Book 28 of The Lyssa Kordenay Missions!   Terrorists have taken hostages   in Seattle, the O.I.C.A. scrambles   into action. WARNING: The Lyssa Kordenay Missions may be hyper-violent for some readers.

 

 

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CHAPTER 1

Madison brought in a printed report,"Major this came in, urgent!"

Dannigan took the report and read it then looked up,"where is everybody?"

Madison replied,"Lyssa and Rodrick are settling back in at their house on Grand Cayman, Pete will be returning to Bahamas tomorrow, Kimberly is at the hangar and I think she is still entertaining a guest, she was a bit cryptic about it."

Dannigan raised his eyebrows at that,"He's still there?"

Madison shrugged not exactly knowing who it was.

"get everybody on a conference call," Dannigan said.

Madison nodded then went back to her desk and set up the call.

"They're all on Major," she buzzed him.

Dannigan snatched up the handset," Listen up everybody we got a big one. Hostage situation is evolving in Seattle. LoneStar are you still there?"

"Still here," he replied flatly.

"Good, could really use your help on this. Somebody has to fly and I need all the boots I can put on the ground. Lyssa will lead the assault force of herself, Rod and Pete with you flying them in and Kimberly running electronics in a chopper orbiting."

"we're in," Kimberly replied after a moment.

"We'll pick you up within the hour," Rodrick said.

"Major, we may need something extra. If the hostage takers scatter we'll need a dog. Its a lot to ask but can you get us an Ops dog," Lyssa asked.

"Not a bad idea, make a stop off in Nashville Rodrick I'll see what I can get. An armament load out will be there waiting for you," Dannigan answered.

"No sweat Paul. Pete, meet us in Nashville," Rodrick replied.

"You got it boss, Kim grab my bag out of the locker please," Pete affirmed.

"Ok that's it. Go to work people; do what you do best," Dannigan closed the call.

Madison waited while he pulled up the documents needed then handed them to her to send out marked Time Critical/Top Secret.

Dannigan called General Singleton who answered on the the second ring, "Singleton."

"Wow. Answering your own phone still,"Dannigan commented.

"Oh fuck me. You're calling me now. What is it you need Bran...Dannigan," the General groaned.

"Nothing outrageous. I need a dog; a tactical dog," Dannigan answered casually.

"A tactical dog? when," Singleton asked.

"No biggie Sir, just needs to be in Nashville in five hours," he remarked.

Singleton almost dropped the phone, "Nashville in five hours? When did you go nuts?"

Dannigan laughed, "Welcome to my world General."

A few minutes later Singleton answered, "Ok. I have a dog that you can use but only if the conditions are right so pay attention; ordinance detection and assault. Primarily for a Sweeper team. got that?"

"What's the catch,"Dannigan asked knowingly.

"Due for retirement," the General answered flatly.

That explained a lot. Sweeper teams were Special Forces A-Teams that basically went in and neutralized Hard-Sites. In other words they went into verified full hostile locations and completely wiped out all personnel. They left ghost-towns in their wake. That meant the dog in question was so highly trained for those operations it couldn't function in any other capacity and therefore dangerous.

Such situations had been carefully monitored since Vietnam but occasionally some slipped though. During Vietnam many units had used dogs, especially those in the Phoenix Project. Very few of those highly trained canines were able to be brought back from there. Since then D.O.D had protocols in place to ensure the canines remained stable, but some slipped through. Dannigan understood the situation now.

"We can take care of that too, private terminal at Nashville airport" Dannigan offered.

"The dog will be there when your people arrive, language is German," Singleton said.

"Thanks General. Have a great day," Dannigan commented snarkily.

"Stay off my damn phone line and I will you renegade," Singleton chuckled and disconnected.

~o~O~o~

Rashiid carefully looked out the window. Nothing moved on the street below. The school bus had been taken four hours ago and the video of his demands released two hours ago. Naturally the FBI had tried to negotiate but his quick shot from the RPG-7 destroyed both the agent and the vehicle. they pulled back as he instructed them. Rashiid declared that to be his first,last and only warning, obey; or swim in the blood of their children. The American government would have to release all the prisoners of Guantanomo Bay or live with the executions of the children they could have saved. The Sword of Mohammed would prevail one way or another in twelve more hours. Rashiid himself would either be the hero of Islam or its latest martyr.

