Free RW11 - Violence of Action by Richard Marcinko Page B

counteroffensive.”
    Karen nodded. “Just how small were these devices?”
    “By the time I started training with them they were pretty compact. Each device weighed about 68 pounds. They were 28 inches in diameter and 30 inches tall. They could be outfitted with either a jump harness so we could parachute into the target area with them, or a flotation collar so we could deploy them from a submarine. Or you could be really bare-bones and just hump the fucker in by foot.”
    “How powerful?”
    I didn’t reply right away. Talking about man-packed nukes over coffee was something I don’t normally do. Those of us trained to take a SADM in and detonate it were carefully selected for the job. Our lives became closely monitored by counterintelligence spooks. Anyone who could jump, swim, or hump an atomic bomb to a selected target and kill 100,000+ enemy oxygen thieves by simply turning a few dials and throwing a switch is someone you want to keep tabs on. At least I fucking would if I were in charge.
    “If you had a first generation tac-nuke, you could take outmost of downtown New York by placing it in one of the subway tunnels. You’d kill at least 100,000 people and probably twice that number considering the target concentration. I can’t even imagine the kind of panic that would occur once an atomic bomb was officially identified as the cause of such a disaster. Hard headline to put across without freaking out most of John Q. Public. Chaos would reign. There’d be no reliable communications. No effective emergency medical care available. No law. No order. The National Guard wouldn’t be able to do anything more than wring their hands. One device, one SADM, detonated in the heart of any major city in this country would fuck us over beyond anyone’s worst nightmare. These devices are the ultimate terrorist weapons. They exist, they work, and they are available for the taking, as we’ve apparently just found out.”
    I poured myself another cup of coffee while Karen processed all this. I waited for her next question, pretty sure I knew what it would be. I was right.
    “When you were running Red Cell, were you ever able to steal a nuke?”
    “Yes. More than one, actually.”
    “ Damn it! ” Karen’s eyes blazed. “NSA just told me with a straight face that we’ve never lost a SADM. And you’ve now confirmed that not only can these things be stolen, but that you’ve done it yourself…”
    “I didn’t technically steal it,” I said. “I gave it back…after a while…after they were really pissed.”
    “I want to know how you did it.”
    “Okay, but you’re not going to be happy. I put two of my operators on surveillance. Their job was to collect information and intelligence about the immediate area surrounding the storage site. Which way did the vans transporting the devices turn after leaving the main gate? Did the drivers stop anywhere nearby to gas up, get a pack of smokes, have a bite to eat?
    “I then put two operators on the perimeter of the storage site itself. They gathered intel on where the security cameras were placed, if there were guard dogs on-site, whether or not ground sensors were present, what the daily routine was for all personnel assigned to work at the facility.
    “If we needed further HUMIT or shit like ID cards, I’d hire a couple of sexy working girls to dress trashy and visit the nearby bars and taverns. While the ladies were distracting our noble men in uniform with their special talents, my boyz would be lifting their wallets or going through their cars for picture ID, base passes, parking decals, and whatever else we could use to penetrate the facility.
    “We only needed two operators to actually penetrate the site and grab the nuke once we’d gathered all the intelligence we could and come up with a plan. That’s all there is to it.”
    The look of horror on Karen’s face said it all. “That’s all there is to it ?” She quickly regained her composure. “But what