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“Yeah.” Wraith sighed. “Wish we could be in two places at once. Don’t like leaving the camp.”
“Yeah, but our orders are to move these people, not guard the camp. The militia is doing what we asked them to do. We have to trust them to do it for another day at least.”
“Want me to go over and give some monetary enticement to Habib?”
Ronan smiled. “Wouldn’t hurt. Get some money out of the box.”
“I’ll take Ranger with me. We’ll be back before you have to move the vehicles.”
“That works.”
He watched Wraith hustle into the tent and whistle for Ranger. The man’s head popped up. “Yo?”
“Come with me. We’ll be right back,” Wraith said.
Ranger was up and moving without any questions. Ronan went over each vehicle again, as did the rest of the men. “Fire up the vehicles. I’ll drive Ranger’s over.”
The process of loading each of the trucks was quick. Fleur, Tammara, Rana, and several others ticked people’s names off the list as they entered the trucks with all their earthly possessions, which wasn’t much. Hell, it wasn’t anything. Ronan spoke to each truck’s passengers as they were secured in the back of the transport. He made sure they knew they were to get down and stay down until he told them they could get up if the convoy suddenly stopped. It wasn’t the first time these people had been in danger, and no one asked any questions. They were only hoping for a better place at the journey's end.
“Dude, we’re ready. Put Cobra team on our comms, please.”
“Roger that, Skipper.” Dude was silent for a moment. “Cobra One, this is Panther Six. Do you copy?”
“I do. Glad to join the network for a while.”Deacon’s voice called out to his team members, and they answered. He finished with, “Cobra Team is ready.”
Ronan went down his list. “Panther One and Two are ready. Panther Three?”
“Ready,” Jug said.
“Panther Four?”
“Ready,” Stryker said.
“Panther Five?”
“Good to go, Skipper.”
“Let’s move out. Dude, how long do you have satellite?”
“For your trip there. The trip back, you’ll be without coverage for about half the trip.”
“The way there is more important. We need to keep these people safe.” Ronan glanced over at Wraith. “What did Habib say?”
“He said he would make sure nothing happened at the camp.”
“Do you believe him?”
“Yeah. I have half of his money in my pocket.” Wraith grinned.
Ronan laughed. “Yeah, that would do it.”
The road was mostly paved. There were a few places where they had to go off-road to avoid bombed-out areas, but the trip went fast andwithout hindrances. They offloaded the personnel, loaded supplies that had been staged and were waiting for the convoy, fueled up, and left within an hour of getting to Camp Seven.
“Skipper, I’m losing coverage. Another satellite will be overhead in two hours.”
“Copy. Everyone keep your eyes open,” Ronan reminded his men.
Ronan kept his head on a swivel. He doubted there would be an attack. It seemed Al was right. Miller left the camp to call in the convoy, and he could do that on his day off without anyone missing him. Fuck. Everything pointed at the man.