September 14, 1977

 

In less than an hour he heard Bernadette and Terry coming through the scrub pines. He slowly worked his way back out of the clump of mountain laurel covering their observation post and went back to meet them.

“Something big is going on down there. I just saw a Russian expert on terrorism, whose picture I’ve seen, get out of a car right below our observation post. His face was lit up by match lighting his cigarette as I was focused on him. There is no doubt the man is Yuri Kolenko. He would only be here if something big was going down. We may have to stay here for a while. I found a small spring just 20 yards down the western slope.

“Two things have to be done. The first is get into that cement block building and the second is to block the road out of here. We don’t have the tools or manpower to build a blockade they couldn’t remove in a few hours. So we ambush the first vehicle leaving the valley. “Anyone have any ideas?”

“Will we have to shoot our way into the building?” Bernadette asked.

“No. They won’t be expecting any opposition. I can pick the lock and take a look inside. I expect the building is a bomb-making location, and no one will be on the inside unless they are working on a bomb.”

“We have to be careful moving around. I saw three two-person teams go out on patrol. I suspect one team will remain in the valley and the other two will patrol the ridgeline around the valley. Most likely 20 or 30 feet from the edge of the ridge. It will be a while before they get here. Bernadette, you and I have to get out of our ghillie suits. They won’t help us once we are in the camp.

“Questions, scenarios, comments?”

Terry said, “It seems to me that if there is a bomb, it’s the priority item. We should do our best to avoid the patrols. We don’t know if they have radios with them, but they should. If we have to deal with them it has to be fast and quiet.”

“Bernadette, any comments?”

“Yes, I’m thinking that the sooner we get in the valley the better. There is some natural movement by the people left at the site. We may be able to mimic their movement pattern. We’ve seen both males and females in the camp. Peter and I should take on the building recon, while Terry covers us with his rifle from a point where he can see the building’s entrance with the night vision stuff.”

“Makes sense to me,” Peter said. “Let’s do it. Remember who these people are. Don’t hesitate to shoot. No prisoners. No extra risks. Terry, let’s go over your sketch of the camp and plan our route to the block building and return.”

Terry spread out his sketch and with a dimmed flashlight planned a route to get to the target building. Terry’s sketch with distances was clear. Peter asked, “How accurate are these distances?”

“Maybe an error margin of five yards every hundred.”

“Bernadette, can you put this map into your wonderful recall memory and count steps as we go?”

“Sure, let me focus on it for a few minutes.”

Peter walked over to his pack and took out 175 feet of nylon line and a set of gloves. He asked Bernadette, “Do you know how to repel down a cliff face?”

“Yes, but I have only had limited experience and mostly down buildings.”

“That’ll work. Get your gloves out.”

Terry broke in. “I’ve plotted a route for you. It’s better if you don’t take the sketch with you. Give Bernadette one more look, pick your time, and go. I figure a patrol could be by here in 15 minutes.”

“The nylon line is dark,” Peter said. “We can leave it in place. If anyone is looking that close, they’ll find our boot marks coming down the mostly bare clay slope. Okay. Bernadette, let’s go. People down there are carrying rifles so we can carry ours.”

They were up at first light. Terry had a small fire going and cooked a great breakfast of bacon, fried eggs, pan toasted wheat bread, and coffee despite Peter’s instructions of prepackaged meals only. No one complained. After breakfast, Peter packed up the food and used a light nylon line and pulley system to put the food far enough up a tree to keep bears from raiding the camp while they were gone. Food scraps were tossed in the latrine ditch and covered over. Packs shouldered, weapons checked, and an azimuth was shot toward the location of the training camp. It took another 30 minutes before Terry was satisfied with their ghillie suits and face paint.

They moved out in a no-talk routine at a careful pace with Terry in the point position and Peter bringing up rear. After an hour of a slow, careful pace, Terry held up his hand and motioned Peter and Bernadette to come forward. “We’re close. I smell wood smoke and believe I heard a faint motor noise, probably a gasoline generator.”

Peter moved up beside him and listened. He already smelled the wood smoke. Peter opened all his senses and stood very still.

