Cal’s aunts and uncle went from hut to hut to explain why everyone needed to retreat into the old mine. As dawn broke across the sky, the children were tucked inside, clutching blankets and favorite items. The parents did what they could to convince them it was a grand adventure, but even the youngest among them seemed to know something was wrong. After all, the abandoned mine had always been off-limits.
A skeleton crew of miners and mill workers remained in the village. They would go through the motions of starting their workday so the village would look business as usual. They’d retreat into the mine with the others when Cal gave the signal.
Cal’s team was assembled in the mill, downriver from the village. The generators were silent for now. A quick inspection showed they had more than enough gasoline and diesel to fuel one part of Cal’s plan.
Pax Blanchard and Carlos Espinosa radioed in from their recon mission with the news that at least four hundred soldiers had gathered on the other side of the river. Freya blanched at the number.
“How did Lubanga gather so many soldiers this fast?” Cal asked. “I thought his most loyal men were in the east, near the border.”
She frowned. So had she. “He must’ve been closer to staging the coup than we realized.”
They waited for Blanchard and Espinosa to return so they could plan their next move. They wanted to strike before noon, but with only seven against four hundred, they needed to plan carefully.
Both soldiers entered the mill, broad grins on their faces. “Good news,” Espi said. “As we were heading back, a vehicle drove up. We snapped some pictures.” He held up a digital camera. “This ugly mug look familiar?”
Freya looked at the screen and felt dizzy. Shock. Relief. Vindication. They swirled together. “Lubanga,” she said, letting all those reactions show.
She probably looked like some sort of rookie to the A-Team, with her emotions on the surface and making doe eyes at Cal. She wasn’t the cool operator she’d always strived to be when she’d worked with SOCOM. But as Cal had said—who knew how many days ago—this mission had gotten personal. How could she be expected to be reserved, cold-hearted Savannah James when Lubanga had threatened Cal’s baby cousins?
She’d feared Jean Paul Lubanga wouldn’t show. But then, three hundred and fifty million was pretty good motivation. He needed to be certain the transfer went through and couldn’t trust a subordinate. The last time he did that, he’d lost the money.
“This army isn’t exactly loyal, and their training is for shit,” Blanchard said. “They’re armed, but they don’t have much beyond guns in the way of gear, and I’m pretty sure some of these guys have never held an AK before. We aren’t seven against four hundred. I figure we’re seven against about fifty. But really, this is more of a chess match. To win, all we need to do is take the king. Lubanga has security, so in all likelihood, we’re seven against ten at best.”
“Seven special operators against ten,” Espinosa said.
The soldier earned a nod for including her in his count. She knew the men were aware she was SAD, but that didn’t mean they would automatically accept her as an equal. Yet they had. “I can live with those odds,” she said.
“I’ve faced more daunting challenges taking my kids to Chuck E. Cheese,” Ripley said.
Everyone laughed.
“We can’t completely dismiss the fifty or so decent fighters,” Cal said. “Those guys will be génocidaires. They’ve been at war forever and lost their souls years ago. Their only rules of engagement are rape and kill. We can’t let them get past us and to the mine.”
“We won’t let you down, Cal,” Ford said.
“No fucking way they’ll get past us,” Espi said.
Everyone else chimed in with agreement.
“So what’s the plan?” Freya asked.
As Assistant Detachment Commander, Chief Warrant Officer Sebastian Ford was technically head of this mission, but no one turned to him. This was Cal’s op. “We need a diversion,” Cal said, “to get the green troops scrambling.”
Ford nodded. “Bring our odds down to seven to fifty.”
“The hillside above the troops is loose from the rain,” Espi said. “I wish we had C-4. We could cause a mudslide. Bring the hill down on them.” Espinosa was the team’s senior engineering sergeant. His specialty was building and demolition, which was why he’d been sent with Blanchard on the recon mission.
“The mining operation has explosives,” Cal said. “My uncle is the overseer. He can set it up for us. Any risk to the mine if we do this?”
“Nah. Opposite sides of the stream, pretty far apart. The blasting they do in the open pit mine would be more dangerous to the old mine, and that’s been going on for years.”
“Let’s do it, then,” Cal said. “You and my uncle can talk about where to set the charges.”
“Hot damn,” Espi said. “This is gonna work.”
“So we freak out the rebels by bringing the hillside down. Then what?” Freya asked.
They had their maps laid out on the table. Cal pointed to various points on the village side of the river. “I want Rip over here with a grenade launcher. He’ll have a good angle on troops fleeing in this direction and can cut off the path of anyone trying to slip around to get to the mine.”
Ripley nodded.
“Ford, I want you with the M2 over here. You’ll have a good angle on the river, and the range is right. No one crosses the river from here south.”
“Will do,” Ford said.
As weapons sergeant, this was Cal’s specialty, selecting where to position munitions and assigning arcs of fire. “I’m going to be up here with the M107.” He’d selected a position that overlooked the river and would be armed with his sniper rifle.
“You’ll take out Lubanga from there?” she asked.
He nodded. “But not until the army is subdued. Because once the leader is dead, there is no telling what the soldiers will do.”
“How do we subdue the rest?” she asked.
He grinned and glanced around the mill. “I think we can improvise a few more weapons with the supplies on hand here. Blanchard and Goldberg, you’ll be armed with those.”
Espi would be busy with Cal’s uncle setting up the explosives. So that left only her without an assigned weapon and role. Was Cal planning to leave her out?
“Blanchard and Goldberg will bring on the firestorm,” Cal said. He glanced at her and smiled. “Vultures will feast.” He delivered the words with televangelist bombast, then added, “Odds lowered to seven to ten.”
“Dibs on the extras. I can take out at least three,” Espinosa said.
Goldberg jabbed him in the ribs. “Dude, Savvy’s taken. Stop trying to impress her.”
She rolled her eyes and looked to Cal. “What about me? Where will I be?”
He grinned and pressed a kiss to her forehead. So not a professional-ops sort of thing, but Goldberg’s lame joke practically begged him to stake a claim, and she didn’t mind the gesture at all. She’d actually kind of longed to be the touchy-feely type, but had never met a guy she wanted to be touchy-feely with. Who knew it was less about her personality than the relationship itself?
“I need you to draw Lubanga and his best soldiers out,” Cal said.
She cocked her head. “Sergeant Callahan, are you saying you want me to be bait?”
“Yes. You up for it?”
She grinned and nodded. “I thought you’d never ask.”