Balance (33 page)

Nodding to Michael as he
enters
, s
he
starts her
profile
of
the mission. 
“
The daughter of a highly entrenched
associate of
the firm
ha
s
been kidnapped. 
We
suspect
a
n
Elite
competitor
orchestrated
the abduction in attempt to
gain
sensitive
intelligence
on Chango’s current
and future
business activities
.  The kid
nappers have scheduled an exchange, the girl for a micro-storage device
containing sensitive information
, information Chango does not want made public
.  The exchange is
expected
to
take place
in fourteen hours
,
at an
upstate New York shipyard.
”

Ms. Smith
ta
kes over the briefing from Rena to
layout
the field
scenario
, “
The operation
will
utilize
a single
D
ispatch
to
infiltrate the exchange.  Once on-site, our asset will
eliminate
all
hostiles
and extract the primary and secondary targets
, the father and daughter
.  Michael’s skills will permit him to access the environment quickly
,
without detection
,
to facilitate the extraction
.
  We understand this is your first field op, Michael, but your advanced training makes you uniquely suited.
”

Rena details Michael’s strategy, “D
ropped ten blocks from the exchange site,
you will access the shipyard
,
hopefully ahead of any hostiles,
in order to
gain
a
superior position.  You will then
wait for all participants to engage
.  Once the exchange commences, you will
dispatch all
but the father and daughter
, by any means necessary.
You will then extract and escort
them
to a secondary pick-up location
.
”

P
ull
ing
up
aerial
views of the shipyard
,
Rena
identifies
sever
al high vantage
locations
where
a sniper could
operate
.

Michael immediately realizes there are too many
locations; n
o competent military trained
strategist
would suggest
such
an
exchange site.
He
glances at Rena;
giving dir
ections to a small group
of
his
team.
C
asua
lly
, he turns his attention
to
her right hand, catching
two subtle
gestures; the first, a
loose fist with all four fingertips resting on the back of her thumb, their secret gestur
e for ‘set’, the second gesture,
a closed fist with the thumb on top, ‘up’.
  She repeats the understated movements, appearing as nothing more than nervous twitching. 
Interrupting
her
conversation
,
he asks,
“Will I have live audio feed to the
Ready Room
?
”

Feigning
irritation at
his distraction,
Rena replies
tersely,
“You
will
have live feed direct to me
for the
entire
op.  If
something
changes, I need to be able to adjust your parameters.”

Michael is
confident
parameters will
adjust
on site.

Rena
’s voice rises, interrupting
everyone’s discussions, “I want
our team
wheels up in 25-minutes.  Michael, your equipment will be
provided
on site.
” She gazes at him inten
sely
, “
Good luck.”

Michael notices Taka
da and
Ms. Smith
watching he and Rena
interact
, conversing in hushed voices.

O
n
a private jet departing a small Chicago region
al
airstrip
,
Michael is
airborne exactly twenty-f
ive minutes after the order
given by Rena.
 
An hour a
n
d
a
half later,
Michael
climb
s
off the jet in a secluded hanger
.

The
on-
site
ready team direct
s
him to a weapons
cache
, labeled ‘Romeo-six’.
The
large container
,
with its
lid and two lower compartments
opened
,
reveal
s Michael’s preferred armaments.
Carefully located and secured within the chest, he finds s
everal sniper rifles,
handguns
, knives of various design
,
explosives and munitions,
assorted
small tools, ropes, climbing
paraphernalia
and
a diverse assortment of
field
accessories.

Perusing
the assortment
, he
slides
seve
ral throwing knives
in
to
sleeves
sewn
around
the
upper legs
of his
field
jumper
. 
Pulling
a
double
harness
over his shoulder
s
, he shoves
two
Glock-
9mm
s
into
holster
s,
positioning the
handguns
along his sides
pointed down
, handles
oriented
forward
.  He
slides
two additional
full clips
into
pockets
on the holster straps
alon
g
his sides
. 
Opening a
small wooden box,
h
e
carefully
removes
a semi-ci
rcular bladed item
that
he
affixes
to the back of his
harness
.
 
A
fifty-
fo
ot length of high strength rope
is recoiled and secured
to his belt
.

Armed
and ready
,
Michael
commandeers
a dusty brown
leather
overcoat, pulling it on to conceal his ar
ma
m
ents.
Lastly
, he
retrieves
a lightweight
collapsible
sniper
rifle, fitting
six high
velocity rounds
in
to
a mini-bandolier mounted on the
side of the stock
.
 

He
jumps into the back
of
a sm
all urban terrain vehicle
dep
arting
for the
shipyard
.
 
Once on site
, Michael will gain access to the environment, moving to
the
best vantage point to
observe
the
hostage
exchange.  After extraction,
all three
will rendezvous with the transport
,
four block
s
west
of the shipyard.
 
It takes the transport twenty minutes to reach the drop
off
.

Without
slowing,
Michael leaps from the moving vehicle, hitting the ground
at a
full sprint. 
Locating a
section
of
fenc
ed perimeter
with the barbwire
cap missing
,
he
d
rop
s
the coat on the
ground and r
un
s
at
the
fence.
Leaping high into the air
,
the top rail
hits
across his upper thighs.
H
is momentum coupled with the
fulcrum
created by
the rail
,
he’s flipped
high into the air
. 
Somersaulting,
Michael
lands
on his feet
on the other side
.

Sprinting across
an
open
field
,
Michael slips into
the
nearest building.  Checking for unwanted dwellers, he quickly
work
s
his way upstairs to
a
mezzanine
. 
S
tud
ying
his
surroundings, an old pole b
arn, filled with rows of crates, h
e
scans
the
ceiling for roof top ventilation
. 
Arriving
just before
dawn,
morning light
seeps
in through the old vents, illuminating the dust in the air
.

Working quickly
along a catwalk to
the nearest
visible rays of sunlight
,
he
jumps to a handhold
among the roof supports.  S
wing
ing
up as hard as he can,
he
kick
s
the vent free of it
s
mooring,
his feet
continuing
up through the opening.
S
pread
ing his legs
wide
, he
wedges
his body
in the frame
.
Hanging upside-down, he s
lip
s
the
sniper rifle through the opening
, on
to the rooftop.  G
rab
bing
the frame
,
he
pull
s
the rest of his body up
th
r
ough.

Running
quietly
along the roof,
his head just
below the ap
ex
,
hidden from the rising sun
,
Michael
leap
s
from
rooftop
to
rooftop
, m
ak
ing
his way to
his
planned
vantage
location
,
several buildings away.
Reaching
his
destination,
he pauses to listen for inh
abitants
.
Deathly silent, h
e reached the
yard
ahead of his competition.  He and Rena both recognized
the site as an ambush
setting
,
the question is
;
who’
s the target?