Chapter Sixty-Nine

In flight

Sunday, August 29, 6:01 A.M.

Time Remaining on the Extinction Clock: 77 hours, 59 minutes E.S.T.

Top and Bunny were still loading their gear into a Black Hawk when my earbud binged and I heard Grace’s voice: “Joe—Bug located the island. MindReader matched the geography to Isla D’Oro, a small island in the Pacific, forty miles due west of Playa Caletas.”

“Where’s that?” I asked.

“Costa Rica. I’ll have him download everything to your PDA. You have flight clearance to the Air National Guard Base at Martin State Airport. From there you’ll switch to an Osprey.”

“They’re slow as hell—”

“Not this one. It’s a prototype being developed for the Navy. Has a cruising speed of six hundred kilometers per hour and a twelve-hundred-mile range, which means you’ll be refueling midair.”

“Where’d you find something like that so quickly?”

“Mr. Church has a friend in the industry. The Osprey is on its way to the air base and should be refueled by the time you touch down.”

“Do we have any local support?”

“I called one of my mates at Barrier and he said that the carrier Ark Royal’s in those waters. The Osprey will put you on their deck, and then you’ll go to the island in a Westland Sea King. You can also have Royal Marines, Harriers, and anything else you need.”

“That’s fast work, Major. I’ll take the ride, but for now let’s go with me, Bunny, and Top. Until we know what’s what, I don’t want to bring in the Light Brigade.”

“I’d rather you took the whole fleet,” she said. “But I can see your point.”

It was clear she wanted to say more, but this wasn’t the time and certainly wasn’t the place. So instead she simply held out her hand. I took it and if we held our clasp a few seconds too long, screw it.

“Good hunting,” she said.

“Thanks.”

The Black Hawk was in the air in under five minutes.

I SPREAD OUT a map and we gathered around. “This is Isla D’Oro. Gold Island. Supposed to be uninhabited except for a biological research station funded by Swiss grants and managed by a team from the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica. We’re looking into that to see if it’s legit. Satellite images tell us there’s a compound with buildings on the island that match with the construction plans filed by the university. Thermals are tricky because the island is mildly volcanic.”

“ ‘Mildly volcanic’?” echoed Bunny. “That anything like ‘somewhat pregnant’?”

“It hasn’t popped its cork in over a century, but there are vents and geothermal activity, so thermals won’t give us a reliable body count. We’ll probably be relying on what we see rather than gadgets.” I tapped the map. “Choppers from the Ark Royal will set us down here. The terrain is rocky with thick foliage. Combat names for the mission and keep the chatter down. Full team on channel two, direct to me on channel one. The TOC command channel is channel three. Call signs only once we hit the ground.”

“What’s the op?” asked Bunny.

“Mission priorities are flexible,” I said. “We look first. If we can find the kid who sent the videos, then we extract him. Everything else after that is based on what we find.”

“Rules of engagement?”

“Nobody gets trigger-happy,” I said, “On the other hand, we’re not flying two thousand miles to take anyone’s shit.”

“Hooah.”

“The USS George H. W. Bush is heading this way in case this really turns into something. The Bush will be in fighter range about two hours after we make landfall. That means ninety fixed-wing and helos ready to pull our asses out of the fire if it comes to it.”

“Wow . . . it’s nice when Washington likes us,” said Bunny. “Say, boss, what do we do if we run into any of those guys with the body armor?”

“Aim for the head,” said Top. “Always been a fan favorite.”

“Works for me.”

Top took a slow breath. “Cap’n . . . about Jigsaw . . .”

“Yeah.”

“We don’t know which team took them out. Russians or the other guys.”

“No.”

“I’m of two minds. On one hand, I want to know who did it and nail their hides to the wall, feel me?”

“Completely.”

“On the other hand, I get either side in my sights I’m not sure I’m going to indulge in a lot of restraint. You have any issues with that better tell me now and make it an order.”

I considered how best to answer that. “Top . . . Church and the geek squad are working on connecting the dots. We got some new info off the second video, and he has a lip-reader working on recovering info from the hunt video. We’re all hoping that by the time we put boots on the ground in Costa Rica we know who the bad guys truly are.”

“Wasn’t goons in exoskeletons put Big Bob in the ICU,” said Bunny.

“Uh-huh,” agreed Top. “And it wasn’t the goons who killed the staff at Deep Iron. Now . . . I don’t see how Russian mercs tie into a buncha assholes who still think Hitler’s a role model, but I’m leaning toward them being the ones who need their asses completely kicked.”

“Probably so, but we have to be open to any possibility. Church sent us on an infil and rescue, not a wet work.”

“Okay, Cap’n, loud and clear.”

“Bunny?” I asked.

“You’re the boss, boss.”

FOR THE REST of the flight we went over the information from the conference and I played the second video. I watched their eyes when the kid said, “You have to do something before everyone in Africa dies. And maybe more than that. You got to stop them!”

Top leaned back, folded his arms, and said nothing. Bunny looked at me. “Holy shit. Is this for real?”

“We’ll find out.”

Top took a toothpick from his pocket, put it between his teeth, and chewed it. He didn’t say a word for the rest of the flight.