Free Black Flagged Apex by Steven Konkoly

in exactly six minutes. They're about two minutes from settling in on their mats for maghrib. Sunset prayer. Luke's team will confirm that they are deeply into reciting their verses before we hit the door. If they try to resist when we bust inside, Petrovich will use his pistol to disable or kill Hanif Akhnaten. That'll give us a two to one ratio to get the others under control. Stay alert inside the apartment. We need to keep Hassan and Ozier el-Masri alive for interrogation under any circumstance. The FBI is missing a big piece of the puzzle. This crew might be the only hope of piecing the whole thing together. Any questions?"
    "Suppressors for everyone?" Hubner asked.
    "Negative. Just Petrovich. He's the only shooter unless something is really off in the apartment. Are we good?"
    They all nodded and waited to hear from Luke's team.
    **
    Luke Fortier sat on the edge of a cheap plastic folding chair and listened intently to the array of police scanners arranged on the makeshift desk bolted into the back of the Ford transporter van. The entire cargo area behind the driver and passenger seat had been hastily converted for their use during this operation. A thick padded curtain separated the two areas, providing the team with complete privacy from anyone staring through the windshield or front side windows. From the outside, the van resembled every other compact van found throughout Europe, with the exception of the unique antenna array located toward the back. A trained observer would note that this very average van had an enhanced Wi-Fi and satellite communications capability, in addition to a combined UHF/VHF landmobile radio system. Fortier's job was to communicate with Farrington's team and scan every possible police frequency for any indication of a law enforcement response to the team's entry to the target building. The other two members of the team got to do the fun work on this operation.
    He turned his head toward Ramish "Mish" Banergee and Alvaro "Alvin" Batista, who were huddled around three laptop computers sitting on the metal table jammed into the left side of the van. Wires poured down the back of the table, splitting into thick tentacles that snaked off in several directions along the carpeted floor, sending information to various electronics components buried in shock absorbent foam cases designed expressly for the purpose of mobile surveillance. Mish kneeled at the desk and typed a string of commands into the leftmost laptop. The middle screen changed to a view of the brightly lit, sparsely decorated room. Three men appeared near the bottom of the screen, facing away from the door. They all bowed in unison and stood back up, before dropping to their knees and prostrating with their heads touching the floor.
    "Look at this shit. I'm a genius," Mish crowed.
    "You got lucky. One in a thousand that they'd leave a laptop open for us. We have eyes and ears on target, Luke," Batista said.
    "Looks like they're into a rhythm. Are they faced away from the door?"
    "Yep. Facing southeast. Pointing directly at our van, ironically."
    "I think they're planning on taking a trip. I see a few suitcases along the far wall. Check it out," Banergee said.
    The screen zoomed in on three pieces of luggage stacked along the wall leading to a different room.
    "The team is at the door. I'm clearing them for entry. Do you see anything on the screen that might get in their way?"
    "I don't see any weapons or furniture obstructions. No unusual RF activity from the building or surrounding area. The team is clear," Mish said.
    "Give me an identification line up," Luke said.
    Banergee typed furiously and worked the mouse, isolating images and sending them to Batista's laptop on the right side of the table. Batista matched the pictures taken from the hijacked laptop with employee identification photos taken at DBM. The entire process took five seconds.
    "From the team's frame of reference. Left to right. El-Masri. Hassan. Akhnaten.
    "All right.