Blood. So much blood. Blood everywhere.
Connor woke in a sweat. Sparks was leaning over him. “Nate, are you all right?”
Blinking away the nightmare, Connor sat up on the edge of his camp bed. It was eight o’clock in the morning, and he could already feel the heat outside. “Yeah, I’m fine. What’s going on?”
“We think we’ve made a breakthrough.”
Connor and Sparks hurried over to Camp Delta’s Ops Room. The tables were littered with laptops, satellite photos, air reconnaissance pictures, maps, empty Coke cans and half-eaten pizzas. “We’ve been working all night, sir,” said a tired but beaming Danny Crow. “We’ve spoken to Army Intelligence, the CIA, and Central Command’s Comms section. We narrowed down the landing sites and reckon we’ve found it.”
Connor studied the maps and photographs that had been set out for him.
Crow pointed to the middle picture. “See that? The valley’s shaped like a scorpion’s tail. It opens up onto a plain where there’s a dried-up river bed. Now look at this picture taken two months ago. It’s different. Someone’s straightened out part of the river bed — like a landing strip. It’s located about forty miles from here.”
Connor could see it now and smiled. He remembered Abdul’s riddle about the scorpion’s tail in the north. “So where’s our bird?”
“Here, sir.” Danny tapped a finger. “There’s a massive rock overhang at the entrance to the valley. We think it’s hidden underneath, where there are also caves perfect for hiding all their gear. Guys over at Comms said they’re probably transmitting and controlling the drone from a mobile unit — like a truck.”
Ben added, “They chose the valley well. It is so narrow that an air strike is unlikely to work, even using deep penetration JDAM bombs, sir.”
Connor felt his cell phone vibrate. He took it out and checked the text message. Abdul had a possible address for Hassan’s uncle. Instantly, Connor’s mind drifted to thinking about Hassan.
“Sir?”
Connor saw his men looking at him expectantly. “Good work, team. This is our target. Now, let’s find our best insertion point — we go in tomorrow night and hit them hard at dawn. Jacko, you’re in charge of putting a plan together. Ben, inform General Patterson of our progress, and tell him that I’ll speak to him this evening, when I’m back.”
“Back from where?” asked Ben.
“I’ve got something to sort out.” Connor turned to Sparks. They’d fought together for over ten years, and were like brothers. “Sparks, I need your help. Fancy a little trip to the country, no questions asked?”
Sparks smiled. He didn’t know what Connor had planned, but he would always back him up.