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“Feeling better every day.” Daria knew she could fool Alex and Lauren. It was Jack she was worried about. She saw some concern in his incisive stare every time he looked in her direction. Her heart was beginning a slow pound of desperation. Jackhadto give her a mission! SheHADto get the hell out of her cabin before she went stark raving mad.
“Ready?” Driscoll asked all of them. When he saw three heads bob, he put the mission up on the huge screen hanging on the wall at the other end of the table. “Okay, Daria, here’s your mission, if you want it.” He clicked a couple of keys and several photos came up along with a map of Peru.
Alex groaned. “You have to be joking, Jack.”
“That’s why you and Lauren are here. Both of you had time and experience in Peru.”
Daria stared at the map and at the photo of the bald-headed man, a Russian named Ustin Korsak, on one side of it. On the other side was a photo of another man, a rugged type, judging by his face, the name ‘Nik Morozov’ beneath it. Daria knew that Nik was Ukrainian, and had been Alex Kazak’s best friend when they’d been on the same Russian mafia drug team together in Peru. She knew better than to ask questions. Jack would give the briefing and, afterward, he’d invite any questions that still lingered. Her heart did funny things as her gaze automatically went to Nik Morozov’s image. She’d never seen a photo of Nik, but had always heard Alex speak passionately about the man, near his same age, and like a brother to him. They had been Spetsnaz soldiers in the Russian black ops Army as combat medics for years before going to Peru to join Alexandrov’s Russian drug team.
Alex scowled. “You have Nik down there. What is going on?”
“Don’t get protective,” Jack cautioned him smoothly. He turned to Daria. “Okay, this is a level two mission. That means it’s not lethal if you play your cards right.” He flicked another photo up on the wall. “This is Sergeant Mace Kilmer. He left the Army after getting bit by a Fer-de-Lance snake. And, as you know, he’s working here with us, in Mission Planning as a South American expert. A month ago, I asked him to reassemble the team he had been in charge of before he left the Army. The DOD, the Department of Defense, gave its permission for him to do so. Right now, he’s the leader of an Army three-man Special Forces hunter-killer team that’s operating in the Highlands and jungle area near Machu Picchu. I had the Army send him and his team down there a month ago on this one, special mission that he said he’d take. The reason is this: The CIA just lost their case officer, Sam Hutchison, two months ago in Aguas Calientes. A small tourist town sitting at the base of the World Heritage site: the Machu Picchu complex. All evidence points to Korsak, or one of his men, finding out Sam was CIA, and slicing his throat.
“The Peruvian police found Hutchison dead in his apartment six days later. The stink alerted nearby neighbors, and the police were called. Up until that time, Hutchison was working with three other Spec Forces teams, trying to pinpoint where Ustin Korsak’s drug team would be. Their job was to try and capture Korsak and take him out of the leadership position, bring him back to the USA and try to flip him. The Department of Justice, DOJ, wants him bad. They think if Korsak can be apprehended, that they can work with him, squeeze the intel out of him, and promise him Witness Protection here in the states for the rest of his life. If he gives up the other Russian teams in the region that is.” Jack shrugged. “Sounds like a pretty cushy deal to me. The US offers Korsak ongoing protection and a much better, safer life than he’d ever get back in Mother Russia.”
“Mace knows Korsak better than anyone,” Alex agreed. The other three teams haven’t been able to touch him, as I understand it.”
Jack nodded. “There’s two reasons we’ve pulled Mace back into the situation. First, he knew Sam Hutchinson very well and they were friends. Secondly, if Daria agrees to this mission, I want Mace down there shadowing her throughout it. Providing it’s a successful mission, and everyone comes home, Mace will be coming out of the jungle and returning here, to do mission planning.
“I bet Sierra isn’t happy about this,” Lauren said, frowning. “They just got married and she was glad Mace was out of the Army.”
Grimacing, Jack said, “Life changes. Mace wants to avenge Sam’s death. And he wants Korsak and he’ll find him.”
Daria felt the tension in the room, but inwardly, she was relieved that Mace was going to be in the area where she was supposed to be.
