Intelligence Support Activity Headquarters
Fort Belvoir, VA
December 18th, 2018
0900R
Alexander POV
It's too early in the morning for this shit, I thought to myself as I was finally cleared through security to enter the compound where the esteemed Intelligence Support Activity—nicknamed "the Activity" and "the Army of Northern Virginia"—was headquartered. They were the premier intelligence-gathering entity of the Joint Special Operations Command, the organization which also included SEAL Team 6 and Delta Force. And now, I would be a regular there... not permanently, but for some time.
"Hey! You lost?" a soldier asked, noticing my confusion as I tried to navigate the facility. He was completely bald, sporting a thick yet well-groomed salt-and-pepper beard—one of the Tier 1 operators not subject to the same grooming standards as the rest of the military.
"Looking for Lieutenant Colonel Hendricks," I replied.
"Oh, I know where he is. You with Brown Fox?"
Brown Fox, in this case, being the codename for a CIA/JSOC task force I'd been tasked to work for. I wasn't sure who came up with these weird names, but oh well.
"Yeah."
"Well... guess we're gonna be stuck together for a while. Master Sergeant Garner," the soldier introduced himself, reaching out.
"Alexander Hale," I replied, shaking his hand as we walked. "What's your background?"
"Special Forces, fourteen years. 3rd Group."
"That's out of... Fort Bragg?"
"Yep. You're OGA?"
"Yeah. Go ahead and get the jokes out now," I replied with an eye-roll, knowing all the wisecracks about being a member of the "Other Government Organization," the euphemism for the CIA.
"Mmm, nah. It's all low-hanging fruit."
"Well, come up with something original quickly then."
"I think we'll get along just fine," MSG Garner chuckled as he scanned me through a door labeled "CONFERENCE ROOM F; AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY; LEAVE ALL DEVICES OUTSIDE." It turned out to be the door to the sensitive compartmented information facility where TF Brown Fox was headquartered. We left our devices outside and entered, walking into what looked like a combination between a conference room and a computer lab. Inside was a mix of male and female personnel, soldiers and non-soldiers alike, talking amongst one another and discussing something or the other.
"Mr. Hale?" a raspy voice said, ubiquitous with that of a man who smoked a pack a day. A glance to my left revealed a clean-shaven man who didn't look under 50 years old, the rank patch his cammies designating him a lieutenant colonel.
"Colonel Hendricks," I realized as I read his nametape, shaking his hand. "You're the TF commander?"
"Yup. Welcome to the SCIF. Grab some coffee. We're hopin' you can take a look at this little issue: none of the other OGA guys are here yet."
"Sure thing, what's up?"
"Long story short, we're leaking intel," MSG Garner began. "Or rather: you're leaking intel. A lot of CIA ops have ended up compromised. And because the CIA has been crucial to a lot of JSOC stuff, you've got JSOC teams getting compromised as well."
"Where?" I asked as I poured myself a cup of coffee from the pot.
"Syria. You know anything about this?"
YOU ARE READING
Killed in Action - A Spy School Story
ActionTwo years after the events of "Operation Holiday Cheer," some members from the team are ordered by the higher-ups at the Central Intelligence Agency to work with federal law enforcement on Operation Steel Tiger. Their objective? To gather intel fo...
