Chapter 4 - The Black Hawk Over the Parade Ground
Briggs’s smirk twitched, but his arrogance was too deeply entrenched to allow panic to penetrate.
“Nice theatrics, Lieutenant,” Briggs mocked, crossing his arms. “You hired some actor on an encrypted phone to pretend to be a general? Do you know what the penalty is for impersonating flag officers under the UCMJ?”
“Shut up, Briggs,” Captain Vance hissed, suddenly standing up from his table, his face draining of color.
“Captain? You’re not actually falling for this—”
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD.
The rhythmic, earth-shaking vibration of twin heavy-lift turboshaft engines rattled the reinforced glass windows of the dining facility.
The ceiling fixtures swayed.
Outside, across the manicured green grass of the division parade ground, a specialized VIP-configured UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter—bearing the four silver stars of a full General on its nose—touched down in a whirlwind of dust and rotor wash.
Two tactical humvees from the 716th Military Police Battalion screeched to a halt along the dining facility perimeter curb, light bars flashing red and blue.
The double glass entrance doors of the mess hall were thrown open by two armed Military Police captains.
“ATTENTION ON DECK!” a sergeant major bellowed from the doorway, his voice cracking like a whip through the cavernous hall.
Three hundred soldiers, corporals, and sergeants leaped out of their plastic chairs as if struck by lightning, snapping their heels together and standing at rigid, trembling attention.
Marching down the center aisle of the dining facility was General Thomas Carter.
At fifty-eight, General Carter was a towering, broad-shouldered legend of the infantry. Dressed in operational combat fatigues adorned with four gleaming silver stars on his chest and the Combat Infantryman Badge with two stars, his face was carved out of unforgiving granite.
May you like
Flanking him were Colonel Marcus Stone, Director of Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID), and Command Sergeant Major David Miller.
Captain Vance’s knees buckled. He grabbed the edge of his table to keep from collapsing.
