7/12/12
700a EST
Decatur, Ga
The white F150 turned into the parking lot of the facility and parked in the "Staff Only" parking space in the front of the building, and the driver got out to survey his surroundings. Capt. Marlon Jameson took a deep breath of the fresh Georgia air and smiled. Not since his service in Vietnam had he been happier. A 22 year Army Veteran, he decided tha it was time to hang it up, but it wasn't until the offer of commanding another unit told him otherwise. He was given command of a covert anti-terrorism unit, and was allowed to remain active duty. The Army used the words "special consultant" as the verbage for him remaining on active duty. The good part about it he was allowed to hand pick his unit, not like other times where he was given a unit, he was given dossiers on potential candidates and picked the ones that he wanted. He was given a wide brief, which allowed him to choose form different branches of the armed services even services in other countries. He had benn working with this group for 5 years now, and it seem that they got better after each mission, closer after each near-death experience. The were truly family, and Jameson would not have it any other way. The "Firehouse " training facility and range was the brainchild of Jameson and his long-time friend Ronald "Veezy" Wilson, whom Jameson met on a training rotation in Camp Lejuene, where Wilson was learning to be a Marine sniper. He was taken in by Wilson's easygoing Southern nature, laid-back almost simple way of thinking, and his love good food, women, drink, and his strong committment to family. Values that help ground Jameson and help him develop the "Firehouse". The facility was basically a closed down Toys R Us nestled in the heart of Decatur just off I-20, until it was bought by Jameson and converted into a training center and firing range. This is were the world's elite counterterrorism units come to train, teach and develop comraderie. Jameson adapted Wilson's simple but effective mission statement: "One unit, one family. Everyone comes home. Nobody left behind." He had finally found his element, he was happy.
His thoughts were interrupted by the distictive sound of a 5.0 v-8 engine. He smiled to himself. He knew that his friend was just down the road. As he saw the jet black Mustang pull up he waved at the driver. He walked to the door and waited forRonald Wilson to park before he unlocked the facility door. As Wilson got out of the car and walked to the door, Jameson greeted him with a warm handshake and a crushing bear hug.
"Well good mornin' to you too!" Wilson said catching his breath but smiling. "Any particular reason I deserve dat?"
"Just because." Jameson said matterof factly. He patted Wilson on the back, as Wilson looked at his friend, shaking his head.
"You git some las' night?" Wilson asked in his slow southern drawl.
"Nope."
"Then why you so happy? Only time I see you happy is when you done went an' got you a lil' tail."
"Just happy to be alive bro."
"Uh huh." Wilson said looking at his friend hard. "I guess. C'mon skipper, the rest of the team'll be here in about 30 minutes. We can go over the training schedule."
"What do we have today?"
"We have that group from Dalton comin' today at 8:30, some of Easy's GSG folks are comin' by to tour the facility at 9, DCPD is havin some their SWAT guys test the HK 416, and the ACR at 11, 11:30 Ignacio and Martay are gonna test the Beowulf .50 cal system, that's pretty much it, 'less you got some other things you wanted to pencil in. The afternoon is open."
"Have you called Havoc's team?"
"Nope."
"Give 'em a call. See if they want to fast rope, and CQB training with us. It'll count as a training rotation for us, extra training for them."
"Right." Wilson nodded, looked out the corner of his eye. "Well look what th' cat done drug up in hea."
"Well hello to you too." Martay Arnold said jokingly as he shook Wilson's hand, then Jameson's.
"Where's the rest of the team?" Jameson asked.
"They're getting out of their vehicles now. They'll be in shortly."
Five minutes later, Gretchen Von Kirst, Ignacio Barton, Thomas Martin, and Kelvin Thomas filed in the door, each shaking hands with Wilson and Jameson. they eagaged in small talk before Jameson dramatically cleared his throat
"Alright guys let's settle in we gotta alot to do today, and we also got a trainin' rotation today."
"What do we got today mate?" Thomas Martin asked.
"Fast rope and CQB training."
"My two favorites!!" Martay Arnold said.
Everyone laughed.
"Ok guys, let's get to work." Jameson said. And the team's day began.
7/13/12
Madrid, Spain
1130a CET
The man stared at the the report from Lt. MacDougall, and was appalled, no he actually wanted to throw up. This sort of collateral damage is not what anyone expected. He thought. Never in the history of US-Spainish relations had anyone dared to attack US or Spainish interests, but it has happened, and we are undermanned to deal with it. You think after 9-11...He swore to himself, but his thoughts were somewhere else and he thought about his wife and their 13 year old daughter. They lived in America, and even more so lived in New York. They were New Jersey when the planes hit. His thoughts wondered to what he would have done had he lost his wife and daughter that day, but his thoughts were interupted by a young man's voice.
"Exscuse me sir?" The young man asked.
"Yes?"
"Another dispatch from Rota sir."
"New developments?"
"Some." The young petty officer began. "CASEVAC is still ongoing. There is still no real count of missing or dead, and the Spainish Prime Minister will be meeting with the American Prime Minister today."
"Anything else?"
"We are waiting for some video form the company that supplies the hotel with security cameras. The cameras were destroyed in the exsplosion, but the images were uploaded to a server here in Madrid. We have a team looking at it now. It might help us identify the people responsible."
"How soon?"
"Within the next four or five hours."
"Uh huh." Sean Connally said thoughtfully. He looked down then up at the young petty officer. Let me know of any new developments and when that video is available."
"Yes sir." As he turned to walk away his phone rang. "Yes." He answered. "Yes, good, good. Upload it to me now."
"News?" Connally asked.
"Yes sir. We have the hotel feed. It is being uplaoded to your email now."
