Chapter 9
Link left the hospital, wishing he had more time to spend with Ansley. What was it about her that intrigued him? When she came for a visit, he would figure it out.
Once at the airfield, they loaded onto a transport that would fly them to Indonesia. He wasn’t going home for another week at least. This trip to the land of sweat and bugs was to free an elected official who’d trusted a contact he never should have.
It amazed Link that elected officials from the USA thought they could just go anywhere and demand respect without reading the room.
The person the congressman went to visit was a known terrorist. Link didn’t know why the congressman had gone to visit the terrorist, but now he needed someone to rescue him who would keep it out of the news.
Of course, the congressman was a showboating, loudmouth, drama queen, and would plaster the rescue all over the internet once he was free. So Link's team was going in without any recognizable badges or markings and would deliver the guy to the Australian Embassy, not the US Embassy.
Why the Australian Embassy? To throw the man off and confuse him.
He didn't need to be dropping hints about who had saved him, and they certainly didn't trust him to keep anything quiet.
If the guy had his way, he would name and publish the home addresses of whoever rescued him.
How did Link know this? Because this very same congressman had done that to two Navy SEALs who had the displeasure of meeting the jerk.
He'd not only ruined the careers of the two SEALs, he'd ruined their lives.
“You ready for this?” Stanley asked.
“Yeah. What about you?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Keel and Mick took a seat across from him.
He nodded, glad they’d both made it out.
Both of them had been close to the first bomb and had been tossed about.
They both had bruises, like him, but were okay.
Not every mission was a success, and guys died.
Though they’d experienced a bomb, they’d lived, so it had been a good mission.
“I’m looking forward to this mission,” Keel said.
Scott’s lips curled up in disgust. “Why?”
Keel chuckled. “I like putting pompous bastards in their place. Hopefully, this guy will be so freaked out he never does anything like this again.”
Chase grunted. "Don't hold your breath. Time for some shut-eye. We'll be moving fast as soon as we land. Sleep and eat on the plane, because we will be busy for the next thirty-six to forty-eight hours."
Chase was right. They needed to rest now. Once they landed, they wouldn’t get a break until they dropped the guy on the embassy’s doorstep in Jakarta.
The flight was long enough that he got in two long naps. Luckily, because they were riding in a military plane, they were able to refuel in the air, cutting the travel time down significantly.
Once they were on the ground, they moved fast, taking a helicopter to the area where the congressman was being held.
This was a typical mission. They did what they had to do to keep the world safe, which meant rescuing people who got themselves into trouble.
Hitting terrorists hard was their normal operational procedure.
But now, terrorists were adapting and increasing their kidnapping and trafficking activities.
People were easy commodities to use. Also, friends and families would pay big money to get their loved ones back.
And if they didn’t pay money, there was the human trafficking market that was insatiable.
Night fell, extending the invitation to the creepy crawlies, so they knew it was safe to come out.
It wasn't just the animal creeps that got him.
The human ones were much worse. He had his eyes on the building where they were holding the congressman, hoping the bastards didn't do anything stupid, which was doubtful.
“Moving in thirty seconds,” Chase said over coms.
No one voiced concerns, which meant they were on. Link didn’t need to check any of his gear. He was good to go.
The seconds ticked down, and Chase gave the signal. They moved in, Link breaching the side door with Bean following him.
The resistance they experienced was about what he expected. Two men in the front room, two in the back, with the congressman tied up in a closet.
Chase grabbed the congressman, pulling him out of the closet into the hall.
Link had the front protected, and Mick was at the back, making sure no one came up on their six.
The rest of the guys were spread out, keeping their flanks safe.
They made it to the door and outside before another shot rang out.
“Got him,” Keel said after a muffled shot sounded.
“Headed out,” Chase said.
They were about a hundred yards from the helicopter when Link saw someone on the top of a building about two hundred yards away. Two hundred yards was a hard shot to make without training, but he had no idea if the person was trained. He had to take the dude out.
“Straight ahead, guy on that building about two hundred yards,” Link said.
“I’ll set up for him,” Bean said.
Bean was one of their best shots. Stanley was next. Link thought he was good, but he wasn't close to Bean's skill. Mick was just as good as he was. Heck, they trained for days on end, not just practiced. They worked on making shots under high stress, and this was a medium-stress situation.
Sure enough, before they’d even traveled twenty yards, Bean had popped the guy. Link saw the rifle the dude had been holding clatter off the building to the ground.
The guy hadn't been a tourist taking in the sights, and he wasn't the police. Nope, the dude was a freaking terrorist.
