“Understood.” Gilbrech disconnected.
Nick rejoined his grim faced companions who were still mulling over Nick’s bleak weapons description of the MH-6 and how much damage it could do. He knelt next to the very distressed Valon. “I want to know exactly where you are to meet the drug shipment at, and whom the Pakistanis expect to meet it. I’m curious how you boys figured to move the shipment without a rig of your own. Then I want the location coordinates of the Lebanon, Ohio hangar. We will take this slow and easy. Leave nothing out, including where the rest of the stash is from the other buy-ins.”
“After payment, we are to take their rig at the docks after it is loaded. They will report it missing days from now after we have unloaded and abandoned it. They will expect me to be there at midnight tonight.”
“I’m afraid you won’t be able to make it, buddy.”
*
Lisa sat very still, wide eyed as she watched through the back window of the SUV as the fuel tank blew on the Albanians’ Chevy Suburban in the middle of an empty parking lot. She had watched Nick McCarty execute each of the Albanians after he finished questioning the leader. The shorter man named John took digital fingerprints and photos of the dead men along with DNA swabs. Lisa made a run for it during the executions thinking McCarty would kill her next, but the black man named Gus caught hold of her arm. He told her she wouldn’t be harmed. She turned away from the burning scene as McCarty entered the vehicle and huddled into the corner. Nick patted her hand.
“You’ve seen quite a bit, Lisa. I decided to keep my friends in the Marshal’s service out of this operation. I want to see where your head is at. You’re a smart girl. What exactly did you see? Better yet, what is it your think you’re going to see?”
“Nothing!”
Nick smiled at her as the man named Gus drove away. “That’s my girl. I’ll be watching you from now on. Go to school. Get a job, and never let me see your name on my screen being a bad girl. If I do see you being a bad girl, I will make a permanent adjustment in your life. Are we very clear about your future, Lisa?”
“Yes! I understand. I…I will never do anything bad again… ever!”
“I hope for your sake that’s true, kid.”
Twenty minutes later, Gus parked in front of her house.
“Okay, Lisa, go and sin no more,” Nick said.
John opened the door for her. A moment later with tears streaming down her cheeks, Lisa watched the scariest men she’d ever imagined existing drive away, leaving her home in a place no longer boring at all.
*
“The helicopters are missing.”
Nick listened to the report from Paul Gilbrech while eating with Gus and John. They were a couple hours away from trapping the Pakistani Oxycontin shipment. “What’s your guess, Paul? Do you think they moved them already to the Lebanon hangar?”
Paul hesitated. “That’s my guess. Here’s where it gets tricky. I would like to send a drone to investigate the hangar lead. If it pans out I’d like to hit it with Hellfire missiles.”
Nick chuckled. “I love you, man. What did they say when you tried to get permission for that?”
Gilbrech immediately launched into falsetto whine voice. “What? Are you mental? A Hellfire missile strike in Ohio? Are you insane?”
“Yep. That’s what I figured. So much for the logical hammer hit. What would you like done?”
“Clyde will be on the ground waiting for you. He will send a car for you the moment you get clear of the Pakistani hit. You have been cleared to sanction everything in Lebanon relating to this threat. The same people getting their panties in a wad about hitting the warehouse by MQ-9 Reaper strike want a cold lesson delivered to the Pakistanis involving their people, armaments, and equipment. If the drone can find the helicopters already there, I’d like you to do a kill mission on the group trying to pull this off. I’ve already made sure they won’t find anyone in the recruitment building, but naturally that won’t stop them from strafing civilians or letting loose on another populated target.”
“At some point it would seem appropriate to make exceptions in the Posse Comitatus Act if we’re not going to blow these fanatical turds off planet.”
Paul sighed. “Yeah, that would be my take too, but they’d never cover what I’m asking you to do anyway. I don’t think the idiots understand if those armaments go bang in that hangar, they will be desperately sorry they didn’t allow a nice clean Reaper strike. Scorch the earth, my friend.”
“It will be messy.”
“It’s the rainy season in Ohio anyway, brother.”
“I’ll make it hot. How close does the drone have to be for confirmation?”
“Two miles, Nick. They’ll never know we’re checking on them. I’ll call the moment I know for certain the copters are in place. I hope the time frame the Albanian gave you is more accurate than his helicopter story.”