Davis said as we approached them, “We need to breach. When we first got here, he was being put in one of those metal crates out there in the open. Then, that armored car rolled into the compound. Fifteen minutes later, a couple of guys came out and pulled Adam out of the crate and dragged him into the main building. The sounds coming from inside that building are harrowing.”
Foster and Mattox looked at each other.
Then Foster asked, “How many tangos are on site?”
Nichols explained, “I’ve counted about ten to fifteen coming and going, but I don’t know how many are inside. There aren’t any windows that could be used for a sneak peek, either. So, we’re gonna have to go in blind.”
“How many entrances?” Mattox asked.
Davis and Nichols glanced at each other. They seemed to be weighing their answer.
“Fucking spill it,” I growled.
I was over this fucking bullshit. I was sick and fucking tired of the hemming and hawing and beating around the fucking bush.
Foster stepped in front of me, his eyebrows raised and head cocked. Our gazes locked together for several minutes until I nodded. I crossed my arms over my chest and forced myself to relax.
Foster watched as I dialed back the aggression, then turned back to Mattox and his guys. “Well, you heard Chief Jones. Fucking spill it.”
“Sir, there are two entry points visible. We think there’s another way in and out, but we don’t know if Senior Chief has enough time for us to play lost and found for the tertiary exit,” Petty Officer Evan Davis said.
“Why do you think there’s a third?” I asked without the venom from moments before.
Davis looked me in the eye. “I’ve been watching this compound for almost two hours, and there’s someone who seems to be appearing and disappearing from the courtyard, but we cannot find where the hidey-hole is.”
Mattox stepped in. “You said you could hear sounds coming from inside? Do you think we could go in through the walls?”
“I say we split into four teams. One team breaches the north wall while another breaches the south, and the other two teams take a door apiece,” Nichols suggested.
I considered his suggestion. My concern was the placement of the wall breaches.
“Have you pinpointed where in the building they could be holding the senior chief?” I asked.
“We believe he’s on the south wall,” Davis said.
Foster looked at me. “What’s your assessment?”
I pulled out my binoculars and flipped on the night vision.
“We put Davis and Nichols on the wall teams.” Lowering the binoculars, I asked, “Were you able to tell how Adam got out of this hellhole the first time?”
Nichols piped up, “It looks like he hopped the north side wall on the west side of the building, which is a direct shot from the door on that side of the building, but there are several metal dog crates in the yard, and there are people in them. If I was a betting man, I’d say he came out of the east side of the building, stopped to check on the other hostages, and then hopped the wall. How he managed it, I don’t know.”
Yeah, well, Adam DuBois is a fucking superhero.
I nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right. I say we put the petty officers’ plan into action sooner rather than later, because they won’t keep him alive for long after he escaped and led them on a wild goose chase.”
Foster and Mattox nodded and started dividing us into teams. But when it came to assigning breaching locations, Foster was adamant that he and I go in with one of our guys through the south wall.
When we were far enough away, I asked, “Why the change on the breaching teams?”
Foster looked at me with a small smile. “Well, if it was Julie, I’d want to be the first person to her. The first friendly face she saw.”
“Thanks, Foster. I appreciate it.”
The fact that the team had rallied around me in spite of my sexual orientation and feelings for Adam overwhelmed me.
Foster nodded and updated Commander Mercer over our comms link while we moved into place.
