The Peacemakers (42 page)

Vermullen led the tour around the refugee compound with Allston and Malone as he pointed out the defenses the legionnaires had built with overlapping fields of fire. “Great work,” Allston said. “Can you work up a plan for us?”

“It would be my pleasure,” Vermullen replied. “How many men can you commit?”

“Right at a hundred men and women,” Allston said. Vermullen didn’t reply at first. He had never used women in a combat role and didn’t want to start now. Allston decided the timing was right and ventured, “I was hoping we could integrate our forces into a defensive plan. Again, Vermullen was silent. Allston plunged ahead. “I know the emphasis you put on training, but perhaps now is the time to …” He deliberately left the proposal open. Did the Frenchman understand that the time for training was at an end?

“It is not what you think,” Vermullen said. “We have been training the South Sudanese.”

Allston was shocked. Training the southerners was a direct violation of the UN peacekeeping mandate. “Does the UN know?”

“Of course not,” Vermullen replied. “Let me work on a plan. Can I use your Major Sharp and Sergeant Malone?”

“You’ve got ‘em.”

Allston sat in the corner of his makeshift operations center at a small table that served as his office. While he didn’t have the privacy he often needed, he was at the heart of all activity and wired in with operations and maintenance. The downside was that he was too available for anyone who came in, and he had to tune out distractions so he could focus on whatever task demanded his immediate attention. “Colonel Allston,” Jill said, breaking his concentration. He looked up. She was standing a respectful distance away with a beaming Loni Williams.

“Whatcha got?” he asked in a friendly tone, trying to close the gap that was looming between them.

“The kid you shot is talking,” Williams said. “You wouldn’t believe what this Jahel guy is like.”

“Yeah, I would,” Allston replied. “He’s a first-class bastard.” He kicked back in his chair and interlaced his fingers, tapping his thumbs together. “I hope you’re following the Army Field Manual on interrogation.”

Jill answered. “Yes, sir, we are. Sergeant Williams is much more fluent in Nuer than me but I monitor the interrogation. His name is BermaNur, and he’s seventeen years old. The raid was more than a hit and run. You were the target. That’s why they hit the guesthouse.”

Allston’s stomach disappeared, and, for a moment, he was speechless. “Well, that certainly made my day. Anything else?”

“The SA,” Jill continued, “is going to cross the White Nile and reinforce Waleed. Probably in the next week or so.”

“How would a seventeen-year-old kid know that?” Allston asked.

“He doesn’t,” Jill replied. “But he said the SA promised Jahel he could sack Malakal as soon as they found a ford for the SA to cross the White Nile. That fits with what we’re hearing on the jungle telegraph. Also, the townspeople are leaving Malakal in droves, and that Waleed’s men are deserting in mass. He’s down to less than two hundred men.” She let him digest the news. “I’m just connecting the dots, sir.” She checked her watch. “Colonel Vermullen will be here in a few minutes. He’s got a defensive plan worked out, and he asked for the Reverend Person to be here.”

“Please call the good parson and the key players,” Allston said. More and more, he was relying on her as his second in command.

“Will do, sir.”

Major Mercier tacked a large-scale chart of the mission and the surrounding area on the wall of the big room in Mission House. Vermullen stood beside the chart. “I have walked every meter of the terrain,” he began, “and the two most likely axes of attack are from Malakal or from across the White Nile at the ford the Janjaweed used when they attacked the mission. I believe we can successfully defend against one, if we have early warning to position our forces. The plan you see here is based on concentric rings surrounding the mission, but not the refugee camp or airfield. The outer ring is approximately three kilometers out.” He touched the small circles that formed the outer ring and extended to the southern bank of the Nile. “I call this Delta Ring. It is made up of manned listening posts, or LPs. The LPs have only one purpose, to warn of any attack. Once we know the axis of the attack, we concentrate our forces accordingly on the next ring, which I call Charlie Ring. It is made up of many defensive firing positions and is our first true line of defense. It is far enough back from the river that we can dig in, at least until the river floods. Then it will turn into a bog. But until then, we must dig as many DFPs as we can. The more we have, the more flexible we can be in reacting to an attack.”

Allston got it immediately. “So the listening posts on Delta Ring, where there is no activity, fall back to help reinforce the part of Charlie Ring where the action is. What happens to the LPs that detect an attack?”

Malone answered. “They’re on their own.” In the hard calculus of combat, the forward LPs were expendable.

Again, Vermullen tapped the chart. “This shaded area between Charlie Ring and the mission compound is a minefield. I call it Bravo Ring.” He waited for their reaction.

“I thought land mines were used at the forward edge of the battlefield,” Allston said, “and not so close in.”

“Normally, that is true,” Vermullen replied. “But we don’t have enough mines to cover a broad area and must concentrate them where they will do the most good.” He tapped the last ring of densely packed DFPs inside the minefield that surrounded the mission itself. “This is Alpha Ring, our last line of defense, that your Sergeant Malone created. The minefield provides a cover for Alpha Ring.”

Toby’s face turned gray and he felt sick. “If anything makes the case for evil, it’s land mines.”

“This evil will keep us alive,” Vermullen said. “We’ll plot where each one is and dig them up later. We’ve done this before.”

Malaby had a question. “How do we get our troops through the mine field to Alpha Ring if we have to pull back?

Mercier answered . “You are very observant, Colonel. Some of the mines that we captured at Bentiu, over a hundred, are armed by remote control.” He sketched in four narrow corridors through the minefield. “We mark these corridors with stakes for everyone to see and place the remote-controlled mines in the corridors. We will arm the mines after we have withdrawn into Alpha Ring.”

“But some of our people might be trapped on the wrong side,” Dick Lane said.

“It is the best of many bad options,” Vermullen replied.

“What about mortar and artillery fire?” Allston’s Facilities commander asked.

Vermullen answered. “Without a counter-battery radar, that is a problem. We can suppress close-in mortar fire with ours and our best defense is to dig as many DFPs as we can to rapidly concentrate our men while still protecting them. Reverend Person, I am hoping you can help with this.”

The coppery taste of bile flooded Toby’s mouth. “I didn’t come to Africa to kill people.” He paced the floor. “This isn’t what I wanted.”

“I know,” Allston said.

Toby jerked his head yes, finally accepting the inevitability of what he had to do. “I’ll have everyone I can here in the morning. “ He walked from the room and disappeared into the night.

The reserved and quiet major who headed logistics spoke. “Is there any way we can make the SA more predictable? I was thinking, what if we take out Waleed now? before the SA hooks up with him. That way, they would have to come across the Nile. I hear most of his men have deserted.”

“A preemptive attack?” Allston replied. “I don’t see how.”

“Let me work on it,” Vermullen said. He had a few scores he wanted to settle with the Sudanese major.

E-Ring

Brigadier General Yvonne Richards was in a state of shock when the phone call came in and it was not a conversation she was ready for. Suddenly, her career was on the chopping block. “Yes, Mr. Speaker, I’m reviewing the CD you sent over as we speak.” The Speaker of the House was adamant about what he wanted done. “Yes, sir, I’ll get right on it.” She was thankful for the abrupt click ending the conversation. There was no doubt he wanted a blood sacrifice and had banged the phone down with force. She placed the CD in a leather folder and considered her next move. The reality was that she was out of options. She called Fitzgerald’s secretary and said that she had a communication from the Speaker of the House and had to see the general immediately.