Transfer of Power

RAPP KNELT OUTSIDE the door to Horsepower, intently watching his monitor. Rielly knelt next to him, afraid to speak.

They had been sitting in silence for several minutes waiting when Rapp noticed her look of fear. A little bit of fear was a good thing, but too much could lead to freezing in the heat of battle, and they couldn’t afford that right now.

Rapp pushed the lip mike of his headset up and leaned close to Rielly.

Whispering in her ear, he said, “Don’t worry, Anna.

Everything is going to be fine.” Rapp moved away and smiled. Rielly looked at him with eyes filled with dread. She leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “I don’t want you to die. “Then she hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

Rapps heart fluttered, and he felt a feeling in his stomach that he hadn’t felt in a long time. With a huge grin on his face, he pulled her close, touching his forehead to hers.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve been in worse situations than this. Much worse.” He felt like kissing her, but held back.

“Besides, you owe me dinner.”

This finally got a smile from her, and after a couple of seconds, she added, “All right. Just don’t do anything stupid before I get a chance to pay you back.”

Before Rapp could reply, he heard Commander Harris and Charlie Wicker talking on the headset. Rapp pulled his mike back down and pointed to the doorknob.

Rielly nervously put one hand on the knob and the other on the key. Rapp brought his silenced MP-10 up with both hands and clutched the extended stock firmly between his cheek and shoulder. With his eyes on the monitor, he kept the gun level and ready to fire. He listened to the news as the shot was taken and then the words that the first SEAL was down.

Rapp looked for the slightest sign that the terrorist was onto something. The seconds passed by, and there was nothing. It appeared they had eliminated the Tango on the roof without alerting the others.

Then came the news that the second and third SEALS were down. Rapp started to ease up just a bit.

Amazingly, everything was going off as planned.