CHAPTER 76

Over the Atlantic Ocean

THE GULFSTREAM WAS IN the air less than an hour after Reece had received Rodriguez’s call. At least he’d finally made his way onto a private jet. The G550 landed briefly to pick up Freddy at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort before heading eastward over the Atlantic. Reece could tell by the look on his partner’s face that it was crushing him to fly out in the middle of his son’s birthday party. Things like that never got easier, especially with a special needs child like Sam.

As the standby squadron from Dam Neck hit the target, Reece and Freddy would be airborne and able to flex as necessary based off exploited intelligence. Their weapons were being stored at the Agency base in Kurdistan, so a basic weapons package from the Ground Branch armory had been loaded onto the plane for their use. Strain opened a black Pelican case and inspected the HK416D assault rifle inside.

“Just one? ” Reece asked.

“Looks that way, ” Strain responded. “Maybe they don’t trust you yet. ”

“Terrific. ”

“Hey, with what I’ve experienced in my short time at Langley, we’re lucky to even have that. Here, ” Strain said, “you take the two pistols. I’ll take the rifle. ”

“Wonderful, no extra magazines? ” Reece commented, inspecting the 9mm SIG P320 X-Carry and P365. “What kind of operation are you guys running over there? ”

“At least they included two nice holsters, ” Freddy countered, tossing Reece an ankle rig for the 365 and a BlackPoint Tactical Mini WING for the larger handgun.

“I like these Elcans, ” Freddy remarked, referring to the expensive optic mounted on his HK as he broke the weapon down into its upper and lower receiver and placed it in a low-vis backpack.

“No armor? ” Reece asked.

“Doesn’t look like it. Guess we better not plan on getting shot. ”

While they were loading magazines the jet’s onboard satellite phone system chirped. The conversation was mostly one-sided and Freddy jotted down some notes before hanging up.

“XXX just hit Yedid on his yacht. He survived. We have an Agency interrogator working on him now. They said the general was scared shitless when the boys interrupted his party. We should know more soon. ”

“Any theories, Freddy? ”

“It’s quite a cast of characters. We’ve got a former Russian GRU colonel clearly at odds with the current regime and very connected in D. C., a turned CIA Russia analyst on the run, a Syrian general tied to Assad and essentially brokering mercenaries out of Syria and Iraq and God only knows where else, all connected to a rogue CIA Ground Branch sadist running a former friend of yours who thought he was working for the U. S. government. They certainly aren’t doing it because they have nothing better to do. ”

The two former frogmen turned intelligence operatives began discussing various scenarios when another call came in.

“This is Strain. ”

“Mr. Strain, this is Andy Danreb at the Russian desk. I’ve come across something that I think you need to know about. ”

“Hey, Andy! What time is it there? ”

“I’m not sure, it’s late. This idea hit me, so I came back to the office. My wife was thrilled. ”

“I bet. I’m putting you on speaker with Reece. What do you have? ”

“After our conversation, I started thinking more and more about Oliver Grey. We know he’s dirty. What I couldn’t figure out, though, was, why now? Why, after what must have been years of working for Andrenov, did he do something he knew would blow his cover? ”

“We’ve been asking ourselves the same question, Andy, ” Reece chimed in.

“Well, I think I’ve found the answer. I started looking through some of the raw intelligence coming across his desk; he was looking at a ton of signals intercepts, which is really well below his pay grade. I’ve been searching all weekend, but I didn’t find anything that made any sense. It hit me tonight that he would have hidden whatever it was, that he would have removed it from the system, so I couldn’t pull it up. He couldn’t hide the raw feed, though, so I went back and found an intercept that wasn’t in message traffic. ”

“What was it? ”

“It’s the Russian president’s itinerary. NSA intercepted some communication between the Russian FSO, the Federal Protective Service, and the president’s Executive Office. The FSO is their version of the Secret Service. We have a thirty-day snapshot of where President Zubarev will be, hour by hour. It’s this month, Strain; we are halfway through the calendar that we have. ”

“Where is the Russian president now? ”

“He’s scheduled to give a speech in Odessa tomorrow at noon. Then he flies to Moscow early the following morning. ”

“Grey didn’t randomly choose this month to disappear. That schedule is the key. We’ll need some analytical assets at our disposal, Andy. You think you can help? ”

“I thought you’d never ask; what can I do? ” Danreb felt like he’d been liberated from prison.

“I need your best team, people you can trust, in a secure conference room. I need you to be our eyes, ears, and brain as this info comes through. ”

“I’ll get on the phone and start waking people up. ”

“I need you to be absolutely sure that none of these people are tied to Grey. ”

“That’s not a problem. Let’s just say that he and I don’t run in the same circles around here. ”

“Do you know Nicole Phan at CTC? ”

“I’ve heard the name, but I don’t know her. ”

“She’s been helping us on this; you might want to bring her in if you can. ”

“Will do. I better run if I’m going to get this thing up and running. ”

“Thanks, Andy. Great work. ” Freddy ended the call and turned to his friend. “Reece, I almost forgot. ”

“What? ”

Strain pulled a duffel from a compartment behind his seat. “I saw what you gave to Richard Hastings in Africa and thought you might need a new one, ” he said as he pulled a Winkler tomahawk from his bag and handed it to his friend.

Reece stared at the masterpiece of wood and steel, slowly pulling the small bungee cords that secured the Kydex sheath to its deadly head and examining its razor-sharp blade.

“I can’t accept this, brother. It’s your Squadron ax, ” Reece said, honored and humbled.

“I’ve never carried it. As you know, I prefer my guns, ” Freddy said smiling, clearly enjoying the moment. “Keep it. Think of it as a thank-you for nailing that haji that was climbing the building to take me out in Morocco. Plus, I know how much you love those things. ”

“Thank you, Freddy. I’ll hold on to it for you; how about that? ”

“Sounds good, Reece. ”

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