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“Mr. Hunter? Am I at the correct place?”
“Sure are, Alex. Call me by my first name?” Gage lifted his hand, waving him in. “Sit over there with Lauren. Shut the door, please?”
Panic hit Lauren as she saw Alex enter. Each contractor was given a company laptop in which mission planning, and anything related to it, was available on file. What the hell was Kazak doing here? She scowled.
“Why is he here?” she demanded of Hunter.
Gage didn’t even look up, hands flying over his keyboard, inputting intel. “He’s your partner. Have a seat, Alex.”
NO!Lauren’s eyes grew huge as she stared disbelievingly at Gage. He KNEW she didn’t like the Ukrainian! What the hell did he think he was doing? The words nearly ripped out of her mouth. She saw Alex advance toward the small table. His bulk and size filled the room. And he was giving her an apologetic look, making her feel like shit. She didn’t dislike him. It was just his damned size. Alex was a daily reminder of her painful past. He was salt, tearing open the wounds of those horrifying memories she had effectively suppressed until he showed up at Shield. Then, all those memories had come erupting upward, making her life miserable. She looked away from him, her mind running full-tilt. Somehow, she had to convince Gage to give her another partner. In order to do that, she’d have to hear the mission briefing from him first.
Alex took the chair at the end of the table, as far away from Lauren as he could get. She looked shocked. As an operator, his senses were finely honed. He felt more than shock. Running it through himself, he felt the terror within Lauren, even though there was nothing suggesting it on her calm-looking game face. He opened his laptop and turned it on. This was his first assignment at Shield. And he wanted to give a good account of himself, show Hunter and the Driscoll employees who ran the firm, that he’d been a good choice to hire.
“Okay, boys and girls,” Gage said, pulling his laptop in front of him. “Go to File A.”
Lauren opened it up. Brad Galloway was the Director of Mission Planning. She knew from his input that Gage, Cal Sinclair and others, did the mission planning and briefing for Shield. Brad’s name was on this one. Mouth thinning, she said nothing, waiting for Gage to begin.
“The Defense Department has suddenly discovered that the Russian mafia is in utter disarray since Yerik Alexandrov was killed down in Costa Rica. Rolan Pavlovich has taken the reins of the Russian mafia in New York City and is the leader of it.” He glanced up at them. “This isn’t news to you two, because you pulled the mission to rescue Sky. A Special Forces sergeant killed Alexandrov.”
Alex nodded. “That throws all the mafia teams in Peru into instability as well? They get their orders directly from Alexandrov, who was Mafia boss in New York City. Now he is no longer there, the new boss has been installed. Does anyone know if the Peru drug gang will be resurrected by Pavolvich?”
“Right question to ask,” Gage murmured, pleased with the Ukrainian’s grasp of the situation. “And this leaves the Defense Department wanting to drive a Mack truck right through the current instability this branch of the mafia is currently experiencing in Peru. Your job, Alex, because you were down in Peru for two years with one of those groups, is to go locate the other five Russian groups that were put together by Yerik Alexandrov. The Defense Department wants the leader of each one killed, to create more chaos among them and, hopefully, stop Pavlovich from reforming all of them and doing what Alexandrov could not. By doing that,” and he looked over at Lauren, “you’re cutting off the head of the snake. The Army is preparing to put in five Special Forces teams, three men each, to locate, capture and retrieve, or arrest, or kill, the members of these other four groups. The Peruvian government requested our assistance in this matter. This is your mission.”
“And the Peruvian government is behind this?” Lauren demanded. It was a federal offense to be found with a military-style weapon in Peru. It meant a long jail sentence in a prison at ten thousand feet where it was cold and miserable, for up to twenty years, with no hope of getting out early for good behavior.
“Yes, they’re backing this fully and we have their blessing. You won’t have to worry about being caught with military weapons on you.”
“Why is Peru okay with this?” she asked.
“Because the insertion of the Russian Mafia is creating an ongoing drug war with the two South American drug lords who already own that turf. A lot of innocent villagers are being killed, raped, or wounded in the crossfire. Peru lacks the funds and high-tech ability to hunt these Russian groups down and eradicate them. They’ve asked our federal government for direct intervention and help.”
