Solve the problem.
"Reaper, find an anchor point for a rope. Jesse, meet me at the north cemetery gate on Meeting and Broad. Bring the exfil vehicle with the kit. Retro, you there?"
"Roger."
"Hey, bud, hate to do this to you, but we've got two ways to go here. Either we get Reaper and Kranz out quickly, or we slow down the response. And getting them out quick doesn't look like an option."
I heard nothing for a second, then, "Uhh… yeah. I don't like the sound of that. How am I going to slow down the response?" I poked a feeble beam from a penlight at the map affixed to my forearm and said, "See the art gallery two buildings over
from the target?"
"Yeah."
"I need you to make them think they're at the wrong target. Make them think we're after the art and used the real-estate
building to penetrate."
"Roger…. How?"
"I need you to do a B&E. Right now."
Chapter 2
"Pike, I've got a view of the street," Retro said. "There are people all over, staring at the show. I can't pick a lock on the front door in full view of everyone."
I saw Jesse with the exfil van round the corner and shot my penlight at his windshield to get his attention. "Get to the back. There's an alley between the buildings. All I need you to do is trip an alarm."
I heard the skid of the police vehicles from a hundred meters away and knew I had about a minute before they coordinated and began a search.
"Retro, we're out of time. I need that alarm right now."
I heard "already moving" and ran to Jesse and the van, rip.ping into a duffel bag in the back and pulling out a Kernmantle climbing rope.
"Jesse, stage on Church Street with the engine running. We'll be coming out hot as hell," I told him.
I had shouldered the rope and turned to go to the building when he said, "We need to talk about this when we're done."
I was surprised, since he was basically saying he'd had enough of the CIA bullshit. I said, "We will. Trust me, we're go.ing to hot wash this entire thing. Now get out of here. Keep the radio on. We get busted, and you'll know it. If that happens get Kurt on the horn and get him ready for the fallout."
I jogged through the shadows of the cemetery until I reached the wall adjacent to the target. I was about to put myself in jeopardy, because I needed to start climbing before Retro accomplished his mission. He didn't, and we were all going to jail together.
"Reaper, I'm coming up. You got an anchor?" "Yeah. Inside the third floor window. It's open now. You see it?"
I flipped over the wall and landed softly on my feet in the alley. I could see the old window cracked a smidgen, a small pen.light flashing.
"I got it. Retro, what's your status?"
"Working it now. They just confirmed entry with headquarters on the scanner. From the radio calls, they're searching the first floor slow and methodical."
I went to the corner and started to climb, using the rough-hewn granite blocks as hand-and footholds. I'd reached the second floor when Retro called again.
"They've found the busted door. They're now focused on it and the stairwell leading up." "Jesus Christ! What the hell are you doing? Trip the damn alarm."
"I'm working it. The door has four different locks and is steel plate. You want me to go out front and chuck a rock through the window?"
"Get it done. Now." I kept climbing. I began wondering whether we should try subduing the cops in order to escape, knowing I was pushing a seriously bad idea.
I reached the third floor and was pulled in by Reaper. Kranz said, "Got the intel."
Like that would make up for the disaster we were in. The guy didn't even realize the stakes he had created, as if the cops them.selves were part of the exercise.
I said nothing to him, simply whispering to Reaper, "Where's the anchor? I need to put in a full loop so we can retrieve the rope once we're on the ground."
He showed me an old cast-iron radiator, long dead but still in.stalled, and I looped the rope through it, feeding it out the win.dow until both halves of the line draped down the sixty feet to the ground, no knots involved. I was turning to get Kranz out first when I saw a light flash from the stairwell.
Shit. They're coming up.
I hissed, "Get your ass out of here. Slide down the rope."
Kranz said, "I don't have any gloves."
Jesus. That means there are fingerprints all over the place.
I grabbed his collar, jerked him to my face and said in a low whisper, "Get your ass out of here. I don't give a shit if you leave your palms on the rope. Get out, or I'm going to fucking throw you out."
His eyes wide, he nodded and climbed through the window.
"Reaper," I whispered, "you think you can disarm that cop without injuring him?" He glanced at the light and said, "Pike, I don't know. I go for it and miss, I'll have to hurt him to keep him from shooting me." He watched the beam, now bobbing brighter, and said, "Shit. I don't know."
I slowly nodded, understanding that the decision was mine. I leaned out the window and saw Kranz was close enough to let go and jump.
"Get out the window. Get away. Jesse is stationed for pickup. If I'm not out, get Kurt on the line. Let him know I've been arrested."
Reaper looked at the window, then at me and said, "I'll do it. I can take him down.'' I smiled, taking a liking to my only squid. "Yeah, I'm sure you could. With the help of some Army guys. Get out."
He started to say something else, and the light flashed into the room for the first time, a small glimmer that meant the guy was now on our floor. I pointed to the window and moved to the blind side of the door.
Reaper disappeared from view, and I remembered the rope. If I were caught now, they'd know I wasn't alone. But I would need it for a hasty exit. Once I disabled this guy if I disabled this guy I couldn't afford a slow building climb. I would need speed above all else.
Man, this exercise is really sucking.
From the hallway, the reflection of the flashlight bounced through the room again, this time much brighter, and I pressed myself against the wall. I saw it splash into the room proper and felt my pulse race, the adrenaline flowing through me.
I moved into a fighting crouch, waiting for him to breach the door, when the alarm from the gallery pierced the night. The flashlight paused, the police officer's radio exploding in a cacophony of voices.
And then it disappeared back down the stairwell.
Chapter 3
Colonel Kurt Hale turned from the computer screen and shouted behind him, "Mike, for the love of God, tell those guys to quit hammering!"
"Sir, if you want the renovations done quickly, I can't keep shutting them down every time you need to talk on the phone."
Kurt squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples. When he opened them again, Mike saw the danger lurking behind his scowl and scurried out of the office, yelling at the construction crew. When it was quiet again, Kurt said, "Okay, Pike, continue."
"We got the beddown location from the real-estate office and placed a beacon on his car last night, but I'm not sure we can execute a hit in one cycle of darkness."
"Didn't you get the intel dump from the targeting cell? Didn't they neck down his probable activities?" Kurt saw Pike scowl over the VPN, then heard, "Can I speak freely here, sir?"
"By all means."
Pike turned to look behind him, ensuring he was alone, then said, "This whole exercise is a cluster-fuck."
Kurt felt like he'd been slapped.
Pike continued. "I know you set it up, putting in the roleplayers and inventing the scenario, but there's too many fake things, which are leading to false confidence. I mean, we go through our entire mission profile to figure out where the target lives so we can develop a pattern of life, then intel hands us his future location on a silver platter, making that whole mission worthless. It should take us weeks or months to figure out his pattern of life, and we get it handed to us. It isn't realistic."