Page 3 of Operation: Reckless Angel

“I know your injury was a Teams-ending injury,” Doc said. “You could stay regular active duty and let them change your rating to HC and take a nice cushy stateside hospital job.” His eyes were locked onto Roth’s baby blues. “But I doubt that’s what you want. What if I told you I’m here to talk to you about another assignment?”

Roth’s heartbeat quickened. This sounded promising. “You’re right. I’m not looking for cushy.”

“I didn’t think so. You may not be able to pass the physical for the Teams, but your knee passes with my unit. I’ve seen your x-rays and talked to your physical therapist and surgeon.”

“You have?” He wondered how he had that kind of access.

“What I’m here to recruit you for will be mostly sedate for a year or two, so it will give that knee more time to heal and for you to build more strength in the legs. But the potential for the type of action you’re looking for is there. Are you interested enough to hear more?”

“Yeah,” Roth said. “I am.”

Doc downed his beer. “Take a walk with me.”

They walked to the base CO’s office, where Doc Williams took him to a conference room. He removed his backpack and took out a file folder. He handed a nondisclosure agreement to him. Roth read every word of it. It had no expiration date. Criminal prosecution would result if he disclosed any of what he’d be told at any point during the rest of his life.

Roth signed it and then sat back and listened. He knew right away he was being recruited into a black ops unit. What surprised him, though, was that it was an extension of the U.S. military. It had the blessing of the DoD and all the alphabet intelligence agencies and got its cases from them. Doc also revealed that the eight-man team that took part in the training when he’d met him were two teams of a five-team organization.

Holy shit Batman!

He was disappointed that his initial position would be medic and engineer on an installation team. But there was the potential there to return to a special forces team in the future when the installations were complete, or at any time a spare gun was needed. He’d keep up with his training and even earn DEA credentials while on this team.

No further thought was required. He eagerly signed the transfer form Doc presented him with to commit to this assignment on the spot. Doc shook his hand and then the two of them returned to the enlisted club to have a beer and toast his new assignment. He’d report for duty at their headquarters just outside of Chicago in less than a week.

Bravo

1 Year Later

Sebastian Roth had a nice Thanksgiving at his mother’s house in Indiana. She was thrilled that he had taken a position at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital in Great Lakes, Illinois, just over a year earlier.

At least, that was what he’d told her to explain why he was headquartered in nearby northern Illinois.

He was only a few hours away from home and had made it home four times that year. His little sister, Kelly, was in for Thanksgiving with her new boyfriend, Brandon, who he wasn’t sure if he liked or not after spending two days with him. He came off as an entitled frat boy who hadn’t grown up yet.

Kelly was in her second year of med school at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. He was proud of her. She was smart and would make a hell of a doctor. If she wasn’t derailed by some scumbag boyfriend who seemed to be jealous of the time she spent studying. Brandon graduated with his bachelor’s degree in library science. He was currently pursuing his master’s degree in that field and already planned to continue until he had earned his doctorate degree.

Roth drove his Jeep Cherokee down to sub-basement level two in the parking garage beside the Shepherd Security Building, the unit’s headquarters. It was Monday morning, zero seven hundred. His boss, Colonel Sam Shepherd, U.S. Army, retired on paper only, had been generous with leave time over the Thanksgiving holiday. He knew he’d have a week off sometime over the upcoming Christmas into New Year's timeframe as well.

After that, it would be back to the grind of weekly installations of proprietary equipment to keep the nation’s power grid secure, usually working in a different city every week. There was the potential to work a few other agency cases here and there, but the majority of his time would be assigned to the Power Grid Protection Installations. There’d be no leave until late spring, maybe even June.

This week, however, he would be assigned to what the agency called a ‘traditional’ case. One of the contracts Shepherd Security had was with the CIA to chase down potential crimes that came to light during a regular ‘sanctioned’ CIA case, or during intelligence gathering or surveillance. If it was clearly a crime and fit into the defined role of the DEA or FBI, the case would be handed to them. If it looked like something wasn’t quite kosher, but the exact crime was unknown, Shepherd Security would take it.

He charged up the stairs to the fifth floor and to Shepherd’s office for the pre-Op briefing. He was excited to work this type of case. He was always thrilled to work on anything other than the PGP Install.

He knew the makeup of the team that would work this case this week. The team would be led by Delta Team Lead, Landon ‘Lambchop’ Johnson, who’d also been a Navy SEAL before Shepherd recruited him. Lambchop was a hell of a SEAL and a super-nice guy as well.

Delta Team member Danny ‘Mother’ Trio, who’d been a Marine Raider, was also on the team. Roth knew him well enough and looked forward to working more with him.

The last three members of the team were guys he’d worked with a lot on the PGP Installs over the last year. Charlie Team’s Lead, Jimmy ‘Taco’ Wilson, former Delta Team member, was a hell of a sniper, and an all-around competent operator with a laid-back attitude that Roth appreciated. Rich ‘Handsome’ Burke, who’d also been a Marine Raider, was one of those guys you wanted with you if any shit went down. He was even-tempered, tough, but also gentle-natured, something he and Mother had in common. The last member of the team was Carter ‘Moe’ Tessman. He was the third member of Shepherd Security who’d been a Marine Raider. He had a baby face and could damn-near pass for a teenager, but the guy was a no-nonsense Marine, the shit stops here type of guy who exuded the confidence of an Operator who’d seen combat.

Roth arrived at Shepherd’s office to see that Shepherd stood behind his desk. Lambchop stood in front of it, and they appeared to be in conversation. He didn’t want to intrude. Shepherd’s gaze met his. “Give us one minute, please,” Shepherd said.

Roth paced away from the doorway and took a few steps down the hallway. Mother and Tessman exited the stairs, coming down from a higher floor. “Hey, how’s it going?” Mother greeted him. He glanced into Shepherd’s office and then the two men stepped past it and approached Roth.

“Good,” Roth said. “Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?”

“Yeah, food coma and passed out on the couch during the second half of that ridiculous football game,” Mother said.

“You didn’t miss much,” Tessman said. “I wish I would have slept through it.”

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