As usual, whenever any Team Twenty-Two mission was ongoing, there were a number of people gathered in the SOD Group’s conference room. That had been organized to follow this latest mission, which everyone was referring to as the Barsovo Mission. Lieutenant Colonel Schermerhorn and Lieutenant Colonel Lightfoot had been taking turns with one of them always being in there. They were keeping Brigadier General Chory updated although he often popped in himself to look at the situation maps which were showing on the large screen up on one wall.
Dale Hewson had just come in to see how things were going. It was mid-afternoon local time but with the time difference, it was late evening in Russia. He came over to where Lieutenant Colonel Schermerhorn was standing and asked, “Have they reached Checkpoint Papa yet?” He knew that was where the team was planning to make camp. It also was less than eighty miles from their target and well outside of Moscow.
“Yeah, after four full days, mostly uneventful, Mike just reported hearing that’s where they are,” replied the lieutenant colonel. “Mike, Lieutenant Colonel Grady and Master Sergeant Town are now reporting things from Kharkiv. He says Missy will be teleporting all around that Main Missile and Artillery Directorate arsenal tonight. Once she returns, they’ll be able to draft some sort of plan for how they might trigger something which will appear accidental but will cascade such that a whole lot of damage gets done.”
Dale nodded and said, “Making it appear accidental is perhaps the most difficult part of this mission. Missy can deal with any local Russian folks who might confront the team. I know they all have paperwork showing they are merely field workers, heading east towards some farm located about two hundred additional miles from where they are right now. Captain Novikov thinks most of them are able to speak Russian well enough now to make that convincing. He actually has been dumbing down their expressions during his recent lessons so they don’t seem more educated than what the peasants over there might typically sound like.”
“Colonel Lightfoot was saying how General Hingham views this mission as perhaps the single most important action which his command will be taking credit for so far this year.” Lieutenant Colonel Schermerhorn paused for a moment and then he added, “While it was great when we helped the Ukrainians stop the Russians from invading Kiev and there have been other great wins, having this arsenal sustain some significant damage will truly make a difference. It might not get publicized that way, but we all know how greatly the loss of that much ordinance will hamper Russia’s plans.”
Sergeant Payton Rawlings said, “Colonel Lightfoot and General Hingham are both Air Force. They’re probably wishing we could simply drop a bomb to accomplish this only, due to that not being possible without the U.S. being at war with Russia, this is the next best thing. I know General Chory is just as excited about this mission as General Hingham is.”
Everyone knew that despite her only being a sergeant, Payton was essentially now the brigadier general’s aide and she knew him and his views extremely well. The paperwork had been submitted for her to get a direct commission as a secondlieutenant and there was no doubt that would soon be approved. Since she had not yet completed her college bachelor’s degree, this did require a few waivers. But, she had been earning college credits with correspondence courses and her proficiency was so exceptional, Brigadier General Chory did not want to wait any longer. He had found her to be invaluable and, as a general officer, his wishes did carry a great deal of influence.
“If whatever happens to that arsenal is truly considered to be accidental, that should keep the team’s retreat back to Ukraine afterwards at a low risk,” said Dale. “No one will be looking for them, right?”
“While that may be true,” agreed Lieutenant Colonel Schermerhorn, “having U.S. soldiers that many miles inside Russia is only possible because Missy is with them. Our current administration would never allow any action which the Russians might view as aggressive on our part. But, thankfully, our Defense Secretary has full confidence that Missy can deal with any possible scenario such that the Russians will never know how we have taken this action or discover that anyone on that team is even a U.S. citizen. No, they’ve all trained for this and Missy has proven she can handle things.”
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Saturday, July 23, 2022
After returning from the extensive recon which she had done all night, Missy gathered the team in the morning for a detailed briefing on all that she had learned. It was now time to work out the final details for this mission. They had brought some maps and sketches which had been prepared back at theteam’s headquarters prior to when they had started out. Missy now wrote on those where various key points were, based on what she had just discovered.
Working backwards from the “big boom” which they planned to cause, with subsequent fire and secondary explosions continuing long after, they worked out where to best position the various explosives which they had brought. What was key for all this was that the ordinance they were using was Russian made and that no triggering devices would be needed. Whatever investigation was performed later would not find any trace of timers or remote detonation devices whatsoever. Missy would be triggering everything in her spirit form, using her supernatural abilities.
