Page 75 of Operation: Silent Angel
“I have a lot of respect for Shepherd. People die in this business. That’s a given. But having a command structure that factors in acceptable losses is not palatable to me. That’s why I worked solo for so long. I know Shepherd isn’t one to calculate foracceptable losses in his people or in civilians; that’s one of the reasons I’m here.”
“One?” Lassiter asked without missing a beat. “And the others?”
Mac smirked again. The man was good. He’d give him that. “Obviously, Yvette. I know you know our history. We made the only decision we could decades ago based on the jobs we did. Had we gotten together back then, it surely would have ended badly and probably pretty quickly.”
“The flame stayed alive for a long time,” Lassiter said.
“I’d like to think we saw each other often enough to keep it burning, or maybe it was that we rekindled it each time we saw each other. Either way, I think we both got to a point in our lives that we’re no longer willing to say the job or the bad shit in the world is more important than exploring the relationship we’ve put on hold for so long.”
“And how is that going? Has to be an adjustment, living together.”
“It’s very comfortable,” Mac said. “Yvette’s made it easy for me, welcoming me at her home so I feel like I belong there and am not a guest.” He paused and chuckled. “She made it clear that cleaning the toilet is my job as she doesn’t splatter when she pees.”
Lassiter laughed with him. “You still have your apartments in both Greece and London, don’t you?” he asked.
“Yes, and I’ll have to get back to them both and ship some of my belongings here. I’ll probably sell my flat in London, but I’ll keep the place in Greece. It helps keep my dual citizenship, owning a place there and having an address. Besides its view is beautiful, the little town it’s in is quaint. It’s where my mother was from.” And that was as far as he wanted to go in talking about his parents. “As far as Yvette is concerned , these last few weeks have gone well. I’m optimistic. Shepherd said I’ll have about fifty percent of my time working from HQ and fifty percent deployed on missions. I think that will be a nice balance, so we don’t get sick of each other,” he said and then laughed. “I also get that having me live with her has to be an adjustment for her.”
“I’m glad you realize that,” Joe said. “Just keep communicating with each other so minor issues don’t become major and allow each other space. You’ve both been alone for a long time.”
“Thanks, that’s good advice,” Mac said.
“Our time is just about up. Anything else on your mind you’d like to talk about?” Joe asked.
“Not that I can think of,” Mac said, relieved that their meeting was drawing to a close.
Lassiter stood. “I’ll walk you out. Good luck with the mission, and I’ll send a meeting invite for shortly after the mission, depending on what happens on it, but we will touch bases within a few days after you return. I usually do that with everyone after their first mission with us.”
At the door of the outer office, Joe shook his hand and sent him on his way. Mac had about an hour before the pre-mission briefing. He took the stairs up one floor and entered the Shepherd Security office through the public entrance. Angel wasn’t at her desk. He passed it and went down the hall to the stairs. He’d spend the time waiting for the meeting in his office, going over the mission info again.
Shepherd’s door was open as he passed, and he saw and heard Angel talking to Shepherd within. He found all four of the members of Bravo Team in Flores’ office.
Whiskey
Mac descended the stairs with the four members of Bravo Team, his team. Team leader Tommy ‘Louisa’ Flores, team medic Eddie ‘Needles’ Winston, Kenny ‘Ducky’ Gallup, and Elijah ‘Kegger’ Robinson. They were a competent group, and they had welcomed him as well as been very transparent about their intentions to retire in one piece within the next five years. Several also indicated they desired a lot less travel and would like a permanent gig at HQ in Ops. But all of them praised Shepherd and the agency and also said they understood the work and would deploy when the job called for it. They were all loyal and committed to the mission.
They filed into Shepherd’s office. Shepherd and Cooper already sat at the conference table. “Thank you for being prompt, gentlemen,” Shepherd said. “Cam Woods on the Digital Team is doing one last deep dive into the recent financial activity of John Williamson, who, as you know from the pre-mission packet, owns the campground where the missing men stayed. He’ll pushthrough what he finds to your email once his report is finalized. He expects it will look similar to what he’s already recorded that you reviewed in the initial packet.”
Cooper had the keyboard in front of him. He clicked several keys and brought the wall monitor to life. “As you are aware, four men did not return home from a fishing trip after checking out of the Lakeside Campground, owned by Williamson, on Big Escambia Creek Lake in Conecuh County, Alabama, two weeks ago.”
Pictures of four men, Michael Moody, Ricky Fees, Tom DeSilva, and Jeff Thomas, from their Alabama driver’s licenses displayed. They were the same photos that had been in the mission briefing packet with all the other information that had been sent to Mac and the five other members of the team to study. He had received the email two days ago with the mission assignment, and eager to perform well on this first mission with Shepherd Security, he’d memorized everything in the packet.
“Michael Moody is the brother-in-law of an aide to SecDef. That’s how we got the case. When they did not return home or check in with their families after their last text messages stating they’d checked out of the cabin and were heading home, Michael Moody’s wife called the Alabama State Police and reported them missing. Over the last two weeks, a search has taken place by several law enforcement agencies in Alabama and has turned up nothing. At the end of last week, the brother-in-law asked SecDef if he knew of any other avenues available to investigate this. That’s how we got the case,” Shepherd said.
“They spent a week at the campground, checked into one of the cabins, boating and fishing. They’d driven two pickup trucksand towed one fishing boat. They would have returned home to Birmingham, a three-hour drive, via I-65. Neither of their vehicles showed up on any traffic cameras along their route, or any other possible route they could have taken. We’re going to start our investigation at the campground and the immediate vicinity as everything is pointing to them not leaving the area,” Cooper said.
“Four men, two pickup trucks, and a boat don’t just disappear,” Tommy Flores said. “Have there been drone or satellite passes looking for signs of the vehicles?”
“The problem is that the whole area is ripe with pickup trucks and fishing boats. We’ll have better luck on the ground looking at license plates and comparing boats to the pictures we have of theirs, a Stinger 195B Fishing Boat,” Cooper said.
“As I’m sure the police did,” Robinson said. “The entire area is heavily wooded around the lake. The vehicles could be parked anywhere, with or without tarps or camouflage on them, and not be seen from the air. We’re talking about a lot of territory to cover.”
“The report said all four of these guys are married with regular jobs, and two have kids. They’re stable and reliable members of society. Not the kind of people to just take an extended vacation and go silent. It’s been two weeks. I hate to state the obvious, but we’re probably on a recovery mission. It’s very unlikely we’re going to find these guys alive,” Winston said.
Even though Mac had thought the same thing, he was surprised to hear Winston voice it.
“Your mission is to find out what happened to the four men, and find them, be it alive or to recover their remains,” Shepherd said. “If there were any illegal circumstances at play, you will also determine who and why and refer it to the local LEOs.”
“Got it, Shep,” Flores said.