"Okay. I'm looking at it now." While looking at his screen. After looking at the screen for 45 minutes he noticed the person weilding the m240 LMG.
"There!" Connally said. "Look here." The petty officer came around the desk and saw the image of the young man. He grabbed his phone from the holster and made a call.
"Henson, Johnson. I've got a photo I need you to pull a recog on. Yeah. Uploading now. Let me know when you get a hit. Sir, I've got a tech ready to do a recog on the the guy you just pointed out. Upload to this address." He showed him the upload addres on his phone. Any recommendations?"
"Contact Donnelly. Let him know what we are doing. How long before we get a hit?"
"Somewhere inside of two hours. We'll know for certain within three."
"Very well let me know something the moment you get information."
"Yes sir." The petty officer turned and left.
7/13/12
1340 CET
Madrid, Spain
"Sir we have an ID on the guy at the hotel."
"Who is he?"
"The name is Lionel Ibrahim, Originally from Hempstead, New York, now a Georgia transplant. He was a student at West Georgia, tranferred to Georgia State University in 2011. He was 22 years old."
"What the hell was he doing in Spain?"
"Exchange student from what his passport reads. Wanted to study abroad. Passport was cleared through the recently founded International Exchange Student Organization. Homeland endorsed the passport and ok'd the travel."
"Was he on any terror watches or alerts?"
"No sir. He was not."
"Any carry-on luggage?"
"A backpack."
"But he brought two carry-ons to the hotel."
"Yes sir." The petty officer said. "I'm almost willing to bet that's where the LMG was."
Connally grunted in agreement. "We know that our friends in Spain keep a tight lid on the weapons that are carried in their neck o' the woods. Hell, the gun ownership requirement are more stringent than ours. So what does that tell us about the security force."
"Private company. Cleared by the government. That hotel has seen more than it's share of violent confrontations between Nationalist, who wants the country to remain democratic, and Right Wing extremist, who looking to form more of a socialist state."
"Figures." Connally shook his head. "Did any of 'em claim responsibility?"
"No."
"Does the kid have parents?"
"Mother, deceased in 2010. Lost her fight with breast cancer. Father was a career military man. After he hung it up, he did private security for the Wassada group."
"I heard of them. Are they the--"
"Yes sir." Petty Officer Johnson said. "We've been watching them since Soweto."
"Any terror alerts on them?"
"None sir."
"What's the father's status?"
"Deceased."
"Great." Connally said through gritted teeth. "Ok. Good job Johnson." The young sailor smilled. "I'm goig to need as much info as you can supply me."
"Why?" The sailor asked.
"I'm gonna brief Carl Travis Donnelly in the states, and you know how he is."
"Yes sir, I know." Petty Officer Johnson just shook his head, while Connaly chuckled.
"How soon?"
"Give or take several hours. This is roughly based on the information we have now."
"Ok. You've got 24 hours to get me working dossiers on both this kid, and the Wassada group. I want to be ready for Donnelly when she starts askin' questions. Understood?"
"Yes sir." The petty officer turned and left.
7/21/13
1425 EST
Marietta, GA
The man weaver his way through the sea of dancing and happy young adults until he came up to the young lady that was beinig honored and was rudely interrupted by his cell phone ringing. He smiled at the young lady and put up his hand to let her know tha this would be brief and weaved his way out of the room. He looked at his phone to see who the caller was and winced. As he walked outside he picked up the phone.
"Hello?'' Carl Donnelly answered.
"Good afternoon Carl."
"Mornin' Sean." Donnelly replied. "This better be important, I'm hostin' Haley's graduation party."
"Oh?" Connally asked. "Finnally done eh?"
"Yep."
"She following in your footsteps?"
"Not if I have anything to do with it!!" Donnelly said acidly. Connally grunted in agreement. "She's going to the Marines. Wants to serve her country, goin' in as an officer." He gained a more serious prose. "I know this isn't a social call, Sean. What do you have for me?"
He heard Connally take a deep breath. Here it comes. He thought.
"Well for starters, I wanted to inform you of this because no one probably would have. Ikejari Tenju is dead ."
Donnelly almost shouted. "What???? How?"
"He Was shot several times while at a safe house in downtown Decatur."
"Damn." Donnelly swore to himself. "Any idea who the shooter might be?"
"Shooters." Connally corrected him. "And no, there were no witness, adjacent rooms were empty, and from what we know they used suppressed weapons."
Damn. Donnelly thought as he sat back in the deck chair and closed his eyes. He saw this young man grow before his eyes. He know that Ikejari was a child soldier, and wanted to help his country, be also saw a young man who wanted to impact the world. A true patriot is what Donnelly saw in Tenju. Donnelly helped him come to the US and helped him attain citizenship, and with Donnelly's influence he was put in the front of the right people in the States and in Africa. He was recruited to head up the fledgling African Intelligence Agency, where he honed his skills as a field agent, and during the course of several years he became the agency's most dependable and experienced agent, passing over serveral advancement opportunities to remain in the field. His superiors did ask him to at least accept a promotion to Senior Fileld Agent. Tenju would call Donnelly after an operation just to catch up on current events and to talk Pro Football. A ten year veteran of the AIA, he was given his most daring and dangerous assignment: Track the movements and activities of one of the Wassada Group's most noticable and ruthless members: Afionee Asowata. He wondered if normally careful and cautious young man slipped up, he thought better of it and brought his thought back to the conversation at hand.
"M E report?" He asked.
"He died from two shots in the chest, on shot collasped his right lung, the other when through his heart. He died instantly. What is most curious is the third shot."
"Where?" Donnelly asked
"The head."