Part 18 – Debriefing
Six hours later, the commander of Libero Pharmaceuticals' guards was still waiting at the lab in Singapore, waiting on the arrival of either his boss, Porco, or Porco's brother, Marcel. But it would still be another few hours before their plane arrived from Switzerland.
He was still a little pissed off about the fact the C.I.A. Agent he captured less than a week ago still got away, and the mysterious figure that freed her.
He was still preparing the test subjects to move against the Vietnamese, and his men to serve as commanders to these troops.
What he didn't know was that his boss's dreams would very soon come crashing down around him.
He learned when he heard what he didn't know were two General Electric J79-GE-17 engines powering a pair of McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II's that soon unloaded a series of missiles at the support struts that kept the lab floating above the Singapore Straight.
From a distance the captain of a U.S. Aircraft Carrier was viewing the explosions through the lenses of a pair of naval binoculars, and a naval cameraman was filming as another pair of F-4s came back around and opened fire on the main lab.
This film was placed in a sealed envelope that was delivered to the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. safehouse in Lyon where another six hours later, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and Levi watched another series of F-4s fly toward the entrance structure of the lab and unleash another round of missiles.
Erwin turned toward the group as Eren removed the cigarette he was nursing and flicked some ash into the tray in the center of the table.
"The F-4s continued attacking until the laboratory sank beneath the waves," he said as he pointed to the agent working the projector, and walked toward the table where the agents were being debriefed, "Navy sent in recovery teams after that to find any survivors," he tossed a few pictures onto the table showing bodies floating amongst wreckage from the laboratory, "Couldn't find a single person alive."
"So that's the end of Liberio," Levi said as he put out his own cigarette.
"For the most part," Erwin said, sitting down at the table, "The French government, in conjunction with Swiss and Singaporean authorities has seized all of Liberio's assets, and are in the process of questioning all employees. If anyone can dig Liberio out of this one, it'll still take them years, if not decades to recover."
"What about the super soldiers?" Eren asked.
"We have no idea how many they were able to make," Erwin said, lighting up his own cigarette, "But so far, we've tested the bodies. We count at least one hundred and sixty members of Liberio's security team that have apparently had the same procedure as Xavier. That includes the ones whose biological material Mikasa found as evidence."
"A hundred and sixty," Eren said, "I can only imagine what they could do with half that."
"They did a number on you," Armin said, "No doubt if they had unleashed those monsters on the North Vietnamese and Charlie, they would have decimated their forces."
"At least the non-armored forces," Mikasa replied, "We have any idea what they were planning on doing when they got to Vietnam?"
"I read the briefs that Eren submitted when he rescued you," Erwin said as he was handed a file by the agent working the projector, and then dismissed the agent, "We think we found their connection to Vietnam," he held out a file that had the C.I.A.'s seal pressed into the cover.
Inside the file was the picture of a man in his twenties wearing a bandana and had handprint war paint on his face. His name was listed as: Michea Nanz.
"Michea Nanz," Mikasa said, "What do we know?"
"Phoenix Program," Erwin said as he removed his cigarette, and exhaled the smoke, "Was a very effective information extractor during the war, and was very, very upset with the Paris Peace Accords were signed. He volunteered to stay behind and teach the Vietnamese about enhanced interrogation techniques."
"Volunteered," Eren said, "Yea right. What do we know about his connection to Liberio?"
"As far as we can tell, he was hoping to get the U.S. back into the war, and the NVA and Charlie out of Vietnam all together," Erwin said, "An angry American sitting alone at a bar in Saigon? Liberio must have thought he was an easy target."
"We send anyone after him?" Levi asked.
"C.I.A. said they would dispatch a team from a local safehouse," Erwin said, "Previous experience over this mission told me not to trust them. We dispatched our own team," he pointed to the file in Mikasa's hands, when she turned the page, there was Michea, dead, "Team found him dressed in full uniform, a half-empty bottle of rượu đếin his hand, and a .357 magnum at his feet with one bullet spent."
"Bullet was in the ceiling?" Eren asked.
"Back wall," Erwin said, "As was what was left of his brain and the back of his skull."
"This before or after the destruction of the lab?" Armin asked.
"Found the body two hours after the lab was destroyed," Erwin said as he took another drag on his cigarette, "Figured someone that worked for Liberio found out about the destruction of the lab and told him. Figured it was a matter of time before we found out about him," he removed the cigarette, and exhaled the smoke, "He decided to get drunk, and then he killed himself."
"Liberio shareholders?" Armin asked.
"Not to happy that the company is shut down," Erwin said, "When explained that they were involved in the illegal trade of heroin and opium, a few of them seemed to understand."
"That's the story we're going with," Mikasa asked, "They were killed because they illegally traded in black-market Vietnamese poppy flowers?"
"Killed," Erwin asked, "While the Galliard brothers were transporting the poppies from Switzerland to Singapore, a piece of metal on the runway damaged the retaining bolts on the plane's port wing causing them to break, and in turn, causing the wing to break off which caused an uncontrollable right bank leading to the crash that killed the two of them."
"What happens when they do the autopsy of Proco," Mikasa asked before pointing at Eren, "Eren shoved a lump of caustic chemicals down his throat. Won't they notice the internal injuries, and the fact he wasn't on the plane when it went down?"
