“Very well.” Hong looked at Cheng. “Inform the warehouse guard that Major Rhee is sending a team to pick up the material and people.” Cheng didn’t look happy, but he nodded. Hong looked at Rhee. “Satisfied?”
Rhee nodded. “We will be done before midnight.”
“Good. I will have my people move the slaves out of the warehouse tonight. They’ve sat in one place for too long. Anything else?”
“I have resources looking for the American mercenaries. I suggest you do the same thing.”
“You can’t believe him!” Lieh shouted.
Hong settled deeper into his chair. “Under the circumstances, it’s a good idea. While I don’t believe there’s an American black-ops team, it would be prudent not to take chances.” He looked at Rhee. “Anything else?”
“That is enough for now.”
“You could have called.”
“The Americans have ears everywhere. I do not use the phone unless I have to.” He bowed slightly. “I will leave now.”
Rhee turned and walked out of the room. Muhn and Seonwoo were waiting for him, as were two new 49s guarding the door. Without a word, Rhee’s men fell in behind him and they exited the building.
Once outside, Rhee’s car, a dark sedan, rolled up and stopped next to them. Rhee got into the back with Seonwoo while Muhn took the front seat, next to the driver. Night had fallen, and the bright lights left many shadows, Rhee’s preferred time of day.
Once the car was underway, Rhee took a cell phone, one of three he was carrying, and called a number from speed dial. It rang twice before someone answered in Korean. “Yes?”
“Our hosts have allowed us to consolidate our assets at the new location. Begin the move now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rhee hung up and pocketed the phone. “Sir?” Seonwoo asked. “Do you think these American mercenaries are dangerous?”
“They have already shown some skill.” Rhee pursed his lips while he appeared to think about this. “Luck has been on their side, too. How soon can phase two of Righteous Blade be implemented with our own men?”
“Day after tomorrow. What about the shock troops?”
Rhee snorted. “I have a mission for them.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The warehouse was close to both the South Basin and Candlestick Park, less than two miles south from the site of the pier ambush. Two stories tall, made from block and corrugated steel, it was surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with three strands of barb-wire and with installed privacy slats. It sat alone, surrounded by bare ground for several hundred feet in every direction except to the southwest, where a public housing complex was undergoing renovation and expansion. The team had studied satellite shots of the property for most of the afternoon before settling on a plan.
The two OUTCAST team vans ran without lights and rolled to a stop on a dirt road fifteen hundred feet northeast of the warehouse. Both drivers wore night vision goggles. They parked their vehicles and killed the engines. On a word from Tanner, the teams climbed out and took up positions around the vans. All wore black BDUs, Dragonskin armor with armored knee, elbow and shin pads, watch caps, and had their faces darkened with camo paint. All were outfitted with hands-free communications equipment.
Since this was a “Black Op” — an operation done without the knowledge of local law enforcement agencies — the team carried an alternate weapons loadout. Instead of their HK MP5s, each member brought a Colt Commando with attached M-203 grenade launcher. The HK SOCCOMS were replaced with SIG-Sauer P229 pistols chambered for .40 caliber rounds, and all but Danielle carried combat knives. Normally, they would all have flash-bang grenades, but if the warehouse was a drug lab, the chances of a chemical explosion were too great should a grenade detonate inside. Instead, Team Able — Tanner, Naomi and Stephen — carried half-a-dozen M576 Buckshot Rounds for the M-203s. Team Bravo — Liam and Dante — had three M406 HE and five M651 CS rounds, as they were staying outside.
The night was overcast, the first wisps of fog beginning to form. A few outside lights were on in the target compound. They observed the property for five minutes in silence. Then, Steven, Naomi and Dante remained on watch while Tanner, Danielle and Liam went to the back of the second van and opened its rear doors. While Danielle took out a tablet and booted it up. Tanner and Liam produced a strange looking device from the van’s cargo area.
A friend of Tanner’s had recently started a drone manufacturing company, and Tanner, in return for a six-figure investment in the company, received several drones for the team’s use. The one they had utilized over the pier the night before, dubbed the Night Wasp, was the size of a laptop. This one was larger, about the dimensions of a small bookcase. It had six rotors spaced out around a hexagonal frame and stood three feet high. An HD camera was mounted side by side with night vision and infrared cameras, and all three were mounted under the central housing. The placement allowed the cameras to move 360 degrees on the vertical axis and 180 on the horizontal. The drone sat on three legs with wide feet, and was matte black in color.
Unlike the Night Wasp, this one, dubbed Night Cobra, had the ability to carry extra payload in the form of a dozen grenades in radio-controlled adjustable clamps attached to the central housing. Tonight, the Night Cobra was loaded with a mix of flash-bang, smoke and tear gas canisters. From the back of the van, Danielle could control which grenades were dropped and when. Intended for sale to police agencies, the Night Cobra was designed to give law enforcement the high ground in any situation.
“All right,” Danielle said softly, staring at the tablet screen. “I have green on all clamps. Remove pins.”
Liam and Tanner pulled the grenade pins, the clamps keeping the arming levers in place. “Still green,” Danielle said. “Stand back.”
Once the pair was clear, all six rotors started up, the electronic hum barely audible even from a few feet away. Slowly, it lifted into the night sky.
Tanner watched it disappear, then touched his radio. “OUTCAST Prime to Striker: Cobra is airborne.”
“Copy, Prime,” Vessler returned. Her team, a mix of San Francisco and Oakland DEA agents, was half-a-mile away from the warehouse, at the entrance of Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, across the street from Candlestick Park. “Standing by.”
It took the drone less than a minute to cover the distance between the team and the warehouse. “Over the target now,” Danielle said, her eyes never leaving the tablet’s screen. After a few seconds, she added, “No one outside the fence. I have six men outside the warehouse. Two by the gate, two on the southeast side near those sheds, and two patrolling the fence line.”
“Entry points still good?” Tanner asked.
“Looks like it. You definitely don’t want the southeast end of the compound — any driver coming around the curve from the stadium will see you in their headlights.”
“The other drone ready?”
Danielle tapped the tablet screen. “Yes. Cobra’s in a holding pattern over the compound.” She reached into the van and took out the smaller drone. In seconds, it was also disappearing into the dark sky.
“Prime to team, let’s move.”
Ten minutes later, the team was moving across the open field in single file, staying low and relying on their night-vision goggles to see what lay ahead. An eight-foot tall rise prevented them from viewing the objective except for the warehouse’s second floor, but it also meant the guards on duty in the yard couldn’t see them.