Chapter Thirteen
Ty
The plates were stacked on the table. The men sat with mugs of hot cider between their booted feet. White cleared her throat, and the team fell silent.
“Sometimes it’s the best choice to bring in the people who have a stake in the game. Sometimes, that makes people so driven by their emotions that it becomes an impediment. I tend to believe that Echo has their shit together enough that they can maintain their sangfroid.”
“Sang what now? What do you want us to sing about?” Jeopardy asked.
“Shut it,” Nitro said, “let White talk.”
White put her hands on her knees and looked into the fire.
“Last fall, you were pulled off an assignment in Turkey to chase down a lead that Red had discovered at the risk of her life. Your success was an important win for the free world. Then you went after Red and saved her.” White pressed a fist to her chest. “And I will always be grateful. At that point, your team continued back to Turkey, and Nomad took a step forward in a solo mission. The mission that ended up with he and Red operating together.”
She waited for the men to twitch around and settle into the information before she said, “I need to talk with you about what Red and Nomad were doing. There were two terrorist groups. Each had come to the conclusion that they could fund their terror by going on a treasure hunt to find a ring with a forty-million-dollar prize.”
“The Fire of the Desert?” T-Rex asked. “I read about that.”
“That’s the one,” White acknowledged.
“It’s a crazy amount of money.” Nitro let out a low whistle. “Forty million dollars floating around?”
“That money was destined to pay for a series of terror attacks,” White said.
“The attacks were a go. And one of them broke through and took place despite our best efforts. Others were thwarted by Nomad and Red’s work.
Their mission completed, Red and Nomad were heading home.
On the way to the airport, Red and Nomad were ambushed.
The accident that injured Red and Nomad was, in fact, an attack perpetrated by a radical group that had been on the trail of the ring money.
It wasn’t an accident at all.” She paused as that information sank in.
The men’s energy shifted, and they were laser-focused.
“The mission that Red and Nomad thought they’d wrapped up is, in fact, still in play. What Red laid down, I’ve picked up. There’s more to do.”
“I’d like as much information about this as you’re allowed to share,” T-Rex said.
“There are two opposing groups, each of which is vying for the money. The money isn’t in play,” White said.
“That money has been secured by good guys?” T-Rex asked.
“Correct,” White said.
“Forty million or not, where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Ty said.
White turned to him. “Exactly. Group A was removed from the mission. That cell was focused on European targets and personal vendettas. In the last few months, I discovered that Group B is planning an attack here in the U.S.”
“You’ve identified who is in Group B?” Ty asked.
“You’ll enjoy this. All I had was video footage of three men running through a market and some stills with all four faces in poor lighting. Those faces weren’t in any database I had access to.” White smiled. “Many of you know the Iniquus Puzzler, Lynx.”
“She was on the team that helped to save the Unit,” Nitro said.
“She was,” White said. “So I headed to Iniquus with the only information available to me, which was next to nothing.”
“That’s what you and Nomad were up to on the Iniquus campus in December?” Ty asked.
“That’s right,” White said. “And if you know how Lynx works, she just tells you a little story and boom, there you have it, an identification.”
“Is it classified?” Ty asked. “Can we know how she did it?”
“It was marvelous. I took Nomad with me to Iniquus because Lynx wanted to watch him tell the story of the accident. In the telling, Nomad said he had hallucinated after the blow to his head. He recalled imagining that when he punched one of the attackers in the jaw, it felt like aquarium gravel and the air filled with the scent of garlic.” White continued to take them on the adventure of their meeting, and Lynx properly diagnosing the man with the 19th-century malady. “Phossy jaw,” White ended triumphantly.
“You’re kidding,” Nitro said.
“I’m not.”
“Phossy jaw, huh?” Havoc shook his head.
“Nomad smelled garlic, and that was enough of a clue that Lynx was able to track one of the men from Morocco to Paris?” Havoc asked.
“Crazy, right?” She quirked her brows. “But as to tracking him down, yes, I was able to do that using Lynx’s roadmap, which basically said, find out which doctors are suddenly discussing phossy jaw.” White laughed. “Did you know that humans could glow in the dark?”
“Lynx’s work is, as usual, some crazy assed shit,” Jeopardy said.
White grinned, letting her gaze take in the semi-circle of operators that surrounded her.
“At Langley, when they see Lynx coming, the betting pools go crazy. I never bet against her. And I always walk away with a win. I’m telling you, sometimes it pays to lean into misogyny.
” She let her smile travel the group. “But you know that’s one reason why I often lean on Echo, I never have to jump extra hurdles to prove I’m effective at my job. ”
“Yeah, well, if you do feel like jumping hurdles, I’m just going to watch from the sidelines,” Jeopardy said, lifting his hands toward the fire.
“I’ve seen you parkour your ass up the side of a building and dive off a cliff.
It’s like watching a sci-fi movie with some extraterrestrial trying to fit in amongst humans. ”
“Are you saying that I’m out of this world, Jeopardy?” White asked.
“Absolutely, ma’am.”
T-Rex crossed his arms over his chest and stretched a foot out long. “From what Nomad said in his debrief, there was neither hide nor hair of these men. If you’re chasing a guy with gravel for a jaw, then he’s unique. You’re sure you’ve wrapped up his team, no stragglers?”
“Phossy jaw is in modern life so rare that I was able to track our guy to Paris, where he’s been undergoing treatment at a hospital that specializes in toxicity reconstruction. And while Phossy Jaw and the Boys—”
“Sounds like a garage band,” Nitro said.
T-Rex leaned forward. “Let’s hear about the mission.”
“While Phossy Jaw and the Boys were hanging out in beautiful Paris for the last few months,” White finished, “his cellmates—terror cell, not prison cell, though a girl can dream.”