Thus, it was merely a matter of positioning everything so that, as any one item was ignited, the result would cascade to explode nearby ordinances and later, when an investigation was performed, it would all appear to have been an accident.
These “cascading” explosions all needed to have a single origin source, of course. Missy pointed to the wall of one room and explained, “They already have stacked enough of their own munitions next to this wall so that, when a fire breaks out due to the nearby electrical outlet failing, that should be enough. They have plugged both a microwave oven and a small refrigerator into that outlet so my causing that outlet to short out will appear normal enough. We will arrange some papers and cloth towels in close enough proximity so they will catch fire when that happens. There will be no trace of any accelerants and none will be needed.”
“So, you’re saying their investigators will determine the fire started from anelectricalfailure?” asked Sergeant FirstClass Heimbold with a grin. “They overloaded a circuit? An accident waiting to happen?”
“Exactly,” replied Missy with a big smile. “We merely need to arrange enough additional explosives so that when their munitions go off, that cascades out to here, here and here.” She pointed out the three key spots on her sketch. “Those in turn will cause more detonations here … and over here … and here and here.”
Since each of the locations which Missy was identifying was further and further away from the room where she planned to start the fire, they all studied them carefully. They had brought plenty of explosives but they wanted to assure that the right amount would be placed at each of these places. The main intent was for the cascading fires to proceed into one especially vulnerable room where Russia’s ordinances would then begin exploding such that a large portion of their site would end up in flames.
Missy explained how poorly guarded she had found the site to be. Obviously, this was because the Russians had no reason to believe they might be attacked. She had spent enough time watching the few guards who were patrolling that she could predict where they would likely be during the wee hours when her team would be entering the enormous building. Likewise, she showed them how each team member would gain access to their assigned location.
They had a plan. Now it was a matter of executing that plan. They had a full day ahead of them and after they reached Checkpoint Charlie-Two, they would go from there on foot, carrying their explosives along the paths which Missy had designated. She would be teleporting in her spirit form frompath to path to assure there were no mishaps, surprises or patrolling guards getting in the way.
Missy managed to explain this plan to Mike after her team got into their vehicles and began driving towards the next checkpoint. She wasn’t able to get specific as to each place where her team would be positioning explosives but he was able to understand the plan well enough. Plus, of course, in the event that any of the locations where the team put their explosives did not cause an adequate amount of cascading fire, they would have Missy herself using her fire witch ability to make up any difference.
Missy had briefed everyone in the morning when they were fresh. She planned to brief them again once they were at Checkpoint Charlie-Two. She would then do a quick recon in her spirit form to confirm everything or, if needed, to make any revisions. Yeah, she would be Shifting back and forth so often, she told them that she planned on merely donning that overcoat which she had stolen whenever she was in her human form that night.
Back at the SOD Group and at Team Twenty-Two Headquarters and at EUCOM’s room now dedicated to Mission Barsovo, everyone listened for Mike’s periodic updates. As checkpoint after checkpoint was reached, the mounting anticipation was very exciting.
Although there were a lot of possible problems which might have delayed or prevented the team from reaching Checkpoint Charlie-Two, the Fabulous Fates might have decided to lend a helping hand. In any case, just before midnight in Russia, Mike got the message from Missy. They had arrived. She then Shifted to her spirit form and continued to send himmessages as she once again did some further recon inside that arsenal.
Missy’s team now waited anxiously for her to return. They each prepared the pack which they would use to carry the explosives that the plan called for. Although they had weapons and ammunition in that truck, they all had so much confidence in Missy that everyone agreed to leave those behind.
Missy would confirm which path each of them would use to approach the target. She would unlock whatever doors they needed to go through. And, she would be with them as they each accomplished their assigned task and placed the explosives which they were carrying. And, after that? Yeah, she would see that each of them safely managed to return back to Checkpoint Charlie-Two.
Once she returned from this latest recon, donning that ridiculous overcoat? She would confirm everything was a go and they would execute this plan.
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Sunday, July 24, 2022
Missy did make a few minor revisions to the plan when she got back. Then, she said, “You each know what your assignment is and I’ll be right there watching over you from the time you leave here until the moment you get back. You will then climb into our vehicles and start back towards each of our previous checkpoints.”
