“Attention on deck,” one of the men said, but even that was lacking the usual sharpness that was a trademark with Strike–1.
“At ease. You all know why I am here. The rescue of the captured Rangers did not go as planned. Six of our brothers were killed in action. Each and every one gave his life willingly for what he believed in. I know they were your associates and friends but we cannot let this dull the effectiveness of this unit. We will be looking for replacements in the near future, but for now we will have to make do with those of us who are left. The number two team was ambushed. The enemy was ready for them. That can only mean one thing, someone leaked the information.”
Heads snapped up at this comment. Was he saying that one of us leaked the details of the mission? That simply couldn’t be. No one knew for sure who would be selected until the last minute. You never knew if there was a possibility that you would get picked for the mission.
“I know what’s going through your heads. That can’t be. I have looked at this from every conceivable angle and it always points to the same thing. An informant. I do not believe that it came from our own Strike–1 force. Keep in mind that even a clandestine operation like this takes support and coordination. It includes the choppers that take you in and pick you up and the AWACS plane that coordinates the positions. Careless words to maintenance workers or the fuel handlers could compromise us. Any number of people could have let the cat out of the bag. The point is, others knew of our operation. Not the exact details but it wouldn’t take much for them to pull off an ambush. Just knowing when we were coming to rescue the Rangers would be enough. We are going through the personnel files to see if we can determine if anyone shot off his mouth inadvertently or intentionally. If so, they will be dealt with quickly and harshly. Six good men, some of the best soldiers in the world, were killed because someone said something they shouldn’t have.”
Almost to a man they were thinking that if they could get their hands on the individual they would choke the life out of them. It could have been any one of them lying in the morgue being readied to be shipped home in a casket.
“Sir, may I say a prayer for our men?”
“Of course. Here we don’t give a damn about separation of church and state. Here we are all God’s children,” he said.
They all stood and bowed their heads and the Lord’s Prayer was repeated by the remaining members.
When it was finished the commanding officer said, “Get some rest. We have a situation brewing that will need our attention very soon. I want you all physically and mentally capable of doing your jobs.”
“Yes Sir,” they shouted in unison.
They drifted off in twos and threes but Miller remained behind. Who would have enough information to be able to pass it along and how could it be done? None of the Strike Force would talk about a mission. It had to be one of the support people but who had both access to the information and the ability to get the word to the enemy? It had to be one of the chopper pilots or someone in the AWACS. The chopper pilots didn’t seem right either. They were taking a risk by dropping them off and then coming in for the extraction and dust-off. The AWACS operator would know the exact ETA and 20 of the force. It would be easy to let the enemy know that they were on the way. They would need to set a trap to find the guilty party and he had already worked up a plan by the time he got to the commander’s office.
“Come in,” the commander said.
“Thank you. Commander, I think I know of a way to find out who leaked the team’s plans,” he said.
“That didn’t take you long. What do you have in mind?”
“I figure it had to be one of the people on the AWACS. It only makes sense. They had the ETA, the 20 and the strength of the force. Someone on board the flight that night gave away the plans to rescue the prisoners,” Miller said.
“Why does it have to be someone on the AWACS? Why not someone that knows our movements from within and gets the word out to be relayed?”
“Too complicated and too risky. Look, let’s just say I might be correct. We could check it out by setting up a fake mission. We would make sure to use the same crew on the AWACS as before. If an ambush is set up again, we would know for sure. The differences being that when the choppers took off, one person would stay onboard each one to make sure it wasn’t one of the chopper crew. We could eliminate two potential leaks at one time,” Miller said.
“I need to think about that. It sounds good but let me sleep on it,” the commander said.
“Yes sir, but keep in mind, you said we have something brewing. If we aren’t careful we could walk into the same thing all over again,” Miller replied.
