Page 5 of Operation: Silent Angel
“Who’d have guessed that a dedication to your job function and working the hours needed to achieve your goals was all it took to look like a ninja?”
“Who’d have guessed?” Yvette agreed, laughing. She took a step around him. “I need to finish my walk and get back. Have a good rest of the weekend.”
“You too,” Ryan said and then he walked down the hallway, in the other direction.
Yvette returned to Ops with thirty minutes to spare before Cooper rang in. “Ops, go,” Yvette answered. She put the call on speaker so Madison would also hear when she saw the incoming call was from Cooper.
“We’re in a strip mall a mile from the target’s residence. We just went on comms and are getting ready to initiate the takedown,” he said.
“Roger that, Coop,” Yvette said. “Are you planning to wear body cams?”
“Negative, Control. This guy’s not getting a day in court, so we don’t need to document anything or play it by the numbers. The State Department doesn’t have to justify jack to expel him, so we’re just going to grab him and the physical evidence he removed from the lab this morning and deliver him to the two babysitters who will put him on his flight home. We should be clear and ready for pickup in two hours max, which is about when our ride will land for us.”
“Affirmative. The Lear’s on its way, ETA two hours twenty minutes,” Madison chimed in. “We’ll be online and watching your six. Talk to you on the flip side.”
“Roger that,” Cooper said.
“Recording comms now,” Yvette said. She clicked a few keys, and the comms line came through the speaker, plus it was being recorded. Cooper ended the call then.
Yvette and Madison listened to the normal chatter through comms as the team drove in three vehicles to take up positions near the target house. Once Coop announced they were pulling up on site, all chatter stopped. Yvette saw the expression on Madison’s face turn serious. Yvette noticed she already had information on the closest trauma center pulled up, just in case.
A second later, they heard the unmistakable sounds of several car doors closing. There was a long pause before they heard pounding, presumably the knock on the front door, which was then followed by what Yvette knew was the battering ram smashing in the front door.
Several voices overlapped. Yvette recognized Coop’s voice, Ethan ‘Jax’ Jackson’s, and Tommy ‘Louisa’ Flores’ yell, “Federal agents with a warrant! Get your hands up! Hands! Let’s see your hands!”
In her mind’s eye, Yvette could see the action taking place as she’d seen it live through body cam footage countless times in the past. Anyone within the house was now secured, face-down on the floor. The team was in the process of securing their hands behind their backs with zip ties, and they would then be searched for weapons. Other team members searched the house. This was confirmed when voices came over the speaker, “Kitchen clear! Garage clear! Bedroom clear!” She recognized each man’s voice, Doc, Kenny ‘Ducky’ Gallup, and Elijah ‘Kegger’ Robinson.
All the background noise from the six men’s comms sounded routine. Yvette was tuned in to conversations during Ops andcould instantly identify when things were proceeding to plan or if something was troubling or going to hell.
There were four people in the house. Their target, Xi Ma, was among them. Cooper took pictures of each person’s Chinese passport and collected fingerprints on an electronic device to send to the State Department to verify identities. The State Department would make the determination of who else besides Ma would be expelled.
Meanwhile, Yvette and Madison heard the exchanges with Ma regarding the classified rocket propulsion documents he’d accessed that morning at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. He, of course, denied accessing the files, which the authorities had seen him do. His login was used to access a computer, and then the stolen credentials they’d enabled to set him up were used to access the top-secret files.
Not finding the files on his phone, in his cloud storage, or in his emails, the team then checked out all the devices belonging to the three other men who were in the house.
“Fuck! Looks like the files were already forwarded, probably back to Beijing,” Cooper said. He’d just found the schematics in the sent file of the third man’s email. “You forgot to delete it in your sent file, tóngzhì,” he said to the man.
“Roger that, Coop. I’ll notify Big Bear,” Yvette replied. She tapped out a text to Shepherd. “Is the scene secure? Are you ready for me to call in Turner and his team?”
“Give us ten more minutes to search, Control. My gut is telling me there’s something else here we need to find,” Cooper said.
“Affirmative. Just let me know when you’re ready,” she said. She switched off the mics in Ops to silence them, and her gaze settled on Madison. “What do you think that’s about?”
Madison shook her head. “Not sure, but Coop’s gut is usually correct. Something snagged his attention, even though the parameters of the mission have been achieved.”
Yvette switched their mics back to transmit, and the two women waited, listening to the team interrogate the men. They heard the unmistakable sounds of drawers being opened and closed.
Then they heard Doc’s voice announce, “Gun!” Followed by a single shot blasting the routine sounds of the mission. A deafening moment of silence came across the airwaves immediately after, before multiple voices overlapped.
“Sitrep?” Yvette transmitted.
“One suspect shot. Doc’s tending him. Call in an ambulance, GSR to the chest. And notify the local LEOs for us, Control,” Cooper answered. “He was hiding in a portion of the closet in one of the bedrooms. I had a feeling someone else was in the house.”
Madison typed into the 9-1-1 tie-in computer to notify law enforcement and emergency services in Huntsville that federal agents were on scene and needed assistance at the targetaddress. It would automatically route to the appropriate closest resources. “Local resources notified.”
“Thanks, Xena,” Coop said.
***
