"How are we going in?" Sinclair asked.
"LALO."
Low altitude, low opening. He looked at Clarret.
"According to your records you are certified LALO, right?"
The former sergeant nodded.
"But it's been a – "
"Don't worry about not being current. Gravity will take care of things. Be happy. That certification got you out of prison."
Sinclair was still looking at Orson.
"How are we getting out?"
"Fulton Recovery system."
Sinclair blinked.
"But we don't have the rigs or the balloon."
"Don't worry," Orson said.
"They'll be on the plane."
The C-141 cargo plane did three passes over the runway before touching down on the fourth. It rolled to a stop and the back ramp slowly descended until it touched the ground. A half dozen men dressed in bright yellow contaminant protection suits awkwardly waddled down the ramp.
They went directly to the tower. They entered and saw the body immediately. While two of the men began deploying sensors, another went to the body and checked it out. Within two minutes the sensors confirmed their worst fears: there were traces of ZX in the air.
Checking the blueprints they'd brought with them, part of the reconnaissance element pinpointed the bunker where the ZX had been stored and made a beeline for it. Another element headed toward the main compound to confirm what was already becoming apparent: that there was no one left alive on the island.
When they arrived at the bunker, the holes in the fence, the doors open, and the lack of the containers that the manifest said were supposed to be inside confirmed this was not an accident. The team leader grabbed the satcom radio and called in his report.
Rogelio Abayon stared at the IV in his arm for several seconds, then looked up as the door to his office opened. Fatima came in, her lips tightly pressed together, and Abayon knew she brought bad news. But that was part of the plan.
"Ruiz is dead," she said without preamble. Abayon nodded.
"I expected that."
"You expected him to be killed?"
"I expected him to betray us and in the process get killed."
Fatima tried to digest that.
"You had him – "
"No," Abayon stopped her.
"He got himself killed. He contacted our enemies and tried to broker a deal for half of what he took with him to Hong Kong. They took the deal, then they killed him, because they do not make deals."
Fatima sat down.
"What is going on?"
"A plan many years in the making is being implemented," Abayon said.
"Ruiz was one part. He accomplished what was needed, by bringing the Golden Lily back into the public spotlight. It is in the news, which is good for us and bad for our enemy."
"And my father?"
"He goes to strike a blow for us. A powerful blow."
"And us?" Once more she was thinking some steps ahead.
"You are to take our organization and move it as we discussed to our alternate location."
"The emergency plan? But – "
"The emergency is here," Abayon said.
"Issue the orders and get everyone moving."
"I'll get the nurse – " Abayon shook his head.
"I am staying here."
He reached into a drawer and pulled out a thick folder.
"This is all the information I have on our enemy. It is yours now."
He slid it across the desk, but Fatima did not pick it up right away.
"And you?" Abayon reached down and slid the intravenous needle out of his arm, dotting the small drop of blood with a piece of gauze.
"I am staying here."
He held up a hand as Fatima started to say something.
"I am old. I am tired. I do not want to do this again," he said, indicating the dialysis machine.
"It is your time now."
Fatima reluctantly turned toward the door.
"There is one more thing," Abayon said, causing her to turn back, tears in her eyes. She waited.
"We might not be alone."
Fatima frowned in confusion.
"This battle against our unknown enemy – I think there might be others out there also opposed to them."
"Al Qaeda and – " Fatima began, but Abayon raised a hand, silencing her.
"Not other groups like us. I think there might be a group, or groups, as secret as our enemy in the world who fight against it."
"Why do you think this?"
Abayon shrugged, tired beyond belief.
"I should not have mentioned it. But there have been times over the years when I received information or heard things that made me think there was a force in place opposing the enemy and trying to manipulate me in this battle. I mentioned it because if there is, you must be careful."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Fatima quoted.
"Not necessarily," Abayon said.
Vaughn checked his weapons one more time, while Tai slumbered uneasily next to him. Waiting was always the hardest. And most of his time in the Army had been spent waiting, in one form or another. They even had a saying for it: "Hurry up and wait."
They were on the very top of the mountain, a rounded cone with a flat open space in the center, which dropped off precipitously on all sides, giving them about a sixty-meter circle to work in. Very little space to drop the remaining members of the team on. He glanced at the short message that had come back in response to his report on finding Abayon. The team was coming in low and fast. And the exfiltration was to be by Fulton Recovery via Combat Talon. Not the best of plans, not the worst.
A Fulton Recovery with six people was dicey at best. The basic concept was sending up a cable attached to a small balloon. The six people would all link together their harnesses to the cable. The Combat Talon would come flying in low, below the float, and "whiskers" on the nose of the plane would catch the cable and draw it to the center, where it would be snatched and held.
The six people would then be jerked up into the air, their momentum causing the cable to swing underneath the plane, where it would be caught by a small crane on the back ramp. The crane would then winch the people into the cargo bay. Vaughn had done one Fulton Recovery, as a single, two years ago, and it had been quite an experience. With six, he envisioned some bumps and bruises – that is, if all six of them survived to make it to exfiltration.
He turned as Tai stirred. She sat up, blinking sleep out of her eyes, and he saw that moment of confusion as her conscious brain tried to figure out where she was. He'd experienced that himself many times in the past.
Her eyes focused on him.
"Everything all right?"
"As all right as things can be sitting on top of a mountain full of terrorists," he said.
"I've been hearing a lot of trucks moving over there."
He nodded to the southern side of the mountain.
"Headlights going back and forth. Something's happening."
Tai checked her watch.
"Not much longer."
"What are you going to do?" he asked her.
"What do you mean?"
"You're supposed to be dead."
Tai nodded.
"Yeah. I figure I'd best find a hide spot up here. Cover the infiltration and then the exfiltration. The guys coming in will have a plan to take down Abayon without my participation. I'll cover your back when you come back up for the exfil."
"You think there's a double-cross?" Vaughn asked.
"I don't think we can trust Royce or Orson," Tai said.