Page 27 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“That’s just it. Nothing. Not that any case is routine. None are. This case threw us a few curveballs, but all assigned assets performed optimally. It’s wrapped up, but for some reason, it’s still on my mind.”

“Would you have done anything differently if you could do it over again?” she asked.

“No. All was executed as it had to be with the unknown variables at the time.”

She chuckled. “Now you do sound like law enforcement, or military.” She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, military. Which branch and unit were you in?”

Wilson grinned and took a drink of his rum and diet. “What do you think?”

“I don’t think you’d tell me if I guessed it. And I think if I were to press you on what you do now, you’d have to kill me if you told me.”

Wilson laughed. “Nothing that sinister,” he lied. He finished his drink off. “I’m going to call it a night,” he said. He didn’t know what the tab was, but he set some bills on the bar in front of him. It would more than cover his drinks. Tessman had paid before he and the girls left. “Thank you for the conversation.”

“You too,” she said.

Golf

As expected, Tessman gave Wilson shit about bowing out the previous evening with the girls. It was short-lived though as their dive boat reached the reef quickly and the diving was exceptional that morning. They were supposed to have an early evening flight back to Chicago, which as it turned out, turned into a late evening flight due to delays.

Wilson came back tanned and refreshed. He hadn’t had a second flash of the scene that had disturbed him the previous evening. He hadn’t reached out to Lassiter, and at this point, didn’t plan to. The episode would remain his little secret. As he had an early report time at the office the next morning for the next CIA Referral Case he was assigned to, he showered in the locker room facilities in the gym at HQ and then planned to sleep in his office on the couch. He slept there more often than not on the rare occasions he was in town. It was comfortable, and he slept well on it.

It was just past one hundred hours as he settled in to go to sleep. That was when a priority alert hit his phone. He bolted upright and turned a light on. He hurried to Ops to see what was going on. Brad ‘Circles’ Dupont and Garcia were on duty. “Hey,” he greeted them as he came through the door. “Can I help pull ammo or get anything ready for the alert?”

“No, Requisition Ryan is on it. Shepherd’s already in the conference room. I’m headed there now too,” Garcia answered. He stood and stepped towards the door.

“Good luck,” Dupont called after the two of them as they left the Ops Center.

“I’m not going on this one, but will run it from Ops,” Garcia said. He shook his head. “Coop will run lead on site.”

“What kind of mission is it?” Wilson asked as they pushed through the door into the stairwell.

“A hostage-rescue situation. Shepherd hand-picked the team.”

Wilson knew he was picked because he was a sniper. As expected, he and Garcia were the first to report to Shepherd in the conference room. Wilson sat and studied the info on the monitor. It looked like Miami was their destination. It didn’t take long for the others who’d been scrambled to arrive. First Cooper and Madison entered with Jackson. Roth entered a few minutes later. Then Lambchop, Sherman, and Sloan arrived. Shepherd motioned for Lambchop to close the door.

“Thank you for reporting so quickly.” He clicked a few keys on the keyboard in front of him and the picture of a twenty-something young woman displayed. She was of Middle Eastern descent but dressed in western clothing. “We’ve been contacted to run an off-the-books hostage rescue for SecDef. The last proof of life was obtained twelve hours ago, and the general vicinity of the ransom and release exchange location has just been received. We were only just brought in on this case half an hour ago. This is Puja Kumar. She is the daughter of Mitesh Kumar, one of the principals of CCS Enterprises, a prominent and profitable private Indian company that supplies IT contractors worldwide to organizations in all industries. Puja was kidnapped in Washington D.C. while visiting her father five days ago. Theransom demand was received immediately after she was taken. It was for information from specific organizations where CCS contractors are working, including the DoD.”

Several of the men at the table cursed.

“Son of a bitch! Why does the U.S. government continue to put themselves in this situation by using contractors? Edward Snowden anyone?” Madison demanded.

“Shep, has the demanded info been given to the kidnappers yet?” Lambchop asked.

“Some, yes. We’re told no sensitive US intelligence has been turned over yet. Luckily, as soon as she was taken, Kumar reported it to his contact at the State Department even though the kidnapper stipulated no police. Kumar had hoped the Feds would be assigned. With guidance from FBI hostage negotiators, Kumar has dragged out providing any DoD data until the exchange for his daughter takes place. SecDef doubts she’ll be turned over.”

“Yeah, why give up a goldmine in future intelligence?” Cooper said.

“Do we know who orchestrated the kidnapping? Or where she’s being held?” Madison asked.

Shepherd clicked a few more keys. “Yes. This is J.R. Percy. He’s been identified as an information agent who deals in corporate secrets and brokers various nefarious acts of espionage between contractors and buyers.” He was a normal-looking, middle-aged Caucasian male with a great tan. “But he won’t be at the exchange. He doesn’t get his hands dirty.”

“Please tell us we’ll be authorized to take him down as part of this mission,” Lambchop pled.

Shepherd nodded. “And it’s believed that she is being held in the Miami area. Percy’s current location is his luxury condo in the Continuum, a high-rise condo building in South Beach. The exchange location will be someplace in the Miami or South Beach area, most likely someplace he can see from his cushy and safe condo. The exact location will be transmitted to Mr. Kumar one hour before the exchange is to take place. Per the kidnapper’s instructions, Kumar is flying to Miami from D.C. It’s anticipated that the exchange will take place sometime tonight or tomorrow.” He paused and glanced at Sloan. “You may be back in time for the medical appointment on Wednesday.”

“Thanks, Shep, but if it goes over, it goes over. This is important. Kaylee will understand,” Sloan said.

Shepherd nodded again. “With the short notice we’ll have on this, we need to be flexible and agile to position and reposition as needed. The exchange will take place in public is all we know, which runs the risk of collateral damage if things go south.” He paused and clicked the keys on his keyboard. The monitor changed to the schematics and a map of the high-rise complex their target lived in. “What we can anticipate is that Percy will be in his condo, as he rarely leaves the grounds. From there, he has a good view of two directions. There are several good possible exchange locations in his view. One being the marina. The second the city streets below, and lastly this park.” He zoomed in on all three locations.

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