A Tan Beret Goes to Nellis

[jemhouston]

They're playing chess and Sophie is playing poker.

[Belushi TD]

Not only is Sophie playing poker, she's playing high stakes, and the Docs don't even realize they're betting, they're just saying "Call" every time she bets.

Belushi TD

[Wolfman]

When Sophie asks General Lodge that question, he’s going to have a deer in the headlights expression on his face…

[jemhouston]

When Sophie asks General Lodge that question, he’s going to have a deer in the headlights expression on his face…

Not uncommon when the two talk. General Lodge recruited her since she was smart enough to see what others didn't want to be seen, the moral courage to speak the truth, and if needed the ability to kick their butts.

[Wolfman]

When Sophie asks General Lodge that question, he’s going to have a deer in the headlights expression on his face…

Not uncommon when the two talk. General Lodge recruited her since she was smart enough to what others didn't want to be seen, the moral courage to speak the truth, and if needed the ability to kick their butts.

How’s he going to try to get out of answering the question?

[clancyphile]

When Sophie asks General Lodge that question, he’s going to have a deer in the headlights expression on his face…

Not uncommon when the two talk. General Lodge recruited her since she was smart enough to what others didn't want to be seen, the moral courage to speak the truth, and if needed the ability to kick their butts.

How’s he going to try to get out of answering the question?

Sam Lodge is probably smart enough to not try to get out of answering. He'll say he's over there, and fess up.

[Wolfman]

Not uncommon when the two talk. General Lodge recruited her since she was smart enough to what others didn't want to be seen, the moral courage to speak the truth, and if needed the ability to kick their butts.

How’s he going to try to get out of answering the question?

Sam Lodge is probably smart enough to not try to get out of answering. He'll say he's over there, and fess up.

Be an interesting scene, that’s for sure.

[Poohbah]

16 December 1987
Headquarters, 10th Air Force
Nellis Air Force Base
Las Vegas, NV

Decker looked at Sophie. "You sure this number is good?"

"Sir, is your number with General Lindsay good?"

"How did you know I have his number?"

"Lucky guess, sir. General Lodge has, on multiple occasions, told his proteges that the chain of command and the chain of information are not the same thing, and that he trusts each of us to know when to use that number."

Decker chuckled. "That's exactly the same thing General Lindsay said to me. All right, then."

Decker dialed, put it on speaker, and the phone was picked up on the first ring. "General Lodge."

Decker gestured to Sophie.

She said, "Good afternoon, sir. Let's go secure, please."

After they'd inserted their crypto keys and synced up, Sophie said, "Bottom line up front, this is a conference call. With me are Colonel Roderick Decker, US Army Special Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Hummel, United States Marine Corps, Major Harold Shagan, United States Air Force, and Major William Corley, US Army Special Forces."

"Good Lord, Chief, this is turning into a reunion! Rod, I thought you'd retired!"

"They summoned me back active, sir."

"Frank, I hope the Air Force is serving quality crayons, Force Recon Marines deserve the best."

Hummel smirked. "The food here is outstanding, sir. Much better than on the Enterprise, sir."

"Good to hear. So, what's the purpose for the call?"

Sophie said, "Sir, we have an operational problem. I'm wondering if you can explain one thing to me first, though. How did a guy whose only science education was two semesters of rocks for jocks end up becoming a program manager at the Air Force Technical Applications Center in 1982? And how did he just happen to drag with him a physicist from San Diego State who was a shoo-in to receive tenure?"

Lodge was silent for a moment, then said, "The Air Force wanted me to oversee some technical work for an outside government agency. Less about actual science and engineering, and just making sure the pieces all fit in the form factor."

Everyone looked around, and Hummel mouthed C-I-A. Sophie nodded.

"That was my first guess. Sir, I have Doctor Parsons' paper from Physical Review C. The data-crunching was supposed to be done by a machine whose specifications look like the CONS machine in the MIT AI lab. That thing was pretty cutting edge when this paper was being written, but by 1983 it was just about obsolete--the remaining CONS machine got yanked out of the lab over winter break 1983 and put in the MIT museum, and there's no way it'd stay working for two seconds in the field. Unless I miss my guess, someone went for a ruggedized VAX machine."

"By the time it was ready for deployment, it was on a ruggedized VAX 8600."

"Ivan may have copied it. And now they're collecting info on theater nuclear forces."

Sophie laid out the basics of Operation BOLO II, and the logic of her case.

Lodge was silent for a minute, then said, "It fits. It's almost certainly how they did it. The form factor was a standard forty-foot ISO trailer; you could put it on a train, put it on a truck, it's all self-contained."

