Viper Team Seven (The Viper Team Seven Series Book 1) (50 page)

Sunday, April 20
^th
– 1730 hours

BIG BIRD

Parks and his
expanded team were aboard the C-17, flying at over 450 m.p.h. Their flight had
just begun and several hours of waiting, planning, waiting, and planning, were
ahead of them. Parks had already briefed his team on their mission, and the
reason they were here. But now he had to make sure every man knew
exactly
what to do and when to do it. That was usually the hardest part, but the most
important. Without teamwork, nothing could be achieved on this operation.

“All right
here’s how we’ll break this up,” Parks began. “We’ll split off into three teams
of five. Solomon, Marler, and myself, will be team leaders. I want Corley and
Lee to go with Solomon, Norse to go with Marler, and I’ll take Samuels.” Parks
then shifted the CIA agents around to fit everyone’s needs. “When we’re doing
this operation, one guy will be painting the target with a laser target
designator, one will be acting as a backup painter, two will be guarding the
painters, and the leader will oversee everything. It’s the job of the team
leader to radio in to me with all questions, concerns, and problems. We have to
work this in completely perfect timing or everything could be wrecked.” Parks
scanned the faces of his team. “Let’s start from the beginning. My team will
HALO jump into Beirut, Solomon’s into Damascus, and Marler’s into Homs. From there the CIA will coordinate it to where an agent from their station will give
each team a nondescript van with which to drive to the bunker. I gave each team
leader the exact location of their bunkers, and there’s no way you won’t be
able to find them. Anyway, you’ll need to kill some time while around the
bunkers until it’s time to move. You’ll have to play things by ear with that,
and use your own judgment. A few minutes before 1700 the teams will move in and
paint the bunkers’ entrances. The Air Force will drop the bunker busters at
1700, so we won’t have to paint for long. When the bombs pick up our laser
trail and follow it into the bunker, we need to make sure we evacuate our teams
as quickly as we can. Evidently there will be a transport helicopter with
escort gunships waiting to pick us up and take us to safety. But they won’t
come down until after the bunker buster bomb explodes, and the TLAMs make
contact with the warheads. We could have ourselves a fight during the ninety
seconds after the bunker buster explosion. The President signed an executive
order authorizing us to retaliate to all and any hostile fire. The main goal is,
don’t get bogged down somewhere. You have to get to a place where the
helicopter can evacuate your team. That’s the number one priority.”

Parks stopped for
a breath and then went on. “My Commander’s Intent is, make sure the enemy
nuclear warheads are taken out. At all costs. Use whatever force and means
necessary. Any questions?”

“What happens if
the Syrian air force keeps the helicopters from coming or leaving?” Marler
asked.

Parks took a
while in answering. “Well, all I can say is I hope the attacks come as such a
surprise, the enemy won’t have time to respond.”

Solomon and Parks glanced at each other and hoped that the mole wouldn’t
spoil those hopes. He could make things very hard, and very deadly.

*          *          *

The National
Security Council was in session. The President wanted to go over plans of what
to do next after the warheads were taken out. He personally thought that the
Iranian treatment would do nicely for this two-nation alliance, but he wanted
to hear everyone’s take on the situation.

“Well let’s get
started,” Winnfield said. “I think–” He stopped short. “Hey, where’s the D/CIA?”

“He needed to
speak with someone,” the National Security Advisor explained. “He said he’ll be
late but he will be back.”

“Where’d he go?”

“Langley, sir.
He’ll be here soon,” Smith assured him.

The President began to think. The Director had not been out of the White
House since this ordeal had begun, which meant he wouldn’t have been able to
contact his superiors about the details of when and where Parks would be coming
in to take out the warheads. Now the D/CIA was free, and he could contact whomever
he wanted. Cummins was being followed, his email account was being monitored, his
phone calls were being tracked, but what if he was using a different phone to
contact the enemy, which was very likely? Then it would be hard to flush him
out because there’d be no proof that he was the mole. But then again, would the
Director have given all this information if he was the mole? Maybe he was doing
this because he couldn’t hide the information and just wanted to cover his
tracks. Or possibly he was just doing his job and wasn’t the mole. Winnfield
wasn’t sure. But one thing he knew: the mole would be flushed out sooner or
later. Surely he wouldn’t stay in the country that would be the target of his
superiors’ nuclear weapons, unless Israel was the target, which was a sketchy
assumption. There was a good chance that the mole would run soon. But could he
be caught before he escaped?

