and Lawrence, okay?”
“Sure. No problem.”
“And you’re sure you don’t mind going to that couple party solo?”
“Shoot, Ben. I’ve been doing solo for years. I’ll be fine.”
He took her mouth in another prolonged, deep, wet kiss. Finally, she stepped back.
“You probably should go.”
“Yeah, I should.”
“Come back safe,” she said and walked to her porch.
He waved and drove away.
She waited until he faded from sight before she went inside. Why did this time feel different than the times before?
Bravo team hadn’t been briefed on this mission yet. They’d only been instructed to be on base and ready for wheels up at one a.m.
Ben rolled onto the base at a little after midnight. He saw that most of his team had already arrived. Rollouts didn’t bother him. Heck, he’d been out of country more times than anyone on his team.
But this one felt different and he couldn’t put his finger on the reason why.
“Got any idea where we’re headed?” Jacob asked as he walked up.
“Yeah, I know, but I’ll let HQ fill you in. I’m not sure why we’re headed where we are. But I can say that I’ve never been there.”
Jacob’s eyebrows rose. “A new country for you? Hell, man, we’re staying on planet, right?”
Benjamin laughed. “No promises.
Evan, aka Cowboy, strode up. “Where we headed this time?”
“He won’t say,” Jacob answered.
“Top secret op,” Benjamin replied. “That much I can tell you.”
“Hmm,” Cowboy said. “My money’s on Canada.”
Benjamin laughed. “Seriously? You think we are invading Canada?”
“Why not? I’ve been wanting to go there.”
Jacob and Benjamin both laughed.
“Yeah, we’re not invading Canada,” Benjamin said.
“Too bad. I hear it’s beautiful in the summer.”
“Let’s go men,” a deep voice boomed from a door in the building beside them.
The CO stood in the entrance checking his watch. The team grabbed their gear and headed in.
“Briefing in the air,” their CO said.
“Load the plane and get settled in. It’s a thirteen-hour flight.”
Benjamin’s team caught a C-30 cargo plane from Camp Pendleton to K16 Air Base in Seongnam, South Korea. They’d all been following the news out of North Korea, particularly the country’s continuing efforts to develop a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the mainland of the United States. To date, their rocket launches had been dismal failures and it was the U.S. Military’s goal to keep it that way.
Once everyone was onboard, the CO called them to the area of the plane that would serve as main command.
“Listen up,” their CO started. “I know you’re used to keeping secrets and on top-secret ops, but this one is seriously need-to-know only. There can be no leaks, not even a whiff of a rumor of where we are or what we’re doing. All cell phones are to be turned off now.” He waited as the team pulled out cell phones and turned them off.
“Ensign Davis,” he barked.
“Yes, sir.” The female junior officer stepped up.
“Pass out the storage bags.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
Ensign Davis pulled cloth pouches from a box; each bag was labeled with a team member’s name.
“Each of you have been assigned a security bag. You will place your phone, smart watch or any other device that shows your location in this bag, and everything will remain there for the duration of this mission. All calls and communications with loved ones during this mission will be recorded and monitored. Again, nothing, and I mean nothing about this op will be hinted to or in any way discussed with loved ones. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” came the unified reply from the team.
Once all the devices were secured in their bags, each man handed his pouch back to the ensign who placed them all in a secured, locked holding box.
Benjamin had been a SEAL for a long time, as had most of his team. As their CO had said, they were used to secret missions, but these precautions were like nothing he’d experienced before.
“Thank you,” the CO said. “Gentlemen, we’re headed for South Korea. Intel has confirmed that the North Korean government has hired a Russian physicist by the name of Nicholas Popov to bring their nuclear program up to par with China, Russia, and of course the U.S. Obviously we cannot allow this to happen. You will be doing recon along the coast in the area where Popov will be working and also where we’ve heard he’ll be on vacation later.”
“Are we going in?” Benjamin asked.
“Not now. We’re preparing three different SEAL platoons. Each one will spend three weeks on recon while the others are back in California setting up and running