Free WAR by Ira Tabankin Page A

days ago.”
    “Then they could already be at or across the border.”
    “Yes sir. Sir, we easily outnumber them. At Pendleton alone we have 42,000 people, including the I Marine Expeditionary Force composed of the 1st Marine Division, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, 1st Marine Logistics Group, 11th, 13th and the 15th Marine Expeditionary Units.  There’s also the 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade. There are also two armored battalions at the new National Training Center. We have a fighter wing at Topanga and one at Nellis. We should have no problems kicking the Russians off our soil.”
    President Rand replies, “Admiral that’s all fine, however, if as President Brownstone said, the Russians are already in position, they could hit us while we’re in transit. Plus they know we’re not going to bomb the city. If they get into the center of the city, we’re going to have a problem digging them out with all of the civilians in the city. I don’t want our or other civilians harmed.”
    The Commandant of the US Marine Corps replies, “Sir, I’d like to send a Marine Force Recon team into Vegas to check it out.”
    President Rand says, “Approved. I also suggest we fly an Aurora over the city to see if their sensors spot anything out of the ordinary.”
    General Wilson, the commanding general of the US Air Force, replies, “Sir, we’ll have an Aurora up and over the city within fifteen minutes. It doesn’t have far to fly from its base, Area 51. It’ll send the video live to us here.”
     
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    Russian Commanding General Chekov orders his people to move as quickly as possible to Las Vegas. They bribed their way across the border. Chekov unloads his people in the desert 20 kilometers outside of the city. He plans to capture the city as the sun rises. He knows most of the city will be sleeping and captured unaware of the invasion. He orders a cold camp for the evening. He doesn’t want any American sensor to spot a thermal image from their camp fires. Unknown to the Russian general, a high-flying surveillance airplane, the Aurora, has overflown their position three times. Flying at 100,000 feet and at Mach 5 the spy plane makes five circular passes over Las Vegas. The images are sent live to the Pentagon and the White House. The pilot continues to circle while her images are reviewed in Washington DC.
    “Blackbird one, hold for the NCA actual.”
    The pilot thought to herself, oh shit, the President himself. I didn’t expect to get orders directly from the White House .
    “Major do you copy?”
    “Sir, I copy 5 by 5.”
    “Major, good job getting up so quickly. Frankly it’s amazing. How did you manage that?”
    “Sir, we were prepping the bird for a flight over the Pacific tonight, all I had to do, was change the coordinates of the target.”
    “Major, the images you captured are excellent quality. We’d like you to take another pass 12 miles west of the city. Can you manage that?”
    “Sir, already handling it, you should have the images within a minute, I just overflew the location.”
    “Major, we have them, you can RTB, when you do, refuel and be ready to take her up again if we need more pictures.”
    Chekov’s handheld radio pings, “Da?”
    “Sir, we’ve been overflown by a high flying aircraft.”
    “How high? Commercial?”
    “Sir, unless American commercial planes fly at Mach 5, it’s their new blackbird.”
    “OK, we have to assume they somehow found us. Sound the alarm, we’ll attack tonight.”
    Chekov climbs aboard his T90 main battle tank leading his 288 vehicles towards Las Vegas, which has no idea an invader is twelve miles away and closing every minute.
    While the Russian tanks are advancing on Las Vegas, Ron, Bev, Brad and Kathy are enjoying cocktails at a formal dinner in the ballroom of the Wynn hotel. Ron introduced his friends to the Mayor, Chief of Police, and the Wynn’s owner. Brad taps Ron on his shoulder saying, “Hey