all that dirty anyway. I finished putting my rifle back together, stood up, and walked over to Alek’s cot.
“We need to talk,” I said.
He looked up from his OBR. “Uh-oh. Have I been leaving the toilet seat up again?”
“Oh, fuck off,” I replied, as he laughed. “We’ve got some serious shit to discuss.”
“All right, all right,” he said, still chuckling. “Let me finish putting this back together, and then we’ll have a sit-down.” I went back to my bunk, shaking my head.
It didn’t take long. Alek put the rifle back together with a speed and ease born of long practice, then came over and sat on Bob’s cot, across from me. “All right, Jeff, what’s on your mind?”
I leaned forward, my elbows on my knees. “What would we have done if we hadn’t schwacked everybody on that target site last night? What if one or more of them had surrendered?”
“We’d have grabbed them,” he replied.
“And done what?” I asked. “We could lock ‘em up in a room in that garage out back, but then what? None of us are trained interrogators. For fuck’s sake, we’ve got twenty-five guys on the ground, hanging in the wind, fuckin’ blind. We can’t afford to take detainees, at least not for any length of time. We’ve got to keep ‘em fed and watered, at least, and we don’t have the time or the facilities to interrogate them effectively. And I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the options I could come up with.”
For a long moment, Alek sat there and thought, looking at his hands. “You’re right,” he said quietly. He stood up and started toward the comm end of the room. “Come on. We’ve got a call to make.”
It was the middle of the night back in the States, but when the Colonel came on the satellite link, he didn’t look like a man who had just been awakened. I suspected that he had been up already. “What’s up, Alek?” he asked.
“Problems,” Alek replied. “We hit Khasam’s hideout last night, killed everybody and we’re sifting through what the site exploitation brought out. Fortunately, none of them surrendered, so we didn’t have detainees to deal with.
“Jeff brought it up just now, and I agree with him,” he continued. “If the Agency wants us to do the dirty work on the ground, they need to provide some more support. We’re undermanned for this, and we have zero room for error. We also don’t have the training, facilities, or gear we need for the intel side of this operation. If they want us to find these guys, we need intel, we need backup, and, if it comes to it, we need somewhere to take detainees for processing. We can’t do it. We don’t have the time or the logistics.”
Heinrich shook his head. “I’ve been trying, Alek. So far I’ve been stonewalled on most of it. They’re telling me that there are no assets available in that part of the world.”
“Bullshit,” I put in. “There was a JSOC compound at that base, and they expect us to believe that they don’t have any assets at all?” I folded my arms. “Bullshit.”
“Look, gents,” the Colonel said, “there’s a lot of politics going on behind all this. I don’t know all of it, but it’s putting a real monkey-wrench in trying to get you guys more support. The military has been warned to keep out of Djibouti’s territorial waters and airspace. I’ve been told it’s because of worries about casualties, but the fact is, I just don’t know.” He gusted a sigh. “Look, get me a list of what you need, and I’ll make a few more calls. Maybe I can get somewhere this time.”
“We need real-time sat and electronic intel,” Alek said, ticking points off on his fingers. “We need everything they’ve got on recent terrorist movements in-country. I know that everything those boys in Lemonier saw got sent back to the States and backed up. We need all of it, if we’re going to come anywhere near finding those hostages. You know, I know, and they know that we’re dealing with a finite
“We need to talk,” I said.
He looked up from his OBR. “Uh-oh. Have I been leaving the toilet seat up again?”
“Oh, fuck off,” I replied, as he laughed. “We’ve got some serious shit to discuss.”
“All right, all right,” he said, still chuckling. “Let me finish putting this back together, and then we’ll have a sit-down.” I went back to my bunk, shaking my head.
It didn’t take long. Alek put the rifle back together with a speed and ease born of long practice, then came over and sat on Bob’s cot, across from me. “All right, Jeff, what’s on your mind?”
I leaned forward, my elbows on my knees. “What would we have done if we hadn’t schwacked everybody on that target site last night? What if one or more of them had surrendered?”
“We’d have grabbed them,” he replied.
“And done what?” I asked. “We could lock ‘em up in a room in that garage out back, but then what? None of us are trained interrogators. For fuck’s sake, we’ve got twenty-five guys on the ground, hanging in the wind, fuckin’ blind. We can’t afford to take detainees, at least not for any length of time. We’ve got to keep ‘em fed and watered, at least, and we don’t have the time or the facilities to interrogate them effectively. And I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the options I could come up with.”
For a long moment, Alek sat there and thought, looking at his hands. “You’re right,” he said quietly. He stood up and started toward the comm end of the room. “Come on. We’ve got a call to make.”
It was the middle of the night back in the States, but when the Colonel came on the satellite link, he didn’t look like a man who had just been awakened. I suspected that he had been up already. “What’s up, Alek?” he asked.
“Problems,” Alek replied. “We hit Khasam’s hideout last night, killed everybody and we’re sifting through what the site exploitation brought out. Fortunately, none of them surrendered, so we didn’t have detainees to deal with.
“Jeff brought it up just now, and I agree with him,” he continued. “If the Agency wants us to do the dirty work on the ground, they need to provide some more support. We’re undermanned for this, and we have zero room for error. We also don’t have the training, facilities, or gear we need for the intel side of this operation. If they want us to find these guys, we need intel, we need backup, and, if it comes to it, we need somewhere to take detainees for processing. We can’t do it. We don’t have the time or the logistics.”
Heinrich shook his head. “I’ve been trying, Alek. So far I’ve been stonewalled on most of it. They’re telling me that there are no assets available in that part of the world.”
“Bullshit,” I put in. “There was a JSOC compound at that base, and they expect us to believe that they don’t have any assets at all?” I folded my arms. “Bullshit.”
“Look, gents,” the Colonel said, “there’s a lot of politics going on behind all this. I don’t know all of it, but it’s putting a real monkey-wrench in trying to get you guys more support. The military has been warned to keep out of Djibouti’s territorial waters and airspace. I’ve been told it’s because of worries about casualties, but the fact is, I just don’t know.” He gusted a sigh. “Look, get me a list of what you need, and I’ll make a few more calls. Maybe I can get somewhere this time.”
“We need real-time sat and electronic intel,” Alek said, ticking points off on his fingers. “We need everything they’ve got on recent terrorist movements in-country. I know that everything those boys in Lemonier saw got sent back to the States and backed up. We need all of it, if we’re going to come anywhere near finding those hostages. You know, I know, and they know that we’re dealing with a finite
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