Hostile Ground (The Arsenal #7) - Cara Carnes Page 0,73

it’ll take a lot of firepower to destroy,” Marshall said. “Anything and anyone within its range won’t stand a chance.”

“Too bad we don’t have more of those,” Nolan said with a smirk. “That woman terrifies me.”

Kristof hadn’t met the mysterious Bree and Rhea. They’d sat on a few video calls he was part of, but they’d never met face-to-face. Addy’s big grin eased some of the worry in him. She clearly admired Bree and her weapons.

“So that’s the shock and awe,” Addy said. “What’s the real plan?”

“Second phase will begin once the targets have engaged the unmanned weapons,” Jesse said. “It’ll be an aerial assault focused on taking out targets outside of the initial target zones. The third phase begins immediately upon engagement. Nolan’s team will enter the catacombs and secure the prisoners clustered along the northeastern sector.”

“My team, along with Marshall’s, will secure the missiles and exfil them to one of three potential zones to be loaded onto the helo once the second phase is completed,” Gage said.

“Which leaves my team on exfil for Olaf,” Addy said.

Kristof tightened. “If Kostya is there, he’ll head directly to Olaf. He’ll have a heavily armed team with him, typically at least ten highly trained men.”

She’d come face-to-face with his father. Even though he had no doubt she could handle herself, he hadn’t wanted the bastard anywhere near her. Not ever again.

“That won’t be a problem. We’ll have heavy drone presence to even the odds,” Edge said.

Kristof glanced at Maksim. “We can provide men to assist wherever they can. How many have you vetted?”

“Four teams of six,” Maksim said. “They are highly trained, former military. I can provide their information for The Arsenal to vet.”

“We would need to clear them,” Jesse said. “To be honest, we’d appreciate the assistance, but getting them painted as friendlies will be an issue. Do we have enough tech on the ground there to handle four teams, Zoey?”

“Yeah. Maybe.” She nodded. “Our teams will have to forego backup headsets, and we’d need to use their field trackers on Kristof’s group. That won’t be an issue from HERA’s perspective because we can use our implanted trackers instead. That’d give us the ability to color code the groups between Arsenal and Kristof’s.”

In case there was a problem with anyone on Kristof’s teams. The unspoken reasoning hung within the room as everyone regarded one another. Kristof admired the efficiency and strategic planning The Arsenal did.

“It’s your call,” Edge said. “You’re the boots on the ground. You will all have to work with the teams he offers and determine for yourselves if they’re up for the task.”

“They are,” Maksim said. “We have eight other teams I don’t consider ready.”

“You have more people in your network than I realized,” Zoey said.

“We’ve been planning for twenty years,” Kristof said. “I understand if you’d prefer not to use them, but this is my war too. I want to help free Olaf.”

And take Father down.

“The two primary objectives of this operation will be securing the missiles and freeing Olaf,” Edge said. “We can’t ensure a third objective.”

“Your father might get away,” Marshall said. “That doesn’t mean he’ll escape. It just means we’d need to focus on him once the missiles are secure and Olaf is extracted.”

“If he escapes, he won’t be found,” Maksim said. “I can handle Kostya. It would be my pleasure.”

“Not to be rude, but I’m not sure that’s a task to take on by yourself,” Zoey said.

Kristof chuckled. “I can assist him, but Maksim needs no help. The only person I’ve seen more competent at handling situations is Jud.”

“This brings us to the next talking point,” Edge said. “Kristof, we’ve run everything you provided Zoey with through HERA. To say Jesse and I were impressed is an understatement.”

Surprise rolled through Kristof as the images on the screen changed. He recognized the entities and names listed on a web-like grid. Some, though, weren’t familiar.

“What we’re looking at is what HERA deciphered from all the information we’ve obtained. Blue is what Kristof provided. It has all been verified via HERA. Green is what we’ve discovered through Yesim’s operation. Orange is what we’ve learned via the Cuba takedown,” Jesse said.

“The purple?” Addy asked.

“The purple is what HERA figured out when we combined it all,” Edge said. “In short, Kristof’s work in the underground started slowly pulling the threads of the Sidorav syndicate. He infused enough cashflow so that, on the surface level, it appeared to be a thriving initiative that expanded the reach of their drugs