Black Operations- the Spec-Ops Action Pack Read online

  “I always enjoy a voyage in a small boat,” Rovere smiled at him.

  “You may change your mind when the shooting starts on the island,” Guy pointed out.

  “Is that ‘the way to dusty death’?” Domenico fired back at him. “Life's but a walking shadow, my friend, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage.”

  They grinned. Rovere was hard to put down and hard to ignore. Talley shut him up. They had work to do.

  “I’d enjoy it more if that patrol boat wasn’t in the area. It’s going to be a long swim, Domenico, and an even longer night, so save your breath for later.”

  Rovere shut up. If the gunboat came across Echo Six, the mission would be a bust, no question. The RIBs were almost silent as they sped across the water. The powerful Mercury gas engines were specially silenced, to give the best compromise between speed and stealth. It was only minutes before they were approaching the five thousand meter mark. In the distance, Talley could see the navigation lights of the patrol boat. If it was one of the traffickers' boats, it would have the best and most sensitive equipment money could buy. But equipment did not mean the people who manned it would be alert, and the undersea sensors suffered from the same problem. If the operator was asleep, drunk, or maybe even having sex with a local whore, they wouldn’t be alert for an attack. It was the best they could hope for. The boats slowed as the sailors cut the power.

  “We’re at the spot, Sir.”

  “Right. Return to the Virginia. We’ll call if we need you.”

  He pulled down his mask and sucked in his mouthpiece. With a last look around, he slid backward into the warm sea and swam down, turning around to watch as the rest of his unit entered the water and joined him. Roy Reynolds and Virgil Kane were towing the waterproof bags with their heavy equipment, the Minimis and the stores of two hundred round magazines. Jerry Ostrowski and Vince DiMosta were pulling overlength bags with their sniper rifles, the British Accuracy International Arctic Warfare Super Magnums. Known as the AWM, the bolt-action rifles, outfitted with a Schmidt & Bender PM, had proved outstanding in the field. Equipped to fire the heavy .338 Lapua Magnum rounds, they had scored kills at a range of a mile or more. The AWMs and SAWs were the iron fist of Echo Six, and they had demonstrated their ability to kill the enemy in large numbers and at great distances on several previous operations.

  It was a long swim, and they had to watch for the unknown; defense systems that may have been changed since the last intelligence sweep. They heard the patrol boat in the distance, but it never came close. As he got into the constant rhythm of pushing himself through the water, Talley thought about that letter, back in his locker. His wife had asked the court for sole custody of his kids, and then written to him trying to justify it.

  ‘You’re never there, Abe, you’re a stranger to them. And besides, look at the kind of work you do. I don’t want my kids to be brought up by someone who’s little more than a government assassin.’

  He’d almost torn it up in an uncharacteristic fit of anger.

  Her kids? What about me? And why does she think the kids can go to bed safe at night, without having to worry about a second nine eleven? I loved her when we first married, but she’s become the kind of schemer who'd be behind that kind of a letter. Kay knew when we married I’d be away for long periods of active service, but the arguments soon started. Then she began the affair. Maybe they're thinking of getting married. That's fine by me, but using my kids as a weapon against me, is not. I'll fight it, but how? Ask the Islamic fanatics to hang fire while I deal with the custody battle?

  With an effort, he put his troubles out of his mind and kept an eye on the progress of his unit.

  They finally made it to the beach after the exhausting swim. The twenty men of Echo Six went ashore at the foot of the cliffs and began preparations for the assault. Guy Welland came toward him, festooned with ropes and karabiners, and with his NV goggles strapped to his helmet. He smiled; they were askew, almost like decorations on a Christmas tree.

  “Any problems?”

  The SAS man shook his head. “None. We’re good to go.”

  Talley nodded, looking at the height of the cliff above them. “Not an easy climb, Guy, and we’re already running late. It would be useful to find a shortcut.”

  “We went over that before, Boss. It’s this or nothing. One shot from those guards up there and the shit really hits the fan. There’s no time to discuss this. We have to move off now.”

