by Andrew Watts
“Nope.”
“It says we have to be there in three hours. Can we make that?”
Plug said, “We just got done doing the math. As long as we don’t have any mechanical trouble with the second aircraft, I think we’ll be in good shape.”
She shook her head. “This is crazy.” She looked at the charts. “Show me the landing zone.”
Plug pointed to a spot on one of the charts that showed her the location of the landing zone in Ecuador. It was about fifteen miles inland, just east of a mountain range. It looked like it was in the middle of the jungle.
Victoria read the orders. “It says we’re supposed to shut off our transponder and lights and not make any external communications once we get within fifty miles of the coast. We’re not even supposed to notify Colombia or Ecuador that we’re coming. Expect up to fourteen SOCOM passengers.” She looked up at her maintenance officer. “We’re going to need to get rid of all of our extra weight.”
Plug nodded, a rare serious look on his face. “I already asked Senior Chief and AWR1 to see what they could do to make us lighter and clear out any extra space for passengers. Boss, this sounds like more than a training mission, huh?”
“I would say so.” Victoria turned to OPS and said, “So do you have any idea what this is about? We’re picking up some special operators in the middle of the Ecuadorian jungle?”
“Pretty much. We didn’t get anything else in the radio notification. Just to open up the mission brief and execute as planned. And that it was urgent.”
“Ever seen something like this before?”
“No. But I heard a story once where they sent a helo from a cruiser into the middle of the desert in Saudi Arabia. It picked up some CIA guy wearing a suit and brought him back to the ship. Once they landed, he gave them a time and location in the middle of the Red Sea to drop him off. Sure enough, a submarine popped up, and they did the Hunt for Red October thing where they sling him down to the sub.”
“So you think we’re gonna be doing that? Dropping these guys off in a submarine?”
“Well, I don’t think you’re going to be picking up my newest group of ensigns, let’s put it that way.”
“Plug, how far is the trip?”
“One hundred and twenty miles. I told OPS that we’ll need to head east to make sure you’re good on fuel.”
She realized what he meant. “Christ, we don’t even know if I can get fuel there?”
OPS shrugged.
She closed her eyes. “This is so messed up.”
OPS said, “I’ll make sure we close the distance so you’ll burn less fuel on the return leg.”
“And have the TACAN on high power. I’ll be climbing up high to get comms and a good navigational lock once I head back from the beach. But if I don’t find you guys by the time I get to my bingo, I’m turning around and taking an all-expenses vacation back in Colombia.”
“Easy there, Air Boss.”
“I’m serious about the bingo fuel. Don’t screw with me. Close the distance. I don’t mess around with fuel.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The wardroom phone rang. Victoria answered, listened, and then hung up. “Alright, gents, everyone still safe to fly? Any questions?”
They each shook their heads, excited looks in their eyes.
Victoria said, “My aircraft just finished fueling up. Juan’s on his way here. Let’s see if we can wrap up our mission brief in the next ten minutes. Then we’ll roll.”
One hour later, Victoria was headed east over the Pacific at two thousand feet, with Plug’s helicopter in trail.
18
Lena watched the American Special Forces soldier fall after her bullet hit its mark. She could have taken out many of the others in their unit, but then a few of the Leishen Commandos began firing their automatic weapons, costing her the element of surprise.
That had frustrated her. Lena preferred to work alone. Especially when conducting this type of work. She tapped her ear and spoke into her headset. Now that the Americans knew they were so close, there was no reason to hold off on the drone strike.
“Send the drones to drop their bomb clusters.”
The Leishen commander crouched down next to her. “Ma’am, my men are ready to cross the stream upon your command.”
“We have air support coming in. Let’s soften them up first.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She looked through her scope again, searching the far embankment for a target.
There. Two of them were lying down speaking to each other. She had a clear view of one of them…
Him. How was that possible?
Of all the people they could have sent here, why would they have sent Chase Manning? Did they know she would be here?
Her mind raced. She hated coincidences. She didn’t believe in them. In her line of work, there were no coincidences. Coincidences were often really preplanned events, and things to be investigated. Or they were timed to have a psychological impact on one’s prey. So, was she the prey here?
The thought angered her. Her finger began to depress the trigger. She could end it here by killing him. No compromising emotions. No more thoughts of him in her bed.
But he had let her live.
And burned her, she reminded herself.
She could still see the white curved architecture of the Burj Al-Arab, the rotors of the Iranian UH-1 helicopter, about to take off. She could still smell the disgusting smell of her own skin cooking, burned from the Molotov cocktails Chase had thrown in her direction. As he had climbed up the stairway of the helipad to save his brother, he’d had a clear shot. He could have ended her life. She knew that a man of his talent would not have missed her from that range.
But he had.
It was for the same reason she had spared his life only moments earlier. She had met him in the Skyview bar and had told the Iranian she was with not to harm him. She had just wanted to see him one last time.
