stunned Brigadier General exclaimed.

SFC Harris looked up from his meal, “John! Excuse me! General Sir!” SFC Harris was smiling at seeing his friend.  SFC Harris stood and the two men that hadn’t seen each other in years shook hands.  General Moon wasn’t pleased.  General Clayton got out of line to talk with SFC Harris. “How the hell have you been Romeo?” General Clayton asked.  “It’s damn good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too Sir,” SFC Harris said.  “Been a long time. How are Mel and the kids?”

“Please call me John; we’ve been through too much shit together.” John sighed for a moment. “Mel passed away a few months past from cancer.”

SFC Harris looked touched for a moment. “I’m sorry John. I liked Mel a lot she was a wonderful woman.  How about the kids?”

“Kids are good; both in high school back at Camp Parks,” replied John.

SFC Harris had heard the story recently about Camp Parks back near Hayward, California. It was an oasis in the middle of all of this.  SFC Harris decided to jump right into it. “What do you think about this whole Colonel Magnus fiasco and his Army marching on Washington?”

General Moon had gone through the line and picked up his lunch and was near the VIP table when he overheard SFC Harris, “Sergeant Harris you’re out of order!” General Moon was angry.

Both SFC Harris and General Clayton looked at General Moon. “No Romeo I have no idea what you’re talking about. What’s going on?”

“Sergeant Harris, you will not brief the General on this,” General Moon stated angrily.

General Clayton turned to General Moon. “With all due respect General Moon, neither Sergeant Harris nor I come under your command.  My orders come from the President and I see this as part of my mission; if Sergeant Harris has important information that he sees fit to tell me I’m here to listen.”

General Moon was fuming; he was being talked down to by a one star to his two stars. He was also wise enough not to take on General Clayton right now.  General Moon sat back and listened to the conversation between SFC Harris and General Clayton.  It then occurred to General Moon that this was a good thing; as much as he wanted to tell General Clayton about Colonel Magnus he was under orders not to.  SFC Harris was also under the same order from General Portson except SFC Harris was a National Guard soldier that belonged to the State of West Virginia.  SFC Harris felt no obligation to obey the orders of a General that was no place in his chain of command.             

“I recall a real hard charger of a Colonel Magnus out of Massachusetts. Is that him?” General Clayton asked.

“One and the same,” SFC Harris replied.

“You really think it’s that bad? He’s coming for Washington; does he have the muscle to take on the 3
rd
?” General Clayton was quizzing SFC Harris.

“I’ve been on a couple of the OPs we’re sending the boys on and I can tell you first hand that Colonel Magnus believes that if you’re not with him then you’re against him.  Once he has it settled in his mind that you’re against him, then he is one brutal man.  He has no compunction on destroying an entire community or enslaving people; it’s hard to believe a United States Army officer can be that horrific to his own people.  He justifies it as these are the people that got the country into the mess it was in and as far as he’s concerned, they are vermin and need to be exterminated.” SFC Harris ranted.

“Why not just ask them to leave?” General Clayton asked.

“He does sometimes; other times people are stubborn and don’t think he will act on his threats. It’s hard to answer your question regarding Colonel Magnus and his Continental Army as he calls them and the 3
rd
.  I don’t have any idea what the status of the 3
rd
is, but if I were a betting man and you know I am, yeah he can take on the 3
rd
and in my opinion roll right through them like a hot knife through butter.”

General Clayton looked at General Moon. “When were you going to tell me about this?” General Clayton asked General Moon.

“All of us.” General Moon said looking at SFC Harris. “We’re under orders by General Portson not to discuss the issue with anyone including you.”

“Why?” General Clayton said.

General Moon glared at General Clayton. “I don’t normally question my orders from someone that outranks.”

“You should.” General Clayton said, he looked at SFC Harris. “Let’s go; we need to find Colonel Lambert and talk to him.”

General Clayton stood along with SFC Harris and both men left the mess hall, leaving General Moon sitting at the table by himself wondering what the hell had just happened.

SSG Arroa’s squad moved cautiously down the path that the Sergeant had marked to the main gate at Fort Indiantown Gap.  The rest of the first platoon had held back as well as the company to provide cover for the advancing squad.  SSG Arroa had cleared about a hundred yards past the main gain without any problems. They encountered no resistance, but several booby-traps, which they disabled.  Their orders were that once they were able to breach the main gate, they were to begin to remove the barricades, which consisted of everything but the kitchen sink, several cars that had been pushed into the front of the gate, chairs, benches, large rocks, mounds of dirt, and a couple of desks.

              SSG Arroa sent Corporal Reyes to his Platoon Sergeant and told him to send more men to help clear the barricade.  There was no way he could provide security for him and his men as well as move everything out of the way.  SFC Dittmyer was the Platoon Sergeant; the man was not a great thinker and a very poor leader.  He had decided to send one more squad to help SSG Arroa; why the entire platoon didn’t move was lost on SSG Arroa.  Once they had cleared the gate everyone was supposed to move through it so why wait.  However, SSG Arroa knew it wasn’t his job to wonder why the Army did things. His job was to execute his orders to the best of his ability. 

