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  “Yes, sir.”

  “Natasha, I know I’m asking a lot, but you and your team are the right people for the job. You’re the only people for the job.”

  “We’ll make it happen, Director.”

  “I’ll check in before you lift-off.”

  -oOo-

  “Where the fuck is Orkut?” Derrick demanded when Tasha finished briefing the team with everything she knew. She’d spent the entire morning pouring over the mission briefing that Whittlefield had sent her. The information they had was damned thin, the confirmed information even thinner.

  The rescue team could hear each other easily over the headsets they wore. They were plugged into the plane’s communications system while simultaneously blocking out the roar of the four powerful jet engines.

  “Southeast Africa. It’s about the size of Texas, and they went through a revolution about five years ago,” Tasha explained. “Mabasa Minbitu ousted his father, Jaffa Minbitu, along with his supporting generals, and established a democratic government. He’s hanging on by his fingertips. Yessa Kangka, one of the most powerful of the generals that served under Jaffa, has been trying to retake the government by using some of his old friends, members of various terrorist groups.”

  “Sounds like a great place,” Rich sneered.

  “Yeah. Think poor as shit and corrupt. But Mabasa is trying to clean up the mess his father made. Unfortunately for us, the U.S. sent in some cruise missiles to take out a couple of terrorist camps a few years ago before Mabasa took over, but the people haven’t forgotten. We severed official relations with Jaffa Minbitu, and we’ve begun resuming them with his son. It’s a very delicate political situation there at the moment. We can’t depend on Orkut to help us, and the State Department is strictly hands-off until there is solid proof the Griffins are actually in Orkut. That means we’re totally on our own.”

  “Fuck,” Derrick muttered.

  “Hey, this is what we trained for,” Dan bolstered. “We knew what we signed up for.”

  “Yeah, but do we look like a bunch of… what the fuck are we?” Derrick asked.

  “Ornithologists. We’re from the University of Miami, there to study the mating habit of the Grey Crested Cranes. It’s the rainy season there, and that’s when the cranes mate,” Tasha repeated for the third time.

  “Jesus Christ. We’re going to watch birds fucking?” Rich asked.

  Tasha smiled. “It’s only to get us through security. Mabasa is trying to make his country a nature preserve to base his economy on ecotourism, and environmentalists have less trouble getting in than almost anyone else. Once we’re boots on the ground, we’ll get busy. I promise, you won’t have to watch birds fuck.”

  “I suggest we get some shuteye while we can,” Dan said. “Sleep may be hard to come by once we hit the ground.”

  “I’ve got clothes here that you can change into when you wake up,” Tasha said, pointing to the four large suitcases strapped to one of the pallets of food and medicine.

  “Jesus Christ,” Rich muttered again. “Bird watchers.”

  -oOo-

  Because of time differences and flight time, they hit the ground in Talish, the capitol of Orkut, at 7:30 in the morning, local time. As the loadmaster coordinated getting the supplies off the plane, Tasha led her team down the ramp and toward security. They’d left their BDUs—Battle Dress Uniforms, the standard camo uniforms they wore most days—on the plane and had changed into civvies. Tasha left her light blouse open at the collar, leaving a tempting amount of flesh on display.

  “How’re ya’ll doin’?” she drawled as she presented her passport for inspection.

  There’d be no issue with their passports. It was a legitimate U.S. passport, with only the details changed. The guard looked her passport over as another man quickly rummaged through her bag. He would find nothing of interest there either.

  “Lordy, it sure is hot here,” she said as she fanned herself, subtly calling attention to her breasts.

  “Thank you, Ms. Lancaster. Welcome to Orkut.”

  Dan, Rich, and finally Derrick passed through with equally little trouble.

  Once out on the street, the men relaxed. “They speak English here. That’s a help.”

  “Former British colony. First things first. We need to get checked in, then we can hit the streets.”

