Raven Strike by Dale Brown and Jim DeFelice Read Free Book Online Page B

location. We’re wondering if you can take a pass and check on her.”
    “Uh, roger that if you give me a location,” said Turk. “I’m just about ten minutes from the target area,” he added, pointing at part of the virtual instrument panel where the course way markers were displayed. “Eight and a half, to be exact.”
    “I have GPS coordinates,” said Danny. “Stand by.”
    Turk waited while Danny uploaded the GPS tracking channel used by the CIA officer in western Sudan. He then increased the detail on the sitrep panel.
    “Colonel, do you know that one of the transponders is moving?” said Turk. “It looks like it’s approaching her location.”
    “Are you sure about that, Tiger?”
    Turk double-tapped on the GPS locator and told the Tigershark to fly to that spot. Then he went back to the radio.
    “Yeah, roger that. Affirmative,” he added. “Be advised I’m unarmed at this time.”
    “We copy.”
    “Operative got a name?”
    “Melissa Ilse.”
    “It’s a girl?”
    “I already told you it’s a she, Tigershark. And that would be a woman, not a girl. Copy?”
    “Roger that. I’ll do what I can.”

Chapter 18
    Southeastern Sudan
    M elissa heard the truck rattling toward her. She glanced around for cover, but nothing was handy. She decided her only option was to move up the nearby embankment, to get out of easy view.
    If they found her, she’d have to make her stand.
    Her right arm and shoulder screamed with every step and jostle. She tried to keep it from moving too much by gripping the bottom of her jacket with her hand. The pain was so intense that she couldn’t fold her fingers into a good grip, and had to simply hook her thumb around the cloth.
    It was almost ironic. As part of her training for the mission, she’d been put into a rush course as a nurse so she could learn enough to use that as a cover. She had then treated two colleagues for dislocated shoulders during a particularly difficult survival refresher course she’d taken right afterward. Putting their arms back in place didn’t seem like such a big deal.
    Being on the other side of the pain gave her an entirely different perspective.
    The sound of the truck grew louder. She dropped to one knee, then eased down to spread herself flat against the side of the hill. She was no more than twenty yards from the roadway, if that.
    Her headset buzzed with an incoming call on her sat line, but she didn’t answer it—the truck’s headlights swept across the road ahead.
    Maybe she could shoot them now. But she’d have to fire with her left hand.
    She wasn’t even that good with her right.
    God, what a mistake she’d made getting close to the truck. What the hell was she thinking?
    The truck jerked to a stop near the bike.
    Melissa tried to will away the pain, extending her breathing, pushing the air all the way into her lungs before slowly exhaling.
    The men got out of the truck.
    Her headset buzzed again. She still didn’t dare answer it.
    T wenty thousand feet above, Turk switched to the Tigershark’s enhanced view, trying to get a good read on what was below. The UAV and its CIA operator were roughly twenty yards from each other.
    The Tigershark had been designed to carry a rail gun, which could fire metal slugs accurately to twenty miles. It still had some kinks, but would have come in very handy now.
    “Whiplash Ground—Colonel Freah, I’m looking at a truck with people getting out of it. Our contact should be nearby. Are these hostiles?”
    “We believe so, Tigershark. But stand by. We’re trying to contact her now.”
    There was no time to stand by—the men in the truck were spreading out, moving in the direction of the CIA officer. They were carrying weapons. That made them hostile in Turk’s book.
    The only weapon he had was the Tigershark itself. He pushed down the nose, determined to use it.
    M elissa watched as the men moved up the road. They moved quickly—too quickly. They’re scared, she thought.
    A good