“Oh!”
“Oh shit!” Catie thought, “That could have been me. I would have just taken that sentry out without thinking. I could have ruined the whole mission.” She was feeling sorry for Boucher, wondering if there was any way to save the mission.
“Sir,” Howard said.
“Yes?”
“We could have another part of the squadron make a feint against one of the other targets. That might keep them from sending reinforcements,” Howard suggested.
“Good idea,” Baker said. He got on his Comm and issued orders for Flight 6 to make a feint at the landing strip at the edge of the ranch. “They’re coming from that direction anyway.”
“The tunnels!” Catie thought. “Maybe we can pull this out after all.”
Catie walked over to Baker. “Sir, may I have a moment in private with you?” Catie asked in a whisper.
Baker looked at her as if she had two heads, then nodded and motioned her to follow him. They walked twenty meters to the back of the group before he stopped. “Okay, MacGregor, what’s up?”
“Sir. I have some intel on the ranch house that might help us to take it.”
“So, what’s the problem; spit it out.”
“Sir, I’m not supposed to have this intel, and if anyone knew I did, it could compromise me.”
“So you have it, but you can’t tell me?”
“No, sir. I have it, and if I tell you, I need you to promise not to reveal its source.”
“There are only twenty of us, won’t they figure it out?”
“Not if you say we just stumbled across it when we were trying to figure out how to take the house.”
“Did you do something illegal to gather this intel?”
“No, sir.”
“Then how do you have it when you’re not supposed to?”
“I overheard a conversation,” Catie said, not wanting to tell him it was after Kal and his team took the ranch house from the cartel boss. She had been the pilot of the Oryx they had used for the incursion. And the conversation she had overheard was one of the Marines telling his friends about what they had found in the house.
“So, what’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing specifically,” Catie said. “But if someone knew that I had this intel, they would learn certain things about me that I need to keep private.”
“But, it’s not something illegal?”
“No, sir.”
“Okay, I’m good with that,” Baker said. “What do you know?”
“That bunkhouse that’s about fifty meters from the house, there’s a tunnel between it and the house.”
“How’s that going to help? They’re guarding the bunkhouse too.”
“Yes, sir. But there is also another tunnel into the bunkhouse from the side of the hill. We walked by it, and I didn’t see a guard.”
“You think they don’t know about the tunnels?”
“I think the people who run the show do, but that doesn’t mean they would have told Delta Squadron.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Flight Six just finished their hit and run on the landing strip,” Baker reported to his team. “I want scouts out here and here,” he said, pointing to the map he was displaying on the ground. “Howard, you’re with me, we’ll check out this area. MacGregor, McCoy, you two hold here with flight two.”
“Why are we getting left here?” Joanie asked Catie once Baker was out of earshot.
“Don’t know, but I’m fine with taking a break. Let’s use the time to review the footage from our drone; maybe we’ll see something that can help.”
Baker led Howard on a circuitous route to the coordinates that Catie had given him. They leapfrogged along the way, one covering the other as he pushed ahead, then regrouping before leapfrogging ahead once more.
“Sir, are we looking for anything in particular?” Howard asked.
“Something that the surveillance drone couldn’t see or that we missed on our way here,” Baker replied. “We need another way to get close to the house, or maybe that bunkhouse.”
“I’m sure they’ll be guarding both of them.”
“Which is why we’re looking for a better approach. Maybe they dump their trash out here somewhere, and we’ll be able to use that. We just have to keep looking.”
“Yes, sir.”
As they were moving by a small cut in the hill, Howard signaled a halt. “That bush there sure seems healthy compared to the other plants out here,” he said.
“It does. Do you think there’s a water source there?”
“Maybe, but why aren’t the other plants getting the benefit?”
“Check it out,” Baker ordered.
“On it, sir.”
“What luck,” Baker thought. “Having Howard find the tunnel entrance would put even more distance between MacGregor and the discovery.”
“Sir, there’s an entrance here of some kind. Maybe to a tunnel.”
“Any movement inside?” Baker asked as he reached the entrance and Howard.
“No, sir. There’s a door here, it’s locked, but I don’t hear anything on the other side.”
“Hold fast. I want to bring Flight One up to cover us; then we’ll see if we can get inside and find where it leads.” He messaged Fight One to head for their coordinates. They only took two minutes to get there since they could take a direct route.
When they arrived, Baker called out, “MacGregor, have you read how to pick an electronic lock?”
Catie walked up to the door, “No, sir, but I have heard that they are susceptible to lasers,” she said as she aimed her armored fist with its built-in laser at the lock.
“That’s not going to do anything on the restricted power setting,” Baker said.
“Maybe not,” Catie said as she fired the laser.
The lock clicked open. “It seems the instructors didn’t want us to mess up their nice lock,” Catie said, giving Baker a smile.
“Okay, you and Howard go in and scout the tunnel, keep your cameras running; we’ll stay here until you give us the okay.”
“Yes, sir,” Catie said as she headed into the tunnel with Howard right on her heels.
“Where do you think this goes?” Howard asked.
“Somewhere up by the house would be my guess,” Catie said. “It was owned by the leader of one of the cartels, so he probably had an escape tunnel in case the Federales stormed his ranch.”
“That would be sweet,” Howard
