Read MacK Bolan No. 62: Day of Mourning for Free Online Page B

closed behind them, leaving them in private with the man who strode forward to greet them.
    Bolan had never met any of the presidents he had served under as Colonel John Phoenix. A good soldier must remain apolitical, was Bolan's philosophy.
    The president shook hands with each man in turn. Up close, the chief executive showed a strain not discernible in the media pictures Bolan had seen. The president looked tired and edgy.
    "You have my word, gentlemen, that this meeting is strictly off the record, any record," the Man told them. "This meeting has never taken place. I'm in Louisville, and you are not here. Please be seated. Let us attend to this business as expediently as possible."
    The four men seated themselves in a loose circle of wing chairs just off from the president's desk.
    "Mr. President," began Lee Farnsworth, "Stony Man has screwed up a mission that the CFB spent over a year setting up. It's happened before, too."
    "Let's have specifics," growled Brognola. "What mission of yours have we supposedly screwed up?"
    "The Dragon," said Farnsworth.
    The president glanced at Hal and Bolan.
    "Is this true, gentlemen? I'm familiar with The Dragon file. Has Stony Man become involved?"
    Hal looked itchy to light one of his cigars, but it was widely known that the president was a reformed smoker.
    "We do have a three-man combat unit called Able Team that is working The Dragon angle," Hal admitted.
    "The Atlantic thing," put in Farnsworth. "That was another angle of it."
    "So it came together from different sides," gruffed Brognola. "If Able Team get their hands on The Dragon, it saves CFB the work."
    "The Dragon is not the top man in his corner of the world," groused the CFB boss. "He has a partner. You didn't know that because it was our men who developed the intel. The Dragon runs the enforcement arm of the organization. The partner carries the list of names of backers and associates around in his or her head. This partner will sacrifice The Dragon if he has to. It's important to our mission that The Dragon's partner not have any idea that we have a mole inside his organization."
    "Get back to Able Team," said Brognola.
    "If Able Team had been allowed to hit The Dragon's fortress, the CFB would have risked the operation and the life of the contact we have inside."
    "You're speaking of Able Team in the past tense," said Bolan, with a sinking feeling.
    "Our man next to The Dragon blew the whistle," Farnsworth said smugly. "The Dragon has been alerted. He's already lit out from that fort of his."
    "At least you alerted Able Team," said Hal, but the words came out a question.
    "Stony Man has stepped on our toes often enough to need a lesson," growled Farnsworth. "Your men of Able Team are the lesson." He turned to the president. "Sir, we lost two men in Morocco last year because Stony Man operated in the area without CFB clearance. It happened the year before that to an agent in El Salvador."
    Bolan felt his fury rising. He slowly got to his feet and felt the eyes of the others following him.
    "Are you telling me that you've left our men in those mountains to be slaughtered?"
    Bolan hardly recognized his own voice.
    "This happens because the CFB and Stony Man are two completely different types of operations trying to do the same job in the same territory," rasped Farnsworth.
    The president frowned.
    "Dammit, Lee, sometimes you go too damn far."
    "My operatives are trained in the art of espionage," Farnsworth insisted. "Their training is rooted in accomplishing a mission without making waves. That's the spy business. These Stony Man, uh, 'combat specialists,' tramp through our well-setup operations like goddamn bulls through a china shop. I submit, Mr. President, that the Stony Man project is crippling us from within. The Phoenix unit should be disbanded."
    "Deal me out if you want to," said Bolan softly. "That suits this soldier just fine."
    Brognola stood to face Bolan.
    "Striker, don't — "
    "Please, Colonel, you must