~o~O~o~

S.S.A.C Jack Perkins wasn't happy. The Bureau had ordered him to pull back all together, even his spotter teams now occupied positions almost a quarter of a mile out using high powered scopes and laser mic sets to try keeping tabs but the terrorists were being smart and rarely talking close enough to windows to be heard. the Joint Hostage Rescue Task Force's assault team were on the way from various parts of the country and D.O.D. was burning up every phone trying to get either Delta Force or DEVGRU(SEAL Team Six) authorized to move in.

They each had a highly trained platoon of hardcore shooters for this type of situation. Though he couldn't say so officially, he actually wanted one of them to come in for this. Federal Task forces looked great on paper and went far for the purpose of inter-agency cooperation but this was way different. They didn't train together everyday for things like this and that made the big difference he'd heard.

The Posse Comitatus Act stood in the way, Federal Mandate that U.S. military could not be used for domestic situations. The purpose of the act is to limit the powers of the federal government in using its military personnel to act as domestic law enforcement personnel. It was passed as an amendment to an army appropriation bill following the end of Reconstruction, and was subsequently updated in 1956 and 1981.

He also knew that if they really had to they could just attach to Homeland Security and override that mandate temporarily. The paperwork involved would occupy at least a month afterward though. He hoped they would do that otherwise this may very well turn into a fiasco worse than Ruby Ridge or Waco. It was bad enough that their negotiator and his partner had been blown up by a rocket propelled grenade. He had a feeling of certainty that if the military didn't get involved soon things would go very bad for everyone, including Federal agencies.

 

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CHAPTER 2

Lyssa sat loading magazines going over the building schematics with
Kimberly as Rodrick and Pete also loaded magazines. The sun had already set. For once transit time had worked out in their favor. They'd be going in under the cover of darkness.

"ETA to Seattle: one hour," LoneStar called out over the speakers from the cockpit.

The black Belgian shepherd lying next to Lyssa's feet didn't even raise its head. The private delivering the kenneled dog had been immediately surprised when the dog responded to woman in black with her face obscured by elaborate swirls of facial paint. He had handed her the file on the dog which she looked over quickly.

Lyssa had said coldly in German to follow her, "Warlock gehorchen ."

The dog walked beside her steadily back to the plane.

Lyssa ordered him to sit, "legen."

The canine sat quietly as if at attention. It was accustomed to wearing a special vest carrying a camera and speaker so that it could be commanded from a distance.

From its service record Warlock was the best Special Operations dog but had become too stressed from being operational in a Sweeper team and could no longer be trusted outside a combat environment. He was due to be retired from service, by lethal injection. If his record were to be declassified he'd be listed for earning four purple hearts, and the silver star.

Kimberly had hacked into the reports from the FBI surveilling the site and used them to make the basis for her layout and augmented with satellite imagery. Together with Rodrick and Pete they formed an insertion plan. the roof of the building was flat so that would allow for an airdrop. A PaveHawk was standing by for them to use. It had been fitted with all the neccessary electronics Kimberly would need and be able to fly high enough for them to jump from without the terrorists knowing they were doing so.

After the magazines were loaded Lyssa and Rodrick assembled the precision munitions; he made two hole cutters called Arleigh-grams, in honor of the S.W.A.T. team member of the Los Angeles Police that came up with the idea.
Rodrick partially filled a bicycle innertube with water and then attached rope like explosive called DetCord while Lyssa attached flat panel explosives called Deta-Sheet to a styrofoam template dubbed the Slam'n Bam, it was used for doors and walls. They all were already suited up in black BDU's and body armor except Lyssa.

Lyssa was wearing a new version of her form fitted black bodysuit that had its own ballistic rating and tactical harness while Rodrick and Pete had assault vests. They applied their facial camo except for Kimberly who would be wearing a flight helmet and staying inside the chopper. Lyssa had just finished fitting Warlock with his special vest and put on her low jump rig when LoneStar called out.

"Boots and Saddles people. We're on final approach for Seattle," his calm icy voice announced.

