Captain Andrews stood at the red painted line of the city limits, looking out at the blackened desert growing darker in the evening light.
Behind him his men were busy securing the area and taking up positions in the buildings by the road and in the old miners’ shacks. They all knew who the target was and the job they were here to do and the mood was focused and sharp and combat-ready. They were setting up for an ambush, but they could stage a defence just as easily if that was required.
There were thirty-eight men in all, each armed with an AR-15 Tactical Carbine assault rifle with Trijicon 3-Dot Tritium Green night-sight. There were two SDMs – Squad Designated Marksmen teams: two shooters, two spotters – with long-barrelled M6A2s already in position, one by the side of the billboard, one in the gas station, both covering the road. No one was going to come down this highway without being lit up, and this was the road they would be coming in on. He knew that for a fact.
‘You got a number for the crash investigators?’ Andrews asked Morgan. ‘No need for them to get caught up in this.’
Morgan found the number of the NTSB coordinator on his phone and dialled it. When it started ringing he handed it to Andrews.
‘This is Captain Andrews, 27th DEA tactical arms unit,’ he said when someone answered. ‘We have intel of a high-value target inbound to the town of Redemption, undoubtedly armed, possibly hostile. We have taken up defensive positions along the city-limit line and can see your work lights. For your own safety, I need you to pack up your team and ship out as fast as you can before they get here.’
A way out in the desert, Morgan saw the work lights blink off. A couple of minutes later a Jeep and a van started heading back to town over the heat-deformed road.
Andrews raised his field glasses and lensed the desert again.
‘Anything?’ Morgan said.
‘Not yet. Should be good for another half hour, I’d say.’
Morgan glanced back at the town. ‘In that case, I got a small problem maybe you could help me with.’
Andrews finished his sweep of the desert. ‘What problem?’
‘Nothing a small team of your men can’t help me fix. I got a fugitive I need to bring in.’
‘You know where he’s at?’
‘Yeah,’ Morgan nodded. ‘I got a pretty good idea.’