IRBIL, IRAQ: OGA STATION

When Zach arrived at the command center the following morning, a man he’d never seen before stood studying the images sent by the Predator drone.

“Ah, Ziryan,” Masoud said, still addressing Zach by his assumed Kurdish name. All the private operators would come and go from this facility without ever having divulged their real identities. “Good morning,” he continued. “Come. I’d like you to meet someone.”

They walked over to the new guy. “Ziryan, this is Rossi,” Masoud said. “He’s joining our team.”

Rossi stepped forward and extended his hand. “Good day, mate. I hear you’ve located four of our aid workers. That was some smashing good luck. We’ve been looking for them for two months. Now we’ve come to help you get everyone safely home. Me and six of my mates…all private operators like yourself. Former SAS.”

“Welcome aboard.” Zach shook his hand. “We’ll need the help. We’re in the process of mapping out a rescue mission, so you’re just in time.”

“Gentleman, grab some coffee and meet me in the conference room.” Masoud left the two standing by the coffee machine.

“Did I hear the American girl who’s captured is your girlfriend?” Rossi asked.

Zach nodded. “A journalist. They kidnapped her in Cannes.”

“Sorry to hear that, mate. Must tear you up inside. Well, no worries. We’re here to help get her back.”

Zach looked at Rossi and nodded again. He’d just met him, but he liked this guy. Liked how he exuded confidence. Sensed he’d be a good ally in this venture.

“I appreciate the help,” Zach said. “It’s going to be a tricky mission to execute. Has Masoud briefed you on any of the particulars?”

“A bit. Have to give those blokes credit. They picked a tough location to hide these women. They probably think we can’t penetrate their hideout. Getting in without being seen is going to be a challenge though.”

Zach threw his coffee stir stick in the trash. “Roger that, but we’ll figure it out. Let’s go meet the rest of the team.”

The two moved into the meeting room where Rossi’s team was already assembled and ready for a mission briefing. Up on the screen, footage was running of the cave area. It showed guards milling about, and two women coming out of one of the caves. “Freeze frame that,” Masoud said.

The video feed stopped and a camera zoomed in on a frail looking woman, bent over, holding her side. She turned and the camera got a clear shot of her face.

A small gasp escaped from Zach’s lips. “Arianna,” he whispered upon recognizing her. A muscle in his cheek began to twitch, and a scowl covered his face.

Tony walked past and slapped him on the back. “She looks like hell, but at least we have visual confirmation she’s alive. Don’t let it get to you, buddy. Just focus on the mission.”

“She’s injured. Something’s wrong. I can tell by how she’s holding herself. Make sure we have a medic on our team when we go in. We’re going to need it.” Zach signaled the man to cut the feed. “Let’s move on. What cave was that…one or two?”

“Two,” the officer running the video replied.

“How many women have you seen coming out of this cave?” Rossi asked.

“Three, but we think one of the women is Amira Shahab, the bomber’s wife.”

“So that means the other three British aid workers must be in the other cave.”

“Check,” Zach said, “so my team will take cave two and your team can move in on cave one.”

“Ah, well, not so fast,” Masoud said, flipping on a computer and calling everyone’s attention back to a screen in the front of the room. “Here’s what our surveillance cameras have revealed. It looks like the hostages are being moved from cave to cave in an area known locally as Spider Valley. So even though Arianna might be in cave two today, she might be in cave one or three tomorrow. There’s a whole network of caves in this area according to local informants. They try to avoid detection by shuffling the hostages around.”

“Cheeky bastards,” Rossi said. “This is not going to make our work easy.”

“Exactly,” Zach said. “Only thing in our favor is our ability to track their movement with our air assets. We need someone to keep track of when or if they move anyone.”

“Roger that,” Masoud replied, “but the next big challenge is getting in there without being detected. Not an easy task. The terrain is highly mountainous and thick with forest at the lower level. There’s no place to set a chopper down. In order to maintain the element of surprise, you’re going to have to hike in. Making a quick exit isn’t going to be easy either.”

“The forest area will give us some cover at least until we reach the tree line,” Juan said. “That’s something in our favor.”

“For our British friends who just arrived,” Zach interjected, “you need to know we’ve determined the captors are armed with heavy machine guns, AK-47’s, and RPG’s. You blow the element of surprise, and you’re going to have a hell of a fire-fight on your hands and probably some dead hostages before we can reach them.”

Rossi nodded. “Bugger-that. Not on my watch. Not gonna happen.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Masoud said, a slight smile on his face. “Timing is going to be critical. If we launch a rescue mission too early, we risk the lives of all the hostages. On the other hand, if we leave too late, the women could disappear, and who knows if we ever find them again. Sorry, Ziryan…everyone. I know you don’t want to hear that, but I’m just stating the obvious.”

