Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Foster watched the building, knowing that whatever was coming was happening soon. The air felt thick with anticipation. They’d been watching the six men for a few days, and based on their actions, tonight was the night.
He saw movement at the front of the building and trained his scope on the movement. It was the guy they were following.
“He’s on the move,” Foster said over coms.
Bang was in a van, relaying the messages to the other guys spread out throughout the city. A moment later, he got back the information from Bang that everyone was on the move.
His stomach tightened as he gathered his gear and moved to follow. This guy took a bus to the docks area, which was a weird method of transportation to use to get to a planned terrorist attack.
What if the bus was late, or what if it broke down? He was just surprised these guys were leaving so much to chance.
From the intelligence they’d gathered, this group was sloppy.
He and Safe never should have heard them in that bar.
A clean, efficient operation would never have met in a public place.
It just showed their total disregard to everything.
They really thought they were special and could just do what they wanted without any repercussions.
He hoped today was the day they met consequences.
Foster followed the bus in an unmarked van. They had an idea where the group would meet, but it wasn’t enough just to show up there and wait. They needed to be positive where each person of this group was located.
The man left the bus at a stop he wasn’t expecting. He relayed the information to T who was following in a different vehicle.
While Foster searched for a place to park, T had already ditched his vehicle and was on foot behind their target.
Bang kept everyone updated with locations for all the other teams. This operation was huge, almost to the point of being out of hand.
The Carabiniere plus two SEAL teams meant there were a load of people on this operation.
Bang was doing a great job coordinating everyone, keeping up with where all the teams were located and relaying the information.
Bang informed Foster they were coming up on Kevlar and Flash. So two of the terrorists were meeting up. It would make it much easier to follow since there would be four of them so they could drop off and rejoin the chase if it seemed like their targets saw them.
“Foster, you’re closing in on Kevlar,” Bang said over coms.
When he saw Kevlar, Foster didn’t acknowledge him. Maybe someone watching closely could have seen the recognition firing in his eyes, but he didn’t think they were being watched by anyone who wasn’t intent on stopping these people.
They were approaching a marina. Safe and Blink were on the water not too far from here. Two of the Carabinieres had drones at the ready to chase on the water if they lost sight of one of the groups.
There were a couple of islands off the coast, but those were well inhabited. There was a stretch of coastline that wasn’t too packed, but the beaches and shores were rocky and would be hard to land in that area.
“Where are these fuckers going?” Foster said under his breath.
T grunted. “I think we’re about to find out.”
They watched as the two terrorists headed down one of the paths at the marina. They stopped at a boat that wasn’t huge, and after a short discussion one of them hopped aboard while the other untied the ropes holding it in place.
“They are getting in a boat,” T said.
“There are two boats with equipment at a marina three hundred yards away from your current position,” Bang informed him over coms.
“Looks like we’re getting in the water,” Kevlar said.
This wasn’t the typical operation they ran. Maybe they should have allowed the Carabiniere to arrest the men days ago. But not catching them in the act would mean they could get off with less jail time. They needed the evidence to be rock solid if they wanted convictions to stick.
If these men had the opportunity to get out and try this again, they wouldn’t be so sloppy. Also, they needed to figure out if there was anyone operating behind the scenes. Had these men come up with it on their own?
There were loads of people looking into how these guys came together. Then there was another group looking into how they got their funding.
Eventually they would put it all together, but right now, his focus needed to be on taking them down in the act with evidence in their possession so they couldn’t deny what they were doing.
The drones were about to go up as Foster and his group made their way to the boats. Kevlar found them first and Foster hopped into the boat with T driving.
Foster was on lookout. He searched for the boat going out and was having a hard time finding them. Regret at not taking them into custody before they got onto the water wound through him.
“I don’t see them.” Worry spun through Foster. This was going to end up badly.
“They’re about five hundred meters ahead of us,” Flash said.
“Got it,” Foster said as he caught a glimpse of the boat they needed to follow.
“Foster, the two other pairs are moving closer to your location on land,” Bang said over coms.
The US Navy ships were up ahead. It would take maybe another five minutes to get to them. What were these guys planning on doing?
Instead of getting closer to the Navy ships, the terrorists turned off and moved up the coast. T slowed, and Foster watched through his scope, realizing that one of the guys was putting on a wet suit.
“Kevlar, Flash, are you seeing what I’m seeing? That guy is putting on a wet suit, right?”
“Yeah,” Flash answered.
Bang came over coms. “It looks like the other guys are putting on wetsuits.”
“They are going to place charges,” Foster said.
“Are we ready to move in?” Kevlar asked.
“Let me check with the Italians,” Bang said.
He hoped they were ready. They needed to take these jerks down now, and fast. Once they had them, they could tie this group back to Kaya.
“We don’t want them in the water,” Kevlar said.
Foster shook his head. “Shit. This is so messy.” There were wetsuits and tanks in the bottom of the boat they were in, but he didn’t want to get into a fight in the water. He guessed that was the only option available to him.
“I’m putting on a wet suit,” Foster said.
“Glad we had those boats made ready,” Bang said.
The sheer planning that had gone into this operation was insane. Foster pulled on the wetsuit quickly, getting ready to go into the water if needed.
The terrorists boat slowed, and the second guy was pulling on his suit. T managed to cut the engine and was grabbing his gear to go into the water with Foster.
They hadn’t been seen yet, but that could change in a moment. The excitement of operating on the fly had him going, but he honestly preferred a little less chaos on missions. Having to deal with unplanned events was fine, but this seemed over the top.
He watched as one of the two terrorists dropped into the water. It was time to go in. He was about to go in when the other guy moved to jump into the water and he turned then paused.
Had he seen them? The guy stood, but a rogue wave rocked his boat, and he tumbled into the water.
Foster didn’t have time to waste. He had to go in and hope for the best.
“Stay up here and get closer to their boat,” Foster said to T before he jumped from the side of the boat into the water.
Foster had his tactical underwater propulsion system on and was able to close the distance between himself and the boat where the divers had gone in.
They weren’t as well equipped as his team and Foster could see their lights in the water a few meters ahead. Foster had to trust that T was close by along with Kevlar and Flash.
He moved closer to the two terrorists, hoping there was a boat close by to take them into custody. He was about two meters away from the slowest of the men when he heard a boat motor above them, followed by a splash.
Foster didn’t take his eyes off the pair and moved closer. Out of the corner of his mask he spied another SEAL team member.
It was time to make his move. Foster used the speed burst to close the distance. He grabbed the other man’s heel and yanked hard.
The dark water hid most everything, but Foster could see the man reaching for a knife at his waist. If the guy got his hands on his knife, it could be game over. He would never see Pen again, and that would be a damn shame.