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Yair moved his finger to the Xs highlighted on the printout. “He keeps guards set up like an octagon. Eight men manning stations on twelve-hour shifts. They never move any more than midway between their stations. I think that’s by design. They don’t want to leave any openings or blind spots.”
“What’s the weakness?”
Carter had done enough surveillance to know that even the most well thought out security details had blind spots and weaknesses. He needed to know what Gatete’s was.
Yair grinned proudly. “Because they never move any more than midway between their stations, you can drop four on either side and they would never know. You’re a skilled shooter. My brothers are too. A silent kill opens one side for entry. Once you bypass the exterior guards, your only challenge will be the occupants and the recruits.”
“No internal security?” Yair shook his head and Carter snorted with understanding when Yair further explained, “He’s too fucking arrogant to think anyone can bypass his guys on the outside.”
“That’s not it.”
“Then why not have guards on the inside?”
“He’s too fucking arrogant to believe that if anyone gets inside, he won’t successfully take them down. It’s exactly how I would think.”
“Yeah well, we’re about to prove him wrong.” Yair opened the laptop and his fingers traveled over the keys. After a few minutes, videos illuminated the screen. He clicked on the first one. “Look at this?”
Carter shifted his focus and Yair pointed to the screen at a recorded clip of the compound focused on the largest building. “This is Gatete’s main quarters. He’s a creature of habit. Up by six every morning. He spends most of his day here…” He pointed to an outside area shaded by a canopy. “At least once a day he has someone take him down to these two buildings. From what I can tell, this is where they do most of the training. Here and out back…” Yair pointed to a large field behind the two buildings that were similar to army barracks. “They train the recruits with firearms out there. Gatete watches but doesn’t interact with the men. At night, he swims and smokes cigars out here.” He pointed to the area shaded with a canopy. “Most of the week he’s joined by a woman brought in for him. By midnight he retires to his quarters. The woman is taken there until the next evening when he sends for her.”
“That’s his entire routine?”
“Over the past two weeks, yes. He’s had two women in rotation. They come in on Monday, leave on Friday. On the weekend he’s alone.”
Yair clicked the other videos and Carter watched them, receiving confirmation of what Yair had just explained, not speaking until he noticed a change in several of the videos. “What day were these recorded?”
“The weekend. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.” Yair glanced at Carter.
“He drops the guards down to four on the weekend,” Carter mumbled.
“Figured you’d catch that. I’m assuming his best guys are on patrol. The weekends are when he sends them to train with the recruits. The weekends give more access.”
“That’s when we do this.”
It was Thursday. Carter’s expression relaxed while he stared at the screen and massaged his chin. “We’ll do this tomorrow. If we wait, he might change his routine.”
“I figured you’d say that. Emir and Kades are wrapping up what they have going on here. Pops has his jet on standby. He’ll call in some favors to make sure we fly in off the radar. I can set up nearby to track movement and I’ll be watching up until then to get an accurate count of everybody inside so there aren’t any surprises. He’s guarded but too confident to be guarded properly.”
“Which is exactly what we need.”
“I let my brothers know we’re moving tomorrow.”
“Good.”
Yair nodded and pulled up another folder. Instead of video there were still shots, pulled from the videos.
He pointed to the screen. “That’s him. Gatete.”
Carter stared at the screen for a long minute, studying the face of the man who shared his blood. The photo was clear enough that he could see Gatete’s features. Carter’s mother had him when she was eighteen. His father was twenty-one at the time. He wondered if that was part of the issue. A young girl falling for the wrong man. One her family didn’t approve of.
If she were alive today, she would be mid-fifties which meant his grandfather had to be early to mid-seventies. He looked good for his age. Lean, fit. The only sign of his true age was the gray hair on his head and in his beard. This man was his family, his maternal grandfather, but the only emotion Carter could claim was anger. The man killed his own daughter, Carter’s mother.
“And this is his son, Gahigi.”
“My uncle…” Carter mumbled incoherently. The acknowledgment of the family he would kill if required.
“He lives there on the compound. He and Gatete are the only blood relatives. The rest are loyal men who are chosen family.”
“Women and children?”
