"Damn" swore Buck Dayton, standing at the counter of United Airlines in Dallas-Ft. Worth. He had grabbed a quick flight from National Airport, but had been bumped due to a combination of overbooking of the flight, and a broken airplane. United, in an effort to lesson the problem had scared up a smaller airplane. Buck, knewing he would most likely get bumped, had volunteered his seat, thus received a free ticket. But it meant he was not going to get to San Francisco until late tomorrow. The luck of the press.
"Mr. David Philbert, please" requested the voice on the phone in a deep baritone, with a hint of authority that alarmed Kathy a little.
"I'm sorry, but he isn't home from work yet" she replied in her own nervous voice.
"Could you please tell him that Jerry Reynolds called and that some of his colleagues are meeting this evening at 6:30?"
"Where is this meeting supposed to be?" she asked now, a little perturbed over the obvious attempt to keep information from her by reference to "his colleagues".
"David will understand, please deliver the message, will you?" replied the voice still politely requesting.
Kathy decided it wouldn't hurt for her to be agreeable, even if she was preparing herself for a battle with Dave over this mysterious call. After five years of marriage she wasn't about to put up with some mysterious past come creeping into her life. At least that's what it sounded like.
"Yes I will...Mr. Reynolds you said?"
"Yes that's correct, Jerry Reynolds. Thank you, Goodbye" and then the receiver clicked in her ear.
Annoyed at the little information she had been able to gather from the call, she stewed for fifteen minutes waiting for Dave to get home. Finally, she heard the beemer idle up into the driveway, and the garage door open. In a minute Dave opened the door leading into the kitchen, only to find himself face to face with a determined Kathy standing there.
"Oh shit, what's happened" he asked in a worried voice, imagining that someone had creamed her car or the title on the house was under attack.
"Here, read this" she said, and he sighed expecting to see the bad news written on the notepad by the phone. What he saw was even more of a shock then he suspected. He also realized what had Kathy so pissed off. She never had been one for the cloak and dagger shit. He had never explained a few of his dissappearances to her satisfaction in the past, and now things were threatening to be worse.
"Okay honey, settle down. Let's go for a walk" he said his eyes pleading.
"What?" she began to explode, but Dave moved over quickly placing a gentle hand on her mouth a strange look of pleading finally reaching through to the good heart beating the life through his wife. She stared at him for a minute, and then relented, following him out the front door, a feeling of dread now replacing her anger. "Oh God what is happening" she thought to herself.
In his own mind, David Philbert's thoughts were also churning, only in his case he knew exactly what was going on and it scared him silly.
Walking down the quiet Harrisburg neighborhood, the stock brocker in him wanted to pause and think of the possible clients who lived around him, while another part of him wondered on how secure the neighborhood appeared despite the events occuring around them. For he had been expecting the phone call ever since December, ever since the deaths of the Navy people at the CPO club in California.
Noting that they were well alone, with no one lurking around with a "big ear" listening device hidden in a van or some other such nonsense, he took a deep breath and began to explain the situation to his wife.
"Remember when I had that sudden reserve callup and the unplanned two week trip?"
"The one you told me you couldn't talk about?" she replied, the doubt still in her face.
"Yes, the one in which you accused me of making up the cloak and dagger shit and kidding me cuz I was trying to be something I am not" he replied a little to forcefully, extracting a look of guilt from Kathy, as she now realized that maybe it all wasn't as innocent as she had imagined.
"Well, now maybe it's clear I wasn't trying to inflate myself. Now I'll tell you a little of it, but it has got to stay with you, Hon. It cannot be spoken of again, do you understand. This is no bullshit. No kidding around!"
She looked at him now, a worried look replacing the look of doubt as she realized he was deadly serious and she suddenly dreaded their life was about to change forever. The dread increased as she watched the emotions of both fear and resolve coalesce on her husbands face, as he obviously was trying to steel himself to tell her some bad news.
