Page 54 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“Yeah, Mother and Lambchop went for a run about forty-five minutes ago. Haven’t seen Sloan or Sherman.”

Had he gotten up earlier, Wilson would have joined them on the run. “The Lear is confirmed for ten hundred,” he remarked. “I have time to catch a workout. The gym looked decent.”

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” Jackson asked with a chuckle.

Wilson smiled. “Yeah, anyway, is all good at home?”

“Yes. Angel has some time to make up at work. She’s going in for a half-day today.”

Wilson had forgotten it was Saturday. He often relied on his watch to tell him what day it was as there was no such thing as a normal work week. “Looks like we’ll be off tomorrow. I’m on the next CIA Referral case tentatively scheduled to deploy on Monday. You?”

“I’m scheduled to be in the office for the next week,” Jackson said. Wilson knew that he was pretty much on an every other week mission deployment schedule to give him time at home. “I’m off tomorrow to have time with the fam.”

Wilson nodded. “That’s good. It has to be hard.”

Jackson shrugged. “It is what it is. I appreciate Shepherd has adjusted things, but hadn’t he been able to, or when he can’t, I’m still home more than I would be in a regular active-duty deployable unit.”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it. Yeah, there’s no six months or longer deployments in this unit.”

Lambchop and Mother came in through the front door. Both men looked like they’d had a good run. They grabbed beverages and then joined Wilson and Jackson. “I spoke with Shepherd this morning,” Lambchop said. “As long as everyone files their mission reports by the time we get back to HQ, everyone is off until Monday morning.”

“Sweet, we should be in and unloaded by thirteen hundred, thirteen-thirty tops. That leaves a lot of the day left and all day tomorrow off,” Wilson said.

Lambchop chuckled. “Why, what are you planning?”

“Yeah, not enough time to get away on another dive weekend,” Mother added.

“Sadly, no,” Wilson agreed. “My plan? To do absolutely nothing. And that’s the point. I’ll stop on my way home and get somebeer or a bottle of rum and diet. I’ll order Chinese or a pizza and do nothing until Monday morning, when I plan to arrive at HQ several hours before the time to deploy so I can hit the gym.”

The three other men laughed. “You can tell he’s single,” Lambchop said.

“But right now, I’m going to go catch a workout in the hotel gym,” Wilson said. “We’re leaving for the airport at what, about zero nine hundred?”

“Yeah, we’ll meet by the cars then,” Lambchop confirmed.

At zero nine hundred, Wilson and Jackson exited the hotel through the back door, near where their vehicles were parked. Within minutes, all six men had exited the hotel and had the vehicles packed for the short drive to the airfield.

November

Reina Ellis rushed out her back door. Her neighbors were still leaving her alone for the most part, since she’d told nosy Mrs. Newhouse that her cousin was a DEA agent. She wished she’d thought of it sooner. She wanted to hit the ATM and get some cash to keep in the house on her way to the community college bookstore, as she’d be going right by the bank. She had decided to get another book for the English class she was taking as an online class this semester. It was listed as optional, so she hadn’t purchased it originally, but after just the first week of taking the class, decided it might be helpful.

It was Saturday morning and besides a little housework and laundry; she planned to devote most of the weekend to her schoolwork with hopes of getting ahead in the reading, after this trip to the bookstore. The sun was shining, and the temperatures were in the upper twenties, not terrible.

Her mood was still somber as she continued to worry about Lilly. She couldn’t help but wonder what Jimmy knew that he couldn’t tell her. And it was also his tone of voice when he’d said he just didn’t know if Lilly was okay or not. He was being honest. He didn’t know which scared her more. Certainly, if Lilly was okay, that could have been figured out quickly.

She withdrew two hundred dollars from the ATM that was at the far end of the drive-up banking lanes. After stuffing it into her wallet, she pulled forward to the stop sign that emptied into the parking lot of the bank. Just then, a man and a woman exited the bank. Her eyes fixed on the woman, Ashley Carona. Her hair was worn long, falling onto the lapels of a black leather jacket. Her face was full of makeup, but it was her, Reina was sure!

She momentarily froze, watching the pair cross the lot. The man was good looking, a fit body, a clean-shaven face, a black full head of hair slicked back. As they reached the front of a black SUV, he removed the sunglasses he’d just slipped on when they exited the bank, and he pointed them at Ashley Carona as his other hand grabbed her by the upper arm. He had a terse expression on his face.

They climbed into the front seats of that black SUV; the man driving. The backseat windows and rear window were tinted black. Reina regained her senses and rolled forward. The man pulled forward through his spot and crossed the lot, heading to the far exit. Reina stayed back a few feet, but followed. She was easily able to fall in a couple of cars back when the SUV pulled out onto the street.

The SUV took a turn onto the interstate highway. She followed, fumbling to get her phone from her purse. She dialed Jimmy.

“Hello?” he answered on the second ring.

“Jimmy, I saw Ashley Carona. I’m following her right now,” Reina said as soon as he answered.

“You’re doing what? Where are you, Rae?” He pointed at Lambchop and snapped his fingers to get his attention. They were at the hangar, loading their gear onto the Lear. The others were on the plane.

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