“Fun.” Roger blew his breath out hard and shook his head. “Sure. Why not. It’s not like I had anything better to do. The Rangers don’t play again until Friday and it’s an away game.”
Bridger packed out the last bag and turned to him. “If we survive this, we’ll see about getting you your life back.” He snorted. “Hell, I wouldn’t mind having my life back either. You know, the one I had hiding away in Bumfuck, Texas. The life I had before you came and asked me to do a little search and destroy for you online.”
Roger’s face fell. “Fine.” He turned and made his way to the tunnel door. He’d rather face al-Abadi and his incessant whining than have Bridger remind him that his involvement was all his doing.
Jim watched the man then turned to Bridger. “A little rough on him, dontcha think?”
Bridger leaned on the table and sighed heavily. “Maybe.” He glanced at Roger slipping into the tunnel and shook his head. “I’m hyper focused right now and just can’t…” He looked up and met Jim’s gaze. “I just can’t.”
“Understood.” Jim clapped his shoulder. “Be safe out there.”
Jay appeared beside Bridger. “You loaded?”
“For bear.” Bridger patted his different pouches and silently recited the contents of each.
“Then let’s light this candle.” Jay walked to the door and pulled it open. “Age before beauty.”
Somewhere Above Texas
AGENT DARREN CHESTERFIELD glanced around the interior of the chopper. Each man’s face was stoic. They knew what they were about to do and Darren got the distinct impression that none of them liked the idea of a pencil pusher forcing his way into their op.
He keyed the radio and addressed the pilot. “Keep us far enough out that they won’t see us coming.”
“Copy that.”
The man to Darren’s right tapped his shoulder and he keyed the coms again. “What?”
“They’ll hear us regardless. We need to do a dual pronged insertion.”
Darren assumed that meant hit them from two different sides. “Agreed. Make it so.” He turned back to his ruggedized PDA and pretended to do something on it while the assault team leader barked his orders.
Darren could feel his hands shake as the chopper dropped and skimmed the deck. His stomach threatened to erupt on him and he knew that if it did, it would only contain old coffee and bile.
He leaned back and squeezed his eyes shut. Why in the fuck did I insist on coming on this op?
Near Camp Deric, South of Dallas, TX
ALI BIN-HAMZA motioned for the driver to slow down and he stared at the land associated with the GPS coordinates. “You are certain?”
The babyfaced man nodded. “Taken from their own communications.”
Ali nodded and pointed to the dirt road that he assumed would be the driveway. “We must hurry if we expect to beat the authorities.” He turned in his seat and glared at the soldiers behind him. “We must get al-Abadi before they do. The traitor must know that he was ended by true believers.”
The men nodded and Ali motioned for the driver to continue. “Everyone be aware. We cannot afford to lose anybody to traps and snares.”
He studied the lay of the land as the truck slowed and approached the dirt road that would lead to his prey.
The babyfaced man excitedly tapped the driver’s shoulder and pointed. “There! There, that is the way in.”
“Stop here!” Ali bin-Hamza barked. He was pushing the door open before the truck rolled to a complete stop. “Remember, be aware at all times. There may be traps here as well.”
The two trucks emptied and Ali noted the replacement soldiers he had acquired for the men wounded at Bridger’s home. He pointed at the two men. “You were not at the infidel’s home. He is a crazy war veteran and enjoys setting traps. Eyes open at all times. Do not fail me.”
He spun on his heel and marched to the front of the lead truck. “Take your team through on this side. We will go ahead and come in from the other.”
Camp Deric, South of Dallas, TX
GREGG KEYED THE coms. “All teams, we have movement near the west entrance. Two sets of signals near the driveway. They appear to be working their way into a flanking maneuver.”
“Copy that,” Jay whispered.
“Copy,” Bridger replied. “Advise when they break the inner marker.”
“You got it.” Gregg rolled to his other computer and tapped out commands. “No fix on the drone. They’re probably keeping it out of range for portable units. I’m setting the program to alert if it changes altitude and can be reached by our toys.”
Jay cursed and keyed his coms. “We’ve only got two ground to airs. It has to be a sure thing before I waste that kind of firepower.”
“Copy that, Poppa Bear. Will advise.” Gregg pushed back to his original keyboard and moved the feeds to the larger screens set up along the table. “Steve, keep an eye on the monitors set up for the North and West passages. Deric, maintain on South and East. I got the sensors.”
Deric ground his teeth as he settled in behind the screens. “I wish we could have set these cameras at better angles.”
Steve shook his head. “We had to keep them invisible. Otherwise they’d just pull them down and we’d be blind.” He pushed the monitor back slightly so that he could observe both approaches. “North and West are clear…wait one!” Steve leaned in and squinted at the blurry feed. “We have movement. Looks like six men in standard two by two formation.”
Deric keyed his coms as well. “I have a team approaching from the south. Another group of six in two by two formation. Poppa Bear, heads up. They’ll be entering your line of fire in about twenty seconds.”
“Holy shit!” Gregg yelled into the coms. “I’ve got at least a dozen perimeter alarms all along the northern sensor array.” He stared at his computer and shook his head. “Guys, they sent a fucking army.”
Bridger ground his teeth
