Page 30 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“Xena, Crash, and Jax, make your way over there and figure out how you can blend in,” Coop ordered. “And Jax, find me a concealed location as well. I’ll head over at the last minute with one of the vehicles in case we need to pursue.”

In preparation, Wilson cut a circle in the glass window. Then he coated the hole and surrounding glass with clear tape. His silencer was already attached to his weapon. He positioned his tripod so that the barrel just barely penetrated the hole he’d made. If he had to shoot, the round should cut neatly through the window in front of Percy as it penetrated it without shattering the entire window. The prepping of his window would prevent it from shattering as well.

The minutes ticked by while they all waited for Lambchop and Kumar to arrive. Kumar, told to come alone, drove. He dropped Lambchop off a few blocks before he would enter Percy’s line of sight. Then he proceeded to the parking lot, parked, and positioned himself on the corner as instructed. He made the phone call to tell the kidnapper he was in position, and then he stood and waited. Again, the minutes clicked by.

Kumar had comms in his ear. Lambchop kept a running dialogue of reassuring and calming thoughts flowing, not his normal pre-mission prayer, but needed messages of having faith, and that it wouldn’t be much longer as he made his way towards Kumar’s location. “You’re doing great, Mr. Kumar,” he said, even though Kumar desperately studied each car that passed him. He looked like a mad man.

Finally, a silver sedan with tinted windows pulled up and stopped right next to Kumar. Madison had a clear line of sight to see what Kumar did. The back window rolled down and Kumar’s daughter sat beside it. She appeared unharmed. Madison studied the man in the backseat who sat beside Puja Kumar. He held her and Madison could see a gun pressed into the girl’s side. Madison broadcast her observations.

“I’ll transfer the file as soon as you let my daughter out of the car,” Mitesh Kumar said bravely.

“Transfer it first, and then we let her out as soon as we get confirmation it is what was requested,” the thug in the backseat said. The driver was turned in his seat, a phone pressed to his ear.

“It is, I promise,” Kumar stammered. “Okay, transmitting the file.” His shaking fingers stabbed at the keyboard of his phone. He waited, his eyes locked on his daughter’s.

“Target should have his eyes on his phone or a tablet,” Shepherd broadcast. “The file has been opened.”

“Roger, his finger is busy on the surface of his iPad,” Wilson confirmed.

“Neutralize the target, Taco,” Shepherd ordered.

Wilson released his breath and gently squeezed the trigger, taking the shot as ordered. The round left his weapon traveling at 2800 feet per second. Direct hit, center mass. Percy dropped to the floor. “Target neutralized,” Wilson reported.

At that moment, the car pulled away from the curb. “Puja!” Kumar yelled.

“Target vehicle on the move,” Lambchop reported. “Undertaker, blow the tires.”

A split second later, Sloan took the shot and blew out one of their front tires and then one of the back. The car careened into a park car just as Cooper pulled out of his parking spot and moved to block the intersection to prevent the kidnapper’s car from exiting the parking area. He stopped with the nose of the car pressing against the driver’s side door of the silver sedan, pinning it in place.

“Get the girl by any means necessary,” Shepherd broadcast a beat later.

Wilson listened through comms as the team moved in to rescue the girl. He operated with the team for so long that just from the bursts of dialogue through comms, he could clearly envision the takedown. Jax moved in on the driver’s side of the car and broke the car window with the barrel of his Sig. He then pressed it into the man’s chest through the broken window.

At the same time, Lambchop moved in on the passenger side of the car and leaned in through the open window where the girlsat, pointing the barrel of his weapon, with silencer attached, at the man in the backseat who sat beside her. He no longer held her in place thanks to the impact of the crash. “Give it up,” he told the man, who looked undecided about his next move. “Your boss is dead. Get your hands up.”

The man still looked undecided.

“I’ll shoot you right here, right now. You’ve got three seconds, two, one,” he counted down.

The man raised his hands into the air, still gripping the pistol in his right hand. Lambchop reached past the frightened girl and ripped the pistol from his hands. Madison moved in as well, and she removed Puja Kumar from the car. She walked her back to her father, who was just catching up with the runaway car. Kumar and his daughter shared a lengthy hug, exchanging words of love, and Kumar professing how sorry he was she’d been taken because of his job. Madison would stay with the pair until the Feds moved in.

“Big Bear, be advised hostage is free, two ready to be turned over to law enforcement,” Lambchop broadcast.

“Roger that team,” Shepherd transmitted.

With the mission concluded, Wilson stood at the window and allowed himself a moment to admire how the light played on the tide. It danced across the ripples created by the current flowing from the channel into the Atlantic Ocean. Glancing further out from the beach, a few clouds cast shadows on the water, creating varied colors of dark blue. The sun reflecting further out made the water shimmer. It was beautiful and peaceful.

“Okay, team, reconvene at the garage. We’re out of here in ten minutes,” Cooper broadcast, ripping Wilson’s thoughts from the ocean to the post-mission withdrawal.

They’d debrief later.

First, they had to get the hell out of there now that the Feds had moved in to secure the scene. The Feds would deal with the aftermath, the arrests, a medical eval for Puja Kumar, the retrieval of the file from Percy’s phone. A team of Feds was already breaching his unit. Wilson was sure Percy’s pretty blond assistant would be in custody within the hour, too.

They boarded the jet after they’d fought midday traffic to get back to the airport. Cooper brought Shepherd up in the video meeting room on his tablet with the rest of the team huddled around.

“Good job team,” Shepherd said. “SecDef sends his thanks.”

“Was there any sensitive info in that file transmission?” Lambchop asked.

---