Zach grimaced and shook his head. “That can’t happen. It just can’t. It’s not going to happen.”

Everyone nodded and a low rumble of agreement could be heard around the room.

“How soon do we leave?” Rossi asked.

Masoud snapped off the computer. “We have a couple things to work out. Right now we’re searching by air and with informants on the ground for good helicopter landing sites. That’s mission critical. Until we can find those, we’re in a holding pattern. Also, I’m told we have some weather moving in the next twenty-four hours. We’ll go when both of these two situations are resolved.”

“The sooner the better,” Zach mumbled under his breath.

“All in good time,” Tony said, grabbing his coffee cup and napkin to throw in the trash. “Patience. Won’t be long now.”

As Zach was leaving the room, Lauren Mathews, CIA chief-of-station, pulled him aside. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

Zach paused. “Sure. What’s up?”

“Let’s walk and talk, shall we?” They moved toward the exit. Once outside, Mathews said, “I’m sure it will come as no surprise to you to know that you’re all alone in this.”

“No surprise. That’s how we normally work.”

“The president is not going to green-light this mission even though it’s an American citizen you’re rescuing. Usually this would be a sanctioned mission, but it’s an election year and the prez doesn’t want to have to deal with the optics of a failed mission should things go wrong.”

Zach shook his head in disgust. Every man on this mission was a “black” operative. They existed outside military protocol and engaged in operations at the highest level of classification. Many of his ops had even been outside the boundaries of international law. He didn’t need the president’s okay.

“Figures,” Zach said. “But when we succeed, I don’t want to see his ass on TV taking credit for our good work, and you can tell him I said so.”

Lauren laughed. “That’s what I thought, so go get ‘em, cowboy.”

When Lauren left, Zach leaned down to tie up his running shoes. Time to run off some of this excess energy or anxiety, he couldn’t tell which he had more of. He stood and looked off in the direction of the Cheekha Dar Mountains. His heart ached thinking about what Arianna must be going through. He could tell by the video today, she was either sick or injured. As a trained Navy SEAL, he wasn’t supposed to get emotionally involved in the mission, but a riot of emotions coursed through his body. For the same reason doctors aren’t supposed to operate on their own family members, maybe he should pull himself off the op. But personally not coming to Arianna’s rescue was unthinkable to him. He knew when it was go time, all this training would kick in, and he would be leading the charge.

He started running around the perimeter of the compound. All this downtime had his nerves on edge like a pre-dawn raid. He needed to keep moving. Keep his nerves in check while he waited for the conditions to be right to commence the rescue.

He ran until he was exhausted. Stopping, he put his hands on his knees to catch his breath, paused a moment, then slowly walked back to the command center. With one last look toward the mountains, he whispered, “Hold on, babe. I’m coming.”

CHEEKHA DAR MOUNTAINS, IRAQ

“NO!” AMIRA screamed. “No. No. This will not work.” She and another guard were locked in a heated battle regarding the hostages.

“It’s a matter of math,” the male guard said. “The American, if they pay for her, will only bring four million dollars. All the British women will bring twenty million. So we kill the American to scare the British into paying for the other four hostages.”

Amira frowned. “I disagree. We can make money on both. If the Americans won’t pay for the girl, then we sell her to the ISIS fighters. This can raise a lot of money. And after they’re finished with her, we can still try to ransom her back to the Americans.”

The guard looked skeptical.

“Look. I don’t think you understand,” Amira continued. “You do not want to bring the wrath of the American government down on us. If you kill this girl, you will awaken a sleeping giant. I say we kill one of the British aid workers, and the Brits will pay quickly for the other three.”

The guard thought about it. “We have to do something to get their attention. These people are stalling…maybe planning a rescue. I think they have no intention of paying. We need to send a message.”

“Yes, I agree,” Amira said, picking up her phone. “but this is not for us to decide. We need to see what the village elders want to do. We will do what they say.”

“WAKE UP, American slut,” someone said and poked Arianna in the ribs.

She woke and cried out in pain, tears pooling in her eyes. Glynis awoke too. “What’s happening?” she asked.

Arianna shook her head, unsure about what was going on. Amira stood before her and told her to get up.

Glynis helped Arianna to her feet.

“Come with me,” Amira ordered.

Glynis started to go with Arianna.

“Not you.” Amira shoved Glynis back into the wall.

“Where are you taking me?” Arianna asked. “I’m too injured to travel.”

“But travel you will. Where you’re going there will be plenty of time for rest…maybe eternal rest,” she chuckled. “Now, move on.”