Desperate Situations (10 page)

Sure enough she showed up within a few minutes. The room settled into silence as she slid into her chair. She was dressed in her flight suit, which meant the mission would begin immediately.

"Okay. We got a split job today. Cowboy, Gunner and Cupcake are with me. Everyone else will be in the Chinook with Punk and Stick as pilots. Tiny, you're in charge in back in Pestilence. Your job is merely a drop. You aren't even landing. When you get over the area, Stick'll tell you to drop and you guys push the crate out of the back of the Chinook. Back to base and your day is over. Any questions?"

The room stayed silent.

"Good. Gunner and Cupcake stay here for a minute. The rest of you head out. Cowboy, could you start the preflight? I've got a few more things to do then I'll be out. Should be in about ten."

"Sure thang, Darlin'." He left the room right behind the other group of men.

Megan turned to the other two. "If you don't have body armor on, get it when we're done. This is a hot mission. You'll be manning both guns, so make sure that they're good to go and you have enough ammo. We might not be back until after dark. It depends on a lot of things."

"And our mission?" Jake asked, still leaning back in his chair.

"Just do as I say. Don't ask questions. Get going," Megan ordered.

Gunner immediately stood and left. Jake stood.

"I thought I was being shown everything so I can learn? I'd like to know what the hell I'm walking into."

"Afterwards," Megan said also standing up.

Jake frowned.

"I could replace you. I picked you because you have a level head and don't panic. Was I in error? Can you follow orders, Cupcake?"

"I can and I will. But I think Gunner and I deserve to know what's going on."

"Gunner's already guessed," Megan said putting her hands on her hips. "I don't have time for this. Are you in my crew or not?"

"I'm in, but we'll talk when we get back." He stalked out of the room.

"Just great," she said softly to the empty room. She should replace him, but there was no one in the group that she trusted except Gunner and Cowboy.
No. He'll do fine.

Megan dropped off an envelope at the front desk. "Zarin, mail this for me, please. And try that number again. If you don't get an answer, try the second number. Ask for Todd. He's my brother. Ask him if he's talked to my
dad and if he knows anything. Thanks."

When she got to the Black Hawk, Cowboy was half done with the safety check. She help
ed with the walk around then both of them moved up to the cockpit. Cowboy started the helicopter. The Chinook was already warming up with both pilots settling in. The pilot saluted to let her know they were ready.

She was still standing outside Famine. Glancing in, she saw the two men buckled and ready. With a quick nod to herself, she raised her arm
to signal the main hanger building.

Seconds later, a man ran out. The camouflage, floppy hat mostly hid his black hair
, but he looked normal and could have blended in anywhere. He was clothed in full camouflage gear. All of his pockets were bursting at the seams with stuff.

Megan met him a few feet from the helicopter. They spoke quickly then she motioned to the back of the Black Hawk. "This is Gunner and Cupcake. Cupcake's a former Special Forces Ranger. Get head gear on, but this is a silent trip." Her eyes glued to Cupcake. She knew that Gunner understood what was going on.

Jake narrowed his eyes with a glance at the mysterious man, but nodded at her as he plugged the helmet into the intercom system.

Megan shut the big door and headed to the cockpit. Minutes later, they were airborne behind the larger Chinook.

***

They traveled northeast for forty minutes. Then the Chinook turned right and the Black Hawk banked left. Up
to this point, there had been nothing spoken. "Okay Rover, we drop you in five minutes."

"Thanks, Ghost."

After another couple of minutes, they circled back to where they had split from the other helicopter.

Jake looked out his side and saw what looked like the Chinook heading away from them in the direction of the base. He frowned with a look at the guy
who was checking his pockets.

The guy glanced up and smiled.

Jake nodded back, then it hit him. This guy was probably CIA and this was a covert mission. Whatever was in the delivered crate was for this guy.

Sure enough they were quickly descending near an opening in the terrain. The clearing was empty
, but as he searched for anyone suspicious, he saw the crate upright off to the side in trees. It looked like it had knocked a couple trees down as it fell.

"Rover, the object is about twenty yards at two o'clock from our position." Megan's voice sounded over the intercom.

"Got it."

The Black Hawk didn't fully land but hovered inches from the ground. The man hopped off and ran for the area of the crate. When he got there, he gave a slight wave. They accelerated up and away.

They traveled several more minutes, then quickly descended to a small area in a different valley cut out of the heavily forested area.

Gunner smiled at him as the helicopter shutdown. Jake looked at him then back toward the cockpit.
What was going on?

"We wait," Gunner said softly.

"Yeah." Megan's voice came over the headsets. "But keep your eyes peeled. This isn't a safe area. Cowboy and I will take the first break. Then we'll rotate one on each side watching at all times. Assuming nobody comes across us, we might be here until dark. Keep quiet as much as possible."

Silence settled over the aircraft.

***

The sun was setting in the valley. All day the four of them switched between watching and taking breaks. Gunner had come back to the Black Hawk from taking a leak when a static crackle
sounded over the headset.

