"Got a lead." Swanson provided, leaning forward from the back seat. And incidentally handing the photo back to
Hector. "Guy lives in a compound a couple towns over. Centralized location. Apparently he works this entire area for
whoever it is that foots his bills. Raphael had no idea who that is but apparently our 'Suit' never lacks for money. Or
protection." He gestured to a map he unfolded across the front seat. "Says he's here abouts. Gave some visuals for
once we get closer." The blond took a swallow of his own water. That 'coffee' had been as close to scary as he'd come
in a long time. He glanced at Hector. "And he didn't take the money. He's a headman or something and he says the
'Suit' is bad news."
Mike glanced over at the indicated town.
"I know it." He agreed. At least well enough to find the compound somewhere in it. "Couple hours from here. So do we
head back to base and pick up a bird and some more boys or do we drive on over?"
"Raphael wasn't sure what security was like." Swanson added his input. "Not even sure if our target was home right
now or out working the territory. Said the guy's probably got about half a dozen goons at the compound. Or
thereabouts."
Everyone in the car glanced at Hector for the decision.
Hector thought, staring straight ahead into nothingness. A sign to Swanson that he was weighing all his options. Going
through the scenarios.
He should really double back, tell the SAS guys what was up and pick up some more, if not a bird, as suggested. But
that would take time. Time he knew wasn't his to spare. He exhaled and looked at the others.
"Half a dozen? That's six." Hector said. "There's four of us. We can take six. And we're not coming unprepared." He
pointed out and looked at Mike. "Take us to this compound. We'll case it for information, if we get another lead, we
might even be able to radio it back to the base."
Mike nodded.
"You gonna radio this in?" He asked mildly. Technically, he didn't care. SAS was headed for themountains and Mike
was pretty sure they were right. But assuming did more than make an ass out of everyone in this line of work. It got
you killed. Or worse, it got someone else killed. So English was using them to cover his bases.
Mike didn't think this was a wild goose chase either though. All the signs pointed to Andi. And the men that had, if not
been the ones to take her, had certainly made it possible. That was reason enough to put them down and do it hard.
But the fact was also that they just might be able to find out exactly where she'd been taken. The faster and more sure
they were, the better the rescue situation was.
The town receded behind them and Jet relaxed in the back again, for all appearances asleep in seconds. They'd do
their recon first. Then they'd decide if they were going in and how they were going to go about it. Until then there
wasn't a lot of need for discussion. Unless, like Swanson, you were worried about a certain fellow Delta.
"We sent Mark to go pick up her parents." The blond offered. It wasn't Delta's usual job description to handle that kind
of thing. But Andi had kind of been adopted. Hector looked at Swanson for that. He understood the need to tell her
parents, but that would just alarm them. They had to be completely freaking out, never mind that having a Delta come
tell you your daughter was missing wasn't any more comforting. Then he nodded. Nothing he could do about that
anyway.
"I'll radio it in." Hector said grabbing the radio. "This is Garrett, over."
"Where are you?" Baker nearly barked across the line.
"Heading toward a contact. We've got some promising leads. I need you to sit tight until we know whether this pans out
or not. Got it?" Hector wasn't in the mood to argue over this. Not now.
"Thought I told you that you weren't running this operation, cowboy." Came the near snarl.
"We're going to case it out, and we'll get back to you. Don't move, because this contact might change the whole
direction." He said, and knew he was right. If he thought he was just wasting time, he wouldn't have gone on this little
adventure. He was counting on Baker, or his friend, to realize that. Then he shut the radio off. "There, radioed in."
"You sure are making a lot of international friends." Swanson observed.
"It’s a gift." Hector said, shifting back against the seat and adjusting his sunglasses.
"Southern charm." Mike agreed dryly. Damn but just the sound of Baker's voice over the radio had been enough to
grate against his already frayed nerves. His mind automatically reached for what gave him comfort and soothed him.
"Suppose we know why Andi didn't stay in England then." He commented. "Guys like that would be enough to drive
anyone into the middle of the desert." He glanced around as the rest of the town fell away and nothing but sand
stretched out ahead of them. "Speaking of which - kick back and catch some sleep if you can. Its going to be a coupla
hours."
Hector had to chuckle at the comment about English men, and it wasn't like he didn't agree. Between English men and
Swiss bankers, he was more than happy that she had settled for American. Could be because the American in
particular she had settled for was him.
It was a good possibility that was the reason why!
He wasn't in the mood to sleep, but he did look out the window. If positive thinking could improve the situation, well, he
was sending her all the hopeful and reassuring thoughts he could. Couldn't hurt, right?
"Wish the bad guys would just all live in one place." Swanson grumbled, shoving his sunglasses on as he adjusted his
posture, more than willing to grab a few hours sleep.
"What?" Mike asked. "And make our lives easy? Now where's the fun in that?" Jet, asleep or pretending to be, kicked
the back of his chair. Mike took it with a grunt and otherwise ignored the move. While the two in the back crashed,
Mike drove in silence for a while. Mind a thousand, or at least a couple hundred, miles away.
Finally, voice quiet, he asked the man still awake next to him:
"Tell me you're going to convince her to go somewhere safer once we've got her back?"
