Page 105 of Dead Fall

“How would that work to our advantage?” Jacks asked.

“When they have an objective, they break into separate teams. If we arrive on scene and take out one of the outriders on either end of the village, we’ve already reduced their strength. We may even gain an additional vehicle and God only knows what gear inside.”

“And if one of those outriders, before we can snuff him out, calls all of his buddies back to fight us? Then what?”

“Then we run, or even better, we fight.”

Biscuit shook his head. “I don’t know if I like this plan.”

“You got a better one?” said Hookah.

“He doesn’t need one,” said Harvath. “We actually may be able to tilt the scales a little bit further in our favor.”

“How?”

“We can’t afford to split up, so that means we need to be able to respond as a group as quickly as possible wherever the Ravens strike next. Based on how they’ve been moving,” said Harvath as he pointed to different spots on the map, “we need to place ourselves just outside their area of operations.

“If their sphere of influence is like a watch face, we want to be hovering right near nine o’clock. This side holds the remaining targets they haven’t hit yet. We may not be able to beat them to the next one, but the roads to the west are better and have sustained less damage. At the very least, when we receive a tip, we can get to the next village at the same time or just behind them.”

“And then what? We gun it out with twenty to thirty Ravens?” asked Biscuit.

“Maybe we don’t have to,” Harvath replied. “All we need is one to tell us where they’re keeping Anna Royko.”

“So you want to grab one of the Ravens as a hostage?” said Krueger.

Harvath nodded. “Truth be told, I’d like to grab a couple of them. Just to make sure that what we’re being told is accurate.”

“Where do you plan to interrogate your hostages?” Hookah asked. “Right there in the street? Or do we need to set up a safe house in the area where you can have a waterboard ready to go?”

“I’m confident I can get an answer right in the middle of the road. Especially if I have more than one Raven to work with.”

“What are you going to do? Shoot one of them to make the others talk?”

“Don’t worry about what I’m going to do,” he replied. “I’ve got my orders and you’ve got yours. As long as you follow my lead, everything’ll be fine.”

“I hate to sound like a broken record,” Jacks interjected, “but I want to bring it up again—what happens if we accidentally tip our hand and all the Ravens come crashing down on top of us? What’s that fight look like?And more important, how the hell do we win it? We’ve got rifles and grenades. They’ve got .50-cals on at least two vehicles and God knows what else inside.”

“Listen,” said Harvath. “There’s a lot of intel that I’d love for us to have, which we’re not going to. Improvisation is key. We’ll have to formulate our plan on the go. The situation on the ground will dictate everything. That’s just the way it has to be.”

“So we’re just going to wing it?” asked Hookah.

“You saw what they did at the convent. You saw what they did here. I told you about the orphanage and countless other atrocities these guys have perpetrated. I wish we had more support. Hell, I’d give a month’s pay for a little, off-the-shelf drone at this point. But we’re not going to get any of that.

“We’re going to war with the army we have—us. It’s either me and you four, or, like I said before, it’s just me. Each of you came here to make a difference.Thisis how you do it. This is how you have the biggest impact and make life better for these people.

“I’m packing up the truck and I’m leaving in thirty minutes. Whoever wants to come, I’ll see you in a half hour.”

With that, Harvath collected his map, picked up his coffee cup, and headed back to the vintner’s residence.

Thirty minutes wasn’t a ton of time to get ready. After doing a quick field strip and a cleaning of his rifle, he cleaned himself up and put some more burn cream on his back. He was tempted to pop a pain pill, but he was going to be driving into who-knew-what and didn’t want anything in his system that might dull his reflexes. Packing up his gear, he took everything outside and loaded it into the truck.

After attaching a spout to one of the jerry cans and topping off the Novator with diesel, he returned to the tasting room to have a final chat with Vesna. Everything depended on her staying in touch with the other villages and getting him information as quickly as possible. She promised to keep her phone charged and to reach out to him as soon as she heard something. He thanked her for all her help.

He had hoped to say good-bye to the old woman too but couldn’t find her. Then, as he left the main building, he saw her headed toward him.

She stopped, wished him well, and then pressed something into his hand.

Walking away, she switched to Ukrainian and left him with the words “Slava Ukraïni.”Glory to Ukraine. It was the national battle cry and a testament to the resistance of the Ukrainian people against the Russian invasion and all the horrors the Russians had perpetrated.

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