by Margaret Kay
“Razor give me your tablet. I need to file the initial mission report,” Cooper said.
“Fuck,” Razor grumbled. He held up his computer tablet. Several bullets were lodged in it. The screen was shattered. “My tablet is toast.”
“Stop crabbing,” Gary ‘the Undertaker’ Sloan said. “That stopped the rounds from hitting your Kevlar. We’d be playing connect the dots on your bruises if that thing hadn’t stopped em.”
“Fucking cheap piece of shit,” Anthony ‘Razor’ Garcia spat as he threw the tablet onto the floor. “When we get back, I’m going to do some research and recommend a better, combat rated piece of equipment.”
Cooper just shook his head. The tablet he carried was standard issue military grade. He knew there were newer, tougher, more expensive models out there, but what they had worked fine in all conditions up till now. He wasn’t so sure any model could take the direct impact of multiple rounds and continue to function.
He placed a secure call to Shepherd to check in and then dictated mission notes to Yvette, so the basics would be captured. “Don’t you ever go home?” He asked her after he had completed his narration of the events.
She laughed. “Why would I want to do that?”
After Cooper hung up he ventured out to the private beach that lay two-hundred yards from the barracks. That was where the majority of the men headed. Many of the men stripped to their skivvies and draped their clothes over the lounge chairs. They swam in the warm Caribbean water. It was a beautiful day, clear blue skies, with the strong breeze that usually blew over the island bringing in a perfect eighty-five degrees. He stretched out on one of the lounge chairs beside Jackson.
“Did you call Angel?” Cooper asked.
“Yes,” Jackson said with a smile. “She’s jealous she isn’t here with us. We really loved it here.”
“Did you even see anything besides the inside of your hotel room?” Cooper asked with a laugh. “It was your honeymoon, after all.”
Jackson laughed as well. “Yeah, we saw a little.” His eyes scanned the horizon. It was as beautiful as he remembered. “I can’t believe we’ve been married six months, together over a year now.” His eyes flickered to Cooper. “It’s been good. I never would have thought I was capable of a relationship like this, never wanted one before Angel.”
Cooper smiled. “I’m happy for you both, man. I’m glad it worked out as it did, for you both.” He was sincere.
“I know you are. I don’t blame you for initially relieving me of duty. I get it. You had to watch out for the team. I could have been a liability. But I knew I could keep it together and focus. I can’t imagine not doing this job, Coop.”
“Yeah, me either,” Cooper agreed. Then he stood and stripped his clothes off. “Come on.” He nodded towards the surf.
“Nah, you go ahead. The last time I was in the water here I made love to my wife in it. Going in with you guys just wouldn’t be the same.” He laughed at the thought of it.
“Suit yourself,” Cooper replied and then he jogged off towards the water. He wished he had someone to make love to in the water at that moment. Who was he kidding? He didn’t want what Jackson had. He was not built for a committed relationship. He was perfectly happy single, with multiple fuck partners to relieve stress and pent up frustration when needed. He could use one of them now, and in the water, yeah, that sounded sexier than hell.
At fifteen hundred hours the eight men from Shepherd Security carried their gear as they walked down the flight line, heading to their DC-9 which was parked at the far end. Besides the two Chinooks, they passed an E-3 Sentry, commonly known as AWACS and two P-3C Orions. Across the line sat three E-2 Hawkeyes and two C-130 Hercules aircraft. One of the C-130’s was rolling forward, getting ready to depart.
Cooper glanced up at the AWACS in front of him and saw the flurry of activity near it as well. It too was getting ready to take off. He had talked with several of the pilots earlier in the mess hall. They were assigned to six-month deployments here. Must be rough, six months in paradise. They were all suntanned and boasted about the great scuba diving and hops over to other islands during their down time. Now that was something else that sounded great, but Cooper knew wasn’t for him, way too sedate.
Bravo
The men filed into Shepherd’s office, Garcia, Jackson, Doc, and Lambchop. Shepherd and Cooper were already within. The men each carried their new Xplore Rugged 2-IN-1 Tablets. Garcia and Michaela Karras in the Tech-Lab had recently talked Shepherd into purchasing an XBook L-10 for every member of the team at just under three-grand a piece. It was nearly indestructible and made for field operations.
“I’ve just pushed through the three cases we will review,” Shepherd said as they settled in around the conference table opening their tablets. “Bring up the Van Joosten case first.”
He gave the men a few minutes to read through the highlights.
“I don’t get it. Why would we take a case about counterfeit antiquities?” Garcia asked.
“Because the client contracting us will pay big money to have it investigated, and we need to pay for these shiny new toys you and Michaela insisted on,” Shepherd said.
“Three-grand is cheap for a good rugged computer. These can take a bullet and keep working,” Garcia defended.
Shepherd raised an eyebrow and Garcia knew Shepherd was just busting his balls. Laughter erupted around the table. When the men calmed down and reaffixed their eyes on Shepherd, only then did he continue. “I know this isn’t the normal type of case we take, but the client is a personal friend of mine. Ben Van Joosten is a good guy, and an expert in his field. If he says these pieces are counterfeit, they’re counterfeit.”
