Don Pendleton - Armed Resistance

Forged from the spirit and unswerving abilities of Mack “the Executioner” Bolan, the men of Phoenix Force had earned a reputation as one of the finest fighting units in the world. Not even the President of the United States and a good number of his predecessors knew their identities; that was a privilege reserved only for the select few whom this band of brothers trusted with their lives.

Leading the team of warriors was David McCarter, a fox-faced Briton who’d begun his career serving with the SAS. To his left sat Rafael Encizo, whose life had started as a prisoner in the death prisons of Fidel Castro. The lone Canadian was Gary Manning. A former explosives expert with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Manning had a penchant for hunting rifles and possessed uncanny knowledge of terrorist groups around the world.

The other two men of Phoenix Force were successors but no less effective in their own rights. Calvin James had been handpicked by the late leader of Phoenix Force, Yakov Katzenelenbogen. A former Navy SEAL and member of a Chicago P.D. SWAT team, James was a human force with which to be reckoned. Finally, the youngest and newest member of the group was Thomas Jefferson Hawkins. Hailing from the Lone Star State and known for his quick wit, Hawkins had served honorably with Delta Force until leaping at the opportunity to join his elite friends.

Together these men had battled and overcome the forces of evil around the globe under the guidance of the most covert special operations agency in the world: Stony Man.

The Phoenix Force warriors greeted the arrival of Brognola and Price with little fanfare. While nobody pointed out the fact the pair was fifteen minutes late for the briefing—something rather unusual for these particular individuals—there was no mistaking the air of anticipation in the room. It hung like an electrically charged cloud above the Phoenix Force warriors, and Hal Brognola, director of the Special Operations Group, immediately noticed it.

“I’m sorry we’re behind schedule but it was unavoidable,” Brognola said. “I know you’re itching for action so we’re going to keep this as short and sweet as possible.”

“As soon as you’re briefed,” Price said, “there’s a chopper waiting to take you to Andrews. Jack is there now doing the preflight so we’ll skip the ceremony.”

It seemed as if everyone simultaneously issued a sigh of relief. Not that they would have done anything other than sit patiently while Price laid it out for them in ever-arduous detail. The mission controller was cool and calm under the worst situations, often treating them in a very maternal fashion, although only because of her natural personality; she had no real desire to flutter around them like a mother hen.

“We’re sending all of the main details to your portable devices,” Price continued as she sat at the table and flipped a strand of the honey-blond hair behind her ear. “You can study those on the flight out.”

“Where are we headed, love?” McCarter asked.

“We’re sending you for several days of fun-filled adventure in Sudan,” Brognola said. “There’s a time factor involved here and I want to give you as much time as possible, hence the brevity of this particular meeting.”

“Here’s the short story,” Price said. “Four days ago, a CIA agent in Khartoum received communication from a man named Rahmad Kiir, the general and leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Contact with Kiir isn’t apparently that uncommon for the CIA, since they’re able to provide a considerable amount of information regarding activities inside the Sudanese government. Those activities are of course the real story about what’s happening and not merely the bull hooky they like to feed our embassy. To break it down succinctly, some of Kiir’s men were on a mission to rescue villagers who had been taken by members of the Lord’s Resistance Army.”

“Also known as the Lakwena,” Brognola interjected helpfully.

“I thought the LRA was practically obsolete these days,” T. J. Hawkins remarked.

“Hardly,” Manning said. “Even since al-Bashir was elected president, Sudan still hasn’t fully complied with the minimal standards for effective elimination of human trafficking. The situation has been complicated by a civil war between North and South Sudan, which the LRA has exploited.”

“That’s for sure,” Encizo added.

Price nodded. “Sudan is a source country for men, women and children trafficked internally for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. It’s also a transit and destination country for Ethiopian women who are sent abroad as domestic servants. The Lord’s Resistance Army is one of the chief entrepreneurs in this business and they harbor a good number of children from both Sudan and Uganda for forced labor, sex slavery and myriad other atrocities. Often they have integrated themselves with militia groups in Darfur and abduct young women and girls for every kind of perversion you can imagine.”

Calvin James made a show of cracking his knuckles and said, “Sounds just like the kind of group we specialize in eradicating.”

“While I’d love to tell you to go forth and conquer all, I’m afraid that there’s a significant U.S. interest in this,” Brognola said. “While some of General Kiir’s men were hitting this village, they killed a number of LRA terrorists who, as it turns out, were carrying military-grade weapons. Those weapons were stamped with markings naming them as property of the United States Army.”

“How do we know they’re real?” Manning asked.

“Oh, they’re real,” Price said. “The serial numbers have already been verified and we have positive photographic identification from our CIA contact. There’s just one problem and that’s where the President decided it was time to involve Phoenix Force. In fact, even Able Team is going to have a hand in this one.”

“I can already see I’m not going to like this,” McCarter said.

“You’re too ugly to live forever anyway,” Hawkins ribbed him.

As the men responded with laughter, Price dimmed the lights and directed their attention to the screen at one end of the War Room. The image of a young, good-looking man in a suit materialized and the room fell quiet.

“Here’s complication one,” Price said. “This is a case file photo from the dossier of one Jodi Leighton, a CIA case officer who up until two days ago was serving as General Kiir’s contact and feeding information back to his higher-ups in Washington. Now Leighton has disappeared along with the evidence recently given to him by Kiir’s men.”

“Before you ask and because I know you will, we have no idea what happened to Leighton,” Brognola said. “He’s just disappeared into thin air and his friend and contact who acts as liaison between him and Kiir has been unable to find out anything.”

“I hate to bring it up, but have we considered the possibility this chap’s gone rogue?” McCarter asked.

“It’s not an unfair question but our general feeling is that it’s not Leighton’s style,” Price said. “First of all, the guy didn’t have any reason to suddenly pack it in and split. If anything, his efforts here would have won him a commendation and possibly even a ticket out of that place. Naturally when a CIA officer comes into information of this nature it automatically puts him in a dangerous situation. The world of espionage is filled with double agents, deception and betrayal.”

“Okay, fine,” Encizo said. “But it’s also not unlike a CIA spook to simply walk away if they think their identity has been compromised. Six months later they turn up in the Bahamas wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a bad dye job.”

“That’s true, but we’re still not convinced that’s the case here,” Brognola said. “Tell them about Able Team, Barb.”