Path of the Assassin

CHAPTER 42

Two-and-a-half hours out from Libyan airspace, the Gulfstream jet began to descend and Rick Morrell called another meeting. An hour earlier he had given Harvath, Meg, and the rest of the SAS team a full mission briefing. Morrell covered everything from the encrypted radio frequencies they would use, to GPS coordinates, land contour formations, code names, and the contents of their weapons packages. The two items he had left out were the methods of infiltration and extraction. As the team members gathered in the rear of the aircraft this time, it looked as if Morrell was ready to complete the picture.

“According to our intelligence, it doesn’t look like the Libyan military exercises along the Algerian border are going to be letting up anytime soon. I had hoped to insert via helicopter from Algeria, but that’s no longer an option,” said Morrell.

“So how are we getting in?” asked Harvath.

“We’re going to hop and pop.”

“No, seriously. How are we going in?” repeated Harvath.

“I am serious.”

“But right now we’re descending. Are you going to try and get us in under their radar in this jet?”

“No. We’re going to go in through the normal air traffic lanes with a commercial IFF signature so we don’t raise Libya’s suspicions. We’re descending now to below ten thousand feet so we can get everyone started on masks with one-hundred-percent oxygen.”

“And then what?”

“We climb to just over thirty thousand.”

“Then we hop and pop?” asked Harvath.

“That’s the plan. We’ll be under canopy for a little over a half hour, but it’s going to put us right on the money.”

“You’re forgetting one thing,” said Harvath, hinting in Meg Cassidy’s direction with his eyes.

“If there was an easier way to do this, I would,” replied Morrell.

Meg, who had been listening, but not understanding any of the exchange, finally spoke up. “What are we talking about here?” She had a bad feeling she wasn’t going to like the answer to her question.

“There’s been a decision made on the infiltration, Meg,” said Harvath.

“How are we going in?”

“It’s a technique called HAHO. A high-altitude, high-opening parachute jump.”

Meg’s face immediately drained of all color. “Exactly how high are we talking about?”

“We’ll be exiting the aircraft above thirty thousand feet. Ten to fifteen seconds later we’ll pop our chutes and glide down to the sand dunes behind the Hijrah Oasis. A piece of cake,” lied Harvath. He knew HAHOs were one of the most dangerous insertion techniques ever conceived of.

“Why is the plane going down?” asked Meg, growing more nervous.

“The plane is descending so we can use masks to begin breathing pure oxygen. It will help flush most of the nitrogen from the bloodstream and tissues.”

“What if I don’t want the nitrogen flushed from my bloodstream and tissues?”

“Have you ever been scuba diving?”

“Yes, but—”

“This is very similar. There are going to be pressure changes when we jump, and we’re all going to be on oxygen on the way down. It’s just a safety precaution to help prevent any decompression problems.”

“Scot, I can’t do this. I won’t do this.”

“Meg, look at it this— ”

“No. One minute we’re training to beach on a small tropical island by swimming in from a rubber Zodiac, and now you want me to jump out of an airplane at over thirty thousand feet. I’m not doing this.”

“Ms. Cassidy,” interjected Morrell, “you did the wind tunnel and ParaSim at Fort Bragg, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but—”

“This is no different.”

“I’d say it’s a hell of a lot different, and I’m not doing it.”

“Ms. Cassidy, if there were any other way, believe me, we’d be doing it, but there isn’t. Hashim Nidal is conducting his meeting tomorrow night and we must be in place. We have no other choice.

“Now, there will be a radio inside your helmet and we’ll all be able to keep in touch during the jump. We’ll talk you all the way in. I know you practiced landings at Fort Bragg, and this will be just like that.”

“You’re still not listening to me. Find another way because I am not jumping out of this plane.”

“What if I jump with her?” asked Harvath.

“What are you talking about?” replied Morrell.

“We’ll go tandem.”

“A tandem HAHO? No way.”

“Why not?”

“For starters, you’d only be able to carry half the amount of gear.”

“Then reconfigure the loads. Your men are tough guys. They can handle a little more weight.”

“We’re talking about over two hundred pounds of food, water, ammunition—”

“—medical supplies, communications gear… I know what goes in the packs, Rick. Figure it out, or else you’ll be leaving the plane without us.”

“Scot,” said Meg, “I can’t do it.”

Harvath took her hand in his, not caring what Morrell or any of his men thought of it. “Yes, you can, Meg. You can do this. We’re going to do it together. I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, and I don’t intend to let you down, especially while we’re both sharing a parachute.”

The entire plane was silent. After several tense moments, Meg halfheartedly returned Harvath’s smile, nodded her head. The mission was a go.