Chapter Six

The road was lined on both sides by green vegetation large enough to conceal several people. Through this vegetation, Jason moved as quietly as possible, toward where he had seen the women stop. The wire gate had been opened by another woman and the car had long gone in and the gate was now locked. Jason's greatest fear was coming across a sentry posted in the surrounding bushes. Unless he took such a sentry by surprise and neutralized him, things might quickly go south from there. He walked silently and carefully, staying low to avoid detection from outside or a high ground. The place seemed much farther than he had imagined and he wondered if he had not unknowingly steered himself in the wrong direction. But he soon had a glimpse of the wire fence and he came to a stop and squatted on the ground. He stared at the fence and tried to imagine what stood within it. He wondered if his mother-in-law was being held prisoner there. If they meant to kill her, they wouldn't have bothered to abduct her, so what the hell did they want with her? They clearly wanted to send a message, but just how far they would go, he had absolutely no idea.

“Listen up, Galvin,” Jason said as he got the analyst on the phone. “I've tailed the Carling woman to this place. Just sent you the address. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Galvin replied. “What's there?”

“That's what you're supposed to find out. I'm assuming Lynn... I mean, Senator Webbs is being held here, but I can't be so sure. Any luck with ID-ing the woman Carling picked up?”

“Woah! I didn't know she picked up anyone,” Galvin almost exclaimed.

“Well, she did. Thought you'd found a connection with one of the arrivals. Anyway, let's face what's on the ground...”

“But if Webbs is there,” Galvin broke in. “Let's notify the assistant director, so he...”

“Don't be foolish, kid,” Jason cut him off harshly. “I and Tony knew about your boss' existence before we decided to trust you. The FBI is chasing ghosts and they can only scare away our only possible breakthrough, so until we're in over our heads, we don't need sirens and badges. Got that?”

“Okay, Mr. Raids.”

“I can handle this. You just keep in touch,” he said and disconnected the call.

The next call Jason made was to Morton. It seemed the weapons dealer had been expecting his call. He was acting like someone who wanted the whole thing to be over and done with as fast as possible.

“You've got everything we need?”, Jason asked.

“I believe so.”

“Okay, Morton. You need to make your way over here, but first, you have to make a pit stop and pick Ron up. He may have one or two things to add to your collection.”

“Where does this person live?”

“I'll send you his address now. Just get to his store and bring yourselves over here ASAP.”

"Fine," Morton said and ended the call.

Jason took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Things were going smoothly, perhaps too smoothly to make him very comfortable. There were a lot of questions running through his mind. Why was there no lookout in the surrounding bushes? Or was there one that he had not yet seen? Were the terrorists already alerted? Had they left already, leaving him to watch an empty building? But for now, all he was capable of was to think and wait. Until the arrival of his friends, there was nothing else to be done.

*****

Evening was wearing on and Jason knew that night would soon come. He hoped to hell that those bastards were close or the mission might never even get started tonight. Suddenly, he thought he heard rustling of leaves. He pulled his weapon and swung around just in time, if it was an enemy, but it was only Ron.

“Put that thing away, will ya,” he growled as he approached Jason with Morton close behind him. Ron was holding a large black bag and Morton was holding two others.

“You guys look ready,” Jason remarked as he holstered his gun.

“What do you think?”, Ron muttered. “Do we look like clowns? Damn! Even clowns are ready when it's time for them to be clowns.”

“So what's the plan?”, Morton demanded, not interested in small talk.

“For now, we keep watch,” Jason shrugged, turning to face the building. “We move in at night unless necessity demands otherwise. Tell me you brought cutters?”

“No,” Morton simply said, eliciting a groan from Jason.

“We'll have to scale the fence and that's not a very sexy option,” Ron murmured.

“I'm not even sure if the damn place is still occupied,” Jason grumbled, reaching for some of the extra clips Morton had brought.

“I can try to scan the place with a long range,” Ron offered.

“Please do,” Jason said and left him to it, focusing his own attention on the weapons they had brought.

“We need to search for some safe high ground,” he mused as he sighted the SR-25.

“Say, who's gonna use that ugly piece of metal?”, Ron asked. “Not me, I hope?”

“You know a better sniper?”

“In this case, flattery is as flat as it sounds!”, Ron threw over his shoulder as he picked up the rifle and headed out to find higher ground.

Jason chuckled and adjusted his earpiece - one of the three that Morton had been smart enough to bring with him for their communication.

“So what can you see?”, he said, referring to Ron.

“Coming... gimme a few minutes, will ya," came the labored reply from the other end.

Jason shrugged and waited, watching as Morton quietly emptied his bag and deftly coupled necessary equipment. The man was certainly good at this. He would make a very formidable enemy. Ron's voice over the line promptly diverted Jason from his thoughts.

"The place is occupied all right. I count three people - guards armed with AKs, most are on the west side. They could be anybody, but certainly not dogs.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

The atmosphere was getting darker, night was setting in and Jason hurried to put everything in order. The men had checked and rechecked all their equipment. Their vests were on and Ron was still keeping an eye on the compound. Though they couldn't make much out from just watching the guards, they knew that it was better than going in blind.

“There's some gathering going on,” Ron said just before Jason's phone vibrated. He took the call immediately.

“What's up, Galvin?”

“The assistant director, he's just called a meeting. It seems you'll have to manage on your own for now.”

And without waiting for a reply, Galvin disconnected the call. Jason was still trying to wrap his head around this latest unexpected development when Ron's voice reached him again over the earpiece.

“Uh oh, this doesn't look innocent."

"Hey, what's going on there?”, Jason demanded.

“The guards just went out of sight."

"Woah. What do you mean went out of sight? I thought you were keeping an eye on them."

"They all rushed into the building, just like that. Like they got a call or something."

"Shouldn't that be our cue to move in?", Morton asked, looking at his frenemy.

"I don't know," Jason murmured, running his hand through his hair. He was worried about timing. If they moved in at the wrong time, they could get overpowered and saving Lynn's life would not even be the issue anymore. In fact, they would all end up dead.

"So what's it gonna be?", Ron questioned, breaking into his thoughts. This was his mission and they both were looking up to him to make the final decision. Jason stayed silent for a few more seconds, obviously deep in thought. Go in now or later? Go in now or later?, he repeated the question over and over again in his head, trying to get some sort of inspiration, but nothing came. He shook his head and exhaled deeply, and then he finally decided.

"We go in... now."