CHAPTER 83
Asheville, North Carolina
Oliver and I had made some half-assed plans before, but this was by far the most half-assed one we had ever conceived. We would take off from Asheville Regional, then land at Palm Beach International around midnight. Meg’s team would pick us up in a dark corner of the base operations parking lot.
Meg and Si would stay at the Wilsons’ and fly the drone as overwatch for the assault. Oliver, Jimmy T., Rudy, and I would stage as close to the Russian compound as we could get.
If we made it inside without compromise, we figured, the grab itself should take no more than ten minutes, tops. Oliver and Teagan would go for one of the twins, while Rudy and I would tag the other.
Once we called Jackpot, Wolf and his crew would arrive in, as Meg called it, the big box of fun.
At that early hour, we should be able to drive into the Everglades undetected, then call for our exfiltration all the way back to Easton, Maryland.
If shit went south, Fletcher and Porter’s Black Star Services was supposed to have a dedicated bird circling off the Florida coast for an immediate medevac.
Once in Easton, we’d go to work on the twins and politely ask them to give up the mole. If that didn’t do the trick, we’d switch to more, uh, persuasive methods.
Oliver and I knew the plan was shitty and there were lots of ways it could go sideways, but we agreed that surprise was on our side and that made up for a lot.
We had suppressed weapons in case we met armed resistance, but the whole idea of the snatch mission was to take the targets alive, using dart guns loaded with enough sedative to knock out a friggin’ elephant. The op would be smooth and silent.
By the time we were in the air heading south, Wolf, JP, and Stu were in Daytona Beach, loading another Florida Moving and Storage truck.
Meg, Jimmy T., Si, and Rudy seemed hyped about the snatch mission.
I think we all were excited to be back in the saddle.
Hopefully there would be no fireworks tonight.
I told Meg I would call her when we were about ten minutes from wheels down.