Choke Points

by Trevor Scott

  “His name is Yan Shen,” Fox One said. “There’s not much on him, but he seems to be more reasonable than Chen Fang.”

  “How do you know?” Jake asked.

  “Fox Two is fluent in Chinese. We’ve been able to listen in to some of their conversations.”

  “What are they saying?” Sirena asked.

  “Something about an unknown man and woman that they’re seeking,” Fox One said. “Also, this morning they mentioned the death of two officers in Ireland. Didn’t you just come from Dublin?”

  Jake explained how the Chinese were holding a C-Suite officer from their company, and they started it.

  “Hey, I’m not judging,” Fox One said. “Somebody has to stop these bastards. Which reminds me. What’s our objective here? Is this a snatch and grab, or the other?”

  “That’s not always up to us,” Jake said. “If we pick them up for the murder of our two security officers, the Portuguese government will simply deport them. Then the Chinese will send them somewhere else to do the same old shit.”

  “You got that shit right,” Fox One said. “But remember, it’s like Whack a Mole. You pound one down and two more pop up. And, other than the three on top, there have been at least a half dozen other officers coming and going from that safe house.”

  This wasn’t really Jake’s fight anymore. He was close to retirement from all work. But he also couldn’t let the Chinese kill his people with impunity.

  “I’m not going to set any unreasonable parameters to any operation,” Jake said. “When the time comes, we go in with overwhelming force.”

  “Shock and Awe,” Fox One said with a smirk. “But what about the locals?”

  That could be a problem, Jake knew. He couldn’t control the police. But maybe he could bring in one person he trusted.

  “Local Agency folks will not be involved,” Jake said. “At least not directly.” He checked his watch and then added, “The station chief and all of his people will leave the embassy in two hours. They’ll drive to the airport and take a plane to Madrid. Of course, the Chinese will track them out of the country and pick them up in Spain.”

  “That’s smart,” Fox One said. “It gives them complete plausible deniability.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “It could also mean that we might be up against a lot more MSS officers,” Sirena concluded.

  “She’s got a point,” Fox One agreed. “Especially if they’re not having to keep track of Agency officers.”

  “Are we sure these are the people who took out our folks?” Jake asked.

  Fox One shrugged.

  Jake said, “Well, we know they tracked us from the kill site and tried to shoot us. I guess that’s good enough for me.”

  “And me,” Sirena said. “Which way to the bathroom?”

  Fox One pointed down the hallway and gave Sirena directions.

  Once Sirena was gone, Fox One said, “Are you two together?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “I’m just not used to going in with a woman,” he said. “We’ve dealt with female CIA officers over the years, but Sirena seems much more intense than those.”

  Jake smiled. “You could say that. She’s former Israeli Defense Forces. Flew attack helicopters for them, before switching to the Mossad. Then, since she was a dual citizen, she switched to our CIA. But she’s also been on loan to the NSA, FBI and nearly every other alphabet soup agency. She’s even worked for Spanish Intelligence as an exchange officer. Trust me, you don’t have to worry about her.”

  Fox One laughed. “I’m more worried about my men checking out her ass instead of doing their work.”

  “God was good to her,” Jake said. “But don’t underestimate her exterior. She knows a dozen different fighting styles. Do I need to worry about this?”

  “No, sir. My men are professionals.”

  “Good.”

  “What about weapons?” Fox One asked.

  “We brought our own. But we’ll need to get on the same comms.”

  Sirena came back and checked out the map.

  “What call signs do you want?”

  She said, “Jake is Eagle One and I’m Eagle Two.”

  “Roger that. When do we go in?”

  “Twenty-two hundred,” Jake said.

  “Awesome. There’s no moon and cloud cover tonight. No rain or snow.”

  “You have a room for us?” Jake asked.

  “Upstairs. We saved the master bedroom for you. It’s the last room on the left.”

  Jake and Sirena hauled their bags upstairs and closed their bedroom door.

  He could hear the fourth man from the strike team snoring in the room next door. Sirena simply smiled and sat on the edge of the bed.

  “What do you think?” she asked.

  “We’ll solidify the plan once I get a better look at the house.”

  “I thought you might want to go there. You want company?”

  “It’ll be better if I walk by alone,” he said. “I’ll do just one pass and come back.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I’ll try to get some rest.”

  “Put your earbuds in and I’ll call you if I need something.” He dug around inside his bag and found a black baseball cap, putting it on his head.

  He went downstairs and told Fox One his plan, making sure his men knew he was coming. Then he checked the map one more time and left the house.

  Jake wandered down the residential streets in the brisk January air, zig zagging toward the target Chinese safe house. The houses here were much larger than those in the Dublin neighborhood where the Chinese had their safe house in that city. Most houses also had stone walls surrounding them. From his quick observation, he noticed a few of the houses had security cameras. If the Chinese were smart, which he knew they were, they would not only have cameras, but their security would include motion sensors and roving guards.

  When he got within a few blocks of the house, he could see the dark SUV ahead. They were parked under a large pine tree behind a smaller, shorter car. But they were tall enough to peer over the top of the car and still see the target house.

