The cellular phone.

I hate that thing.

Sutton got out of bed, the cold air stinging his feet when he got out from the covers. He got up and answered his cellular.

"Sutton here."

"Sutton, your needed down at I.O. pronto, sir. Please get out of bed and get down here. Your scheduled at 0500 hours." said the cadet on the other end of the line.

"Damn you. How many times have I told you I don't want to be woken up unless China drops the big one?!!"

"They just did, sir."

"What? The bomb?"

"I can't tell you right now, sir. Get down here by 0500 and you'll be filled in."

Sutton muttered to himself something about a sharp knife, lots of blood, and his cadet who called on the phone, and hung up.

He walked over, kicked the dog out of the way, and kissed his girlfriend good-bye. She didn't wake. A shower and 30 minutes later, Sutton got in his car and sped down the deserted dirt road, thinking to himself and not thinking very much about the road.

The big one? What does he mean? I hate not being informed, especially on things like this. I know I can't be anywhere at once, but I wish I could.

Sutton stared up, barely seeing the cattle that had wandered across the highway.

"*%&$%$##%^!!!" Sutton screamed, as he slammed on his brakes. The car skidded to a halt a couple of feet before he made steak for the next year. Sutton got out of the car, and stared at the cattle that had formed a road block across the dirt road.

I hate Turkey. Can't they put up fences to keep their livestock in? Why I ever opted to transfer here is beyond me...

Sutton got in his car and backed up until he found a spot where he could turn around, and had to find an opposite route to the U.S. army base. When he finally arrived at the base, he was in a very bad mood and didn't care about much of anything at all.

Sutton got out of his car and saw a tall black man walking toward him. Sutton knew something was up. He hadn't seen this man before, and the bars on his chest indicated his rank passed even the Commander of the Base. Sutton saluted as the man arrived and faced him.

"Come with me, lieutenant, don't say a word until I tell you to." The man's voice was deep and commanding, and had probably been perfected over several decades in the armed forces.

Sutton followed the man, not even replying a quick 'yes sir', he knew this was very, very serious.

Sutton stepped into the office and stood at attention, ready to be debriefed by his superior on what this whole mess was about. He stood at attention for about five minutes before the commander of the base, William Harrison, stepped in and motioned for Sutton to sit down.

Sutton sat down, his mind racing for something to say, but he fumbled and said the first thing that came to his head.

"What is this all about, sir? What was so important that you needed to wake me up in the middle of the night?"

The Commander looked Sutton right in the face, and Sutton knew that he had made a mistake by speaking so quickly. He apologized to the commander and waited for him to speak. It was minutes and several paces around the room before the Commander said anything. His voice was tense and he spoke slowly, as if analyzing every word he spoke.

"Lieutanant, what I'm about to say stays in this room, and does not go below anyone of lower rank. First of all, let me apologize to you for waking you up, but I'm sure you'll forgive me once you realize the depravity of our situation. Next, let me introduce you to the man who showed you here, Admiral Joseph Williams."

As the Commander finished his sentence, the same barrel-chested black man came into the room. Sutton didn't lose his cool this time, and readily saluted the Admiral as he walked in. The man saluted back quickly and quietly spoke.

"At ease, Lieutanant. I know you are wondering what is so important that an Admiral needs to come down to the base and inform a Lieutanant at 5 in the morning. I will not beat around the bush, Sutton. You are the only Lieutanant in the Armed forces right now whose going to know what I am about to tell you. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Please have a seat. This may take a little while to explain." The Admiral motioned to a hard steel chair facing an overhead projector. Sutton took the seat quietly.

The Admiral spoke in quick, low tones. He was eyeing the walls several times and keeping at least a couple feet within Sutton as he motioned to the overhead.

"Lieutanant, you have studied radar and all the usual technological equipment dealing with surveillance, I presume?"

"Yes sir. I majored in all forms of surveillance at West Point back in the States, even with the theoretical kind like quasi-point laser tracking."

"Okay, then you know about personal forms of cloaking."

"Yes sir. About the only thing currently popular around the world is radar-resistant vests."

"No, Lieutanant. Not any more."

"Not any more? What do you mean? The Chinese developed some kind of personal cloaking technology?"

"To put it bluntly, we don't know." The Admiral's brows contracted, and the look on his face was one of pure frustration. "Even the president and the boys at the CIA don't know what exactly is happening."

"What do you mean, sir? What's been happening that you think that the Chinese have developed the personal tehnology for cloaking. From what I understand, even the boys at MIT are several years away from that."

"All we have to go on, Lietanant Sutton, is a couple of utterly destroyed military bases. No survivors. The military police can't find any trace of anything, much less a body here or there. All they know is that the destruction zones weren't destroyed by a bomb of any kind. The CIA figures it must be a faction of the Chinese government."

"How do they know that? What proof do they have it wasn't the man on the moon?"

"I'll tell you the evidence, Sutton, but this information is priveleged. Very few men have heard this info and lived to tell about it. The army bases that have been destroyed are strictly in the province of the Phillipines. The Chinese have been trying to get their hands on those islands since they lost them in World War II. We think they may have stumbled upon the missing 'ingredient' that any personal cloaking technology may need."

"And we don't know what that is, or else we would have developed it first. I see your point now, Admiral, this has got to be kept secret, or else any army this side of the planet will be invisible. Have they any idea what kind of equipment was used in the destruction of these bases?"

"Not particularly. The simple fact is that whoever destroyed these bases used the only advantage they had: the cloaking technology. All the bullets and artillery shells we've found have been of generic make-up, any one of hundreds of factions use the type of ammunition found at the destroyed naval bases."

Sutton's mind was quickly putting together the gravity of the situation. "And we can't very well go around and nuke whoever we please when we don't know who's responsible for the destruction. Have they found anybody who's seen anything?"

"No. Not the slightest sign of anything. Whoever planned these attacks knew what they were doing. We're spinning in the water without oars now, Sutton. That's why we need you."

Sutton wasn't surprised by this. He knew this was what it was coming to sooner or later. "My assignment, sir?"

The Admiral seemed surprised at the simple answer Sutton gave.

Maybe the way I whined about being woken up made him expect me to do whine about my mission. I may be a whiner, but I'm not a coward, I know what I have to do.

"This mission is right up your area of expertise, Sutton. You are to find whoever is making these personal cloaking devices, and report the information back to the CIA. You will be given the proper equipment and access codes. You are also to comfiscate a single unit of these technological devices and bring it back to the States for examining. This one may be up your alley, Sutton, but it isn't going to be easy. Any words?"

"Just one, sir."

"What's that, Lieutanant?"

"Promotion."