8. Lincoln
Lincoln
I watched Jasmin strut out of Zane’s office. That woman did not walk; she strutted her ass with a purpose. No man could control his eyes from watching her hips sway and move when she walked. Once the door was closed, the mask I had been barely keeping in place fell.
“What the fuck, brother?” I asked Zane. He did not look any happier than I was.
“I already made a few calls. I do not know who gave her that file or what their end game is. She has had that information for six God damn years. Six years that woman has believed I lied to her and withheld information from her. Yet, she has remained loyal to me. Fuck me!” Zane was right.
Jasmin had continued to be loyal even if she felt Zane had been disloyal to her .
“Should we call in Tom?” I asked.
“Not yet; let me see if my contact can trace back to where the file came from.”
“I don’t like that Jasmin seems to be more involved than we thought. Fuck,” I said, closing my eyes.
“Let’s get to the conference room; the team should be waiting.” Zane got up and made his way to the door.
As we walked downstairs and into the conference room, something was just not sitting right. My gut was screaming at me again. I just could not figure out the problem. I knew the Russians were a set up; it was too fucking easy.
Everyone was already in the conference room when Zane and I walked in. I took a seat across from Jasmin. Zane walked to the head of the table and tossed some folders down. Everyone grabbed one and started scanning through the intel.
“God damn it to hell,” I said when I opened my file to see a crime scene photo of three executed Russians.
“That about sums it up,” Jax said as he took the glossy 8x10 photo out of his file and laid it on the table in front of him.
Zane used his tablet to bring up a new image of a very dead Boris Orlov. Christ, this just officially went FUBAR.
“When did that happen?” Leo inquired .
“Jake said the reports coming in from Russia are incomplete. We have someone inside the Bratva that said the hit was carried out 48 hours ago; the Russian government report states the Orlov brothers have been dead seven days. That is bullshit; our inside man said he had lunch with Boris three days ago,” Zane explained to the room.
Jasmin stood up and walked over to the sixty inch monitor on the wall and was studying the image on the screen, tilting her head back and forth. Each member of the team was laying out crime scene photos in front of them.
“So what is our timeline? I think Linc is right; the Russians are too convenient.” Jax asked no one in particular.
Colin stood up and walked to the white board and started a timeline.
“Twenty one days ago, give or take, the Orlov brothers were released. Eric, get that exact date, will you?” Colin swiped the tablet he was holding before he began to write again.
“Thirteen days ago, a wire transfer of five million was made to a Swiss account. Eric, where are Jake and Garrett on that trace?” Colin asked, taking charge of his team.
“Neither one of them have found the source. Whoever initiated that transfer is a professional; they are still tracing this shit through proxies over six countries. That actually helps; there are very few people with the skills needed to bury the start point this well.” Eric gave his update.
Colin started to write on the white board again.
“Nine days ago, the CIA analyst found the hack. After the initial security protocol, they found that Deepweb336 had not actually breached the system, he was just attempting to. Deputy Director Banning, in all his infinite wisdom, told the security analyst not to shut the system down, he wanted to see if the system could indeed be breached.” Colin stopped to once again consult his tablet.
“Eight days ago, the president was notified and we were called in to assist. Seven days ago, Garrett started his own hack to watch Deepweb336. Jake also started to watch the dark web chat rooms to see if anyone was talking. There was no chatter on the dark web about the hack, but Jake did find there was chatter about Deepweb336 getting out of the broker business. Apparently, Deepweb336 was passing on jobs and referring them out, five million is a great retirement fund.” Colin looked around and made eye contact with me.
“Where does that leave you?” Colin directed at me.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I did not want to discuss my involvement with Russia, just as I was about to answer, Jasmin stopped me.
“Z, zoom in on this picture on the screen. Something is bothering me, I cannot put my finger on it. The more I stare at this photo, the more I think we are missing something.” Zane enlarged the image on the screen so only Boris’s body filled the sixty inches.
Jasmin continued to tilt her head and stare.
“There! Do you see that? Leo, come look at this.” Jasmin stood off to the side of the screen and pointed to Boris’s ear. Everyone stood up to get a better look at what Jasmin was pointing out.
“Holy fuck, yeah, I see it. Z, zoom in more on the area right below his right ear,” Leo said.
“Sonreír,” Jasmin said as she backed away so everyone could get a good look.
“This shit storm just keeps getting worse, now we have a crazy ass Spanish assassin in play as well. Well, I’ll be fucked!” Zane yelled as he, too, walked to the screen to get a better look at the assassin's mark.
The Sonreír always leaves a mark on his dead bodies.
It is a brand that looks like a smiley face.
One story is that he brands his victims because his father left him with hundreds of burns on his body from a cigarette lighter.
The burn resembles a smiley face, sick fuck!
The Sonreír is a highly sought out assassin and he is the most expensive.
Zane walked to the panel on the wall to close the blackout blinds. Once those had lowered, he walked back to the table and picked up the handset to the desk phone.
“Donna, you’re done for the day. Key the lock.” Zane ended the call and dialed another number, putting it on speaker. “Rena, who is still in the building?”
“Red team, Yellow team is in the armory, and… Garrett and Jake are in the server room, Jason is in command and me, Sir. Donna just exited the building and keyed the lock for the public reception. Should I lock down, Sir?” Rena was damn efficient.
