John O'Brien - Conspiracy

Upon returning, a dejected sounding Lynn says, “He’s not here.”

“I didn’t think he would be,” I say.

The news casts a pall over the group. Most of us can’t believe he did what he has — executed the prisoner and then fled into the night. I totally understand why he did it, but to flee? PTSD does funny things to the mind. It makes the most ridiculous decisions seem like sane ones. In each, it can do different things — depression, anger, emotional turmoil, rob one’s spirit to live. It’s been manifesting itself in all of us since the beginning. We can’t keep up the way we have, with stress each and every day, without signs of breaking. It can take the strongest or weakest. The bottom line is that it will affect each and every one us at some point to some degree. It’s one of the reasons to institute the one day that we take for ourselves, to gather and just socialize, to stave off the ramifications of the stress for as long as we can.

I know most of us aren’t really interested in continuing the meeting with what’s happened, but if we end with this, it will not only carry into tomorrow, but it will have rooted itself more deeply. That will happen anyway; right now we have to focus on the job of living. We’ve had a few setbacks, yet we still need to deal with the cards set before us.

“Okay, folks. I know it’s difficult, but let’s get through this. We have information on the one facility. If the others are operational, then we’re sunk. However, if we’re only dealing with this one, then the way I see it, we are evenly balanced and they know it or they would have attacked already. They have the numbers and a more secure location, but we have the Spooky. If they come out in the open, we can tear them apart, providing they don’t have anti-air capabilities,” I say.

“I didn’t see anything like that mentioned in the arsenal for the site,” Harold chimes in.

“Share all of the information with Frank. Look through it with a fine-toothed comb. We need every scrap of info we can get,” I state. Frank and Harold nod their replies. “They could have shoulder-fired weaponry, but we can counter that. Anyway, we can’t go in and get them, at least in force.”

“Unless we draw them out,” Robert states.

“Yes, unless we can somehow draw them out into the open. Until then, we’re at a stalemate until our fuel situation runs out. When that happens, the balance will shift dramatically, and not to our benefit. So, we have to do something before that happens. And there’s the weather to think of,” I say. “For the moment, we need to consolidate like we have been and get the Spooky in close to protect it, and be able to use it in a moment’s notice.”

“As likely as it is that the attack and this facility are connected, we still don’t know that for a fact. We lost the only thing we had that would do that for us,” Frank offers.

“That, unfortunately, is true,” I agree. A faint light glimmers in my mind. “Frank, do we still have the tablet we took off the shooter?”

“Yes. I didn’t see anything much other than satellite imagery of the compound and surrounding area. Oh, and close-ups of each of us. Do you want me to fetch it?” Franks asks.

“Yes, please.”

Frank brings the tablet and fires it up. As he mentioned, there is current satellite imagery or our compound. That in itself doesn’t prove anything other than the fact that this other group reportedly has control of satellites; that the imagery is recent only provides a weak tie between the attack and the facility. Something catches my eye on one of the satellite images. It’s an overlay of our compound, and in the lower right corner, the annotation ‘A-US-1’. It’s the same annotation format as the one in the facility document listing it as A-CC-1. Another potential link. I show it to Frank and the others.

Frank studies it and some of the other images. “I think we have to go with the fact that this facility ordered the attack. All indications point to it,” he says after a moment.

“I agree. So, what do we do with it?” Lynn asks.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s much we can do,” Bannerman says.

“Well, we can’t very well just lie here waiting for another strike,” Roberts adds.

“And we can’t penetrate the bunker with our forces. We’d be outnumbered and outgunned,” Lynn states.

“Can’t we draw them out?” Bri asks.

“Yes, but it would have to be in way that they couldn’t immediately head back inside the bunker,” Robert states.

“We need to do a flyby to get a better picture of what we’re up against,” Franks suggests.

“I agree completely,” I say. “We need more information before we can come up with a plan.”

“A flyby will alert them that we’re onto them. That’s the only advantage we have at the moment,” Frank comments.

“We can hide it as being like any of our other flights. We weren’t bothered on those. If we pick a nearby base, fly there planning our route so we can conduct an overflight, then it will just look like something we’ve done in the past. They might think we are on a normal flight like we’ve done more than a few times,” Robert says.

“I think that’s as good a plan as any other. However, they’ll know by now that we took one of theirs prisoner. They’d be fools if they didn’t have a satellite trained on the op, and I seriously doubt they are fools. Especially given that they may have a trained Israeli agent in charge. No, they’ll have to go on the assumption that we know about them already. But, I still agree with your plan. I don’t see that we have any other choice,” I reply.

“I’m guessing they reached the same conclusion about us being at a stalemate and made a pre-emptive strike to take out our leadership. The only thing that doesn’t make sense is why they didn’t try to take all of us out,” Frank says.

“I don’t know either. If they are striking at us, we need to counter that somehow. I don’t think this was a one-and-done attempt. But to do that, we need more information. So, I suggest we head out at first light to search for Drescoll. Then we can make a flight plan to locate Captain Leonard and relay this information to him, jump over to find Greg and pick him up, then stage a fake rescue effort and overfly the facility. Frank, we also need a better picture of what is going on up north with regards to the night runners. If we have more cameras, set them up around the base and outlying area. We’ll take the Spooky up tomorrow night and take a look as well. Bannerman, when will the runway be completed?”

“It should be finished sometime tomorrow, I’m guessing toward late afternoon.”

“Okay, we’ll bring the Spooky down the morning after and then depart in the other 130,” I say.

“How many teams are you taking with you?” Lynn asks.

“I was thinking I’d only bring Red Team. We’re only doing two flybys and picking Greg up. I don’t want to leave us too thin here,” I answer.

“You’ll be landing for a day at an outbase,” Lynn says.

“True, but if there’s any trouble, we’ll just leave. It’s not like we’re there actually looking for something.”

A soldier approaches and whispers in Lynn’s ear. I watch and see her shoulders sag with whatever is said. The soldier departs.

“I have more bad news,” Lynn says after a moment. “Allie’s dad was just found dead by his own hand.”

The news cuts through us almost as much as Drescoll’s disappearance.

“Could this week get any worse,” Bannerman mutters, hanging his head.

The next morning, all but two of the teams are sent out at first light to search for Drescoll. Craig and Roger each take a light aircraft out to assist. They are to look for the Humvee or sets of tracks in the otherwise undisturbed dust covering the roadways. I take Red Team with Lynn in the Spooky to utilize its equipment. Frank coordinates the search from base so we can cover the area effectively.