*          *          *

Parks walked
over to Solomon and sat down next to him. For a long time neither man spoke.
They just sat silently, staring at the floor and doing nothing. Then Parks
began to speak.

“Hey Solomon.”

“Hmmm?” Solomon
asked quietly.

“You know this
morning – boy it doesn’t feel like this morning, feels like a long time ago.”
Parks stopped speaking for just a brief second. “Well, remember in church when
you went forward? What did you do?”

Solomon remained
silent for a moment as he pondered what to say. “KP, I accepted Jesus as my
Saviour. I guess that’s a fancy way of saying I asked Jesus to take me to
Heaven when I die.”

“Why’d you do
that?”

“That’s the
first time I’ve ever heard that Jesus died on the cross for me. I never knew
anything about Jesus; I didn’t even really believe He existed, I suppose.”

“And you believe
all that now?” Parks wondered.

“Yup.”

“How can you? I
mean how do you know it’s just not all some tale made up by someone?”

“I just believe
that it’s real. Somehow I know in my heart that Jesus really did do all those
things.”

Parks was
confused. “Solomon, I respect you a lot. I respect your opinions and your
decisions. And I do respect that you made this decision. I just don’t
understand some things.”

“I can’t help
you much on the Bible aspect of things. That was the first time I’ve ever held
a Bible,” Solomon confessed. “All I can do is tell you what I did.”

“All right
that’s fine,” Parks declared as he adjusted in his seat. “So are you afraid to
die? I mean, if you’re going to Heaven and all, why should you be?”

Solomon smiled
weakly. “Oh I’m afraid. I’m petrified. I know where I’m going after I die, and
that should make me unafraid but it doesn’t. It’s the passing from life to
death that worries me.”

“Yeah I know
what you mean.” Parks looked at the floor and said, “I know there is a God. All
you have to do is look around to know that. I believe in Heaven and hell, but I
don’t know how to go to Heaven. I know what that pastor said, but I’m not sure
that’s right. I want to find out though.”

“I hate to say
this...” Solomon trailed off.

“I know, I know,
I don’t have much time left,” Parks finished for him. “But hey, if I’m supposed
to find out then I guess I’ll stay alive. Maybe.”

Solomon nudged
Parks’ arm. “If I were you, I wouldn’t wait any longer. I’d do what I did.”

“What did happen
when you accepted Jesus?”

“Nothing really
that I can explain. I just felt relieved. I felt free and like a new man. And
in my heart, I know I’m saved.” Solomon shrugged. “That’s the best I can do,
KP.”

That was good
enough for Parks. “I guess you’re right, Solomon. In my heart I know that
stuff’s real, even though I haven’t wanted to admit it. I just wanted to make
extra sure. But I’m sure enough right now, and if it worked for you it’ll work
for me.”

Solomon stared
at Parks. “You mean you want to be saved?”

Parks nodded
somewhat self-consciously. “Like they say, there are no atheists in a fighting
hole. Not that I ever was an atheist or anything.”

“Sure, I know
what you mean. Well here’s what you need to do,” Solomon started. “I don’t know
the Bible verses that the pastor showed me but I can tell you what I did.
Anyway, I realized that the bad things I’ve done in my life kept me from
getting into God’s perfect Heaven. Do you understand that?”

“Yeah sure.”

“Okay. Then the
pastor told me my payment for my sin was death in hell for eternity,” Solomon
told him. “But Jesus’ gift is eternal life in Heaven if we accept Him.”

“All right I
understand that,” Parks assured him.

“Great. Next the
pastor told me that if you ask Jesus to come into your heart and take you to
Heaven when you die, He will.”

“How many times
do you have to do that?”

“Once and only
once. You can never lose your salvation. No matter what you do,” Solomon confirmed.
“And once you do it, you’re in God the Father’s hands, or something like that.”

“Makes sense.”