“Go back to your Lynx story for a minute, please, White. Is Phossy Jaw from Germany, or was he just in Germany looking for the ring?” Ty asked.
“They’re all from the Eastern Bloc,” White said. “Phossy Jaw was searching the toxic cave in Germany. They were all in the area, staying in cabins at a campsite, saying they were nomad tech bros.” White scuffed her foot into the ground.
“My takeaway,” T-Rex said. “Is that you’re once again honoring us with an opportunity to complete a mission that was started by an Echo brother. We accept. Now, what is it you need from us, and how fast can you get us into play?”
“Before I tell you that, I’m going to give you this part of the information, as it will impact your planning and mission execution.
There were four known men in a terrorist cell.
Since December, my team has added two others to their working group.
I have a couple of pots coming to a boil with my own case load, so I had to hand off surveillance to a colleague.
Each of our targets is living in a different place.
They come together to work on a project.
The project is being packed into boxes.”
“Send a French bomb squad in,” Ty said.
“If they’re not living in the same place, they can scatter,” T-Rex said. “Once in the wind, they’ll start up again.”
“They didn’t stop when half their team was gunned down in a German street. It made them grip tighter,” White said.
“You must have permission from the French government for us to be operating on their soil. Why didn’t France dive in?” T-Rex asked.
“France doesn’t know what’s up,” White said.
“They know the U.S. State Department has been looking at a group of men that needs to sit down for a tete-a-tete. They know we have a special forces operator and a CIA field officer injured in an attack that ended their careers.” White sniffed.
“We are not in France’s good graces. They’ll do this for us if we go in on cats’ paws.
Our ability to stay silent has big implications. ”
“Got it,” T-rex said. “Do you know anything about the boxes?”
“The contents? No,” White said. “They are piling boxes that have some heft to them in what we’ve labeled their production apartment.
We believe they will move those boxes to a boat on the Seine.
The boat will meet with a tanker flying a false flag as part of the shadow fleet to take oil from Russia to Cuba.
Meanwhile, their friends in the USA, whom we have not identified, will rent a fishing boat and meet them.
The boxes will be transferred onto the fishing boat, and the boat will go up the East Coast.”
“Where will they land?” T-Rex asked.
“We don’t know. We’re not involved in that part. We’re not going to let it get to that part. These men will be in our custody and unable to follow through. Once we know what the product is in the boxes, we’ll give the French intelligence—the DGSE—a call, and they can handle it from there.”
“The product, they aren’t talking about it in the apartment?” Ty asked.
“Cone of silence,” White said. “Radio music, streaming services. In their own homes, ‘What do you want for dinner?’ ‘Did you see that cute girl?’ Absolutely nothing of interest comes out of their mouths.”
“How do you think they’re communicating about the project?” Nitro asked.
“Out in public in the park?” White shifted around. “In their local dialect in ride-share cars? I don’t know.”
“But you landed on the right group,” T-Rex said.
“Let’s just say that phossy jaw is a highly unique marker and the photos we have computer match to the men walking around the street.”
“But they took an international flight. They have to have passports,” Havoc pointed out.
“They do. We found their credentials after we found the men’s names.”
“But to fly—" Havoc started.
“You have to have a computer face match? I know. The photos we had didn’t pull up anyone’s face in our search. And the only flight we have record of them taking was to Morocco, so perhaps that’s why.”
“So it’s us? We get to go?” Ty asked.
“Yes. Langly would like to ask these six men some questions. And the White House would like Echo to ensure the CIA has that opportunity. The French government is amenable to turning a blind eye, but none of its citizens should feel the need to call the police. You will look normal,” White said.
“Which is fine for me,” Havoc said. “But Nitro and Jeopardy are on the team, and we can’t leave them behind just because a foreign government insists on normal-looking.”
“How do you see this rolling out?” T-Rex asked.
“We abandon this mess and walk over the hill where I have a vehicle parked. I'll drive you to your locker to grab what you need for Rory. I have everything you need for the mission on the plane,” White said.
“When we land, will we have any trouble with the border?” T-Rex asked.
“We’re going in on diplomatic credentials. We have DGSE assurances that we’ll be left to our own devices. No one will board our plane, and no one will observe our exit. I’ll have transportation waiting in Paris.”
“So we’re not flying commercial,” Nitro said. “Private jet? Fancy.”
“The next stop is the airstrip where I have the Color Code jet waiting.
We get on and use the trip over as planning time.
We have a safe house for you to catch up on your sleep, and then I'll let you loose. Quick and clean. Silent. We pull them out. I hand them off to an interrogation team, and we fly home. Bing. Bam. Boom.”
“We need to pack,” Nitro said.
“No, thank you.” White smiled.
“White likes to go shopping for clothes, so we have the right look for her plan,” Ty said, throwing quotation fingers around the “look.” “If she’s as good as she was last time—she had me out on a mission and handed me a wardrobe labeled with sticky notes, mind you—at least everything will fit.
She even washed my briefs a few times, so they were soft on my ass. ”
“That’s right, gentlemen, no chaffed heinies on my watch.
Ty is right, though. I’ve got you covered.
” White looked down at her feet as she jackhammered her heel on the ground.
She calmed her foot and lifted her gaze.
“Listen, we need this win. Geo-politically, right now, this little sleeper cell is one among many. But they are already in motion. The others out there around the world have just been roused for duty by current events. They’ll need a hot minute before they can effectively strike. ”
“First, they have to plot,” Jeopardy said. “It gives us a chance to find them and neutralize the threats.”
“In this case, we have to get there before they move their plans forward,” White said, “since we don’t know which target they’re aiming at, and we don’t know what will happen when they push the go button.”