“Who are you guys? You’re American, right?” the congressman asked.
No one answered. They'd been using their coms, which allowed them to speak softly, which meant the politician hadn't heard their voices.
"You're a SEAL, right?"
Link rolled his eyes. Of course, the guy couldn't see his eyes because the glasses they wore hid their eyes from others.
Their identity was stripped, their skin covered, so no one knew their race, their eye color, their hair color, or texture.
They were bots, unidentifiable bots who moved in and rescued people.
They didn't want fame or fortune, only to do their job and not get seen.
The congressman seemed sure of himself until they loaded him onto the unmarked helicopter that wasn't military and strapped him in, then bound his wrists and put a blindfold on him.
He kept talking, but Link and his buddies weren't saying anything.
None of them would give this chronically online dude any ammunition.
If he found out Delta Force was behind this rescue, he would blast it all over the place.
The guy would demand photos with them, and then he would spread those photos all over the place. It would be a nightmare.
Of course, politicians like this guy received no punishment for revealing information about military operators. No one cared about the disrupted lives or ruined careers. It was impossible to go into a country anonymously when your face was all over the internet.
When they landed, they transferred the congressman to an unmarked van, driving him to the Australian Embassy. They dumped him at the gates and took off.
Link watched in the side mirror as the guy stumbled over to the embassy officials. They would get him to the American embassy once they found out who he was.
“That was successful,” Chase said.
“Now home,” Keel said.
Bean snorted. “Yeah, home.”
“We won’t be there for long,” Scott said.
Link sat back and closed his eyes. He had about three months of vacation he needed to take. "I'm going to take a vacation."
“How long?” Bean asked.
Link shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe a month. Not yet, in a few weeks probably.”
Mick sat forward and squeezed his shoulder. "That was a cagey answer. What's up?"
"Yeah, on our last mission, you dropped out of sight for a few hours. Where did you go?" Scott asked.
Link chuckled. “You all noticed.”
“Yeah, fess up,” Chase said.
“That woman, the Marine, she’s getting out and going to come for a visit.”
They all laughed. “Oh man, are you kidding me? What happened while you were hiding in those tunnels?” Bean teased.
He shook his head. “Nothing like that. We talked.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mick swore. “I can’t get a woman to talk to me, and you go on a mission and pick up a sweetheart?”
“It’s because you’re fucking ugly,” Stanley said.
Mick rolled his eyes. “And you’re so pretty?”
Stanley threw back his head, laughter spilling out.
They were all laughing when they pulled up at the airstrip.
The two men who met them at the airfield would clean the van, making sure there was nothing to identify them.
They would slip away without any notoriety headed their way.
He and his team didn't do this job for kudos.
They did it because it was in their blood.
They trained for this and loved it. Being dogs and ponies at shows was for other people. They were in it for the successes.
The flight home was long, and by the time they landed, almost a whole day had passed. He grabbed his gear and headed over to the Delta building.
Once at his desk, he grabbed his personal phone and plugged it in while he cleaned his gear and put away his stuff.
He showered and dressed in a clean T-shirt and shorts before checking his messages.
It had been a while since he'd been home.
His buddies knew to contact him through email if they needed anything or if anything important came up, so he had only a few voicemails.
He had a few texts that were spam, and he reported those to his carrier. Then he got to one text that was very interesting.
It's Ansley, I'm back in California. Just got back last night. I talked to my CO, and I'm on desk duty until my discharge papers come through in three weeks.
Link wanted to jump up and cheer, but he stayed at his desk, smiling to himself as he continued to read her text.
My apartment lease is up in four weeks. I was thinking about putting all my stuff into the back of my car and driving across the country. Is the offer to stay in your guest room still open?
He started typing out an answer, excitement filling him. He had a month to get everything aligned so he could take time off. He wanted to call her, but he continued typing. Later, he would find out a time when they could chat on the phone. He was looking forward to hearing her voice again.
Hey, I just landed about an hour ago and checked my messages. Thank you for texting. Yes, my guest room is available. I have time off. Would you like to go to the beach for a week while you're here? I can take more than one week off, so we can spend some time together.
He hit send, worried that he was coming on too strong. Would she be happy that he wanted to spend time with her, or would it be too much?
Text bubbles appeared, and he held his breath waiting for the text to appear.
He was allowing his emotions to carry him.
He needed to be careful. She may not want anything more than just friendship.
If that were the case, he would be okay with it.
He wouldn't push her into anything. They would just go with the flow and see where it took them.