Clear by Fire (26 page)

Five hours earlier, an NSA signal-intercept bird had “pinged” a satellite phone in northeast Pakistan. The sophisticated aircraft had recorded a conversation in English and, after running it through voice-recognition software, the analysts felt sure that the phone belonged to Anvil 7. An hour after the intercept, there was a satellite photo of a small house nestled in the shadows of the wooded mountain peaks.

Finally, they had actionable intel, but Kevin wasn’t buying it. It looked staged, but with General Swift in Bagram, his executive officer told Kevin to get his team ready. All available assets were tasked to the operation, including a joint CIA/Special Operations strike team, which had just arrived in country.

Major Toms, the XO, listened in silence as the pilots finished up their brief. He had no real idea as to what was going on and that was why he wanted Kevin to brief the infiltration and assault plan.

Kevin had never worked with the major before. He’d always been more than happy to let Renee deal with the brass, but she had fallen off the grid, and her phone kept going straight to voice mail. When he and Bones had suggested pushing the operation twenty-four hours, they were ignored, and all they could do now was pray for a miracle.

The lead pilot finished up his part and turned the floor over to the major.

“Kevin, it’s on you,” he said.

Aiming the red dot on the terrain model, he took a deep breath and dove in.

“Teams one and two will infil via CH-47 to HLZ Barney, and as soon as we are secure we will be moving out along the primary infil route until we reach phase line one.” The red dot traced the route along the edge of the valley until it came to the phase line, which was marked with black string and a Post-it note with the number 1 written in black ink.

“At phase line one the strike team, call sign Striker 6, will break off and move to the high ground, while my blocking team will continue to the rally point, which is about a kilometer from the target. We will hold here until Striker 6 has set up overwatch at phase line two.”

“What happens if we take contact before making it to our overwatch site?” a bearded operator on the Striker team asked, looking up from his notepad.

“The birds will need to clear the airspace to refuel, but we will have an AC-130 loitering across the border if we need it. Flight time will be ten minutes, and the major will establish comms with the pilot prior to departing phase line one. We’re going to have a Predator on station with Hellfires if we need it, but intelligence is pointing to a clean infil.”

“So if we get hit, we’re on our own for ten minutes?”

“Look, I know it sounds like we’re going in naked, but the mission dictates a high degree of stealth. These guys have shown a very sophisticated ability to use our air against us. To mitigate this we are
keeping all aircraft outside the operations box until we need them. Trust me when I tell you that if we need the air, it will be there.”

“What if they’ve already left when we get there?” Bones asked.

“We’re using satellite and a high-altitude Global Hawk to keep an eye on the situation. If anything changes we’ll know. If there aren’t any more questions, I’ll continue with the brief.”

The briefing lasted for another hour, and Kevin felt like he’d been put through the wringer when it was over. He had covered as many variables as he could think of, but there was no way to conceal that this plan had been hastily constructed.

The mission was simple. The two teams were going to fly in under the cover of darkness and move into position before the sun came up. At first light they would attack the target house, grab any intel, and have the birds pick them up at the objective.

Everyone wanted more air assets, but the brass was wary of another incident. If things got real bad, Kevin would use a satellite radio to vector a flight of F-15s into the area. He thought it was a shit plan, but it wasn’t his call.

The briefing broke up and everyone began to filter out so they could conduct final preparations. The major gave Kevin a pat on the back and told him, “Good job,” before leaving the tent. Bones and Kevin were left alone to see if they’d missed anything.

“Where in the fuck is Renee?” Bones asked.

“Dude, I’ve been blowing up her phone, but she’s not answering. Fuck it, let’s get our gear and be done with it,” Kevin said, feeling less confident by the minute.

Back at their building, Tyler and Rico were going over the map they’d laid out on the card table. As Kevin joined the two men, Bones grabbed an open box of MREs and began stripping them from their bulky packages.

“Any changes?” Tyler asked.

“No, we’re still on.”

“You heard from Renee?” Rico asked.

Kevin shook his head and stared down at the map.

