The Loneliest Stars

Chapter 34

"Sir, we have new intel from the French," a young soldier; on loan from the Marine Corps' African Command said, walking into the Tactical Operations Command room.

"Okay, put it on my desk. I'll read it later," Gabe responded, not looking up from the screen.

He was watching Dan's team extract an informant that had been giving them the run around for the last few days. They had located him off a side street connected to a busy market.

He had lied to them and then gone on the run, forgetting that Uncle Sam had several eyes in the skies. He was easy enough to locate, with his cell phone giving away his coordinates. They would need to be quick and quiet in extracting him though, since it was the middle of the day.

"It's still in French sir, we couldn't get a translator with clearance."

Gabe was getting annoyed, he hated receiving information in drips but he tried to not let it show. The soldier was young and inexperienced. He had been like that once.

"Good thing, I speak French," Gabe smiled tightly. "You may leave now."

"Bravo Team; this is Base, I need your SitRep," Gabe asked the field team over the comms.

"Base this is Bravo 1, Tango is apprehended." Dan's voice came over the radio comms letting him know they had caught the target.

"Received. Proceed to exfil, I say again, exfil. Transport is 2 mikes out."

"Roger that." Then two minutes later, Dan's voice came over the radio again. "Base this is Bravo 1, we are Oscar Mike."

Once he could see that they were on the move, Gabe allowed himself to relax. Somebody from the CIA would be along to question and he would join them. He was determined to get all the answers he needed.

He picked up the report. Skimming it's content. They were working with the French who had a large base, and plenty of boots on the ground. They had more intelligence assets than them since the US more or less served only in an advisory role to the French and the Mali government, they didn't have an official mission in the country, yet. But that could change.

The country was on the brink of being a failed state. With several groups in the north of the country fighting for independence, it had allowed a variety of terrorist groups to capitalise on the power vacuum and the two camps joined forces despite their differing ideologies.

Their plan was to destabilise the central government. Having already suffered a coup, and countless terrorist attacks the government was shaky at best and completely overrun at its worst. The French forces were there to stop that happening but had been ineffective thus far.

The good news was that the group they suspected of having Ty and several of his team were secular and not linked to any jihadi ideology, their bag was independence and self determination and when they got it, they probably wanted good relations with the US and other Western allies. That meant they they would more than likely keep their hostages alive and could be trusted to keep their word.

Any soldiers' worst nightmare was being paraded in a terrorist propaganda video and then being executed. That was part of the reason why Gabe had jumped on a flight without much thought, he wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy let alone his friend. With that option off the table, Gabe could relax a little and take his time planning an effective operation.

His plan was to turn up with cash, courtesy of Ty's employer and walk away with both the cash and the captives. Like the US government, he didn't negotiate with terrorists.

The independence group wanted cash or guns. That was their reasoning for capturing a bunch of ex-Tier 1 special forces guys. They were brave, Gabe surmised and very stupid.