  “I feel naked without my weapon,” Derrick muttered as a battered, green, Mercedes taxi pulled to a stop at the curb.

  “It’ll be along,” Tasha said as she squeezed into the back seat between Rich and Dan. Because he was the biggest of the three men, Derrick got the front seat.

  “Hotel Vispin,” Derrick said, and the driver pulled smartly away, three bags in the trunk and one riding on the roof.

  As they rode, Tasha prattled on about birds, most of it made up on the spot. The guys were slipping back into their ‘Rambo’ mode now that they were on an actual mission outside of the comfortable confines of the base, which she had been afraid of. They were still learning the craft and hadn’t been tested in the real world. She gave Dan a hard jab with her elbow and a meaningful glance at the driver. He looked slightly surprised, then joined her in conversation about birds. She had no idea how much of what he said was true, but it sounded good to her.

  After checking in and getting settled in their rooms, she called a meeting.

  “Goddammit! You’re going to blow our cover before we even get started. You’ve grown your hair out and you’re not wearing uniforms, but you’re practically shouting, ‘look at me. I’m military.’ You can’t go all tall, dark, and stoic on me. That hard-faced, steely-eyed shit is going to get us busted.”

  Rich and Derrick looked down. She could tell from their faces they knew they’d slipped.

  “Sorry. Old habits die hard,” Derrick muttered.

  “I told Director Whittlefield we weren’t ready, but you know what’s at stake here. Remember what I taught you. I know you can do it. I’ve seen it. Just relax and blend in.”

  They were still settling in when a knock came at her door. “Ms. Lancaster?” a beautiful woman asked. “Delivery for you. Sign here.”

  Tasha signed, then opened the box after the woman left. She smiled. Maybe Derrick and Rich could relax now. Inside the box were four pistols with enough ammo to give a lot of bad guys a dirt nap with baby Jesus.

  By the time they were ready to move, it was well after lunch. “Okay, we’ve got about four hours before everyone starts closing,” Tasha said. “Let’s make them count. Two-man teams. Derrick, you and Rich see what you can find out from this list. Those are importers and equipment dealers. Dan and I will see if we can locate lab space that has recently been rented. Remember, covert.”

  “Do we even know Docs Griffin are here in Talish?” Dan asked.

  “No, but we have to start somewhere. Talish is the largest city and has the best infrastructure for doing this kind of work. Most of Orkut is small villages and jungle. If they are conducting the research anywhere else, it would be a lot more difficult.”

  “But if this is the obvious place, doesn’t that mean it would be the first place someone would look for them?” Rich asked.

  Tasha shrugged. “You have a better suggestion?”

  “No.”

  “Then let’s start beating the bushes and see what falls out. If we don’t get a sniff of something in a couple of days, we can start looking elsewhere. But Talish is a big place. A small lab in a building somewhere? That’s going to be hard to find. Let’s not borrow trouble.”

  Rich nodded.

  “Let’s go, and plan on meeting back here about eighteen-hundred hours to compare notes.”

  “You got it,” Derrick said, checking his weapon before tucking it away under his shirt in the small of his back.

  -oOo-

  “You don’t have any space for lease suitable for a lab?” Tasha asked the man behind the desk. Her deep southern drawl was gone, replaced with a Brooklyn accent so thick you could slice it with a knife.


  “No, ma’am.”

  “Okay, thanks!” She and Dan stepped out onto the sidewalk, standing under the canopy to stay out of the rain. “We’re completely striking out,” she muttered.

  None of the places they’d checked had the space, power, atmospheric controls, and refrigeration the Griffins would need to perform their work. They’d found places that met one or two of their requirements and one place that met three, but no place that met all four. They’d given the place that met three a thorough inspection on the pretense she was scouting lab locations for a major U.S. drug company to study some of the native flora for potential future drugs.

  “We still have quite a few to go,” Dan said. “Ten more,” he added after a quick count.

