by Margaret Kay
“The FBI will bill you for that,” Burke said.
“Move,” Spencer repeated.
Sherman knew he had to be cool and professional. He reined in his emotions, which wanted to demand they leave with no plan, bust in there and kill everyone but Brielle, Burke, the baby and his momma, if she was still alive. He reaffixed his eyes to Shepherd on the monitor.
“The FBI out of New Orleans have been called in to go after Sheriff Henderson and Deputy Downey. They have left the facility. They’re not our mission. Getting inside, acquiring the location of Burke, Brielle Jarboe, and Tina Landry and her son, is our mission. Neutralize all threats. We still have no schematics. If we get any before you get onsite, we’ll transmit them,” Shepherd said.
“Will we have any backup onsite?” Lambchop asked.
“Yes. There are a dozen agents with the DEA in the port area. They will drive up to the BioDynamix facility. We time our assault, waiting until after they arrive in the area. They will hold position on the road a quarter mile from the facility. After we are onsite, they will remain outside of the building after you breach it as backup if you need them. They aren’t trained for what you’ll be doing, so I don’t want them to enter the building when you do,” Shepherd advised.
“We have a Coast Guard chopper on standby,” Cooper said. “We’ll drop a small inflatable boat and Lambchop, Mother, and Sherman from the chopper into the bayou here.” He pointed out the wide spot in the channel about a mile from the BioDynamix building that would easily accommodate the width of the rotors. “Then we drop the Undertaker here,” he pointed out on the map. “He makes his way as close to the gate guard as he can, to take him out. Once he’s neutralized, the chopper will fly in over the top of the building and drop Doc here, on the southwest corner of the roof, near the trailers to provide us cover. Then it will briefly land here, to drop Madison and me. By that time, the Undertaker makes his way up to the chopper and the three of us breach the front of the building as the rest of Delta Team breaches it from the back. Doc, you’re Overwatch for this mission.”
Doc nodded. “Forty trailers, probably one hundred sixty people max.”
“Yeah, but don’t forget, we believe the majority of the workers are slave-labor. Probably not armed,” Cooper reminded him.
“I’ve been monitoring Burke’s transmissions over his comms and the camera feed from inside the target building,” Garcia’s voice broke in. “The Sheriff turned Burke and Brielle over to Spencer and three, armed Chinese males. Spencer discovered Burke’s comms, and it is no longer transmitting. I can give you an approximate location within the building where they are at based on Burke’s tracker signal. There is no camera footage I can find from inside to tell me where they were brought to.”
“Mission plan approved,” Shepherd said. “Ops will direct. Go get our people!”
With every step Brielle took, her panic intensified. When the man in front of her opened the door into what she saw was a small room, she froze, unable to step forward.
“Inside,” Spencer’s voice said sharply. He was still behind them. When she didn’t move, he came up beside her and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled her into the room.
To the right of the door sat Tina, who looked horrified to see them, especially her little boy, still asleep in Brielle’s arms. She had several bruises on her face. She came to her feet. Brielle rushed over and Tina took Toby from her arms. “Are you okay?” Brielle whispered. The look on Tina’s face and her nonresponse told Brielle she wasn’t. She saw terror in Tina’s eyes.
Two of the Chinese men pushed Burke into a chair where they wrestled with him and shackled his hands to the table.
Spencer pulled a second chair out. “This seat is for you, Ms. Jarboe.”
Brielle watched him. His face was cold, unemotional.
“What happens in this room is up to you. If you cooperate, I won’t hurt you, too much.”
“But you’re planning to kill us all.” Brielle heard Tina’s sharp intake of air accompanied by a whimper. She glanced at Tina, who held Toby in a fierce hug.
The unmistakable sound of someone getting punched brought Brielle’s attention back to Spencer. Burke was just bringing his head back forward, his lip now split and bleeding. “Each time you fail to cooperate someone gets hurt, the degree of the wounds increasing with each occurrence,” Spencer said.
Brielle forced herself to cross the room and take a seat in the chair. “I’ll cooperate. What do you want to know?”
“Good choice,” Spencer said. “Now, where’s his partner?”
Brielle’s eyes flickered to Rich. He shook his head no. “Port Fourchon. There is a DEA office there.”
“How’d you know?”
“Know what?” Brielle asked.
“About the heroin stickers?”
“We didn’t know for sure this was drug related. It was a guess. I just knew something was off and the more I looked into it and wrote posts about this place, which caused the Sheriff to harass me more with each article, the more convinced I became. I watched this place for weeks. I saw no real supplies coming in or out of here. No one would talk to me about their job here, except Brad Johnson, the day before he quit. When you killed him, that’s when I approached the feds for help. I met with the FBI in New Orleans.” No, she had never spoken with Bradley Johnson about BioDynamix, nor had she approached anyone for help.
The corners of Spencer’s lips tugged into a scowl. “You seem to know a lot more than we thought you did.”
