Viper Team Seven (The Viper Team Seven Series Book 1) (47 page)

“Look, he
doesn’t need you to read his mind,” Cummins fired back. “You’re not his
mouthpiece, so don’t act like it.”

“Settle down,
let’s not get steamed up about this,” the President ordered. “You guys can
argue if you want after work but for now I’m running this show and you’ll do
what I tell you.” Winnfield rested his arm on the table. “Listen, we have a
hostile nation that has a nuclear weapon and probably intends to use it against
us or Israel. I don’t know what role Lebanon played in the whole 1/16 ordeal
but I do know they’ve got a nuke and it needs to be taken out. Is that
understandable?” Every man nodded his agreement. “Okay let’s get to business.
There’s a big possibility that when we find this weapon it’ll be in some safe
facility underground. That means we’ll have to blast our way to get at it and
then throw something else in to take it out. Our 15-ton Massive Ordnance
Penetrator bunker buster bomb toting 5,300 pounds of explosives would break
open the facility, but we need something else to actually destroy the warhead.
Something like a Tomahawk cruise missile. If we time it right we could have the
Air Force drop the bunker buster and say, a minute later, have the Tomahawk fly
in there and take out the nuclear weapon. Here’s the thing. We are most likely
going to have a very small target for the MOP bunker buster to hit. That means
I don’t want to rely on its usual GPS. We need someone to laser guide it like
we did during Desert Storm. So we’re going to have to put someone on the
ground.”

“No, Mr.
President,” the FBI Director moaned. “Parks just isn’t there yet. He’s green.
We can’t rely on him to save our country.”

“Why not?” Roxon
asked. “We depended on him to save our country when these terrorists came in.
Why not now? He’s dependable and I’d say our best chance.”

“What do you
think, Mike?” the VP questioned.

The D/CIA
adjusted in his seat and replied, “Parks will get the job done. That’s not my
concern. Right now I’m worried about where they’re putting that warhead and if
there are any more coming.”

“He’s right,”
Travis confirmed. “We’ve got to find the thing before we send anybody or
anything in.”

The President
had to agree. “That’s fine. But once we do find it, here’s what I want to have
happen. We’ll get some B-2 Stealth bomber to drop that bunker buster on the war
bunker and about one minute later I want an attack submarine to launch a
Tomahawk Land Attack Missile and blow up the warhead. What do we have for subs
in the Med, Tom?”

“Uh, that’d be
the Second Fleet’s domain, so the Los Angeles Class Attack subs would probably
be what we’d need to use,” the NSA responded. “We’ve got quite a few sitting
off the coast of Lebanon right now. They’re ready when we are.”

“Great. Contact
the Navy and double-check on whether those subs have Tomahawks,” the President
ordered. “Have them keep their subs close by.”

“Yes, Mr.
President.”

“That’s it men.
Mike, you find that warhead. Tom, check on the subs. Report to me the second
you find something. Oh, and Tom, one more thing. Get Parks in my office
immediately.”

Thursday, April 17
^th
– 0800 hours

The Oval Office

Parks took in a
deep breath and opened the door to the Oval Office. He had been ordered by the
National Security Advisor just minutes earlier to report to the President
immediately. And so he had obeyed the order without a single question. He
didn’t know why he was here but he knew he’d find out soon enough.

The President
heard the door close and quickly looked up to see Parks standing at attention.
“Keith, we need to talk,” he said bluntly. “We were just informed by a reliable
source that the Lebanese have recently obtained a nuclear warhead. It’s
top-notch. An MIRV to be precise. We also think they bought it from the
Russians. But don’t quote me on that.”

Parks betrayed
no emotions as he listened to the President explain the entire situation. When
Winnfield was finished explaining he simply stated, “Well, we need that thing
taken out. I hate to ask but I’m going to need your team to laser guide that MOP
bunker buster. Usually we rely on its GPS but I’m taking no chances when
dealing with precision.”

Parks knew from
his brother’s explanations what it was like when a bunker buster exploded a war
bunker or another object. He had said it almost looked fake. Parks could remember
how he’d wanted to see a bunker buster explosion but never thought he would.
Now he was going to, up close and personal.

“Major Parks,”
Winnfield continued, “if I put your team in there...there’s no guarantee that
we’ll get you out. And these aren’t the normal odds. When you take that warhead
out the whole Lebanese army will be coming down on your team. We’ll do all we
can to extract you and your team but...well there’s not much we can do. I’d say
offhand that you’ll probably have a ten percent chance of coming back alive.”
The President looked Parks directly in the eye. “I feel bad about sending
anyone to do something with odds like that, but I don’t have a choice when
millions of American lives are hanging in the balance. Can you do it?”

Parks was so
shocked he didn’t react. “Mr. President sir, when I joined the Marine Corps I
took an oath. I swore to defend my country and the Constitution of the United States, sir. And as long as I can, sir, I’ll keep that oath.”