“Better the enemy you know,” Lauren drawled.
Gage nodded. “Alex can tell you first-hand: The Russian Mafia intruding into established drug lord turf has turned the highlands of Peru into an ongoing blood bath. The Peruvian government is more than happy to have you two coming in. Lauren, you are the sniper and Alex will be your spotter, to hunt these pack leaders down.”
Alex nodded, but said nothing. If Hunter wanted him to comment, he’d ask. He noticed Lauren had shifted into briefing mode. She was asking a lot of good, important questions.
“Okay, here’s the meat of your mission,” Gage said. “You’re going down there undercover. You’re going to pose as tourists on an extended vacation from the U.S. You are married. Lauren, you’re a botanist. Alex, you’re her husband who lets her do whatever she wants, including looking for rare orchids in the jungle, which just happens to be in the same area these five groups are operating within. You will pose as a paramedic with the New York City Fire Department. We’ll make sure your credentials hold up, should someone get curious.”
Lauren’s head snapped up.
Gage held up his hand and said, “Hear me out, Lauren, and then I’ll answer any questions you have.”
Chastened, Lauren realized she had allowed her emotions to get the better of her. She prided herself on always being in control; never allowing her feelings to get in the way of an op. Gage wanted her to pretend to be a couple, to be married and undercover, with Alex? Her mind spun and Lauren scrambled inwardly. In her wildest, worst-nightmare scenarios she had never dreamed Gage would team her up with Alex.
“Your base of operation is Aguas Calientes, the small Peruvian town at the foot of Machu Picchu. You’ll rent an apartment there. Townspeople will see you out and about as a tourist couple. You’ll eat at a number of restaurants in order to be seen and, Lauren, you’ll be letting people know you’re a botanist interested in finding rare or new orchid species. Spread the word and hand out money to the poor, who will be more than willing to show you where there are orchids, as part of your ongoing cover. Alex, in reality, is going to be your spotter. Undercover? He’s going along as your doting husband who only wants to make you happy. He is going to offer his paramedic services to the small medical clinic, Helping Hands Charity, that is located there. It’s a good way to pick up useful info on Quechua Indians coming down from the highlands for medical treatment. Furthermore, it will indebt the locals to you and you may pick up some more intel. There’s a CIA agent contact for you there, as well, and he will give you the details on your mission briefing after you connect with him. Plus, you’ll have daily updates from Shield, via scrambled and encrypted satellite phone conference calls, as well as via encrypted emails. Alex is going to be tasked with finding each group. He speaks fairly decent Quechua, as well as Spanish. And then, once you are able to establish where a group is located, you’ll be flown in by a black ops Nightstalker helicopter. After being dropped close to the nearest village where they’re located, Alex will speak to the chief, and hear what he knows about the situation.”
Gage looked up at them. “Lauren, once Alex is able to confirm where a group is at, you’ll go into stalk mode. Learn where it’s best to set up a shot after Alex is able to identify the leader of that group. Then, take him out, fade into the jungle, get back to Aguas Calientes and resume your undercover life for a few days or a week until things settle down. Then, go after the next group. Same way. Same outcome. Okay. Questions?”
CHAPTER 3
Lauren’s gut wasa mass of writhing snakes by the time Gage had finished his briefing with them. She could barely think through it all, typing in pertinent intel almost by muscle memory. Alex had asked a lot of good, in-depth questions, things she should have been asking, but she had not been focused.At all.It was an hour before Gage ended the details of the briefing. Alex gave her a worried look once, but said nothing, and left the office, heading for the lockers located in the basement. He had to get his weapons ready for transit.
Lauren watched Gage’s oval face. The ex-Marine Recon sniper had dark green eyes with large black pupils. He always spoke quietly, and had laser-like eye contact who whomever it was he was speaking to. And, typical of any sniper, he had a game face on. Lauren knew she had to get her own shit together enough in order to convince him that she wasn’t the right sniper for this op.
“Gage?”
“Yes?” He looked up after putting photos into a file on his desk.