"Okay, it is quite simple. Our Reserve team went to some special training at Hurburt Field, in Florida.
This shook her up. She had assumed the two week Reserve trip had been spent at the ranges of Monterey's Fort Ord. She had no idea her husband and his men had been flown off to Florida of all places.
"...and we weren't there getting standard Reserve training, Babe", he continued. "The base there is the base for the 1st Special Operations Wing. That's Special Forces, hon. We were trained in a special program for key ANG squadrons, special responsibilities for special areas. Silicon Valley is considered one of these areas, a place where the U.S. government expects terrorist activities."
Suddenly Jenny understood the dread her husbands eyes were showing. The recent events now plunged her into a sudden new fear, her heart beginning to beat ever so fast. "Oh God, not you..." she began, but once again Dave's hand covered her mouth as he said,
"Shhh. Don't make it worse, Hon. There is no getting out of it. Jerry Reynolds is my commander. In terrorist operations, the Reserve callup is very quiet and appears to be unofficial so as not to alarm anyone, and to insure any listeners won't tumble to what's going on. In fact, all else I can tell you is that I will be gone, and I don't know when I'll be back. It's just as simple as that."
Now the anger returned in a flood. Her husband was about to walk out on her, leaving her with this enormous house, alone. She was supposed to get up tomorrow morning and go to work as if nothing had changed. Meanwhile her husband would be going, God knows where, and she would not know what kind of danger he would be in, or IF he would even return.
"It's not fair" she said loudly, then in a quieter voice, she continued. "It's just not fair. You're just a weekend soldier. How can they do this?"
"For a damn good reason, Babe. You know what's been happening out in California. Obviously someone higher up has decided to get everybody ready for something bigger. They don't call up the Reserve's for the fun of it. Hey if you want, go home to see your mother. God knows even Pittsburg might be better right now."
"Screw that, I can't take the time off work. This is shitty, Dave. I hate it. What the hell am I supposed to do while your gone?"
"Hell I don't know. You'll think of something. Whatta' ya' think, this is a vacation for me?"
She looked back at him at that comment, once again seeing a little of the fear in his eyes. Certainly her man wasn't a professional soldier. But he was a fighter, she knew that. And after six years of Reserve service, he was probably pretty well trained. Especially after this crazy Florida deal. Terrorist training. She wondered what that involved. But really she didn't want to know. She leaned into her husband and they hugged for a minute standing in the peaceful neighborhood, two lovers in an almost unreal setting.
"King-David 6, this is Judy leader" spoke the voice in the standard cryptic tones of Delta Force communications. The signal had moved from the operator's ground set, up through the atmosphere, to the U.S. Navy FLTCOM communication and navigation satellite, back through the atmosphere, and down to the Pentagon receiving array 1/2 a mile from the famous five sided office building. Inside, General Arlie Jamison, Commander of Special Operations Command, listened in along with his staff as the report began. Already airborne, Colonel Fredricks, Delta Commander, was briefing the Pentagon staff on his plan and the status of his men.
As directed by General Jamison, his mission was to situate his command at Travis AFB, California, where the main contingent of Delta would be available to capture and/or eliminate the terrorist team tracked to Silicon Valley. Of course the mission was one composed of nearly complete guesswork. Since the killing of men and women in the CPO club at Moffet, it was obvious that a well armed and trained terrorist team was terrorizing the "South Bay". What wasn't so obvious was where the terrorist's were hiding and where they would strike next, how many terrorists comprised the team, or even when they might strike.
Delta, would move directly into the center of the action, with their main weapons of surprise including their specially modified NightHawk helicopters.
Since it was Delta's mission to "counter terrorist activities directed againest the United States interests, citizens and/or property outside the United States" their was some controversy as to the application of Delta in the confines of the continental U.S.
