Page 123 of Into the Gray Zone

“Pike, if what you’re saying is true, there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

Veep heard the door open and saw the JSOC assaulters come back in, taking off their kit and stowing it in a locker. He said, “False alarm?”

The team leader said, “Nope. Well, false for us, but they’re going in.”

Pike said, “What was that? What did he say?”

Kerry turned away from the computer and said, “What are you talking about?”

The team leader said, “They found Sledge. He ran into a police roadblock outside the Dharavi slum screaming about being kidnapped. He’s safe, and U.S. interests no longer apply. They don’t need us anymore, which is why they didn’t say anything about us joining them.”

Kerry said, “When are they going in? How long?”

“I’d say about an hour, give or take.”

Pike said, “Kerry, get me that intel, right now.”

Veep started working the computer, sending files, and Kerry said, “It’s coming now, but why?”

“I’m going to hit that place first, before they go in and kill everyone.”

“Pike, that’s crazy. The snipers have reported upwards of twenty to thirty security men.”

“They won’t matter. Just get me the intelligence.”

“How are you going to get in? You have a helicopter I don’t know about?”

“I’m getting in the same way they did. I’m going to become a Trojan horse.”

Chapter72

Driving our vehicle, I had Brett in the passenger seat download all the data on Riva Thakkar’s residence. Knuckles was behind the wheel of the follow vehicle, getting the same download, with Jennifer guarding the terrorist and working the tablet.

Brett started swiping through the data, saying, “Pike, this place is huge. Nine elevators, twenty-seven floors, bedrooms out the ass. No way are we going to be able to clear it all.”

“We don’t have to. Find the sniper reports. Nadia and Thakkar’s daughter are on a specific floor. That’s where we’re going.”

He continued flipping through the reports and diagrams, then stopped, saying, “Our analysts think Nadia was right, and Jaiden’s rigged the place with explosives. This just gets better and better.”

I said, “What do you care? You’re not going in. You’re the exfil.”

He chuckled and said, “Nothing like getting shot to save my ass. What are you going to do about the possible IEDs?”

“I’m thinking of sending Jennifer up the outside to the balcony. Let her get eyes on and see what’s what. Do you think she can do it?”

He flipped through various documents until he had a three-dimensional image of the outside of the residence. He said, “Yeah, I think she can. This structure is built like a kid’s LEGO set.”

He turned the picture to me and I saw a tall skyscraper, but, outside of the lower six floors, most of it was some artsy-fartsy construct, with various ledges, balconies, and outside fixtures all the way up. It did look like something a kid built with a LEGO set.

I said, “What’s that on the lower six floor walls?”

“Those floors are apparently a parking garage for his car collection.”

“Great, so we won’t have to clear that. What I meant was what’s on the outside walls? Can Jennifer get up that?”

He zoomed in and said, “Believe it or not, it’s foliage. The lower six floors have threaded vines all the way up.”

Perfect. Well, maybe not for Jennifer.

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