"You gotta be kidding me." Hector said. "Wouldn't it be slightly hypocritical of me to say something, no matter how
much I believe it? You know where I just was? Saudi Arabia, flushing out a terrorism cell. You know where I'm going
when this is all resolved? Probably somewhere worse. I can't say shit, man, and you know it."
He sighed and ran a hand through his short cropped hair as he shook his head. "Believe me, if I knew I could
convince her, I certainly would. But she won't accept that coming from me. She loves her job, loves her work....we can
only hope this has shaken her resolve a bit. But then again, I don't want that, because that means something majorly
bad happened to her, and I'd be forced to go rabid Delta."
Mike exhaled. Hector was right. He hated that fact but the man was right.
"If she's their new doc, they won't hurt her." He stated. Needing to say it to remind himself. "You know she's not
antagonistic. And she's smart. She'll know what buttons not to push." What was bothering him, and he wasn't about to
bring up, was the single question he'd been turning over and over in his mind. If Andi was their new doc... what had
happened to the old one that had written the first list?
"Mmmhmmm." Hector said. If his thoughts went the way of Mike's for too long, he was liable to sack the compound
without the recon. Single handedly and very messily. His temper was something not even his fellow Deltas had seen
and really, Baker only got a small taste of it. He knew he had to keep it together, for Andi, or things would go very
wrong, very fast.
Even if she didn't know it yet, she was counting on him and he wouldn't let her down.
"Think the rest will stay put or will I have to whoop some English ass when we get back?"
What Mike could agree with was the need to hurt someone. And soon. It wasn't professional and there was a reason
men with personal issues weren't allowed on jobs like this. Right now he just couldn't say that he cared.
"I think anybody that hires getaway cars and sells lists of drugs they need stolen knows exactly what he's doing." Mike
stated, voice calm. "Whether he pretends to or not, he knows what's going on with the people he's dealing for. You
take him down and I don't think even Sam would insist on patching him back up." He handed over his own rifle so
Hector could double check it as well. More to give the man something to do with his hands than an actual need. In the
short time he'd had the weapon it was already sporting distinctive modifications.
"What are you going to do?" He asked after a moment. "Once we get her back?" And he left it entirely blank as to
whether he was referring to with Andi, with himself, or just to decompress after something as black as this.
Hector went to work on Mike's rifle, keeping his hands busy. Didn't keep his mind busy, but couldn't have everything,
right?
"Vacation." Hector said firmly, and a bit gruffly as he thought about it. "Can't do this forever, right? Every once in a
while you need a break. Last time I had more than a week off was...shit I don't even remember when."
He set Mike's rifle next to him as the other man drove, and proceeded to go through his own pack, inventorying. He
knew everything in it, could find it in the dark, but again, keeping busy.
"Figure after this, might be able to convince Andi to come along."
Mike shot Hector a quick glance and then went back to watching the 'road'.
Taking Andi away.
It made sense. A hell of a lot of sense.
And it left Mike without the ability to reassure himself that she was all right just by walking outside of his tent.
He'd seen this coming though. Right? He couldn't imagine anyone being steady enough to hop right back to work after
something like this. Couldn't imagine even attempting it would be healthy for the doctor, much less the patients. Her
going somewhere that people didn't shoot at each other to pass the time - which also excluded her parents' home -
not only made sense, it was what he wanted for her. Somewhere safe. If Hector did it right, Mike could even pretend
she might decide to stay there. Safe.
"You think she's going to protest that?" He asked.
"I can be very persuasive." Hector said, closing his pack again. "She won't really have a choice, in a good way I mean.
Besides, its peaceful where I want to go, and no one shoots at each other, hell...we all still leave our doors unlocked
at night." He said, vocalizing Mike's thoughts without knowing about it.
"I think it would be good." Hector continued, nodding to him self. "Besides, she's never seen the States, nor had
gumbo."
Mike shook his head. Telling himself he'd just have to deal with the ache at the thought of losing her for good.
"Hell." He grunted, "I can't believe her introduction to the good ol' US of A is going to be gumbo. All the things you
could be showing her and you're giving her fish head soup. I almost feel like I should apologize to her before she goes
in advance." Anyone else would have gotten a stern 'take care of her' in the very least. Shit, anyone else wouldn't
have gotten the chance to get to that point. But Hector... if he had to lose her to anyone, Hector was the only man
he'd ever met that he could stomach the thought of it to. "Somewhere nice and quiet sounds good though. I'll feel
better thinking of her that way." He was quiet for a while and then stated:
"There's some maps of the mountain region we're going into in my pack. I swiped them from command just before we
hit the dusty road. They've got a general idea of where each group likes to operate. Topographical too. If you wanted
to get a feel for the area."
Hector silently went into the pack and spread the maps over his lap, tracing the topography with his fingers and
memorizing them, committing them to memory as they drove.
"Could be worse, could bring her to a Yankees game." He cracked. "Not sure anyone not American can handle that
one with grace." He chuckled at that thought. "But she'll probably say it’s a nice place to visit. And there's no fish
heads in gumbo you sacrileges defiler of all things sacred! Fish heads..." he said, shaking his head.