“Why hasn’t he blown the whistle on the theft? I’m assuming the original pieces were stolen,” Landon ‘Lambchop’ Johnson asked.
“He doesn’t know how but he is pretty sure of the who. It just needs to be proven. But the thing is, we need a female for this operation,” Shepherd continued.
“Why a woman?” Garcia asked.
“Ben’s number one suspect is a sleaze-bag by the name of Heinrich Schmidt, a German national that has questionable ties to the German Consulate. He’s officially got diplomatic immunity. Why? No one seems to know, but he moves in and out of the country without scrutiny.”
The men brought up the photo of Schmidt on their tablets. He was a fairly attractive man, perfectly styled blonde hair, blue eyes, clean shaven, shaped eyebrows, impeccably dressed in an Armani suit that he wore well over his slender and toned physique.
Jackson laughed.
Shepherd’s gaze focused on him. “Do you want to share with the class what you find so funny?”
Still laughing, Jackson explained. “If you touch the screen and zoom in, look at his hands. They’re manicured and buffed. I think he even has a coat of clear polish on them!” He laughed harder. He had just discovered the touchscreen and zoom capability of their new laptops the day before.
“He is mighty pretty,” Lambchop remarked. “Bet he knows it too.”
Laughter erupted around the table.
Shepherd gave them a minute to have their fun. “Back to his pedigree. He’s got diplomatic immunity, so official channels can’t touch him.”
“And Van Joosten thinks he is smuggling the real McCoy’s out with his diplomatic immunity?” Doc asked.
Shepherd nodded.
“But why a woman?” Garcia repeated.
Cooper snorted out a laugh. “You seem pretty fixed on that question. I personally wouldn’t mind the distraction.”
The men all laughed again.
“Van Joosten believes a woman will be our in with Schmidt. He has stolen Van Joosten’s last two attractive personal assistants. It will be a good way to get one of us on the inside of Schmidt’s operation,” Shepherd clarified.
“Come on, there has to be another way to get close to this guy’s operation,” Lambchop moaned.
“No fast way. The guy has a tight inner circle. Shep
herd and I dug deep and did recon on the guy,” Cooper said.
“You dug deep?” Garcia asked, clearly not believing anyone besides himself could do a deep dive.
“Schmidt’s quite the player, has an entourage of beauties surrounding him. There are no reports of any rough stuff and no women have disappeared or been harmed. They all appear loyal to him. Our best way to infiltrate his organization is to have one of our people, a woman, work for Ben to then be lured away by Schmidt.”
“We can’t try to cozy up to one of his assistants and try to flip her?” Lambchop asked.
“I tried that with two of them,” Cooper said, his eyes daring any of the men to debate that he had the right stuff to do it. He’d kick anyone’s ass who even suggested it. That was apparent. That smirk he wore when he was irritated was fixed across his jaw in warning. “There is just no getting past the fact that we need a woman on the team for this Op.”
“Michaela?” Doc suggested.
“Not an option. She has made it clear that we are never to ask. She’ll tender her resignation at the mere inquiry,” Shepherd said.
“Yvette?” Jackson proposed.
“She’s too old,” Cooper said dismissing the suggestion.
“Don’t let her hear you say that,” Shepherd said and then chuckled.
“It’s low risk, how about Angel?” Lambchop suggested.
“Not on your fucking life,” Jackson snapped.
“Relax,” Shepherd said. “I’d never allow it, even if she wasn’t pregnant.”
Jackson’s surprised eyes met his boss’. That wasn’t public knowledge. He glanced around the table. Or was it? No one except for Lambchop seemed shocked. “How do you know that?”
Shepherd laughed. “Seriously, Jax, what do we do for a living? Even if I didn’t have my eyes to every financial, including medical, the fact that I interact closely with her every day would have me noticing the subtle changes she’s made in her routine. She cut out coffee and made other–healthier dietary changes. She keeps saltines at her desk and she’s taken long lunch appointments every Wednesday for the past two months, and not to see Joe Lassiter. She’s gained a few pounds and is literally glowing.”
“Not to mention the difference in how you regard her,” Cooper added.
“Yeah,” Garcia chimed in. “That’s what gave it away for me, the looks you give her now that she’s with child.” He chuckled.
“The only question I have is why didn’t either of you tell us,” Shepherd said with his harsh gaze narrowed on Jackson. They were a family, and he didn’t like secrets in the family.
“She’s high risk, because of the previous miscarriage,” Jackson said. “She didn’t want anyone to know yet, till she’s sure she won’t lose this one.”
“As long as you don’t punch her in the stomach like that asshole she was with, did, she should be fine,” Doc said.
