Operation (27 page)

“I don’t get your picture.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I understand your motivations for wanting to study these creatures. Even I have to admit they’re rather fascinating.  What I don’t understand is why you destroyed them without any hesitation. You could have called for help to recapture them. Why didn’t you?”

“Too risky. If we failed, the creatures may have gotten loose.”

“But what of your ‘live and let live philosophy?’ That everything has a place in this world? Its own niche to fill?”

“You forget one thing,” Reese said.

“What’s that?”

“They were trained to kill. Not for food, not to survive, but to kill on demand. That tends to change things just a little bit, don’t you agree?”

“But that—”

“Or maybe I am a patriot after all. I’ll be in touch.” Reese said, then turned and walked out the door before she could answer. Although he smiled at the thought of having the opportunity to turn her words against her, he worried. He would have to be careful with whatever he was going to do about these two girls. All he knew for sure was that their destruction was not an option. In fact, he felt confident that was why they had been removed from the facility. Someone else had felt the same way and he couldn’t help but think he knew who that someone might be.

We will meet again
…Dimitri had said to him. Maybe he was right.

Chapter Five

Naval Amphibious Base-Virginia Beach, Virginia

Reese walked onto the quarterdeck of Seal Delivery Vehicle Team Two on the Naval Amphibious Base commonly referred to as NAB. For him, it was as if he were returning to an old friend’s house, except that the friend no longer lived there.

As he stood on the quarterdeck waiting to be escorted into the conference room, his eyes scanned the plaque which had nameplates engraved with previous commanding officers. Many of the names looked familiar from his time at the teams and he couldn’t help but wonder where they had gone to or even if they were still in the Navy. He had spent four years on that assignment, the longest of any tour he had ever had in his Navy career. He had seen three commanding officers come and go as well as a host of other team members.

“Commander Reese,” a voice said. “This way, please.”

Reese turned toward a young petty officer. The petty officer wore the standard camouflage uniform that meant that he was on duty. Generally, the standard uniform at the teams was PT gear, which consisted of t-shirts and shorts in the summer and sweat suits during the winter.

Reese knew that the location for the meeting was to facilitate the combined effort of the remaining SEALs. As he entered the conference room, he noticed that there were several Navy commanders and captains seated at the table, all wearing the Navy SEAL trident on their chests. They were commanding officers of each of the other SEAL teams. As he continued his scan of the occupants of the table, his attention was drawn to the four-star general who sat at the head of the table. He assumed this was General Morris, General Stone’s replacement and the commander of SOCOM, the Special Operation Command.

Morris reminded Reese much of General Stone—the high and tight haircut, immaculate uniform appearance, that hard rugged look in the wrinkles of the skin around the eyes that shows the age of someone who has seen too much. But the eyes told the entire story about the man. Morris’ eyes burned with an intensity of a man used to getting what he wants.

“Ah, Commander Reese,” the general said as he rose from his chair. “We’ve been waiting for you.” He offered his hand to Reese.

Reese shook his hand, feeling the solid grasp of Morris’s hand.

“Sir, my apologies for not getting here sooner. It’s been a rather interesting day in DC.”

“I can imagine,” the General agreed and then spoke to the rest of the assembled group. “Commander Reese was recalled to active duty today. He will need a little time to prep for your briefing. Open the briefing packages in front of you and read the op called Team of Darkness. While you are familiarizing yourselves with that, Commander Reese and I will have a little chat.” Morris turned toward Reese. “This way, Commander.”

Morris and Reese exited the conference room and stepped into the corridor. The area was familiar to Reese: he had visited the compound on several occasions when assigned to the Special Warfare Group.

He looked over his shoulder. Two men in civilian clothes followed behind them, their eyes focused upon Reese.

“Don’t worry about them” the general said. “They are my bodyguards.”

“Bodyguards?” Reese asked. “Is that really necessary?”

“When I explain what has happened, you’ll see why.” 

