Chapter 5

(Flashback; Shortly after the first meeting.)

There was a common knowledge that ths Win DX team in seeking out people they did and information that was not public knowledge was at risk. Before anyone went into the field, they had to list who was to be contacted in the event of their injury, death or capture. It was something nobody ever spoke about, and the reason why the men and women of Win DX tended to avoid relationships.

Pat and Ted became close friends, but nothing more. Such was the case with Chris Olmstead and Grady. Brian, being a mostly HQ person, ignored this, and became closer to Sabrina than was advisable. Sabrina did help in the computer area, but occasionally went into the field.

(New Orleans; Present Op)

Bud and Deke found their target Muhammed Ibrahim in New Orleans, but with more than ten others protecting him. He was a guest in the home of Fernando Cali, one of the Columbian drug cartel family that had been given asylum in the US during the late 90's. With the supposed War on Drugs, it didn't make sense to grant asylum to drug dealers.

Brian and Lance checked public records, then DEA database files, but found nowhere that Fernando had given any testimony against the cartel. An inquiry to the New Orleans Police Department Narcotics Division, brought no answers, but did bring a lot of questions about "who wanted to know and why?" Thus it was apparent that Cali and Ibrahim were not to be investigated. Someone had been or was being paid off.

When word of the cell in Houston being blown up reached Cali and Ibrahim, they had put on extra protection. Brian intercepted a phone call that chartered a private jet to take Ibrahim and the five accomplices with him to Managua, Nicaragua. Fernando Cali would accompany them to pick up a shipment of Cocaine from his cousins. Ted had the jet made ready and reloaded with the new air-to-air missiles, and flew to New Orleans, where he filed a flight plan to Cancun, Mexico.

The Win DX crew took off six minutes after the Gulfstream IV, and maintained a parallel course until they were out of range of the radar. Brian was able to get the Gulfstream's flight plan from the FAA computer database, and soon had its coordinates plotted. They would intercept just before dark.

From behind and just below the other jet, Pat eased the Citation X into firing position. If possible, they would take the plane out with the front Laser Cannon. They would need to move quickly for the radar from the Mexican coast would soon pick the other plane up. Ted lined the weapon up until the Heads Up Display or HUD, showed that they had a firing solution then gave a burst that caused the unsuspecting chartered jet to erupt into a fireball. If they had waited, the Air Traffic Controllers would have seen the Gulfstream and then the absence of it.

The Citation X turned north again to land in Corpus Christi, explaining the change in flight plans as an engine problem. There was no mention of the missing Gulfstream in the media. Somebody would become very interested three days later, when Fernando Cali was reported missing on a trip to Mexico.

The following week, Brian sent an encrypted message to the AHR informing the team that unmarked black SUV's had been spending a lot of time watching the Olmstead Ranch. There were two at any given time and IR scopes revealed either three or four men in each. A run of the license plates revealed no actual registration on any of them.

Ted thought it would be a good idea to move the planes out, so he had Bud fly the 185 north to Tyler at 0930. Later he flew the Caravan with what monitoring equipment remained in the bunker of the Ranch house, to the Antelope Hills Ranch once he was certain he was not being followed. Once it was unloaded, the C-123 would come for it, and take it to the Aurora View North Site that Win DX had leased from the Aurora View Corporation.

Lance Mercer was the last Win DX team member at the Ranch House, having taken Grady Polk, Chris Olmstead and Sabrina Saleh to Houston International, where they were to catch a flight to Seattle before taking a charter to Anchorage from Bellingham, Washington. There they were to be met by Ted and Pat with the Citation X.

Lance was making a last minute walk through, before going to New Mexico with the Suburban, when through the north gate crashed a Dodge van that had been converted into an amonium nitrate bomb. The van headed straight for the large oil storage tank, where it parked, as another with incendiary explosives headed for the Ranch House. One of the black SUV's picked up both drivers and sped out of the north gate, stopping at the far edge of the ranch to detonate both bombs.

Lance had secured himself in the hidden underground bunker, warned by a flashing intruder alarm, as the steel shell of the oil tank collapsed and the oil poured forth, eventually setting the whole area ablaze with heavy black smoke. As the Ranch Foreman called the explosions in to 911 on a cell phone, he was shot twice from behind.

A remote warning system at AHR told Brian that the Olmstead Ranch had been attacked. While changing planes at Dallas-Fort Worth International, Grady received the message on his PDA, as did Bud in Tyler. Bud then made plans to meet them at Mesquite Airport with the Cessna 185. As he arrived at the Tyler Airport to do the pre-flight, he noticed that there were two Hispanic-looking men closing the cowling cover on the plane. He kept his distance, scouting through his binoculars when he saw a black SUV similar to the ones that had been lurking near the Olmstead Ranch pull up and the two men run to get in.

A gaze towards the General Aviation Office revealed no activity. Then he noticed an arm sticking out of the door by the step. He first paged Grady for them not go to the Mesquite Airport. Then he called the Homeland Security Hotline to report the men at the Tyler Airport. Bud was on his way to Dallas to meet up with the others by rental car.

At a truck stop near Terrell, Bud abandoned the rental car, and hitched a ride to south Dallas, where Chris and Grady had bought a used Ford Taurus, (cash, no questions asked) and met him. From there, they headed towards New Mexico by way of the fine Texas highway system. As they drove and followed the news, it was being broadcast that the large oil fire near Wadsworth, Texas was finally under control. Initial reports were of strange black SUV's being driven by Arabic or Hispanic looking men. Those were later changed to caused by an electrical storm, when the neighbors that witnessed it were intimidated.

Bud had a tracking bug and just west of Seymour, Texas, at 2300 hours, he pulled off the road on a straight level spot. When no traffic in either direction was visible for miles, Pat at the controls of the Grand Caravan turned on its landing lights and landed to pick them up. From there, they went on to the Antelope Hills Ranch, where Deke, Bobby and Ted were preparing to launch a rescue mission to get Lance Mercer, still trapped in the underground bunker at Olmstead Ranch.

The mission would involve parachuting into the burned out ranch in the wee morning hours, and then securing the area. Once secured, a backhoe in the big cattle barn could dig the debris off of the door and then Lance could escape. Mainly they needed to be sure there were no hostiles still in the area.

At 0310 the Caravan arrived over the ranch, where Ted and Deke parachuted towards the now charred runway. As they descended laser rifles in hand, they watched the area around the landing zone for any signs of movement. Spotting just one of the SUVs with two men, they altered their descent to land in the roadway a hundred yards behind them. Ted then motioned for Deke to advance slowly, while he covered the men with his LR.

When Deke had approached to within twenty yards, one of the men stepped out behind the SUV to take a leak. Deke froze, and drew his short-range phaser weapon. As the Caravan made a pass overhead, the man looked up trying to see it, allowing Deke the opportunity to close and take him out with the stun setting. Before the partner could respond, Deke took him out the same way.

Ted advanced quickly after gathering the parachutes, and they then drove the foreign SUV into the Olmstead Ranch. The Caravan landed even though only one of every five lights on the airstrip still worked. While Bobby and Luke helped get the two men aboard the Caravan, Deke and Ted were able to clear a path wide enough for Lance to come out. Then after setting a timed C4 charge under the enemy SUV, the team scrambled aboard the Grand Caravan. Luke and Ted then took off as the pre-dawn was shattered by yet another car bomb.