Insertion, page 18
“It appears that a team has blown up one of my facilities in the jungle.”
Thinking of the right words to say, even though he was ecstatic on the inside, he said, “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Shooting Ben a blank stare and shaking his head, he responded, “No, no, you’re not. You would love nothing more than for all of this to be taken from me and for you to be whisked away back to where you came from.”
Taking a large gulp of coffee before he responded, he said, “Yeah, I’m not going to lie.”
Setting his coffee glass back on the table and looking down over the valley, Alejandro said, “Of course. However, I have many more facilities, but this load was supposed to go to a major supplier and now I have to make some phone calls and fix it.”
Looking behind him to his right, he waved Pablo over and whispered what he wanted done. Pablo briskly walked back into the house to finish whatever task was given to him.
“Do you know who it was?” Ben asked. He knew all too well what went into blowing up a cocaine facility in the middle of the jungle.
“I have an idea, however, if I was being honest about it, I don’t know. But I did have reports of two black helicopters leaving the scene and some wedo’s were with them. Just remember, Ben,” Alejandro said, turning to him as a butler dropped off their meal for the morning.
“I get it, Alejandro,” snapped Ben in response, watching the drug lord chuckle.
“Oh, but don’t worry,” he said, biting into his toast, “your dad will be made to watch as well.”
CHAPTER 38
Jack told Janet he had some information on their lead, so she met him at the mansion, safe and clear from prying eyes and ears. She was only in the house for ten minutes before Jack was grilling steaks for them to eat while they figured out what to do about their problem. It was still technically a workday and although they were at a safe and secure within the confines of the mansion, miles from Langley, they both could be called back to the agency for any number of reasons, so water was the best choice as far as drinks went to accompany the T-bones that Jack brought back into the house.
As soon as the steaks entered through the sliding glass doors, the smell caused Janet to salivate. He set the steaks on top of the stove, stepped back outside to grab the asparagus, and closed the door behind him. Jack would have loved more than anything to eat outside and admire the weather and warm breeze, but a conversation like this one needed to be conducted inside. They couldn’t risk the off chance someone was monitoring them.
“Your plate isn’t going to fix itself,” Jack said smugly. She finished texting on her Blackberry and noticed how serious he was. She stood up to grab her food. After grabbing some waters, the two sat down as Janet created conversation.
“Since you’re out of the loop right now, I thought I’d let you know they’re going to hit the compound sometime tonight.”
Jack looked up from his steak. “About damn time.”
“I want you to take the jet to Austin this afternoon so you can personally give Ben’s parents the news when we get him.”
“And on the off chance we don’t?”
“Then you still deliver the news. Either way I’m sure you’ve done this before.”
He didn’t like the idea of delivering bad news, but somebody had to. “Fair enough, I’ll leave when we’re done.”
“Now,” she said in between bites, “what did you find?”
“It seems like your theory is correct,” Jack said before biting into his medium rare cut.
Finishing a piece of asparagus and swallowing before she continued, she said, “What do you mean ‘theory?’”
“It means that security has video evidence of her coming into work, walking to her office and the next thing they have is her returning to her office, nothing in-between.”
Janet pointed her knife at Jack. “Bullshit, how do they not have footage of that? We’re the most secure place in the country next to the White House and we can’t even keep track of employees entering and leaving the building? That’s some bullshit and you know it, Jack.”
“Relax, Janet, I’ve known the guy who runs security longer than you have been employed here. He’s a dear friend of mine and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize this agency. Trust me when I say they have no footage of her going into your office. All they have is what I just told you.”
“Now what?” she said, putting another bite of steak into her mouth. The juices were dripping down the side of her mouth as she grabbed a napkin to wipe them away.
“Lucky for you, as I just alluded to, I have been in this business a very long time and have many connections around here.”
She replied, “Yes, we all know you’re the big man on campus. Spit it out Jack, what are you trying to tell me?”
“I found the man who was hired to erase the files.”
“And how exactly did you do that?” she exclaimed while looking at her watch. “It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours.”
“Like I said, I have connections and like you just said, I’m the ‘big man on campus,’” replying with air quotations. “Anyway, just know that I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was her.” He said between bites of asparagus.
“What do you propose we do?”
“Let’s look at the bigger picture. We now have an agent who we think is leaking information—even though we don’t know how much information—out to people who are not authorized to have it. If this gets out, the agency could be ruined, and the Bering Group will no longer exist because we’re already on a tight leash as it is. We’re supposed to be the wet work group that goes bump in the night and not only did we have an agent kidnapped, but now we have someone leaking files? Ms. Moore will have us shut down in a heartbeat to avoid the president finding out,” Jack said.
“Between her and David, they can’t make this magically go away?”
