Clear and present danger - Tom Clancy [343]
"How you fixed for rounds?" Clark asked in the Microvan.
"All we need for the AKs," Chavez replied. "About sixty each for the subs. I never knew how useful a silenced gun was."
"They are nice. Grenades?"
"All of us?" Vega asked. "Five frags and two CS."
"What are we going into?" Ding asked next.
"It's a farmhouse outside Anserma."
"What's the security there like?"
"I don't know squat yet."
"Hey, wait a minute, what are you getting us into?" Vega demanded.
"Relax, Sarge. If it's too heavy to handle, we back off and leave. All I know is we're going in for a close look. Chavez and I can handle that. By the way, there's spare batteries in the bag down there. Need 'em?"
"Fuckin' A!" Chavez pulled out his night scope and replaced the batteries at once. "Who's in the house?"
"Two people we especially want. Number One is Félix Cortez," Clark said, giving some background. "He's the guy running the operation against the SHOWBOAT teams - that's the code name for this operation, in case nobody bothered to tell you. He also had a hand in the murder of the ambassador. I want his ass and I want it alive. Number Two is one Señor Escobedo. He's one of the big shots in the Cartel. A lot of people want his ass."
"Yeah," León said. "We ain't got no big shots yet."
"So far we've gotten five or six of the bastards. That was my end of the operation." Clark turned to look at Chavez. He had to say that to establish his credibility.
"But how, when -"
"We're not supposed to talk all that much, children," Clark told them. "You don't go around advertising about killing folks no matter who told you it was okay."
"Are you really that good?"
Clark just shook his head. "Sometimes. Sometimes not. If you guys weren't damned good, you wouldn't be here. And there are times when it's just pure dumb luck."
"We just walked into one," León said. "I don't even know what went wrong, but Captain Rojas just -"
"I know. I saw some pricks load his body into the back of a truck -"
León went rigid. "And what -"
"Did I do?" Clark asked. "There were three of them. I put them in the truck, too. Then I torched the truck. I'm not real proud of that, but I think I took some of the heat off you BANNER guys when I did. Wasn't much, but it was all I could do at the time."
"So who pulled the chopper back on us?"
"Same guy who chopped off the radio. I know who it is. After this is all over, I want his ass, too. You don't send people out in the field and then pull this crap on 'em."
"So what are you going to do?" Vega wanted to know.
"I'll slap him firmly on both wrists. Now listen, people, you worry about tonight. One job at a time. You're soldiers, not a bunch of teenage broads. Less talkin' and more thinkin'."
Chavez, Vega, and León took the cue. They started checking their gear. There was enough room in the van to strip and clean weapons. Clark pulled into Anserma at sundown. He found a quiet spot about a mile from the house and left the van. Clark took Vega's night goggles, and then he and Chavez went out to take a walk.
There had been farming here recently. Clark wondered what it had been, but that and the fact that it was close to the village meant that the trees had been thinned out for cooking fires. They were able to move fast. Half an hour later they could see the house, separated from the woods by two hundred meters of open ground.
"Not good," Clark observed from his place on the ground.
"I count six, all with AKs."
"Company," the CIA officer said, turning to see where the noise was coming from. It was a Mercedes, and therefore could have belonged to anyone in the Cartel. Two more cars came with it, one ahead and one behind. A total of six guards got out to check the area.
"Escobedo and LaTorre," Clark said from behind the binoculars. "Two big shots to see Colonel Cortez. I wonder why…"
"Too many, man," Chavez said.
"You notice there wasn't any password or anything?"
"So?"
"It's possible, if we play it right."
"But how…"
"Think creatively," Clark told him. "Back to the