Honduras—1984
I
t had been two weeks since the courier from Tegucigalpa arrived with a note from Ollie North telling Shake to “stand by for arrival of two large industrial tubes at your location in fourteen days. Plumbing supplies will accompany shipment.” According to the code they’d worked out, large industrial tubes indicated the promised artillery support for the FDN would be 120mm mortars, and plumbing supplies meant they would arrive with high-explosive rounds and fuses. Shake was an experienced hand with mortars of all sizes, so he was delighted with the news. He immediately did some map work and determined that the targets he wanted to hit on the other side of the Rio Coco were well within the 7200 meter max range of a U.S. M-120 heavy mortar.
To kill the time and let him focus
