her senior-most guard.
The Cuban officer appeared startled, and his face contorted in a flash
of fury. “This was not part of” From off camera, Pamela persisted.
“Isn’t that correct?
You’re leaving me here as a hostage or as the first civilian collateral
damage. How can you justify that, given your party’s consistent
insistence on human rights policies in Cuba? Doesn’t using foreign
nationals as hostage shields, as was done in Desert Storm, cast doubts
on the legitimacy of your claims to represent the real Cuban
interests?”
The colonel covered the distance to the cameraman in five quick
steps.
He yanked the video cam out of the man’s hands and threw it to the
ground, then stomped on it. Pamela could hear delicate mechanical
structures twisting, cracking, and snapping.
As though nothing had happened, she held the microphone back up to her
mouth. “This is Pamela Drake, no longer reporting live from Cuba.”
“Come!” The colonel walked over to her, grabbed her roughly by the
upper arm, and started steering her back toward the battered jeep.
“What? You’re not leaving me here?”
He smirked. “And this is why women should not be involved in military
planning. There is no further need for that. Your live report
convinced them that you were here, and the satellite undoubtedly
confirmed it. They may see us move you, but they won’t take the chance
that it’s permanent. If they shoot now, they must do so believing that
they will kill you.”
1800 Local (+5 GMT) USS Jefferson The ocean churned against the
carrier, disrupted in its orderly sea state two march toward the coast
by the presence of the massive gray hull. While the carrier barely
deigned to acknowledge the long, slow swells, the SEALs Special Forces
boat tethered to the aft landing platform was another matter.
“Catch.” Sikes heaved his backpack down into the boat, flexed his
knees, and leaped lightly from the stable carrier into the pitching
boat. He took the impact mostly in his knees, consciously keeping his
body loose and relaxed as he hit, sticking the landing like an Olympic
gymnast.
“Catch, yourself,” Huerta snapped, thrusting the pack out toward him.
“Back in the old days” “I know, I know you weren’t sissies back then,”
Sikes interrupted, taking the pack. He slipped his arms through the
strap, buckled the waistbelt, then turned back up to face the admiral
on the platform. “We’re ready. Admiral.”
Batman nodded. “Get some good pictures. I want to be able to send
something home besides postcards from the ship’s store.”
“You’ve got it, sir.” Sikes turned to the rest of the boat crew and
assessed their readiness one last time. Everything was on board it had
to be. There was no running back to camp during the middle of a
mission to retrieve forgotten batteries or repair parts for neglected
equipment. Satisfied with the still, taut readiness he saw in his
teammates, he made a sharp hand motion to the coxswain.
The low thrum of the engine increased slightly, but not much, since
every orifice was sound-muffled. The engine noise was barely audible
over the sound of water slapping against the carrier, but that would
change all too soon. As soon as they put some distance between
themselves and the massive mother ship, every decibel of noise would
increase the possibility that they would be detected.
Sikes turned back toward the carrier, snapped off a last sharp salute
at the admiral, then settled into his seat. There was no need for
further orders. The mission had been thoroughly briefed, just as
thoroughly talked through and committed to memory. The team was
working like a well-oiled machine.
Twenty minutes later, they were four thousand yards off the coast of
Cuba. The sky was just starting to darken in the east, and shadows
were creeping away from the buildings he saw ashore. A few guards
walked the pier, and there was little chance that they hadn’t seen the
gunboat. Would they do anything about it? That was the key
question.
Their best estimate had been no. The Cubans weren’t likely to want to
provoke an incident just then.
Fine. So much the better. As soon as he established for certain that