“There is no magically making this disappear. To cover all of our asses, Alexis would shut it down and David would re-rack all of us to different assignments. It would be the biggest bust of a CIA program in a very long time. He’s the director and as much as we love each other, he absolutely cannot let this information get leaked to the press because you had better believe that this White House Administration does not play games like the last one. Plus President Howard isn’t the biggest fan of David and the way he runs the agency. This may be the powder keg that causes all of us to lose our jobs.”
They sat in silence and finished their meals while simultaneously thinking about how to resolve their issues. Janet was new to all of this and had never encountered anybody trying to steal information out of the agency, much less from her office. Jack, on the other hand, had been with the agency for just about two decades now and knew more than anything how stuff like this turned out. There was more than one instance in the past where things like this had happened but more often than not, if it was kept in-house and not leaked to the press, then that was that. There was only one real way Jack knew more than anything to handle a situation like this, and as much as he wanted to just run with it, Janet was his boss now and he had to respect the chain of command. Since she came forward and wanted to sort of turn over a new leaf, he felt obligated only a little to have his idea approved and to bring her directly into his world of work.
“This has happened once or twice before. Not necessarily stealing information from an office, but agents in the field going rogue and having to be dealt with,” Jack said, folding his arms across the table. “This doesn’t end well, and quite frankly there is only one way out of this,” he said, taking a sip of his water. “She has to disappear.”
They continued to make small talk and finish their meals as Jack explained how the agency dealt with certain individuals in the past. To Jack’s surprise, Janet’s composure remained calm, cool, and collected as she finished her food and leaned back, letting out a long sigh. She looked around and admired the craftsmanship that went into building this mansion for their new group.
“You know, signing off on a project like this to build you guys your own fortress of solitude wasn’t easy, but it would be a shame to see this go to waste. If the Bering Group gets dismantled over something like this, I will most definitely be out of a job. And finding one as good as this one, including the perks, is out of the question. I might as well be putting in my papers to work at a fast-food chain.”
Scooting her chair back and grabbing her purse sitting next to her on the table, she turned to Jack. “I don’t care what you have to do, but get it done.” And with that, she left.
CHAPTER 39
After landing safely back at the police station, the team took the elevator back underground, taking showers then eating breakfast while filling in Kwame, Nate, and Kyle on what happened. When everyone was washed and fully satisfied with food, Max and Antonio gathered everybody who would be participating in the raid of Alejandro’s compound later that evening in the conference room. As it turned out, Antonio had one more trick up his sleeve.
He had made a phone call while everyone was eating and taking showers, calling in a favor from one of his diplomatic friends who worked in directly for the Minister of Defense. Within two hours, twenty additional Special Forces personnel from the Colombia Army had joined them in the conference room.
Proper introductions came first, and the room was so crowded now that there was no room to even sit. The chairs had to be taken out to make way for everyone involved in the operation. Max and Antonio stood on either side of the big television screen at the end of the room which displayed a live satellite feed, courtesy of Janet, of Alejandro’s mansion.
“Okay,” Max said, raising his hand to quiet down the chatter of almost fifty people. Not only had Antonio made the call to the Special Forces, but every person who worked under Antonio was called in for this operation.
“As you can see,” Max said, “on the screen is a massive complex. This is real time footage that is provided by a live drone circling the compound. To those of you who don’t know, we,” he said, pointing to the rest of the operators who came down with him, “are here specifically to get our buddy who was kidnapped by Alejandro and his organization.” Clicking off of the video feed and clicking onto a picture of Ben, he said, “This is our friend Ben. We don’t know exactly where he’s being kept, so memorize this photo. Our primary goal on this mission is to extract him without incurring any more bumps or bruises along the way while helping you all with your cartel problem.” Stepping aside, he let Antonio take over the presentation.
“Okay, raise your hand if you have not been to the compound,” he said, clicking the button on the remote to re-engage the satellite imagery of the compound. Looking throughout the room, the only people who raised their hands were Max’s team. Shaking his head at Max, who returned his look with a middle finger, Antonio continued. “We will have three teams. Arturo,” he said pointing to one of the squad leaders of the Special Forces that walked into the room, “you will hit the compound by air at precisely 2300 hours tonight and land in the valley just below the compound.” He pointed to the woods that surrounded the bottom portion of the screen that took up all of the space just below the empty soccer field surrounding the back of the mansion.
Nodding in response to his new tasking, Arturo gave a thumbs-up, as Antonio continued. “After we make entry, you guys will surround the property and will be responsible for three-sixty-degree security on the ground. Nothing leaves or enters without your permission.”
“Nothing will come in or out of the compound while we are there,” he said. Arturo looked like he would be the one scaring monsters in children’s dreams. His tan and lean six-foot stature, his deep voice, and a scar reaching diagonally across his entire face was enough to cause people on the street to look the other direction. There wasn’t a place on his arms that wasn’t covered by tattoos. To any outsider not in the room, he looked the furthest from a federal officer.
