The armor was again the type called Safe Skin and was sewn in between two layers of cloth that made up their black combat jumpsuits, just as it had been with the Jordanian uniforms. It was rated as impenetrable by standard military rounds at medium and long range and by smaller rounds up close and personal. It was flexible and lightweight, unlike the old style Kevlar. Safe Skin allows a soldier to fight hand-to-hand without cramping his fighting style. When Pam was first introduced to it, she likened the new protective gear to being wrapped in bubble wrap.
In addition, the whole team would be using the new night vision goggles which looked like shooting goggles and provided a much wider field of vision than the old myopic style did. The newer ones allowed for instantaneous switching between night vision and daylight modes based on the lighting situations, increasing their chances of breaching the house successfully.
After Tom, Alex and Pam armored up, they busied themselves by reviewing the timetable of the mission. Tom focused on Pam’s assignment as it was the most critical of the mission. The operational plan called for Pam to remain at this farmhouse with the SUV, using it as her base of operations for flying the drone. She’d first fly the drone over the Jordanian farmhouse and disperse the gas, making several passes to ensure she had covered the area completely. Then, she’d fly the drone over the target farmhouse and orchards dispensing the gas again. If the gas worked as advertised, it would eliminate the threats from the small army in Jordan and the guards hiding in and around the farmhouse. This would greatly reduce the team’s threat of exposure or the possibility an alarm would be triggered before they could collect David Ashrawl and escape.
After she had sprayed those two locations, Pam was to fly a search pattern looking for any roving guards on four-wheelers or on foot. When (and if) she found them, she’d gas them as well. If Pam was unable to sedate the roving guards, Mike and Steve were to eliminate the threat as they closed in on the farmhouse from the east side of the River Jordan.
Mike and Steve were to wait until 2300 hours at the new FOP, then move up to the old FOP and wait to be contacted by Tom after Pam had neutralized the two houses at about 2345 hours. Then, they were to collect their gear and move across the river, protecting the team’s rear flank. They were to take out any opposing forces that crossed their path. Tom and Alex would enter the farmhouse and deal with the occupants while collecting Mr. Ashrawl. Ron was to be waiting in the other SUV to pick up the team once Ashrawl had been collected or eliminated.
Once they had loaded Ashrawl into the SUV, they would leave the area via the road that passed the new observation post. Pam would be waiting there in the other SUV having retrieved the drone and packed it away inside the cargo area. Then, they would make the trip back to the border, crossing together into Israel. There they would appear to be a convoy of happy Kilauea Corporation employees heading back to Tel Aviv after a little R&R.
For the mission, the team would be carrying MP10s with sound suppressors, using their silenced 9-mil Glocks as backups. In addition, everyone was given a new ID. It stated they were part of the Israeli Military. They hoped the ID, along with the written orders that Ron had acquired from an Israeli general, would make re-entering Israel easier and eliminate any scrutiny.
At 1900 hours, the sun slipped behind the western horizon, leaving a golden reddish glow splashed across the sky. Tom called Mike and Steve for a situation report. They explained that everything appeared normal compared to the last couple of days. As near as they could tell, no one had left the house to the south, and the guards at the farmhouse did not appear to be on alert since they were milling about the house smoking and socializing during the shift change. This left the team with time to sit and think about the mission and the million things that could go wrong and the hundred things that probably would.
For Tom, this was always the time, while he was waiting on the ‘go signal,’ when all there was to do was wait, that his nerves gave him fits. It wasn’t fear of the battle that led to his nervousness, but more the fear of his personal failure to lead properly. He feared his performance as the leader would somehow be lacking, and he’d fail to protect his team properly. To settle his nerves, he mentally checked off his training and the reason for the mission. He took deep breaths and forced himself to relax. Usually, by the time the mission kicked off, he was ready to face the enemy with dogged determination and stone cold lethality. Each time he went into battle, it was a struggle to stop the second guessing and the ‘what ifs.’ Every time, Tom finally silenced his anxiety by saying his prayers and giving his cares over to God. He knew in his heart and firmly believed that it was all in God’s hands now.
The few minutes of wait time the team anticipated stretched into more than three and a half hours. Just when Tom was about to call off the mission, Ron arrived.
“Where the hell have you been?” Tom curtly demanded. His patience was exhausted.
“Relax, I’m here now,” Ron replied, slipping from behind the wheel of a new SUV. It was a black Chevy Suburban just like the last one, but that was where the similarities ended. There were no Kilauea parking stickers in the front window, it had no license plates, and it sat higher off the ground, marking it clearly as a four-wheel drive. There were three, large, chrome-coated, steel tube roll bars supporting the roof from inside the passenger compartment. It was outfitted with the latest version of clear bullet-resistant Lexan for windows and was heavily armored.
The tires on the vehicle were a secret Israeli military design. They would never go flat, regardless of the damage they suffered. They were filled with a nitrogen-based foam which, when exposed to the air, would expand to exact specifications reforming the round of the tire even if it was punctured a hundred times or had small chunks blown off of it. The only way to stop the tire from functioning was to blow large chunks out of it or blow it completely off the vehicle. The unique tread design, distinguished by large nubs and channels, were designed to allow the vehicle to keep moving even through the thickest mud and muck or the loosest of sands.
