"Who's the b.i.t.c.h?" Katya asked. "Your newest playtoy?"

"No," the German said. "Alas, I'm not permitted to play with her. Not as long as her father cooperates.

She stays in the chair except for two exercise periods each day. That is when she c.r.a.ps or p.i.s.ses or whatever. Her hands are never untied. Her feet are shackled whenever she is out of the chair. You have to feed her, get her to the latrine, get her on the p.i.s.ser. The men are not permitted to talk to her. You will only talk to her as little as possible. If any of the men try to see her, to touch her or rape her, you will report it to me. They won't, though. They know the penalty. They start with my little c.o.c.ktails. At night she lies in the bed. She must be shackled then, as well. You will shackle her and then return to whatever p.i.s.shole you call home here. I will check to make sure they are tight. In the morning you return. If I am unsatisfied by the tightness of her bonds the night before we will have another little chat."

"I won't let her go," Katya said, chuckling. "I'd just as soon watch her raped."

"You don't want to know why we are keeping her?" Schwenke asked.

"I a.s.sume for ransom," Katya replied with a shrug.

"Ah, and such a ransom," Schwenke said. "You will not ask her her name. If I find that you discover her ident.i.ty, you will be killed. I may play with you first, but you will definitely be killed. She does not want you to be killed, I'm sure, so she won't tell you. But if you p.i.s.s her off enough, she can kill you by simply mentioning her name. She did so to one of the girls who was...unkind to her."

"I will be kindness in itself," Katya promised. "What if she is a problem?"

"Then bring it to me," the ex-Stasi said. "Here you are, the two of you trapped like a proton circled by an electron. Unable to escape each other short of the death of either. Or, of course, she being moved on.

So I would suggest that, despite your nature, you become the very best of friends."

"h.e.l.lo, ladies," Mike said, looking around the room. "Thanks for staying up until the middle of the night to meet with me."

"You are very busy, Kildar," Mother Ferani said. "We are at your disposal."

"Here is the situation," Mike said, gesturing at the pile of recently received steerable chutes. "As you know, a team is being inserted by advanced parachute techniques to set up a radio center. I've got all I can do just training them to minimal standards. And we all want Julia, Olga, Jeseph, Ivan and Pat well trained. But that will require that, towards the end of training, they do multiple jumps per day. The Master Chief and I are the only qualified parachute packers in the area. I won't have the time to pack thirty chutes a day. That's the six of us doing five jumps per day, which is what I'm shooting for. Somebody is going to have to pack the chutes."

"Us," Mother Ferani said, her eyes wide.

"Yes," Mike replied, simply. "These days either specialized members of the military whouse the chutes, riggers they're called, or the users themselves generally pack the chutes. Because the very lives of the users depend upon them being packedright . On the other hand, I don't have thetime to train the team on HALOand packing. Nor do they have the time to do their own packing even if I did.

"However, four of the Six Families are represented on the jump. And a mother, sister or cousin of each of the team members is represented here. If they cannot trust their own mother, sister or cousin, who can they trust? Anyone who really feels they are not prepared to hold the lives of their son, brother or cousin in their hands after this training can opt out. There are actually about twice as many of you as I need.

There's a reason forthat too, but I won't get into it. However, if you don't think you want that responsibility, you can opt out.After you're trained."

"Very well, Kildar," Mother Ferani said. "We are at your command in things such as this. And I find it to be an honor."

"Great," Mike said, tiredly. "Let's get started. But just one thing I'll add: It's pretty apparent that the Keldara are going to get used for more and more 'special' missions. And the Keldara don't seem to mind, even when there are losses. So it makes sense to make sure they're all as prepared as possible..."

"You're going to extend the training," Liza Mahona said from the group.

"After this mission is over I'm going to inst.i.tute unit-wide training in airborne and HALO techniques,"

Mike said with a nod. "We'll work on SCUBA later."

"What is SCUBA?"

Chapter Seventeen.

Kacey yanked back the door of the Blackhawk and stepped out fast, carrying her flight bag in one hand and a carry-on in the other. Tammie, similarly enc.u.mbered, followed fast behind but paused to wave to the crew-chief and slide the door shut.

