Jamie turned away from the computer terminal to face the team’s sniper. Kyle’s light-brown hair and green eyes were hidden beneath his hard helmet, tactical goggles, and air-filtration mask. A former Strike Force operative, Kyle had been with Alpha Team for almost a year and a half at this point. He’d been Jamie’s secret lover for nearlyaslong.
MDF regulations prohibited relationships in the ranks within the direct chain of command. Jamie followed most of the rules set down by the MDF, but letting Kyle go last year wasn’t something he’d been willing to do. The thought of someone else being with Kyle had spurred Jamie into breaking the nonfraternization rule for once in his life. That they needed to hide their relationship was something they were both still willing to do, because neither man was walking away from the connection they hadforged.
“Always,” Jamiereplied.
“Data sync complete,” Katie said frombehindhim.
“Then let’s getready.”
Unlike back in June, with the attack on the Splice lab in southwestern Montana where Night Stalkers flew them inside the perimeter at low altitude, their current altitude was over 9,100 meters. This time around, the metahuman teams and human Special Forces operatives were being deployed into enemy territory by way of a HALO jump to bypass the cartel’s defense systems surrounding the out-of-the-waylocation.
Since going wheels up in Los Angeles, everyone had been breathing pure oxygen through their masks to flush out nitrogen from their bloodstreams. The oxygen was stored in flexible tubes and pouches attached to their tactical vests and hooked to their filtration masks. Once they got boots on the ground, they’d discard the tubing and theirparachutes.
Kyle turned his back to Jamie, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the parachute in question. Like everyone else, his weapons were attached to the front of his body for the drop. “Check my gear,wouldyou?”
Jamie didn’t hesitate to double-check the straps and the parachute pack itself before turning around so Kyle could do the same for him. A Mexican soldier checked over Katie before giving her a hard pat on the shoulder and a thumbs-up to show she wassecured.
“You’re good,” Kyle said, slapping his hand onJamie’sarm.
Jamie tapped the side of his tactical goggles, the HUD coming alive across the shatter-resistant plas-glass. Katie’s sync had uploaded a map of the mountainous terrain they were heading into, as well as a rendering of the compound map taken from military satellites that could see through most energy screens people used to shield locations. After a few seconds of quick perusal, Jamie minimized the map before accessing the general encrypted comms to which all personnel werelinked.
“Remember, the majority of SF Corps will handle securing the perimeter. Leave the initial push into the compound to Alpha Team and Jaguar One. If Splice is on the premises like we believe, you don’t want to get caught in any chemical bombexplosions.”
A multitude of voices responded in the affirmative. Jamie wasn’t worried about his team disobeying his order, but he hadn’t run joint operations with their equivalent in Mexico’s Protectors, not to mention the Mexican Armed Forces. Considering the multigenerational effort it had taken to push out cartel influence in Mexican politics and that country’s military, there was always a chance a sleeper agent might have been missed. The more sensitive the mission, the more risk there was of word leaking out about theoncomingraid.
Because of that, the MDF had seeded false information that they’d be flying in at low altitude, when in fact, the HALO jump had been the approved infiltration method from thebeginning.
Jamie took up position at the rear of the jet, gripping the overhead line with one hand. Kyle and Katie lined up behind him while everyone else got situated. The red warning light switched on with a high-pitched squeal Jamie could barely hear over the screaming wind as the ramp opened up on a cold, eerily clear November night sky. Minimal cloud coverage over the region had been the catalyst for green lighting the missiontonight.
The ground below was a black void before he switched on his night vision, while the sky was filled with stars more easily seen from far above the Earth than in a megacity covered by light pollution. The command windows on Jamie’s HUD changed over to a chrono that would count down the time, altitude drop, and oxygen levels astheyfell.
The airman manning the ramp gave theall clearsignal and Jamie didn’t hesitate in racing forward and launching himself off the ramp into the black sky. He couldn’t hear the wind whipping around him through his sealed hard helmet, but he felt the cold even through his combat uniform. He pulled in his arms and legs to decrease drag as he fell, keeping both eyes on the groundbelow.
Freefalling at night was intense. Even with the green-tinged clarity of night vision to show him the mountains below, Jamie needed to focus all his attention on the numbers counting down and his placement in the sky. He kept his breathing steady as he fell, trying to stay on target. His ears popped as the chrono counted down the meters. Some distance away, on either side of him, Jamie could see Kyle and Katie falling throughtheair.
Jamie kept an eye on the chrono, watching the numbers. When he could see more ground than sky, mountains rising up to meet them, and the chrono hit six hundred meters, only then did he hit the release button on his harness. The parachute ripping free of its pack yanked him backward with a teeth-snapping pull. His momentum drastically slowed, body bowing a little beneath the pressure. All around him, the sky filled up with the black curve of parachutes that stood out in his green-tinged nightvision.
The combat jets had been ordered to drop everyone in a rough circle, making it easier for them to surround the compound. Their insertion point was located behind the sentries, but outside the internal cartel security. Taking out the enemy would hopefullybeeasy.
Landing in the dark was thedifficultpart.
The valley theFederaciónCartel had built its compound in was difficult to access, even by ground. Finding a flat spot to land was like finding the holy grail, but everyone chosen for this mission had the skills necessary to land swiftly andsilently.
The one thing the compound did lack was a defensive energy shield, which meant breaching it would be easier all around. Jamie adjusted the angle of his parachute, aiming for the slope of the mountain near the road and an outcropping of rocks protruding from the mountainside. It looked stable enough to hold his weight, and had enough space to handle the forward momentum of hislanding.
He hit the ground already moving, knees taking the brunt of the landing. Jamie swiftly forced himself to a halt. He removed his parachute before lying down on the ground to get out of sight. Gripping his AKR-75 assault rifle, Jamie tapped into thecomms.
“Confirm positions.” Everyone rapidly checked in from their designated attack positions, and when he had the count, Jamie issued hisorder. “Go.”
Those handling the night sentries worked to eliminate the threat as silently as possible within the one-minute timeframe. The chrono on Jamie’s HUD counted down the time as he worked his way off the mountainside and to the dark road below. Forty seconds later, the sound of gunfire going off had him sprinting for the gate Madison Chan was in the process of blowing up now that their presence wasknown.
Alpha Team’s demolitions specialist was one of their heavy hitters on the team. The energy bombs Madison could toss from her hands made her a formidable adversary, and the person best suited to breaking throughbarriers.
The gate exploded in a burst of metal and concrete, Jamie and Madison remaining safe from the blast behind Trevor Sanchez’s telekinetic shield. Jamie didn’t have eyes on the team’s medic, but Trevor had eyes on his and Madison’s position, and that was all thatmattered.
Floodlights turned on, Jamie’s HUD immediately adjusting for the change in brightness, and were promptly shot out by the snipers in the attacking group. Jamie blinked spots out of his eyes as he put his back to the outside wall next tothegate.
“Apollo, Nova, hold your position,” Kyle said over thecomms.
