Fog of War

by Frank Hunter

When Outer Heaven fell, Frank Jaeger became a man without a place. Child soldier, mercenary, special forces. All of it, seemingly amounted to nothing. But when he finds himself face-to-face with his old mentor and that ultimate betrayal, he'll either come to terms with it and recover himself, or waste away into the fog of war.

4. Going Forward

Fall from Grace

Chapter 3: Going Forward
By, Frank Hunter

Of course, no man with the abilities of this stranger could go unnoticed for long. It's true that Jaeger was no longer expected to operate alone, but that didn't mean that his performances were anything less than exceptional. He could do things his teammates could not, accomplish things that seemed impossible at first. It wasn't long before the powers that be realized that they could take advantage of these skills.

And now, here he was.

The stranger approached the church, his target. It was a magnificent building, he thought. Gothic. Very striking architecture. Very beautiful. The stranger had always been a student of architecture. This was more a tactical study than one of specific interest. The more you knew about a building's construction, the more design flaws you could find. Also, with increasing updates to modern technology, there were even more ways to exploit an entrance.

He ran his hand along the stone wall and slipped along the side of the building, dropping into an alley and noticed by no one. The stone blocks were large. He ran a finger between the blocks, through a crevasse where they were mortared together. The mortar was weak, and broke at his touch. He found that just fine.

Since President Clinton ordered military action in Kosovo, the situation had only become worse. Slobodan Milosevic could see his control slipping away, and although the war was not on the ground yet, bombs had begun falling. Escalation was going to occur, and everyone involved could feel it. Now, there was intelligence that an arms deal was to go down between one of Milosevic's men and a dealer based out near China, to try and procure some weapons system to fight back.

This dealer came with a reputation. He had his very own army and fortress on the Chinese border, so intelligence claimed. There was evidence that he was showing interest in more and more war zones all over the world, both big and small. Rumor had it that the technology he was peddling was nothing to scoff at, either. Some told stories that this dealer was a monster who fed on war; that his fortress was growing all the time as he profited off the deaths of others. That he was creating a nation based on a kind of war economy.

These were just rumors spread by the soldiers in whatever area he'd been seen. Maybe they didn't mean anything, but Intelligence reported back anything they heard to command, and it was all regurgitated to Jaeger during briefing.

At the very least, they got a name of this war haven.

It was called Zanzibar Land.

Now Intelligence wanted something more solid. It seemed more and more likely that this arms dealer could begin causing serious problems in countless war zones, and now he was showing his face in Kosovo. There was a high level Zanzibar Land officer scheduled to meet Milosevic's man in this very church. Someone had to witness that meeting. Someone had to get their hands on the technology the dealer was offering. Intelligence wanted to know what it was. Also, someone needed to terminate this arms dealer. They needed to bite Zanzibar Land. They needed to bite deeply, and show them that they could not screw with U.S. interests without there being consequences. Normally L.R.R.P. squads are not considered assassins, but when the powers that be saw the potential evident in Frank Jaeger, they decided to put him to work.

His radio crackled with static for a moment before a voice came through to him. "Frank, you've been standing there for a while. You ok?"

That was his teammate, Damien. Jaeger didn't know his last name. Or was it Donovan and he didn't know his first name? It really didn't matter. There were five other members of the L.R.R.P. squad stationed around the town, eyes on the church and rifles ready to make sure nothing unexpected happened during the mission. They were all his support, and not a one of them would be necessary. Such an incredible waste of time and resources.

"I'm fine," Frank replied in a dry voice, scanning the wall above him. "I've found my way in."

About five meters up in the air, protruding from the wall, was a small air conditioning vent. These modern intrusions into traditional architecture made these jobs much too easy. The vent looked small, but Frank knew from experience that he could fit into an AC vent. It would probably take him right where he needed to go.

Measuring the distance with his eyes, Jaeger picked a stone block at about neck-height, and began peeling the mortar away with his thumb. "Roger," the radio crackled back at him. "Keep us posted."

Yeah, right.

Now there was a nice little indentation just below that stone block. With a glance to make sure he still didn't have an audience, he backed up and took a run at the wall. Jumping as high as he could, he wedged one boot into this new indentation and reached his arms up to wrap around the vent. Easy as cake.

Frank pried the aluminum vent cover off, keeping himself sturdy with his other hand. Reaching a little higher, he managed to balance the cover on top of the vent, and leaned it against the wall. With the shaft now open, he pulled himself inside, arms out in front. It was tight, but like he expected, he fit.

Another successful infiltration under his belt, the man set out to find his target.