Page 29 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“Go on comms,” Cooper ordered before the two men left.

Cooper sorted through several folders that were on the table to find the correct packets of information regarding the units they would use that were prepped by the onsite lead team SecDef had arranged. And then he, Sloan, Sherman, and Wilson checked out the building schematics. The service elevator was close to theunit Wilson would set up in to surveil Percy. Sloan and Sherman had a bit longer of a walk to get to theirs.

“I’m going to go up to my unit,” Wilson announced once he’d studied the map and got his bearings. He brought his backpack and rifle case with him and left the room. Sloan and Sherman exited behind him, carrying their gear as well.

They found the service elevator and used the cardkey to call it. They rode it to the tenth floor where Sloan and Sherman got off. Up on the thirty-third floor, Wilson made it from the elevator to the door to the unit he’d occupy without anyone seeing him.

The cardkey allowed him access to the unit. He stepped into a marbled entry with a ten-foot ceiling. He walked through the cavernous entry, the sound of his footfalls echoing in the silent space. Stepping onto the polished hard-wood floor of the living room, he gazed at the far wall. The entire wall in front of him was windows that overlooked the two buildings that made up the Continuum complex, the north and south towers. Percy’s condo was in the south building.

He went over near the window and set down his rifle and pack. From his backpack, he retrieved his rangefinder. He consulted the schematic in the folder to determine which set of windows on the building he was looking at were Percy’s. It didn’t have four clean sides. The building had a different number of floors on different levels, resulting in a staggered edge of the building, allowing for multiple corner units on most of the levels.

He pinpointed the windows that were Percy’s, and he gazed through the rangefinder, determining the distance. Then he broke out his Barrett M82A1sniper rifle, a .50 caliber long-range weapon, and set it up at the window. He focused through his Nightforce MIL-SPEC ATACR 5-25×56 F1scope, bringing the windows and inside Percy’s unit into view.

Sweeping across the windows, his gaze settled on the man standing at the window beside a tripod with what looked like binoculars, or a scope mounted to it. His phone was pressed to his ear. J.R. Percy. Percy’s gaze was towards the south. Consulting his map, Wilson saw that the park was south, though to see it, Percy would have to look down, which he wasn’t. Straight due south was the channel, the exit from the port of Miami, with Fisher Island forming the southern end of the land mass before the channel spilled into the Atlantic Ocean.

Wilson refocused through his scope at the man and the realization hit him that if Percy had Kumar go to Fisher Island for the exchange, he’d have a front row view of any and all boats going to the island. His team would be seen boating over, which was the only way to access the island.

“Be advised the target has been acquired,” Wilson broadcast through comms. “I’ve identified another possible location for the exchange based on the target’s current view out his window. He’s staring right at Fisher Island.”

“That island is a fortress, accessible by invitation only by someone who lives there,” Garcia chimed in. “The Digital Team already discounted that location due to the security on the island. And we could not find any known associates of Percy’s who have ties to the island.”

“He’s probably dreaming of living over there, jealous as hell of the rich and famous who are paying through the ass to live on that little hunk of rock,” Sherman broadcast.

Wilson chuckled.

“Just in case, Undertaker, do you have a line of sight to the island?” Cooper asked. “Specifically, the dock area.”

“Negative, Coop,” Sloan replied. “Razor, I sure hope your team’s assessment is correct. If the exchange goes down over there,we’re blind from up here and I don’t see us getting over there in time, if at all.”

“Well, the target also has binocs on a tripod that is currently pointing down,” Wilson said.

“Keep him in your sights, Taco,” Cooper ordered.

“Affirm,” Taco replied, just as a woman entered the room Percy was in. “Who’s this? The target has female company, blonde, beautiful.”

“That would probably be the target’s personal assistant. She’s privy to all his business dealings. She’s not an innocent,” Garcia reported. “Sorry she wasn’t in the briefing packet. We only just learned of her. We didn’t get much lead time on this mission.”

“Understood, Razor,” Cooper said. “All units, be advised that Xena has gone out to survey the area as well.”

“I’m on comms,” Madison reported. “I’m going to go over and check out that park. Then I’m going to wander around the streets that are in the target’s line of sight.”

“Roger that, Xena,” Cooper acknowledged.

Wilson remained at his post; his gaze trained on the target building across the way. The blonde stood near the target with an iPad or other digital device poised in her grip. It appeared she recorded whatever the two of them discussed. How Wilson wished they could get a bug in Percy’s condo! It had been deemed not possible by whoever SecDef had running point on this.

The morning dragged by. Wilson kept his vigil surveilling Percy. By eleven hundred, he was digging in his pack for a protein bar. Kumar was in his hotel room, a mile away, pacing according to Lambchop. This was the boring part of the job, the watching, and the waiting.

Refocusing his view at Percy’s windows, Wilson watched the blonde leave. Percy had been on and off his phone all morning. He currently was back on it. Finally, at eleven twenty-five hours, he went to the window and gazed through his binoculars, down towards the street level.

“Target is at the window, checking out the street level view on his binocs,” Wilson broadcast.

Five minutes later, Lambchop made the transmission they’d been waiting for. “Game on, instructions have just been received. The meet is to take place at the southwest corner of the parking at Inlet Boulevard. I do believe that is in our target’s line of sight.”

“It sure is, Lambchop,” Coop answered. He was still in the control room consulting the maps.

“What timeframe was given to the father?” Wilson asked.

“Within the hour. He’s to call back when he arrives at the designated location.”

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