Their greeting party was a middle height man dressed in casual clothes, more or less ignoring the rotor wash, and a bigger guy that had a look that Kacey somehow tagged as " local" wearing a digi-cam pattern she'd never seen before. The guy in digicam was wearing a sidearm of some sort in fast-draw holster. It might have been an H&K USP, but Kacey wasn't enough of an expert in side-arms to be sure.

The odd thing about the local took a second to sink in: he was so d.a.m.ned good looking it was scary. He looked like he could have stepped off aHollywood set but she was sure he was a local.

The landing area was a farm in a valley just about surrounded by really high mountains, pretty prosperous with some new tractors working the fields and an SUV or two in sight. But the houses looked pretty much like the ones she'd seen in the Kurdish area inIraq : dressed stone and slate roofs.

They looked like theymight have electricity.

"Captain Bathlick?" the casually dressed man asked. "I'm Mike Jenkins. Thanks for coming out here just to talk."

Up close it was clear that, while casual, the clothes were not cheap. The black comfortable shoes had that look that said "Italian leather", the pants were exquisite and the golf shirt looked as if it was silk. He'd fit right in at aPalm Beach golf-course. But just as she thought that she heard a crackle of gunfire over the sound of the spooling up rotors. It was the crackle that said "ranges" though, to her ear, not "firefight."

"That would be me," Kacey replied, setting down her case to shake his hand. The local immediately grabbed it and the nearly matching one from Tammie and trotted over to the waiting Expedition. Jenkins quickly shook Tammie's hand as well and then gestured at the Expedition.

"Let's get out of the rotor wash," Mr. Jenkins yelled, heading for the SUV. He got in the driver seat after waving them to the back. Once they were in he turned around and grinned. "Welcome to Never Never Land. I'd give you the cook's tour, but I'm pressed for time. We'll talk then you can tell me to stuff it or look around and make up your mind."

"Can we get a vague idea what we're here for?" Tammie asked.

"I've been asked, as a favor, to do something for theUS government. And the government ofRussia .

And the government ofGeorgia ." Mr. Jenkins put the SUV in gear and headed up towards the road. It was only then that Kacey noticed what could only be described as a Turkish castle straight out of Arabian Nights up on the ridgeline. "To do that favor, I need at least two helicopter pilots. The rest can, has to, wait."

"TheUS ,RussiaandGeorgia ?" Kacey asked, leaning back in her seat and looking around. Most of the people in the valley were in "local" clothing but here and there there were more people in digicam. A couple were carrying sub-guns, M4s, on friction rigs. Most of them Kacey still tagged as "locals" but a couple had a look that she knew made them Western military. Not sure how to say the difference but it was there. But they clearly weren't an SF team, they looked more like "security specialists." What in the f.u.c.k was going on? "I guess we should at least stick around long enough to find out why."

"Oh, yeah," Mr. Jenkins said, opening up the center compartment and pulling out two envelopes. "Your 'I'm willing to travel' money." He held the two envelopes over his shoulder as he steered onto a winding road that looked d.a.m.ned near vertical.

Kacey quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed the envelopes so he'd have his hands free to drive and handed one to Tammie.

She didn't want to count it, it seemed rude, but it sure felt like what five thousand dollars should feel like.

It was heavy. Bills could be paid and that was good. Whatever came from the "interview." It sounded like Jenkins would be willing to hire anyone who could fly. That meant they'd have to be interviewinghim .

The castle turned out to be their destination. There was a curtain wall with some really huge doors on the gate and an interior keep, she'd guess that was what it was, that had been converted into a house. Again, it lookedreally Turkish, Ottoman was probably the right term. It had a couple of little towers like minarets on it at least.

"In case you're wondering, this is my house," Mr. Jenkins said. "And farm. The people who work the farm are called the Keldara. The full explanation of the Keldara is a long discussion. We'll have to shelve that one, too, for the time being. If you'll follow me, your bags will be taken to your rooms."

"We'd like to keep our flight bags with us," Kacey said, uneasily.

"If it makes you comfortable," Mr. Jenkins said, smiling. "But they're only going to your room. Whether you take the job or not you'll probably prefer to stay overnight."

"Okay," Tammie said, handing over her flight-bag with a shrug. She still had a purse. "Lead on."