She was Zane’s personal assistant. I did not know how this woman could put up with Zane barking orders at her all the time. She was a damn saint.
“You have two choices; take an early Friday and leave now or stay for the duration, the choice is yours.”
“I’ll stay, Sir. You may need me. Secure line is ready for you and the building is on lock down.” Rena hung up. Zane better never piss that woman off. I think she could rule the world behind that keyboard of hers.
Zane placed the phone back on the table and slid his cell phone out of his pocket; he entered in his code and dialed. He placed the cell phone on speaker.
“Password of the day?” a monotone voice asked.
“November, Alpha, Tango, Echo, Fife,” Zane barked out.
“Certified, hold for secure line transfer,” the monotone voice replied.
“Mr. Lewis, how are you this afternoon?” A jovial voice came on the line.
“Could be better, Mr. President.” Zane cut straight to the case.
This could go south fast. The president was not going to be happy with what the team found, and a few members of the team were not going to be happy with the president’s involvement. Namely Jasmin; this fucking girl could not catch a break.
“Snake bite?” the president asked.
“Confirmed, Sir. Snake Bite. The building is locked down,” Zane replied.
“Roger that. Rooftop, fifteen minutes, is the team ready?” the president asked.
“Affirmative, Sir.” Zane disconnected the call.
Zane slid the phone into his pocket and faced the team. He stood silently for a few seconds, obviously gathering his thoughts.
“Everyone in the room with the exception of Jasmin and Eric has the option to abort mission and leave this room. If you choose to stay, you have to know we are going to ground. You are my tier one team, no one I would rather have my back, but if you leave now I will understand. This is your one and only chance. In fifteen minutes, we will be picked up and taken to an undisclosed location and we’re going black.
The choice is yours, make it. Drew, I understand if this is where we part ways; you were officially off the clock yesterday.
” Zane stopped speaking and looked at each member of the team.
“Will you need me for logistics?” Drew asked Zane.
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Zane shot back.
“Then I’m good! Julie knows the drill.” Drew got up to presumably tell his wife he would be in touch when he could.
The rest of the team gave their ‘yes’ and waited for further instruction.
Zane once again picked up the office phone and began to speak.
“Where is Yellow team now… good…transfer all of Red team’s cases to Blue…
tell Jake and Garrett all new information is to be sent to me through SAT COM one, all files are to be taken off line…
. Good…Red is black, all communication is code B230…
copy that… oh, and one more thing, my fish…
. Thanks.” Zane disconnecte d the call and placed the phone on the cradle.
Once again turning to the team. “Get your kit and go bags; we are wheels up in…” Zane looked down at this watch, “eight minutes.”
Everyone dispersed without a word. That spoke volumes of their trust and respect for Zane.
No one questioned where he was taking them or why.
No one knew the mission or the gravity of what they were about to learn.
They all trusted Zane enough to follow blind.
Consummate professionals, Zane was lucky to have found each and every one of them.
I looked toward my brother before I left to get my own gear; his head was lowered and he looked tense.
These next few hours were going to be hard on him.
He was going to have to tell the rest of the team the truth about who I was and what role I have played in many of their missions.
Then there was Jasmin; she was going to be red hot mad not only at Zane, Eric, and I but the universe.
“I got your back, brother.” I rested my hand on his shoulder.
“I’m not worried about me; I am worried about my team.” Zane shook his head.
“They are your family and they respect the hell out of you, Zane. There is nothing to worry about,” I assured him .
“Jasmin is going to flip her shit. She is going to need a strong hand to get through this. She does not like showing weakness in front of her team.” Zane has always had a soft spot for Jasmin.
“I got her, Zane.”
I walked out of the conference room and into my office to grab my go bag.
I opened the bag to confirm everything I needed was in there.
Two passports, two sets of identification, credit cards, cash, extra magazines and ammo.
I touched my right hip to confirm my HK45 was strapped on, a habit that was ingrained in me over my years on the Teams. Trust but verify – even yourself.
I slid my vest over my head and pulled the Velcro straps at the sides tight, threw my pack over my good shoulder, and picked up my Blackhawk go bag and was all set. I checked my G-Shock watch; I had three minutes to get to the roof and wait for transport.
Roof access was on the top floor across from Zane’s office.
Jasmin, Eric, Jaxon, Leo, Colin, and Drew were all standing outside of Zane’s office door waiting to proceed to the roof together.
I studied each member of my new team; it was always strange going out on a mission for the first time with a new team.
Luckily, I didn’t come across that very often; once you all get in sync, it is hard to adjust to someone new.
I wonder if that is how they all felt about me coming onto their team.
Like I was the one throwing them off sync.
I heard the helicopter rotor blades pulsing as the aircraft made its descent onto the roof.
“Go.” Zane opened the door and everyone filed up the stairs to the waiting helicopter.
Each member of the team gave a quick salute to the Commander in Chief as they entered the cabin of the Eurocopter Dauphin II turbo shaft helicopter.
Once everyone was strapped in and secured our Bose A20 headsets, we could hear Zane. “Mr. President, meet your team. Leo, Panther. Drew, Shades . Colin, Breeze . Jaxon, Blue . Eric, Wolf . Jasmin, Nightstalker . Lincoln, Ghost .”