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As Kyle continued to glance through the portfolio he read by section, thumbing through colorful tabs, Harper finished his eggs and raised his mug for another coffee, which was filled immediately. While reading, he whistled several times, pausing on certain paragraphs.
“Two hundred fifty per man, is that right?”
“Yup. It can go up from there, Kyle.”
“No shit,” mumbled Hamish.
“So they offered this team to you? I mean, is this already out there or are they creating it?” asked Kyle.
“I don’t think they’ve done anything but this. They want me to help organize it if I’m interested. So, Kyle, am I interested?” Harper asked his LPO.
He glanced between Harper and Hamish then back to Harper. “You’re going to drag Hamish into this too?”
“I promised you I’d talk to you first. I haven’t made any promises to anybody. Scout’s honor. I’m showing you and Hamish first. In the back, at the last tab, the little red one where it says Teams?”
Kyle flipped to the back and saw the list of names. He read his own name. “Kyle fucking Lansdowne. They got a lot of balls, Harper. They actually want you to recruit me, your LPO?”
“No, I don’t want any part of being in command. I was going to offer you that position.”
“I already have a Team, Harper. And you remember what I told you. I’m counting on you. I need you.”
“Here’s what I think, Kyle. There are some guys who might be interested in this sort of thing, and I get it if you’re not.”
Kyle interrupted him. “I haven’t even read the fucking thing. I mean, it’s probably going to take me three days to do so. You’re just springing this on me, and here I thought I was sending you off to go on a one and done,; go find the asshole who killed Lydia.”
Hamish punched Harper in the arm. “You fucking didn’t tell me that, Sport.”
“I did! Or I touched on it, Hamish. I’m going to tell you both everything I know now, but I’m on limited time. They want me to go overseas, accept the mission, go grab the guy, and bring him back so he can stand trial. The one we took down, Commander Okubo, he got what he deserved as he killed plenty of other people, but he’s not the one responsible for Lydia’s death.”
Kyle’s eyes sparkled. “So they get you with the prospect of going to even the score so to speak, they want you to lead this team knowing you have this burning desire to get rid of the asshole, and help them set up this new group in the process, is that right?”
“Yeah, that’s about right. Apparently, they found him in Italy, And it’s like you said, they figured it out. I killed the wrong guy, not that he didn’t deserve it.”
“Okay, so this is something I take it you have to do right away,” Kyle asked.
“Yes, exactly. This guy apparently is assembling a terrorist cell, and the goal of this team, and they’re going to call it Silver Team, the goal is to do a snatch and grab on him and bring him to a black site or the U.S.—and subject him to questioning try to find out where he’s getting his equipment, his funds, all that sort of thing. We’re supposed to bust up the whole gang. That’s what they want. The salary they’re offering is nearly double what we make on the Teams. I could certainly use the money. I don’t have a family or anybody at home anymore, so I figured I might give it a shot.”
“Oh, I understand it’s tempting. That part got my attention.”
“I want to stay on SEAL Team 3, and I’d probably re-up again if they’ll let me do it, but you and I both know, Kyle, that jumping from airplanes and crawling around through snake-infested waters and fields or falling out of trees or getting hit by trucks or shot—I mean, there’s only so much a human body can take. You know we’ve sent guys home in pieces or partially blinded or worse. You know we age faster than normal men. With the proper support, and the very best equipment, a well-organized small team each designed for a specific mission, which is what they say here, might not be a bad way to go. We watch out for each other, and of course, it’s only as good as its weakest link, right?”
Harper could see Kyle was starting to pay more attention to his descriptions.
“So you didn’t tell him you were going to quit Team 3 then, is that correct?” he asked.
“That’s right, Kyle. I even got to talk to the President of the United States. It’s his idea, like John Kennedy back in the 60s when he had the idea for creating the SEAL Teams.”
“Thinks of himself as Kennedy, does he?” Kyle said cooly.
“How the hell should I know? But he wants to leave the recruitment up to me, although we would have a handler, and we would have liaisons and regular reports, perhaps meetings with him or perhaps with Admiral Patterson, who I also met with yesterday. He wants me to recruit and set it up. In this particular case, time’s not on our side, so what I may do is take a small group over first then finish the setup back here in California.”
“You want out of Team 3 that bad?” Kyle asked him.
“Absolutely not, Lanny. You’re the best boss I’ve had. If it wasn’t for you, I probably wouldn’t be on a Team. This, though, seems to be something I might be able to do. I might be good at it. It’s not a huge command. It’s kind of loose, but with some training and ground rules, we could structure it so it was safe. We pick and choose who we wanted to use and veto anything they try to throw at us. We have to be super stealth about it. I did get permission to speak to both of you.”
“Swell. How did they get my name?” Kyle asked.
“Reputation. Not only your name but Hamish’s as well. We’re all seniors here. That’s why, but also we’re solid guys with lots of experience. Both of you can be counted on to help keep me out of harm’s way, basically. That’s what the admiral said. There are other names on the list that I don’t know so I’d have to sit and vet them carefully.”