"He wasn't," Erwin asked, "That's not what the report says, or should I say… will say. The autopsy will find that the burns were the result of being thrown into the fire that occurred as a result of the explosion."
"And Marcel," Mikasa asked, "We found him about two hundred feet away from the crash, the plane having ripped apart, and him flung clean out the side?"
"A blunt injury is a blunt injury." Eren said.
"Eren's right," Erwin replied as he took one final drag on his cigarette, "Autopsy could easily find that the blunt-force injuries were a result being improperly restrained at the time of the crash," he then put out the cigarette in the ashtray, "In fact, I think it will show, exactly that."
"Simple as that?" Mikasa asked.
"That's P.A.T.R.I.O.T. for you," Eren said, "Ignorance is bliss when it comes to those that don't need to know."
"And what about my colleagues at the Agency?" Mikasa asked.
"When you report in, tell them all that you need to," Levi said, "Tell them that the mission was a success, and that you assisted in keeping the Cold War from becoming WW3."
"What about the super soldiers?" Mikasa asked.
"Not their concern," Levi said as he put out his own cigarette, "But it'll be no skin off our necks if you happen to mention that Liberio was using advanced and still-unknown Nazi science to create stronger soldiers."
"And also, you can tell them that they can save their own asses the next time they decide to use us as a hit-squad." Eren said.
"And that they can kiss mine as well." Levi said.
"Got that right." Armin said.
"So, the Liberio case is wrapped up then," Armin said, sitting back in his seat.
"Only the Liberio part of the case," Eren said, "We still have no idea about who the person that gave up Mikasa's identity was, who their other contacts in Vietnam were. Or who or what this… Titan is."
"Right now, I say Titan is a mystery," Erwin said, "We've put out feelers amongst our most trusted agents, but right now I'd say that it'll be a while before we learn anything."
"Was there anything in Liberio's files that could indicate anything?" Armin asked.
"We have agents going over every last document we could find with a magnifying glass, and a fine-tooth comb," Erwin said, "Nothing so far, and I honestly believe that Porco and Marcel were too thorough to leave a trail behind to their masters."
"So, the masters stay in the dark," Eren said, "And we get stuck in square one."
"For now," Erwin said, "In the meantime, the mission was a success, we stopped WW3, and as of now, I'd say Titan shouldn't be a concern."
"Hopefully," Eren said, "I do have to ask though. You and Levi here did cut my leave short after my last mission."
"You can have a few days off," Erwin said, "But I do expect you back in New York by Monday."
"And what about me?" Armin asked.
"I can give you a few days." Erwin said.
"I'm gonna take a few days myself." Mikasa said.
"In that case," Eren said as he stood up, "We're in Lyon, how about we get something to eat?"
"Go enjoy yourselves," Erwin said as he waved his hand in a way to say, 'go ahead'.
Eren, Armin, and Mikasa walked out the door, and approached the desk by the exit, "Is it ok if we get a set of keys?"
"Here you go," the agent said as he held out a set of keys, "Red DS21 down the street."
"Thanks," Eren said as he and his friends walked out the door.
Back in the debriefing room, Levi leaned forward onto the table, "Is there a reason you chose not to tell them?"
"About Titan?" Erwin asked.
"Yes."
"We'll encounter them later, I can tell," Erwin said as he took the file the agent working the projector had on the table, and opened the page, "If Titan is what we think it is, then they're exactly like us," Erwin opened the file to show a picture of Michea was a picture of Erwin, Levi, Eren, Armin, and the rest of the MAC-V unit during Vietnam standing on the tarmac of Cần Thơ Army Airfield.
Behind them was the CH-47 Chinook that would take the team (minus Erwin) to their destination, which was a P.O.W. camp in the province of Nghe An. Behind the Chinook was a Lockheed C-130 Hercules taxing down the runway and sprayed on the side of the C-130 was an identical emblem to the one that was painted on the tailfin of the cargo plane seen at the Liberio airport (see chapter 13 if you don't remember or are viewing for the first time).
"To think we were that close." Levi said.
"And we still don't know what they were doing," Erwin said as he sat back in his seat, "We don't even know how far this goes now."
"We'll know soon enough," Levi said, "I say we reach out to a few old friends. People we trust with our lives."
"Always a good way to get information," Erwin said, "Make it so, and don't tell the Agency."
"No problem." Levi said.
A secret base at an unknown location…
A man sat alone in a very high-back chair, next to him was a table with a very high-end phone, "So, the Galliard Brothers have failed us," the man in the chair said.
"Yes," the voice over the other line said, "And we have a new problem to deal with."
"This new problem is inconsequential," the man said, "We have existed long enough. One failed operation will not destroy us."
"How do we proceed then?" the voice asked.
"Carefully," the man said, "We will wait for this new problem to make their move, and then we will deal with them."
"Yes, sir," the voice said, "Hail Titan."
"Hail Titan," the man said as he set the phone down, show that on his wrist was the scar from the rope the NVA had used on P.O.W.s during Vietnam.
That's the end of this story, but there is still more I can do. Should I continue and create a series, or just end it here?