But the U.S. Military Intelligence Liason had queried the Senate Intelligence Committee on this fine point, and in a record thirty minutes, their legal counsel intrepreted the statute. This law, which had been the basis for the Counter-Terrorist Joint Task Force - CTJTF which later became the US Special Operations Command contained the wording "...protect United States interests, citizens and/or property outside the United States". Counsel had made the opinion that the statute was a permission to only operate outside the U.S. when necessary, but not prohibitive to operations within the confines of the Nation itself. The true deciding point, of course, was that the Force was organized as an elite arm of the standing forces of the U.S. military, which by default gave them the right to act anywhere where American interests were at risk.
General Jamison had not worried about the fine points of the law, though. He had already authorized the mission immediately upon receipt of Colonel Fredricks's plan, which had been formulated upon the Colonel's receipt of a "request for planning" from the Senate Intelligence Committee. The request having gone full circle, the Intelligence Committee had authorized the current clandestine operation as received in a "finding" from the President.
It was ironic, but a full two thirds of the high tech gear carried or used in the C-5s currently winging their way to the Silicon Valley could be traced back to manufacturing facilities or headquarters in that area. It was this fact alone which had the military and political leadership of the U.S. concerned. The terrorist activity was now entering a new phase. Not only were they seeing a rise in the activity against American citizens since the late 70's, but they were now seeing a two-tiered personal attack on U.S. citizens around the world.
Attacks on U.S. citizens in their homeland was not an experience Americans could fully understand or were prepared to deal with. The U.S. had been protected personally from the ravages of war. Not since the Civil War had the home country felt the fear of attack in their country as brought home by actual physical attack. But now this new phase of terrorist wars was being felt. Not only in attacks against U.S. citizens, but in attacks against Americans in their workplaces, the heart of the U.S. industrial strength. If terrorists could manage to shut down the economic parlay of Silicon Valley, a major portion of the U.S. economy would suffer.
In short time the lack of leadership input to offshore manufacturing would result in a rapid tail off the supply of silicon parts to the world. In very little time, the decrease in research and development activities would bring to halt the design of newer and more efficient computer processes that built computers, airplanes, and weapons. This huge segment of American technology would lose its already tenious market share within four months. Even the sturdy economists in Japan could not make up for the dent in the computer parts required simply to maintain the growing information age.
The government of the U.S. had not been unaware of this threat to the onslaught of terrorist activity in Silicon Valley. On the contrary it was one of the first exercises that had made Jim Wackston's new "High Tech "think-tank so successful. They had predicted the effects of shutting down Silicon Valley. This had been one of the prime reason for establishing the "Bay Area Nuclear Material Watch", an Atomic Energy Commission special investigatory group. Their mission was to insure that weapons grade nuclear material entering the region was fully accounted for and inspected. The purpose was to insure that no agency could smuggle in the makings of a nuclear weapon into the Bay Area, nor could anyone lay hands on materials already in the area. One such mistake, and a small number of people could and would hold the U.S. hostage economically. These same mission orders were inacted in several key cities including Los Angeles, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and Boston.
The think-tank study had also resulted in the increase in anti-terrorist forces stationed in and about the bay area. For instance, the Air National Guard stationed at Moffett NAS regularly underwent Special Operations Training. The "core" full time military men in the Guard detachment at Moffett proudly wore the small Special Operations badge on their sleeves, although few outside the elite knew what it stood for. Nor were the elite allowed to discuss why they were authorized to wear the badge, or the training involved.
Of course, it was obvious to some that when the detachment were suddenly whisked off to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, that they weren't off on a standard weekend exercise. Especially when an employer was notified his guard participant would not be back for several weeks.
When the two C-5s landed at Travis AFB, they would be greeted by Lt. Colonel Jerry Reynolds, the "core" commander, of the Air National Guard in the area. This officer, a full time USAF C-130 pilot, would airlift the special equipment selected for the "Red Silicon" mission from the C-5s parking spot at Travis, to their quiet home at Moffett NAS.