They entered a small office off the main corridor. Reese followed the general in and shut the door behind him. The bodyguards remained outside.

“Have a seat,” the general said. “We need to talk about a few things before you brief the rest of them.”

Reese sat in the chair opposite the desk.

“You have been briefed by our friends in Washington?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then you know what you are supposed to do?”

“I am to aid you in whatever way I can to facilitate the capture of the two subjects.”

“Hopefully better than the way you
assisted in designing the compound they were being held at.”

Reese was shocked by the accusation that he was possibly being blamed for the escape of the girls. “Sir, I—”

“Not now. We will talk about that later, Commander. I’ll be frank with you, I see no reason to bring you in on this. I highly objected to it, but our friends in Washington are quite powerful. I believe in a clean start with this operation; however, your expertise in the area of the creatures is well documented. This is purely a hunt and destroy mission. Make sure you understand that.”

“Sir, General Stone thought—”

“Stone is dead,” Morris said dismissively. “He was a rash man who made rash decisions. This entire op was one of them. When I learned what he had done, my only course of action was to bring the two…creatures… here. I’ve been doing nothing but cleaning up his mess since and now with this escape, things have become quite uncomfortable—so you will have to excuse my less then enthusiastic feelings about this operation. The involvement of our friends from Washington complicates things. Your associate, Mr. Smith, arrived earlier. I don’t like him.”

“Well, at least there is something we do agree on,” Reese offered. “I did not ask to be brought into this.”

“I know,” Morris said, as he exhaled strongly and rubbed his face with his hands. “There aren’t many experts in this field with actual experience. You’re pretty much it.”

“Sir, if I may ask, what have the other SEAL teams been told?”

“The briefing packages the COs are looking at do not mention your team specifically—it’s an overview, more or less, carefully sanitized. I didn’t see the point in divulging that portion of the operation. The less they know, the better. I substituted your capture of the original team with the two girls. So the reports they are looking at describe the capabilities of the creatures as depicted in the original reports. This way, they know what they are up against and the potential risks that might be involved.”

“I see,” Reese said, sounding apprehensive.

“Don’t sound so nervous. You’re not like us: information is good but too much information clouds the issue. All they need to know is what is required for them in order to do their jobs.”

“I understand. A need-to-know basis,” Reese said.

“Now that you understand the situation, we should get back to the rest of them so we can answer questions and decide on our plan of attack.”

“May I make a suggestion?” Reese asked.

“What?” the general asked, looking suspiciously at Reese.

“I would like to go over how they escaped the facility before we make a decision on a plan of attack.”

“Why?”

“It might be helpful in determining a plan of action to recover the creatures.”

“What makes you think that you’ll see something I didn’t?”

“I have an understanding of the motivations of these creatures. I may be able to interpret something from what or how they did it that may be helpful in the search.”

Reese felt Morris’s eyes studying him for a few seconds before he answered his request.

“Very well, Commander. We’ll reschedule the briefing for later. You and I will go over to the facility and review what happened.”

“Thank you.”

“However, be advised that our good friend Mr. Smith has been there since he arrived. For some reason, he has taken the same approach you have decided on. Is this some collaboration on your part?”

“No, sir,” Reese answered, but found it disconcerting that Smith was thinking along the same lines as he was. It made him wonder how much Smith knew or surmised. “Personally, I can’t stand or trust the man. Can you tell me what or who this agency is that he works for?”

“No, not exactly,” Morris said. Reese noticed that the general’s eyes moved toward the door to ensure it was closed. “I think they are some darker element of the CIA or something. All I know is that they have a lot of power in Washington and at the highest levels. They watch the goings-on of the military and civilian organizations. My superiors have carefully instructed me to cooperate fully with them.”

“I don’t understand how they play into this,” Reese said aloud, but not meaning to. He received an odd look from General Morris.

“You don’t need to,” the general said. “Just accept it.”