Winnfield was
moved by Parks’ willingness and he didn’t say anything for quite a long time.
“Keith, my father was a Marine,” he finally began. “He went on a mission
similar to this one. It was during the Cold War and we were deep in the fight
with the Soviets. He was deployed and he couldn’t tell us why or where he was
going. Two weeks later we received a visit from a couple of Marines with a next
of kin notification.”

Parks couldn’t
find suitable words to reply, so he kept his mouth shut. He needed to hear that
story about as much as he needed a hole in his head.

“You’ll need to
get your team training like never before,” the President suddenly commanded.
“Get them in top condition. You may have a few days because we still have to
find that warhead. Talk to your team, tell them everything. But keep this
confidential.”

“Yes sir.”

“That’s it,
Major. You’ll be briefed when we find anything of importance.”

“Yes, Mr.
President sir.”

Parks did an
about-face and reached for the doorknob. As he did he remembered something of
utmost importance: the mole. Parks had told Solomon that if the opportunity
presented itself and if he was talking with the President alone, he’d tell him
about the suspected mole. Solomon had backed his statement completely. Now
Parks knew he had to tell the President. He’d be putting his reputation on the
line but that couldn’t stop him now.

“Mr. President,
sir,” Parks interrupted as he took his hand off the doorknob and turned around.

“What is it?”

Parks’ heart was
pounding.
What if this assumption is wrong?
he thought.
It can’t be
because it isn’t an assumption. There are too many facts to prove that there is
a mole.

“You need
something?” Winnfield wondered.

“Yes sir. I need
a second to tell you something, sir,” Parks responded.

“Go for it.”

“Sir, did you
ever wonder why this last operation turned around for the good so suddenly? Do
you think it’s interesting that the terrorists seemed to know exactly where we
were waiting for them, sir?”

The President
leaned forward. “Maybe. Why does it matter?”

“Sir, I’ll tell
you plainly. There’s a mole in your cabinet.”

That was putting
it plainly and Winnfield was not sure how to take that.

“That’s a mighty
strong accusation coming from anyone. But really, what right do
you
have
to suggest this?”

Parks was
desperate for a good answer. “Mr. President sir, my job is to take out
terrorists. When something happens that prevents my job from being accomplished,
I need to intervene, sir. This does affect me and my team very much, sir.”

“What gave you
this bright idea in the first place?”

Parks went
through the fine details and the President didn’t even blink through the entire
briefing.

“I feel there’s
enough evidence to conclude that there is a mole, Mr. President sir, and that he’s
one of five men,” Parks finished. “Either one of the Directors, or the National
Security Advisor, sir.”

“Check your own
men before accusing mine,” Winnfield retorted hotly. “How do you know one of
your men isn’t the mole?”

“Sir, my men
were with each other at all times during the operation and one would have
noticed if the other was contacting someone. Also the CIA was monitoring our
communication at all times. And please know this is not a personal accusation
against you, sir.”

“Yes it is.
You’re saying that one of my handpicked staff is a mole for terrorists,” the
President argued. “That makes it very personal.”

“I never said it
wasn’t personal, Mr. President sir. It is. I said it isn’t a personal
accusation against you, sir,” Parks clarified. “I’m telling you, sir, only
because we need help to flush this mole out. We’ve come up with a plan but it
relies on having more terrorists enter the U.S., sir.”

“Forget about a
plan to flush out the mole, I need proof that there is one,” Winnfield fired
back.

Parks didn’t say
anything. He had given the President plenty of convincing evidence. Now the
President just needed to accept the fact that there
was
a mole.

“All right give
me the plan,” the President ordered after a minute of silence.

“Yes sir. We
figured that if we monitored the terrorists’ incoming and outgoing calls we
could match the mole’s voice to one of the five men, sir.”

“What if they’re
getting the information by email or pager?”

“Negative sir.
The CIA has checked all their devices for any sort of messages and they had none,
sir. The CIA further stated that the devices show no history of any deleted
messages. That draws the conclusion that the information being passed on to
them was by direct phone calls, sir.”

Winnfield
pondered a few things and then came to a conclusion. “Major Parks, I’m about to
send in your team to do a top secret mission. If a word about this mission gets
through to the guilty party – terrorists, Lebanon’s government, whoever’s
responsible for everything – then the mission will fail. I’m not jumping to the
conclusion that there is a mole, but I can’t take the chance that there is one.
You’ve given me a lot of evidence that suggests there is a mole and I can’t
just throw that away and forget about it. I’ll conduct an investigation and
I’ll need your help on it.”

“Yes sir,” Parks
agreed.

“It’s going to
be a chore to do investigations when one of your intelligence Directors could
be your worst enemy. But we’ll get it done.” The President stalled. “Is that
all, Major?”

“Yes sir.”

“Okay. Um,
thanks for the heads-up,” Winnfield acknowledged somewhat shyly. “I really
appreciate you taking your job that seriously to risk being wrong about a
matter like this.”