  “Yeah, okay, we’ll keep to plan. My unit will circle around to the harbor. As soon as you call in, we’ll move in and secure the resort. Once you’re in, get those charges set fast and get out. We’ll block any reinforcements from the outside, but even so, it’s going to be a close run thing.”

  “Aren’t they all?” Guy smiled.

  “Yeah.”

  Welland jogged away and assembled the rest of his task force. Eight men, including him, all expert climbers who would scale the cliff, kill the sentries, and capture their objective, then hold it long enough to prepare the demolition charges. He watched as Guy reached the foot of the cliff. Guy took a last look the ascent of the sheer, rocky cliff face, sixty meters high, and started to climb. Talley’s unit, twelve men in all, would skirt around the base of the cliff and establish a blocking position in the main resort area. There were at least forty heavily armed hostiles at the last count, stationed outside the walled, windowless compound. When they realized they were under attack, they'd come pouring out to defend the main complex, and Guy’s group would be hard pressed to hold them off. Talley’s group, with the two SAWs and the AWMs, had to be in position before the trouble started, or they were lost. He looked around. His men were ready.

  “Domenico, get moving now, take some men to cover the harbor. Roy, cover our rear. Remember, time is definitely not on our side.”

  Domenico sped off along the narrow strip of sand toward the harbor, and a minute later Talley led his own squad toward the resort that lay just above it. Jerry Ostrowski took a last look back at the men scaling the cliff before they rounded the headland. It was slow going, incredibly difficult. He looked aside at Talley as they jogged along the beach.

  “It’s going to be a bitch, getting up there. It could slow us down if they’re late.”

  “Guy will make it. He always does.”

  “Maybe, but that sub won’t wait around.”

  Talley looked at the Pole. “What’s up, Jerry? What’s bugging you?”

  “I don’t know, Boss. Something about this place, I’ve got a strange feeling about it.”

  “Like what?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. Like there’s something waiting for us we haven’t foreseen. These traffickers, they’re not stupid, and with the billions of dollars they can spend, I just don’t think we’ve seen everything they have to offer. There’s something else, too. This whole operation, it looks too big for just a bunch of gangsters.”

  “It’s well defended, Jerry.”

  “That’s right, and well organized, those electronic sensors, the patrol boats.”

  “We’ll deal with them. What more could they throw at us?”

  Ostrowski fixed him with a stare. “At lot. A helluva lot.”

  The commo interrupted him. “Echo One, this is Three. I can see the entire harbor. We’re almost there, and it looks quiet.”

  Domenico Rovere, his Italian accent strong.

  “Copy that, we’re moving forward. Echo Six, anything happening back there?”

  “All clear, Echo One,” Roy reported in. “No, wait, something's going on. There’s a patrol coming from the other direction, several men. They’ve stopped just below where Guy’s group is climbing.”

  Shit!

  “Have they seen them? Do they suspect anything?”

  “No, but if our guys make any noise, they're toast. I’d guess they’re only halfway up, about thirty meters above the beach.”

  “Any idea what the patrol is doing, Roy?”

>   “They’re just waiting for something. Yeah, I see it now. It’s some kind of a boat, low in the water, about twenty meters offshore. It’s weird, like a submarine, or a semi-submersible. They’re wading out to pull it onto the beach.”

  Interesting. Semi-submersibles aren’t new, but the intel weanies will be interested. It's something they missed while they focused their surveillance on the compound and the harbor.

  “Understood. Stay where you are and keep an eye on them, Roy. Keep it quiet, but use the Minimi if you have to.”

  “Copy that.”

  He tried calling Guy. “Echo Two, this is One.”

  The murmured reply came back to him. “This is Two, we heard. We’ll keep climbing. As long as they don’t look up, we’re okay.”

  “I’ve deployed one of the Minimis to cover you, in case you’re spotted.”

  “Not necessary. You’ll need everything to fight with when you get inside. It’ll be like stirring up a hive of angry bees.”

