He had been a selfish, dangerous man who had grown up being handed all his opportunities, rather than earning them. To Stanley, Carter had been a threat to his authority.
Several months before Carter left the Teams, Stanley put Carter up on charges. Everyone knew they were bullshit. Chief Rogers came to bat for Carter and got the upper management to back off. The men in their platoon at SEAL Team 5 never trusted Stanley again. Carter and Brady formed a bond as a result that was still remembered today, and always would be. That act of common decency would always be remembered deep in Carter’s heart.
“I’m wondering what the hell you’re doing here, Carter, but I am very glad you came,” said Brady to his new teammate.
The two shook hands civilly as the rest of the men poured out of the house.
Carter responded, “You know, Chief, I was just thinking about you the other day. I was wondering if someday I wouldn’t hear from you.” He smiled, and Brady could see kindness in his eyes, that and the respect that Brady himself had for Carter.
“I always knew this day would come, Brady. We talk about business these days, at least I do. But there is nothing like a piece of unfinished business to suck you right back in. So here I am.” He held his arms out to the side, hanging on to his briefcase.
“Well, Carter, I’m glad to have you. But I’m going to tell you, son, you need to get yourself some clothes you can get dirty. I’m not real excited about the way you showed up here. You’re going to get greasy and oily. Your hands are going to stick together with all that crappy glue stuff you use all the time, and I just don’t want to be responsible for that cleaning bill, probably going to eat up a major portion of your share.”
They both laughed, and then Brady did an uncharacteristic thing, but the only thing that he could do. He grabbed Carter by the shoulders and gave him a hug.
“You look real good, man. Now I can sleep tonight, knowing that we got all the best people, all the people that we need to get this shit done.” Brady sighed.
Carter nodded his head, “Amen to that, sir. We’ve got a hell of a squad.”
The rest of the team greeted the newcomer. Enemario was especially impressed with Carter’s Mercedes. “I got just the body shop that can stretch this thing out. You could make a work truck out of it, and just think of all the stuff you could add. You could make a little office in the side, put a bed in there. You could turn this Mercedes into a camper.” Enemario grinned from ear to ear.
Carter studied the green metal flake beast in front of him. “You call that a camper, Enemario?” he asked.
“Nah. I call that the beast. That thing’s for special effect. I don’t want to take it camping, scratch up the sides.”
“Then why the hell are you suggesting I do that with my car?” Carter handed the briefcase to Brady and pulled out a second nylon duty bag. “You better not touch my car, Enemario. Otherwise, you aren’t going to get my little present I brought for you.”
Enemario’s hands twisted and writhed, fingers entangling themselves. He was so excited to look inside the bag. “What is it?”
“I got you the sweetest little drone, and you honest-to-God cannot hear it when it flies. I mean, you can’t hear a thing. It’s like a bird flying through the sky. And I got hooked up with this neat IR stuff. It can designate fire targets with a heat sensor that recognizes patterns. I got this kid, this genius high school kid back in Mississippi, who came up with this idea, this prototype, and I built him a shop. He can start cranking these out as soon as we need them. So I thought I’d bring one, make a present of it, and let you and the team play around with it. Then, if it’s worthy, I might let you guys invest in it. Since you’ll have a little discretionary cash.”
Brady could see the team was beginning to gel already. Every single man was different, with a whole and completely unique set of skills. Though some skills overlapped, that’s how they always did their best ops. He figured every single man they’d selected was probably close to genius. Brady knew he’d test at the bottom, but that didn’t matter. He was technically in charge.
But these guys were going to make it work.
For the first time since the tragedies of years ago, Brady felt joy.
Chapter 7
Riley had completed his research while Enemario and Brady spread out some of the gear and equipment they were going to take. The explosives expert printed out copies of deeds, transfers, corporate documents, and the list of sponsors and donors for the nonprofit that Esquivel Rojas had set up. Dragon Limited was high profile in the Fresno area, putting on several charity events for schools and several Catholic parishes. They purchased computer equipment and uniforms for some of the children in the parochial district, most of them Hispanic. Rojas, it was rumored, was going to be made Man of the Year in Fresno County.
Riley could not believe what he’d uncovered.
Carter’s little drone was no larger than the size of a seagull and kind of looked like one. Less than two feet long, the delicate wings unfolded rather than the normal slotted drone design they were used to. The camera was in a tiny bundle on the underside of the bird, and just like he had described, the motor was silent when flipped on. It had a range of one hundred miles and a battery life of nearly four hours. But what was most unique about it was that it could convert from aerial daytime pictures to nighttime infrared images, and it could evaluate and target human subjects, rather than animals or moving mechanical parts.
Although it couldn’t determine whether the human was a good guy or a bad guy, it had the ability to target only two-footed mammals, never pets, dogs, birds, or robots, which was a problem earlier versions of his drone had run into.
Carter was bursting proud at how excited Enemario got. He insisted the drone was a donation to the mission, but he teased the team that his research and development company would be a sound investment to put their earnings into.
Brady checked to make sure every man had a sidearm, Sig Sauer being the desired weapon of choice, and steps were taken to make sure their guns and ammo were well hidden. It was a violation to concealed carry in California. Even though they had supposed immunity, Brady still didn’t want to get entangled in the local jurisdictions.
His house looked like an armament store, everything laid out on couches and tables. They had vests, a pair of coms for every team member plus a backup pair, night vision goggles, and special heat-sensitive gloves designed so they could pick up and throw a burning coal. Riley had already fashioned some “taffy,” as he called them. The little explosive devices wrapped in wax paper looked more like Halloween candy than flash bombs.
Brady also went over the medic kit with John and sought his advice on anything additional to pack.
John had one piece of advice for him. “You know what I found working in some of these places? When kids are involved, it’s a good idea to have candy suckers. Something to hand out to the kids. If we take chocolate, it’ll be a mess of pudding by the time we get there. I say we stop by a dime store and just pick up a string of multi-flavored suckers to create some cheap good will.”
“Roger that, John. Will do. I’ll let you choose the flavors.” Brady grinned and then gave him a gentle punch to the upper arm.