"Sir, is there any chance we can get one of those units out to the Nellis Test Range with a Pershing battery and a Gryphon flight? I want some idea of how far away the missiles can be detected, that will give us an idea of how the search grid looks, and we can start figuring out how to deceive, degrade, and eventually find and destroy RED's sensor system."

"It'll require some interservice begging. But I know the guy in charge of theater nuclear forces at AAFSOUTH. He'll be able to make it happen. Gentlemen, could I have a moment alone with my protege here?"

Once the others had left, Sophie said, "Sir, everyone is giving me the runaround. What the hell is going on?"

"This was a highly classified technical intelligence mission that went to hell right at the beginning of the war, and nobody is looking forward to the damage assessment, not even me. We are going to get wire-brushed to a fare-thee-well. The difference is that I'm willing to suffer through a damage assessment so that we can do the mission better next time. Everyone else is covering their asses, including the guys at NEST."

Sophie felt the numbers flow again as she looked at the map of the United States on the wall.

"Sir . . . this is a very bold operation by Ivan. And I remember what you told me when you read me in on SCREAMING FIST: There are bold operators, there are old operators, but there are very few old, bold operators. This operation of Ivan's just might be the Rosetta Stone for their proprietaries in the United States. All we need to do is find the part we know already and tie it to the unknown parts. Those proprietaries would make good drop addresses for purported shipments--cover for status for why these trucks are on those roads."

"And then we can get them shut down. I'll get my people right on it."

"Don't shut them down before BOLO II executes, sir."

"Excuse me?"

"I want to drag the detection trucks through Kansas south of I-70 and down into Oklahoma so that the 335th gets a good angle for hitting the transient bases. I want them to burn as many of their their proprietaries as possible, I want their trucks getting tagged six ways to Sunday, and I want the commander of the 16th Air Army to think he has valid targets. I want us to appear to be fat, dumb, and happy. And at the end of the day, I want Ivan to realize that he was never stalking us, but that instead, we were hunting him. I don't want to just win this round. I want to completely break Ivan's spirit. I want to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentations of his women, sir."

"Chief, I do believe I've created a monster."

"Blame Ivan, sir. They drew first blood, not me. They drew first blood."

[Johnnie Lyle]

Payback is a bitch.

[Matt Wiser]

It is that. There are two lessons about to be administered here: 1) Ivan, you messed with the wrong people; 2) And you should have stayed home.

[Johnnie Lyle]

It is that. There are two lessons about to be administered here: 1) Ivan, you messed with the wrong people; 2) And you should have stayed home.

Three lessons
3) You’re not as smart as you think you are

[Poohbah]

At this point in her life, when Sophie stares into the abyss, the abyss breaks eye contact, and then awkwardly changes the subject.

[Johnnie Lyle]

At this point in her life, when Sophie stares into the abyss, the abyss breaks eye contact, and then awkwardly changes the subject.

It’s what, the third or fourth year of the nastiest war of a century of nasty wars?

The Abyss isn’t looking anyone in the eye anymore. Humans are too damn crazy for it. It’s run screaming for the exit, hit the first bar it could find and ain’t been sober since.

[clancyphile]

Sophie's collecting a huge installment for her MIT classmate who went to Columbia...

Yob tvoyu maht, Chebrikov.

[jemhouston]

Great chapter

[Wolfman]

At this point in her life, when Sophie stares into the abyss, the abyss breaks eye contact, and then awkwardly changes the subject.

It’s what, the third or fourth year of the nastiest war of a century of nasty wars?

The Abyss isn’t looking anyone in the eye anymore. Humans are too damn crazy for it. It’s run screaming for the exit, hit the first bar it could find and ain’t been sober since.

The Abyss is at this point in the war, three sheets to the wind drunk…

[jemhouston]

At this point in her life, when Sophie stares into the abyss, the abyss breaks eye contact, and then awkwardly changes the subject.

It’s what, the third or fourth year of the nastiest war of a century of nasty wars?

The Abyss isn’t looking anyone in the eye anymore. Humans are too damn crazy for it. It’s run screaming for the exit, hit the first bar it could find and ain’t been sober since.

The Abyss is at this point in the war, three sheets to the wind drunk…

Cold sober scared since we exceeded expectations

[Poohbah]

16 December 1987
Caesar's Palace
Las Vegas, NV

Roxy Skye was working a shoot that evening, but she'd arranged for Sophie to have a date with another member of the ring, Diane Renton, who also worked as a dancer in addition to starring in porn films.

