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“So you want to execute Masha’al in front of the window and hope that the Americans see?” Raj asked incredulously.
“There’s no hoping involved,” Kai said calmly. “They’ll approach from two directions, north and south. The window faces north. One of the teams will have a clear view as they’re coming down.”
“You’re assuming they’ll drop into the compound,” Kodak pointed out. “What if they drive in? They could easily punch through the walls.”
“They could, but that involves ground forces and time. They’ll want to extract Masha’al as quickly as possible. Helicopters will do that,” Rina said. “They’ll rappel in, secure the compound, then the bird will land in the front. That’s how they’ll get him out.”
“All right. Say it goes down like that,” Raj said, sitting back and folding his arms across his chest. “When they see him about to be shot in the head, won’t they go in through the upper window?”
“It’s not big enough,” Kai said, nodding to Asher. He spun around to his computer, clicked something on the screen, and satellite images of the house filled the flat screen TV on the wall. “If you look, those windows aren’t large enough for a man to go through. Now, they could land on the balcony and go in through the doors there, but we’re going to remove that option.”
“How?”
“We’ll blow it up.”
“That’ll do it,” he said with a grin. “When?”
“Just after the execution.” Kai reached for a bottle of water on the table next to her. “The explosion will conceal the windows long enough for us to get Masha’al out of the room and into the tunnel without being seen from the outside.”
“How are you going to fake putting a bullet in his head?” Asher asked from his seat in the corner.
“We’re not,” Rina said with a shrug. “We’re going to put a bullet in his head.”
He stared at her. “What?”
“A rubber bullet,” Kai said in amusement. “Relax, Asher. It’ll look real enough, but it won’t do anything.”
“Except hurt like hell,” Kodak said with a laugh. “What happens if one of the SEAL teams makes it into the house and doesn’t find a body?”
“They won’t,” Kai said, setting the water down. “This is where the timing has to be exact. When we blow the balcony, the Americans will still be in the air coming down. We’ll have, at most, four minutes to get him down the stairs and into the tunnel. As soon as we’re in the tunnel, we’re blowing up the house.”
No one said anything for a long minute, then Raj started laughing.
“You want to blow up the entire building while we’re still in it?” he demanded. “Are you out of your mind?”
“We won’t be in it,” Rina pointed out. “We’ll be underneath it.”
“Eight feet underneath, to be exact,” Kai said. “That will absorb some of the impact, but we won’t be hanging around waiting for the tunnel to collapse. We’ll be moving. By the time the fire and smoke make it into the tunnel, we’ll be halfway through.”
“Do we know if the tunnel will support the shock?” Jared asked, speaking for the first time from his armchair.
“According to the radar images I was able to pull, the tunnel has been reinforced with concrete or stone under the house,” Asher said. “The rest of the tunnel doesn’t appear to have anything other than wooden structural support, but the concrete under the house should be enough to withstand the stress.”
“Won’t the Americans realize there’s a tunnel? When they don’t find a body in the rubble, won’t they look at the tunnel?” Kodak asked.
“If we make the force of the explosion high enough, the lack of one body won’t be suspicious,” Rina said. “They’ll be relying on DNA at that point, which we will provide.”
“You’re talking about a blast strong enough to evaporate tissue,” Raj said, rubbing his jaw. “I can do it, but we have to be precise with where we put the charges. We want to make sure the blast encompasses the whole house, and anyone in it.”
“What about the Americans?” Kodak asked suddenly. “Won’t they be hit with the blast?”
“That’s why the timing has to be precise. Asher worked up a mock graphic,” Kai said, motioning to Asher. “If we detonate too early, we blow the helicopters out of the air. If we go too late, the SEALs are caught in the blast.”
They all turned to look at the TV, watching the short, silent video mockup Asher had put together.
“This is too soon,” Kai said as they watched the house explode. Debris shot into the air, hitting two helicopters hovering over the compound.
“And this too late,” Rina said as the house exploded again. This time men were ripped into pieces by the explosion as they entered the house.
“You’re talking about a window of a couple of seconds,” Kodak exclaimed. “That’s impossible!”
