THE HIT BACK SERIES (Order From Chaos)

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

“Revenge proves its own Executioner”. —john ford
[Present day}
Aslam looked away from the several computer screens, displaying the heatmap of a specific location in greens and reds. His gaze set straight on the faces around the staging suite. Hands languidly at his sides.

“Thanks to that little revelation made by president Kim; I’ve been able to uncover some secrets on the Raqqa attack.” He declared to the room’s itching ears and delight.

“What secret are we talking?” Arnold asked as his curiosity got the better of him.

“Leads pointing to the genuine launch site.” He gave a prompt answer.

“Out with it then, Aslam.” Executive Director Wycliffe ordered at once.

“All we’ve been led to believe in all along is nothing but a hoax. A gimmick of some unknown cons carried through with the state of the art gadgets in cyber manipulations.”

“Oh, fuck it! Spare me the preamble and cut to the chase already.” Wycliffe said, clearly irritated.

“Aight sir,” He said, cowering a bit. “The real launch site had been right under our nose all this while—”

“Shucks! Do you ever listen? What did I just say about leaving out the details?”

The room in the briefest of seconds went into an instant burst of laughter, everyone giving him an awkward look.

“C’mon Aslam, do we have a location?”

“Aye sir. Our target is deep in the wild west. Colorado to be precise.”

If surprised by the revelation none in the room made a big fuss of it, each and every one waiting for the COO’s input.

And voila, he came forthwith. “Heads-up everyone. We’ve a target. Let’s go a fishing.”

Arnold surveyed his small cadre, like a general would his frontline on a battlefield, for the last time. It had been a long, hard ride here from Langley—well over two hours. And the last thing he would wished for, was for any to blow all this in his face with a wrong move spawned from a wrong judgement.

“Guys, I bet you all know what’s at stake here, and would do well to hold your own just fine,” He began his address in a cold, raw voice. “And for the record, you all must know that every tango on site are assets in this sting operation of ours.”

With nothing but a nod in response, three men walked away from the unit, disappearing between the towering fences of wild Aspens and Pines to the south of their position.

A while later, he and the smattering few left in the unit made due north, sifting through the ground, with their weapons drawn and at the ready.

In little less than ten minutes, they came by a great find; an underground structure nicked well into the earth surface for God’s know how depth.

At the sight, Arnold released a lengthened sigh, whispering gingerly into his comms. “Target located. Making ingress in sixty seconds.”

He gestured at two of his men, who at the flick of his fingers plastered paper-thin sheets of Key4 on the structure’s cupola and cannonballed back to the spot where the team took cover nearby.

“Entering now. Secure the perimeter, Bravo team.” He announced over the blast.

After the smooth descent down several rungs of ladders, Arnold marched his men deeper into the darkened recesses of the silo. The flashes of their tactical flashlights dancing against the walls as they made even deeper.