“Yeah it does.”
Solomon waited before going on. “So do you want to ask Jesus into your heart?”

Parks felt very
strange. Half of him was screaming at him to do it and the other half was
adamantly saying not to. “I’ll do it,” he said with confidence.

Solomon was very
pleased. “Good for you. Now all you have to do is pray with me and ask Jesus to
come into your heart. Just repeat after me.”

Parks and
Solomon bowed their heads and closed their eyes.

“Dear Jesus...”
Solomon led.

“Dear Jesus...”
Parks repeated.

“I know I am a
sinner...”

“I know I am a
sinner...”

“I understand
that I cannot merit Heaven on my own...”

“I understand
that I cannot merit Heaven on my own...”

“I believe that
accepting Jesus into my heart is the only way to Heaven...”

“I believe that
accepting Jesus into my heart is the only way to Heaven...”

“So please come
into my heart and take me to Heaven when I die...”

“So please come
into my heart and take me to Heaven when I die...”

“Thank You for
saving me...”

“Thank You for
saving me...”

“In Jesus’ name
I pray. Amen.”

“In Jesus’ name
I pray. Amen.”

Parks opened his eyes, raised his head, and was vigorously congratulated
by Solomon. Parks knew he had done the right thing. He knew he was saved.

*          *          *

Parks’ satellite
phone rang and he answered it cautiously. “Major Parks.”

“Major Parks,
this is National Security Advisor Smith.”

“Yes sir?”

“We’ve got a
problem on our hands. Evidently the warheads aren’t where we thought they were.”

“What? How sir?”

“I can tell you
how but that’s for later. The big deal is that they’re no longer in three
different places. They are all in Lebanon now. All three of them,” Smith
informed him. “They’re in Tripoli, Lebanon, in the same bunker – the war
command center deal. The Mossad contacted the CIA and said that the warheads in
Beirut, Damascus, and Homs were merely decoys to distract our attention.”

“Oh no, sir.”

“Yeah, whoever’s
running this show is playing it smart. They may think someone’s on to them and
they’re trying to play wise guy. It won’t work.”

“Yes sir,” Parks
agreed.

The National
Security Advisor gave Parks the precise coordinates and gave him a few more
simple orders.

“Carry out the
operation just like normal,” Smith ordered. “The only difference is you’ll have
three times the number of men around. Which could prove to be a useful thing if
the Lebanese aren’t happy that you destroyed their once-in-a-lifetime weapons.”

“Yes sir. Oh,
sir, was the warhead ever really moved from the Tripoli bunker?”

“Yeah, we think it
was moved just a little bit to a very nearby location where it was mounted on
an ICBM. It was moved back to the more secure bunker though.”

“All right sir,
we’ll make the adjustments,” Parks concluded.

“Good. Major,
thanks a lot for doing this.”

Parks was quiet.
He didn’t know how to respond. “Yes sir,” he finally managed to say, and that
didn’t feel quite appropriate.

“We’ll keep in
touch,” the National Security Advisor promised. “Bye.”

Parks’ mind then
went wild. What if Smith was the mole? What if he was on the run and was giving
Parks this bum advice so his team would get slaughtered? What if the whole
satellite phone “keep in touch” deal was a hoax, just so Smith could maneuver
Parks around? How could that be proven?

Parks’ gut was
telling him that the National Security Advisor was not the mole but sometimes
his gut wasn’t right. He hoped it would be this time though, because that’s all
he had to go on. There was no way to double-check the story, and it was too
late to turn back now.

My team will
be butchered if the mole has alerted the Lebanese about our operation,
Parks thought.
They’ll be waiting for us and they will know exactly what
we’ll do.

Parks knew that
President Winnfield had talked with him personally before he had left for
Andrews Air Force Base. The President had explained how he thought the mole
would leave for Lebanon soon, since he was probably expecting the annihilation
of the United States. Winnfield had told Parks that he would try and stop the
mole at all costs, but just in case, he ordered Parks to be ready to go in and
take him out if any intel was picked up on his whereabouts. Parks knew that his
team would possibly be battered after they took out the warheads and doubted
that they’d be in any condition to go into another operation. But he said “Yes
sir” and went along with what the President was planning.