The plane roared in low and set down like an eagle in a tree rolling to a stop just outside the PaveHawk's rotor span. Kimberly had modified the transponder to identify them as Phantom-14. Warlock had heard the slamming of magazines and snapping of bolts. The tactical dog understood now was the time to work and had sat up waiting for Lyssa's command. She didn't have to say anything just whistled and he bolted to follow close at her side running from the plane to the chopper. He even barked his own answer as everyone else yelled, "good to go," and lean against her body as the helo took off climbing fast.

~o~O~o~

Dannigan spoke calmly into the phone,"Yes Sir, we will the situation resolved within the hour Attorney General Stevens."

"And what will the acceptable loss percentage be," he asked.

"Sir you misunderstand. There is no 'acceptable' loss," Dannigan answered coldly.

"Colonel Duncan I have the utmost confidence in you and your people's capabilities; but to say there will be no loss at all is a bit over-confident," the Attorney general retorted.

Dannigan resisted all urges and kept his voice even, "Sir we're not the FBI or ATF, we don't lose. Ever. That comes from being combat specialists. Not a 'diversified group of agents from collaborating agencies formed for the common good of federal cooperation'. Sir."

Stevens knew the Colonel had quoted from the original memo of the proposed formation of the Joint Task Force.

The Attorney General barely kept his calm, "Just see to it that your people are as you claim or I'll have their heads on a pike and you before a Senate grandjury for violation of Posse Comitatus. COLONEL!"
Dannigan cradled the receiver after hearing the Attorney General slam his down, "fucking yutz. What the president ever saw in that idiot, we'll never know.

~o~O~o~

Rashiid walked around the small improvised cell made of fencing to hold the children as one of his men sat and translated the Koran to them. One girl protested that she was catholic and was not supposed to listen. That made him chuckle to himself. A boy simply shrugged and said all religions were lies invented by the lazy to exploit the weaker minded; hence their current situation, adding as well that he pitied the man translating for being so easily and thoroughly brainwashed. The boy blamed the lack of education in the middle east.

Rashiid stood amused as the boy and his man debated. The boy then revealed both of his parents were highly educated, his father a computer software engineer and his mother a physicist at the university. Apparently both had some psychology training because the boy was very good at dealing with people that he perceived at being troubled. He smiled thinking of the old phrase springing to mind, 'Immovable object and irresistable force' and how very applicable it was now. The other men that were occasionally paying attention were becoming amused as well. He would have to save the boy's execution for last. It would be entertaining to see how he reacted to the deaths of the other children in front of him.

The men positioned at the windows to watch outside knew not to speak unless necessary. They would signal for attention then use they're previously rehearsed hand signals to report anything. When the sun arose the prison in cuba would be empty or the first execution would take place. He had chosen the abandoned site well. Over one hundred meters all the way around it was empty concrete lot.

 

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CHAPTER 3

Lyssa heard Kimberly over the comms, "we're green-lighted for insertion. Two minutes from DZ, final check out."

Rodrick helped clip Warlock's jump harness to Lyssa's rig and the special protective eyewear on called Doggles. Warlock was well accustomed to parachute operations and gave no problems. He did paw Rodrick's hand twice and bark once then all but freeze.

"I guess that means ol' rover is good to go," he quipped and patted the dog's side roughly.

The dog heard the phrase and replied with two quick barks.

Lyssa gave a thumbs up and he raised his paw then went to a relaxed posture in the harness.

"Over the DZ, stand in the door," LoneStar's calm voice came over the comms.

Pete opened the door and guided Lyssa forward to look out. Since she was the awkward jumper she would be first out over the DropZone. Pete and Rodrick would follow as they were more manueverable. She crouched in the open doorway and held up her right hand giving the thumbs-up ready sign watching Pete.

LoneStar called out, "GO!"

Pete waved down. Lyssa leaned forward to drop out and opened her chute. A moment later Pete and Rodrick both jumped falling past her and opened their chutes to glide in.

****
"SIR," an agent called out to Perkins.

Perkins looked over to the man in the van, "What is it?"

"That helo over head just deployed personnel. One of the spotter teams just saw chutes deploy. Confirming; three chutes are inbound from a PaveHawk now orbiting the site. Sir what's going on? Are the terrorists being reinforced," the young man asked.

Perkins looked up to the dark sky, "god I hope not! Tell the spotters to report all activity of those jumpers!"

