Chapter 16
There were fifteen men in the room—most of them with at least two weeks of scraggly facial hair—so Rad did not expect Lauren to notice him right away. She wasn’t smiling when she walked in but moved with a poised, confident stride to the front where she shook hands with McDunna. In another moment the memory stick she handed him was attached to the computer and new images of the compound appeared on the screen.
“Gentleman, these are the latest pictures we have of the compound and surrounding area from the ground level,” McDunna said, not bothering to introduce her. “You’ve already seen the aerials from the drones and have trained in a similar compound, but there may be something new here. Feel free to ask questions.”
Lauren nodded and was all business as she took the laser McDunna handed her and ran it across the screen, pointing out different aspects of the buildings, the height of the walls, approximate number of steps from the street to the gate, and entry points of possible concern.
Since Lauren remained oblivious to his presence, Rad had the opportunity to stare at her in wistful silence. Although she appeared calm and self-assured, the tragedy of her past and the weight of her responsibilities were etched clearly on her face.
His gaze remained riveted, even though he knew he should look away. She wore her hair pulled back and wound in a bun, just the way he had pictured it when he thought of her. Only in his mind she had always been wearing a short skirt and heels, and was addressing a conference table full of well-dressed men at a board meeting—not giving intel to dirty, unshaven soldiers in a special ops briefing.
Rad slid his gaze over to Bipp and Reese and Pops, but they were busy taking notes and didn’t seem to recognize her. Who in their right mind would expect a woman they had played beach volleyball with a few weeks ago to be here? Anyway, she wasn’t quite the same person. She was professional, methodical, and businesslike—her eyes even more alert and her mannerisms more deliberate. Even her voice was different from the soft, affable one at the beach. It sounded clipped, clean, and disciplined now.
“How many guards?” one of the men asked.
“I’ve documented activity with times and dates, so that should be in your briefing packet,” Lauren answered. “But the area of heaviest activity is here.” She drew a circle with the pointer. “And here.” She pointed to a second building that sat off to the side.
She continued her briefing, giving the approximate number of men, women, and children, and focusing for a few moments on details about an elderly man who likely lived on the third floor with the target. The man was Ahmed’s father and was considered equally as dangerous.
“What about the inside of the house? Any intel on layout?”
“Good question.” Lauren clicked back through the photos. “I visited the house yesterday on the pretense of a health check. I did get past the gate, but they were not very accommodating at the house. I can tell you the stairs are located on the right, immediately past a small entry foyer. That’s all I could see.”
She walked up in broad daylight and tried to make entry into the house? It bothered Rad she didn’t seem to think the conditions she worked under were unreasonable or dangerous, or that the raid from her end would be a difficult challenge. Yet she resided in one of the most lawless places on earth and would be within a stone’s throw of a barrage of automatic weapon fire, rocket-propelled grenades, and most likely, sniper fire from the rooftops. Danger would be everywhere.
“Weapons?” another asked.
“All I’ve seen are your standard AKs, but no doubt they have a mother-load of RPGs stored somewhere in there.”
Some of the men laughed at her frankness, but she didn’t crack a smile. As she glanced around the room seeking any other questions, Rad saw her gaze fall on Pops, then slide over and rest for a moment on Bipp. In another moment her searching eyes were locked on his, but it lasted only a moment. Calm resolve shielded any sign of surprise. Obviously an expert at hiding emotions and thoughts, she looked away, showing no outward sign of recognition.
“Any other questions?”
“Yeah,” Rad said in a loud voice. “What’s stopping you from getting out before we go in?”
Lauren opened her mouth to speak, but McDunna stood and took the question. “I told you Radcliff, the White House wants eyes on the ground.”
“Come on. The White House doesn’t know anything about fighting,” Rad argued. “We’ve got the intelligence we need. The mission is not going to be successful if we end up having to do a high-risk extraction of an informant after the fact.”
Lauren blinked repeatedly as if fending off some sort of unseen attack. But after giving Rad a defiant glance, she recovered, squaring her shoulders and presenting an image of strength that compelled admiration. Turning her head away, she calmly scanned the rest of the room. “Any other questions?”
“We’ve got to think about weather conditions and the illumination cycle, among other things that are completely out of our control,” McDunna said. “Do we have a definite timeframe?”
“The timeframe is the sooner the better.” Lauren sounded authoritative and convincing. “You probably have more intel from different sources than I do, but the fact that Ahmed left the compound for the first time in a year means he’s probably up to something.”
“Then our window of opportunity to launch is short.” McDunna walked over to a calendar and flipped through the pages. “The illumination cycle will start increasing next week. We won’t have optimal conditions again for a month.”
“The longer it’s delayed, the greater concern for mission leak,” Lauren added.
Wynn’s voice then rang out from the back of the room. “To Rad’s point, your building appears close enough to take some collateral damage or even become a hideout for squirters trying to escape the target compound.”
Lauren never let him finish. “I have contingencies in place for my own wellbeing. Anyone else?”
Rad listened half-heartedly to the steady stream of questions while tapping what remained of his pencil on the table. Lauren avoided looking in his direction completely. When he turned to glance over his shoulder at the other men, he saw they were whispering among themselves—all except Wynn. He was leaning against the back wall with a cup of coffee in his hand, staring at Rad with a look of condemnation and disbelief.
Rad shrugged and turned back around.
“No more questions?” McDunna’s voice broke through the silence. “I don’t need to tell you guys how dangerous this one is. You’ll be walking into a hornet’s nest, past all the sleeping hornets to get to the queen. In the process, you’re probably going to be giving the nest a good kick and will be surrounded and swarmed with angry hornets by the time you try to get out.”
Rad gazed around at his men. “Yes, sir. We’re good with that.” His eyes shifted back to Lauren, who had let her guard down. She now studied him with an absorbed expression of questioning concern radiating from her eyes.
“Thanks for taking the time.” McDunna shook Lauren’s hand and walked her toward the door. “I know it will be a long day for you.”
“No problem,” Lauren said. “Looking forward to the ultimate outcome.”
McDunna checked his watch. “The helicopter is about twenty minutes out. I’ll have someone escort you down to the LZ.”
“I’ll do it.” Rad jumped out of his chair and stepped forward. “Just thought of another question.”
McDunna appeared a little confused, but nodded his head, and turned to Lauren. “This is Michael Radcliff. He’ll be leading the mission.”
Lauren nodded curtly, and then turned and walked toward the landing zone, not waiting to see whether he followed or not.