Page 86 of Very Special Forces

"Itbegins with 'a' and ends in 'y'."

"Shit.What are you into?"

"It'sbetter you don't know." I thought about it some more and all I sawwas danger. "Our op will probably involve an exchange ofgunfire."

"Whatthe hell have you gotten yourself into?"

"Remember that tank I was looking for?"

Maddoxraised his eyebrows and looked back to the warehouse. "It's inthere?" he asked thumbing at it.

"Yes, itis, and the Army wants it back. We're just here to monitor movementuntil then."

"Pleasetell me you're not going to be involved in thetakedown?"

"I'mnot. I promise."

"I don'tthink my bosses want to be involved in this either and gunfire willdefinitely scare our guy off. We'll pick him up quietly elsewhereand raid the warehouse in the morning. I need to discuss it with mypartner and my boss, then I'll confirm it to you."

"Thanks," I said.

"Thanksfor telling me what we stumbled into here so we don't get caught inthe crossfire. You know the worst time for something to go wrong isjust as it starts to kick off. That's when people panic, mistakesare made, rash judgments meted out. We can avoid thatnow."

"I'dbetter go," I said. "You should secure that side door."

"Mypartner was supposed to have secured it on the way out. You can besure I'll have something to say when he gets back. I'll call youvery soon."

"I'mhere another couple of hours. I need to alert Solomon and the Armytoo. They don't want unknowns in the area and it would be best ifthey know your location so no one accidentally targets you. Is thatokay?"

"It'sfine," said Maddox, "but as far as paperwork goes, none of us knowssquat about each other. I'll tell my chain of command there'sanother agency operating in the area and you tell yours, but I'dappreciate it if you don't give out any case details."

"Gotit," I agreed, then I reached over and hugged him, feeling pleasedwhen he squeezed me back. "Keep safe," I told him.

"Youtoo."

Secondslater, I was out on the street and by the time I got back in mycar, the van had gone, leaving me nothing to do but watch mysurroundings and make a couple of phone calls.

ChapterTwenty

Solomonhad assured me he would negotiate the situation between the Armyand the FBI and didn't seem overtly worried. Nothing furtherhappened during my shift and by the time Solomon called to say Icould go home, my butt was dead and my legs in desperate need of awalk. However, I couldn't just leave, knowing what was about to godown. That would be like leaving a birthday party before the cakewas served. Just plain silly. So, instead of going home, I pulledback my position and parked my car where the Army TAC team hadgrouped to wait for the go signal before heading up to the roofwhere Solomon was positioned.

I had nointention of participating directly in the tank's recovery but Iwas pretty sure it would be an event I didn’t want to miss. Iwasn't the only one with that idea. By the time night fell, leavinga dark, overcast sky with barely a hint of moonlight, Delgado,Fletcher and Flaherty were all waiting too. For me, it was halfabout distraction from thinking about what to do with my disasterof a case and what I should tell Jas, and half for the excitement.I figured it was excitement for everyone else. It wasn't every daythat the Army conducted a covert mission in town to recovermillions of dollars of stolen equipment.

"Heardthe Feds are getting a piece of the action tonight," said Delgado.He hunkered down next to us and raised a pair of night visionbinoculars to his eyes.

"Wheredid you get those?" I asked.

"Privatestash. Wait. You don't have any?" he asked, checking my emptyhands.

"No."

Delgadolooked over at Solomon. "Wedding gift," he said. Solomon smiled butdidn't say anything. "Christmas present?" Delgadopersisted.

"Is thatwhat you got Serena for a wedding present?" I wondered. Then Iwondered if that was just the kind of wedding or Christmas presentI would enjoy. I would be able to see all kinds of stuff at night.I wouldn't have to put the lights on for a midnight kitchen raid. Icould witness some interesting things on night surveillance,although possibly it wasn't the kind of stuff I'd truly enjoyseeing. Maybe I'd enjoy the night vision binoculars if they wereaccompanied by a pretty purse.

Delgadopulled a face. "Not if I want to live."

"I willfind out what she wants for Christmas," I said.

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