The day in mid-September in West Virginia could have been clear and bright, but it wasn’t. This was more like September in Moscow. The cold, damp overcast sky settled down over the forest. When he was a young KGB trainee, he and a few others used to wander the forests on the Western edge of Moscow. If it rained or was just too cold and windy, they would go into one of the many cement pill boxes built to stop the German advance, the same way his parents fought at Stalingrad to stop the Germans. He hadn’t thought of those earlier times in Russia for years. Now here he was carrying a rifle in the mountain forest of West Virginia to stop a Russian-backed training camp for terrorists. Like his parents and those forgotten Russian soldiers who fought from those crumbling fortifications, he would not fail. He felt the blood of his wilderness warrior grandfather coursing through him. For the first time in his life, he felt like a warrior.

“Peter! Peter!” said Terry. “Where are you?”

“I’m here. Just thinking. Wait here, I’m going ahead to find an observation hide where we can spend some hours getting the pattern of the camp down cold.”

He was back in 30 minutes. Peter motioned for Terry and Bernadette to come in close. “We’re a lot closer than I thought. There is a steep drop-off just 50 yards ahead. The drop-off forms the western wall to a small valley maybe a mile by half a mile. At the bottom of the western wall is a cluster of six small recreational vehicles and two large tents. A larger cement block, flat-roofed building is approximately 75 yards north of the RV cluster.

“I saw a dozen people walking around, all armed. Before I came back here they all went into one of the large tents. Near as I could tell, one tent is for classes of some kind and the other is the mess tent.

“The leader, or at least the man who looks like the leader, is huge. Over six four and must weigh at least 250. He also carries a whistle and uses it to get people to move. No shoulder weapon but wears a large revolver on his right hip.

“Get our camera set up. Who is the best at taking pictures from cover?”

Bernadette said, “I’m good. Learned from my father before the British shot him. I’ve done a lot of casing for the IRA.”

“Okay, you’re it. Get set up. Terry, watch our back. I’ll watch and take notes while our photographer works. Terry, I know this is old stuff for you. When Bernadette comes back, come up and do some sketching and distance marking in case we have to go in at night.”

All day they manned their observation hide and collected information. Peter asked Bernadette and Terry to go back to the camp at dusk.

When Bernadette objected he said, “I want to watch to see their activity at night. I’ve carried my night vision gear. It is now time to use it.”

“I just don’t like you being here alone. Can you find your way back in the dark?”

“Yes, I have my compass, there will be decent moonlight tonight, and I have night vision gear. Just have some hot soup ready for me. I’ll only stay here a few hours longer. Now go with Terry. Okay?”

“Okay, but I still don’t like it.”

Two hours later, Peter finished his recon of the cliff’s edge, moved back to the observation hide, and was preparing to pack up and start back to the camp when he noticed a growing source of light across the valley where the jeep trail came through a small pass. He thought, That has to be a vehicle. This might be interesting. He switched off his night vision gear and picked up his spotting scope. As the vehicle drew closer, he could see that it was a gray Ford pickup with several passengers. The pickup parked practically right below him. He could hear the doors close and some bits and pieces of conversation. Two of the men were speaking Russian. He focused his scope on the two men who had walked off a few yards to have a private conversation.

The man facing him lit a cigarette. In the glare of the match flame he saw his old KGB friend, Yuri Kolenko, the man who led the team that killed his wife and daughter. If Yuri is here, something big is going on. I’m betting he will not stay the night. I’ve got to go down there. Peter used his radio to call Bernadette and Terry. On the second try he got Bernadette and said, “Come back here with Terry. Some big game has just arrived.”

The supper of hot soup, trail mix, and instant rice with hot sauce was over and the small fire was dying down. Since sundown it had been growing colder. Terry volunteered to take the first watch from a promontory a hundred feet above and south of their camp.

Bernadette said, “I don’t care if my uncle is sitting up above us. Put these sleeping bags together. I’m cold and want you to love me. I promise I won’t scream. With the kind of life you lead, I want to be with you. Not wasting a day. I feel the odds are going to catch up with us before I can give you a house full of Brandons.”

