Chapter 32

32

Juan and Linc were already on their way to Malaysia, having been accepted by the dark web advertiser for the VIP security assignment. The impeccably produced fake military service documents, IDs, and legends generated by the Oregon 's crack teams had worked perfectly.

As soon as Juan and Linc received their respective initial payments, the mysterious employer provided two airline tickets. To avoid suspicion, the two operators began their separate journeys from different starting locations that took them on circuitous routes that both ended at different times in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital city. That seemed a logical destination. "KL" was a large and busy international business and transportation center as well as a melting pot of cultures, races, and religions. A collection of multinational mercenaries would draw little if any attention in a city like that.

Though it was doubtful KL was the final destination, it was no doubt closer to wherever the actual mission was going to take place. Otherwise, why bother sending them there? Juan, Max, and Linda agreed that taking the Oregon down to Malaysia made sense. They would at least be closer to the action and available for backup should the need arise.

It was on the second day of transit that Max received a call from Langston Overholt. Hali explained that Juan was unavailable and Max was in command. Max took the call while sitting in the Kirk Chair.

"Thank you for taking my call, Mr. Hanley. I trust Juan is in good health?"

"He and Linc are chasing a lead on the Vendor."

"As it so happens, I might have a lead for you as well."

"Fire away."

"A detachment of Italian carabinieri was recently ambushed by a mob of Salafists in Kosovo. NATO-KFOR believes a new source of weapons is flowing into the Kosovo region and falling into the hands of the local jihadis."

"The Vendor's Afghanistan stash?"

"That would fit his pattern. What's particularly worrying is that many of these radicals have combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and have now cycled back to the European continent."

"Combat trained and newly armed. That's not good."

"Now you know why I'd like you to send in a team to investigate. With any luck, we might get a lead on the Vendor's transport network or perhaps even his actual location."

"Kosovo isn't exactly a vacation spot these days."

"Indeed, it is not. The entire region is a tinderbox. A rising faction of Islamic extremists is calling for a new European holy war—one begun in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992 by Al Qaeda and other mujahideen against the Christian Serbs. The Christian Slavs in the region are in an uproar. I'm sure I don't have to remind you that World War I began when a young Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo."

"If memory serves, the Austrians then declared war on Serbia, Russia declared war on Austria, Germany on Russia, England and France on Germany—"

"—and so on in a series of bloody dominoes that decimated a generation of Europeans. Like Bismarck said twenty years before it happened, it would be some ‘damn foolish thing in the Balkans' that would lead to a great European war. I'm afraid we're not far away from a similar scenario today."

"And our friend the Vendor is providing the matches to set the place on fire all over again."

"Precisely."

"I'm just not sure how we can pull it off," Max said.

"What's the problem?"

"We're on our way to Kuala Lumpur to back up Juan and Linc."

"Don't you have other operators at your disposal?"

Max rubbed his chin. He fully understood the strategic significance of the Vendor's operations, but his first responsibility was to the Oregon and its crew and especially to Juan, his best friend. He couldn't abandon Juan and Linc for the sake of the possibility of uncovering the Vendor's operation in Kosovo. Juan and Linc were on a mission to do precisely that.

But what if their trip to KL really was a wild-goose chase?

Equally important, Max hated to dilute the spec ops team. Peeling off more of them to Kosovo meant the remaining fighters might have to do more with less in a gunfight to save Linc and Juan.

What would Juan do?

"Tell you what, Lang. I'll ask for two volunteers for the mission."

"Fair enough. I'll forward all the intel I have. Please keep me posted."

"Will do."

★

The Oregon 's team room was an eclectic mix of couches, blackboards, unit flags, and wall monitors. It was the place the ship's special operators congregated for mission briefings and debriefings—or just to hang out. All of the Oregon 's crew were hand-selected specialists in their respective fields, but the pipe hitters were a breed apart—a fraternity of violence executed up close and personal. Max always supposed that was the reason the team room looked more like a frat house media den than an actual office space.

He had called them all together to brief the mission. Eddie Seng, the director of shore operations, was there. So was MacD, Linda Ross, and Raven Malloy, the newest member of the Gundogs. A West Point graduate, Malloy's mixed Native American heritage and facility in both Farsi and Arabic served her well on two tours of combat-decorated duty in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army investigator.

Gomez Adams was draped over one of the couches like an abandoned beach towel.

Max stood at the head of the room. A map of Kosovo displayed on the monitor. He explained the situation on the ground and what was at stake. He also laid that against the mission Juan and Linc were on and the need to back them up.

"I need to add that Overholt doesn't want us pouring gasoline on the fire over there. It's black in, black out. We're just looking for intel, not a body count. That means guns are secured unless fired upon. Clear?"

Heads nodded.

"So, I'm looking for two volunteers. If you don't feel it, don't sweat it."

"Where in Kosovo, exactly?" Linda asked.

Max drew a red circle around a city with the tip of his finger.

"Up north. Above this place called Mitrovica."

Raven's hand shot up.

"You served with KFOR before Afghanistan, didn't you?" Eddie asked.

"That's right," she replied. Her lustrous black hair was pulled into a French braid thick as a hawser. "I served with the MSU based in Mitrovica years ago. I know the place and some of the players pretty well."

"Excellent. Anybody else?"

MacD raised his hand. "I'll tag along. Always wanted to see that part of the world."

"Then we have our team," Max said. "Eddie, let's the four of us have a sit-down and lay out the particulars. The rest of you are dismissed."

The others shuffled out of the room as the four sat down around a desk shoved into the corner. Eddie pulled up a map on the desk monitor and they all got to work planning out the mission. Raven's experience in the area provided critical input, but in truth it was all a shot in the dark without more intel on the ground.

As always, the Oregon 's Gundogs would have to improvise. That wasn't a problem. It was their most formidable weapon, taught to them by the master of the art himself, Juan Cabrillo.