Page 28 of Operation: Silent Angel
“I’m going to order room service, coffee and breakfast,” Mother said. “I’ll provide overwatch from here.”
Madison had been in the toilet room, which they’d draped a towel over the swing door to provide a bit more privacy. Her comms were also switched to receive only. “How is it outside this morning?” she asked Mother as she re-entered the room.
“Already hot,” he answered. “Forecast is for ninety-seven degrees today.”
“We’ll get a few more bottles of water for you when we’re out and about this morning. You’re going to need to stay hydrated if you’re out on that balcony for any length of time,” she said.
“Yeah, if Ruiz camps out in a cabana by the pool again today, we’ll be able to spend most of our time in the water to cool off,” Cooper said. “If you need a break, let me know and one of us can come back and relieve you.”
“Thanks, yeah, we’ll see what the day brings. There might be a better line of sight from one of the rooms on the other side of the resort, closer to the Preferred Club pool, and Garcia’s going to need to sleep at some point, so it won’t be him doing the surveillance.”
Yvette lay motionless in bed, now fully awake. She woke at Garcia’s first transmission from a dead sleep. She felt the bedmove as Mac sat up and then pulled himself from the mattress. He wandered over near Garcia and partially opened one of the room darkening shades, letting the morning sunlight filter in through the sheer curtain he’d left in place.
“All was quiet overnight?” he asked Garcia.
“Yeah, he didn’t get up at all,” Garcia said and then chuckled. “I guess he was worn out from his double date last night.”
“I’m still wondering about the camera the two ladies brought. Did your Digital Team dig up more on Moreno and Christy?”
“I’m expecting the file this morning,” Garcia said. “I’ll let you know as soon as they send it.”
“I’m going to place a room service order for coffee and breakfast,” Mac said. “What can I get you?”
***
After breakfast, Ruiz returned to his room briefly, to change into his bathing suit. Then he parked himself in the cabana he’d rented for the day at the Preferred Club pool. It was in the shade, right beside the back of the Poolside Grill, which completely obstructed the view from Cooper and Madison’s room. Lambchop and Laura Lee’s room was on the second floor, which offered the perfect sightline into the cabana. Mother broke down the super mic and he brought it with him to their room. He’d pick up any conversations Ruiz had but capturing faces would have to be done by pictures snapped by the team ontheir cell phones as the camera would be too obvious out on the balcony.
Madison and Cooper arrived poolside first, having grabbed to-go sandwiches from the coffee shop. Though fully clothed they set up in two loungers on the same side of the pool as Ruiz, in chairs where the sides faced his cabana, giving them a good view of it and of Ruiz on the lounge bed. Anyone entering the Preferred Pool area had to pass by them. They’d take turns going back to their room to change into their bathing suits later.
Roth and Woods changed into their bathing suits when leaving the breakfast buffet. They chose two loungers on the far side of the pool and directly across from Ruiz. Through the lenses of their dark sunglasses, Ruiz would never know they were watching his every move.
After letting Mother into their room, Lambchop and Laura Lee brought breakfast from the pool grill to the pool area. They chose loungers farther around the corner of the oval free-form infinity pool from Ruiz, their chairs giving them a good view of his cabana from the opposite side of where Cooper and Madison sat.
“We’ve got the report in from the Digital Team,” Yvette broadcast through comms. All of the team at the pool plus Mother and Mac were on comms. Garcia was in Briana and Roth’s room to get some sleep. He was off comms. “Moreno is an aid to the president of Colombia. He resides in Bogota, is not married, and comes from a well-connected, wealthy family. They’ve identified Christy, as Christina Dyer, the daughter of Walter Dyer, a former Green Beret, who we believe has been a private military contractor for well over twenty years working inColombia. Per State Department records, Christina has been in and out of Colombia nearly her entire life. Her mother, Dyer’s now ex-wife lived there with their daughter on and off until she moved back to the U.S. permanently five years ago.”
Cooper switched his comms to transmit and whispered, “Control, the Digital Team needs to ascertain her father’s whereabouts ASAP.”
“I already asked them to run that down, Coop,” Yvette replied. “I’m ahead of you. If Moreno is running something against Ruiz that his daughter is involved in, Dyer isn’t too far away. The question will be, is his mission aligned with ours or is he a foe?”
“A picture of Dyer would be helpful,” Madison remarked.
“They’re working on that too,” Yvette said.
“Any intel on Moreno’s relationship with the cartels?” Lambchop whispered into his comms.
“It’s hard to discern that, Lambchop,” Yvette responded. “We all know the levels of corruption in Colombia. The cartels own many politicians. Big Bear has reached out to his contacts for any first-hand intel on Moreno or Dyer. I’ll provide updates as they come in.”
For the next five hours, the team watched Ruiz and catalogued the three men who visited him and their muscle who hung back during each visit. The team easily snapped photos of each person, pretending to take selfies or other pictures, or while theyjust held their phones up pretending to scroll through social media. Mother picked up all the conversations between Ruiz and the three visitors, recording them as well as listening live to each, many in Spanish, finding the contents of each conversation disturbing.
The first man to visit Ruiz was addressed as Hector by Ruiz. He was later identified as a top lieutenant in one of Mexico’s most dangerous cartels. As he sat with Ruiz, Mother provided running commentary on their conversation, which was in Spanish. “Hector is complaining about having to meet our target in person again, reminding that trust goes both ways,” Mother translated. “It appears our target doesn’t trust email or other digital communications. They’re discussing a warehouse with product,” Mother said.
“He just slipped a piece of paper to Hector,” Roth advised, clearly seeing the hand off from his vantage point.
“It could be the address to the warehouse,” Mac said. He was in the center area of the resort in the circular bar building with a book, alone, pretending to read while enjoying the shade. The team members around the pool shared photos of Hector and his muscle with the team. Yvette sent the pics directly to Caleb ‘Hound dog’ Smith of the Digital Team at HQ. Smith and the Digital Team would pull all info as quickly as they could on Hector and the visitors Ruiz would have. Their report would be forwarded back to Yvette and Garcia to then disseminate to the team.
“Mac, are you in a position to follow Hector when he leaves?” Cooper asked.
“I’ve just made contact with a friend and asked him to do just that,” Mac replied. “I trust him. But Coop, we may need that team that transported you from the airfield to assist, depending on what my asset finds.”
