by C. G. Cooper
Although Cal made the current action sound routine, Daniel thought otherwise. There was a storm brewing and the Marine in him wanted to be in the middle of it. Standing in the hotel with Cal and his compatriots, Daniel started to feel at home.
The last time he’d felt this comfortable was when he’d finally won the respect of the acting platoon sergeant of his first scout sniper platoon; a crusty old Gunny who looked like he’d been in the Corps since the days of General Lejeune. The man was a career Marine and respected by every enlisted Marine (and the smartest officers) in the battalion. His most commonly used words were ‘shit’ and ‘fuck’. Like any good Gunnery Sergeant, he was a hard man to please. If you ever expected a compliment from the Gunny, you’d be waiting until the second coming of Jesus.
They’d just completed a grueling training evolution at Twenty Nine Palms. It was the lead-up to Daniel’s first combat deployment. He’d shot like a pro all week. In addition, his infiltration into the simulated enemy’s camp, the subsequent mock killing of their entire battalion staff, and his successful extraction, earned the platoon outstanding marks from the training officials. The Commanding General had even taken a turn commending the brave sniper team.
The old Gunny had turned to Daniel after the final debrief and imparted some of the sweetest words Daniel would ever hear in the Marine Corps: “Well, Briggs, looks like you’re not the shitbag that I thought you were. Now go pack your shit. You’re a fucking sniper now.”
Briggs remembered the crusty old bird fondly. They’d become as close to friends as the Gunny would allow. Tragically, the brave Marine died early into their second tour in Afghanistan. He died a hero, standing in the open, calling in close air support to destroy a heavily manned enemy position while his lifeblood flowed freely from his right arm that was no longer there.
As he did whenever remembering the man, Daniel said a silent prayer for the old warrior. He knew Gunny was up in heaven giving Jesus a run for his money.
He grabbed another couple pieces of survival gear from a separate box and locked everything back up.
Leaving the storage facility, Daniel Briggs walked with a steadier step. He was a man on a mission. He was a man going home.
Chapter 24
Memphis, Tennessee
9:15am, September 18th
The FedEx employee almost laughed out loud as he read the order form. Some businesses just didn’t know how to ship merchandise. Take this one, for example. They’d literally paid double to have their packages delivered by 11am. They could’ve saved half if the same delivery was scheduled for two hours later. Stupid, thought the delivery supervisor.
He processed the shipment and scheduled the smaller parcels for local carriers. They’d be gone in under an hour. FedEx knew how to get stuff in and out, fast.
Chapter 25
Eighth & I, Washington, D.C.
9:22am, September 18th
“Everything ready to go, First Sergeant?” Capt. Andrews asked his senior enlisted Marine.
“Yes, sir. Second platoon is waiting by the gate.”
“Good. How about we head that way?”
Both Marines, attired in civilian clothing, stepped off toward the company van. They were booked on a commercial flight with the rest of their platoon. Leaving from Reagan National would be easy. In about seven hours, they’d be unloading their gear in Sin City.
+++
The White House
“Mr. President, I’ve got your itinerary for the convention.”
The tall president reached for the printed sheet.
“I thought you were gonna start sending these to me on my iPad, Bobby,” the President teased his junior aide.
Bobby Johansen flushed in embarrassment. It was true. He had promised to “stop killing trees” as the President liked to say. Unfortunately, being swamped with the planning for the trip to Las Vegas, Johansen forgot to deliver the itinerary electronically. It hadn’t helped that he’d gotten an email from that Asian guy when he arrived at the office. Something about a delivery coming in later today. He wished he’d never gotten in that mess during the campaign stop in Columbus. Now he had his unlikely savior asking random questions about the President’s toys. The President loved new technology. He was known to spend hours scouring social media sites.
None of the inquiries were incriminating. Hell, Johansen didn’t want to lose his job! No, the Japanese guy owned a technology company; something to do with cell phones. He wanted to get the inside scoop on possible upcoming government contracts. It seemed to Johansen that the man wanted to be able to brag to the public once the President received his newest smart phone prior to the official release. The guy seemed nice enough. He had helped Bobby out of that little matter with the Columbus police.
Johansen didn’t see the harm. Hell, maybe he could even get a free phone out of the deal.
“So can you send this to my iPad, Bobby?” the President woke Johansen from his thoughts.
“Oh, yes sir. Sorry, sir. I’ll send it to you right now.”
Chapter 26
Las Vegas, Nevada
9:52am, September 18th
Daniel hurried to his apartment and rushed to the bathroom. He quickly trimmed his beard and then shaved it off completely. He tied his hair back in a ponytail. Next he took out his one pair of decent jeans and threw on a form-fitting, black t-shirt. He finished the look with a weathered gray sport coat his mother bought him when he’d gone home for his dad’s funeral. I look halfway normal again, he thought, as he stared into the bathroom mirror. Mom would like to see me like this.
He linked up with Gaucho’s team twenty minutes later. They were all dressed in varying levels of stylish party attire. No one said anything about his appearance, but he thought he saw Gaucho smile in approval.
