28
If Mankelreally had stayed at the compound out of overstuffed confidence, a water insertion would be the easiest way for Mack’s team to gain entrance. That big-ass lake that was north of his base was big enough for them to insert a good ways out undetected.
Ethan shoved his hand into a large duffel bag held in place by a cargo net and pulled out a bunch of radios. “Got the communications system.”
“Hook us up. I’m in for a good gunfight.”
Ethan quickly filtered through each radio, turned the different dials so they’d all be set to the same frequency. “Emergency only, boys. Mankel will be scanning the radios, paranoid bastard that he is. We can use these to radio for pickup once we’re done.”
Everyone slid on their backpacks in silence. Mack focused on a silver metal screw along the floorboards to keep from looking at Marley, who was huddled next to Riser and Jared, looking for all the world like a lost little girl.
“Do I get a gun?” Her quiet question drew Mack’s attention like a shout.
“You’re staying in the air until the mission is over.”
She licked her lips, damn her, and his body reacted instantly. He tightened the backpack strap on his right shoulder too hard and winced.
“I’m trained with a weapon. I can help.”
His team turned to him.
“No.” He couldn’t do his job effectively if he was worried about her catching a stray bullet the whole time, trained or not.
Besides, he hadn’t one hundred percent ruled out her possible involvement with Mankel.
Marley slammed her mouth shut with a mutinous look and crossed her arms over her knees. Mack turned his attention back to gearing up, doing his best to focus on the mission ahead and not the woman he was desperately trying to put into his past.
“Five minutes out, boys. Who’s ready for a little swim?” Aaron said over his shoulder and then pushed the steering stick forward. The helicopter dipped and picked up speed, the nose tilting slightly down as they shot across the treetops, the struts at the bottom of the helicopter only ten feet above the tree line.
Not exactly the safest way to fly, but the lower they stayed, the less visible they were on radar.
They burst over the edge of the jungle, moving into the rapidly disappearing sunlight reflecting off the lake. The helicopter dipped again, getting up close and personal with the water.
“Go time!” Riser called out.
“You boys ready?”
Mack reached up and tapped Aaron’s shoulder.
Aaron pulled back on the stick; the helicopter slowed and hovered just above the water’s surface. Mack ripped open the door, welcoming the blast of wind off the rotor blades whirling overhead. He took a breath, crouched, and without a backward glance at Marley, launched himself from the cabin. Lukewarm water rushed over his head; he kicked his legs and broke the surface, dog paddling in the water, as the rest of his team inserted after him. Aaron gave him a salute from the window and pulled up. The last thing Mack saw before the helicopter disappeared back over the tree line was Marley’s stark face peering out at him from the cabin.
Mack clenched his jaw, forcing himself to ignore her worry. She didn’t have the right to feel that kind of emotion about him. Not anymore.
“Damn, this water is as hot as a bathtub,” Riser muttered.
His team started swimming across the lake, moving fast but pacing themselves. They’d trained for this their whole lives; it was just the warm-up before the real exercise.
“Dude, there’s a constant temperature of a thousand degrees here. Did you really expect it to be cold?” Ethan asked.
“I’m not an idiot. Of course I didn’t expect it to be cold,” Riser muttered. “I just didn’t expect we’d be taking a group bath.”
“You boys better keep it down before you attract some crocodiles.” Mack kept swimming, barely feeling the weight of the rifle slung across his back.
“Not gators. Hippos. Those are some bad mamas,” Hoyt said, as he pulled closer to the rest of the group.
That might be the first time he’d cracked a joke since, well, since his capture and torture. Maybe he was going to be all right after all.
Jared snorted, “How many hours of National Geographic TV have you been watching?”
