Gordon greeted us enthusiastically. As always, he was wearing a suit. Anders was there also, leaning against the back wall, looking bored. “Mr. Tailor! Mr. Valentine!” Gordon said, vigorously shaking our hands. “Great to see you boys again. Damn fine work you’re doing out there. Your hit on the terrorist recruitment house went off without a hitch. Now, our Zubaran counterparts were pissed that you caused so much collateral damage.” Gordon leaned in closer and theatrically lowered his voice. “Off the record, boys, I don’t give a shit about that. I’m glad to see you mopping the floor with hajji.”
“Wait a minute,” Tailor said. “You sure as hell gave a shit last time.”
“I see where you’re coming from, Mr. Tailor. Last time there was some concern that making too big of a splash too soon would cause some of our known targets to go to ground. We were able to keep things under control, and that didn’t happen. The plan now is to kick it in high gear, keep hammering the enemy, so they don’t have any safe places to hide.”
Tailor and I looked at each other. I could tell Tailor wanted to get in Gordon’s face, but I shook my head ever so slightly. He just frowned and sat down.
“Have you had a chance to look over your mission packets?” Gordon asked as I took my seat. We hadn’t. “Well, I guess that’s why we’re having this briefing, isn’t it?” Gordon said, laughing at his own joke. Tailor and I ignored him and opened our packets. “As you can see, gentlemen,” Gordon continued, “we don’t have a lot of information on the next target. His name is Adar. We believe that he is originally from Saudi Arabia. We don’t know if Adar is his real name. We also suspect that he has ties to the Saudi government, but we’re not sure what those ties are.”
I looked through my packet as Gordon talked. This guy had spent years running all over Southwest Asia killing American and British soldiers. There was only one photograph, and it was taken from far away. He was a pretty nondescript looking guy, with short hair and a trimmed mustache. He was braced against the cinder block wall, looking out a window, carrying a Russian SVU bullpup sniper rifle affixed with a sound suppressor.
“I’ve heard of this guy,” Tailor said. “Read about him on the Net. They say he’s killed over a hundred Americans. The army thinks he’s a myth, nothing but terrorist propaganda.”
“If only that were the case,” Gordon said, doing a very good job of feigning sincerity. “Adar is quite real, and that number is probably accurate. We don’t know who he really is, who he works for, or who trained him, but he’s a definite threat. Eliminating him will help me prove to my superiors that Project Heartbreaker is a worthwhile cause.”
“So we’ve been able to track him down, then?” I asked.
“Exactly!” Gordon said, sounding upbeat. “He keeps a home in Zubara, in the village of Umm Bab, near the Saudi border.”
“So, the US has been trying to find this guy for years, but all of a sudden we find out where he lives? How do we know this information is good?” I asked.
Gordon didn’t bat an eye. “Twenty-four hours ago, we intercepted an e-mail from Adar. He’s returning to Zubara and will be staying at his house here. However, if it turns out Adar isn’t there, we’ll just cancel the operation and go back to square one. If the information proves to be accurate, you two are going to go in and kill Adar.”
“What? Just the two of us again? What about Hudson and Wheeler? They were assigned to me.” Tailor was visibly agitated now.
“The operational plan calls for two shooters, Mr. Tailor,” Gordon said dismissively. “I wasn’t able to get clearance for any more than that.”
“Shouldn’t this get the priority?” I asked. “I mean, we need to get this guy, right?”
“I’m going to level with you boys,” Gordon said, leaning in closer. “My superiors don’t consider Adar a priority target. Eliminating him is a way of garnering more support for Project Heartbreaker, especially from people in the Pentagon. I was able to get approval for this operation, but you two are the only ones I was able to commandeer, if you will, to do the job. People in my chain of command have security concerns. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but . . . well, let’s just say that this operation will be a little unorthodox.”
I wasn’t sure what to think. Gordon sounded sincere, but he always sounded sincere. Adar certainly was a worthy enough target; I’d heard of him too. I sure as hell didn’t like the sound of unorthodox though. “It’s not that killing Adar isn’t worthwhile, sir,” I said cautiously. “It’s just . . . look, we almost got killed on our first mission because we were outnumbered. If we’d had Hudson and Wheeler with us, the complications would’ve been avoided entirely. Because there were just the two of us, we had to improvise.”
“And you lost one of my trucks,” Hunter growled, speaking for the first time.
“Exactly,” I said. “With more eyes on the target, more shooters, we could’ve wiped out all of Al Falah’s bodyguards in a less than a minute. As it was . . . well, things went to shit.”
“I understand where you’re coming from, Mr. Valentine,” Gordon said, looking me in the eye. “I don’t like having to take risks like this. But it needs to be done. This Adar has killed over a hundred American soldiers. Let’s get this guy. Can I count on you boys?”
Tailor and I looked at each other again. “We’ll get the job done, sir,” Tailor said.
“Great!” Gordon said, slapping me on the shoulder. I winced as pain shot through my arm; he managed to hit me right where the bandage was. “You boys go ahead and look over those mission packets. There’s a lot of information in there. I’ll be contacting you as soon as we have confirmation that our target is on the ground.” Gordon’s cell phone began to ring. “Excuse me,” he said, answering it. He left the room with his phone in his ear and Anders in tow.
We waited until we heard the outside door close. “Colonel, you didn’t buy any of that horseshit, did you?” Tailor asked. “Isn’t there some way we can get more guys for this?”
Hunter’s face was a mask. “I’m afraid not, son,” he said, turning to leave. “It’s not my decision. Wheeler and Hudson will be staying here. You boys relax now, but stay sharp. And don’t discuss this with anyone, not even your teammates. You won’t get much notice for this one. Don’t leave the compound.” With that, Hunter left the room, leaving Tailor and me alone.
Chapter 7:
Black Helicopters
VALENTINE
Fort Saradia National Historical Site
April 15
1700
Colonel Hunter and Sarah were waiting for us in the classroom. One of Hunter’s security men had come looking for us in the chow hall and ordered us to go in for a briefing.
“Gentlemen, I’m glad you made it,” Hunter said, sounding slightly agitated. “I know this is short notice, but you two are rolling out tonight. We believe our target has returned to his compound.” Sarah handed each of us a fat new mission packet, full of maps and photographs.
Tailor and I sat down in the classroom, opening our packets as we did so. “Has this Adar guy come back, then, Colonel?” I asked.