              Second Squad led by SSG Dane moved out of their position in the woods running toward the main gate, down the path and meeting up with first squad.  SSG Arroa told SSG Dane to clear the barricade and they would provide security.  SSG Dane and his men weren’t happy to have to do the heavy lifting with clearing the barricade because it looked like a lot of work.  SSG Dane glared at SSG Arroa, “Really? We move everything. Why can’t you do it?”

              “We cleared the way in and disabled he bombs. We did our piece it’s your turn,” SSG Arroa said.

              SSG Dane nodded his acquiescence as it was hard to argue with that. “Yeah you got a point,” Sergeant Dane said.  Sergeant Dane ordered the squad to sling their weapons and get to work clearing the main gate.  He also ordered them to be on the lookout for anything suspicious while clearing it.  “What do you mean by suspicious Sergeant?” Private Mulvaney asked.

              “Well Private, anything that looks like it might blow your fucking head off,” Sergeant Dane said.

              Now that Sergeant Dane had his orders clarified it was time for everyone to get to work.  Fortunately for them SSG Arroa had done a great job of clearing out the ordinance within the barricade when he first inspected it.  It took SSG Dane and his men two hours to clear the main gate with no incident of anyone blowing their fucking head off, for which their Platoon Leader was thankful and their Platoon Sergeant was nowhere to be found. It was clear to the rest of the Company and Battalion the main gate was cleared and they were ordered to move through the gate and began clearing the post from front to back.

              In the meantime 1
st
and 3
rd
Battalions of the 172
nd
Infantry Regiment had taken a route clear of the Fort hopefully so they could see them maneuvering to the rear of the post.  Anyone watching the move out with any common sense could have put two-and-two together.  It took three hours for the two Battalions to get into position and prepare for the attack on Fort Indiantown Gap.  Each Battalion had sent out scouts from each company to various locations around the post to probe any potential lines around it. So far they hadn’t found a living soul nor seen any sign of recent activity; it was like no one was home.  The scouts were then ordered to keep moving forward, but not to go any further onto post than three miles essentially—no further than a quick reaction force could get to them.

              Third squad from 4
th
Platoon, Alpha Company, 3
rd
Battalion, 172
nd
Infantry Regiment had been patrolling near some bluffs that overlooked the fort and had a birds-eye-view of both battalions.  Sergeant Eliza Munoz thought he had seen something up on one of the bluffs, like a glimmer of light and felt it was worth checking out.  It was quite a hike to get up to it and it took two hours to get there. It wasn’t the distance; it was the climb up.  As they approached the crest of the bluff in question they noticed what looked like military type camouflage netting over what looked like holes that had been dug into the side of the bluff itself.  As infantrymen they recognized what looked like hide where soldiers would literally hide from the enemy and collect data on troop movement, number of troops and vehicles.

              Sergeant Munoz halted the advance of the soldiers in his squad. He wanted to take a little more time to watch the hide to try and determine who was using it.  However, he knew they wouldn’t be able to wait indefinitely. After all, they would eventually be missed.  They did have radio contact with their Platoon Leader and Platoon Sergeant. He didn’t want to make a report regarding what they found just yet.  Ten minutes had passed, then fifteen, and twenty there was no sign of the people using the hide so it was time to move.  Sergeant Munoz moved forward with most of the men in the squad fanning out along the way to cover more area. He left three men behind with the SAW (squad automatic weapon) to cover them in the event it was an ambush.

              Sergeant Munoz headed directly for the visible hide and pulled back the camouflage netting which exposed a rather large cave, but the entrance was small which was probably why it was selected in the first place.   Sergeant Munoz, Corporal Adams and Private Page crawled through the small passage into the much larger cavern on the other side.  Each man pulled out their flashlight and shined it around the cave.  Prior to the event they would have used some sort of night vision device to view the cave to make sure it was clear.  However, that was no longer an option so they had to use flashlights which immediately gave them away and presented a clear target for anyone in the cave.  All the enemy would have to do was center on the light and fire, but fortunately nothing like that happened.

              Sergeant Munoz and the others shined their lights around the cave. They noticed that it had been recently been occupied.  There was a fire ring. Corporal Adams kneeled down and felt around it and found it was still hot.  Private Page found several spots where something looked to have been buried. When he uncovered them, he found opened MRE (meals ready to eat) packages.  MREs generally meant the military, but as they had found out over the course of the past few months civilians had them too.  As the three men moved further back into the cave they stumbled on what looked like a military rucksack.  The three men focused on the rucksack and moved towards it carefully thinking it may be booby-trapped and not a way they wanted to die.

              Sergeant Munoz carefully guided his flashlight around the rucksack looking for any wires, but didn’t see any.  Corporal Adams did his best to look under it as it was standing and leaning against the wall, but he didn’t see any either.  “Looks clear.” Sergeant Munoz said. “To me too.” Corporal Adams replied.

              Sergeant Munoz slowly pulled the rucksack away from the wall and started to search it.  It was heavy. He figured it must weigh close to a hundred pounds.  He started his search with the front pockets. The first thing he pulled out was a Green Beret with flash insignia of the 19
th
Special Forces Group.  The first thing Sergeant Munoz thought to himself was, ‘This can’t be good.’  He stood up and hurried out of the cave to find his RTO. He needed to report that there might be Special Operations in the area observing them.