Using the same communications gear they had used to take down Yuri, Jack called Kathy. She answered the radio check, reporting no traffic had gone in or out of Citrus Drive. Light was fading quickly as Jack and Anita reached dry land. He still couldn’t figure how Anita led them to the exact place they had picked from the aerial images and topographical maps, in the fading light, no less.
He and his father had made a sport out of orienteering and recon training that required heavy emphasis on reading terrain, but Anita’s skills were awesome. After making their way through the cypress knees, Jack called a halt before entering the narrow fringe of loblolly pines. A few minutes later they were moving through the stand of pines bordering the east side of the trailer park. The going was much easier. The downside is anyone can move quietly in a pine grove, and there wasn’t much cover. Jack thought what the hell. Life is full of tradeoffs. Just don’t expect them to always be on your side.
He wanted to be in position to watch the Carlson trailer before the light was totally gone. He judged they needed about five more minutes. So far they had made no tentative moves. In combat, tentative moves could get you killed.
The plan was simple. Watch the trailer to see if the occupants were settled in for the night or moving about outside. If they were moving around outside, the action would be more complicated, especially if they were armed. Shoot first and sort out any problem later. These were not the type of people who deserved a chance. They knew they faced life imprisonment or execution. Carlson and Jones had nothing to lose by putting up a fight. Given a chance, they would fight.
Anita moved on ahead toward the trailer. She planned to slip up to the lean-to shed next to the trailer and plant a charge of C4 with a ten-minute fuse in the stack of fuel tins stored under the tarp and another under the trailer. If the terrorists were in the trailer, they probably wouldn’t be able to get out if the cans were filled with kerosene. They didn’t know yet where the fertilizer was stored. Perhaps it had already been mixed and was in the panel truck. In that case, the police and fire investigators would probably believe somehow the bomb makers had made a mistake while making the detonator and had died because of it.
Jack’s radio came to life with Anita’s voice as she told him, “I’ve reached the edge of the pine grove and can make out the trailer about 40 yards due west of my position. Do you have me?”
“No. Not yet. Stay put until I move up.”
“Roger that.”
Another five minutes and Jack moved to the edge of the pine grove. He saw Anita 20 yards to his right and said, “Okay, I have you. Move up closer.”
A patch of palmettos edged the cleared land around the trailer. Jack found a concealed position there and settled down to watch the trailer. Ten minutes passed and with the failing light, they shifted to night vision. Five minutes later Anita said, “I have movement at my two o’clock.”
Jack checked and said, “I have them. They are both out near the panel truck.”
Anita replied, “I think they will wait for darkness to load the panel truck with the fertilizer bomb. A mixing box, like cement workers use, sits right behind the truck.”
Jack came back, “I cannot see from my position. Will they have to move the truck tonight, or can it sit in the heat tomorrow?”
“That stuff is very stable. It could sit there for a week, but some of the fuel may evaporate if it gets too hot or sits too long. I don’t think they will move the truck tonight, but they might. Better tell Kathy to block Citrus Drive if they start to move.”
Jack replied, “They won’t be leaving. We are going to stop them. It’s too dangerous to have the truck bomb on the road. Too many variables if they get under way. Make a couple of C4 explosive packages with 15-minute detonators.”
“Roger that. Can do.”
Jack called Kathy and said, “Did you copy?”
“Yes, I copied and can set up the road block. Just give me the word.”
***
Facts and Fictions 