She had never been to a game but had driven by the stadium on many occasions. “At the entrance, behind home plate, taller than seventeen feet.”
“Is it locked up in the off-season?”
“Can’t imagine it’s not,” replied Kira.
“How close to residential areas?”
“Not,” she replied. “Fairly industrial. No bars or stores in the area open at night.”
“Sounds like we have a winner,” said Metzger. “Let’s give it a go.”
With this decided, Desh motioned to Connelly to join him in the back of the chopper. The two men knelt beside two large, green canvas bags that Connelly had loaded aboard that contained a wide assortment of weapons and other equipment. Desh unzipped the first bag and inspected the contents approvingly: four combat knives, plasticuffs, metal handcuffs, rope, tape, six flashlights, a first aid kit, a wire cutter, a bolt cutter, and six pairs of night vision goggles. Desh also found several assault vests sporting multiple pockets for weapons, spare clips and grenades.
The second bag contained a wide variety of electronic and communication equipment, four H&K .45s, four MP-5 machine pistols, and a dozen stun grenades. These grenades were also known as flashbangs. Like this name implied, they would create such an intensely bright flash and earsplitting bang that they would blind and deafen an enemy for about ten seconds. Several pairs of eye protectors and electronic earplugs were present as well to minimize the effects of the stun grenades on those who were using them. Finally, Desh located several empty rucksacks that could be filled for specific missions as needed.
Connelly had done well. He had loaded the chopper for bear as Desh had requested.
As Desh continued inspecting the equipment he removed his headphones and motioned for the colonel to do the same. He leaned in close to Connelly's ear. “This Metzger really came through for you,” he shouted. “But it’s inner circle time. I’m going to lay out information so sensitive I don’t trust myself with it.” He looked at Connelly meaningfully.
“He’s solid,” bellowed Connelly, but even so Desh could barely hear him. “He was on my team back in the day. We’ve been on dozens of missions together, including some that went bad. Real bad. Clusterfucks. He’s as good as it gets.”
“Integrity?” asked Desh.
Connelly nodded. “We took out a Columbian drug lord once. Just the two of us. The guy had a silk drawstring bag in his safe filled with diamonds the size of marbles.” He raised his eyebrows. “Ninety-nine guys out of a hundred would have at least raised the philosophical question: who would know if some went missing? But Metzger pulled the bag from the safe, looked inside, and tossed it to me. Never mentioned it again.” Connelly locked his eyes firmly on Desh. “He’s one of us, David. He prides himself on doing what’s right.”
Desh nodded. “Thanks Colonel. Good enough for me. I assumed as much, but I had to ask.” He slid his headset back over his ears and Connelly did the same. The two men carried the heavy canvas bags to the front end of the helicopter.
When they were within twenty miles of Hagerstown, Desh passed out night vision goggles and Metzger killed the helicopter’s lights. They were now invisible from the ground. Piloting a helicopter blind using night-vision equipment wasn’t for the faint of heart, but Metzger had considerable experience doing so. Five minutes later they were over Hagerstown and Kira directed Metzger to the stadium. He circled it quickly and landed as close to the bleachers as he could, well behind home plate.
As expected, the gate entrance had a heavy chain around it and was padlocked. Desh pulled a pair of bolt-cutters from one of the canvas bags, and they were soon on their way.
They came upon some parked cars about three blocks from the stadium, and Desh expertly broke into one and hotwired it. They returned the night vision equipment to one of the canvas bags, threw both bags in the trunk, and climbed into the car. Kira drove, Connelly took the passenger seat to protect his injury, and Griffin, Desh and Metzger crammed themselves into the back.
Kira pulled away from the curb. “Next stop, my place,” she announced. “We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
PART SIX
Moriarty
40