Targets Entangled (3 page)

“You’re being a little dramatic, don’t you think?” Ferrin set her tray in front of her and then proceeded to unfold the napkin to place into her lap. She untwisted the cap to her water bottle, took a drink, and then resealed it before setting it down in the right top corner of her tray so that it was out of the way. Picking up her fork, she ignored the roll of Tami’s eyes at her organized actions as Ferrin gave her own opinion. “We don’t even know what the mission is. Our department supervisors will be debriefed later today and then we’ll be notified no later than tomorrow morning. The Red Starr team is trained for these exact missions and it’s our job to make it easier for them.”

“Speaking of those men, have you caught sight of them?” Tami wiggled her eyebrows and smacked her lips. Ferrin averted her eyes quickly, concentrating on the salad in front of her. This was why she hadn’t said anything. Tami never would have let it go. “The one with the German Shepherd is like sex on a stick.”

Ferrin wasn’t about to let on that she knew Stick’s name, so she changed the subject. Daegan had mentioned the team quite a bit in the two days that they’d been together and he had even needed some information for Neil Bauer—the one nicknamed Doc—for some type of investigation. She hadn’t broken protocol and she did some research for them since she knew her way around communications and IT. She’d gotten him the necessary material and from what she’d gathered, it had aided in their mission. She’d been glad to help and then was equally as happy when contact between she and Daegan had faded. He’d been aboard
The Promised Land
several times during preparation, but she’d made sure to keep her distance. There’d been nothing left to say.

“Are you even listening to a word I say?”

Ferrin glanced up to see Tami making a face, but her attention immediately went to the person coming to stand next to the table and so did the blossoming smile. Chuck Farrell was one of the radio operators, but he wasn’t scheduled to work nights with her. Instead, he was on second shift and probably heading to the radio room. His attention went between the two women as he stood there holding two cups of coffee, but his interest in Tami was noticeable.

“Hi, Chuck.” Ferrin waved a hand toward Tami. She made the introductions and it wasn’t long before she was cut out of the conversation. She took a drink, wiped her mouth on the napkin, and then put the cap back on her water bottle. If she were going to be of any use tonight on her shift she needed to try and get some sleep. “Aren’t you on duty in thirty minutes?”

“I am, but did you know that Jerry put in a request to work the night shift with you?” Chuck moved a little closer to the table as some crew members walked past and when one of the men inquired about placing a call back home later today, Ferrin had a moment to think about Jerry, one of the radio technicians. It was odd that he would want the graveyard, especially after he’d said numerous times that he preferred first shift. She liked him well enough and didn’t foresee a problem though. That would have Roger and Spivey covering first shift, second shift would have Chuck and Monte, and that left third for her and Jerry. It worked. Chuck finished his other conversation and finally turned back to the table. “Anyway, I thought you should know. Chief Jackson changed the schedule a bit, mostly for the technicians. It shouldn’t affect us other than whom we have for support.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Ferrin replied, grateful to have her mind on something other than Daegan. Now that the ship was underway she probably wouldn’t see him anyway. They were on opposite shifts with different positions that shouldn’t overlap unless he needed to make a call back to San Diego in the middle of the night. She could handle that. No problem. “Tami, I’ll be hitting the gym first thing in the morning if you want to join me. You’re on second shift, right?”

“There is no way I’ll be up at zero five hundred, so enjoy it all to yourself, shipmate.” Tami met Chuck’s gaze and her smile slowly widened. “But I’ll be there late morning if you’d like to join me, seeing as we’re both on the same shift and all.”

“I might just do that,” Chuck said with a returning half grin. He held up the coffees. “I’ll see you tonight, Ferrin.”

Ferrin nodded at Chuck as he left the table for the start of his shift. He was a nice enough guy, and it was apparent Tami thought so as her eyes followed the man as he walked out of the mess hall.

“I repeat—fraternization is not only frowned upon, but against the specific direction of the captain.” Ferrin involuntarily lifted her hand to push up her glasses but caught herself in time. She was used to having them on when she worked. She patted the pocket of her blouse to ensure that they were still safely tucked in the pouch. “And if you’re going to do it anyway, don’t be so blatant about it or you’ll get a reputation.”

“Yes, Mother,” Tami said jokingly and then threw her napkin onto her tray. “Speaking of family, how is your sister doing? Isn’t she apartment sitting for you?”

“She’s halfway through medical school.” A deep sense of pride filled Ferrin as she thought about Stacey, two years younger than her. It had been tough, but Ferrin and their mom had seen to it that Stacey had stayed on track with her studies and followed her dreams. A few more years to go and Stacey would be the first doctor in the family. “She also has minimal student loans since she’s on a partial ride with a few scholarships. And yes, she’ll stay at my place while I’m gone. It gives her a chance to get some alone time away from Mom.”

Stacey still lived with their mother, Madeline Hewitt, to save money. Madeline had been a single parent and had to work two jobs just to keep up with the bills, let alone the extra expenses of raising two daughters. Seeing as Ferrin was older, she’d taken up the household chores and also worked a part-time job throughout high school for the personal items she’d needed. She’d known that college for her was out of the question unless she entered the military, so when a Navy recruiter had shown up at her high school she’d taken the only option available to her and she didn’t have a single regret. She loved what she did and she sent what money she could to her mother, not wanting her to work two jobs anymore. With Stacey still living at home, groceries and the utilities were still relatively high, considering their mom’s paycheck.