Diane was taller than Sophie in bare feet; her heels put Sophie's eyes even with Diane's chin. Sophie guessed the woman was in her early 30s. She was wearing a green jumpsuit that showed off a statuesque figure, harmonized with her eyes, and set off her black hair.

Renton's smile was open, friendly. "Good to meet you, Sophie. Rona's told me a lot about you."

"All good, I hope."

Renton nodded. "It was. But you're even better-looking than she said."

"And you are a shameless flatterer. I'd kill for a body like yours."

"Clean living and good exercise go a long way, as I'm sure you know."

They headed for the buffet, and Sophie noticed Diane went for steelhead trout, a vegetable medley, and salad. Sophie did lemon garlic chicken on rice, a loaded baked potato, and buttered asparagus.

After they were seated, Sophie asked, "So what do you do for exercise?"

"I dance, do yoga, swim, bicycle . . . and take gorgeous women to bed." She smiled. "I'm bisexual, but I definitely prefer women in my private life. Most girls in the industry think I'm straight for pay."

"Straight for pay?"

"Many girls are gay for pay--lesbian sex isn't their thing in real life, they do it because the audiences like it. Me, I'm just extremely picky about my men. They need to be masculine, but not obnoxiously so, reasonably intelligent--able to keep up their end of an interesting conversation--and in decent shape. Then again, the same holds true for women--I like my partners feminine, but not the sort who faint if they see a snake. I just find it a whole lot easier to find women I'm attracted to than men. And I refuse to hang out with male co-stars, because they're usually macho jerks, dumber than a box of rocks, and they don't take proper care of themselves."

Sophie savored the meal, keeping the conversation away from work.

Discussing child prostitution isn't good for the digestion.

She asked, "Where are you from?"

Diane said, "Believe it or not, Montana. A little city called Bozeman. Mostly, we're known for being next door to the biggest contiguous ranch in the United States, the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. I came out to California to find my fortune, one thing led to another, and I'm in adult films. My family freaked out, disowned me as a harlot, and since then I've built a life in the LA area, and now here. How about you?"

"Grew up in San Diego, and I had this mutant math ability--I can see numbers, sometimes. Explain a mathematical concept to me, let me do proofs, and I can do the math in my head ever after. I was doing calculus in fifth grade, and I contributed to a couple of academic applied mathematics papers while I was in high school."

"That must've . . . marked you as different."

"Until the end of tenth grade. I had a boyfriend, and he was tall, dark, handsome . . . we were tutoring each other, I was tutoring him in math, he tutored me in Spanish, then tutored me in German because I'm absolutely hopeless with Spanish, and we discovered we liked each other. So, I was this mousy, wallflower type, no style whatsoever, and Adam worked odd jobs and saved up to give me a birthday present--a spa weekend with a makeover and a guided shopping spree at Nordstrom Rack. When I got home, my own mother didn't recognize me."

"Wow! What happened after that?"

Sophie chuckled. "Mom had long before given me the talk about love, sex, and babies. That evening, she gave me another talk. About love, sex . . . passion, and how it works . . . or doesn't. Adam and I did the deed on the night of our junior prom, and . . . well, he's going to marry me. Even if I have to ask him."

"What's he doing?"

"Special operator like me."

"I see." Diane paused, and Sophie put her hand on the other woman's.

"Cover for status is the term, if you're asking about Amanda. Enjoy it for what it is, and build your cover."

Diane nodded.

* * *

They walked toward the Dunes, intent on a Bonnie Tyler show that Sophie had scored tickets for.

The Lost Girls were out in force, and Sophie paid attention. "Whoa, they're actually soliciting on the Strip."

Diane nodded. "Ballsy move, but you can get a lot of trade in short order before LVPD realigns their vice squad to stop it."

"I've gotten one name--Jim Austin."

"I refuse to work with him. He's creepy, always has young girls hanging around, and . . . let's just say I don't like his friends, either."

"Any in particular stand out?"

"Oddly enough, it's a woman, late thirties or early forties, goes by Sally Jones, I'm pretty sure that isn't her real name. I'm certain she procures his 'girlfriends.' I ran into her once before the war. She was on the set, and between takes she decided to help herself to a grope and grab. I was not interested, told her so, and Jim told me to 'make Sally happy ' or I was off the film. I needed the money because the rent was due . . . so I resigned myself to one of the worst experiences I've ever had. Last time I ever worked with Jim. And somehow, she came up to Vegas and set up shop. If you're looking for someone who could be recruiting the Lost Girls, I'd look at her.

