by Bella Juarez
Over the last couple of years, they’d discovered a sleeper cell in their ranks, and now he had a suspicion that the special ops guys working for Montenegro could be infiltrating their teams. When the ring leader, Special Warfare Group 5’s executive officer, Commander Rafe Wilson, had been killed, the captain felt that some of his followers had gone deep and decided to wait for another opportunity. Part of what they wanted to do was smoke out the new leader of the cell. Two cases of EMP devices had gone missing during one of the rotations of SEALs coming and going to the base.
Dan had been charged with devising a way to track the weapons without the enemy knowing. He’d marked each one of the devices with a clear paint-like substance that emitted a signal. The SEALs knew the marked devices had gone to Sonora, Mexico. When they kidnapped the minister’s secretary, they’d done it in an attempt to find out who had delivered the stolen devices and where they’d made contact. Something else he’d read while he’d been at Coronado suddenly clicked. The Russians had developed those weapons in an underground facility in order to minimize any accidental damage.
When the team arrived, they discussed what had been going on with the surveillance detail that had been initiated. Afterward, he asked about the facility in Mexico.
“It doesn’t look like they were working on any of the mining equipment or replacing what was there. From the recon we did, there were some slews that were hanging by a thread from the ceiling, but they were focused on the tunnel entrance. No one was working the mine like you say,” Friday said.
“There were a lot of guards, but they weren’t really guarding anything that we could see,” Jim Williams said.
“So what you’re saying, and what we’ve been seeing on surveillance is that everything seems to be underground, right?” Dan asked.
“Well, so far,” Davey said.
“I don’t get it. Isn’t that what we’re expecting them to do? Work on the tunnel?” CBP Salas asked.
“But there’s no tunneling going on because debris would be coming out if they were clearing, and they’ve been there for a few weeks now. If they were clearing, they should be within range of the surveillance cameras. We can see that the area’s clear. What the hell are they doing? They’re hanging near the entrance, but not doing anything above ground.”
“What do you think they’re doing?” Shaq asked Dan.
“I’m not sure, but it doesn’t feel right,” Dan said.
“Are you at least gonna tell us what we should look for?” Major Williams asked.
Dan shrugged. “Maybe equipment going in and out that isn’t mining related? Sorry guys, I guess I was grasping at straws.”
“No worries, we’ll all be on the lookout. Jim, I have an idea,” Shaq said, nodding to Dan and taking the Marine aside for a quiet word.
Dan watched Shaq and Jim walk to the kitchen and whisper. If anyone in this outfit knew him, it was his dive buddy. Very few people outside the SEAL community understood the tie that dive buddies had. When you found the right one, that connection was deeper than family. You eventually got to the place where you could almost read each other’s minds. On many missions, he and Shaq could communicate with a glance and synchronize their thoughts and movements. They’d been together for a long time, and it could be scary sometimes how much they understood each other without words passing between them. Afterward, Dan, Shaq, and Jim all discussed changing the focus of the mission and developing a new plan to destroy the entire facility to such a degree that it would remain unusable.
Dan was a million miles away as they drove out to the main road that would take them back to the house. He’d been so deep in thought that Rio’s voice startled him.
“Danny! Did you hear me?”
“I’m sorry, babe. What was that?”
“Go to the Dairy Queen in Old Bisbee. I want a shake.”
“Why the hell do we need to go that far? Can’t we go to the Burger King near the house?”
“No, go into Old Bisbee, and then go to the hill you took me to on the Fourth of July to watch the fireworks.”
The last thing he wanted to do right now was fool around. He needed to think. He started to argue but knew it was pointless because he’d end up doing what Rio wanted anyway. After they got their shakes, he drove her to the hilltop overlooking the old city.
“Give me your phone,” she said, holding out her hand.
“What? Why?”
“Give it to me!”
What the fuck?
He handed over his phone and watched as she took the back off and pulled out the battery. She took her phone and did the same, then opened the door and got out of the truck.
Had she gone crazy? He followed her.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“You tell me.”
“What—?”
“Stop! Just stop, please. I’m not an idiot, and I’m on your side, remember? Do you expect me to believe that you called leadership for this operation in the middle of the night because you were grasping at straws? What the hell is it, Danny? What’s going on? And please don’t pull this sneaky shit on me and tell me you can’t talk about it.”
“Nothing’s going on—”
“Bullshit! Stop this! I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on. I know this cartel and what it’s capable of. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I can help you? Trust me. Gavin does. Why can’t you? What’s going on? I want the truth this time.”
Walking away, he looked down at the streets of Old Bisbee. The lights that bathed the old city were breathtaking from this view. The pink glow of the granite and the deep blue of the pools that dotted the town below gave the city a romantic view. The mood of this location at night made it the perfect get-lucky spot. He turned and looked at Rio. There would be nothing romantic about this conversation. They were talking about changing the world. If they were successful no one would ever know how close the world had come to disaster, but if they failed, millions of lives could be affected in a very bad way. The weight of what he did for a living suddenly felt very heavy and overwhelming. Failure wasn’t an option. He exhaled and looked back at the old city.
