A/N1: Uh huh, ownership of Chuck.
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Saturday, December 6, 2008; 11:00 AM PST
Glancing at his watch, Chuck said, "OK, let's get started."
An extended gathering of Team B and its now almost two dozen members was assembled in the largest conference room in the Castle Studios office building. Present were the core members of the team: Chuck, Sarah, Zondra and Casey. Rachel's assembled team was all there, Rachel, Brett, Johnny, Jorge, and the five computer wizards Jorge'd borrowed from Langley. Fitz and his men. Colt and his men. Major Kevin Graham, representing the US Air Force and their contribution. A young Marine Corps major named Kona, in command of three operational teams of MARSOC Marines. Ellie and Devon sat on the side. Disguise expert Bea Collins sat sipping a cup of tea. Assistant Chief Newhall, of the California Highway Patrol, sat quietly, watching the others with patent interest. Chuck had decided not to invite FBI agents Statler or Mulia, concerned that they might be uncomfortable with the arguably extra-legal means being employed to defeat Fulcrum.
The men and women present looked to him with expectation and tremendous respect. Here was their leader. Even Kona and Newhall, the newest visitors, could feel it in the room.
"We have a unique opportunity here today. Fulcrum is the greatest danger to the United States we've faced since the Civil War. I could argue it's even worse, as it threatens not a part of our territory, but the entire fabric of the society we have been gifted by the generations before us.
"Ladies and gentlemen, that ends now.
"I just got off a long, and somewhat difficult conference with the President, the Vice President, the President-elect, the Vice Present-elect, and about a dozen others, including your dad, Major Graham. The question to be decided was when to strike Blackrock. The longer we wait, the more Fulcrum operatives gather, giving us the opportunity to stop more of them today. But, the longer we wait, the more the likelihood that something goes wrong and the birds we have in hand scatter again. It's not an easy decision and there are valid arguments on both sides. In the end, the decision was made by the President and the President-elect, in agreement with each other.
"We strike today.
"So, here's the plan and your roles in it." Chuck pushed the button on a clicker in his hand and the screen behind him displayed a map of the area north of Barstow. With a laser pointer in his other hand, he marked a spot in the desert along Irwin Road. "Here is Blackrock. While the operation is ongoing, Chief Newhall's men with the California Highway Patrol will block the road here," he pointed to an intersection south of the target, "and here." He pointed to an intersection north of the target. There's nothing along the blocked stretch of road but the Starbright Drive-in. Traffic can be easily diverted. An extra five or ten mile drive for anyone inconvenienced, but doable."
Rachel raised her hand. "Yes, Rachel."
"What's the story they'll tell anyone showing up at the roadblock?"
"Gas leak," said Newhall.
"Of course it is," said Rachel with a tight grin.
"Yeah," Chuck said, "The roadblocks will be set up soon after the operation begins. In addition, there will be cell phone jammers set up here, here and here." He indicated areas on the map. "We don't want any stray Fulcrum operatives heading to Blackrock calling in to mention the roadblocks.
"Once we've isolated the target, there are three phases to the plan." He held up a single finger. "Rescue." A second finger. "Hammer." A third finger, "Certainty."
With a click of the button in his hand, the picture on the screen changed to a schematic of the underground Blackrock facility.
"Let me handle rescue first. As most of you know, we have a man inside as a prisoner. Codename Orion. He's valuable enough to mount a rescue. Agent Walker, together with Agent Cohen," He gestured to Leo. "And Agent Frankenheimer," He gestured to Colt's man Frankie. "are the Fox Team and will enter the facility with disguises prepared by Ms. Collins here. The code phrases to enter have been obtained by Agent Ribas and his team of computer wizards. Once inside, they will locate Orion and extract him. This is the most dangerous part of the operation. If they are blown, they will be ridiculously outnumbered and outgunned."
Sarah said, "We won't be blown."
"I know, Sweetie, but you know I like to plan. If you are, the initial plan is scrapped and rearranged. In that case, Major Kona, you and your men will have to go into the underground complex and rescue the Fox Team and Orion. A much, much harder job."
"Understood, Carmichael. You can count on us," said the man.
"You're Marines," said Chuck with a grin. "Of course I can count on you.
"But anyway, assuming the original plan is still in place, once Fox Team has extricated Orion, Major Graham, you and your men are up at bat. Hammer. You hit it and hit it as hard as you can."
"Be my pleasure, Chuck," said Kevin.
