Suzie Elliot, Evil Genius?

Chapter 15

Major Charles Dillon was not in good shape. His head was pounding, and no amount of aspirin would help. His stomach was in knots, and antacids didn't do anything to stop the pain. To top it off, he knew than once he went to see General Little, his sickness would spread to him as well. But, he had to, so he began the long walk to the general's office.

When he arrived, he paused before knocking. He dreaded giving the news that he had to deliver, but there was nobody else that could do it. Taking a deep breath, he finally gave in to the inevitable, and knocked.

"Come on in Dillon!" came the general's cheerful answer. It was going to be a shame to crush that good mood.

"Yes sir," Dillon said entering.

"So tell me, did we bag that Petra person? I told the president we were hoping for a big night with this operation!"

"Ah, no sir, not exactly."

"Well, at least we got the submarine back, right?"

"Sir, the operation was a total failure."

"What do you mean? Petra got away with the sub?"

"Unfortunately, the entire team was captured by Indian security forces. We're not sure that Petra was even there sir."

The general didn't reply. His face turned a deep red, and he started gasping like a beached fish. Quickly he reached into his pocket and he pulled out a pill bottle and shook one out. Taking it with a drink of water, he sat back and took some deeper breaths. "Major Dillon, perhaps you should start from the beginning," he said at last.

"Yes sir. As you know, we got the work from our informer, Sergeant Sinclair, that Petra wanted to meet him in India aboard the submarine that Jonathan had sold her. We're not sure what the purpose of the meeting was, but we saw it as a chance to capture Petra."

"I think we all thought that. I know that is what I told the President."

"Right. As you know, we immediately sent the Fire Ant team to Mumbai, and found the submarine. It was berthed right where it was supposed to be, and we had a speed boat in the water to evacuate when they were done. The boat would have taken Petra out to international water, where we would have used a helicopter to get her to the aircraft carrier USS Stennis, and then a flight here for interrogation."

"And somewhere in there it all broke down?"

"Yes sir. When Sergeant Sinclair went to the submarine as planned, he signaled back that it was empty. The team then approached and entered the submarine, with 2 of the team staying on top as guards, plus the communication specialist in the warehouse watching over the operation. As they were searching, the pier was illuminated by spotlights, and Indian security forces in APCs surrounded the sub. They also had harbor patrol in the water, so we couldn't get our boat to the pier either. With that being the case, the team surrendered to prevent being killed."

"So the whole team was captured?"

"Well no sir, the communication expert watched it happened, and informed us as it was happening, but there wasn't anything we could do to stop it. We evacuated him later, but the rest of the team is lost."

"Well, they didn't really do anything wrong did they? What can they be held with?"

Major Dillon hesitated. "Sir, the nuclear weapon was on board."'

"It wasn't in Greece?"

"Sir, we believe that was a ruse. Unfortunately it obviously worked."

"Okay. So now the Indian's think they were smuggling a nuke?"