“I don’t think Montenegro wants to use the tunnels for smuggling. When you busted Bakri in New York, did he have a case of devices?”
“No, we found out they were still in Sonora. So?”
“Think about that a second. Why are they still in Sonora, and why are these guys not clearing the tunnel if their business is smuggling drugs and people? I think Montenegro is trying to recreate those things, and because he doesn’t want anyone to know, what better place to do it than underground in an abandoned mine. I read something about how EMPs were first developed in an underground facility to minimize damage if they went off. I think that’s why he wanted the ranch. Those tunnels won’t ever be used, and he’ll have an underground facility to do whatever the hell he wants, and no one will know.”
“Wait a minute. You think he wants to make more of those things?”
“Yeah, but I’m not sure why other than to sell them or something. I don’t know, maybe he and Bakri are going into business together. I know it sounds crazy,” Dan said. Rio sucked in a breath and lifted her hands to her mouth. “What? Rio, what is it?”
“No, I think he plans on using the tunnels eventually. Those tunnels go on for miles, and there are extensions off of the main line to the east and west. The CBP knows Mexico is full of mining engineers that the cartel uses all the time for tunneling. If he sets those things off underground, all of the sensors that we have along the border will be knocked out. There’s no way we can stop the traffic; we don’t have enough people. If he made a deal with Bakri to get a bunch of terrorists over, it would be a walk in the park. Or if he gets close to the checkpoints with those things, he’ll knock out all of our equipment, and we won’t be able to communicate with each other.”
Words escaped him as he tried to wrap his mind around what she just said. This was much worse than he’d envisioned.
Who knew what other terrorist bastards Montenegro had made a deal with? Forget the drugs. What about Fort Huachuca? What if those fuckers got close to the base with one of those devices? The base served as an electronic proving ground. Software testing for electronic warfare systems went on there. Or worse, someone could be pulling invisible strings through Bakri and Montenegro to pull off an invasion of the United States from Mexico. He rushed toward Rio, grabbed her hand, and pulled her toward his vehicle.
“We have to get back to the hunting shack.”
“Screw the hunting shack!” she said, jerking free. “They can’t help us! We need to get a hold of Gavin and Captain O’Malley. Danny, that son-of-a-bitch has a private special ops team, and he’s declaring war on the United States.” Rio had just voiced his worst-case scenario. “If you’re right, we need to level that place to make sure Montenegro is put down and only Captain O’Malley can make that happen.” He stopped and looked at her.
“Yes, I mean put down…with extreme prejudice.”
Chapter 24
Fort Huachuca, AZ
Military Intelligence Detachment
November 1, 2010/1537 Zulu
All of their work and carefully laid plans were about to coalesce in a few days. Dan and Shaq had come up with a creative way to have several SEALs, Marines, and law enforcement personnel gather in one place without suspicion. They’d decided to raise money for a veterans’ memorial in Old Bisbee. Within the next few days, there would be a huge half marathon for the charity. A unit of Special Warfare Group 5 as well as a Marine Recon unit at Fort Sam would be making the trip to participate. Of course, while they were in Bisbee, they’d converge on the Jensen ranch as well as Fort Huachuca to put in place and support the operation that would happen a few days after the race. With all of the hype about the marathon, no one would think twice about all the strangers in town.
Registration would take place at the Bisbee Grand Hotel in the heart of Old Bisbee. Through people Dan and Rio knew, and with the help of the veterans’ groups in and around Bisbee, they managed to get the city council behind the effort, and it had come together perfectly. Their surveillance on the cartel’s activities hadn’t borne much fruit, so the decision had been made to make the final push to open the tunnel fully as a means of escape for an overland op that would destroy the buildings and anything at the tunnel’s entrance. They’d worked with the scientists at Los Alamos in order to get an idea of how to neutralize any weapons that had been created and had the potential to emit an EM pulse that would harm their efforts as well as the efforts of the CBP along the border.
The biggest setback had been the release of Minister Bakri. Gavin had been beside himself with rage. Somehow Bakri’s lawyers—provided by Montenegro—managed to find an error in the paperwork for the handling of evidence. Upon his release, the Iranian government had offered him asylum, which he quickly accepted. Gavin swore up and down that the paperwork had been solid, and someone had intentionally messed it up to let Bakri go. Rio and Dan went over the paperwork and found that the chain of evidence had been mishandled by the CBP. Rio had quietly started her own investigation and felt she could be close to proving that Gavin was right; there was someone in CBP who was dirty.
For the last month, the entire team had been dedicated to the operation that would take place in a few days. They’d be doing a joint-force operation that heavily involved DEA, ATF, and CBP in the United States. Marine Recon and the SEALs would conduct a covert operation in Mexico to destroy the facility. Intel inside the Montenegro compound had proven Dan and Rio right; they were attempting to manufacture more of the devices, but it had taken time to prove it to SOCOM. The admiral recognized that the cartel had to be stopped but demanded they have an infallible plan. Dan was the officer in charge of this operation, and at times, his obligations were overwhelming. He had a lot of responsibility, almost as much as he had while standing up Camp ECHO. Thankfully, he had Badass coming back and forth on a frequent basis. But for the most part, Captain O’Malley had given him and Shaq this op to plan, manage, and execute.