Briggs gave the men a quick rundown of the target. They were impressed by the level of detail in his presentation. One of the operators, dressed in an expensive Armani suit, asked Briggs how he knew so much about the place.
“Let’s just say I’ve had a whole lot of time to visit most of the Vegas establishments. Zeitaku’s relatively new, so I don’t know what your plan is to infiltrate the secure areas.”
Gaucho answered the question, “Neil gave us one of his toys.”
Daniel didn’t have a clue what the man was talking about. He knew Neil was the good-looking Indian guy with glasses. Briggs assumed he was just a computer geek that worked for SSI.
“I don’t get it. What toys?”
Gaucho laughed. “Sorry, Compadre. I forgot that you don’t really know our man Neil. His dad was some rich Indian dude. He built a big telecom company or something in the nineties. Well, Neil grew up working in his dad’s workshop. By the age of ten, the kid could fix or build more shit than his dad’s best technicians. So when Colonel Stokes brought Neil to SSI, he put him in charge of the company’s R&D shop. You give the guy a problem and he comes up with the solution.”
Briggs still looked confused. “Okay. So what about the toy he gave you?”
Gaucho motioned to the dark-haired operator standing next to him. The man handed what looked like an oversized CD case to the team leader. Gaucho pulled out a large disk and held it up. It was about eight inches in diameter and about a third of a centimeter thick.
“This is what Neil came up with for one of our little problems. We kept going on ops where the only way we could see through a door was either to knock it down or use one of those fiber optic cameras.”
“What does it do?” Briggs asked.
“You ever see one of those kids toys where you unfold the paper and it turns into a snowflake or something?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Well, this thing transforms into a ball. Then we can drive the thing on a smart phone loaded with the right software.”
“But isn’t that pretty obvious if somebody sees it on the other side?”
“I ain’t told you the best part. We’ve been testing a lot of this new camouflage shit. You kn
ow, the electronic stuff that makes you look like a chameleon? So anyway, Neil used that technology on The Sphere.”
“The Sphere?”
“That’s what we call it. Neil came up with some crazy name like Techno-Gyro-Camo-Something. We’re all dumb grunts. The Sphere works better for us.” Daniel knew they were anything but dumb.
“So this thing can camouflage itself?”
“Yeah. It blends with its background. You can be looking right at it and barely see it. Kinda looks like a mirage. We can also flatten it out with the push of a button. Then it’s almost totally invisible. It’s not foolproof yet, but it’s worked pretty well so far. Saves Bam Bam over there…” he pointed to a large man with bowling ball biceps, “…from having to bash in so many doors.”
“So what else can it do?” Daniel was fascinated by the advanced gear. What he would’ve given to have some of those over in the desert.
“It’s got a built-in camera so we can steer it and we can record to the cloud. Neil programmed a couple more features, but we’ll save those for later.”
“Cool. So where do you want me?”
“I’ve got you paired with Bam Bam.” He turned to the rest of the team. “Let’s get a quick comm check before we step off. I don’t want my calls to go to voicemail.”
The men chuckled and started checking their communication gear. They kept it simple and used cell phones. Most of their communication would be done via text. Only emergencies would be relayed via actual phone calls. They’d picked up the pay-as-you-go phones from a couple local pharmacies earlier.
Daniel checked his new phone and smiled. It felt good to be among warriors again.
+++
“Cal, Gaucho just checked in. They’re starting to head out,” Neil updated the small command group.
Cal looked over at Brian, Willy, and Zimmer. “So to recap, Top, you stay here with Neil and the Congressman. Brian and I will head to the café across the street from the target.”
“Why do I have to wear the chick disguise?” complained Brian.
“Neil thought you had the better hips,” Cal answered with a grin. “It’s better than having to wear this fat suit.” Cal patted the belly of his twenty-pound fat suit. There was a prosthetic nose and pair of glasses to go along with the trucker hat he had perched on his head.
“Let’s get ready and head that way.”
Brian nodded and went into the bathroom to change into his drag outfit. He wasn’t happy about it, but he knew that even his mother would never recognize him AND it was much easier to hide weapons under the many layers of his outfit. At least he wouldn’t have to wear lipstick.
They walked out of the hotel room five minutes later. Brian walked uncomfortably in his patent leather combat boots. “I swear, if you ever make me do this again, Cal, I’ll…”
“Relax, Doc. Next time, we’ll get Top to wear the chick getup.”
Brian laughed at the absurdity of the mental image. At seven feet tall, there was no way MSgt Trent could pass for a woman.
“If I’m dressing up as the woman, you’re paying for dinner.”
Cal laughed despite the severity of the situation. They were going into the heart of Indian country. Hopefully, all they’d be doing was observing. The last thing he wanted to do was chase the enemy around Las Vegas in a fat suit.
Chapter 27
Tampa, Florida
11:02am, September 18th
The young intern met the mailman at the door.
“Got a couple packages for your office. Here, I’ll just put ‘em in a box for you. Leave the empty container outside tomorrow.”