With a keystroke, Jack put another photo up on the screen. “Okay, let’s move on. We have a new Russian mafia leader in New York City: Rolan Pavlovich. When Yerik Alexandrov’s son, Vladimir, was killed by Sergeant Mace Kilmer, the next in line, Petrov, took over. He was also killed. Rolan Pavlovich filled that vacant mafia position in New York City and took over. Pavlovich is new to the position, and the five mafia teams operating in Peru were previously under Petrov’s direction. Now, Pavlovich, from the intel the FBI is picking up on, is going to fly down there shortly to meet with these teams, each of which are composed of five or six to ten ex-Spetsnaz Russian soldiers. He’ll ask for a loyalty pledge from them. He’s heading down there, but we don’t have his exact ETA yet. When we do, you will be alerted, Daria.”
“Pavlovich is filling the power vacuum left by the death of Yerik Alexandrov,” Alex growled, unhappy.
“Bound to happen,” Jack said. He glanced at Daria. “You’re going to go undercover as a Russian. You speak the language because you’re an orphaned Russian child, later adopted by Ukrainian parents, but you hold dual citizenship. My team is preparing deep-cover protection for you as we speak. You’ll go in as a botanist from Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, taking a one-year sabbatical from your teaching duties there to write a book about orchids in Peru,” and he flicked a hand toward the map on the wall. “I hope you like flowers?”
Daria nodded. “I love all of Nature.”
“She might have been orphaned, but I believe she was born on Ukrainian soil, but no one knows her past history,” Alex said, “and we are tied to our beloved Ukraine and the Earth. We would rather be outdoors than in.”
“I hope someday to know where I was born,” Daria said with some hope behind her words. “I was at a St. Petersburg orphanage the first year of my life. When my Ukraine parents adopted me, they tried to find out a paper trail on me, but there was none.” She smiled a little. “I hope you’re right, Alex because I’ve always love plants, flowers and Nature.”
“I’m sure of it,” Alex said.
Jack nodded. “Good, because I’m sending you a file right now on orchids in that area that you’ll have to commit to memory. Plus, memorize the photos of the orchids themselves. Your cover is that you’re renting an apartment in Aguas Calientes. You’ll be out and about, in the jungle, in the Highlands area, hunting for local orchids, taking photos, sitting and taking measurements and anything else a botanist would do to a flower. You’ll be putting your ‘findings’ in a journal or notebook and then, later on, transfer the information and photos to a special laptop we have ready for you to carry on you.”
“There are many orchids down there,” Alex said, nodding. “Beautiful ones.”
“I saw a lot of them,” Lauren agreed. “Jack gave me a similar cover when I went down there, but I never had to use it. Should be an easy cover activity for you, Daria?”
“Well,” Jack interrupted, holding up a hand, “Daria might not think this as easy. Let me lay out the rest of this op.”
Daria grew tense inwardly, not liking that half-smile Jack had on his face. It warned her there was a twist coming to her mission.
“Nik Morozov, is the combat medic in Korsak’s team, and it’s well known he would never rape or hassle the Quechua Indian women in the villages on their circuit. He abhors rape of a woman and walks away when other men on the team do it. Later, he cares for the woman medically. Then, Petrov was killed in a firefight. Nik was wounded and brought stateside to recover. DOD and CIA wanted him to infiltrate his old team, the one that Ustin Korsak has taken over. Korsak hates him because he won’t be ‘one of the boys’ and ‘have a little fun’. But he can’t do without a medic in the unit because, as Alex and Lauren well know, bacterial infections that take hold can kill a person within forty-eight hours without antibiotics or swift medical intervention. Never mind Dengue Fever, Malaria, Hanta Virus, Cholera, and a whole host of epidemic infections you can get down there for free.”
Alex nodded, scowling. “All of that is true.”
“Plus, Nik had agreed, via the CIA, to become a mole in Korsak’s unit and feed them information. He’s seen as a loner by the team, but is accepted because he’s a damn good medic. He and Alex used to work together, so Alex knows how good Nik is.”
“Nik is one of the best when it comes to jungle medicine.”
“He saved me,” Lauren told Daria. “After I got kidnapped, it was Nik who cared for me and then got me the hell out of that situation.”