Jackson ran his hand over his bearded jaw. Yeah, there was that. He had dealt with Angel’s douche-bag ex-boyfriend though. He returned the favor with enough force to leave the asshole crumpled to the ground unable to suck in a breath. His lips tugged upward with the memory. “Yeah, well, they’re watching her numbers very closely. She will go to the OB weekly, for another month to be sure all is well. She wanted to wait until she passed the third month to announce it.”
Shepherd smiled. “Too late for that. Congratulations, man,” he added with a big smile and a hearty handshake.
Similar congratulations were made by all present. Jackson felt relieved, now that his brothers knew. It had been hard to keep it secret. He felt like he was lying to them for the past month. He’d tell Angel after the meeting that their secret was out. He wasn’t sure how she’d feel about it. She wanted them to be together when they told the team, beginning with Shepherd.
“That still leaves us with a void in our staffing,” Cooper said. “We’ve accepted this case. We have to figure out a way around this.”
“Could we ask Washington for an asset TDA?” Jackson asked.
Shepherd shook his head. “You know we cannot touch any traditional active duty personnel. A Temporary Duty Assignment cannot ever be with us.”
“I could search LinkedIn profiles with a very specific set of parameters,” Garcia offered.
“We have classified this as low risk. What if we were to bring someone in for just this one case with the few skills needed? That will make it easier to identify a person,” Lambchop suggested.
“True, that way we wouldn’t have to look for a woman who meets every expectation of an Operator,” Jackson agreed. He was sure he wasn’t the only one who didn’t believe they could find one and find one fast enough to conduct the mission.
Shepherd shook his head no. “Garcia, conduct your search, full Operator profile.”
“The Inverness job?” Cooper asked.
Shepherd nodded.
“You said no way,” Cooper reminded him.
“What’s the Inverness job?” Doc asked. This was the first he heard of it. Glancing at the others it appeared no one else knew anything about it except Shepherd and Cooper.
“It’s case number two on your tablets. Senator Alicia Corbin’s eight-year-old daughter, Molly, went missing from her dorm room at the prestigious Inverness Academy last month. She was found dead twelve hours later in a small refrigerator in the science building,” Shepherd reported.
“I remember this. It was a little blip during a packed news cycle right after we got back from Colombia, barely got a mention,” Doc said. “They blamed the kid for sneaking out after lights-out and hiding in the fridge.”
“A janitor said he’d heard kids in the building around ten. He said they scattered when they knew he was there. They figured she hid in the fridge to avoid the janitor and then couldn’t get out. Coroner confirmed cause of death as asphyxiation. Her fingers and the inside of the fridge showed she’d clawed the hell out of it,” Shepherd said, shaking his head sadly.
“I thought those things were mandated to have a minimal force required to open it, for this very reason,” Jackson said.
“They are, and the magnetic seal did pop open with no force needed when examined afterwards,” Shepherd informed them.
“And they ruled that an accident?” Doc demanded, shaking his head. “I don’t recall that fact being released.”
“It wasn’t,” Cooper said. “The authorities are keeping a lot of the details under wraps pending their continued investigation. The case isn’t closed. This was no accident.”
“Senator Corbin called us originally when she went missing. I declined the case. Local law enforcement didn’t need us in their way. Besides, there wasn’t much we could do,” Shepherd said. “She called us after Molly was found, and every day since. She doesn’t buy for a second her daughter crawled into that fridge to hide, said her daughter didn’t like tight spaces, never would have even hid in a closet, let alone a fridge. It’s too late for her daughter, but whatever happened, she wants to know the truth and prevent it from happening to anyone else’s kid. She believes the administration is hiding something.”
“So why do we need a woman for that case?” Garcia asked.
“They only have female teachers who live in the all-girl residences,” Cooper answered. “Whatever happened to Molly started in the dorm after those girls went to bed.”
“Plus, to nose around that place, a female will have an easier time. That’s why I have repeatedly declined investigating Molly’s death,” Shepherd added, not to mention the fact that the local law enforcement agencies were all still actively investigating the case. But the Senator did sit on several key committees that provided funding, cases, and approvals for less than aboveboard Ops for the agency. He couldn’t turn her down.
“Make the search a priority, Garcia,” Cooper said. “We’ll want a few possible women identified at Friday’s staff meeting.”
“Okay, final case, the Compton Taskforce,” Shepherd said. “The DEA has reached out to us to help locate and take down a
Colombian drug lord who is hiding out in Compton. He’s a Colombian national so we can grab him up and hold him as an enemy combatant under the US Patriot Act. DC is tired of putting these assholes on trial and not getting the info needed to dismantle their operations. And in the meantime, the shit that’s flooding the streets is taking American lives. This scumbag has a particularly deadly form of heroin that we need to stop yesterday. We are sanctioned for a grab, detain, and interrogate mission.”
“Lambchop, you’ll lead this one with Mother, the Undertaker, and the Birdman. Once you’re imbedded in the taskforce, if you need more of our personnel, you let us know, but we’ll start with you four,” Cooper piped up. “Your team will brief at fourteen hundred hours and leave immediately after.”