Reese nodded in agreement but thought the opposite. He was worried because this added a new layer of fear on him about the discovery of his collusion with Dimitri and the others escape.
But then, if they had known about it—wouldn’t they have done something by now? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe they think I’m in on what happened and they can use me to get to them…
 

Reese’s thoughts were interrupted by the sudden movement of Morris as he rose and came alongside to where Reese stood. In a soft voice, he said, “I don’t think you really want to know the answer to that question, Commander. You looked surprised earlier when I told you about the body guards.”

“Yes, sir,” Reese said, not sure where Morris was going with his statement.

“I never said exactly who they were protecting me from. But I will tell you this. This agency, these people, are like the meanest junkyard dog you have ever seen—and they’re hungry. Now imagine, here you are, facing that dog, so to speak. They don’t let go…and you would do best to remember that, Commander. They don’t let go. Not even when it’s over.”

Reese thought he heard a momentary lack of confidence in the general’s voice, almost fear. The sudden change in the general’s demeanor surprised him. Here was one of the most powerful men in the military, someone who had control of the elite, the best of the best of the military—and he was scared of this mysterious agency. So scared that he felt his life endangered to the point of needing bodyguards.
What the hell was going on here…

“Now, Commander.” The general spoke again, but this time in his characteristically authoritarian voice. “Are you ready to proceed with the investigation?”

“Do I have a choice?” Reese asked.

“No choice,” the general said.

“Then I guess I’m as ready as I ever will be.”

Chapter Six

As General Morris and Commander Reese drove toward the confinement area, Reese felt as if he were seeing it all for the first time. He had laid out the primary requirements that the site needed in order to contain the vampires, yet now, it felt unfamiliar to him. He had wanted to forget his role in the development of this elaborate prison.

They drove into a wooded area and down the road that led to what had been an old horse stable and riding area. The site was seemingly abandoned years before. They passed signs indicating the road was closed to all traffic. The road was full of potholes and overgrown weeds grew joyfully along its sides, feeding the illusion of abandonment. Shortly they came to a steel barrier placed across the road. Morris keyed a button on a remote device and the barrier rose.

As they continued, Reese glanced upward at the telephone poles they passed, watching the remote cameras monitoring their approach.

“Everything is as you left it, Commander,” Morris said, as if reading Reese’s thoughts. “We saw no need to change anything because it held your team without any problems.”

 “It did. We never had any problems,” Reese agreed, but in his mind, he wondered if he had overlooked something. The facility was designed to keep them in: he had not given a lot of thought to keeping people out.

They proceeded through a series of gates guarded by Navy SEALs, where the primary check was the standard military identification card and a verification of the name being on the authorized list of personnel allowed into the compound area. The procedure was no different then gaining general access to the base itself. If someone had gained access to a remote control device to raise the steel barrier, they could easily make their way to the security checkpoint, but their names would still have to be on the list.

“Have all personnel been accounted for?” Reese asked.

“There are some off-duty personnel we are still checking on. Why?”

“Trying to piece it all together.”

“It had to be an inside job,” Morris said plainly. “Whoever did this knew exactly what, where and how.”

“A spy?” Reese asked.

Morris didn’t answer.

The car stopped at the parking area adjoining the main building. Reese stepped out and looked around. He felt the memories return.
Only one road for access so if you’re not going to the building you have no reason to be on it
, he thought. The building was old but still in good shape: built in 1945, when the base was commissioned. It had three-foot thick cinderblock walls, no windows and a roof made of the largest timbers he had ever seen. High-security doors and numerous cameras, were monitored from a main control room. A high security fence, electrified and wired at the top, encircled it. With the woods surrounding the area, the compound remained hidden. Reese’s eyes moved to the old horse stables. As he did, the smell of livestock wafted through the air, reminding him of the cattle maintained as a food source for the vampires and the first time he watched the vampires feed on them. The nonchalant way in which they calmed the animals and then bit into them and sucked their blood. The sound of the slurping…