“Get me the head of Favori LLC on the phone.” Hawk told Cade. “I want him to tell me personally that my saving his kids’ lives in Turkey was worth jack shit.”
“On it.” Cade pulled up a search engine on his satellite phone, looking for the number, and hit call. As soon as it connected, he handed the cell to Hawk.
“Sir, there is no need to call Favori.” the man seated in the center of the three stooges told him. “Put down the phone.”
“Nope.” Hawk popped the end of the word. He was done fucking around. These people knew nothing of running an operation this big. If that plane went in the air with Rio on board, then it would drop out of the sky with the power of a nuclear bomb. No fucking way was that happening. Not only was Rio’s life on the line but also the civilians on board, not to mention all the people working at U.S. Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia. Taking out that island would cripple logistical support to operational forces forward deployed to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. Not fucking happening on their watch.
“Hello Esra, it’s Hawk.”
“Hawk, my friend, this is a surprise.”The voice on the other end of the phone could be heard, despite the fact that the phone was not on speaker,“I did not expect to hear from you until the job was finished.”
“We are having a problem, buddy,” Hawk told him. “Your people here in Mogadishu, want to run the operation." Hawk pulled the phone away from his ear to avoid the cursing and swearing that followed.
“Give the cell to the one who is huffing.” When Esra finished cursing, he made the request to Hawk.
“Sure.” Hawk shrugged and studied the men sitting in front of him. He grinned, Esra knew his people, that one was huffing. He handed the phone to the dude in the middle, “Your boss wants to talk to you.”
The man scowled at Hawk but took the phone; pushing back his chair, he stood and walked to the far corner of the room. Probably hoping they would not hear the dressing down he was about to receive.
“We’re going to need a room we can set up our Operations Center in,” Rock told the other two. He wasn’t waiting for the idiot getting yelled at to come back. “We will need access to your security systems. Key cards for all the doors.”
“You will get it,” the man on the left said, “I am General Abdi Ashkir Jama, head of security.” He held out his hand for Rock to shake. “Whatever you will need, you will have. This is Abdirahim, he will provide you with access to the computer systems.”
“Thank you.” Rock gestured to Cade, “Abdiarhim, you will work closely with Cade.”
“Yes, I am happy to help.”
They all winced when the voice on the phone rose loud enough that they could hear him even at the other side of the room. “He is a diplomat,” Gen. Abdi Ashkir Jama shrugged, “You know how it is when they have never seen war. He does not understand what is involved.”
“Gotcha.” Yeah, they all understood that. Way too much. “You will have a room for us?” Rock asked.
“Yes, I will give you one of the baggage handling rooms, near the gate farthest from the terminal. It’s next to our communications and internet hub.”
“Thank you.”
“No,” the General nodded in the direction of the other manager, “He may not thank you, but I will. We need all the help we can get with this.”
* * *
Less than sixteen hours later, they had a plan. They knew Rio and his brothers were in the building. Knew they were waiting at the gate. There were so many things that could go wrong. But for now, most of the men stood in the room that had been assigned to them, checking weapons and practicing the move they would have to make.
“What’s going on?” Rock’s eyebrows drew together when Cade entered the room, carrying the ruck he used when he went out with the team.
He ignored Rock’s question and strode to the table assigned for weapons. He didn’t often go out in the field. He much preferred to be where he was best utilized… in the TOC, using his systems to help the ones in the field.
“I’m coming with you!” If the guys thought he was sitting in the room that doubled as their mobile TOC while they went to rescue his man, they had another think coming. No fucking way was he not going to be the one to pull Rio out of there. Just. Not. Happening.
“Dude, we need—”
“Angelo can stay here,” Cade interrupted Rock. “I am going.”
Rock scrubbed his hand over his head, scratching the back of his hair in frustration. He glanced at Grif as if looking for his partner to back him up.
“Nope,” Grif lifted one shoulder, “When we needed him to rescue your ass, he dropped everything and came running. He goes.”
“G…”
“He goes.” Grif turned back to going through the items in his med pack, as if the conversation was over. Cade agreed it was over. There was no point in discussing it. Chain of command didn’t matter a fuck when it came to this. This was not war for his country, not war for the flag. This was war to rescue the reason his heart was beating in a normal rhythm again. Rock snapped his M4 back together, dropped it on the table, and crossed the room to Grif.
