RW11 - Violence of Action by Richard Marcinko

NSA is on this matter?”
    Showtime, motherfucker!
    “Not only no, but fuck no! ” I growled. Guess they were used to more genteel language here because eyes widened, jaws dropped, and I thought I even heard someone at the end of the table fart out loud. I pressed my advantage home.
    “It is my professional opinion, even after hearing the shit we just did, that we’re dealing with military professionals. Everything I’ve seen and heard so far reinforces my feeling on this. Furthermore, I’m sure our colleague from the NSA knows full well how soft our security is where SADM nuclear weapons are concerned. When I commanded Red Cell we routinely penetrated DOE and military storage facilities and on more than one occasion removed man-portable nuclear weapons without detection or intervention. If this bastard has gotten his lily-white hands on just one such device, I suggest the NSA should cut the crap and let the rest of us figure out how to get it back in one piece.”
    Carl sat still as death with only his lizard-like eyes darting back and forth as he evaluated the impact of my revelation on his peers.
    “Leave it to the NSA!” said an austere-looking woman sitting next to the now silent Troll. “Always count on them to put their own interests first. This whole city could be vaporized in the next few minutes and the NSA would tell us the fallout was just snow, even while we were melting into the floor!”
    “I must say, I agree with Judith,” interjected Karen. Turning to me she introduced Judith more completely as Judith Reich, senior advisor to the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the president’s inner circle regarding his administration’s new hard-line policy on domestic terrorism.
    “Why should we take the word of a convicted felon and nationally disgraced former naval officer, not to mention a self-admitted alcoholic, whose so-called special units were little more than undisciplined gangs of misfits and hooligans?” countered the Troll from his chair next to Ms. Reich.
    “Response, Dick?” invited Karen.
    Looking around the room, I got a few subtle nods of encouragement, and Judith gave me an encouraging wink as well. I stood up and walked around the table, stopping when I was behind the Troll’s chair. I leaned over so I was directly above the little NSA man who was now visibly shaking with anger. I had the room’s full attention.
    “In June of 1985, myself and Red Cell successfully penetrated the nuclear submarine base at New London, Connecticut. This was the home of our Trident and Ohio–class subs. Up until then it was considered impregnable. The Naval Submarine Support Facility was one of several Red Cell training exercises being conducted with the full support of the Navy. The facility is responsible, among other things, for the secure storage and handling of nuclear weapons, which are preassigned to the submarines that would carry and launch them in times of war.
    “After only seventy-two hours of premission planning and preparations we hit the base. On the second day of our operations we successfully infiltrated the sub piers. My operators posing as terrorists fixed simulated explosive devices on the dive planes of one submarine. We videotaped this for the record. Had the explosives been detonated, the sub would have been immobilized for months, and therefore taken out of the real-world game plan.”
    I paused. The Troll was sitting still. He dared not turn around to look at me. I may be a convicted felon… and an unrepentant gin-swilling, skirt chasing motherfucker…and a disgraced naval officer with a hard-on for the world and anyone who contributed to my fall from fucking Grace. But right here and right fucking now I was going to chew up and spit out the Troll who’d done me dirty in front of a room full of strangers and my new boss. Take a fucking note! Whosoever fucketh with the Rogue Warrior be fucked in return tenfold.
    I continued.
    “We also entered the submarine and