Ice Station - Matthew Reilly [102]
‘Uh-huh,’ Cameron said, ‘and you claim it does this by inserting men into elite military units?’
‘Compromising front-line military units is only one part of the ICG’s overall strategy, Mr Cameron. It’s also one of the easiest parts. Think about it,’ Trent said. ‘The Joint Chiefs of Staff are part of the ICG. They can ensure that men of their choosing – ultra-loyal men; usually older enlisted men, senior sergeants, gunnery sergeants; the career soldiers – get placed in the right units. And by “the right units” I mean the rapid-response units, the front-line units that get to battle scenes first. The Marine Recons, the Navy SEALs, the Army Rangers.
‘But having men inside front-line military units is only good for getting sudden things like enemy spy satellites that fall out of the sky or meteorites that crash down to earth.
‘Look at it this way: a meteorite lands in the middle of the Brazilian jungle. We send in the Marines. The Marines secure the area and grab the meteorite. Then, if something of value is found inside that meteorite, you eliminate the Marines who found it.’
‘You eliminate them?’
‘Think about it,’ Trent said bitterly. ‘You can’t have a team of highschool-educated grunts running around with the most highly-prized national secrets – secrets that could put the United States twenty years ahead of the rest of the world – bouncing around inside their heads, now can you?
‘Hell, you don’t need sodium nitrate to get that sort of information out of a low-level soldier. You give him a few beers, a pretty girl and the slightest hint that he has a chance of getting a blow job and your average Marine corporal will be telling Miss Big Tits everything he knows about the glowing green meteorite he found on a mission in the jungles of Brazil.
‘Don’t forget the value of these secrets, Mr Cameron,’ Trent said. ‘The loss of a couple of foot soldiers does not even begin to compare with the value of a twenty-year head start on the rest of the world.’
Pete Cameron interrupted him. ‘All right, then, how often does something like this happen? The elimination of an entire unit. I mean, it’s got to be pretty rare.’
Trent nodded. ‘It is rare. I only know of it happening on four occasions in the last fifteen years.’
‘Uh-huh,’ Cameron cocked his head doubtfully. ‘Mr Trent, I see what you’re saying, but something like this would require a whole network of well-placed people. High-ranking soldiers who aren’t just part of the Joint Chiefs but who are well placed in the bureaucracy –’
‘Mr Cameron, do you know who Chuck Kozlowski is?’
‘I’ve heard the name –’
‘Sergeant Major Charles R. Kozlowski is Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. Do you know what the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps is, Mr Cameron?’
‘What?’
‘The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps is the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer in the Corps. An enlisted man, Mr Cameron, the highest-ranking enlisted man. Chuck Kozlowski has been a Marine for thirty-three years. He’s one of the most decorated soldiers in the country.’
Trent paused. ‘He’s also ICG.’
Cameron stared at Trent for a long moment, then he wrote down the name.
Chuck Kozlowski.
Trent said, ‘He’s the guardian angel of every crooked soldier in the Corps. Someone told me he even came down to Peru after my incident and personally escorted the surviving Marines – the traitors; all of them senior enlisted men – back home. He reassigned them without even a blink. I’m told he even recommended one for a fucking medal.’
‘Jesus . . .’
‘That’s your network, Mr Cameron. A network that has infiltrated the enlisted ranks of the United States Marine Corps all the way to the very top – to the extent that it even determines which