  “Yeah, I copy that. I’ll leave Roy where he is, but I’ll call him forward when he sees you’re in the clear. Good luck.”

  A click of acknowledgement sounded in his earpiece, and then there was silence. Talley took a last look around, but it was clear, and he signaled his men to keep moving. They cleared the headland, and there was the yacht harbor with dozens of luxury yachts tied to pontoons. He could see Domenico ahead, hunched behind a pile of rocks with his men deployed in a defensive formation.

  “This is Echo One. Domenico, everything quiet?”

  “It looks good here, Abe. But we’re falling further behind schedule.”

  “Can’t be helped. We have to keep going. You can move up to the quayside, and we’ll head straight for the resort complex. It’s only another fifty meters, and if nothing goes wrong, we’ll join up there in ten minutes or so. That should sync with Guy’s climb up that cliff.”

  Domenico acknowledged. Talley heard him say, ‘something always goes wrong, my friend’, just before he signed off.

  He couldn’t argue with that. Rovere started to move, and Talley gestured for his men to follow him. They stopped between the quayside and the resort, close to hundreds of millions of dollars of leisure craft. Ahead of them, the complex was still quiet, and beyond that, the mysterious, walled compound was in darkness. They removed their NV goggles. The place was lit at intervals by ornamental lamps strung from palm trees, enough to disrupt NV. Talley took a last look around. Still nothing.

  “Let’s do it.”

  They charged toward the resort, and still there was no sign the defenders had twigged to them. They passed the main hotel building, skirted around the side of one of the luxury bungalows, and in front of them was their objective, the high-walled compound across a clear, empty space. He saw Roy Reynolds running up to join them.

  “Deploy the Minimis on the flanks. Vince, Jerry, cover them, you know what to do. The rest of you…”

  He stopped as powerful floodlights flared into life. The area was suddenly brightly lit, almost as if it was daylight. Someone had switched on the banks of overhead security lights; they were fastened to the tops of the buildings and on the high, concrete wall. As their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw armed soldiers running just below the top.

  So they've got a parapet allowing them to fight from behind cover. Shit!

  Talley skidded behind a low concrete loading ramp. Domenico joined him, and they looked over the top. The defenders had ducked down behind cover, and so far none of them had showed themselves to open fire, so it would be impossible for the snipers to take them on. He looked behind him as a powerboat sped into the harbor. The boat stayed a few meters out from the quay, and Talley could see armed men moving on the deck, two of them were preparing a heavy machine gun.

  How the hell did they react so fast? And why didn’t the surveillance I was given warn us about the parapet?

  He tensed as the single door to the compound opened, and a man walked out. He stood in the open, waiting. He seemed relaxed, smoking a cigar, looking around with interest.

  “You want me to take him?” Vince called on the commo. He was eager to take the shot.

  “Negative. Let’s see what the bastard wants. I’ll go talk to him, cover me.”

  Talley got to his feet and walked into the open. The man stared at him, smiled, and walked forward to meet him. He was a Latino, maybe in his late twenties, and powerfully built. He was dressed simply, in a heavy, cream silk shirt and designer denim jeans, with what looked like hand-tooled loafers on his feet. The effect was money. This was a guy with wealth, everything expensive, the best. His long, glistening black hair was tied in a ponytail, showing off his strong, olive skinned face. The eyes were dark brown, intense. They faced each other, waiting. Finally, when he realized Talley wouldn’t break the silence, he spoke.

  “I am Miguel Rodrigo, and I have the honor to be the manager of this facility. And you are?”

  “Lieutenant Talley.”

  “American?”

  “Something like that.”

  “This is a legitimate business operation. Why are you here, Lieutenant?”

  Talley smiled and didn’t bother to reply. The man nodded.

  “I wondered when you’d come,” the he said thoughtfully. “Did you think you could invade my privacy without us knowing? We have sensors and security systems here that you could only dream of. We saw you come up from the harbor. I assume you swam ashore under cover of the pleasure boats?”