“Bernadette, as long as we are facing so many dangers, enjoy each day. I don’t want to live my entire life being so careful and protective. I don’t see any relief for at least two years. I want to hold you close and not make your life so difficult, you may decide to leave.”

“No chance. You couldn’t drive me away. I’m here and here to stay. My uncle has already told me living with you would be dangerous. My life has always been dangerous. You have given me something to live for. Before I met you, all I had was a belief to die for. This is better. Now it is bed time.”

When they reached the high point of 1,000 feet, Terry asked Bernadette to lay out the next line of march, which she did correctly in quick time. Before they started out, Terry said, “Let’s check our packs. I think I heard some pack noise from my point position.” Terry quickly found the problem in Bernadette’s pack and padded the rattling items. He also put the heavier items on the bottom to make the pack less top-heavy.

Terry took a quick look at Peter’s pack and said, “You’ve done this before. Bernadette, note where Peter is carrying his ammo, right where his left hand can quickly get a loaded magazine. At the next stop we do a foot check and another one two hours later. We cannot deal with bad blisters or turned ankles. We have to be able to move very fast without worrying about a sore foot or painful ankle.”

Bernadette insisted on carrying an equal load. Peter noted she showed no signs of fatigue even though they had been climbing steadily. He thought, this Irish girl is incredible. I didn’t think after my wife was killed that I could ever love again. I was wrong. I love this woman and must protect her. I wish she was back with Jack. So far this seems too routine. I have to keep my edge. Terry is good at this stuff. This is probably a walk in the park to him. Must remember these people are serious and very dangerous.

An hour before the light began to fail, Peter said, “Okay, this looks like decent campsite. I judge we’re within two miles of the training camp. We should be several hundred feet above the camp of the bad guys. I’d like to keep that advantage.

“Tomorrow morning we’ll find the camp and set up our hides. The camp shouldn’t be hard to find. There is a jeepable road into the camp from the east. We’ll be approaching from the west and should not be in their extended training area. I don’t know how their shooting ranges, if any, are oriented. If we stay a few hundred feet higher than their camp we shouldn’t have to contend with any danger from their firing range.

“There is another problem. I’ve no idea what they are teaching in the camp. Logically, they are not teaching standard military skills, such as patrolling, use of mortars, heavy machine guns, or shoulder-fired rockets. I expect they are teaching casing of targets, communications between cells or individuals, recruitment of sources, placement of explosives, maybe bomb making, small arms, and standing up to interrogation techniques. The training subjects make me believe they won’t be roaming in the hills around their camp but they may have lookouts posted. Now a treat. I always travel with some scotch but in this case I have some Irish whiskey. Does anyone pass?”

September 12, 1977

 

Leaving the Nguyens, Jack, and Rip at the cabin with the Cadillac, Peter, Bernadette, and Terry climbed in the big cab of the pickup. A locked box secured into the truck bed contained their weapons, camp gear, extra clothing, ghillie suits, and provisions. Peter drove. “My hope is that we won’t have to go into the camp. From the maps and photos we looked over, we should be able to find a place where we can camp a mile or so from the training camp in a good defensive position with multiple escape routes.

“Three days of observation and photographing with our new super duper long-range camera that weighs too much should give us time to collect what we need. It’s possible we may have to go in the camp building or buildings, but not until we totally understand the tempo and activity of the camp.

“I’ll drive through Charleston on the main drag looking for the turn off to County Route 20. We’ll continue for ten miles southwest on Route 20 and look for a place to get this truck off the road and far enough into the tree line, so with our black tarp thrown over it, we can leave it for a few days. My estimate is it will take us a little more than a day’s walk to get into position. If for any reason we get separated, we meet at the truck. I know we’ve been over this, but I like to cover the essentials to refresh our plans and maybe discover some flaws.”

“Our radios are in the clear,” Terry said. “We must be careful how we use them.”

“Yes. Only messages of a few words. I don’t think there is an intercept capability any place near here. But Terry’s right. Act as if your communication could be intercepted.”