There, from their home on the East side of the base, the Delta Force would wait for the events that would trigger their teams into the capture and/or elimination of the "Silicon Valley Terrorists".
Also, a contingent of the 1st Special Forces Group and the 2nd Ranger Battalion, both from Ft. Lewis, Washington would be landing at the old Hamilton AFB runway, making this their temporary base. Only a few members of the U.S. government knew they were going there, or what their mission was. It would remain a mystery until they were called to perform that mission.
Another Sergeant looked over his men in ranks. This was Sergeant Burlie Davis, of the 82 Airborne Division, Group Charlie. His men were on 2 hour notice duty this week, and as such had also gotten the mobilization message from Special Forces Headquarters.
There job, should it be necessary, was to drop in via parachute to either lead a raid into hostile territory, or to parachute behind an enemies lines to surprise and cut off supply. In an anti-terrorist raid there role changed somewhat.
Burlie's people were trained in a shock team procedure which in two covert operations against terrorists had proven to be quite effective. Twice in the past the 82nd Group Charlie had joined foreign national elite forces, dropping in HALO, High Altitude-Low Opening technique. In this manner, they could be dropped from a virtually silent aircraft, coasting in at a very high altitude, then via a long free fall, arrive at their destination, opening only in time for three or four swings of the chute before touching down. The technique was a nightmare for even the most hardy of professional parachutists, but its effectiveness was second to none. From the time their chutes opened to the time they were ready to move forward on the ground was in the range of twenty to thirty seconds. This level of surprise was extremely advantageous when fighting an enemy who was typically holding hostages in a well fortified position. Airborne, the "All American" badge on their sleeve, would suddenly appear where the terrorists least expected. In their operation in West Germany, the 82nd had parachuted to, of all places, a hotel roof, sealing this avenue of retreat, and then floor by floor working their way down to a position just above the terrorists and their hostages. When GSG 9 had assaulted the front of the hotel, flushing the terrorists upward and back through the hotel, Airborne was there blocking off the escape.
The terrorists, still holding their hostages with confidence, assuming they had plenty of negotiating ability left, shoved them in the line of fire to the German Elite Force, only to find their own bodies in the line of fire of the 82nd Airborne men, also wearing GSG 9 black border patrol uniforms. In a matter of minutes 15 terrorists were dead, with only one hostage being critically wounded and dieing later that day. Despite the one hostage's death, the operation had been considered a success, and GSG-9 was glad to take the credit.
As in many joint operations, the home country's forces took full credit for the successes. This allowed the home country to bolster its ranks with the best men available. It also gave the other supporting countries the practice in cooperation necessary in today's battle against terrorism.
Airborne, since its re-formation during the War in Vietnam, had been involved in 22 clandestine operations, all but three being in cooperation with other elite forces in the world. Their visibility in the open was limited to the Vietnam era, an aborted backup role in the Iranian embassy rescue attempt, and the drop into Grand Anse to rescue the second group of American students at medical Schools on Granada. They had been dropped by the 23rd Air Force, the USAF arm of Special Forces, based at Hulbert Field, Georgia.
As in the other units who made up the U.S. Joint Special Operations Forces, and more particularly the new US Special Forces Command, the men of Group Charlie were specially trained in hostage situations. These men trained in a three-cycle per quarter course, which matched them against "firing houses". These special simulations were actual buildings complete with pop-up targets, practicing the fine art of distinquishing terrorist from hostage, and delivering their rounds in a manner so as to reduce the danger to hostage, and maximizing the effect on terrorists. Borrowing the M63 Stoner 800 round 5.56mm machine gun from the Navy SEALS inventory, the Group Charlie crews could chew up even the most fortified terrorists, yet strike with such surprise and daring, that the terrorists typically had little chance to make the transistion from using their hostages as shields, to the outright slaughter of worthless captives.