With that statement, Brielle knew they had killed Brad Johnson. She hadn’t known him well, but none-the-less, Spencer’s confirmation angered her and increased her fear. She prayed to God that someone from either Port Fourchon or the Shepherd Security office in Chicago had been watching the camera feeds and saw that they had been brought here. She prayed someone was on their way to rescue them. If she could stall Spencer long enough for them to get there, just maybe, they would be rescued before they were killed.
“Where does Bobby and Brian Sherman fit in?”
“The FBI listened to my story and said they would investigate, but I didn’t have a smoking gun, no real proof. That was when I decided to break in here and try to get that proof for them. The Sherman brothers really didn’t have much to do with any of it. When I broke into this place last week, Bobby was a decoy to throw the Sheriff off, so I could get away. That was the extent of his involvement and I didn’t know his brother was an ATF Agent, didn’t meet him till he found me hiding on Bobby’s boat.”
“But they helped you to get out of the area.”
“Yes,” Brielle confirmed. “I flew up to Chicago with them and was put in touch with Burke and the FBI up there.”
Spencer looked pissed. “What else do they know?”
“The FBI knows Michael Spencer died as a child at a summer camp, drowned. They also know that his mother, Maribel Spencer, died in Florida a number of years ago. She’s not in an assisted living facility in Trenton,” Brielle said bravely, an idea coming to her. “They’ve looked into all the names on BioDynamix’s Articles of Incorporation. It’s only a matter of time before they figure out who you really are, all of you. You thought you were opening up shop in an area with stupid hillbillies. You didn’t count on how tight of a community the Cajun and Creole people are. If I don’t make a check-in every twelve hours with a friend, an article with everything I know or suspect about this place will go viral around this community and it will also get sent to the FBI. I call it my safeguard.”
“You’re bluffing,” Spencer said.
“I’ve felt in danger for months because of the articles I’ve been writing. I put this safeguard in place long before I broke in here last week. But if you don’t believe me, let me miss my check-in and see what happens. And don’t forget the locals at Galliano Airport are my subscribers. No one is flying out of here after my safeguard goes live. It starts like this. If you’re reading this article, something bad has happened to me. I’m either in danger or
already dead. Take this seriously. This article was released by a friend who didn’t hear from me at an agreed upon interval. Everyone at BioDynamix as well as Sheriff Henderson and Deputy Downey are suspects. Be suspicious of all outsiders to our community.” She paused and stared at Spencer, who she could see was evaluating if she was being honest or not. “Would you like for me to continue? I have my entire article memorized. As more information came in, I updated the file. The last piece of information added was that the FBI suspected Mayor Stuart of stealing the identity of his brother from California and using it on the Articles of Incorporation for this company. They know Donald Stuart never lived above that strip club in Trenton that Stuart owns and Sheriff Henderson’s cousin worked at.”
The Coast Guard chopper took off into the dark night sky. It banked sharply and headed north following the Bayou Lafourche. Flight time was just under eight minutes for it to reach the first drop point in the bayou, a mile from the BioDynamix building.
Immediately, Sherman quickly ran through his pre-mission ritual. He kissed his dog tags three times and then tucked them away. He checked each of the three weapons he had with him, his M4-SBR, and his two semi-automatic handguns. Then he kissed his dog tags one last time, followed by making the sign of the cross. He prayed Brielle would be okay when they found them.
“A quick prayer,” Lambchop said. The chopper was two minutes out. The team bowed their heads. “Father, bless and keep your sons and daughters safe during this mission. Protect the innocent in harm’s way at the BioDynamix facility. Let us find our people unharmed. Forgive us for the lives we must take during this mission to ensure the innocent are safe. Judgement on their souls is yours. Have mercy on the redeemable. We are your servants dear Lord, guide us to do your work this evening. We pray this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Amen echoed from the lips of the team members. The helicopter came up to the first drop zone. At the open doorway, Sherman and Lambchop lowered the small raft. They rappelled down and into it a second later, followed by Mother. The chopper pulled away heading to the second drop zone before they started the very quiet outboard motor. Sherman steered the raft just outside the channel marker to the left. They ran at a good clip up the bayou, NVGs giving them vision in the dark.
Sloan climbed onto the skid as the chopper lowered to his point of insertion. He jumped down when it was but a couple of feet from the ground. He immediately ran towards the edge of the trees for cover and then ran full-out in the direction of BioDynamix. It was an easy run. He didn’t even have a combat pack on. Just his medical pack. He wasn’t even winded when he took up position behind a thick tree trunk.
Papa
The Undertaker waited until he received confirmation the DEA were in position down the road. He was within fifty yards of the gate guard’s small building. He could clearly see the guard sitting within. He had a clear shot. “Control, I’m in position.” He was behind the tree. His eye was focused through his scope, the barrel of his gun trained on the target.
With a few keystrokes, Garcia took control of BioDynamix’s network. He shut the camera feeds down to those in the building and blocked them from executing any commands but kept them up for himself. “Go!”