So were they now even? It didn’t feel like it.
The water in the stream began exploding up again as the drones came in to attack the Americans. The explosions moved from the stream and into the forest. Rapid blasts filled with shrapnel rang through the forest, violent and merciless. They ripped through the trees, where the Americans were firing back at her platoon of Chinese commandos.
When the dust settled, she tried to find Chase again. She moved her telescopic view throughout the area, but couldn’t find him. A part of her was…what? Worried? She cursed herself. Her emotion was a crutch. She needed to control it better. There was no logic or honor in letting Chase survive because of their past relationship. Too much was on the line.
She tapped the button on her headset. “Hold fire on the airstrike. Hold fire.” She looked down at her map. There was a road about two kilometers behind the American position. If she could get there with reinforcements, they could surround them.
Lena turned to the Leishen commander. “A change of plans, Major. Move your men forward immediately. I will fall back and gather the other Leishen Commando platoon. I will take them around in jeeps and flank the Americans. If they run, keep following them and forcing them to me. Let us finish this.”
Victoria sucked more water through the straw of her CamelBak. “Cutlass flight, come down to two hundred feet.”
“Two,” came the response from Plug’s helicopter.
Their transponders were already off, fifty miles out from the coast, as stipulated in their mission brief. The two-helicopter formation flew in low—two hundred feet above ground level. It was still daylight, but the hope was that by staying low over uninhabited jungle terrain, they wouldn’t be seen.
She was the lead aircraft. Plug’s helicopter was formed up on her right side, with a fifty-foot separation in altitude and several rotors’ diameter separation.
Victoria looked at Juan, her copilot. He had that deer in the headlights look. When she had briefed them all on the mission, both 2Ps had been excited. Victoria and h
er crew had gotten back into their helo, which was already spinning on deck, and flown around in circles for thirty minutes above the ship. That was how long it had taken Plug to have the maintenance team get the second bird out of the barn, spin it up, and get airborne. Once both aircraft were flying, they’d quickly formed up and headed to the coast.
They crossed over the coastline and turned south over the triple canopy jungle. A lot of the terrain was mountainous. Nothing crazy, but a lot more hills than Jacksonville, Florida, where their squadron was stationed. They used the navigation charts to keep track of various landmarks and maintain their position.
The navigation wasn’t too bad. They flew close enough to the coastline until the town of Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Then they followed the river south.
“Watch out for power lines,” she said to her copilot. “It would be a shame to fail on our first covert mission with Special Forces because we crashed into electrical wires.”
“Roger” was all Juan said back.
The kid was scared shitless now. Before he had been head down in the chart. Now he was about twenty percent in the chart, and eighty percent looking ahead. That was fine with her. It would help keep them alive.
Victoria said, “There should be a bend in the river up ahead, you see it on the chart?”
“Yup.”
“Is there a bridge next to the bend in the river?”
“Yeah.”
“What direction does it head?”
“The road heads south, then there’s a fork. Looks like a major road according to the map.”
“Yup, that’s the one. We’ll be following the road and taking the fork to the west.”
She leaned forward and looked out her right window. She could see the second MH-60R, hugging her right side. Normally she would tell Plug to give her some space, but she didn’t want to break radio silence. And she knew that for all his faults, he was a damn good pilot.
“There’s the bridge, boss.”
“Looks like major roads in some countries are less impressive than in others.” It was a tiny, single-lane road. But it was paved, and the trees were cut out around it well. So it would be easy to follow.
Victoria banked the large grey aircraft around sharply to begin flying over the road, careful to stay just above the treetops.
“What’s the time?”
“Fourteen twenty-three on the clock.”
“Alright, we need to shave off a little time. I’m going to head due west. The road bends around to the north, but if we head west we’ll be able to intercept it again. Should save us about five minutes. I don’t want to be late. We’re supposed to be at the LZ at fourteen forty-five. Set the timer on the clock on my mark.”
“Roger.”
“Mark.”
“Clock set.”
She banked the helicopter hard left and skimmed the dark green treetops. The forest flew by.
This close to the jungle, it felt like they were traveling incredibly fast. They were, she reminded herself. The illusion was when they were higher up and appeared to be traveling slowly.
Juan said, “Should be a river, running north south, before we get to the—”
“There it is.”
“Roger.”
“There’s a town to the north, but I think we’re too low to see it.”
“Let’s keep it that way.”
They flew on for another two full minutes, and Victoria was starting to get worried that she had missed the road. Low-level navigation was hard enough. It was harder when you missed a checkpoint or made a mistake.
“There it is.”
She looked at her airspeed indicator. One hundred and twenty knots. They were running late. Only a few minutes, but still. Operations like this were supposed to be right on time.
One hundred and twenty knots was her max range speed. It would use her fuel in the most efficient manner and give her the best chance of making it back to her ship without running out of gas. They would need to travel over one hundred miles to the ship once they picked up their passengers. They needed all the fuel they could get.
