Target Acquisition

“Bait and switch followed by a bum rush?” Schwarz suggested.

“How do we get out?” Blancanales countered.

Lyons smiled. “Schwarz, I’ll need you to find us a good covert LZ on the edge of the city, out toward the jungle, and pinpoint the GPS reading.”

“That’ll work. Depends on how fast Stony Man can get us a bird. This’ll have to be black from JSOC, and even from FBI. And fast. Very goddamn fast,” Blancanales said.

“Has Barb ever let us down yet?” Lyons asked.

SCHWARZ WALKED OUT of the hotel and dodged traffic as he crossed the busy street. Blancanales pulled out from the curb and met him as he crossed the median. Schwarz opened the passenger side door and slid into the seat.

“It’s a go,” he said.

“Good,” Lyons replied from the backseat of the vehicle. “Let’s do it.”

Driving quickly, the Stony Man team circumnavigated the luxury hotel and pulled into the parking lot of the urban mall, quickly losing themselves among the acres of parking for up to 1,500 vehicles. A State Department courier with no association to the mission would pick up the vehicle ten minutes after Able Team left the area.

Over the horizon, in the hot Bolivian night, Jack Grimaldi was already inbound in an AH-6J Little Bird attack helicopter. The clock had started running on a tightly scheduled and overtly aggressive Able Team operation. Dressed in street clothes under colorful regional ponchos, the men moved quickly toward their objective.