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“Meaning if he does hear you and wants to shoot Jada, you’ll be able to shoot him first? How?”
Jaicon put her hand on Luisa’s arm. “You need to trust us.”
Luisa shook her head, and Jaicon looked up at Zeppelin.
“This is the only option,” he said. “Either we’re with you, or you don’t go in at all.”
Luisa’s eyes met mine, but neither of us spoke.
“Before we go any further, I need you to confirm if you’re in or out.”
“In,” Luisa responded, turning away from me to look Jaicon in the eye.
“You’re certain?”
“Absolutely.”
Jaicon nodded, and Zeppelin handed the tablet back to her. “The team will rendezvous here.” She pointed at a location several yards from the building.
She tapped the screen, and multiple shapes appeared along with one X, which she indicated first. “That’s Luisa’s entry point.” Then, she pointed to each circle. “These are where snipers will be positioned. Additional backup is indicated by each of the squares.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
“K19.”
“What will Los Caballeros be doing?”
“Assisting in monitoring the action within the station itself as well as in the corridors.”
“Will Zin be part of that team?” I asked.
“Negative,” Jaicon responded. “He’ll be inside with the backup team.”
It wasn’t my place to question the wisdom of whoever made the decision to allow him inside, as much as I wanted to.
“Where will I be?”
“Here, with me,” Jaicon pointed to an area no more than five feet from where a corridor intercepted the one Luisa would be in. “If we’re forced to abort for any reason, you get Luisa, by any means necessary, and retrace our entry route. Tank will be waiting.”
Right before thehelicopter began its descent, Jaicon sent the reply to Al Zaabi via Luisa’s phone.
The response was immediate. In it, he reminded Luisa what would happen to Jada if she did not arrive alone. She was given exactly thirty minutes from the time of his response to arrive at the radio station, which he identified by its call letters. If she did not, Jada would die.
As soon as the helicopter touched down, the team exited and moved out to the rendezvous point in the same choreographed manner I’d witnessed in Felixstowe. We were within steps of the others when I put my hand on Luisa’s arm.
“Are you absolutely certain about this?” I asked again.
“Jada will not die because of my cowardice.”
We waitedas each of the operatives reported via comms when they were in position. Once they all were, Jaicon signaled me to activate the NVG and camera built into the Ops-Core helmet I wore, then motioned for us to follow her into the building’s underground labyrinth. We’d reached the lower level and were about to separate when gunfire erupted.
“Abort, abort!”came through the comms.
“No!”cried Luisa, racing toward the station’s door. Jaicon’s words echoed in my head, “…any means necessary.” I grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her over my shoulder, then ran in the opposite direction, retracing our steps. As we rounded the first corner, Tank met us.
“You got her?”
“Negative,” I responded, panting. As much as my pride wanted the adrenaline coursing through my bloodstream to be enough for me to carry her the rest of the way, I was not trained for this. Particularly since the woman I held in my arms was doing her level best to get me to drop her while causing me as much bodily injury as she could.
