“You think?” Zack shifted, his ass didn’t fit in these seats. Many times they had bitched about them and had come to the conclusion that the military didn’t want people getting too comfortable. They needed them on their toes, to be ready to fast rope to the ground should the mission call for it.
“Yup.” Castello second guessed his decision not to do more than three run-throughs of their plan at Rock’s safehouse. He had worked with Delta Force Team Panther before, so had an idea of how and where they would be positioned. The two guys with Rock and Grif, both covered head to toe, those were wild cards in his opinion. They had exactly twelve minutes to get into the village, to the convent, to grab Krystal and the kiddos, and to get them out of there.
“Three minutes to drop zone,”the pilot’s voice came over the radio.
“Roger that.” Grif stood out of his seat and slid back the door of the bird.
“Go time.” Castello flexed his shoulders as much as possible.
“Stay alive, bro.” Zack moved to help Rafe with Balas, they would be first on the ground, securing the location as the rest of the team fast-roped to the ground.
Castello nodded and gave his second the bird, this was their routine for every mission.Goatfuck. Think. Yup. Go time. Stay alive. Flash the middlefinger. Call them superstitious bastards, but every time they did this, they came home alive, every time they didn’t, they lost someone or someone got badly hurt. Over a couple of gallons of beer one night, Sage had bitched about getting shot as they hadn’t done their voodoo shit. Castello and Zack had realized it was true and every mission since they did it. In their minds, they lived their lives in the danger zone, there was no point in tempting fate more than they already did.
Once on the ground they followed Balas into the jungle. As a scout dog who worked off-leash, the Belgian Shepherd was happy to follow dirt tracks into the unknown. Carefully moving through the terrain, they made as little noise as possible. Sweat dripped down the bridge of Castello’s nose as he kept one eye on his dog handler and one on the ground.
Spotting movement and hearing a click in his ear as Rafe signaled him, Castello squinted in the darkness, barely able to pick him out against the foliage in his camouflage and war paint. But he’d seen him put his hand up, palm flat then close his fist.Enemy ahead.
All the men squatted down, fingers on the triggers of their weapons as Castello moved up the line, slow and easy, his M-4 in his hand. If the Cartel had watchers or if they’d deployed electronic sensors, he didn’t want to trip them. With both Delta Force Team Lynx and now with Task Force Ambra, Castello was used to operating in a squad of six, it made him uncomfortable to have so many others with them, but he would deal, he didn’t know what he was facing or how many for sure. And he would much rather have these men who had offered their help than any others.
He moved silently until he reached Rafe and the dog and knelt next to them. Balas turned his head slowly to the right, then to the left, signaling he sensed something the humans couldn’t see. They waited in silence, listening, eyes moving, scanning their surroundings until finally, Balas relaxed.
Castello also scanned the darkness, but with his night vision goggles, black became green. Leaves and grass turned dark against the luminous light.
About a hundred feet ahead he could see a chain link fence with barbed wire coiled on top. He could make out the convent, as well as two small cottage-like buildings. There were no lights, no movement that he could see. The grounds were about as far from landscaped as you could get. Overgrown grass and trees to provide some cover for them to hopefully get in there undetected. It looked just like the satellite picture on his wrist computer.
Using hand signals instead of voices, Castello asked,“Any sentries?”
Rafe studied Balas, watching the dog for a couple of seconds before he shook his head.“No.”
Castello gave him a thumbs-up, then pointed at Balas and swiped his hand out, palm down. Rafe nodded and bent to check the camera on Balas’s vest, fumbling in the dark to switch it on. He’d cut through the wire and sent the dog to do a fast sneak and peek.
Castello moved back to his position behind Zack and signaled the guys to hide. They immediately disappeared into the darkness. Something small buzzed around his ear, Castello resisted the urge to swat it away; working in this area of the world, they all knew they were going to get bitten by bugs and spraying on repellant was only going to help delay the inevitable.
But fuck it, it made them feel like they were doing something to prevent it.
Yet still they spent time slapping away bugs. The little bit of deet repellant usually helped out some, except someone forgot to tell the cannibal bastard who kept chewing on his ear that.
Rafe came back and crouched next to Castello; swirling his finger, he silently told them there were no guards that Balas or he could see. He flattened his palms together and placed them by his ear, then held up two fingers. Okay, they had two buildings occupied.
Rafe clicked on his wrist computer, making sure to keep the cover covering most of the screen. He highlighted the two buildings that his dog had indicated contained people. The intel he input would automatically sync across all their devices, including the main computers run by Sage in the TOC at the safe house.
The device on his wrist buzzing silently against his skin told Castello the information Rafe had input had been passed on to all the men. He swiftly made some marks on the screen with the tip of a pen, showing them what he wanted done. Once again the devices vibrated, and Castello scanned the men.
After receiving the thumbs-up confirmations, he nodded and gave the signal.
“Let’s go to work.”
Cas blew out a breath, go time! He pressed the transmit button on his comms unit and tsk-tsked twice giving the agreed signal for a final communications check and heard the others do the same thing. Thank fuck, all were online and ready to go.
Silently, they used all the cover the overgrown gardens provided to make their way to the buildings. Castello knew he had probably gone overboard and brought too many people to break into a freaking convent, but he didn’t give a shit. Working his way around the smaller house it had been determined was the most likely to house Krystal and the kids, Castello paused on one side of the door, Zack on the other. Reaching out, he tested the handle, sending up a silent word of thanks when it gave under his fingers.
Just inside the door Castello heard a scrape-scraping. Just a little something—the shifting of a foot or the rub of clothes against the door.
Looking at his second, he held up three fingers, then dropped one, then another; the second his fist closed on zero, Zack reached around the door, hands closing around something soft. He dragged the man out.
In his ear Castello could hear one of Rock’s men,“Alpha side clear.”
And Steele’s,“Bravo side clear.”