“We have a few hours until we have to be at the flight line. Is there anything I missed?”

“The whole thing seems simple enough, but I’ve been in the valley before and it’s not a place you want to go without a shitload of support. The terrain looks pretty straightforward on the graphics, but I guarantee you it’s going to be rough. I just hope those CIA dudes can keep up.”

“That’s the least of our problems,” Bones said from the corner, where he was stuffing ammo into his assault pack. “They won’t let the gunship clear Afghanistan until we call for it.”

Rico shook his head with a dismayed smile, but they were all professionals and would do their jobs without question.

Kevin walked away from the table and went to check his gear one last time. He pulled the phone out and hit the send key, automatically redialing the last number. After a brief delay, the phone rang once and then went straight to voice mail.

Fuck, Renee, where are you?
he thought.

R
enee looked around the shiny conference room, taking in the faux hardwood flooring and the muted gray walls, before returning her accusing stare to Mason. He was sitting at the dull gray conference table, seemingly unconcerned that a moment ago she’d had a pistol jammed in the back of her head.

Obviously, the rescue attempt hadn’t gone according to plan. She was so exhausted that at the time it had seemed like a good idea, but Renee was rapidly realizing she’d overstepped her bounds. They had taken her phone, which pissed her off almost as much as Mason’s nonchalant attitude.

Renee turned her gaze back to the window and saw the white Gulfstream sitting just outside the hangar, where they’d been forced to leave it.

Mason leaned forward and whispered across the table, “Don’t be upset, it was a good plan.”

“What do you mean?” Zeus asked him. “It was a terrible plan and never would have worked.”

“You’re not helping. Can’t you see that she’s upset?”

“Well, lying to her isn’t going to make it better,” he whispered back.

“If one of you bothered telling me that Mr. David was hiding with a gun, we would be on our way by now,” Renee spat, unable to keep her calm any longer.

“You had a gun,” Mason replied defensively.

“I thought you were some badass Tier 1 killer . . . Just forget it.”

“I don’t think it’s fair to put this all on me. We were doing just fine before you showed up,” Mason replied.

Mr. David entered the room, flanked by two burly men in sterile MultiCam battle uniforms. The lack of unit identification told Mason that they were Special Operations, and if he had to guess he would say they belonged to Delta.

He could tell Renee was pissed, but he was having a hard time seeing her point of view. Mason watched as one of the men took a defensive position near the door, his hand resting on the butt of his pistol, while Mr. David walked to the front of the room.

“I hope everyone has calmed down since our last meeting,” he said simply. “I would like to introduce Major Anderson. Mason, I believe you two met last night.”

Mason stared at the man, ignoring his cocky nod. He hated officers and made no attempt to hide it.

“While our current relationship is not ideal, I find that it is quite fortuitous. The major has just informed me that a mission is being launched in the next few hours in an attempt to take down Colonel Barnes. It seems they are tracking a cell phone in the Swat Valley and have decided to prosecute the intelligence without utilizing normal channels.”

“What does that mean?” Renee demanded.

“It means that Barnes has set up a trap for a bunch of dumbasses,” Mason replied.

Zeus raised a finger to correct Mason, and the American nodded sheepishly.

“My fault, Zeus. I meant to say that General Swift and Barnes are setting up a trap for a bunch of dumbasses.”

The Libyan nodded his assent silently, and Mason murmured his thanks to the man for correcting him.

“Well, those dumbasses happen to belong to me,” Renee said, not buying that her boss was involved in what was going on. “Are you just going to let them walk into a trap?” she demanded, getting to her feet.

Major Anderson spoke up. “If you could relax for a moment, ma’am, I think you might be able to see things from our point of view. We reached out to General Swift, but the general is denying knowledge of the operation.”

“Of course he did. What, did you expect him to admit that he was working with Barnes?” Mason asked.

“General Swift is a great man, and I have had the honor of serving with him for many years, so why don’t you save your bullshit?” Major Anderson yelled.

“Think what you want, buddy, I’m just telling you what’s actually going on.”

