"Not other groups like us. I think there might be a group, or groups, as secret as our enemy in the world who fight against it."
"Why do you think this?"
Abayon shrugged, tired beyond belief.
"I should not have mentioned it. But there have been times over the years when I received information or heard things that made me think there was a force in place opposing the enemy and trying to manipulate me in this battle. I mentioned it because if there is, you must be careful."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Fatima quoted.
"Not necessarily," Abayon said.
Vaughn checked his weapons one more time, while Tai slumbered uneasily next to him. Waiting was always the hardest. And most of his time in the Army had been spent waiting, in one form or another. They even had a saying for it: "Hurry up and wait."
They were on the very top of the mountain, a rounded cone with a flat open space in the center, which dropped off precipitously on all sides, giving them about a sixty-meter circle to work in. Very little space to drop the remaining members of the team on. He glanced at the short message that had come back in response to his report on finding Abayon. The team was coming in low and fast. And the exfiltration was to be by Fulton Recovery via Combat Talon. Not the best of plans, not the worst.
A Fulton Recovery with six people was dicey at best. The basic concept was sending up a cable attached to a small balloon. The six people would all link together their harnesses to the cable. The Combat Talon would come flying in low, below the float, and "whiskers" on the nose of the plane would catch the cable and draw it to the center, where it would be snatched and held.
The six people would then be jerked up into the air, their momentum causing the cable to swing underneath the plane, where it would be caught by a small crane on the back ramp. The crane would then winch the people into the cargo bay. Vaughn had done one Fulton Recovery, as a single, two years ago, and it had been quite an experience. With six, he envisioned some bumps and bruises – that is, if all six of them survived to make it to exfiltration.
He turned as Tai stirred. She sat up, blinking sleep out of her eyes, and he saw that moment of confusion as her conscious brain tried to figure out where she was. He'd experienced that himself many times in the past.
Her eyes focused on him.
"Everything all right?"
"As all right as things can be sitting on top of a mountain full of terrorists," he said.
"I've been hearing a lot of trucks moving over there."
He nodded to the southern side of the mountain.
"Headlights going back and forth. Something's happening."
Tai checked her watch.
"Not much longer."
"What are you going to do?" he asked her.
"What do you mean?"
"You're supposed to be dead."
Tai nodded.
"Yeah. I figure I'd best find a hide spot up here. Cover the infiltration and then the exfiltration. The guys coming in will have a plan to take down Abayon without my participation. I'll cover your back when you come back up for the exfil."
"You think there's a double-cross?" Vaughn asked.
"I don't think we can trust Royce or Orson," Tai said.
"And I think I had too many malfunctions coming in."
"Why did they try to take you out and not me?" Vaughn asked. The question had been on his mind the past hour. Tai sighed and leaned back on her rucksack.
"Because I'm Military Intelligence."
"Yeah, Orson said you came from – "
"I didn't just come from," Tai said.
"I still am."
Vaughn lay the MP-5 across his knees and stared at her.
"I'm a simple guy. Why don't you lay it out for me?"
"Some people very high in the military intelligence community have become concerned about…" She seemed to be searching for the right words.
"…certain operations occurring around the world."
"Such as this one?"
"Yes."
"Because?"
"Because we're not sure who is sanctioning these operations."
"Ah, shit," Vaughn muttered.
"The orders are not coming down the military chain," Tai said.
"Our requests to the alphabet soups – most particularly the CIA and NSA – have been met with blanket denials."
"It could just be highly classified and compartmentalized," Vaughn said.
"That's what Royce says," Tai acknowledged.
"And the goal of this mission seems in line with national security interests. As were a couple of others we got wind of."
"But…?"
"But there are some people in the military who are very concerned that there might be something else going on."
"Such as?" Tai shrugged.
"We don't know. That's why I'm here."
"And that's why someone tried to take you out on the jump," Vaughn said. She reluctantly nodded.
"They doctored my records to make it look like instead of reporting prisoner abuse in Iraq, I instigated it and was going to be charged. Just the type of person Section Eight comes looking for."
"This is fucked," Vaughn said.
"If that's the case, they're not going to let you on that cable for exfiltration."
"What makes you think they're going to let you on? What makes you even think the plane is going to come by to do the snatch?"
Vaughn stared at her.
"That bad?"
"Could be. I had three malfunctions coming in."
"Fuck."
"Got that right."
"What's going on?" Royce demanded when he saw that the simulation operations center was empty.
"Where is everyone?" Foster held out a folder with a red top secret band across the cover.
"They all were called back to the real operations center for a real emergency."
"What happened?" Royce asked as he opened the folder.
"Someone took out Johnston Atoll and escaped with four canisters of ZX nerve agent."
Royce scanned the message traffic. Over a thousand estimated dead. The Pacific Fleet was on alert, beginning to scour the sea and sky for whoever had done it. He closed the folder.
"No one has any idea who did this?"
"So far nobody has claimed responsibility. But the amount of ZX they have is enough to wipe out a major city."
"And our operation?"
"The simulation was shut down thirty minutes ago."
"And our operation?" Royce pressed.
Foster nodded.
"I've kept the message traffic up as if the operations center and the mission are still running."
"Good."
"The team is taking off from Okinawa as we speak."
"Very good."
Royce waited until Foster went back to his bank of computers and message traffic before opening his laptop. He scanned his own traffic, and there was nothing from his contact about the Johnston Atoll issue. The second team was en route from Hong Kong to Manila and would be arriving shortly.
Hong Kong had gone smoothly, except word about the Golden Lily was already in the media. That was unfortunate. Royce had been tracking Abayon for many years and he respected the old man. They'd short-circuited him in Hong Kong, but Royce was wary – he knew Abayon would not move without having carefully considered the situation.
His satphone buzzed and he checked the screen. A message from the Organization. He hooked the phone to his computer and downloaded the message, allowing the computer to decipher the text.
ABU SAYEF SUSPECTED BEHIND JOHNSTON ATOLL RAID AND ZX THEFT. HIGH LIKELIHOOD THEY ARE ON BOARD AN OLD DIESEL SUBMARINE. DESTINATION UNKNOWN. CHECK FOR LOCATION. PREPARE A TEAM FOR ACTION. ABAYON'S INTENTIONS UNCERTAIN. HANDLE WITH DISCRETION AND EXTREME PREJUDICE.
Royce cursed when he finished reading the message. It was a bit late to be getting this now. There was no way he could prepare a new team quickly. Which meant he had to use a team he already had. He glanced at the board for the location of the second Talon. Less than an hour from drop. He'd have to use them after they took care of their current mission.
Royce sighed. Check for location? He had no doubt the entire Pacific Fleet was doing that. And if the Abu Sayef were using a submarine, they had to have a line on it. Royce had worked the Pacific theater long enough to know that.