Page 28 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“He can also see the beach from his condo, but we think that location is unlikely due to the long walk to parking,” Garcia chimed in. “They’re going to want to show her to her father, get the delivery of the efile, and then duck back out of sight and get away with the girl still in their custody.”

“Another scenario we think is plausible is that they will position Kumar on a street corner and pull up in a car. Show himhis daughter, get the file, and then drive away with the girl,” Shepherd said. “We’re going to have an hour’s notice. That’s all. So, we plan for the most likely scenarios.”

Within the hour, the team was already en route to O’Hare International Airport where an unmarked government Cessna Citation X waited to transport them to the government hangar in Miami. After transferring their gear quickly to the aircraft, Wilson settled into his seat. Sloan sat beside him.

The team was heavy on snipers: Sloan, Jackson, Cooper, himself. Lambchop and Roth weren’t bad either. Shepherd had not indicated if taking out the bad guys was the plan, but Wilson highly suspected it was. He was to be situated in another high-rise with line of sight to Percy’s condo.

“So, what do you think the odds are we can get this girl without eliminating all the bad guys?” Sloan asked Wilson.

“Slim to none,” Wilson replied. Obviously, Sloan was thinking the same thing he was.

Sherman poked his head around Sloan. “Percy’s marked the second he receives that file with DoD data. There’s no other reason Shepherd would have put you on him. The paid help on the ground with the girl, they won’t have access to the file. They’re not a threat. They may come out of this alive.” He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

Wilson settled back in his seat. Yeah, that was what he’d thought too. It was nice having confirmation that someone else had deduced the same thing. He’d never second-guess Shepherd, but he longed for the old days when he was told up front that he was on a kill mission. He popped in his earbuds and turned on his classic rock playlist, and then he too leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

Just three hours later, they were on final approach to Miami International Airport. It was nearly dawn. All members of the team had slept during the flight. They’d be ready to hit the ground running. The landing was smooth, the taxi to the hangar short, the air humid and hot when they deplaned, and the drive to the location in South Beach that would be their onsite headquarters for the duration of the Op, gnarled in heavy traffic.

All of them except for Lambchop were transported in a white panel van, driven by a man who identified himself as merely Dip. Wilson knew that Dip was a Fed. Lambchop was handed keys to a sedan. During the briefing, it was disclosed that Lambchop would remain at the airport and be Kumar’s driver and bodyguard, sticking by his side, for the duration of this Op.

The panel van pulled into a single unmarked garage door entry in the back of the Portofino Tower, which was another high-rise luxury condo building that faced their target’s building, the south tower of the Continuum complex. The door rolled closed before someone on the outside opened the van door. The team grabbed their gear and followed the man in maintenance coveralls down the narrow hallway.

“This will be your group’s rooms,” the man said with a heavy southern accent. “We have privacy film on the windows and outer door. Try not to use the street level door if you can help it.” He pointed back in the direction they came. “There’s a street access back door by the garage door, which is more hidden from view.” He handed them all keycards.

“These give you full access to all doors in the complex.”

“Thank you,” Cooper said. “Are you our point of contact?”

“No, go through your normal command structure. I’ll be vacating the premises now.”

“Are there vehicles onsite for us?” Cooper asked.

“Yes, the two sedans in the garage have been designated for your use. Keys are in them. But traffic is normally so fucked up you’re not going anywhere faster by car than walking.” Without another word, he turned and left them.

Wilson glanced around the room they were standing in, set up as a makeshift office. There were two six-foot tables with metal folding chairs. On the wall above one of the tables was a detailed map of the South Beach area. On the east wall were the blacked-out windows and one glass door. A door on the far side of the room was open, revealing a bathroom. The door along the west wall was closed. Wilson opened it. Inside were barracks style beds lining the wall, four of them.

“They only provided us four bunks,” Wilson said to the others.

“Hopefully the exchange will be today, and we won’t even need them,” Madison said. “If Percy is as paranoid as I think he is, he’s not going to let too much time elapse before he calls Kumar. He won’t want there to be much time to get counter-assets in place.”

Cooper’s phone chirped. He checked his text messages. “Okay, game on. Kumar landed and Lambchop has him. He’s driving him to the hotel. Hopefully our intel is dead on, and he doesn’t get contacted by the kidnappers and diverted from this area. In this traffic, we’ll never make it to another location in time.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Kumar gets notified of the location for the switch before he reaches the hotel,” Madison said.

“Then you better change into your tank top and Daisy Duke shorts right now, Blondie,” Cooper said, giving his wife a wink.

Madison’s role was slotted to be a bystander on the street wherever the exchange would take place. Wilson had operated with the husband-and-wife team before and was always surprised by how much Cooper had relaxed since Madison joined the team. Cooper used to be a by the book, rule-followingpain in the ass. Now he was human, and Ops were so much more relaxed, which fit Wilson’s style better.

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” Madison said. “I’m that confident of my assessment.” She shot Cooper a cocky look with a grin, and then sealed herself in the bathroom.

“Okay,” Cooper said, dropping his backpack onto one of the tables. It had been laid out with a diagram of the target building as requested. “There’s easy access to the immediate area via foot. Not so much with rifles.”

“Where’s the info on the unit I can set up in? I’d like to check out my sight lines,” Wilson said. His location would be the thirty-third floor, even with Percy’s unit.

“Me too,” said Sloan. Sloan and Sherman would be deployed to a corner unit on the tenth floor. His aim would be on the possible exchange locations.

“The units are vacant. You might as well get set up now,” Cooper said.

“Roth and I are going to take a walk around the area to be familiar with it,” Jackson said. Both of them had been assigned to be in the vicinity on ground level. They both needed to identify locations they could observe from undetected, as well as fire from if needed, with clean sightlines. Roth would also be onsite to render emergency medical care if needed.

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