“Actually, it’s a window of about one to two minutes,” Rina replied. “When we blow the balcony, the teams dropping in won’t be able to charge the house immediately. They’ll be busy fighting the security and, realistically, they’ll be waiting to see if another explosion occurs. They’re American, not suicidal. If they think the building’s about to go up in flames, they won’t be running in there.”
“But as soon as they have Masha’al’s men contained outside, they’ll head in,” Kai said. “We’ll need eyes watching for that. As soon as they clear the outside, Raj will blow the house.”
“If he blows it as soon as he gets the word, what about the person watching?” Kodak asked. “They’ll be outside the tunnel. Game over.”
“I said eyes, not a person,” she pointed out. “Asher will feed real-time footage into our gear, but someone will have to be watching the feed exclusively.”
“From inside the tunnel,” Rina added with a nod to Kodak.
“We need to know exactly how many soldiers he has in there,” Raj said, shaking his head. “We’ll need to have complete control of the inside of the house.”
“We also need to know where the tunnel entrances are,” Kodak said. “I’m assuming there’s more than one access point in the house?”
“There are two,” Kai said with a nod. “One at the bottom of the stairs from the second floor, and one inside the back door.”
“How the hell did you find that out?” Raj asked, startled.
“Asher compared the ground-penetrating radar images to the blueprints of the house.”
“Oh.”
“So that’s all once you’re in,” Jared said from his corner. “How will you get inside?”
Kai and Rina looked at each other, then at Jared.
“Well, that’s the tricky part,” Kai admitted with a sheepish grin. “Everything after that is easy.”
“So?” Kodak prompted when she didn’t continue. “What’s the plan?”
“Well...”
“You don’t have one, do you?”
“No,” Rina admitted. “We haven’t come up with something yet. Everything we’ve thought of wasn’t viable on such short notice.”
Silence fell over the room as everyone frowned in thought.
“Too bad there isn’t a sick cow on the property,” Kodak finally said with a flash of white teeth. “Are there any deliveries made?”
“No. The compound is completely closed off. There’s no phone or internet. There’s electricity, but the compound has its own designated hub. There’s no easy way to get us inside.”
“Trash pickup?” Asher suggested.
“They burn it,” Rina told him.
They all lapsed into silence again and Kai reached for her water. She and Rina had been trying to find a way in all afternoon to no avail. If they weren’t able to brain storm something now, the entire op would be dead in the water.
“There has to be something,” Raj finally said, breaking the silence. “What about women? Are there women there?”
“Seriously?” Kodak demanded, turning to look at him. “Why is it always the women with you?”
“If there are, they won’t look twice at you,” Rina said.
“I’m serious,” Raj protested. “For once, I’m not talking about sleeping with them.”
Kai looked at him consideringly. “What then?”
“Look, if there’s no way to get in, someone will have to let us in. Right?” Raj looked around. “Well, I have someone we can insert inside that will do just that if we can create a reason for her to be there.”
“What are you talking about?” Rina demanded. “You want to bring in someone else?”
“How the hell are we going to insert someone inside in less than two days?” Kodak shook his head. “You’re drunk. There’s no way.”
“Trust me. Shira can talk anyone into anything,” Raj said. “If there are women in there who work, say cook or clean, and one of them becomes ill, Shira will talk her way in as a replacement. It’s what she does.”
“What she does?” Jared raised his eyebrows. “And what is that, exactly?”
“Anything she gets paid for,” Raj said with a shrug. “She’s exceptionally good at gathering information.”
“A freelancer?” Rina asked disgustedly. “Absolutely not.”
“Actually, maybe we should consider this,” Kai said thoughtfully.
“Are you out of your mind?!” Rina stared at her. “Consider letting a mercenary in on a sensitive op like this? Let her see us? Know our names? Know who we work for? Do you hear yourself?”
“She would see us, yes, but only what we let her see,” Kai said slowly. “It wouldn’t be hard to disguise ourselves so she could never recognize us again. And as for who we are and who we work for, there’s no reason for her to know. Raj can spin any story, as we all know, and she won’t know any different. All she has to do is let us in. She doesn’t even have to know why we’re there.”
