So many people, at least before the attack, did not seem to care about the world beyond what was right in front of them. Most of them could not get their noses out of their smart phones. She didn’t seem like one of them, nor did she just accept things at face value. She wanted to dig deeper. He decided that her natural curiosity was possibly her most highly attractive quality.
She was a pleasant thought for another time. He had to focus. Tonight he and his team had a job to do, and they would be in harm’s way. He had to put her out of his mind, at least for the moment. Easier said than done.
This was a “simple extraction.” At least that was how they put it during the briefing at the Pentagon. On paper it seemed simple enough, the plan was good, and the target was supposed to be soft.
The enemy certainly had other things going on right now. They were concerned another air strike was imminent on their armor bases. Since the United States had destroyed most of their RADAR sites they had issues determining if one was coming. That helped this mission enormously.
Hopefully the enemy would be caught by surprise. With a little luck they would be busy watching the sky elsewhere. This was a small enough team that they should be able to get in and out without being noticed.
The plan was simple enough. Jump from an airplane, land in Iran, a nation they had just bombed the crap out of, not to mention it was a nation they were currently at a state of war with, grab a top Iranian nuclear physicist, who is probably guarded albeit not heavily, and get out all in one piece. If possible they were to accomplish all of that without anyone on the ground realizing what had happened until after extraction was under way.
Frank hoped that this really would be simple. On paper is usually the only place simplicity existed, and that was what bothered him. Sometimes he liked it when plans appeared more complex. At least it didn’t surprise anyone when it happened. Whatever the proverbial “it” turned out to be.
Perhaps he was over analyzing again. Having too much time before insertion could cause that, even to highly experienced soldiers.
At this moment, waiting to jump out of an aircraft and glide via parachute into enemy territory, anything could happen. With some luck, in thirty hours or so, they would be back in Washington DC. Without luck, he or some portion of his men, may never return. At least this President seemed to be able to make decisions quickly enough to have them matter for men like these. According to those in Frank’s chain of command the President had given guidance for the mission, but gave the team the authority to decide everything once on the ground.
Finally, the aircraft door opened in front of him, and he felt the squeeze on his shoulder indicating everyone was ready.
Frank was the first out the door. He had insisted on this.
It wasn’t arrogance, but he was the team leader and he preferred to lead from the front, not from behind. The remainder of the team was right behind him.
Thanks to modern military technology hitting a landing zone was easier than ever before. He followed the electronic track on his helmet’s visor display. When it said deploy chute, he did. No muss, no fuss. You breath, you pull, you glide gently to the ground.
The path he was to follow was continuously updated by the electronics pulling data from the GPS and the altimeter device strapped to him. He would land within a few feet of the designated target, they practiced this sort of thing often enough that it was almost boring. During their practices they would set a beer can out in the landing zone. The one who landed the furthest away had to by the beer for the rest of the team. The last loser was only 26 inches off target.
In what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only minutes, everyone was on the ground at the rally point with all the parachutes buried. Just like that, they were ready to proceed with the ground portion of their mission.
“Mr. Choi, Sgt. Brown, take point and move out. Let’s stay on schedule,” the Captain ordered.
The team moved out on foot. They had only three miles to cover and ninety minutes to do it. This would be child’s play if they were not detected, and one of the most complex nights of their careers if they were.
They moved silently, staying in the shadows whenever possible. Given the proliferation of thermal and night vision devices, even amongst civilian populations in some parts of the world, they could be found easily by anyone looking with the right equipment. Thanks to the Internet, anyone with a credit card and a valid shipping address could obtain these devices. It wouldn’t be military grade, but it could be one generation behind. However, an experienced operator could avoid the sight lines of the most likely observation points, and in the process remain reasonably undetectable, even from these electronic annoyances.
Captain Banner kept watch on the helmet display showing his GPS-linked positioning data along with the path to follow to their rally point. In the event they located hostiles, or really any person who could raise an alarm about their presence, the final target had several approach routes. Many of them would only serve to complicate matters. They were on the best approach, and he hoped they wouldn’t have to make any alterations to the plan. Changes would mean delays, and he didn’t want to be this far away from help for any longer than necessary. It would be a rarity if the plan went off as originally planned, but he held out hope.
Their target was an individual, a scientist, who lived smack dab in the middle of a suburban area. Given the time of night this operation should be very easy. However, the wrong person taking a walk at the wrong time of night and this could fall to pieces in seconds. It was always the simple things that came back to bite you in the ass.
Frank wished they could have landed closer to the objective, and usually they would have, if for no other reason than to reduce the risk to the team by spending less time on the ground. For a variety of reasons on this mission that wasn’t possible. This avenue of approach was the one that left the risk of discovery lowest according to the latest satellite and UAV data being studied by a crack intelligence analysis team, then reviewed with him and the team. Everyone on the ground tonight agreed that this had to be the way tonight’s mission was accomplished.
They made their way in silence. The only sound Frank could hear was the occasional ruffle of fabric, or water sloshing around in a canteen, but only if he listened carefully enough. It was always amazing to him how well any tiny little noise carried through at the night air. You could use that fact to aid you in your team’s success, but the enemy could also use it to find you, and kill you deader than dead.
He was very much aware that as they got closer to the target the danger to the team increased with every step. The houses grew denser, there was row after row of apartments, there were small stores, shops, yards, and everything you would expect to find in a modern suburban area. Many of these structures had families asleep inside. Hopefully no one would awaken to go to the bathroom and randomly look out the wrong window at the wrong time. Frank knew he shouldn’t worry about what he couldn’t control, but these thoughts kept flashing through his brain, tonight unlike ever before.