The Undertaker let out his breath and squeezed the trigger. One round shot out from his suppressed M4-SBR assault rifle, striking the gate guard in the forehead. He dropped from the Undertaker’s sight. “Target neutralized.” As he ran towards the guard’s building, he heard the chopper coming in. It grew louder as it approached. He found the controls that opened the gate and activated it. He ran in, covering the distance between the fence and the building quickly.
Doc’s dark form jumped onto the roof, landing in a crouching position as the chopper came in close and hovered. He moved to the edge of the building quickly, dropped to his belly, rifle aimed at the rows of trailers below him. The chopper landed beside the building for only a second for Cooper and Madison to jump out. Then it gained altitude and banked sharply, pulling away from the target building.
The trailer doors began to open. Doc didn’t hesitate. He saw assault rifles. He fired with pinpoint accuracy, taking down the men, ten in all. He waited in the eerie silence which followed. No movement, no voices, no sounds except for the crickets and bullfrogs, a serenade calling from the bayou.
In the back of the building, once the cameras were cut, the three men pulled their small inflated raft with a powerful but quiet outboard motor up to the dock. In seconds, they were at the back door. “We are in position to breach Point Bravo,” Lambchop broadcast.
The lock on the door clicked. “Point Bravo is unlocked. The immediate interior is clear,” Garcia’s voice came through their comms. “Killing the lights now.”
“Roger that,” Lambchop said, opening the door.
Sherman entered first, relieved to finally actively be doing something to rescue Brielle. He swore to God that if she’d been hurt, he’d kill whatever motherfucker had hurt her. Through his comms he and the other members of the team that were now within the BioDynamix building, heard Cooper’s voice. He, Madison, and Sloan were entering through the front, Point Alpha. Game on!
Within the interrogation room, Spencer’s phone sounded with an alert. He checked it, even though he knew what the tone meant. Their security system was down. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a helicopter flying low over the building. It was so loud, it sounded like it was on top of them. A few seconds later he heard it move away, but he suspected it had not just flown over. He dialed his man, Keith Louis, who was in the security room manning the equipment. “Talk to me.”
“We just lost cameras and all access to the network,” Louis reported, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“Sound the alarm. We’re under attack.” He turned to Burke. “How many are coming in?”
“I have no way of knowing.”
“I’m assuming a DEA Assault Team. How many is that usually?”
Burke shook his head. “I’m FBI. I don’t know. I can’t even say if you’re under attack.”
“Come with me,” Spencer said to the three, armed Chinese men in the room. They left, closing and locking the door. He left one of them stationed outside the door, and then he and the others hurried away.
“Quick, my right boot,” Burke said to Brielle. “I have a gun in it.”
Brielle dropped to the ground beside Rich. She pulled his pant leg up and slid her fingers into the boot. She pulled the small handgun free and placed it in his right hand.
He aimed it at the door. “Now get these cuffs open.”
Brielle’s shaking hand worked to free the bolt from the edge of the first cuff. She fumbled with it.
“Take a couple of deep breaths,” Burke said. “Now try again.”
This time she slid the bolt out and opened the cuff, releasing his right hand. Then she released his left.
“Get down in that rear corner. Stay low and don’t move. The lights will go out as the team enters the building.”
Sure enough, a minute later the bright overhead lights went out, and the room was dimly lit by the emergency light that came on in the corner of the room closest to the door.
Toby cried out when the lights cut. “Momma! Dark!”
Brielle wasn’t sure when he’d woken.
“Shh baby, we’re playing a game of hide and seek, just like we do under the blanket,” Tina said, trying to soothe her little boy, even though she was terrified.
Brielle crowded in, using her own body to shield Tina and Toby. She glanced back. Rich had moved both chairs to the one side of the table and was crouched down behind them and the table, creating himself as much cover as possible.
It was quiet for several minutes. Then the sound of muffled gunfire filled the room, causing Brielle and Tina to both flinch. Next, they heard shouting in a language she couldn’t understand. She assumed it to be Chinese. Brielle closed her eyes tight and recited every prayer she knew. The prayer, Hail Mary, full of grace c
ame to mind, in the hour of our death, filled her thoughts. She banished that thought from her mind. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, Psalm 23:4, was the prayer she preferred to focus on.
The gunfire got louder. They were closer. Tina’s voice joined hers. “For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff comfort me,” she said.
Brielle didn’t realize she had been saying her prayers aloud until that moment.
“He’s in there,” Mother said, pointing to the door in front of them, his eyes on the handheld tracker locator. Sherman figured this was the room because of the Chinese guard who had been standing there. He was now lying on the ground, six rounds in his chest, compliments of both Sherman and Lambchop.
Sherman examined the door. It was metal, a deadbolt lock engaged. He searched the dead man’s body that lay in front of the door for the key. Nothing. He unzipped the small outer pocket of his backpack and grabbed a breaching charge of an appropriate size, and the accessories needed to detonate it. “Burke, we’re blowing the door,” Brian called from outside.