The War Planners Series by Andrew Watts

Author:Andrew Watts [Watts, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Andrew Watts
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chase looked around the Tactical Operations Center. He counted ten people. That was twice the usual number, and all of their eyes were glued to the same screen. Elliot was there, looking pissed off.

There were over a dozen flat-screens on the front wall. Some of them were tactical displays showing various contacts of interest in the operating area. Other screens showed rows of information concerning reconnaissance and other air missions that would be checking in and the times they were expected.

Several of the monitors were the actual video feeds from these surveillance aircraft. Drones and manned aircraft alike linked secure data down to the TOC. But today, people only cared about one of these screens.

Underneath this particular screen was a bright red digital display that said SHORTSTOP 23. That was the call sign of the US Air Force RQ-180 drone that was transmitting the video feed from several miles up.

The screen showed a truck blocking a highway. Three black cars were stopped in front of it. There were bodies strewn about the road, and a firefight was in progress.

“You see that?” Elliot said.

“See what?” Chase replied.

“Zoom out.” He looked around for the person controlling the drone. “Zoom out!”

An Air Force first lieutenant sitting in front of a mass of computer screens and joysticks clicked a few buttons. The screen flashed and then showed a wider, more distant view of the scene. Chase could see a beach to the south and a naval base with ships to the southeast. There was an airport over to the west. Bandar Abbas. Home to Iran’s largest naval base, it was positioned just north of the Strait of Hormuz.

With the view zoomed out, everyone could see another truck—a troop transport by the look of it—barreling down the highway, toward the firefight.

“This is going to get worse. I counted three heat signatures still in that truck that started the shooting.”

Chase leaned over to Elliot and whispered, “So what did Lisa’s email say?”

Elliot kept clenching and unclenching his jaw. “Very little. Just that the ‘operation’ was on. And then she listed these GPS coordinates written down below with this time and date.” He nodded up at the screen, implying that the coordinates were the same location the drone was observing. “I came over here to make sure that we had surveillance coverage of the location and told the duty officer to let me know if she saw anything suspicious. The thing is, Lisa sent that message to me over unclassified email. It was addressed to me and a few of the higher-ups in Langley. Like she wanted it to be picked up by outside sources.”

Lisa hadn’t been heard from in several weeks.

Until now.

Until the email that Elliot had just received. It implied that she was part of a CIA operation near Bandar Abbas. A few weeks ago, she had saved Chase and Waleed from getting shot by Pakvar and company in the Dubai Mall.

Days later, she had headed off to Langley for official business. At least, that was what Chase had been told.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.