  “Yeah. We’re obviously not—” She paused as her SAT phone rang. Four of the phones were included with their clothes, part of the goodies Whittlefield had sent them. “Hello?”

  “We’ve got a hit,” Rich’s voice said. “We found a guy who recommended we check Grand Orkut Imports. They’re known to import hard to find equipment without asking too many questions, if you know what I mean.”

  “That’s great. Are you going to check it out?”

  “No. Derrick and I talked it over and decided it would be better if you did it. This is your thing, after all, and you’re the expert.”

  She smiled. “Okay. Give me the address.”

  She repeated it to Dan and he wrote it down. “Okay, got it. Dan and I will check it then meet you back at the hotel. Good job, guys.” She hung up and grinned at Dan. “You up for a little breaking and entering?”

  It was almost 5:30, the typical closing time for most businesses in Talish. By the time they reached the address, the place should be deserted. As they approached Grand Orkut Imports, it was well after six. They couldn’t very well have a taxi drop them off at a closed business without arousing suspicion, so they’d caught a cab to the nearest restaurant, then walked the last dozen blocks.

  While Dan kept watch, Tasha picked the lock quickly and opened the door, and they slipped inside. It looked like any other office.

  “What are we looking for?”

  “Import documents for lab equipment, particularly centrifuges. Start with those filing cabinets over there. Be careful to not disturb anything.”

  It didn’t take long to realize the files were in date order, so they started with the latest files and began to work backwards.

  “Nothing,” Dan spat in frustration as he closed another drawer quietly.

  “Maybe, but look at this,” Tasha said, pulling a folder out of the cabinet. “A load of televisions was delivered three weeks ago.”

  “Okay, so?”

  “It doesn’t strike you as suspicious that these televisions were paid for with cash, picked up at the dock by the customer, and shipped from Germany, then to Egypt, before coming here? Kind of a roundabout way to get here, isn’t it? Besides, Germany isn’t exactly known for their robust television manufacturing industry. But what they are known for is making high-end lab equipment. And look at the insured value. Damned expensive televisions.”

  “It doesn’t prove anything, does it?”

  She shook her head. “No, but think about it. A few weeks before they snatch the Griffins, some suspicious electronics arrive via a route that makes no sense from a country of origin that makes no sense. But…if it was lab equipment—equipment that can’t be legally imported because of the ban on equipment terrorists can use to make weapons— things suddenly become much clearer.”

  She turned to the copier and made copies of all the documents.

  “Should you be doing that?” he asked with a nod at the copier.

  She grinned as the machine whirred and clunked. “I don’t think they’ll miss a few pieces of paper.”

  When she finished, she put everything carefully back the way she found it.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here,” she said as she closed the file cabinet door. “I need to send these to Fort Meade so they can check out what was really in that shipment.”

  Daniel

  It was almost 8:00 when Tasha and Dan strolled into the hotel. They’d returned to the restaurant and had a dinner of grilled chicken with rice, yams, and bananas. As they ate, Tasha took pictures of the papers with her phone and sent them to… wherever she sent them.

  They’d sat in the back of the restaurant, but he was still astonished at how bold she was, going about her business as if she had nothing to hide, and then tucking the papers away when she finished. During their training, she kept telling them that acting like you had something to hide only called attention to the fact you had something to hide. She certainly lived by that motto, and not one person in the place gave her a second glance. At least, not a second glance at what she was doing. She’d had plenty of second, third, and fourth glances, especially by the men, as they ate.

  Working with her today, he had become almost mesmerized by her. She could change from a soft southern belle to a hard-charging New York bitch in the blink of an eye. And it wasn’t only her accent, it was her entire demeanor. She made him realize how little they knew about the spy business and how much more they had to learn. He also wondered how many other women were packed into that taut, athletic body of hers.

  As they ate, chatting about their day while leaving out any details that would give away what they were actually doing, he’d felt the tingle of desire for her. Being with Tasha would be like making love to a different woman every night. She intrigued him like no other woman he’d ever met, but he felt the desire fade as his past gripped him by the throat again. He had to remain focused.

