Mark Young - Off the grid

Beck leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair. “I wish I knew, Colonel. We have the satellites photos and the images the drone sent back. The trouble is this battle will be over by the time you and I get anywhere near Kane’s compound.”

Thompson nodded. “We got to trust Gerrit to give us the green light to hit that place. Only one landing pad, and if I were Kane, I’d put that out of commission.”

“Any other possible landing sites or clearings the chopper might be able to use?”

The colonel shook his head. “All high forest around that compound, except the road leading in to the place. The best approach is that landing pad. Otherwise, our people are gonna have to rappel down with their gear, and if any of the bad guys have them in their sights, it’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel.”

“Then we just have to wait to hear from Gerrit. And hope he and his people can last long enough for our people to get there.”

“Any word on Joe O’Rourke?”

Beck grimaced. “Kane has him squirreled away someplace or the man is dead. We haven’t been able to pick up any chatter one way or the other.”

“So we know Kane’s at the compound.”

“Yeah. We picked up his signal at that location. Unless he got wise to our tracking device.”

Thompson faced Beck. “Okay, I’ll radio ahead to have our people launch the second they hear from Gerrit. But unless he can give us an update, I can’t in good conscience send our people in. Just too risky.”

The colonel hunched forward. “What’s the problem?”

Beck studied Thompson before answering. The old man must be reading my thoughts. “Can’t figure how Kane knew Gerrit and the others were coming.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was like they were expecting Gerrit’s arrival. I took a look at the heat signatures the drone shot back. Just as Gerrit and his team left the marina in Seattle, I saw new replacements emerging at Kane’s location. They must have brought in more security teams and began fanning out, some heading right toward where Gerrit planned to hit the beach. Fortunately, the drone alerted us to the patrols and Gerrit switched plans. But somehow they knew, Colonel. Who tipped them off?”

“You don’t think Willy or Alena tipped Kane off? They’ve been with Joe for years.”

Beck frowned. “Yeah. Just like Redneck.”

“Maybe Kane had been able to track them with his newfangled technology.”

“Maybe.” Instinctively, Beck knew Kane was getting help from someone close to Gerrit. “If they painted Gerrit or his team with trackers, they would have gotten specific coordinates when the three hit land. Our thermal readers indicated that the security force didn’t know specifically where they were…just the general area. As if they’d been told where to look.”

Thompson tapped his fingers on the edge of his seat. “Gerrit is a straight shooter. He’d never roll. What do we know about the other two?”

“Willy came from the streets. First Alena recruited him, and then Joe took him under his wings.”

“And the woman?”

Beck squinted at the window. “Joe connected with her when he started running.”

“How did they meet?”

“Just said he trusted her with his life.” Beck didn’t look at Thompson. Joe shared a few details of Alena’s life with him a while back, information that might put her in a bad light right now. All he knew is that Joe trusted her. That was good enough for Beck.

“Yeah, and now Joe’s missing. Presumed dead.”

The two men fell silent as the jet banked after takeoff, heading for Seattle. They were powerless for the next few hours. It was all in the hands of Gerrit and his team. And one of them might be a traitor.

Gerrit felt Willy’s tap again. “Those guys are heading our direction, Mr. G.” He held up the reader. Two red dots were coming their way.

“I thought they couldn’t read our heat signatures.”

“They can’t,” Willy said, his voice barely above a whisper. “They can’t see us. The drone knocked out their system. They’re working blind.”

Gerrit motioned to Alena, pointing to the approaching men. She nodded back. He peered over the rock and heard them stumbling his way. One of the men continued to complain about his eyes. The other man told him to shut up and they could see just fine.

Looking over his shoulder, Gerrit realized they were trapped for the moment. They could not go forward, and the cliff was to their back. He had hoped they could have slipped through security without detection. Now, they were going to have to take action.

His stomach tightened as he withdrew a serrated Marine combat knife and Alena pulled out her own weapon. Willy held the reader low, and Gerrit followed the path of the approaching gunmen. The security patrol was closing in, about twenty yards away. Gerrit took one more look at the thermal images, then prepared to move in that direction to cut them off. The two men had begun to draw apart, one moving to Gerrit’s right and the other coming straight toward him.

He could hear the boots stumble over rocks as the two men approached. Ten yards. Five yards. Gerrit crouched behind the boulder, knife in hand. Alena, also crouching, glanced his way. He pointed to himself, and then jabbed his finger toward the man to his left. He pointed at her, and then pointed to the man on his right.

She nodded. Alena understood.

The boots drew near. “What are we doing over here, you idiot? They said to keep an eye on the perimeter.”

“Hey, they told us to check the area. That’s what we’re doing.”

“Okay, we checked. Now, let’s move down there beyond the landing pad and check that area between the cliffs and the perimeter fence.”

They moved off to Gerrit’s left. Soon the guards were far enough away for him to relax. He sheathed the knife and slowly stood. “Okay, any other threats?”

Willy shook his head.

“Then it’s time to move out and take care of business.” Something began to trouble Gerrit. They’d met minimal resistance. “Wait. Willy, let me see that reader. How are they deployed?”

They all crouched down behind the boulder and Gerrit studied the heat signatures on the screen. None were near the building or the heliport. They were strung out along what seemed to be the perimeter, and he saw other heat signatures inside the building. But no one was stationed where he would have placed people. Near the buildings or satellite towers. No one guarding the landing site. All strategic targets.

He turned to the others. “Stay here. I need to check something out.” Alena started to say something, but Gerrit interrupted her. “Need you to cover Willy. If something happens, just call that number I gave you and tell them to come on in. We need to get Willy inside that building at any cost. Stay in contact over the radio. If any patrols come my way, give me a yell. Okay?”

“Hey, Mr. G. I scanned radio frequencies when those two clowns walked by. Came up with the frequency they’re using tonight. I fed it into our radios, and we can intercept their calls. It will default back to your communication channel unless they’re speaking. Then we can listen in unless you want to override them and communicate with us.

“Sweet, Willy. Thanks. Okay, stay put till I get back.”

They nodded.

Gripping his rifle, Gerrit headed toward the landing site. He had to make sure about one thing before they made a move toward the building.

An open meadow lay between Gerrit and a slab of black asphalt where their backup needed to land. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run. If Kane’s men caught sight of him here, it was all over.

He sank to the ground and crawled the remaining distance to break up his silhouette. As if to help, dark clouds drifted in front of the moon, cutting visibility to a minimum.