Rio was his escape from the load he had to bear. She relieved him of so much responsibility when he walked through the door at the end of the day.
As he walked up to the door that led into the house, his mind was a million miles away. Dan thought about all the things he had to do over the next ten days. While he looked at his to-do list, Schotzie jumped on him as he walked in the door. Her unexpected excitement almost knocked him over.
“Babe?” he called out as he entered the kitchen.
“In here. I’m getting dressed.”
“Dressed? Are we going somewhere?” he asked as he laid his backpack on the table.
When he walked into their bedroom, he stopped in his tracks. It had been the first time since her high school graduation that he’d seen her in a dress and heels. This time she was no awkward teenager. Before him stood a confident woman who took his breath away. The red cocktail dress wrapped around her body and accentuated her curves. She’d put up her hair, and the minimal jewelry she wore made her shine. Her makeup was simple, and her black strappy heels made him want to kneel in front of her and worship her feet.
“Damn! What’s going on?”
“Are you kidding? Did you forget?”
Seeing her in that red dress made him hatch other plans for the night. Dan searched his memory and couldn’t think of a damn thing he had to do at that moment.
“Uh… Oh, shit! What time are we supposed to be there?” he asked, rushing for his section of the closet. They’d gone out over the weekend and bought him a suit for tonight.
“You still have a little time. I was about to call to find out where you were,” she said as she applied some lipstick.
Tonight some of the leadership that had already arrived for the op would be assisting in the unveiling the model of the veterans’ monument at the annual Bisbee Chamber of Commerce banquet and awards ceremony. Rio would be receiving an award in her own right for all of her work with the Humane Society. A collection of the leading citizens of Bisbee and veterans’ organizations would unveil a model of the monument that would go in Veterans’ Park.
Within fifteen minutes, he was dressed and ready to go. As they walked to the door, she paused and took a deep breath. He sensed her nervous tension. He took her hands.
“You’ll do just fine, babe,” he reassured her. She nodded as he leaned forward and kissed her. “I’m so proud of you.”
Cupping his face she smiled back.
“You don’t know how much that means to me.”
* * * *
When Rio entered the Bisbee Grand Hotel ballroom she realized how out of place she was with the people in this room. Danny squeezed her hand. “Babe, relax. You belong here.”
“I hate things like this.”
“You’d better get used to them. You’ll be doing this a lot once I get back to my duty station.”
The thought terrified her. It was easier to handle Mexican drug lords, during the dead of night in the Arizona desert, with all sorts of poisonous creatures surrounding her, than it was to face the traumatic drama of prom night over and over again. Tucking her arm into his, they walked toward the table that had been reserved for him and his committee where Captain O’Malley, Shaq, Davey, and Steve already stood. The Humane Society had the table next to them, and she was glad to see the director as well as most of the staff from the shelter. These were people she could relate to and understand. Some of the others that she knew filtered in, easing her into a conversation, and she soon felt comfortable because she was in familiar territory again.
“Babe, come with me. There’s some people I want you to meet.” Danny took her hand and guided her to a small gathering of people. Rio took tentative steps. The group reminded her of the “cool kids club” back in high school. Danny always seemed to fit right into that kind of group, but she had always remained on the fringes, looking in. On top of that, socially interacting with strangers and acting like she w
as one of them wasn’t one of her stronger traits. “Irene, Anna, this is my fiancée, Rio Jensen. Oh, and this is Amy, Gavin’s wife.”
“Rio? What a beautiful name,” one of the women said, taking her hand. “We’ve been dying to meet you since we heard about Dan’s engagement. James, come here.”
“I’m Anna O’Malley, Rio. It’s nice to finally meet you. Jack talks about you a lot.”
“Does he?” Rio asked nervously.
“Not as much as Gavin does. I’m so glad I finally got to meet you,” another woman said. “I’m Amy, Gavin’s wife.”
Finding herself surrounded by three very powerful women, Rio didn’t know what to say. She shook hands with Amy, who was positively drop dead gorgeous.
“James, this is Dan’s fiancée. Rio, this is my husband, James,” Irene said.
“Darlin’, it’s nice to see my tadpole finally got something right,” the man said.
“Master Chief, stay away from my girl. She doesn’t need you telling her any stories,” Danny said, putting his arm around her protectively.
“Watch him, Rio. He’s no good,” Captain O’Malley said, handing his wife a glass of wine.
“So are you having a wedding?” Amy asked.
“Yes, we’re planning something small for the end of December. I haven’t been able to do much yet,” Rio said, glancing at Danny.
“We’ll be glad to help!” Anna said.
“Of course,” Amy said.
“Wait—” Captain O’Malley started to say.
“Stay out of this, Rock. This is one battle you won’t win,” Irene’s husband said.
“Oh no,” Danny said, pulling her away.
“Rio, what can we help you with?” Irene asked, pulling her back toward Anna as she got between her and Dan.
“Uh, well. I really haven’t had a chance to do much,” Rio admitted. “I’ve been busy with work,” she said, looking at Danny and Gavin who both looked away, a clear signal she’d be on her own with these ladies.