“Either way,” Mr. David interrupted, “we know that the assault will take place tonight and we are planning to use it to our advantage.”

“You’re going to use my men as bait?” Renee asked.

“Hell yes he’s going to use your men as bait. What do you think this is, a Boy Scout convention?” Mason said.

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up,” Renee snapped.

“This is a very complex situation, ma’am,” the major said. “The mission is going to go no matter what; all we can do is try to capitalize on what is being put in place. We are certain that some, if not all, of the Anvil Team will be on the ground. We have an obligation to neutralize these men, no matter what the cost.”

“Let’s say you’re right and the colonel is there. How are you going to deconflict with the team on the ground so you don’t get your ass shot off?” Mason asked, kicking his feet up on the table, as he got comfortable.

“Well, that’s not my problem, because I’m not going,” Major Anderson replied with a smile. “Mr. David has decided to send you two heroes to take care of this for us.”

“Wait, how did I get involved in this?” Mason demanded.

“Because you killed one of my men and are a wanted terrorist. I figured that you would jump at the opportunity to avoid a bullet to the back of the head,” Mr. David said.

“Well, shit.”

“Hold on a second,” Renee said. “If he’s going, then I’m going. After all, it’s my team on the ground.”

“I wouldn’t advise that, ma’am, this is going to be nasty. No place for a lady,” the major sneered.

“I don’t give a shit how bad it’s going to be,” Renee said honestly. “If my men are there, then I’m going.”

“Do I have a say in this?” Zeus asked.

“Unfortunately not,” Mr. David said, ignoring the Libyan’s curses.

“So, what’s the big plan?”

“Well, if Renee insists on joining you, the plan is for you three to be dropped off to the north of the objective with a radio and a laser designator. If the colonel or his team is at the objective, you are going to lase the target for a drone strike.”

“A drone, are you serious? Do you know what he did with the last drone we sent after him?”

“We are well aware of his capabilities. We will keep the drone off station until it is time for the strike.”

“That’s a terrible plan. What if they aren’t there, or what if we walk into an ambush and need more than a drone to break contact?” Mason asked.

“If it was easy, everyone would do it,” the major observed.

“Good point. I guess we’ll need some gear.”

T
here was zero illumination over the landing zone when the Pave Hawk was brought into a hover. The pilot worked the controls with an ease born of thousands of hours, and through the radio he gave the command, “Deploy ropes.”

His copilot craned his neck to the right, catching sight of the infrared ChemLight attached to the free running end of the rope, to ensure that at least fifteen feet remained in contact with the ground.

In the back, the crew chief popped a green ChemLight attached to the top of the rope before pulling down hard. Once he was sure the rope was locked into place, he stepped out of the way and let Renee position herself in the door.

As soon as she disappeared, Zeus stepped up and, after ensuring his rifle was well secured, slid into the darkness.

Mason took his time feeding the rope through his boots. He’d had bad experiences fast-roping in the past, and he didn’t want another broken ankle. Once he was satisfied, he swung out and away from the open door, turning to face the bird as he descended.

The downdraft from the helicopter blades beat against the top of his head, and Mason ignored the urge to grip the rope tightly between his hands. Despite the heavy leather gloves, he could already
feel the friction burning his palms, and he was relieved to feel his boots slam onto the ground.

Quickly stepping out of the way, he flipped down his night vision and took a knee. The pitch of the rotors deepened as the pilot brought the helicopter to full power. The heavy rope was released from the rope bar as the helicopter disappeared into the night.

Mason waited for silence to return to the valley before moving. The infil had gone according to plan so far, but he knew they were still vulnerable. Jagged rocks and imposing boulders offered the enemy countless positions, and the lack of moonlight meant that his NODs were almost worthless. He needed to get them moving or risk compromise.

Taking the compass from his chest rig, he shot a quick azimuth to the west before moving up to Renee. Mason had chosen a route that would take them over the mountains and into a position that would allow them to overwatch the valley. Both he and Renee had agreed that the primary target was bullshit. Barnes was too smart to show his hand, and they were working under the assumption that this was an elaborate trap.