DEADLY DILEMMA by Dan Stratman (story read aloud .txt) 📗

the other helicopter gathered around Pierce. They were obviously geared up for a pitched battle. No name tags, unit patches, rank insignia, or anything that could help identify them was attached to their uniforms.

Members of the secretive Delta Force were culled from the top performers in the other Special Operations units. They were some of the most dangerous predators on earth.

O’Brian was a fair-skinned redhead from Boston with no neck and wide shoulders.

Jackson had survived the tough streets of the South Side of Chicago and had the physique of a bodybuilder.

Lopez was straight out of Compton. He was thin and wiry—like a cobra.

“No survivors,” Pierce calmly instructed his men. “This one is personal.”

“Roger that,” they all replied in unison.

“After the mission, we split up and meet back at the safe house in Guadalajara.”

His men held out their fists.

Pierce added his.

They bumped fists. “For Johnson! Hooah!”

“You better take a look at this.” Lance waved Cyndi over to the monitor.

She looked up at the screen. “Must be a security team from the base to guard the exposed warhead. The maintenance crew should be arriving soon.”

“Global Strike Command sure doesn’t screw around. These guys look like they mean business,” Lance observed.

The team spread out and took up defensive positions around the gate.

Pierce opened the intercom box and lifted the handset. He glared into the camera with a fierce expression. “Command post is aware of the problem. We’re here to secure the site and escort you back to the base. Open the gate.”

“Thank God. Let’s get the hell out of here.” Lance reached for the button to open the gate.

“Wait.” Cyndi grabbed his wrist. “I want out of here as badly as you do, but nobody gets through the gate without valid orders. You know that.”

“Screw procedure. These guys are our ride out of this hell hole,” Lance shot back.

She ignored him and pressed a button on the monitor. “State everyone’s full names and the entry authorization code.”

The special operations team snickered at being asked to provide their real names.

Their leader decided it wouldn’t matter. Dead men can’t tell tales, as the saying goes. “This is Major Pierce. My team and I are on direct orders from General McNeil back at headquarters. Now open the damned gate.”

Cyndi’s reply boomed from the intercom. “I’m not allowed to open the gate without a valid entry code! I’m only going to ask you one more time. State your names and entry code.”

Pierce didn’t respond. He hung up and closed the door on the intercom box.

“We need to call headquarters and find out if these guys are legit.” Cyndi hurried over to the phone on the wall. She dialed the base operator. When she picked up, Cyndi said in a panicked voice, “This is site Alpha One. I need to talk to—”

Static intruded on the call.

“What? I can’t hear you,” the operator said.

“This is an emergency! I need to talk to General McNeil at headquarters right away!” Cyndi yelled.

“Hold please.”

“Wait! You don’t understand—” Cyndi’s response wasn’t fast enough to keep the secretary on the line. Serene Muzak played, informing Cyndi that in her time of dire need she’d been put on hold.

Lola Crawford buzzed in on the intercom. “General, someone is calling for you on line two. They say it’s an emergency.”

“Who is it?” he replied.

“I’m not a mind reader, General. All I know is they said it was an emergency,” came her snotty reply.

General McNeil cussed her under his breath then picked up his phone. “Who is this?”

“General, this is Capt. Cyndi Stafford. I’m the commander out at site Alpha One. There’s been a serious emergency.”

“What the hell are you talking about? What kind of emergency?”

Cyndi hesitated, thinking of a tactful way to phrase the worst news she could possibly deliver to the commander of 90th Missile Wing. “Well, sir, we received an Emergency Action Message…but the thing is…we couldn’t tell if it was—”

Static hissed in her ear.

“Speak up, Captain. I can’t understand you,” McNeil said.

“The REACT console malfunctioned, and…” Cyndi decided it was futile trying to explain everything that had happened over a terrible connection. “I can explain later.” She focused on the most pressing issue. “There’s a Major Pierce at the gate. He says he’s here on direct orders from you to bring us back to the base. But he doesn’t have a gate entry code. What do you want me to do?”

“Who’s trying to get access to the site?”

“Pierce, sir. Major Pierce.”

McNeil lowered the phone and covered the mouthpiece. “Shit.” Perspiration suddenly coated his forehead. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. McNeil put the phone back up to his ear. “Captain, you did the smart thing in calling me. I knew I picked the right missileer for the job. I never gave any order for Pierce to go to Alpha One. That lunatic must have gone rogue. He’s out to avenge the death of his friend, Sergeant Johnson. Under no circumstances are you to allow Pierce to enter the grounds. I order you to use deadly force to defend the—”

The line went silent.

“Hello? General, are you there?” Cyndi tapped the switch hook on the phone, trying to reestablish the connection. “General McNeil, are you there?”

Cyndi glared at the receiver as if it would suddenly start working again just to mollify her.

She slammed the phone back into its cradle. “Dammit! The line’s dead.”

“What did he say!” Lance asked in a panic.

“McNeil never ordered Pierce to come out here. He must have gone rogue.” Cyndi picked up Lance’s Beretta and handed it to him. “Put in a fresh clip.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Cyndi and Lance went back to the monitor. Pierce and his men were nowhere to be seen.

“Switch cameras,” Cyndi instructed her deputy.

He rotated the camera selection knob on the monitor. The grounds near the code burner were empty. The area around the two-thousand-gallon diesel fuel tank showed no signs of life. He switched to the view of the silo blast