“Why is that?”
“Not sure. I got the impression he was somehow standing in the way of the oil and gas development that’s going on here. She clammed up pretty quickly once she got going. I think her boss over there gave her the evil eye. But she did say, ‘One thing you can’t do is stand in the way of a town’s future.’”
“Can’t stand in the way of the truth, either, when it’s ready to spill out.”
His cell phone vibrated. He took it out and saw that it was Brooke. “Hopefully, this will make things a little clearer.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
“I think I got what you want,” his assistant said. “On the 301st Airborne. And Alpha Unit …”
Hauck excused himself and stepped outside. He leaned against the window on the old brick fa?ade overlooking the dilapidated Main Street. “Go ahead.”
“They were a Special Forces group in Iraq and Afghanistan, specializing in what they call PsyOps. Do you know what that is?”
Hauck shrugged. “The use of psychological tactics to influence the mind-set of the enemy or a local population in war …?”
“That’s part of it. I was told this sort of thing has been going on since World War II, when we began dropping leaflets to encourage the resistance against the Nazis. In Iraq, though, you remember how during the Surge it came out how we started buying off Sunni tribal leaders to disaffect against Al Qaeda? And the same in Afghanistan?”
“Yes.”
“Well, these are the guys who created and implemented that strategy. It was their job to influence not only the opposition, but the local populations as well. They did it with leaflets and disinformation, then ratcheted it up to spreading cash around, building hospitals, things like that. Performing lifesaving medical operations on kids. Anything that would win over the locals and paint a positive image of the United States. And underscore atrocities committed by the Taliban.”
“Propaganda, basically,” Hauck said.
“Propaganda, yes, in regards to information and branding. That’s apparently what’s referred to as ‘white’ PsyOps. The standard, informational stuff. Then there’s what’s known as gray. That when they start to set things up themselves, messages that they want promulgated widely. I was told an example of that was the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in that square in Baghdad during the early days of the war. It was always seen to have been a spontaneous event, but now it turns out it was fully staged and choreographed by the PsyOps people. Cameras and all.”
“I didn’t realize that,” Hauck said. His gaze was caught by a sleek black SUV that pulled up across the street, its windows tinted, in contrast to the dusty Ford 150s and beat-up GMC Yukons that were everywhere else in town. “I thought that was all legit.”
“I guess that was the point. But there’s a whole other aspect to this PsyOps thing as well. The part that isn’t in the brochure. The dirty-business side. As in bribing and paying off key tribal leaders to switch sides. And going in and kidnapping and eliminating any bad actors who quite didn’t see it their way. One night someone goes to bed in his hut with his family, someone stirring up the townsfolk about maybe drone strikes or innocent people being killed. Come morning, there’s only an empty blanket and a teapot in the tent where he used to be. Or the whole family’s found dead in their beds and no one’s heard a peep.”
“I figure that’s what they call black PsyOps,” Hauck volunteered.
“You got it. The 301st Airborne was the army’s PsyOps division in Iraq … And you asked about Alpha Unit …”
“Let me guess. Alpha Unit was the part of it that handled the black kind of stuff. The dirty work.”
“I guarantee no one goes around talking about it,” Brooke said. “But bingo.”
Sonovabitch … “Crisis management solutions to technical and environmental problems …” These bastards did all the black-stuff work. In Iraq and here. McKay. Robertson. Bribing local leaders. Killing and kidnapping the opposition.
Hauck leaned back against the window. What the hell would they be up to here?
“That it?”
“You asked me about how it had morphed into this consulting company in the energy field. The CEO is a James Stengel. Formerly Army Colonel James Stengel, of the 301st. Senior commanding officer of … I bet you can fill in the blank?”
“Alpha Unit.”
“Much of the senior management seems to be composed of people who were part of the team in Iraq and Afghanistan. And as I think you already know, they seem to have found a niche in the energy business now.”
Softening the opposition. Buying off the local populations. The dirty work, Hauck reflected. Like geology … McKay had said with kind of a wry grin. Just not in a lab.
“You got a client list for them?” Hauck asked.
“Let me look. I’m on their website now.”
Hauck checked out the black SUV again. The front passenger window had cracked a bit. He could almost hear the camera clicking away.
“Okay I’m there …”
“Who’s at the top?”
“Let me see … Nebula Exploration and Gas. They’re one of the big ones. They’re a drilling and site management firm up in the Bakken Field in North Dakota. I only know that because my sister lives up there.”
“Who’s next?”
“Dillard Oil. You know them?”
“No. But next …”
“Next is a mining and exploration company out of Denver. It’s called Resurgent Mining and Mineral.”
“Yeah,” Hauck said, glancing at the black SUV up the street, “they’re all over the place here.”
“You want me to find anything on them?” Brooke volunteered.
“Not sure I’ll need that.” He looked at the car. “I think they already found me. However, there is one more thing, Brooke. There was a balloon crash in Aspen three days ago. Five people killed. There’s an investigative team there looking at it. I want you to have one of our people check in on how it’s progressing …”