"Ready, Famine."

Megan nodded at Cowboy as she moved to the cockpit to begin warming up the helicopter.

"Give us fifteen minutes, pardner," Cowboy replied. "Bark if ya'll see anyone."

"Got it." The static died.

Megan started the engines and let the chopper warm up. "Positions, guys."

Jake glanced at Gunner as both got behind their guns, ready for action.

As the aircraft lifted, Megan spoke, "Keep sharp. The bad guys like to shoot us down, something I hate happening."

Gunner chuckled and Jake smiled.

Minutes later they were nearing the drop off area.

"Ruff. Ruff." Came a static filled sound.

"Rover?" Cowboy intoned in
to the radio.

"I got company coming down the hill. Looks like a small squad
, maybe ten."

"Damn," Megan said softly over the intercom. "Guys?"

Jake scanned his side. "Got'em. They're about three quarters of the way down. More like twelve."

"Distance?" Megan asked.

"Coming into rifle range."

"Rover, this is Famine. Scoop and run. Be ready," Cowboy said.

"Cupcake, you're in the hot seat. Fire at will."

Jake took a deep breath and cocked the door gun.

"Here we go," Megan said as the chopper swooped down at full speed and appeared like it would crash. At the last minute, she leveled it and hovered inches from the ground with Jake's side facing the enemy's position.

Bullets were already ricocheting off the helicopter. Jake fired as fast as the gun would allow, sweeping the area with no specific target in mind. The aircraft was down less
than thirty seconds when it lifted off again. Jake kept firing at the enemy's position even as Megan tilted the helicopter to allow the best angle for firing. At the same time, she was accelerating up and out of the area. And fast.

Jake finally stopped firing when they were out of range and released his tight grip on the gun. He wiped the sweat off his hands and relaxed into his seat.

The mysterious man laid his head back and was obviously relieved to be in the air.

"Good job, Cupcake," Megan said, a smile in her voice. "Everyone okay ?"

"We all good," Gunner said smiling at the other two.

"Rover, which drop off? One or two?"

"Two. Appreciate the pick up, Ghost."

"That's our job. Relax. You got twenty minutes 'til we reach your rendezvous."

***

"What was that about?" Jake asked after Gunner and Cowboy finished their paperwork. They weren't in the usual meeting room but in Megan's office.

Megan pushed her paperwork across the corner of the desk to him. "Joint operation."

"I figured that out," Jake
muttered, still disgusted. He quickly read the post paperwork. "This is completely different from what happened."

Megan nodded with a smile. "This was one of those missions that require
d creative writing. Read Gunner's report. Basically copy his." Megan tore up Jake's report and pushed a new copy to him.

Jake read Gunner's two sentence report. It said they dropped a crate in the mountainous region and flew back to base, total hours
for the mission two, which included pre and post mission. His head came up to look at Megan.

"For all covert operations we get more pay. I file the appropriate total hours on this form. The extra time is listed as maintenance on the aircraft." She showed him the last form. "This is one of those instances that's mentioned in your contract about selective memory."

Jake frowned. "How did you get the assignment? I checked the box late last night and again this morning for pre-paperwork."

Megan at first didn't reply. "They let you know. In this instance, it was the guy last night, remember? Sometimes it's a call, other times a written note. It depends on the base, the local CIA agent in charge and how sensitive the mission." She paused. "Last night the 'cargo' arrived. I instructed the ground crew what was needed. A quick call to Rupert, the head mechanic or Corn if Rupert's not available, is all it takes. No one asks questions. You just do the work and collect your pay."

"Do you know what this was about?" Jake said as he filled in his paperwork with the same information as Gunner only using different words.

"I'm only informed of things that I need to know." She smiled as Jake's head snapped up. "I can guess a whole lot more."

"Then guess."

Megan shrugged. "Since we were near the Pakistan boarder… That area is possibly one of Osama bin Laden's training camps. My guess is that Rover was confirming the camp
's location. Maybe confirming other information and getting a count."

"A count?"

"A count of how many men are in the camp."

"What was in the box?"

"I didn't ask."

"Guess."

"I know when to stop guessing."

"So, this was to get bin Laden?"

Megan immediately shook her head no. "The U.S. Military and other agencies know where he is, generally. Between satellites and other intelligence, besides drops like this, I would guess they pretty much know his location."

"So why don't they go get him?"

"Why?" Megan asked. "He's contained in the mountains."

"But
…"

"Have you heard of his successor, his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri?"

Jake shook his head handing her his paperwork.

"If bin Laden is killed, he becomes a martyr. And that would bring in more recruits
than anything. Al-Zawahiri is ten times worse. Bin Laden is smart. This other guy…" Megan shrugged. "Besides, do you know the force it would take to ferret bin Laden out of his various holes in the mountains?"

"Yes, I realize that but
…"

"He'd slip from one hole to another." Megan interrupted. "The Russians couldn't ferret out the rebels from those mountains
in ten years." Megan shook her head. "For once, the military and the White House are actually being smart about this."