It addition, it had a crash grill that covered the entire front end extending beyond both sides and above the hood by a few inches. It was made of heavily armored steel tubing covered in chrome with a custom chrome-clad armored steel plate in the center to protect the radiator. Every piece of chrome was polished to a high luster.
The center plate was designed to protect the radiator from easy penetration by bullets or projectiles, and it was rated to deflect rocket propelled grenades. On either side of the custom plate, behind heavy-duty Lexan, were the headlamps and two, large, million candle power spotlights. The spotlights were capable of cutting through the night for over two hundred meters straight ahead and for over seventy meters to each side.
Under each of the headlamps and spots were cameras. They were wired to a heads up display on the driver’s side windshield. They could provide views in infrared or standard vision. Two additional cameras were mounted above the rear taillights and were wired into a dashboard display next to the engine gauges and speedometer, behind the steering wheel. The roof of the Suburban was bulbous, three and half feet thick, with several additional surprises hidden inside. It was a vehicle that would make James Bond jealous.
Even though the SUV looked very hot, its overall purpose was to batter down, drive through, or drive over obstacles that blocked its path—things like stalled cars, burning tires, block walls, and slow moving pedestrians. Tom didn’t seem to notice it wasn’t the same SUV that Ron had been driving earlier. He was too deeply focused on the mission and reading Ron the riot act. Both Alex and Pam noticed though, and they stood wide eyed, ogling the monstrous machine.
“Relax? We’re over two hours behind schedule! Load that crap on the drone and let’s get the hell out of here,” Tom barked at Ron, fighting to keep his voice down. Finally, he grabbed his MP10 off the hood of the smaller SUV and walked off to make a sweep of the area, avoiding a physical confrontation with Ron. Alex went with him, trailing several feet behind, n
ot sure he wanted to be too close to Tom just now.
“You got it, boss man!” Ron sarcastically chirped to Tom’s back. Then he turned towards Pam and bellowed, “Hey, Pam, I’m home!” as he opened the rear hatch on the SUV and began off-loading the canisters.
“Shut up and bring that shit over here,” Pam demanded as she walked towards the drone empty handed, leaving Ron to hump the load himself.
“What’s with everybody? You act like we’re tight for time or something.”
Pam rolled her eyes and started attaching the first of two, ten pound tanks to the underside of the wings on the drone. Once she had finished, Ron and Pam carried the drone out onto the flat portion of the drive leading to the house and launched it under the watchful eyes of Tom and Alex who were hidden in the shadow of the house,
“Don’t rush it. Do your best to keep the drone high enough that they can’t hear it. That should be about 1200 feet. Be sure to monitor the tanks so that you draw gas from each of the tanks evenly, so the drone’s weight stays balanced. When spraying, try to hold your speed to about ten knots so the gas will cover evenly. Keep an eye on the wind gauge. If it picks up, you’ll have to fly lower, otherwise the gas won’t be very effective, if at all,” Ron rattled on giving Pam some unnecessary last minute instructions.
“I’ve done this before,” Pam mentioned coolly.
“Once you’ve sprayed, circle back around, and try to determine if it’s working before moving on to the next target. When you’re done with your mission, fly it back here and get it packed up. Be ready to move out when we get here,” Ron ordered.
“And what if they shoot me down?” Pam asked teasingly.
“We dock your pay about a million and half dollars,” Ron shot back without skipping a beat. “I promised the Israelis I’d bring it back in one piece.”
“Where are you going to be again?” Pam asked with a smirk of her own.
“Don’t go there, sister. I get really cranky waking up from unintended naps,” Ron flirtingly teased Pam.
“Oh, I can see that, but I’ll be in the islands before you wake up, so…” Pam let the sentence hang there.
“Now, be nice, Pam,” Tom stated coolly as he and Alex stepped out of the shadows and started towards Ron’s SUV, their night vision goggles in place over their faces. “He’s our travel agent.”
“Oh, all right. You’re free to go this time,” Pam teased.
“I can’t wait for next time,” Ron teased back as he followed Tom and Alex over to the SUV.
Pam ignored him and focused on the flight path of the drone on the laptop. As Ron climbed into the SUV, he hesitated for a moment looking into the sky to try and see the drone but had no luck.
“So, do you think she’s a Greek Island kind of girl?” Ron asked Tom as he slipped into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“I wouldn’t know, but I do know she likes to be in charge,” Tom asserted as Ron pulled out of the driveway and headed west across the sand away from the target farmhouse circling around to attack from the west.
“Don’t they all? That should make for an interesting vacation,” Ron retorted in reply.
“Just drive. We’ve got work to do,” Tom ordered.
“Yeah, work. I get it. Think she’d like to go out to dinner tomorrow night?” Ron inquired, knowing he was pushing Tom’s buttons. He enjoyed that sort of thing, and besides, it helped him relax before a fight.
“Not with a dead man which is what you’ll be if you keep talking,” Tom stated as deadly serious as he could.
Alex then chirped, “He’s really good at shooting people in the back, too.”
