In
flight
Sunday, August 29, 6:01
A.M.
Time Remaining on the
Extinction Clock: 77 hours, 59 minutes
E.S.T.
Top and Bunny were still loading their gear
into a Black Hawk when my earbud binged and I heard Grace’s voice:
“Joe-Bug located the island. MindReader matched the geography to
Isla D’Oro, a small island in the Pacific, forty miles due west of
Playa Caletas.”
“Where’s that?” I asked.
“Costa Rica. I’ll have him download
everything to your PDA. You have flight clearance to the Air
National Guard Base at Martin State Airport. From there you’ll
switch to an Osprey.”
“They’re slow as hell-”
“Not this one. It’s a prototype being
developed for the Navy. Has a cruising speed of six hundred
kilometers per hour and a twelve-hundred-mile range, which means
you’ll be refueling midair.”
“Where’d you find something like that so
quickly?”
“Mr. Church has a friend in the industry.
The Osprey is on its way to the air base and should be refueled by
the time you touch down.”
“Do we have any local
support?”
“I called one of my mates at Barrier and he
said that the carrier Ark Royal ’s in those waters. The Osprey will
put you on their deck, and then you’ll go to the island in a
Westland Sea King. You can also have Royal Marines, Harriers, and
anything else you need.”
“That’s fast work, Major. I’ll take the
ride, but for now let’s go with me, Bunny, and Top. Until we know
what’s what, I don’t want to bring in the Light
Brigade.”
“I’d rather you took the whole fleet,” she
said. “But I can see your point.”
It was clear she wanted to say more, but
this wasn’t the time and certainly wasn’t the place. So instead she
simply held out her hand. I took it and if we held our clasp a few
seconds too long, screw it.
“Good hunting,” she said.
“Thanks.”
The Black Hawk was in the air in under five
minutes.
I SPREAD OUT a map and we gathered around.
“This is Isla D’Oro. Gold Island. Supposed to be uninhabited except
for a biological research station funded by Swiss grants and
managed by a team from the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica.
We’re looking into that to see if it’s legit. Satellite images tell
us there’s a compound with buildings on the island that match with
the construction plans filed by the university. Thermals are tricky
because the island is mildly volcanic.”
“ ‘Mildly volcanic’?” echoed Bunny. “That
anything like ‘somewhat pregnant’?”
“It hasn’t popped its cork in over a
century, but there are vents and geothermal activity, so thermals
won’t give us a reliable body count. We’ll probably be relying on
what we see rather than gadgets.” I tapped the map. “Choppers from
the Ark Royal will set us down here. The terrain is rocky with
thick foliage. Combat names for the mission and keep the chatter
down. Full team on channel two, direct to me on channel one. The
TOC command channel is channel three. Call signs only once we hit
the ground.”
“What’s the op?” asked
Bunny.
“Mission priorities are flexible,” I said.
“We look first. If we can find the kid who sent the videos, then we
extract him. Everything else after that is based on what we
find.”
“Rules of engagement?”
“Nobody gets trigger-happy,” I said, “On the
other hand, we’re not flying two thousand miles to take anyone’s
shit.”
“Hooah.”
“The USS George H. W. Bush is heading this
way in case this really turns into something. The Bush will be in
fighter range about two hours after we make landfall. That means
ninety fixed-wing and helos ready to pull our asses out of the fire
if it comes to it.”
“Wow. it’s nice when Washington likes us,”
said Bunny. “Say, boss, what do we do if we run into any of those
guys with the body armor?”
“Aim for the head,” said Top. “Always been a
fan favorite.”
“Works for me.”
Top took a slow breath. “Cap’n. about
Jigsaw. ”
“Yeah.”
“We don’t know which team took them out.
Russians or the other guys.”
“No.”
“I’m of two minds. On one hand, I want to
know who did it and nail their hides to the wall, feel
me?”
“Completely.”
“On the other hand, I get either side in my
sights I’m not sure I’m going to indulge in a lot of restraint. You
have any issues with that better tell me now and make it an
order.”
I considered how best to answer that. “Top.
Church and the geek squad are working on connecting the dots. We
got some new info off the second video, and he has a lip-reader
working on recovering info from the hunt video. We’re all hoping
that by the time we put boots on the ground in Costa Rica we know
who the bad guys truly are.”
“Wasn’t goons in exoskeletons put Big Bob in
the ICU,” said Bunny.
“Uh-huh,” agreed Top. “And it wasn’t the
goons who killed the staff at Deep Iron. Now. I don’t see how
Russian mercs tie into a buncha assholes who still think Hitler’s a
role model, but I’m leaning toward them being the ones who need
their asses completely kicked.”
“Probably so, but we have to be open to any
possibility. Church sent us on an infil and rescue, not a wet
work.”
“Okay, Cap’n, loud and
clear.”
“Bunny?” I asked.
“You’re the boss, boss.”
FOR THE REST of the flight we went over the
information from the conference and I played the second video. I
watched their eyes when the kid said, “You have to do something
before everyone in Africa dies. And maybe more than that. You got
to stop them!”
Top leaned back, folded his arms, and said
nothing. Bunny looked at me. “Holy shit. Is this for
real?”
“We’ll find out.”
Top took a toothpick from his pocket, put it
between his teeth, and chewed it. He didn’t say a word for the rest
of the flight.