~o~O~o~

Rodrick landed gently on the sloped metal roof of the tower while Pete slammed hard into the sentry on a catwalk. Lyssa and Warlock landed on the roof rougher than her usual landing but with no injuries to her or the dog. She quickly released him then stripped off her chute. She clicked her comm twice and received a double-click from Rodrick and a triple-click from Pete. She and Warlock approached the access door and he sniffed it then growled. It was wired and he could smell the explosives.

Quickly Lyssa attached the Slam'n Bam to the wall,"One; Door's wired, entry through wall. Ready."

"Two; I'm ready," Rodrick answered.
"Three; ready," Pete answered as well.

Lyssa crouched down and shielded the dog's head to protect his sensitive ears then counted down, "on my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark."

All three charges went off at once.

"FUHREN," she ordered in German and Warlock bolted inside.

Rodrick and Pete simply rolled into the holes made by the Arleigh-grams and rappelled down inside shooting at the terrorists as they descended. The first gunner Lyssa saw fell to a burst of auto-fire from her CAR-15. Warlock, who had been completely silent, streaked past to the one behind slamming into him snarling. The terrorist gunman wasn't even able to cry out in alarm or even pain. Now the dog was making noise, simply a low growl.

She knew now why he was to be retired, he didn't go for detaining him by grabbing an arm. The dog had slammed him to the floor and clamped down on the man's neck then ripped it open. Warlock continued to ravage the gunner.

Lyssa ran by triggering a burst into the man's chest yelling in German, "FUHREN."

Pete yelled out, "HIT THE FLOOR KIDS!"

The children immediately obeyed as his rounds snapped over their heads to hit gunners surrounding the cage. Rodrick calmly stalked past ripping a gunman apart firing full-auto.

Rodrick called out, "Get'em outta here Three!"

"On it Two," he called back over their comms taking down two more terrorists with a volley of fire then shooting the lock to yank the gate open.

Pete waved and ordered, "c'mon outta there kids! Gotta Go! Gotta Go!"

The children obeyed immediately as a gunman ran up and began to point his rifle at them.

"Warlock! VERNICHTEN!," Lyssa ordered in German to kill.

Warlock jumped, snarling, to bring him down. The terrorist's scream was cut short as the Belgian shepherd's teeth shredded his throat. One of the kids pointed at another gunner and yelled, "HIM! That's the leader!"

Lyssa immediately turned and directed her fire at him making the man turn and run for the open doorway. Rodrick dropped the last one in his field of fire then took after him followed by Lyssa as she called out.

"WARLOCK VERFOLGEN," Lyssa ordered, the chase command.

The Belgian shepherd tore one last shred and bolted to follow Lyssa. Pete directed the kids out through a side doorway. The dog pelted after Lyssa and Rodrick, his attention solely on the figure ahead of them. Eerily he was silent, streaking after the deserting terrorist. After two months of boredom his canine mind recognized one thing, he was doing what he was trained to do.

"Gunner on the catwalk Three," Kimberly spoke over the comms.

He kicked the door open, rushed out and held the trigger down; auto-fire hammering the sniper until he fell over the railing.

"SWAT teams inbound, directing to Three. Hold position at the gate then retreat back in," Kimberly instructed.

"Copy Sky," he answered.

Pete held back as vans rolled up spilling out the tactical teams to herd the kids inside protected vehicles.

"Sky, I'm clear," he called out.

"Copy Three. Circle around to join the rest of the assault team," she directed him.

"Copy that," he answered.

~o~O~o~

Joseph Perkins couldn't believe it when the spotters told him the three parachutists landed inside. He had no choice after three simultaneous explosions went off.

Immediately a strange female voice came over all their comms, "All ground units; standby for hostage retrieval, assault team has gone hot."

Within seconds of that exchanges of auto-fire could be heard. The agents that had been scanning for outgoing signal traffic picked up on the assault team and stared at each other in disbelief as they patched it to Perkins.

One agent listening commented, "the woman is a canine handler. Sounds like instructions in German."

They listened as the auto-fire roared then finally the first female voice came back on for them, "tactical units move in on western gate for hostage pick-up. Front gate for last of hostile force. BE ADVISED; Assault team in pursuit, stand clear."

