Just after ten p.m. that night Samantha arrived. Ellen opened the door of the apartment unit and Nick rose to help her with her bag. Samantha greeted Mitch. The tension in the room was palpable. After she settled into the shared room with Ellen, Mitch called them together.
“Let’s go through the plan,” he said. The group settled on the two couches.
Mitch started. “At two a.m. we will take our positions. The back-up team will be at the VIP house, the SWAT and USERT teams will be ready but we won’t see them, in theory. Nick and I will be in the parking lot or beach area, Ellie and Sam, you will be here, waiting for your cue. Everyone is to have their trackers on, their phone on silent, their headpiece on. I’ll keep you all, and John, posted on anything I see. Nick will do the same. John will keep me posted on SWAT and USERT’s movements. I expect the VIP lift team to arrive between three-thirty and four a.m.”
“Who will be on the water?” Ellen asked.
“USERT will have it covered, plus there will be a SWAT contingency at the VIP house and on the beach with us,” Mitch said. “And I don’t want you guys anywhere near the waterfront. Our role is support and secure only. Nick, what’s the light going to be like?”
“It’s a waning crescent tonight, sunrise is at seven tomorrow, so we are working in the dark pretty much,” Nick said.
“That’s not a bad thing,” Mitch said. “I’m surmising that Ru will stay at the VIP house to man the communications. Which means we have Dylan, the VIP, William, Hai and Froggy all with us on the shoreline until the moment of impact. Dylan and William are on our side, supposedly.”
Ellen nodded. “Which leaves us only William to secure once the underwater mission disappears.”
“And Dylan, assuming they send him back to shore or Ru if he appears but that’s unlikely,” Nick added.
“Yes and during this exercise I expect one of them to place the towel on the beach and swim out a bit, drop the snorkel and flippers and let the tide take them,” Mitch said. “If we need to extract Dylan in case he is ordered not to return to shore, then Ellie and Sam this is where you two step in but if—and only if—you get the signal from me to do it.” Mitch looked at Ellen and Samantha.
Both women nodded. Mitch continued.
“As soon as we see them nearing the waterline, we’ll read the status of the VIP. If he is panicky and needs assistance, we’ll know we have to act to extract Dylan or he may be required in the water. I’ll signal you Ellie, and you and Sam will need to move fast to get to the beach. Once at the beach, out of sight, you two will wait until I tell you to go; I’m going to wait until Hai, the VIP and Froggy are half immersed in the water, so it is too late for them to turn back. I’ve told Dylan to fall behind as much as he can. The SWAT team will take care of the VIP, Hai and Froggy or anyone who enters the water, and we are to do nothing in that regard.”
The girls nodded.
“Then I’ll give you the go ahead, and with your shoes in your hands, I want an Academy Award performance of two intoxicated party girls who want to go for a swim,” Mitch said. “If it goes to plan, Dylan will be the ‘hero’ who comes to distract you away from the beach area and they will have to leave without him. Understand?”
“Got it,” Ellen said. “And if we’re seen by anyone other than our team, we will have to give false names and witness statements to the police saying that we were on the beach in the early hours when the VIP disappeared, but saw nothing because we were drunk but wanted a swim.”
“Exactly. So Dylan will see you, he’ll tell the men to keep going and that he will get rid of you both. Dylan will rush up the beach and steer you away with his charm. John will advise when we have the all-clear to leave the scene. We’ll take William to the VIP house and hand him over there. Then we’ll be in the car and out of the area by seven a.m., all going well. The media unit will start to leak the missing VIP story around eight a.m. Any questions?”
“Nope, got it,” Nick said.
Ellen and Samantha confirmed their understanding.
“Sam.” Mitch turned to her. “Tell me your orders.”
Samantha reddened and ran through what her role was in the morning.
“What will you do if Dylan pulls a gun?” Mitch asked.
“I will continue to act like a drunken party girl wanting a swim and follow Ellen’s lead,” Samantha said.
“Or if Dylan gets shot?”
“I will ignore it and stay in character and follow Ellen’s lead … head back to the room.”
“If a meteorite falls from the sky?” Mitch asks.
Samantha smiled. “Got it.”
“Good,” Mitch turned away. “If Dylan does not enter the water and stays on the beach, we’ll arrest him along with William—and Ru if he is there—to keep up the pretense. Let’s run through scenarios,” Mitch said. “One or two of the party might play renegade, shoot all the party and flee with the VIP. In which case, we step in remembering Dylan is not armed and I will call in the squad at the VIP house for back-up. Ellie, Sam, I will give you that order.”
“Got it,” Ellen said. “Or they might drown the VIP, let his body float and they all depart by sub, keeping any intel he’s given them.”
“True,” Mitch said. “In which case, they’ll still be destroyed and we’ll arrest and clean up anything or anyone left behind on the beach.”
“Do we interfere if they start to drown the VIP?” Nick asked.
“Not unless we’re ordered to. So not matter what you see or what happens, don’t stray from the plan unless we get instructions.”
“What happens if they abort?” Ellen asked.
“We maintain our beach watch, the underwater team is called off and the VIP house squad maintain their watch,” Mitch said.
“What about the missing police officers?” Ellen asked.
“Good question. I know where they are. I’m just waiting for the report from the legat in Beijing to tell me if their families know they’re missing or dead. How we manage that will depend on intel we get after the lift.”
“There’s going to be conspiracy theories galore about the missing Vice President,” Samantha said.
“VIP,” Mitch reminded her. “And you bet. He’ll be like Elvis. Spotted everywhere for the next twenty years. Anything else?” He looked around his team. “OK, that’s it for now.” Mitch looked at his phone and contacts, his finger hovering over Dylan Ting’s number. What’s going on Dylan?
“In Beijing, they’ll know from their SONAR there’s no sub coming.” Nick interrupted his thoughts.
“They will if it is an Asian sub and not one of ours,” Mitch said.