Intrusion (5 page)

It rankled more than a little that the
Lieutenant had brought Mouth in on this job. If someone else had
asked Adam along on a stateside mission he would have told them no.
There was just too much risk of getting tangled up with law
enforcement. The Lieutenant had told Adam more than once that mercs
made their living on the fringes of civilization, and smart ones
chose the fringes not in North America.

The call asking Adam along on this particular
foray into lawlessness hadn't included an explanation as to the
reason the Lieutenant was breaking his own rules, but Adam hadn't
pressed. The Lieutenant had saved Adam's life six years ago when
there hadn't been an upside and Adam had been his man ever since.
He'd served as overwatch on the last half-dozen missions he'd been
asked to join, and he'd saved the team's ass more than
once.

.338 rounds were more than capable of ripping
through light vehicles at the appropriate ranges. Bringing along
Mouth and his .50 Barrett was both overkill and stupid. Adam just
couldn't see any scenario where they were going to run into
full-blown armored vehicles this go around. Even the up-armored
SUV's some of the drug cartels used in this part of Arizona didn't
justify dealing with Mouth's attitude, not on a mission Adam hadn't
wanted to be on in the first place.

A burst of static signaled orders from the
Lieutenant. "Our principle will be arriving shortly. Some kind of
handoff occurring. Our orders are to keep him from being
disturbed."

"Right. Like I said, a milk run. Thermals
aren't picking anything up, and there's nothing but desert for
miles. What in the hell was Union P thinking putting a yard all the
way out here?"

"I'm serious, Mouth. Can it. We've got movement
coming from this direction."

Adam resisted the temptation to take his
attention off of his slice of the horizon and rubberneck. Pitch
would let him know what he needed to know. The old man had served
as a spotter for nearly two decades on more continents than most
people could name without looking in an encyclopedia.

Instead Adam reviewed the layout of the rail
yard. A single two story building with some kind of metal awning
over the door stood just to the west of a central open compound.
The snipers and Pitch had set up on the building since it gave them
the most commanding vantage despite the blind spots created by the
scattering of smaller structures surrounding it. The rest of the
team was spread out to cover gaps between buildings and help
provide eyes on the dead spots that the overwatch team couldn't
see.

"Two vehicles inbound. Looks like SUV's of some
kind. They're running dark."

Pitch's voice had dropped into the smooth cant
of someone used to pointing out targets without startling his men
enough to make them miss shots.

"Damn, everything's all happening at once. I've
got a pair of semi's that just came around the hill. They part of
the plan or do I get to do something about them?"

"They're expected. The handoff is supposedly
container sized."

Something flickered across Adam's scope. Too
fast to be anything land bound but bigger than any bird he'd ever
seen.

Table of Contents

Intrusion

Handoff Excerpt