"FUCK YES! GO GO GO," Perkins bellowed.

Sirens were ignored as the teams rolled out to intercept. Perkins himself hanging onto the side of the lead truck heading for the front gate arriving just in time to see the leader turn and fire at the two people and a black dog chasing after him unphased.

'They must be wearing body armor,' he thought knowing they were taking hits as the dog circled around to attack him from the side.

Two pistol shots rang out just as the canine jumped slamming the gunman to the ground and attacking. The woman yelled a command and the dog slowly backed off barking and snarling as they approached bearing down with their own rifles. They both shot into gunman's shoulders rendering his arms useless. The dog whined once then snarled menacingly and barked closely in front of him.

"TELL ME YOUR BACK-UP PLAN! WHAT'S THE NEXT TARGET," the tall man in black demanded.

The gunner called Rashid began yelling out in arabic.

the woman called out in German, "WARLOCK ERHASCHEN!"

The dog attacked viciously snapping and biting at the man's face, neck and arms as he twisted and screamed.

she ordered the dog off, "ZURECKSETZEN!"

The dog backed off again, she made a demand in arabic herself. The blood-covered dog stalked around the terrorist in circle snarling with an occasional whine then barking threateningly.

Perkins knew this had to be a special military team from the way they moved and gave no quarter much less calling the dog off the way police or federal agents would. A police or agency dog would be called to return to the handler. Not this one. It stayed in the fight, ready to attack again.

As he and his men approached the dog took notice and barked at them clearly warning them to stay back.

"Hold back," he ordered.

Now that he was closer he could see the swirl of facial paint obscuring the woman's face and streaks across the man's making them both unrecognizable. A moment later the tall man translated from arabic that gunmen were currently staged to take-over a local elementary school in two hours. Perkins ordered two of the SWAT teams to the location as the man and woman stepped close to aim their rifles at the downed gunman's head.

The woman spoke in a cold voice, "Past the gates; before the Devil's throne. I've been to Hell....."

"Tell them we sent you," the man finished.

They both fired a burst into the leader's head. All the agents and police stood there stunned to see such a summary execution like that as the couple turned and walked away followed by the dog snarling back at the crowd. The PaveHawk chopper landed and with another man, they climbed in carrying the wounded dog then lifted off.

 

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CHAPTER 4

Dannigan read the reports filed by all the agencies and the Attorney General; all fuming that none of the terrorists at the site had been taken alive including the leader, that had been essentially executed on the spot after revealing the group's back-up plan.

The Attorney General was beside himself with fury that the agency responsible for the assault didn't exist and nobody could be contacted about it, screaming at D.O.D. for tricking him into allowing one of their Special Operations teams loose.

He'd even went after the Joint Special Operations Command demanding identities. The JSOC Commander who happened to be at the White House situation room, referred to as The Woodshed, the entire time calmly told the Attorney General that if he continued to badger him about operations not conducted by the military he'd personally administer what he called 'a life altering ass beating' on the White House lawn.

The Attorney General had to leave the grizzled Army General alone because the President himself, along with the Directors of the CIA, NSA, FBI, ATF and Homeland Security, had also been there and knew nothing of the operation. For over a month now the Attorney General had been burning up the phone of every Agency in the Intelligence community trying to find Dannigan and his people. Even a call to General Singleton of Special Forces and getting no closer than he was the day of the event.

One day the Freedom of Information Act would catch up to them but until then the Office of Immediate Covert Action would remain ghosts and rumors. He still found it odd that Lyssa and Rodrick got the dog medical treatment and took it back to their house in Cayman but not as odd as LoneStar's new attitude. He'd even offered to fly Kimberly up to Georgetown for her last procedure at the off the book hospital and was staying by her side.

When Dannigan asked what was up all he got was the same cold, calm voice with the answer,"when I know; you'll know."

Kimberly herself only said, "good question."

~o~O~o~

Rodrick watched as Lyssa put Warlock through the collection of obstacles in the backyard slowly. The recovery was coming along steady and Warlock had become very attached to Lyssa and Kimberly. He acted well toward Rodrick and only obeyed LoneStar's hand signal if it was basic since the helmet muffled his voice. Pete spoke no german at all so was ignored by the dog, as were Carl and Eddie.

