The Last Patriot - Brad Thor [98]
“Eaton recruited the pasha of Tripoli’s brother, Hamet, the rightful heir to the Tripolitanian throne who was in exile in Egypt, to aid in a little eighteenth-century regime change. Their target was the wealthy and highly fortified port city of Derna.
“After an hour of heavy bombardment from the USS Nautilus, Hornet, and Argus, under the command of Captain Isaac Hull, Hamet led his soldiers southwest to cut off the road to Tripoli while the Marines and the rest of their hired mercenaries attacked the harbor fortress.
“Many of Derna’s Muslim soldiers were terrified of the Marines and quickly retreated, leaving their cannons and rifles unfired.
“Through the chaos and pandemonium in the streets, a small unit of Marines split off from their colleagues on a top secret assignment from President Jefferson. Their job was to infiltrate the governor’s palace. There was a small snag, though.
“Over the objection of Lieutenant O’Bannon, Hamet and his Arab mercenaries had identified the governor’s palace as their second objective after securing the road to Tripoli.
“O’Bannon’s contingent of Marines was told they had to get in and get out before Hamet and his men arrived. Their primary objective was to recover a very important item for the president.”
“Let me guess,” said Harvath. “This very important item had something to do with al-Jazari.”
Nichols nodded. “The Marines fought run-and-gun, as well as hand-to-hand, battles all the way to the governor’s palace. Like their fellow Marines fighting at the harbor, their bravery was unparalleled and would set the standard for every Marine action from then on.
“Within an hour and fifteen minutes of the initial ground assault, Lieutenant O’Bannon raised the American flag over the harbor fortress. It was the first time the stars and stripes had ever been flown over battlements outside of the Atlantic. Shortly thereafter, O’Bannon’s covert Marine unit returned, having successfully completed their assignment.
“After holding the city and repelling a counterattack, Eaton wanted to press farther into Tripoli, but Jefferson held him back, preferring instead to conclude a peace treaty and secure the release of all Americans being held in Tripoli, in particular the crew of the USS Philadelphia, which had run aground in Tripoli Harbor eighteen months before.
“Though Eaton, like O’Bannon and his Marines, returned home a hero he always felt that Jefferson had sold him out. He never knew of the Marines’ covert operation and the real reason for attacking Derna.
“An interesting footnote is that after the victory, Prince Hamet presented Lieutenant O’Bannon with a scimitar used by his Mameluke tribesmen in appreciation of his courage and that of his Marines. This is the model for the saber the Marines still carry to this day.”
Harvath stood up, set the puzzle box on the desk, and walked over to place another log on the fire. “Even as a Navy man,” he said, “I’m willing to admit that the Marines have an impressive lineage.
“What’s interesting, though, is that I’ve never heard about the covert operation at Derna.”
“Nobody has,” replied Nichols. “Not even Congress. I just decoded Jefferson’s writings about it. Per his orders, the Marines took the secret with them to their graves.”
“So what about the item they were sent to retrieve from the governor’s palace in Derna? What happened to it?”
The professor swept his hand over his notes and replied, “That’s the mystery we need to unravel.”
CHAPTER 70
“We now know,” said Nichols, “that what lay within the governor’s palace had been created by al-Jazari, had something to do with Mohammed’s final revelation, and had supposedly been there since Cervantes was a prisoner in neighboring Algiers. We also know that O’Bannon’s Marines succeeded in finding it and bringing it back to Thomas Jefferson. What it specifically was and what happened to it from there is what we need to find out.
“And,” said Nichols as he looked over the desk cluttered with books