“Yes sir. But I like to think that I didn’t risk anything, sir, because
there is a mole. Now it’s just a matter of finding out who, sir.”

*          *          *

Parks exited the
Oval Office and instantly felt better. Now he had informed the President and
chances were the mole would be exposed. He had to tell Solomon the good news.

Parks walked
away briskly, feeling like a new man. Then he remembered the reason for the
visit. The President had said that there was only a ten percent chance that he
and his team would be coming back from Lebanon alive. Those odds weren’t very
favorable. That would mean that Parks would be asking his team to almost certainly
give their lives for their country. It wouldn’t be as bad for him as it would
be for some of the married men on his team. He didn’t know how they could leave
their families knowing that the odds were on the side of them never returning.
At least he didn’t have a wife or kids to say goodbye to, which made things
somewhat easier. But Parks still knew that when D-day came he’d be petrified.
That was just the way things were.

Parks turned a
corner and almost ran into Renee. He caught himself and stepped back quickly.

“Oh I’m sorry,
ma’am,” he apologized. “I didn’t see you.”

“That’s fine,”
she laughed. “How are you doing today?”

Parks wanted to
say “awful” or something along that line but he didn’t. Renee was too happy and
he didn’t want to change that. “I’m not too bad, ma’am. How are you?”

“I’m doing well,
thank you. I haven’t seen you since the party, Major Parks. I was expecting
to.”

Parks suddenly
had something to be happy about. Renee had remembered his name. “Well I don’t
work
in
the White House exactly, ma’am. I work just next door in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building,” he explained.

“I see. That
explains things.”

Parks looked
down at Renee and wondered how someone as beautiful and sweet as her could live
in the same world as terrorists. It just didn’t seem possible.

“Is something
wrong?” she asked him.

“No ma’am,” he
replied. Then he quickly added, “Are you enjoying your visit?”

“I am. It’s nice
to be around family again.”

“Yes ma’am. I
can imagine.”

“I can hardly
remember the last Easter I spent with my parents,” Renee admitted. “It was such
a long time ago. It feels like it anyway.”

Parks realized
that Easter was approaching quite rapidly. “I completely forgot about Easter,
ma’am. I’ve been so busy I didn’t even remember it.”

Renee smiled and
Parks again saw how beautiful she was. “It’s coming on the 20
^th
,”
she declared. “We’re going to St. John’s Episcopal Church just across the
street.”

“Oh, well that
sounds like fun.”

“It’s going to
be the first time I’ve entered a church since last Christmas,” Renee confessed.
“I know I should go more often but it’s just so hard to find time.”

“I understand,
ma’am. I’m probably not going to be able to go to church even on Easter,” Parks
stated.

“Why not?” Renee
asked concernedly.

“I just have
some work to do, ma’am. I’d like to go but there are some important things
going on around the office.”

“Well you have a
great Easter anyway,” she wished.

“You too, ma’am.
I guess I’d better get going,” Parks informed her regretfully. “It was a
pleasure talking to you, ma’am.”

“The pleasure is
all mine, Major Parks.”

Renee said goodbye and walked away. Parks wished the conversation didn’t
have to end that quickly. He enjoyed talking with her but he knew that could be
the last time he’d ever see the First Daughter again. But that was his job and
it was worth it all to help keep his country free.

*          *          *

“So what do you
want us to do, Mr. President?” Prime Minister Aziza asked.

President
Winnfield had called the prime minister and explained all the details of the
crisis in Lebanon. Aziza was not outraged or shocked at the news, just anxious
to get in the fight. Winnfield knew the Israelis could help on some things but
for the most part he wanted them out of this fight.

“Mr. Prime
Minister, there are a few things your country can do to help,” the President started.
“I’d say the most important item on our list is to find that warhead and see if
there are any more that have arrived or are on their way. If we can figure that
out, then the rest will be somewhat easy.”

“Yes, anything
you need we will give,” Aziza assured him. “I’ll get the Mossad working on that
immediately. How are we going to take the weapon out once we find it though?”

Winnfield knew
this was going to be a sticking point. “That’s just it;
we
are not going
to take it out. The United States is. I don’t believe it would be in the best
interests of either country to have Israel get involved.”

“Best interests?
How can it be in Israel’s best interests not to defend herself?”

“Please listen.
Your nation doesn’t need to be in another war if she can help it. Your country
doesn’t need to be involved in this fight. The U.S. is more than capable of
handling this alone.”

“Are you
concerned about international opinion?” the prime minister accused.

“If I was
concerned about what the U.N. thought of my country I wouldn’t be on the phone
with you discussing plans about destroying Lebanon’s first nuclear weapon,” the
President responded. “That isn’t why I’m asking you to stay out of it. I’m
asking you because this is my country’s fight, and quite possibly the Lebanese
are responsible for hundreds of U.S. Citizens’ deaths. I appreciate your
willingness to help but I can’t say it would be good if you went into Lebanon. America will take care of this. We already did this with Iran if you have forgotten.”