Unlike most dogs that barked at the ringing phone or knocks at the door, Warlock gave one soft growl and waited for an order. Rodrick could tell Warlock had been operational too long as he had no interest in play as most working dogs did. Lyssa had taken to hiding a bit of explosive in the backyard twice daily to give him something to do but instead of playing ball or with a toy of some sort; Warlock wanted only praise and the occassional biscuit for success. He did seem to like splashing around in the surf walking along side Lyssa and Rodrick though.

Kimberly would take care of him out at the airfield while they were on honeymoon after the wedding in three more weeks. The only problem so far had been the good Reverend tried to introduce himself to Warlock and almost got a chunk taken out of his arm for it. They explained it off easily as he still had a bandage on that he was a rescued dog for a charity she supported in Germany. The caterer on the other hand had a phobia about dogs and asked that he be taken outside for the meeting which was ok because the florist showed up as well and they didn't want him to get anxious around them.

He didn't do so well around constant strangers. He did better with a small dedicated group of familiar people. That was Warlock's only sign of being a dog. Certainly he must think of himself the same as Lyssa and Rodrick. It was certainly common enough for working dogs to identify as soldiers as opposed to animals unless they were socialized with others like themselves.

The wedding was going to be on schedule as the tuxedos had arrived and John Galiano himself flew in to make sure the gown was properly fitted. The bridesmaids' dresses had been sent out and fitted locally then sent to Lyssa to hold until the wedding so that there'd be no mishaps.

~o~O~o~

Kimberly walked gingerly down the hallway for her exercise as LoneStar stood beside her in case she fell or tripped. Her recovery was going as expected the surgery went without complications. She'd be able to leave at the end of the week to return to the Bahamas but would mostly stay in her trailer lying down. Chairs weren't her friends right now and she was getting antsy without much to do. LoneStar felt the same way. He'd ended up filling some of his spare time doing preventive maintenance on Rodrick's helos before they had been called out. He now began taking advanced computer studies under Kimberly's tutelage.

Between her and Dannigan's efforts he virtually became non-existent to the military and intelligence community. She was rather proud of herself for that. LoneStar now belonged to himself and answered to whomever he chose. For the stay with her in the hospital she'd given him a list of computer programming manuals. Some for him to learn from and the others were very advanced for herself along with other training literature.

"I hope that psyche manual isn't going to be used on me," he mumbled under the helmet.

"Taking up a life of criminal activity," She asked walking back into the private room.

"Not anytime soon," he commented helping her back into the bed to lay down.

She winced then settled in, "you're safe then. Its for basically serial killers and those type whack-jobs."

He sat down in the chair across from her bed, "as opposed to the whack-jobs like me or is that nut-bar?"

Kimberly opened the book back to the section she had been reading, "those terrorists were whack-jobs. Pete's a nut-bar."

"And me," he asked.

"A pain in my ass when you want to be," she said snarkily.

She could feel his eyes bearing down on her from behind the visor so she looked up after a couple of minutes, "Joe keep in mind; you are not the only one that's damaged in some way. We ALL are. You're just the only one that's visible."

LoneStar leaned back in the chair, "right."

Kimberly listed, "Lyssa was tortured for a week by a narco-cartel. Rodrick got betrayed by his commanding officer gone rogue and shot in the back by one of his own teammates. Pete watched a whole squad plus flight crew he'd been sent in to rescue get slaughtered then got blamed for it. And then; there's me. You know my story already."

He mulled that over for a minute then asked, "and there's Paul."

She had went back to reading, "he's probably as fucked up as the rest of us. Found us and got us to work for him didn't he? Now that I think about it; Madison is probably the only straight laced one of us all. Then again, she's seeing Pete so there may be something off about her."
LoneStar couldn't help but chuckle at that gaining a 'I am not as sweet and charming as I look' smile from Kimberly and leaned in close after taking off his helmet.

"You can really be a vicious little smart-ass when you want," he commented.

"Its what it takes to get through to you Joe," she answered then kissed his scarred cheek as he hugged her gently, "we're all damaged I told you. That's why we do so well together. All of us."

"I'll try to stick around. No promises, just that I'll try Kim," he said softly.

"You're calling me Kim on a regular basis; that's a start," Kimberly answered.