“We should head out. I need some sleep and don’t you have a shift to start soon?”

Ferrin stood and then picked up her tray, glancing over toward the scullery. She felt a little better after having lunch and once their routines got etched into their daily schedule, she wouldn’t have to worry about seeing Daegan. Her spirits lifted.

“I do.” Tami stood as well and they both walked over to the open scullery window and set down their trays. Each put their utensils in the proper metal container, saving one to scrape the remains of their meal into the open hole in the ledge meant for food disposal, separating the trash before putting the trays in the rack. “What is your day off?”

“Friday of this week, but that’ll change once Jackson puts out next week’s schedule,” Ferrin answered, liking how this mission was being arranged. If they were still in the military there wouldn’t be a day off. She reached into her pocket for the Tic-Tacs that she liked to suck on while she was on duty, needing to get the aftertaste of her lunch out of her mouth. “What about you?”

“Monday.” Tami snagged an apple off of the salad bar before maneuvering past the tables and leading the way off of the galley deck. “I’ll catch up with you later. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Tami laughed as they parted ways and Ferrin smiled for the first time since she’d boarded the ship early this morning. She was doing what she loved and she’d made it so that her past mistakes were put to rest. Her mother had always given her the advice that life is what you make it. Ferrin would heed that piece of wisdom and make the most of her position to further her career. There would be no more distractions with her colleagues.

‡

D
aegan sat back
in his chair and glanced around the team ready room. The ready room was about as basic as it could get. There were two cypher keypads that protected the secure steel clad watertight entrances into the room, one from the main passageway and the other from the Combat Operations Center (COC). The main entrance was flanked on both sides by the team’s gear lockers containing their load bearing equipment and weapons. The corridor led into the actual conference portion, which could have been any boardroom back home. Much like those boardrooms, each position along one side of the long table provided a laptop for each of the five-man team facing a huge electronic smartboard on the opposite bulkhead.

Starr sat at the end of the table with her own laptop and the remote control for the high definition electronic smartboard. That is where the similarities ended with the civilian boardrooms. Each laptop and the enormous smartboard were linked to the SIPRNet, a highly secured secret form of U.S. government controlled Internet. In addition to the vast resources available via the SIPRNet, each member also garnered the huge collective real-time intelligence provided via the ship’s COC and its vast array of sensors and electronic warfare systems.

Everyone had their eyes on the huge flat screen in front of them as they went over the terrain they would encounter and the best way to handle it. The satellite coverage was updated twice daily from Lacrosse, Onyx and Keyhole packages vetted by the National Reconnaissance Office. Daegan searched the target terrain for specific features where his talent as a sniper would be most beneficial and located a few key observation points overlooking each specific region. He entered each location’s GPS ten digit coordinates into his personal unit as waypoints and shared the list with the rest of the team. Still, something wasn’t right about this mission. Something smelled off.

“This information is detailed in your folders. Look at it, study it, memorize it, and drill it down for any tactical advantage.” Starr continued to talk about the rebels they would be dealing with, along with the names of the specific tribal leaders of the area and their links to the rebels. It was when she shared a look with Gunny that finally told the real story. She knew something wasn’t right about this scenario either and she damn well knew more than she was letting on during this general briefing. Daegan pulled his feet off of the table in front of him when she finally shared the crux of the data and the team was filled in. The odds were stacked against them and he could feel the adrenaline start to kick in. “This is political and we’re cruising into a fucking shit storm. Everything, and I mean everything, that we plan tactically is to be kept inside this room. Do not talk amongst yourself outside of this compartment. I’ll be debriefing the captain as well as the other department supervisors on the location, scope, and strategic goals of the mission later today. All they’ll know is that we are going on a rescue mission near the coast of Nigeria and the basic arch. Nothing specific. There are a couple possible scenarios taking place right now, but no one outside this team needs to know which one we’ve been given the contract on.”

“What you’re saying doesn’t make sense,” Doc pointed out, tapping his pencil on the table. “If this is as political as you say it is, why give us the contract to begin with?”

“There are at least two sides to every fight.” Starr leaned back against the conference table after pacing back and forth in front of the smartboard mounted on the opposite bulkhead. She’d taken her hat off long ago and her hair now hung over her left shoulder, giving her a softer look but by no means a less commanding one. She turned her gaze away from the display and leveled each of them a look to ensure she had their attention. “This intel that I’ve been given isn’t public knowledge for a number of reasons. Krasken-Mobile surveyed a specific village in the target region a couple of years ago to see if there was any uranium underneath it. They charted the area and decided the territory was ripe. Through nefarious dealings the company made a number of deals with the local villagers. Politically it couldn’t have come at a better time for the local, regional, and national governments. Over the last twenty-four months the company has been moving infrastructure in and the village has been thriving. There’s more work available than the village could possibly want. The company is actually raising the local quality of life tenfold. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.”

“With the exception of Agu Tumo Mykelti,” Gunny said in a hardened tone that didn’t surprise anyone. “This drug lord isn’t comfortable with the villagers being able to fend for themselves and abhors the fact that they no longer have to depend on him and his people for anything. As the dossiers in front of you point out, he needed to make his displeasure known and did so when he stormed one of the schools that Krasken-Mobile had set up for the children in the village. Remember, boys and girls have to attend separately. He took approximately eighty-seven girls deep into the terrain that he knows better than the back of his hand and he will most likely sell them to any number of nefarious dealers involved in the international slave trade around the African continent if we don’t complete this mission.”