CHAPTER 5
Morning came much too early and soon they were back in the team room, while the commander said, “It has come to our attention our target has a meeting scheduled with an American man suspected of small-arms dealing.”
The commander stood at the head of the table as he addressed the six men. The entire team sat a little straighter in their seats at the promise of action, even Jack, who had to be one hurting puppy at the moment.
Trey was surprised to see Jack upright at zero-eight-hundred after practically scraping him off Carly’s lap the night before.
He tried to block that image out of his mind. She’s a really good kisser. Trey gritted his teeth.
“We detained the bastard and his new wife on their way to the meet. When questioned, he said the wife knew nothing about it. She thinks he sells computer software. He brought her along as cover. Says he figured homeland security and customs wouldn’t look so hard at a married couple.”
“Real sweet guy,” one of the team mumbled.
The commander laughed. “Yeah, model husband. Lights out, please.”
Someone hit the lights and the commander flipped the photos of a man and woman on the wall screen.
“Meet Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The target is currently unaware his associate is now a guest of the US military and we intend on keeping it that way by replacing the Smiths with two of our own. With some gentle persuasion, our guest downstairs admitted he’s never met or spoken directly to our target. They’ve corresponded only by email. We’re now in possession of his computer and all of its files, which back up his story. Although I bet the target has done his research and may have photos. So our replacements should be as close as possible in physical appearance, but at least they don’t have to be exact. With only internet contact we won’t have to worry about voice matching either. Lights on.”
The lights came back on, leaving the images on the wall screen still visible, but dull. “That, boys, is the good news. The bad news is the rendezvous with the target is tomorrow and we need to find our replacements, bring them up to speed and fly them overseas before then. This does have an important upside. The team will be flying over too, putting us in perfect position to gather information about our missing man. At that time we can locate and if necessary extract him.”
Jack sat forward at the mention of his brother. “I’ll do it, sir. I’ll meet with the target.” He glanced at the stats of the male on the wall. “We’re close enough in coloring and about the same height and weight. I can do this, sir.”
“No. Out of the question.” The commander shook his head.
“Why?” Jack asked.
“Because you’re too close to this, Gordon.”
“You can trust me, sir. He’s my brother.”
“That’s exactly why you’re not going in undercover, Gordon.” The commander turned to Trey. “Williams. It’s going to be you. You look close enough and you speak the language. You’ll be able to get around the country easier knowing the native tongue in case things go bad. Although you’ll have to pretend you don’t speak anything except English since that’s what our couple’s linguistic skills are limited to. All this info will be in the briefing materials. You’ll have to review it on the flight over. The couple’s plane is scheduled to depart this morning.”
Bull, called that because he was as big as one, raised his hand. “Sir, what about the female?”
He’d asked the exact question Trey had been thinking.
“That’s the biggest obstacle right now. I’ve already spoken to Central Command. There’s no one they can give us on such short notice who even comes close to resembling this one, even with a wig. We have one hour to get us a trained female who looks like that.”
They all looked at the image of the hot, shapely brunette on screen.
Trey silently read off the stats listed next to the image. Hair: Brown. Eyes: Green. Height: 5’2”. Weight: 120 pounds. 36-24-36.
Shit. He knew someone who fit that description. He kept his mouth glued shut.
“What if Williams tells them his wife suddenly felt ill and couldn’t travel, sir? They’re newlyweds. He can say she’s pregnant or something,” BB suggested. BB had come to the team as Billy Bob, but the team had shortened that right quick.
The commander nodded. “That’s exactly what he’ll have to do, but only as a last resort. We want to cast as little suspicion on this as we can and make as few changes as possible to our guests’ original plans. The bastard husband has been bragging by email how smart he was bringing his wife with him to avoid suspicion. The target even commented how much he’s looking forward to meeting her. I’d rather have a woman there with him.”
“Um, sir? Would you consider a civilian?” Matt Coleman, the communications and computer specialist leaned forward in his chair.
The commander raised an eyebrow, considering. “I guess that depends on quite a few things. Why? You have someone in mind, Coleman?”
Matt nodded. “Call me crazy, but you take that cute little bartender at the place just off base, throw some makeup and a little hair spray on her and you’d have the spitting image of that woman on screen.”
The commander considered this for a moment. “Coleman, run her and make sure she’s not a member of some terrorist sleeper cell pretending to be a bartender. I want to know everything you can get and I want it now.”
“Yes, sir.” Matt, never without his laptop, began tapping keys.
Jack should have had Matt with him at the bar yesterday. He and his computer probably could have come up with Carly’s name on the spot. Her eye color too, knowing Matt’s skill.
“You know this girl, Williams?” The commander turned to him.
Trey’s heart had kicked into double time the moment Matt mentioned Carly. Shit. Had his reaction shown on his face? Or was the commander asking him only because he was the one going in undercover?
“Yes, sir. I do.”
“Would you like to elaborate a bit, Williams? Does she really look like this woman? Is she discreet? Is she intelligent? Basically, can she pull this thing off without getting you both killed and losing us Jimmy Gordon in the process?”
Trey swallowed hard and saw Jack watching him wide-eyed. He could lie and say she couldn’t pull this off, but he knew she could. Especially with him guiding her.
“Yes, sir.”
“Yes to which question, Williams?”
“Yes to all of them, sir. She’s perfect, or as perfect as we’re going to get from outside the SpecOps community and within an hour.” He shot a glance at Jack, who looked like he wanted to kill him.
“Fine. Coleman, what have you got?”
“You’re not going to believe this.” Matt grinned. “She’s military. Separated from the Army shortly after the death of her father, who was also Army. Looks like she used the payout on his life insurance policy to buy the bar just off base.”
The commander slapped his hands together. “Well, look here. Something is actually going my way today. Coleman, send whatever information you’ve got to my email and to the printer in my office. Then, take as many men as you need and bring her in ASAP and by that I mean I want her here an hour ago. You got me?”
“Sir. Yes, sir.” Coleman and the others at the table sprung into action.
When Trey and Jack both stood also, the commander held up a hand to stop them. “You two both stay right where you are.”
They sat again, Jack looking extremely unhappy, Trey not feeling much better.
“I’ve got a few calls to make to clear this with the higher-ups. You, Gordon, will sit here and calm yourself down. The only way to help your brother is for you to keep a cool head, and if you can’t you’ll remain stateside. Williams, you wait here until your new wife arrives.” The commander left them and went into his private office just off the meeting room.
The commander was barely out of the room when Jack spun to Trey. “What the hell, Trey? Why did you tell the commander she’d be perfect?”
He shook his head at Jack’s question. “I don’t know. He caught me off-guard. Besides, what was I supposed to do? Lie?”
“Yes. Taking her undercover to meet the target. Are you crazy? Are you trying to get her killed?”
Trey closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “No, of course not. I have every intention of bringing us both home alive. And Jimmy too, if it comes to that.”
Jack shook his head. “You better.”
Blowing out a breath, Trey realized it wasn’t going to be fun being trapped in a room to wait with Jack.