The staffer took the box and looked down at all the labels. She’d planned on leaving early. She was jumping on a plane tomorrow with the rest of Congressman Unger’s staff. The past week seemed a blur of planning and scheduling. Her boss was a second-term member of the House looking to get re-elected. Despite the President’s waning popularity, Unger still wanted to get to Las Vegas early and be in as many photos with the incumbent as possible.
Her daddy, a rich Florida businessman, secured her a position through a couple of well-placed donations. When she’d first started working at the Congressman’s office, she’d started a casual relationship with the twice-married Representative. His second wife was on the way out, and the staffer was on the way up.
Three months earlier, Unger off handedly mentioned that she should consider dating other people. He threw out some excuse about the re-election and trying to reconcile with his wife. She’d been offended but took it in stride. If she ever wanted a political career, she needed to have a level head. Besides, the Congressman wasn’t fun anymore. He’d almost become a recluse in recent months. In fact, she thought, it all started with that trip out to Las Vegas in May. Strange.
She lugged in the mail and sorted through the junk. Picking up a small package, she inspected the label. Opel. I’ll bet this is that new phone he wanted me to order for him. The pretty intern walked into the Congressman’s vacant office and set the package on his large desk. On second thought, she grabbed a sticky note and wrote “Let me know if you need help using this” with a smiley face. It was better to keep all of her options open. Maybe Las Vegas would be a chance to climb back into his bed.
She left the office, already planning on which skimpy lingerie to pack.
Chapter 28
Las Vegas, Nevada
11:11am, September 18th
Minutes after Cal left to monitor the raid, there was a knock at Neil’s door. He was so engrossed with his work that he didn’t hear the knock or see the manila envelope slide under the door.
+++
Gaucho’s teams had already entered Zeitaku at staggered intervals. Some were in pairs of two, others as threesomes. It would be up to him to penetrate the casino’s labyrinth with their little toy. They would only have one chance. It couldn’t be wasted.
The team leader found the access door right where Neil had described. He glanced around casually and picked out a couple of his men. They were doing what they did best: blending in. Moving to the door, he rolled his suitcase behind. If anyone asked, he was looking for his room. His luggage was actually full of clothes. Tucked in the side pocket was their little surveillance tool.
Once next to the access point, he stopped and parked his bag. Luckily, there weren’t any security guards nearby. There were, however, plenty of cameras. The drop would need to be smooth. Gaucho had just the thing. He’d tucked a map in front of the folded surveillance piece. Unzipping the side pocket of his suitcase, he extracted the map, keeping The Sphere covered right behind.
Staring at the travel guide, he used his peripheral vision to detect any wandering eyes. Nothing. Without taking his eyes off the map, he depressed the small power switch on the covert surveillance unit. He could just barely feel it vibrate as it powered on.
Gaucho waited five seconds more, mumbled a few curses for the sake of the cameras, turned quickly, and “accidentally” dropped the map. It fell perfectly flat, The Sphere safely on the ground. He bent over, still cursing to himself, and picked up the map. As he stood, he placed a perfect kick behind the barely visible disc and it slid under the door.
Taking his time with the map, he finally folded it up and slid it into his pocket. Next, he pulled out his phone and texted GO to Cal, Neil, and the rest of the team. He headed to the only place on the main level without cameras: the bathroom.
+++
“He’s in,” Cal whispered to Brian. They’d been at the little café long enough to have half their coffee.
“So how come we can’t control that thing from our hotel?”
Cal took another sip of his coffee, then answered. “The signal won’t go that far. We’ve gotta be pretty close to direct it.”
“How long do you think it’ll take?”
“As long as Gaucho can keep the thing moving, it’ll probably be around twenty minutes. Thirty tops.”
“So tell me again how that thing is gonna help us?” Bria
n asked between glances across the street.
“Neil thinks that if we can get close to their internal servers, he’ll be able to tap into them. I think he’s using The Sphere to send a signal at close range. Once he does that, Neil says we’ll have unlimited access to their entire network.”
“I guess we better pray that the batteries don’t run out.”
Cal snorted and went back to pretending to read something on his cell phone. Soon he should be able to see the feed from the surveillance unit. This thing had to work. He had a feeling the Japanese contingent was planning something big.
+++
Gaucho settled into the handicap stall at the end of the bathroom. He propped his suitcase against the door and pulled out his phone. Switching on the display, he brought up the appropriate app. While he waited for it to load, he plugged in a pair of headphones.
The screen changed to a large green button. He pressed it. A few meters away, The Ball ballooned into a sphere. Gaucho could now see through the tiny camera. It was an unremarkable hallway that looked huge from the small camera’s perspective.
He texted to Cal and Neil: YOU GETTING THIS?
They both replied: YES.
Following the small map Neil had drawn, Gaucho guided the silent vehicle to its destination.
+++
Neil watched his creation move closer to Ichiban’s server room. He wished he could be driving the thing, but Cal had insisted on keeping him at the hotel. He was too valuable to put in harm’s way. Neil agreed on some level, but he always ached to be with the guys in the field. Sometimes he went along in a support capacity, but they never let him near the action.
He stood up and did some quick stretches. Once they were in the server room, he’d be busy trying to dissect the network. Might as well get in some exercise.