Bernadette asked, “What kind of a camp are we going to set up?”

“Minimal. No tent. We’ll tie up a tarp if it rains. I don’t expect we’ll get out of these clothes until the job is done. We won’t have to wear the ghillie suits in camp. No sense in scrubbing the green and black skin paint off. A very small, no-smoke fire for hot liquids, coffee, and soup. Meals are all prepackaged. We will have one person awake at all times in a position to watch over the camp. If we need to we should be able to move our camp in minutes. We will try to always be in sight of each other. Any person in an advanced position will always be covered by two rifles.

“I want to avoid any firefights. But if one happens, we take no prisoners. It’s better to mess up the mission rather than lose one of us.”

Bernadette said, “We’ve gone ten miles. Our map shows a series of fire roads in the forest. A couple cross Route 20 just ahead. I suggest you take the second one.”

Peter slowed and shifted into four-wheel drive.

Terry said, “Up there about 50 yards. See that slight break in the tree line?”

Peter checked his mirror, braked, and pulled into the fire road. He said, “Now look for a place to hide our black truck.”

Bernadette pointed. “Straight ahead, on the right by that large pine tree.”

Peter said, “Looks good,” and powered the Ford through the soft pine branches and parked in a grove of 20-foot pines. When they had their gear out of truck and covered it with a black plastic tarp, it was almost invisible. Peter and Bernadette had selected the AR-15 as their shoulder weapons. The automatic rifle was light with a choice of 20-or-40 round magazines. It was not a burden to carry 300 rounds of the light ammunition. Terry stuck with his favorite, the US M40A1 Sniper with the 10x scope.

Terry had the map spread out on the Ford’s tarp-covered hood. Bernadette, looking intently at her compass, said, “Okay. What am I to do with this?”

Terry laughed. “Okay, Irish city girl, watch and learn.”

With Bernadette watching every move, Terry laid his compass on the map and drew a line from their current location to a destination close to the suspected terrorist training camp. Terry said, “Once we get to this place I’ve marked on the map, I’ll do the same thing again, getting closer to the camp each time. Professionals like me call those lines azimuths. Use your great memory to remember the degrees of each azimuth. To find the truck from our next destination, simply follow the reverse line, or azimuth.”

“I hate to say it but that sounds simple. I understand it and never had any of your fancy courses.”

“The only other lesson for you is to always trust your compass. In doubt, it is right and you are wrong.”

Later that night when Peter and Bernadette were sitting around a small campfire by their tent, Peter asked Bernadette about her uncle. Peter said, “I see a six-foot-two heavily muscled man who is immensely strong with hair clipped as short as the clippers could cut. Beyond that and my respect for his integrity and kindness, I only know I like him very much.”

“I read some papers he had lying on his desk when he was making an application for foreign security work of some kind. I’ll give you what I remember.” Bernadette stared at the flickering small flames and started to recite. “Terry left the service as a colonel with multiple tours of special operations combat duty in Vietnam and as a combat advisor in Angola and Central America. Two Silver Stars, three Purple Hearts with the scars to go with them, and numerous campaign ribbons were listed under awards. They didn’t mean anything to me and I didn’t focus on them. There was practically no weapons course he had missed. Weapons training, operational planning assignments, and intelligence collection and analysis were where he excelled. He is good with languages with a natural ability to learn languages. In addition to Chinese he speaks Spanish, French, and German.”

“Bernadette, you have amazing recall.”

“I’ve always been able to recall and see things in my mind, if it was important to me. Focusing is the important part. You want me to tell you about our first night together?”

“No. I’d sooner you show me.”

“Okay! I’ll lead, you follow. I knew you had some promise.”

Two and a half weeks later, the storage area in the mineshaft was nearly completed. Peter, Terry, and Bernadette built a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookcase on the back wall of the master bedroom. Behind the space for a TV set, Peter installed a switch hidden behind a power plug to swing open a door-sized section of the bookcase. The switch, operated by turning the power outlet lower plug one-half turn counter-clockwise, caused a section of the bookcase to smoothly rotate on its center support.

