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At the moment, Gunnar and I were awaiting a briefing on a mission nobody knew anything about. There were Special Ops guys from the US, England, France, Spain, Italy – and Sweden, of course. All in all, there were 25 of us. Whatever the mission was, it was going to be a big fucking deal.
One of the American soldiers stepped up to the podium at the front of the room. “Alright, listen up. The briefing today is from a UK intelligence operative who just flew in. She’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
…she’ll?
That caused a bit of a stir.
And then she walked into the room and created an even bigger stir.
There were relatively few females serving at Bagram, so the presence of one was always notable. Especially when she was as gorgeous as this woman.
She was tall and athletic, probably 5’11”, with dark hair pulled back into a bun. Flawless skin, brown eyes, and sensual lips. The camo pants didn’t reveal much, but her legs were incredibly long, and she wore a tight-fitting t-shirt that hugged her graceful curves.
The movie Wonder Woman had just come out and made the actress Gal Gadot an international star. This woman could have been her sister. Even without a speck of makeup, she was more beautiful than 99% of the women I’d seen in my life.
She stood at the podium, confident but unsmiling, and looked out at all of us. “Hello. My name is Rachel Bauer.”
She sounded almost as alluring as she looked, with a posh British accent and a low, smoky voice.
I listened, entranced, as she continued talking.
“I’m from SIS, the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service. Most of you are probably more familiar with the older name for the agency, MI6, so I’ll just use that instead.”
“James Bond,” one of the Americans called out, and there was some scattered laughter from the soldiers.
She smiled politely like she’d heard it a thousand times before. “Exactly. Now, if you’ll direct your attention to the monitor, I’ll show you our target for the mission.”
A high-resolution screen hung on the wall at the front of the room. Several pictures appeared, all of the same Afghani male. In one of them, he was dressed in an expensive Western-style suit and looked like a rich playboy. In two other photos, he was dressed like the Taliban in a turban and robes with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder.
Rachel continued. “The United Kingdom’s domestic Security Service, otherwise known as MI5, foiled a bombing plot in London last week. MI6 discovered that the funding ran through Abdullah Shah Massoud, seen here onscreen – a former Al Qaeda operative now working with the Taliban.”
Al Qaeda was the terrorist group responsible for the attacks on 9/11. Their leader was Osama bin Laden, a Saudi national who had used his inherited wealth to fund global terrorism.
The Taliban was the Islamist group that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Extreme Islamic fundamentalists, they outlawed education for girls. They were also infamous for beating women who went out in public without wearing a burqa – a full-body dress that hid everything, including a mesh screen over their eyes.
After 9/11, the United States determined that Osama bin Laden was hiding out in Afghanistan and demanded the Taliban turn him over. The Taliban not only refused, they helped bin Laden escape into neighboring Pakistan. The Taliban’s refusal and their implicit support for terrorism against the West was what prompted the American invasion of Afghanistan.
In 2011, an American SEAL team killed bin Laden during a secret raid inside Pakistan – only a few hundred miles away from where we now stood.
Rachel continued her briefing. “MI6 has determined that Abdullah Shah Massoud arrived in Kabul 24 hours ago. We believe he’s plotting a new series of attacks against Western countries. Our mission is to go into Kabul, root out the terrorist cell he’s visiting, and take Massoud down. Preferably alive, but dead works just fine. Now – ”
“Excuse me,” a Spanish-accented voice spoke up.
We all turned to look at one of the guys from Grupos de Operaciones Especiales: GOE, aka Spain’s Special Forces. They were one of the countries participating in the raid.
I was vaguely acquainted with the guy speaking. Jorge Delgado. He was an asshole and not well-liked by any of the other countries’ Special Forces units. I don’t think his own men cared for him much, either.
Rachel looked annoyed at the interruption. “Yes?”
“Why are you giving this briefing?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Because MI6 retrieved the intel, and I work for MI6.”
“Respectfully,” Delgado said, without any respect in his voice whatsoever, “I think someone who is going on the mission should be giving the briefing.”
“Well, then, you’re in luck,” she said coldly. “Because I am.”
Which surprised me, I’ll admit.