"And, finally," Chuck continued, "We need to be certain that the entirety of Fulcrum is out of business. That's where you and your men come in, Major Kona. Make sure there were no survivors of Major Graham's airstrikes." The Marine Major nodded his head. "If Major Graham's efforts are successful, it's our hope that your phase of the operation will be relatively uneventful."
He clicked back to the map of the area. Chuck pointed again with the laser dot. "The operational command post will be here. I'll be in communication with Washington. Major Casey will be in communication with both military components. Jorge and Rachel will be in communication with the Fox Team, although given the fact that they will be underground we expect the connection to be spotty at best. Medical facilities will also be located there, should one of the Fox Team be wounded, or if Orion has been injured during his captivity, or if any of Major Kona's men are hurt.
"Agents Rizzo, Colt and Fitzpatrick will be embedded with the three MARSOC teams at Edwards as liaison. Agents Roston, Manzi, Hershey, and Palmer," Chuck said, gesturing to Marty, Marco, Jack, and Billy, "will stage at the command post as static defense and, if necessary, reserves.
"Agents Gordon and Goldmacher will be in charge here at Castle for anything needed at this end.
"Any questions?" Chuck asked.
"When do we go in?" asked Leo.
"After this conference breaks, you and the others on Fox Team go with Ms. Collins to get your disguises. You will take a helicopter to Barstow. Your car is already there and waiting. If all goes well, you should be at Blackrock by 3:30. Once you are in, we wait three hours. If no word at that time, Major Kona's men will storm the place. On the other hand, if all goes to plan once you are out with Orion in time, Major Graham's men will launch their attack. Once that's complete, Major Kona's men will head in to make sure it's a clean sweep."
"You mean kick the bodies," said Casey.
Chuck grimaced slightly, but reluctantly nodded. "Major Graham's aircraft will be airborne soon after you enter, waiting for word. They will strike immediately once you're clear."
"Sounds good," said Leo.
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Saturday, December 6, 2008; 3:20 PM PST
The sedan pulled up to the Starbright Drive-in and stopped on the sandy soil. The dark-haired woman driving looked at her two passengers, took out a burner phone, and texted "cicada" to a pre-loaded number. Moments later, a segment of the cracked asphalt in front of them opened. The car eased down onto the ramp and disappeared from view as the hidden door closed behind them.
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Saturday, December 6, 2008; 3:22 PM PST
Chuck said, "And mark." He touched a button on the console in front of him and a digital three hour countdown began. His voice was steady, but his shaking hands gave away the fear he felt. This might have been the most terrifying part of the mission. Sarah was surrounded by Fulcrum and there was precious little he could do to help her. A frontal assault by the Marines would be a giant disaster. If they were to discover who she was... He forced his mind away from those thoughts.
He was in a control van with Casey, Rachel and Jorge, parked on the side of Irwin Road. Rachel spoke into her headset to Chief Newhall and the two roadblocks were set up.
Casey said, into his microphone, "Buster, get your birds in the air."
"Roger, Leatherneck," said Graham. A flight of three B-2 bombers began to move along the taxiways of Edwards Airforce Base.
Casey switched frequencies on his console.
"Mustang, warm up your stallions. We're on the clock," said Casey.
Major Kona responded, "Wilco, Leatherneck." The three Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey's fired up their engines and sat on the tarmac at Edwards, loaded with heavily armed special operations troops waiting for the command from Colonel Casey to attack.
Chuck pressed another set of buttons and was connected to the White House Situation Room.
"Fox Team has gone in. Three hours and counting," he said.
President Bush, responded, "Godspeed, Son."
"Thank you, Sir," said Chuck.
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Saturday, December 6, 2008; 3:25 PM PST
The sedan edged its way down the ramp and into the facility. Behind it, what was now the ceiling of the room slid back in place to hide the entrance from the surface. Cool fluorescent lights lit a vast room filled with parked automobiles. There were no lines on the floor marking where to park and the arrangement had become a bit haphazard. Off the ramp, they parked in a location where it was unlikely that the car would be blocked in by subsequent arrivals.
A man came out of an office on the side of the huge room and greeted them. "Heyya." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Stacey. Brandon Stacey. Who're you guys?"
The woman, who had been driving the sedan, said, while shaking his hand, "I'm Galina Bryant." She was dark-haired with brown eyes and a healthy tan, as if she'd spent time in a tropical climate.
The shorter man with her stuck his hand out to shake Stacey's hand. "I'm Lee Newton." He was thick with muscle and had a poor toupee on his head.
