"This is Hammer Base. Over." Stevens recognized Westland's voice. Damn bitch was probably the one who cut me out, he thought. Goddamn Clowns In Action and their paranoia.
"I'm ready down at this end. Could you fill me in on what the hell is going on? Why the move up?" Stevens released the send button and waited. When no answer was forthcoming he remembered that he had forgotten to give the obligatory "over." Goddamn military and their radio games. He keyed the mike again. "Over."
The answer came back. "It's for security reasons. We've been concerned about a leak so we thought it best to keep it in tight and move things forward. Over."
Figures, Stevens thought. Goddamn paranoia. He keyed the mike again. "Is the target still the same or am I not authorized to know that either? Over."
"Target's the same and hit time is the same, just twenty-four hours earlier. Just relax. We've got a long night ahead. Out."
Just great, Stevens muttered to himself.
The trial run with the boat attached had gone well. Hobbes and Davidson had topped off the tanks again and then planned their flight route. Since the majority of the route would be over water, they would use the Doppler internal navigational device to direct them, in combination with following an azimuth and monitoring their speed. Hobbes had been frank with Riley about her lack of faith in the Doppler's accuracy, especially over water.
Riley had told her that all she had to do was get them within thirty kilometers of the indicated drop-off point, which was sixty kilometers due east of Barranquilla. She said she could do that. The whine of the turbine engines increased. Hobbes pulled in collective and the aircraft shuddered as it picked up.
The six members of Eyes Three sat on the floor inside the cargo bay and watched the ground fall away below them as the Blackhawk lifted and turned east, flitting over the Panamanian jungle toward the Caribbean. They were on their way.
Ring Man looked up from the pool table, where he had just been ready to make a shot. "What line?"
His chief aide and bodyguard, Ponte, indicated the phone near the door. "Line two."
Ring Man went over and picked up the phone. Ponte noted that the Ring Man's body became rigid as he talked into the phone. Not a good sign. He listened to his boss's end of the conversation.
"Talk."
"Just like the other two?"
"Tonight?"
"How long ago?"
"Do you know when?"
"Stay there. I'll get back to you."
Ring Man hung up the phone. He looked across at Ponte. His eyes seemed clouded over. Ponte waited patiently. He'd seen that look before. It meant his boss was thinking. Finally he seemed to come down to earth.
Ring Man looked at his watch and then at Ponte. "There's a job you have to do. It must be done quickly. Time is of the essence. Here is what I want done. Get a hold of… "
Stevens was a quarter of the way through the book he had brought with him to help the night pass, when he was interrupted by the duty officer rapping on the door of the booth he was in. He cracked the door open. "Yeah, what's up?"
"You got a local phone call."
Stevens frowned. Who would be calling him? He got up, left the booth, and went to the phone on the wall.
"Stevens here."
"Rich, this is Maria."
Shit, she wasn't ever supposed to call him at work. Stevens glanced around nervously. The duty man was playing games on his desk computer. Stevens hissed into the phone. "I can't talk now. I'm busy."
"Don't hang up, Rich. I'm in trouble. I need your help right away."
Christ! Stevens thought. Women. "I'm on duty. I'll see you tomorrow."
"It cannot wait until tomorrow. Only for five minutes. That's all I need you for."
She sounded like she really was in trouble. Like she had just been crying. "What's the matter? What do you need me for?"
"I cannot tell you on the phone. Just come to my uncle's bar. Around back. I will be waiting for you there. It will only take five minutes. I need your help very much."
Stevens calculated. The team hadn't even infiltrated yet. Hell, no one would miss him. On the last two missions no one had even talked to him until it was over. At that time it had only been Westland calling to verify that he had copied the team's final report on target destruction so he could relay it to Alegre. He could have had a heart attack and no one would have noticed. He pictured Maria without clothes on. "All right. I'll be there in a couple of minutes. But I can't stay longer than five minutes, then I have to get back."
"Oh, thank you, Rich. Thank you."
Stevens hung up the phone and went over to the duty officer. "I need you to cover for me for a little while. I have to go take care of something."
The duty officer winked knowingly. "Yeah, sure. You want me to monitor your net?"
Stevens shook his head. The man wasn't cleared for it. "No. Nothing's going to be happening in there for a while. I'll be back before then."
Stevens left the embassy and went across the street. He looked in the front door of the cafe. Everything looked all right. He wondered what the hell was the matter with Maria. Goddamn women. They got upset at the stupidest things. He hoped she wasn't going to pull some sort of "marry me" bullshit. Christ, he thought suddenly, she'd better not be pregnant. He'd be damned if he would take responsibility for that. She'd told him she was on the pill.
Stevens headed around to the back and stopped as another thought hit him. Maybe her uncle had found out about the two of them and was waiting back there to beat the crap out of the Yankee who was porking his niece. Stevens smiled grimly to himself. If that was the case then the guy had another thing coming. He loosened his snub nose revolver in his waist holster and strode around the corner. He peered into the dark trying to see.
He started as a figure came out of the shadows. It was Maria. She looked very anxious. Stevens relaxed a little.
"Rich! I am happy you come. Follow me."
"Whoa! Where're we going and what's the problem?"
"Just come here and I will tell you."
Stevens allowed her to lead him farther into the alley. Suddenly he had the feeling they weren't alone. His worries about her uncle resurfaced. He wheeled. Two men stood there holding nasty-looking submachine guns.
Jesus Christ, thought Stevens. That's a hell of a lot of firepower to bring to bear on a guy just for going out with a girl. He forgot any thought he might have had about pulling his revolver. He turned to Maria. "What's going on? Who are these guys?"
She stepped forward, reached calmly under his jacket, and removed his revolver. "Shut up, gringo, and come this way."
Riley heard Hobbes through the headset. "This is it. As close as I can figure to where you want."
"Roger. Get down to ten and ten. Drop on my thumbs-up. Thanks." Riley liked that this target was just in from the coast, so they could infiltrate and exfiltrate by water. He felt it was much safer than either parachuting or going in direct with helicopters. Plus, by using the regular Blackhawk with no advance warning for infiltration, they had cut out a lot of people knowing where the target was or even that an operation was being mounted.
The two pilots would know the general area, but they had an almost three-hour flight back to Panama and they would be met by military police when they landed. Pike had arranged with the SOUTHCOM commander for the MPs to hold the two pilots for the night. Riley felt sorry for the warrant but he wished the captain could be held for a couple extra days.
"Roger. Good luck," Hobbes offered. The captain said nothing.
Riley took off the headset. The helicopter began flying about ten feet above the water, with a forward speed of ten knots. Riley slid open the right cargo door while Powers opened the left.