  As he walked past the SUV, he simply adjusted his hat on his head without looking inside the vehicle.

  Instead of walking right in front of the house, Jake turned right and walked down the block. There was a narrow alley, but he decided not to go down there. Instead, he turned left at the next block and came all the way around, passing the alley on the other side, until he came to the main street again. That’s when he saw the car across the street.

  Jake vectored across the street in the blind side of the driver. When he tapped on the driver’s window, the woman behind the wheel nearly jumped through the roof.

  She powered the window down and said, “What are you doing back here?”

  He smiled at SIED officer Carla Matos and simply rounded the back of the car and got into the front passenger seat with her.

  30

  “What are you doing here?” Jake asked Carla.

  “I could ask you the same thing.” Instead of looking at Jake, the young intel officer had her eyes cast upon the Chinese safe house down the street.

  “You need to leave them alone,” Jake warned.

  Now she turned her head to him. “This is my country.”

  “Tell that to your politicians,” he said. “They seem to be turning your country into another Chinese province.”

  She bit her lower lip and let out a heavy sigh. “I can’t control what they do. I’m just one young officer.”

  “You’re Jewish, right?”

  “How?”

  “Your Star of David is a dead giveaway,” Jake said, remembering seeing her necklace when she was naked in their hotel room. “One person can make a huge difference. Especially if the alternative is to stand by and do nothing. Doing nothing is doing something. But it’s not helping your country. I’m guessing you know this, and that’s why you’re still looking into the Chinese officer who killed two of your citize
ns and tried to kill you, me and Sirena. If we don’t take a stand, then they have already won the game.”

  She lowered her chin toward her chest and put the Star from her necklace between her fingers. “I’ve been suspended.”

  Jake laughed. “I was suspended so many times in my career, it was the only way I took vacation. That just means you give a shit.”

  “You don’t understand,” she said demurely. “I’ve never failed at anything in my life.”

  He put his hand on hers. “This is not a failure. Let me guess, they suspended you for the shoot-out that ended at the SIED headquarters gate.”

  “Partially.”

  “Would they rather be holding a memorial service for you? Bureaucrats can’t help being assholes. It’s in their DNA.”

  She smiled at that thought.

  Jake continued, “Suspension or not, here you are. You’ve already learned to defy the incompetent. I couldn’t be more proud of you.”

  “My father wouldn’t think that way.”

  “Don’t tell him. It’s none of his fucking business.”

  She contorted her head to one side. “I think you might be right.”

  He squeezed down on her hand. “Damn straight, Carla.” He thought for a moment and added, “How would you like to make a difference?”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “What have you observed so far about this safe house?”

  She thought carefully. “It’s not very safe.”

  “They never are,” he said. “They’re only safe if they’re not discovered. But you know where it is, so they’ve lost some power. Now, what do you know about those involved in the death of Fausto Crespo and Gilda Freitas?”

  Carla reached under her seat and pulled out a digital camera with a long zoom lens. She brought up the image of a Chinese man. “I think this guy is guilty of murder.”

  “Do you have a name?”

  “No. And I can’t access the SIED database.”

  “Anyone else involved?” he asked.

  She pulled up another image and turned the back of the camera for Jake to see. This one was a Chinese woman.

  “Who is she?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

  “I don’t know. But she seems to boss the other man around. So, she must be in charge. If she didn’t pull the trigger, then she ordered it.”

  Jake had to make a decision on this young intel officer. She could be helpful if the shit hit the fan with their operation. And he expected a heavy dose of crap flying through the air this evening.

  “Again,” Jake said, “do you want to make things happen? Do you want to be part of the solution?”

  “How?”

  “If you haul these Chinese officers in, they will scream diplomatic immunity faster than shooting stars cross the sky.”

  “I know.”

  “Then the Chinese government will simply haul them back to Beijing and put them on ice for a while until they get reassigned somewhere else.”

  “What do you propose? I’m not a killer.”

  “We’re all killers, Carla. You just haven’t had the unfortunate displeasure of taking a life. In the end, we all have choices to make in life. We become the sheep and put down our arms, acquiescing to whatever comes our way. Or, we become the wolf and protect ourselves from anything that comes our way. We only kill to survive. Which would you rather be?”

  “Do choices always have to be that black and white?”

  “Let the only gray area be between your ears,” Jake said. He pointed at the safe house. “Those people in that house would put a bullet in your head and then go to the closest noodle shop for lunch. They wouldn’t think twice about taking your life. Last chance. Do you want to make a difference?”

  “Of course. But how?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  She didn’t seem to have a clear answer for a moment. Finally, reluctantly, she said, “Yes.”

  “Okay. Then start your engine and follow my instructions.”

  Jake had Carla pull a U-turn and headed back around the block, away from the Chinese safe house. Then he directed her toward the house that the Gomez organization had rented for them. He had Carla park her car down the alley next to the detached garage where he suspected the second SUV was parked.

  The two of them got out and walked toward the back door. Fox One met them to unlock the door, his 9mm handgun at the side of his leg.