Giving Arturo an approving nod, Antonio turned to his own men. “While Arturo and his men are jumping out of the plane at 2300 hours, the rest of us will be make our way up the dirt path to his compound at 2230. Once inside the compound, the rest of us will split up into two groups. The ones that went on the operation this morning will work with me and Max and help find Ben. When that task is complete, we will join Marco in the other group,” he said, pointing to one of the lighter skinned operators in the room.
Max stepped in and said, “Nate, we could use you on that ridge overlooking his mansion.”
“You got it,” Nate said. “What do you guys use for sniper rifles down here? I didn’t bring a long-range rifle with me, too much to carry for this mission.”
“That’s not a problem,” Antonio said. “We have Barrett’s.”
“That’s more than plenty,” he spoke.
“You want some company?” Antonio asked.
“Sure, give me two shooters to watch my back and we’ll call it even.”
“Roger that.”
A hand went up from one of Antonio’s men. He pointed at him to allow him to speak, “Boss, what about his men? They’ll have radios and when we start to drop these dudes, he’s going to know something is wrong when they don’t respond.”
“Don’t worry, we have that part taken care of,” he answered, pointing to Max.
From here, Max took over the conversation. “We have a portable electromagnetic pulse emitter, courtesy of the United States government. The box knocks out any electronics, no matter what kind, within five hundred yards. We’ll turn it on the second we suppress the first of the bodyguards at the bottom of the hill. If he has a generator to power up the house, it will have to be gas powered.”
“You guys just carry that around with you when you go on missions? Won’t that knock out our radios?” asked the same individual.
“Negative. We restocked on gear when we hit the safe house in Colombia, and as long as the radios are programmed to a certain frequency, we’ll be fine. This is the newest in research and development,” he said, seeing the same person about to ask a question again. “No, his men won’t be running this frequency, trust me. We don’t know what kind of state that Ben will be in. After we find him, we have to make sure he can get whatever medical attention that he needs ASAP. Me and my team will personally escort Ben to one of the helicopters outside, drop him off, then hightail it back to link up with the rest of you in the mansion. Any questions?”
Satisfied that no one said anything else, Antonio spoke up. “This will be a kill, not capture mission. He has escaped our grasp for the last thirty plus years, and now this is our chance to make a change for this country. When tonight is over, we will pick apart his organization piece by piece. He has infested the world with so much narcotics and developed an empire the likes of which no one has seen since the eighties and nineties. Tonight it ends, and there’s no coming back.”
CHAPTER 40
Jack hopped on the Gulfstream G550 with his bag packed and ready to go about an hour after Janet left after their lunch meeting. He was dead tired from the constant worrying about his team and finding out who snuck into Janet’s office. Now he had to figure out a way to break the news to a family whose son was kidnapped and hopefully not killed. Well, he thought, his job would be so much easier if he managed to stay alive during all of this. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes and managed to take a couple of long breaths. He felt the jet engines screaming to life as they taxied out onto the runway.
Thinking about his late wife, Joanna, always brought him rest and relaxation. What would she be telling him right now? Why did he have to go deliver the news? Couldn’t someone else go and take care of that simple task? He was far too old. Didn’t he start this team with the ability to sit behind and watch from afar? He loved her and she was always supportive of him, but she didn’t understand.
She was a yoga teacher when they first met and in the process of setting up her own studio. Neither of them wanted kids, and to be honest, it was for the best, especially with Jack’s line of work. He loved his job and of course would have sacrificed everything for her if she truly wanted them, but she also grew up an only child and that’s all she knew. Jack had brothers and sisters and kept in contact with them pretty frequently, but they all thought he was in the realm of finance. Jack saw day in and day out the labors and constant sacrifices his brothers and sisters had to make to get their children to soccer practice, school, dental appointments, etc., on time, and he wanted nothing to do with it.
As the jet climbed in altitude, he looked at his watch. He had a little while before he got there. Pushing away any bad thoughts creeping out of the dark crevices of his mind, he decided he would think about what to say in case the worst happened whenever the time came. But for right now, he would be no use to anyone if he didn’t get some sleep.
Jack awoke as the jet touched down. The roar of the engines slowed as the aircraft approached the hangar. Giving a nice little stretch, he unbuckled his seat belt, and let his eyes adjust to his surroundings.
As the plane came to a full stop, he stood up and reached into the overhead compartment. He pulled out his bag, set it on the floor, and closed the compartment. Kneeling, he felt his knees give subtle pops. Stretching more often would be beneficial. He reached underneath his seat and felt for the black lever. He pulled forward on it, throwing the seat onto its back, exposing a hidden compartment. Underneath was an assortment of different weapons from short-barreled bull-pup shotguns, AR pistols, and regular pistols to a couple of stun-and-flash grenades. He grabbed a flash grenade to accompany his Springfield XD’s and two extra magazines.