After a long, pregnant silence, Jared spoke.
“Get me her details. I’ll run a workup on her and see what skeletons she has hiding. If she clears the check, it’s a possibility. There’s certainly no reason she should ever learn anything we don’t want her to know. We’re about to fool the Navy SEALs, for God’s sake, I think we can manage one merc.”
“We don’t even know if there’s a spot for a woman,” Kodak pointed out. “For all we know, the only women there are wives. She can’t replace one of those.”
“Well the only way you can find that out is to physically get out there and look,” Asher said.
Kai looked at Rina and met her gaze across the room, smiling slowly. “You up for a drive?”
“Let’s do it.”
Kai glanced up from the screen as Rina climbed into the back of the work van. They were about a mile from the compound, parked behind an old decrepit building that looked as though it had once seen service as a warehouse. Now it was crumbling from the hot desert sun, empty and forgotten.
“You realize we could have done this from Cairo?” Rina asked, closing the door behind her and sitting down, stretching her legs out before her. “The drone has an operational radius of over two hundred miles.”
“I know.”
Rina looked at her. “Then why are we sitting in the back of a van behind an abandoned building outside Tanta?”
Kai shrugged, her eyes back on the laptop screen. “I wanted to get out of the hotel. The testosterone levels were getting on my nerves.”
Rina let out a laugh. “Raj or Kodak?”
“Both.” Kai reached behind her and picked up the controller for the drone. “Is it set and ready?”
“Yep.” She watched as Kai settled against the side of the van with the controller in her hands and her eyes on the screen. “Can you fly a real plane?” she asked suddenly.
Kai raised her eyebrow and looked sideways at her. “Yes. You?”
Rina shook her head. “I can manage a helicopter, but never got any hours in a plane. I could probably get it airborne, but not so sure about landing.”
“Is that why you said you wouldn’t fly this?” Kai asked, motioning to the screen. “Have you ever flown one of these?”
“Once, and it wasn’t what I’d call my finest hour,” Rina said. “It’s not my skill set.”
Kai filed that information away for future reference and turned her attention back to the screen. A moment later, the drone took off from the top of the van.
“How do we know they’re not monitoring for drone surveillance?” Rina asked.
“There are no internet or phone lines going into the compound. The only way they can be monitoring is from a remote location, and there’s no indication of that in the intel.”
“Seems kind of stupid, don’t you think? With the amount of armed security he’s got inside, you’d think they would have some kind of cybersecurity as well.”
Kai shrugged. “I guess they figure if they’re not running wifi or internet, then it’s not necessary. I’m not complaining. It makes my job easier.”
“Like I said,” Rina said with a grin. “Stupid.”
“There it is,” Kai said a minute later. “Let’s see what’s going on.”
Rina scooted closer to look at the screen. The compound was showing up as a large glowing square in the darkness, the night vision in the drone casting it in various shades of gray-green. A ten-foot wall surrounded the property with only one entrance in the front, protected by a massive iron gate. Aside from the main house, there were three other structures on the property, two on one side and one in the back. They all glowed with lights.
“It’s hopping inside Casa de Masha’al,” she murmured. “We know those two are where the fighters live. What’s the back one?”
“Asher thinks it’s a barn. I don’t know about that. I don’t see any animals or pens.” Kai adjusted the drone slightly to get a better angle on the building in question. “Maybe an armory or storage building?”
“It’s not a garage. They have all the trucks up front,” Rina said thoughtfully, studying the live footage. “And it’s not living quarters because there’s no body heat signatures inside.”
“I’m thinking it’s storage,” Kai said. “I’ll fly around and come at it from a different angle. See if we can see anything new.”
“Is Asher getting this?”
“Yes.”
“Good. He can map out distances for us.” Rina leaned back against the side of the van. “I don’t like this idea of adding an outsider. I don’t trust anyone Raj knows. We all know the kind of shady company he keeps.”
Kai shot her an amused look.
“We all keep shady company,” she pointed out dryly. “We’re not exactly angels.”