  “Who’s the woman?” Fox One asked, letting them into the kitchen.

  Jake said, “A friend that can help us.”

  Sirena appeared from the other room and stopped in her tracks when she saw the Portuguese woman. “Jake is still bringing in strays.”

  He let that one go, and then he introduced Carla to Fox One and Sirena. Jake didn’t mention the fact that she had been suspended.

  “You didn’t say she was so cute,” Sirena said, extending her hand out to Carla. “I guess I didn’t notice the last time we were together.”

  “That was an irrelevant fact,” Jake said.

  Sirena didn’t just shake the much younger woman’s hand. She drew Carla in and kissed her on both cheeks.

  Carla said, “We were under fire. It’s hard to look your best under those stressful conditions.”

  Jake led Carla and the others into the dining room.

  Carla saw the maps and she looked confused. Then she saw the current video feed from the men in the SUV outside the Chinese safe house.

  “We just came from there,” Carla said. She turned to Jake. “You’re already watching the house?”

  Jake pulled up the images of the three Chinese intel officers already identified. He put names to the faces and Carla seemed even more confused.

  “I thought you worked for the Gomez organization,” Carla said.

  “I do,” Jake said. “But I have contacts all over the world. Contacts willing to help counter the Chinese.”

  For the first time since Jake had met Carla, she finally seemed relieved, as if a huge weight had been lifted from her chest. “What do we do?” she asked.

  “How many have you seen coming and going from that house?” Jake asked.

  “At least six,” she said. “But not the man you call the leader.”

  “Wu Li Jin,” Fox One provided.

  “Whatever his name,” Carla said. “But I did see him coming and going from the Chinese Embassy recently.”

  “He’s cousins with the Chinese president,” Jake said. “He’s a businessman trying to pressure companies into selling. I’m guessing he won’t be seen with the foot soldiers. He was a former general in the Chinese Army.”

  “He could be our number one target,” Fox One said.

  Sirena jumped in. “If we take him or harm him in any way, the Chinese will hunt us all down until we’re dead.”

  “It would definitely get their attention,” Jake agreed.

  “What’s the plan, boss?” Fox One asked.

  Jake glanced at the map and said, “We stick with the plan.”

  Carla gave Jake a concerned look and said, “And that would be?”

  Jake smiled. “We’ll explain once the others get here.”

  31

  Night fell upon Lisbon. With no moon and swirling clouds above, what shadows there were had their own shadows. That was exactly how Jake liked it.

  Fox One had briefed on the plan of action. Over the past couple of nights, all of the Chinese operatives were back at the house by twenty-one hundred, so they would make sure to move on the house at precisely twenty-two hundred.

  Everyone geared up. The contract strike team had brought extra bullet-proof vests for Jake, Sirena and Carla. They were not the thicker combat-type armor, but the type used by the local police in Portugal. All of them were dressed in black from top to bottom.

  Jake shifted his arms around at the shoulders. “I’m not used to this type of restriction,” he said.

  “Shut up,” Sirena said. “You’re wearing it.”

  Carla said, “Th
is is the same as the one I use with my agency.”

  Fox One came up to Carla and checked the fit of the vest. “We like to buy local for ops like this.”

  “Except for the guns,” Carla said. “Those aren’t local.”

  Fox One handed her a submachine gun. “Have you shot the MP5 before?”

  “Yes,” Carla said. “At the range.” She checked over the weapon.

  “These are military versions,” Fox One said, pointing to the operating modes. “Safe here. Semi-auto. Three-round burst. And full auto. I suggest you use Semi-auto or Three-round burst.”

  “Suppressors?” Carla asked.

  Fox One shrugged. “Saves on your hearing. And no need to wake up the whole neighborhood.”

  Jake moved in next to the young Portuguese officer. “Sometimes you don’t want to alert the whole crew to your whereabouts. But they will see your muzzle-flash.”

  “You’ll have three thirty-round magazines,” Fox One said. “Plus, whatever you have with your 9mm handgun.”

  “Glock with three seventeen-round mags,” Carla said.

  “That’ll work,” Fox One said, and went back to his men.

  Carla pulled Jake aside and whispered, “What type of mission is this? Are we going in to take them all out?”

  Jake turned his back to show her long white zip ties. “If they surrender, we take them in and find a place for them. They’ll end up at an interrogation site out of this country.”

  “Where? Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

  “This is entirely up to them,” Jake said, although he knew what the likely outcome would be.

  Fox One came over and handed NVGs to Carla. “Have you used these while shooting?”

  “Night vision?” she asked. “No. What should I know?”

  Jake took this. “You have a much narrower field of view. So, you’ll not be seeing danger coming from the sides without moving your head. Keep it on a swivel.”

  “They’re great for the initial assault,” Fox One said. “Since we’re concentrating on a particular target. If someone is stupid enough to switch on the lights, just flip the NVGs up on your head.”

  Carla nodded understanding.

  Fox One said to Jake, “I need to talk with you about extraction from Lisbon.”