  Talley stayed silent.

  So they don’t know about Guy’s group.

  “You must lay down your arms, Lieutenant Talley. Surely you can see it is useless to try and fight us all.”

  “I’ve got a better idea, Rodrigo. You tell your men to lay down their weapons. Give it up, and you won’t get hurt. This time, you’ve bitten off more than you can chew.”

  Rodrigo chuckled. “I think not, Lieutenant Talley. You are surrounded. You see the men on the wall, and on the boat in the harbor. I even have men up on the cliff.” He unclipped a radio from his belt.

  “Jorge, come in. Have you got these soldiers covered from up there?”

  There was only the hiss of static.

  “Jorge? Cristobal? Report in, what is your status?”

  He looked at the radio in irritation, shrugged and went to clip it back on his belt, when there was a muted reply, with an English accent.

  “Hey, Pal.”

  He snatched up the radio. “Who is this? Jorge?”

  “Jorge’s not here.”

  “Who is that? Cristobal?”

  “Cristobal isn’t here either. They went for a dive, over the cliff.”

  Rodrigo tossed the radio aside in anger and ran back for the doorway into the compound. “Shoot! Kill them all!”

  Echo Six opened fire, and the Latino staggered as a shot hit him in the back. Then another, but he must have been wearing an armored vest, for he carried on and dived through the door that closed behind him. Gunfire shattered the peace of the night, and flashes showed above the wall where the defenders were firing at them. But Echo Six was behind cover too, and they returned fire with a vengeance. MP7s, and a couple of HK416s fired short bursts. The snipers opened up, and the AWMs hurled their precision rounds at any enemy stupid enough to offer a target. The Minimis added their voice, hurling lethal volleys of bullets at the enemy. Lights were coming on all over the resort as the pampered guests woke up to the reality that their Caribbean paradise was turning into a nightmare. Talley ignored them, peering out from behind the low wall where he’d dropped into cover.

  What the hell is Guy up to?

  He keyed his mike, but the answer came before he could speak.

  “Holy shit!” Domenico Rovere’s awestruck comment came as the charges detonated, and the compound was engulfed in smoke and flames. The earth moved as if in an earthquake, and it seemed the entire cliff top shook. Great chunks of masonry fell away from the wall and the building behind, as if it was in danger of disintegrating
. Talley opened fire and knocked down one of the more determined of Rodrigo’s gunners. He was leaning out, trying to rake Talley’s group with an M60. He dropped the machine gun and went over the wall with a scream, plunging to the concrete below. Two men rushed to pick up the gun, took aim, and died even before they’d pulled the trigger. Talley reloaded and called Guy. It was time to regroup.

  “Echo Two, come in. Where are you, what’s going down?”

  The reply came a few seconds later. In the background, he could hear sporadic gunfire.

  “This is Two, after we detonated, we abseiled down the cliff to chat to those guys standing around the submersible. We’re clearing them now. Give us a few minutes. Out.”

  A burst of machine gun fire chipped stone from the wall inches from his face. He lurched to the side and looked around. It came from the patrol boat in the harbor. They’d opened fire at last, and he cursed himself for not taking care of it. He needed a machine gun, and fast. He remembered Reynolds.

  “Echo Six, this is One, where are you, Roy?”

  “This is Six. I’m holding a position by the headland.”

  “Copy that. Can you see the gunfire from the harbor? That patrol boat, a few meters off the quay.”

  “I see it. You want me to dust them off?”

  “Quick as you can, Roy. We’re pretty exposed here.”

  “I’m on it.”

  The gunfire from the wall of the compound had slackened as the defenders rushed to cope with the fires and wreckage caused by the explosion. But there was still enough incoming fire to damage Talley’s squad, and his operation had only achieved a part of the objective. They’d dealt a heavy blow to the infrastructure. Now it was time to go in and take out the men who did the real work of drug trafficking. Otherwise, they’d simply move elsewhere and start again.