The finished hidden room was about 15 by 30 feet. Several black, good-quality metal four-drawer filing cabinets lined one wall. A large gray metal desk with an IBM electric typewriter, a black metal supply cabinet, and three metal chairs completed the furnishing.

The concrete block walls were painted white with a textured paint. The cement floor was painted light beige with three small oriental carpets to relieve the sterile atmosphere. A large white board with an array of markers and a cork wall to hang maps covered a side wall.

The atmosphere in the room did not have the damp musty feeling of an underground storage area. The thermostat controlling the electric baseboard heaters maintained a constant 68 degrees. Two large grated vents in the ceiling provided heat and cooling. A metal conduit containing the power lines ran down both long walls. A metal door was set into a cement block wall at the back of the room. Behind the door was the beginning of a small, well-stocked armory. A glass case of handguns lined one wall. On the opposite wall a series of gun cabinets held an assortment of sporting rifles and shotguns. Terry said, “Later we can add some automatic weapons like, M-16s, the shortened AR-15 version, Uzis, and AK-47s. None of them are hard to buy, but it takes time to find the right sellers.”

“I like the escape you built into the back of this hidden room,” Bernadette said. “Who would believe that behind the next door was a way out of here?” She raised the locking lever bar and stepped into the darkened space beyond. Peter and Terry followed her into the tunnel. A small point of light identified a light switch that dimly illuminated a long narrow tunnel that seemed to lead deeply into the mountain. Except for a few ventilation shafts and old shoring timbers, the tunnel was bare. After about 30 feet the tunnel turned sharply to the right and angled toward the surface. Another 10 feet and there was an aluminum ladder fastened to shoring timbers. At the top of the ten-foot ladder was a trapdoor.

Bernadette started up the ladder. Peter whispered to Terry, “Do you think she can open the trapdoor?”

“You’re damn right I can and stop whispering like a couple of school boys.”

She reached the trapdoor and opened the locking bar. She pushed upward. Nothing happened. Bracing herself, Bernadette put her shoulders against the door and pushed steadily upward using her legs. The trap door started to swing up. She gathered her strength and thrust up as hard as she could. The door swung up and crashed open.

“So much for a quiet escape,” Bernadette muttered as she was climbing out of the hatchway. She moved to one side to let Peter and Terry climb out. They were all in a small cave that looked out over the valley. The cave was only big enough for three people to sit under the short overhang. The trap door had been concealed with small stones, loose dirt, and leaves. Bernadette said, “Okay, who is the woodsman that weighted the door to camouflage it?”

Terry said, “I guess I over did it a bit. I’m surprised you could open it.”

“It’s a good thing I went up first. You two wimps would have needed help. What good is an escape route that almost can’t be opened and then makes a huge noise in opening?”

Peter said, “How about an excellent Vietnamese lunch?” They all started back through the tunnel to the cabin.

Bernadette said, “It’s a good thing I’ve been working so hard or I’d be fat as a pig by now. The Nguyens are excellent cooks. I’ve no interest in going out to lunch. With them here, I could live here permanently. I don’t know how they do it. One of them is nearly always awake. I took a walk outside the tent before first light a few days ago. Mr. Nguyen was moving quietly on the slope leading to the tent. He saw me. Stopped and raised his shotgun over his head to keep from scaring me even more. I’m glad they’re on our side.”

“You wouldn’t believe the firefights they have been in,” Terry said. “Between them, they have more combat experience than most Special Forces troops.”

Peter said, “With them watching at night and Rip never leaving Jack’s side, I can almost relax. Jack and Rip have learned how to entertain themselves without constant adult supervision. One of the workmen got too close to Jack, and Rip moved between them and growled. He’s full-grown but will add more muscle. He knows his job.

“Given that Bernadette and I have some bad enemies, I want to keep the existence of this place to our small group. Do we want to stage out of here to check out and possibly take down the training camp?”

“I like it here,” Bernadette said. “I feel safer here than in the city. IRA types aren’t as comfortable in the mountains and forests as they are in any urban location. My vote is stage from here. Thanks to the gun shows we’ve hit in the last three weeks, there is a better selection of weapons here.”