“No, but Raj is...well, Raj.” Rina looked at her. “You mean to tell me you’re not in the least concerned about everything that could go wrong?”
“Not at all, but we do need a way in. If this woman can provide that, we can handle anything that might go wrong.”
“I’m just not comfortable with it. She’ll see us. And yes, I understand your point about her only seeing what we let her see, but you and I both know how easy it is to determine approximate age, height, weight, and bone structure through disguises. Hell, how many targets have you tracked down that way?”
“At least two,” Kai admitted. “I didn’t say it was without risk. Do you have another idea for getting us in? We’ve been over this. Even if we use the tunnel, we still need someone to unlock it from the inside.”
“I know.” Rina sighed, leaning her head back.
They were silent while Kai did another sweep around the compound, trying to get better footage of the one building they were unsure of.
“What if this woman only lets in two?” Rina asked suddenly.
“What do you mean?”
“She already knows Raj, so what if she lets him and one other into the compound? If she’s already there, she can create a reason for workmen to come onto the property. Once they’re in, they unlock the tunnel.”
“And the rest of us are in the tunnel,” Kai finished for her, pursing her lips thoughtfully. “That might work. We can go through the tunnel and wait until they open it.”
“If she lets them in early in the day, they can unlock the tunnel, then leave and go to the other end, coming through the same way we do. The guards see them come in and then go, and she only ever sees Raj and whoever he has with him. By the time we all come out, we’ll be in full gear and she won’t get a clear look at any of us.”
“She should be gone by the time that happens, anyway,” Kai said slowly. “We don’t need a civilian wandering around getting in the way. Once they realize they’re under attack from the Americans, all hell will let loose. It’ll be better if she’s long gone by then.”
“Agreed, but it all depends on whether or not she’s allowed to come and go freely from the compound. If she is, no problem. If not, the only thing Raj can do is have her take cover in the tunnel. But then we’re back to square one with her seeing all of us when we leave with Masha’al.”
“Yeah, the tunnel’s not an option for her,” Kai said, shaking her head. “She’ll have to take cover in one of the outbuildings. When we blow the house, she’ll be able to get out without being noticed. It’ll be chaos. No one will see her.”
“Now we just have to figure out how we’re going to get her in there.”
“I haven’t seen any women in the past five minutes,” Kai said. “That doesn’t mean there aren’t any, but it’s not looking good. I see plenty of men walking around with automatic rifles.”
“So this all might be a moot point. If we can’t get her inside, we’ll have to find another way.”
Kai was silent for a moment, then she seemed to perk up.
“Well, what’s this?” she murmured. “Who are you?”
Rina sat up and looked at the screen. “What am I looking at?”
“That SUV that just pulled through the front gates. It’s a little late for a social call.”
“Do you really think anyone in that compound is having friends over for drinks? Of course it’s not a social call.”
They watched as the SUV pulled past the first outbuilding and went around to the back of the main house. It stopped and the passenger’s door opened almost immediately, a large man climbing out. He opened the back door of the vehicle and they both sucked in their breaths as a woman got out. She was dressed in a hijab, long-sleeved blouse and loose trousers.
“That looks promising,” Rina said.
Kai nodded and they watched as the man moved to the back of the SUV and opened the back. He leaned in and straightened up a moment later, two large bags in his arms. Kai zoomed in quickly on the bags.
“Is that...what is that?” Rina muttered. “It looks like bread.”
“It is,” Kai said, sharpening the image. “It’s a loaf of bread. They’re groceries.”
The man turned to carry the bags towards the back of the house with the woman following. She turned to say something in the direction of the SUV and the driver’s door opened in response. A man got out and went to the back of the vehicle, grabbing two more bags and following the pair into the house.
“She’s not a wife,” Rina said slowly. “She wouldn’t be dressed like that, for one, and she certainly wouldn’t be with two guards without another woman present. Masha’al is too conservative for that.”
“Agreed.” Kai tilted her head and zoomed in on the SUV. “There isn’t anyone else inside the truck. You think she’s a cook?”
“Could be.”
“I’ll have Asher run her photo. We should be able to find out easily enough. If she is, then we just found our way in.”
