Page 105 of Lucky Charm

“We could do it if we had to, Alpha One.” Doogie’s voice in his ear confirmed his own gut. They could do it. None of them would like it, and there would be casualties that Cait would ream his ass for.

“We’d expose ourselves with the first shots, even if Alpha Five nailed three or four before the position was made, we still have too many unknowns. Without better intel, we hold. Let’s know who is in those vehicles before we make a choice.”

“If it’s who we think, a strike is a justified decision.” Doogie’s thoughts paralleled his.

“Homeplate, no precise count on targets. Hold for update. How you copy?”

“Good copy.”

“Alpha One, we’ve moved toward the bluff. Do you want us to get closer?” Hernandez was always willing to push position for more information.

“Hold. If IQS is in one of those vehicles, they’ll drone strike. He’s the mission. Not the boy, notthese men. We’re here to observe and report, not pick a fight.”

“Is the boy here by choice?” Carter had his eyes on the vehicles, but his concern matched the medic in him.

“No way to determine.”

The vehicles were near the house. A loud shout went up. Hunt watched as the boy cheered with the man. More men poured out of the house. Six to his count. The older woman moved to the edge of the gathering and went into the dwelling.

Each vehicle was filled with men. Ten more men added to the mix. The home group swarmed the men, a jubilant homecoming. Jubilant from what? Unknown. The gathering left it impossible to delineate faces.

“Anybody have eyes on? No view here.”

“Negative,” Doogie confirmed. Without his snipers having eyes on, they had nothing to report other than the village was now occupied, most likely by one of the many terrorist factions that divided Afghanistan.

Frustration welled. Their entire deployment had one directive. Find IQS. They had four weeks left before returning to home base, and the search had become very personal. Maybe too personal.

“Alpha One, I have target acquisition.” Tommy’s quiet voice rolled through him.

“Location?”

“Front of house, first vehicle. Center.”

Hunt eyeballed the area, but his field of vision was blocked. “Moving to confirm.” He shifted slowlythrough the rocks to a higher location. Carter slipped closer at the same time.

Hernandez came through. “Confirmed. It’s him. Standing in the group. Taking photo now.”

“Do it and then move back to me.”

“The boy is with him.”

Hunt paused, then found a good observation point and used his binoculars to make a slow steady analysis of the people around the house. He wanted his eyes on the man. He needed his eyes on the threat to his team and to Cait before he would call in a drone strike. He eyed the boy and took a half a second to understand that a drone strike would take all these people – people that had sworn fidelity to a man who’d massacred hundreds. Gray areas were his specialty, but the boy would be an especially difficult death for the team and Doc to take.

His eyes landed on the man, and while he couldn’t see the intensity of the moment that Cait had drawn on his face, it was him.

“Homeplate. Target acquisition. Our coordinates.”

“Say again, Alpha One.”

“Confirmed. Target acquired.”

He went silent, swallowing against a surge of surreal. “Alpha three, send that photo to Homeplate.”

“Copy.”

Homeplate came back. “Can you handle?”

“Not with one hundred percent assurance.” Tommy could shoot the man at this range, but exfilwould be deadly complicated. Even if they had an RPG they could fire, which they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to guarantee success. His orders were clear. Operators lives had priority. This was a sneak-and-peek not an ambush.