So now Sergeant Davis looked over his men as they waited for their orders. He was satisfied. The 2 squads of men he now inspected would be broken up into two Detachment A teams, commanded by a Captain and a Lieutenant. These teams, including their officers, had trained together for years, and in the case of Group Charlie, every man here save 1 had served together in a minimum of 5 operations. The new man, Sergeant Billings, brought eight years and 4 operations under his belt. He had served with several of the members of Group Charlie in other Special Forces operations, so in actuallity he fit in quite well with the two teams.
Now as the officers arrived from their briefing, Burlie braced in his own rigid attention.
"At ease" spoke one of the two Captains. Allowing the men to relax a little, he then began,
"Okay here's the skinny. We're to mount up in an hour, and head West. We'll be landing at an Army airfield, formerly known as Hamilton Air Force Base, now an Army Post, in the hills near San Francisco. Our job is to be ready for a HALO drop to either secure hostages or surprise an attacking force aimed at one of several military targets. As you've been briefed, there has been some pretty mean terrorist activity in Silicon Valley, so we are going there to even up the score. You guys keep sharp. This is not a damn Bay Area vacation. We are not leaving the confines of the abandoned base, and we will be on twenty minute call alert status for the duration of our stay there. We don't know when or where we are going to be needed, and we may be cooped up for months. Set your mind to it right now. If it becomes a long haul, we'll figure out something to make it easier, but think of this as a "center action" in the jungle. You're gonna have to pretend we're all alone there."
Turning to the Sergeant, he finished, "Okay Burlie, let's roll it. I want us on the bird in 15."
As the officers saluted their men and turned to leave, the elite Group Charlie men made no gestures or audible response to the dissapointing news. They were somewhat relieved that they weren't going into some suicide mission, but the promised boredom was almost worse for the best Airborne could deliver. It was almost a waste. Of course, if something else hot developed in the world, they would be moved there. That was a consolation of sorts. The men began rounding up their gear for the ride over to the C-130 waiting on their own home airfield at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Some wondered why there weren't some mean machines located closer to the Bay Area.
At Fort Lewis, in the state of Washington, the second Battalion of the 75th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Second Ranger Battalion, was checking their gear for their relatively short ride to the former site of Hamilton, AFB. Unbeknownst to the either of the elite forces, the two groups, Rangers and 82nd Airborne would be camped together at Hamilton, awaiting the orders to put them into action in Silicon Valley. All this attention to large military forces at first seemed incongruous to the mission of suppressing terrorism. After all, the terrorist's greatest weapon was surprise in small numbers and escape from capture by melting into the populace. How could large military forces hope to combat this kind of warfare?
But the answer lie in the military desire to keep the terrorist from taking on major military targets. The killing of military men in country had rocked the standard philosophies for fighting terrorism. As General Jamison had remarked, "things were getting a little too hairy for standard terrorist combat...this is like guerrilla warfare, right in the heart of the U.S."
None of the country's leaders wanted to appear helpless in the face of real military action. It was one thing to be helpless against people holding hostages, it was another to watch as military assets were destroyed. Foremost on everyone's mind were the numerous targets in California and Nevada. These would be protected at all costs.
But also paramount in the leader's minds was the effects of dropping visible forces in on a terrorist operation near a military target. The political advantages of being in the right place at the right time were enormous. They could only hope they were guessing right, and that the terrorists in Silicon Valley weren't going to strike elsewhere. Hopefully their own defiance of American power would be their downfall. If they moved on, then, the U.S. forces would simply move to where the action was. And even if the action in Silicon Valley never escalated to a point where the use of the Rangers and Airborne was necessarry, at least Delta would have some backup if a small action suddenly turned sour. And of course they hadn't committed all their forces, at least two-thirds of the Rapid Deployment Force was available in each of the pre-positioning points around the world. This was just a temporary pre-positioning based on good intelligence.
But there were similiar efforts elsewhere in the country. The military had turned once again to look at America's borders. That "loose connection" between the U.S. and Mexico, the southern border, began to receive more attention as well.