Free SEAL Team Bravo: Black Ops VI - Guantanamo by Eric Meyer Page A

allowed those fanatics to escape started the war. What you want from us is to stop it."
    He nodded. "You're right. I understand the Commandant, Shaftoe, will be facing an inquiry, probably a court-martial. But that doesn't change the situation. We have to bring those men back before they hit a major American target. And the only way to do that, at least until they cross over to US territory, is to send in a small team to hunt them down. Anything more, and the Cubans would spot them for sure."
    "You realize if they catch us, they're liable to ship us back to Colombia?" Brad persisted, "Unless they shoot us first, as spies."
    "Yeah, it's a risk. It's one you'll have to keep in mind."
    "Thanks for nothing," Will muttered.
    "I'm sorry, PO Bryce, but there's nothing I can do to change it."
    Evers pushed to the front. "Admiral, maybe you should remind these men of what you've done for them. They were facing a long term of imprisonment in the military stockade."
    Jacks smiled. "Mr. Evers, these men were doing their duty, and they were screwed by their own government. Keep it in mind while you accompany them on this operation. I suggest if you have anything to say, you think long and hard. The jungles of South America can be dangerous places, accidents happen. Men can disappear without trace."
    "But…" The CIA man stopped as the impact of Jacks' words went home, "Right," he finished lamely.
    Jacks nodded. The man had got the message. "Captain Miller will make sure you have everything you need. If you need to communicate, I'm afraid the best we can do is a civilian satphone. Anything else would be suspicious if they found it."
    "What about infil and exfil?" Nolan asked.
    "Yeah, we've worked out the best way to avoid Cuban radar is a HALO jump. The USS Scott carries Ospreys. You'll take off when the ship is outside the canal, and you'll jump fifteen klicks from the Cuban shore. You'll make landfall just outside Tortuguilla. That's where we know the detainees went ashore. CIA has arranged for you to meet a person who knows the island well and has contacts with the smugglers. The kind of people they'd had to have used to get away."
    "They may have left the island already," Will pointed out.
    "It's possible," Jacks agreed, "In which case, you follow them. Wherever they go. Men, you're the bloodhounds. Get on their scent, and follow it all the way until you locate them."
    "And then?" It was Ryder who'd put the question.
    "Use your discretion," he replied, "These men are intent on mounting an attack on the United States, an attack to put 9/11 in the shade, so we understand. They threaten our security, our women and children, the very fabric of our lives."
    "That's not good enough," Ryder pushed, "You want us to kill them, just come out and say so."
    Jacks was silent for a few moments. Then he inclined his head as he came to a decision.
    "Kill them."
    John-Wesley smiled. "Copy that."

    * * *

    They waited on the flight deck dressed in civilian clothes, jeans, colored shirts, and an assortment of jackets and high-laced jungle boots. The intention was for them to look like Cuban locals, at least from a distance. Nolan had glanced in a mirror and thought they looked like a bunch of desperados. If any cop saw them, he'd run them in on sight.
    The Scott was off the Panamanian coast, rolling gently in a light swell. The crew of the Osprey was making final pre-flight checks before they boarded and took off. Their weapons were mainly Soviet era stuff, which Evers had mysteriously rounded up from a local CIA contact. The Cuban army used Soviet era equipment, and the island was flooded with it as a result.
    Nolan and Bryce carried PM-63 RAK 9mm submachine guns; Polish made and popular with the Cuban militia. Brad and John-Wesley each had a Kalashnikov AKM, the updated version of the ubiquitous AK-47. They carried their ammunition in bandoliers looped over their shoulders, and each man had a Makarov 9mm in a canvas holster fastened to his belt. There