Suddenly, a large number--not a majority, but a sizable minority--of the Lost Girls suddenly stopped working the street and started walking purposefully, exiting the Strip.

Sophie glanced at her watch and noted the time.

And then the air raid sirens went off. Everyone started heading for hotels for shelter; they were close enough to the Dunes to get inside before the blackout went into effect.

* * *

After the concert--which was very good--finished, and the blackout lifted, Diane and Sophie made their way to Diane's house. Diane seemed . . .

Nervous?

"What's bothering you?"

"Sophie . . . I like you. And I don't want to use you--"

Sophie decided that the direct approach was best. She kissed Diane, then whispered into her ear, "This is a necessary part of our cover. Let's enjoy a night together, and worry about tomorrow when it gets here."

"Tomorrow never gets here."

Sophie smiled. "Exactly."

* * *

Inside, Diane made sure the blackout curtains were in place in the bedroom, then turned on the lights.

Sophie undressed quickly, and Diane gasped.

"Honey, you envied my figure? Yours is . . . amazing."

Sophie raised an eyebrow.

"Like . . . like a jungle cat. Sleek . . . powerful."

Sophie crossed the room to Diane and noticed the other woman's eyes dilate.

"Diane, darling, you're overdressed."

Diane said, "Sophie . . . do whatever you want to me, I'm yours, honey."

* * *

The next morning, Sophie headed down to the AFOSI spaces.

A slender redhead in khaki slacks and a chambray blouse was pouring herself a mug of coffee. Her accent was pure West Texas. "Can I help you?"

"Chief Warrant Officer Sophie Henrix, and I certainly hope so."

"Special Agent Caitlin O'Shaugnessy. First, what's your general concern?"

"I'm thinking it's counterintelligence."

O'Shaughnessy led her to an office and shut the door behind them.

She discussed the unusual behavior she'd observed. O'Shaugnessy nodded, sipped her coffee, then asked, "Sam Lodge have you working with the ACHERNAR network?"

ACHERNAR. She's been read in.

"How do you know General Lodge?"

"Met him through a mutual acquaintance shortly before the war. I worked for an air charter service in Van Nuys that had some government contracts. He briefed me that you're working here at Tenth Air Force, and to keep an unobtrusive eye on you."

Sophie said, "All right. It's covered as my social life--I'm the extraction for any of his unofficial agents he's got on the problem. He's pretty sure Ivan's redeployed some underage hookers from covering Antelope Valley to Las Vegas. Advanced aerospace programs are mostly on hold for the war, and Ivan needs operational coverage on the staff here."

O'Shaughnessy sighed. "You think that we might have some perverts here at HQ?"

"Monsters . . . seldom look like monsters. I came within an ace of being the sixth victim of the Tecolote Canyon Rapist. If it hadn't been for our two chocolate labs going berserk every time I started for the back door, I would've walked out into the back yard and gotten lifted . . . and eventually killed."

Hummel nodded. "I was a rookie Texas Ranger when that one happened; we all studied that case carefully, because he got caught right when he moved out of his home territory, it illustrated a lot of elements of serial offenders. And, yeah, he looked so . . . ordinary. Had a decent job, well educated . . . and he was an absolute monster." She sipped her coffee again, then said, "But they all moved at once?"

Sophie nodded. "Pretty much. I'm wondering if someone paged them."

"Could be. But they couldn't go through Ma Bell, not unless they really want Uncle Sugar copied on everything. Maybe someone's put something together on the sly."

Sophie nodded. "Maybe. Probably something mobile, maybe a panel truck or something; but they definitely had advanced notice of a Soviet air raid inbound. Break-break, I've developed some info. There's an adult film director who showed up in '86 named Jim Austin. He has an associate going under an alias, 'Sally Jones,' and my source thinks she procures his girls--not for the movies, for his own use, and he's got a thing for underage girls."

O'Shaughnessy noted the details, then said, "I'll run this past LVPD, maybe they have something on her. What's your angle?"

Sophie said, "Ivan's going to need a source for young girls. This isn't something you want to do directly--too much chance of getting caught. So you use a cut-out. And she's from Los Angeles, part of the San Fernando crowd that got General Lodge to create ACHERNAR."

"All right. So what happens when we find her?"

"Well, she has two options. The first is that she talks to you."

"What's the second?"

Sophie smiled. "She talks to me."

[jemhouston]

Old school wisdom from the Las Vegas mob, did the hole first, then acquire the body for it. Digging in desert is hard work and too many LEOs notice when a backhoe goes there.

Then again, an abandon mine is much easier to use.

[Wolfman]

Critters gotta eat, too.