Chapter Eleven
Kali
Thankfully, Thomas never knew that for a sickening moment, our chute wouldn't open. It did finally deploy, and I wondered if I'd ever tell him that we almost died together.
As the air rushed over our bodies and the ground got ever closer, time slowed down. I went over it in my mind what felt like a million times when I'd packed the chute. I knew I'd done everything right. It was a pity that we'd leave the gear behind on the ground, so I'd never know what went wrong with the equipment.
Once we were on the ground and I'd freed Thomas from the harness, it took all of my strength not to throw him over my shoulder and carry him to safety. I had to keep my mind on the mission. It was the only way I could protect Thomas.
We were radio silent and used hand signals to communicate. The others and I formed a diamond pattern around Thomas. If one of us fell, the mission could still go on. If anything happened to Thomas, the whole thing was over. That was the only thing that brought me any comfort. I knew that everyone's focus was on keeping my Omega safe.
Thomas was clearly uncomfortable with being in the field. I could see the strain written on his gorgeous face. His breath was ragged, and his eyes were filled with regrets.
Good.
That negativity would keep him from ever doing a dangerous mission again. I wouldn't have to put my foot down and make him take a safer job. I doubted that he knew it, but this was his last life-threatening mission.
It wasn't that I wanted to be a control freak. If he'd been alive and exhilarated by what we were doing the way Aden was, I'd have had to deal with it. I knew that Captain Mayfield swallowed his protective instincts and kept his mouth shut about his mate wanting to take down terrorists. Aden said that while he wanted to be home with his daughters, it was important that he work to make the world a safer place to live in. The next target was an Embassy in Europe, but how long would it be before they were knocking on our door at home?
The desert was freezing cold in the dark of night. I knew that the desert was cold at night, but I still found it shocking. In my mind, I'd expected sweltering heat. I guessed it was good that we didn't have to worry about sunburns for at least the first half of the hike.
Then, the sun came up. The full force of the Egyptian desert was upon us before we made it to the warehouse. The heat was blistering, and we'd sweat buckets. But, our clothes would stay dry because all of it would evaporate immediately. We had just enough water to get us there and not a drop more.
The sand and harsh wind that kicked up with the sunrise made walking feel like a chore. I'd never felt so out of shape in my life. I was used to missions in South America and Asia, but this was my first in the Middle East.
Eventually we got to an area that was rockier than sand, but that still presented its own challenges. Some of the rocks were like huge razor blades, and we had to keep from falling. One slip and you'd be maimed or dead. Like I said, we'd only had just enough water. If one of us had gotten injured, it would have put everyone's life in jeopardy unless the injured man stayed behind. That would have spelled certain death for the one left, I was sure of it.
Three miles in and I finally saw the warehouse. At first, I'd thought it was a mirage. We'd been briefed on those before the trip, but the Captain confirmed it was the target location.
I'd been picturing a warehouse like what we had back in the States, but that's not what was before us. The white building was surrounded by a stone fence that was about five feet high. Someone had turned it into a compound complete with a swimming pool and three fountains. They were dried out and filled with debris, but I could only imagine what it had cost to keep them filled with water when they were still in use. The "warehouse" had at one time been a palace.
We reached the gates, and there was no one around. The Egyptian military was supposed to be there guarding the site, but they were long gone. The radio silence was maintained until we'd swept the place for hidden enemies and bombs. The whole thing had smelled like a trap as soon as we arrived. I worried that we'd gotten bad intelligence and were about to walk into our deaths.
What had most likely happened, and what was confirmed later, was that the Egyptians had to abandon the warehouse to pursue insurgents. They'd been ambushed while guarding the warehouse, and when they turned the terrorists back to the desert, the Egyptian Army had decided to pursue and kill them.
It had left the servers, and any other intelligence we could find inside, vulnerable, but it hadn't been our call. The Egyptians later made it clear that they had been cooperating with us, but that they did not take orders from our Army.
Once we were in the clear, Thomas and I located the underground server room. Thankfully, the power was still on and the HVAC keeping the server room cool was still turned on. I couldn't imagine how fast those machines would have fried in the desert heat even if they were underground.
"You good?" Mayfield asked as Thomas and I hooked up our computers and began the process of breaking into the servers.
"We're good. Let us work our magic."
"Rory is going to stand by while Aden and I continue doing security sweeps."
"We'll be as quick as we can, Sir," I said and turned back to my work.