  Rich and Derrick were in the hotel bar, nursing a beer as they entered. “Great job, today,” Natasha said as she and Dan settled at the table beside their teammates.

  “Find anything?” Rich asked.

  “Maybe. I’ve sent some paperwork to the university. We’ll see what the head of the department has to say.”

  “How’d you get a hit so fast?” Dan asked. “We couldn’t find shit.”

  “Raw, natural talent,” Derrick said with a grin. “The minute that guy started talking, I knew he was hiding something.”

  “How’d you get him to spill it?” Tasha asked.

  Derrick grinned as he leaned in a little closer. “Rich and I, we explained how we thought it would be in the best interest of everyone involved to tell us what he knew.”

  Dan watched as Tasha’s face went hard. “Goddammit!” she hissed. “You can’t do shit like that. You’re going to blow our cover.”

  “We didn’t touch him,” Rich protested. “We didn’t tell him anything either.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Ornithologists don’t go around threatening people.”

  “We didn’t threaten him.”

  “So he just volunteered the information out of the goodness of his heart?”

  “All we said was we were looking for hard-to-find lab equipment for the study of bird eggs, then we leaned on him a little when he said the stuff we were looking for wasn’t available for import.”

  Tasha shook her head, her lips tight.

  “They did get us our first lead,” Dan said, standing up for his team. After watching Tasha work today, he finally understood what she had been preaching and could see why she was upset, but it didn’t sound like the SEALs had crossed too far over the line.

  “Yeah, that’s something,” she said with a sigh. “As big as you two are, merely walking into a place you probably intimidate half the people in there.”

  Dan nodded at Rich. “Tomorrow, I’ll go with Derrick, and Rich, you can go with Tasha,” he offered. “Watching her do what she does was a real eye opener for me today. You’ll have a whole new appreciation for what she has been trying to teach us after watching an expert. After Rich, you’ll be next, Derrick.”

  Tasha nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”

  Dan noticed that Derrick wasn’t paying attention to them anymore and looked to where he was st
aring. At the bar were two stunning women, and they were watching their table intently, a small smile playing on their lips.

  Derrick smiled as he rose. “I’ll get us another round of beer.”

  Dan felt a sinking in his stomach as Derrick stopped at the bar, spoke to the bartender a moment, then turned his attention to the two women.

  Rich grinned when Derrick glanced at their table and jerked his head. “Excuse me,” he said as he rose. “My wingman needs support.”

  Rich walked to the bar, spoke to the women a moment, then picked up two beers, delivering them to their table, setting one each in front of Tasha and Dan as Derrick and the two women moved to another table.

  “If you’ll excuse Derrick and me,” he said with a grin as he backed away.

  “Rich,” Dan hissed. “This isn’t right. Something’s off.”

  Rich’s smile spread. “Not yet, it isn’t, but I plan on getting something off a little later.”

  “No!” Dan said sharply. “You and Derrick need to—”

  “Whoa there, Hoss,” Rich said, his smile fading. “We’re having a drink. Nothing wrong with that. Tasha said blend. Derrick and I are blending.”

  “I’m telling you, this doesn’t—” Dan tried again.

  “Dan?” Tasha asked. “What’s up?”

  “This is wrong. We’re here for a reason and we need to stay focused.”

  She sighed and gave Rich a small nod. He smiled again as he moved to join Derrick at the other table.

  “Part of blending in is acting natural,” Tasha began. “If two women who look like that hit on a guy, giving them the cold shoulder is going to stand out.” Her eyes narrowed. “What’s eating you?”

  “This could go to hell so quickly. We’re here to…study birds…and they’re over there trying to fuck some bimbos they picked up at the bar.”

  “So?” She watched the other table a moment. “I don’t see anything except a couple of whores looking for a mark.”