The last of the men to have arrived with Bryant was a tall athletic looking man who introduced himself as John Kemp.
"Welcome," said Stacey.
"Thanks," said Bryant. "Did we make it in time? Don't want to miss the fun." She gave a small grin.
"Yeah," he said. "The Sachem has scheduled for us to be Intersected tomorrow at noon. Wants to wait for as many of us to show up as possible."
"Makes sense," she said.
"How many are here already?" asked Kemp.
"Twelve hundred plus. Luckily this place is pretty big. There are a bunch overseas and they can't get here in time, but just about everyone domestic has managed to make it," said Stacey.
"Awesome," said Kemp.
"How many are we waiting for?" asked Newton.
"Another couple of hundred, I think. I'm not too sure. We've kind of lost count in all the excitement," said Stacey laughing.
The new arrivals laughed with him, Kemp patting him on the back.
Bryant said, "The place must be packed. Anyplace to get some chow? We've been on the road since last night and I could use a cup of coffee."
"Sure," said Stacey. "Here, let me show you." He took them over to a map mounted on the wall. "You're here," he pointed to a spot. "Over here are the stairs to the lower levels. Two down and along this corridor. You'll find the commissary. Food kind of sucks, but you won't be here so long anyway."
"How's the coffee?" asked Bryant.
"Navy coffee," said Stacey with a laugh. He seemed to laugh a great deal.
"Just what I need now," said Bryant, laughing along with Stacey.
"Did we really get Orion?" asked Newton.
"We did. The only good thing to come from that clusterfuck at the Roark Ventura campus," said Stacey. The smile left his face at the memory. "We lost a lot of good people that night. Good friends."
"I know," said Kemp. At the memory, they all looked somber. He seemed to rally a bit after a deep breath. "We'll come out on top, though, Brandon. We'll make sure it was worth it."
"Yeah," he said. "Listen, I gotta get back to the switch in case someone else shows up and we need to open the ramp up."
"I got it," said Bryant. "Thanks for the welcome and the directions to the coffee." She turned to the men with her and said, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm heading to the commissary for a cup of Joe."
"Sure, Galina. We'll come with you." They turned to Stacey and said, "Good to meet you, dude."
"Yeah, you too," said Stacey. "See you round." Stacey went back to his office, leaving them to find their way to the coffee.
They left the garage and found the stairs to the lower levels. Once in the stairs, they checked for cameras and, seeing none, stopped.
"Did you see it on the map?" asked Bryant.
"Yeah, two levels down and at the end of the west corridor," said Kemp.
"But what if Orion's kept separate from the Intersect room?" asked Newton.
"We improvise," said Galina. "Have to start someplace. If he's not there, we keep looking."
"Head there now or get the lay of the land first?" asked Kemp.
"I'd like to see if we can spot Roark. But we don't have a lot of time," she stopped talking as five or six people came up the stairs past them. They nodded noncommittally to the others.
"Well, I can't spend too much time personally. Ms. Collins told us not to sweat in these get-ups and the next one of these guys to look at me funny and I'll start to schvitz like crazy," said Newton with a grin.
The three of them headed down two levels and exited the stairwell. The hallways were crowded, as was to be expected with such a gathering. Walking down one corridor they passed Roark in conversation with Smith and nodded to them. Good to know that the Sachem and his right hand man were present.
They found the corridor leading to the intersect room. Unlike the other areas, this one seemed almost deserted. As they came closer to the room marked on the map as their destination, there were fewer and fewer people.
They turned the corner and stopped dead in their tracks. Facing them, equally surprised, was Galina Bryant, who was supposed to be in Chile, but somehow was in Blackrock.
Both women stood frozen in place with surprise.
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A/N2: Names. It occurred to me that after all this time, I had never revealed the last names of Leo or Marco, both groomsmen, for goodness sake. Well, I did so here. Leo Cohen and Marco Manzi. Speaking of names, Stacey, Bryant, Newton, and Kemp are all the names of Fulcrum operatives from canon. Kona's callsign is Mustang. A "mustang" in US military slang is a commissioned officer who began his or her military career as an enlisted soldier. It's a designation carried with pride.
A/N3: Navy coffee, fabled to be served on US Navy ships, is notoriously strong, bitter, and heavy on the caffeine. Sounds good to me.
A/N4: Cliffhanger. Oh, my. Sorry guys. Coming back next week, though. We'll have Galina Bryant versus Galina Bryant.