Fuel was going to be tight just based on the distance alone. But if the Navy—or whoever had activated this mission—was going with their backup plan, Victoria wondered what kind of trouble they might encounter at the landing zone. The only hint at that was the note on the mission orders to ensure that the helicopters were armed.
“AWR1, is your weapon ready?”
He had a .50-caliber GAU-16 mounted to the rear cabin door. “Locked and loaded, ma’am.”
“Roger.”
She looked at her fuel gauge again. Victoria pulled the collective lever with her left hand and pushed forward on the cyclic with her right. The nose dipped down a bit, and they gained another ten knots of airspeed.
“Picking up the speed a little.”
“Roger.” She loved how agreeable junior copilots could be. She could tell this guy that they were going to fly through a train tunnel and he would probably reply with “Roger.”
Ten minutes later, the landing zone was in sight. It was just an open field near a bend in the road, a dozen or so miles from the coast.
Victoria gradually dialed back the speed by pulling back on the cyclic and letting out power with her left hand. She didn’t want to decelerate too fast. If she did, it risked her wingman overshooting her—or worse, collision. The two aircraft overflew the empty field once, surveying it for obstructions and potential hazards. Victoria took them around and into the wind, landing on a flat spot about twenty yards from the tree line.
As soon as she landed, a man wearing jungle utilities emerged from the forest, running towards them and waving.
It was her brother.
She had suspected he would be one of the ones here but had been afraid to let herself think about it. She was sure as hell glad to see him.
When Chase got into the helicopter, Victoria told her crewman to hook him up to the comms.
“Victoria, is that you?”
Victoria noticed that her copilot was giving her a funny look. Probably wondering how the hell she knew their new passenger. She had violated the safety brief, failing to mention that she had a conflict of interest on today’s mission.
“It’s me, Chase. Are you alright? Can we get out of here? Is anyone else coming?”
She looked down at her fuel gauge. Only sixteen hundred pounds of fuel. That was way lower than she was comfortable with, but she could probably have the ship maneuver to get closer once they got high enough to communicate with them.
“We need to go pick up a few others.”
She turned around to face him, her expression of worry visible in the section of her face that wasn’t covered by helmet or and tinted visor.
“We don’t have the fuel.”
“Victoria. We have to. It’s close. The men who were with me are going to get killed or captured if we don’t go.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Your door-gunners are going to need to lay down covering fire. I can help.”
Fuck it. “Alright, I can give you about ten minutes. But that’s all. And just so you know, we might get wet later because of this.”
“Ten minutes should do. It’s two miles down the road.”
“Where’s the landing site?”
“The road.”
She shook her head and made sure her external comms were switched to the right frequency. This was more important than radio silence. “Seven-six, seven-one.”
Plug came over the radios. “Go.”
“We need to make a quick detour.”
“Boss, I’m real low on fuel.”
“Me too. Ten minutes…and tell AW2 to lock and load.”
Another double click of static on the UHF radio told her that he would comply.
As she pulled in power and they gained altitude, the nose dipped forward and they stayed low to the ground, following the road.
Chase said, “Oh, Victoria, one more thing. If you see any helico
pter drones around here, let’s try and shoot those suckers down. Okay?”
She shook her head. What the hell was her brother involved in?
19
Lena’s jeep pulled up to the platoon of Leishen Commandos near the Ecuadorian town. She had gone back to the additional platoon of Chinese commandos and directed them along the road to the other side of the forest, near the town. The idea was to surround the Americans. It had taken the second Leishen platoon much longer than expected to get to the road on the other side of the woods.
She appeared to be too late.
“What happened, Major?” she asked the first platoon commander.
“Ms. Chou, the Americans set a trap for my men. Once we were over the stream, they set off explosives and cut down many of us with automatic weapons fire. We were eventually able to push them back, but our forces were greatly slowed. We pursued them through the jungle and to this town. When we arrived, they were getting into two US Navy helicopters.”
She cursed, then looked up at him. “You are sure they were Navy?”
“Yes, several of my men are fluent in English. They saw the markings on the side.”
“Then what happened?”
“The helicopters picked them up one at a time. The other helicopter was circling and began firing with high-caliber weapons onto our positions in the jungle. We were unable to stop them.”
“Which direction did the helicopters head?”
“West, ma’am.”
“Out to sea?”
“I would assume, yes. We are very close to the coastline.”
She frowned. “This is troubling. I will need to get to the communications center immediately. Let’s go.”
Lena’s jeep came to a screeching halt right outside the communications trailer.
She knocked hard on the door. An armed guard inside the trailer opened up the spy hole and verified who was on the other side. Improved security measures, she noted. Too little, too late.
She entered the trailer and looked for the senior man. “I need to reach the island. Please patch me through.”