“Don’t let this go to your head little niece, but you are very good,” Terry said. “I’ve seldom had such good students. Either one of you can have my back. Peter, you are a natural. It must be in your blood.”

While Terry was talking, Peter wondered what Terry would say if he told him both his mother and father were decorated snipers, and that he had been conceived on the Stalingrad battlefield.

“Your set up is a little unorthodox but the results are outstanding. I agree with my beautiful and lethal niece. Let’s stage out of here.”

“Okay, here it is! Bernadette, we need you on this trip. I wish we didn’t. I’d feel better if you were here with Jack. For his sake as well as yours. I feel we are a family, including brother Terry, and I don’t want to lose anyone. On this trip it is not the mission first. Our safety is first.”

The Brandon crew had been in the cabin for almost two weeks. It was as if the outside world didn’t exist. The contractor finished his work, and the daily coming and going of trucks was over. All were in love with the privacy and views of the forest-covered mountains. Jack loved to run down the grassy slope with Rip and jump in the creek. Peter enjoyed going to town in the new four-wheel drive Ford pickup truck and was putting the skills he had learned as a carpenter’s helper in Canada to good use. He was happy. He loved working with his hands and he had a natural skill both with weapons and tools.

With Terry’s help, he replaced the outside door with a modern steel-line door and a dead-bolt locking device. They also added an alarm system that covered all the outside windows and door as well as the driveway. Motion-activated sensor lights were put on the cabin’s four corners.

As they were standing at the entrance to the mine, Terry said,“I think the first 100 or so feet of this mine is the original cave. At some point, maybe a 100 years ago, a family living on or near this site used this cave as the first part of a coal mine. Notice where it narrows severely. That is where they started digging.”

Peter said, “I want to extend the master bedroom into the cave to create a hidden room to store weapons and use as an escape route from the cabin if ever necessary. My plan is to prepare the entrance to the cave, pour a six-inch concrete slab inside the cave, and then build the extension room inside the cave. Later I’ll simply join it to the bedroom by a hidden door.”

Terry said, “No problem. With some hard work and a rented backhoe, we could easily build the extension into the mine. When we’re finished, it would look as if the cabin’s back wall was flush with the hillside. Six months after it’s completed, I doubt anyone could tell from looking at the outside.”

Peter said, “Are you telling me that you can run a backhoe?”

“Yes and a bulldozer, if necessary. Part of the skills I picked up between jobs and summers, when I was struggling to get through Furman University without owing anybody anything.”

“Let’s go rent a backhoe and I’ll call the contractor and get him to pour a floor in the cave for a storage area.”

“If we get a backhoe today, your contractor can come tomorrow to get ready to pour the floor. A couple of hours to do the pouring and a couple of hours to finish off the floor. In three days we should be able to start building your secret room,” Terry said.

“I think we could finish by two weeks from today,” Peter said. “I’ll have the contractor run power to the storage area, too.”

After a tiring two-day trip, the Brandon caravan of a new pickup truck and Peter’s Cadillac pulled into the cabin’s parking area. The workmen were gone. Even the extensive repairs to the six foot, black chain-link fence enclosing the cabin and ten acres was finished.

Everyone helped unload the vehicles. The Nguyens delayed any food preparation until Mrs. Nguyen got the kitchen scrubbed down. Bernadette tried to help but got chased away. She then took charge of getting the tent set up down by the creek. Terry walked around the cabin, noting where floodlights and sensors should be installed. Rip and Jack went into exploring mode and soon had covered the cabin and fenced grounds. The small creek was the best. Rip and Jack romped and splashed in the creek and made enough noise to scare wildlife miles away. Peter and Bernadette stopped the setting up of the campsite to watch the now full-grown Bouvier and Jack frolic in the brook.

Bernadette said, “Why can’t it stay like this? Watching them makes me want to have a baby sister for Jack.”

“If we can get through one more year and get you away from the IRA, who knows. With luck maybe your wish can come true.”