“Oh, by the way, how did you find us?” Tom asked.
“GPS tracking in the Suburban,” Ron replied flippantly.
“Turn on your damn comlink next time!” Tom spat towards Ron, reminding him he’d been off the air for several hours. It was the real reason Tom was pissed at him.
“Oh, yeah, sorry. I had to turn it off. It would have been a real problem had you called at an inopportune time,” Ron apologized with only a minor amount of sarcasm.
“Get laid on your own time from now on.” Tom ordered.
“Give a guy a break, huh? Screwing the Israelis is hard work, and I had to take a nap afterwards. I’m not as young as I used to be. All that sucking up and bending over takes a lot out of a man,” Ron quipped.
“You conned the Israelis out of the EZ2?” Tom asked.
“You don’t want to know what I had to do to get it, but the Israelis are only one of the threesome I had to make a deal with,” Ron elaborated slightly. “I think I might have to marry some Turkish general’s daughter or something later this month,” Ron stated as he hit a large hole in the field, jarring himself, Tom and Alex solidly.
“I’ll send a card. Now watch where you’re going. I want to get there in one piece.” Tom’s prissiness wasn’t waning as they bounced over the desert floor.
“You’re no fun,” Ron ribbed Tom.
“Would you shut up?” Tom shot back, all business.
“Would you like me to shoot him now or after the mission?” Alex asked deadpan. Ron sighed and stopped talking, allowing them to continue through the darkness towards Mr. David Ashrawl in silence.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Pam flew the drone in large, lazy circles at 1500 meters allowing her a greater field of view in the infrared camera from that height rather than at 1200 meters. The drone itself was virtually invisible in the night sky and completely silent to observers on the ground at this altitude. This stealth allowed Pam to pass over both of the targets and the FOP several times while she waited for Tom and Alex to get in position.
Using the infrared camera, she could see the farmhouse in Jordan. It glowed with the heat signature of at least fifty men milling about, inside and out. Behind the house were several four-wheelers, red hot due to their idling engines, as though warming up before being used.
From there, she flew the drone northeast crossing over the FOP, picking out Mike and Steve easily from their heat signatures on the infrared camera as they lay in a sea of black, representing the quickly cooling sand. There was no sign of the enemy anywhere around them.
Next, she passed over the target on the west bank of the Jordan River and noted the location of each of the guards in the orchard. She also noticed there were two new guards not observed before. They were located across the road from the house in a couple of spider holes. That was intelligence she’d be sure to pass along to Tom when he confirmed they were in place and ready to begin.
Pam was grateful for the cameras scattered about her position and checked the cameras’ field of vision every minute or so. It was almost as if she had a couple of other team members around the house watching her six. In Pam’s solitary situation, it seemed to take an hour for the boys to get into place, but it was only fifteen minutes before Tom confirmed they were ready to go. Pam had passed over Mike and Steve again, so she swung the drone to the south and dropped its altitude. The drone picked up speed until it was bearing down on the Jordanian farmhouse at twenty knots per hour. Mike and Steve began moving quickly and quietly up to the old FOP, having heard Pam’s sitrep with Tom.
Pam eased up on the throttle, slowing the drone to slightly over ten knots and began her pass over the Jordanian farmhouse. She released the gas from the right tank while making adjustments to the flaps to compensate for the changing weight loads on the drone’s airframe. Over the comlink, she informed the team that Sandman had begun crop dusting. As she swung around for another pass, switching over to spray from the left tank, she noticed the four-wheelers were gone. That wasn’t good. She quickly clicked on her comlink and contacted Mike and Steve.
“C, this is Sandman,” she called over the link.
“Sandman, C,” Steve replied in a whisper.
“C, the neighbors have left the house and are out four-wheeling. Be on the lookout. I’ll try to dust them up after I finish here.”
“Roger, Sandm
an. Thanks for the heads up,” Steve replied.
Ron left Tom and Alex a kilometer to the west of the target farmhouse. He then drove west another two kilometers before swinging north for two kilometers. He then drove east-southeast until he was a kilometer away from the target. From there, he had a clear view across the sandy plain all the way to the targeted farmhouse in the distance.
When Tom and Alex had covered all but the last two hundred meters to the target, they dropped and began crawling forward. Once they had closed to within seventy-five meters of the farmhouse, they stopped and scanned the area for the two spider holes Pam had brought to their attention. The spider holes were less than twenty-five meters directly ahead, only fifty meters from the farmhouse.
“What do you think?” Tom asked Alex in a barely audible whisper.
“I think we’re either really good or something is not right,” Alex whispered.
“Yeah, it’s too quiet. I thought there were supposed to be guards out front,” Tom stated, scanning the area around the target.
“Not that I can see,” Alex confirmed.
“That’s not a good sign,” Tom replied. “I’ll check with Archangel. Archangel, this is B,” Tom called over the comlink.
“Go ahead, B,” Ron, who was designated Archangel, responded.
“What do you see at the target?” Tom inquired. He was hoping Ron’s infrared scanner would provide them the location of the missing guards.
“Just warming up the old Victrola,” Ron quipped as he started switching on the scanner.
Reprisal!- The Gauntlet Page 14