Kacey gave up her flight-bag somewhat more reluctantly but then followed the two into the house.

The first thing she noticed wasn't the decor, it was the women. There were three rather good looking teenage females in school uniforms in the front room of the castle. All three popped to their feet as Mr.

Jenkins walked in and giggled then one gabbled at him in what was probably the local language.

Jenkins replied shortly, but in a friendly tone, then turned to Tammie and Kacey.

"These young ladies are Tinata, Lida and Klavdiya. They would like to make your acquaintance."

"Of course," Tammie said, grinning and walking over to shake hands. "h.e.l.lo."

"h.e.l.lo, I am pleased to meet you," one of the girls said, very slowly in English.

"Thank you," Tammie said, nearly as slowly. "I am please to meet you, too. What is your name?"

"I am Klavdiya," the girl said carefully.

"h.e.l.lo, Klavdiya," Tammie said, smiling. "I am Tammie."

Mr. Jenkins said something briefly in the other language and the girls then cut the greeting shorter. When the ritual was all over, he waved the two pilots towards the back of the castle.

"To be brutally honest, the girls are members of my harem," Jenkins said without looking over his shoulder to gauge their reaction. "And, no, none of them are over eighteen. The story of how I ended up with a harem will..."

"Have to wait," Kacey said, snorting. "I can tell there are a lot of stories here. But if you're trying to shock me, or Tammie, we're pretty much unshockable."

"Good," Jenkins said, reaching a heavy wooden door and gesturing them into the room. It was set up as an office but there were no windows and only the one door. The first word that came to Kacey's mind was "cozy." There was a nice fireplace, currently unlit, on one wall. The second word that came to mind, though, was "secure." Bugging it would be h.e.l.l except maybe through the fireplace. There was a couch and three overstuffed chairs arranged on one side in a "seating area" a desk and advanced desk chair.

No filing cabinets, though. Mr. Jenkins grabbed one of the overstuffed chairs and swung it around so he could face the couch and waved them to it. "Sit, please. I know you've been doing a lot of sitting, but I've got to go back to teaching HALO as fast as I can and I'd like to get this over with."

"And that's another one that begs the question 'what is going on?'" Tammie said.

"Before I get to that, I need to lay out a few ground rules," Mr. Jenkins said. "Obviously what I do isn't covered by US security regs. So I can't throw that at you. But if you're going to talk, in the military or out, you talk. From what I've been told, you're very good at keeping your mouths shut. It's one of the requirements I laid on the people I set to finding me some pilots. I didn't expect females, frankly, but I don't really care, either. I've got females going much more in harm's way than you'll be. I've got a green intel team that's going to be doing their cherry combat drop with nothingbut green jumpers on their team into nasty terrain in the middle of absolute Injun Country. Two of them are female. So you can see that I don't hold your s.e.x against you. I'll use whatever tools come to hand. In this case it is, potentially, you two."

"We don't talk," Kacey said. "But I take it theUS government doesn't want this talked about, either?"

"Not a bit," Mr. Jenkins said, leaning back. "This is as black as it comes. So black they can't even use their black ops boys. The term is 'deniability.' I don't work for theUS government, they just occasionally let me know about issues that need attending to. If I successfully attend to them, I get some money from that."

"Enough to maintain your own army," Tammie said with a snort.

"Enough to train, build and so far maintain it," Mr. Jenkins said with a slight grin. "So far."

"That's expensive," Kacey said, regarding him closely. "So are helicopters and pilots."

"I only get called in on very expensive operations," Jenkins said with a shrug then leaned forward and locked his eyes on first Tammie's eyes and then hers. "So here is the deal. I have to take my team into Injun Country, which is surprisingly close but also very hard to get to. I have helo transport for part of the trip but for political reasons that is as far as it can go. Once in Injun Country I'm going to need helo support. I'm going to definitely need evac for two people of interest. I'm probably, almost certainly, going to need dust-off and probably resupply. The LZs might be warm, they might be unknown or they might be hot. I'm going to need pilots who really don't give a rat's a.s.s; they're going into the LZ if they're asked.

I don't say 'told to' I say 'asked.' If one of my teams is on the horn screaming for ammo or dust-off, I need pilots who are going to be willing to take the same risks as the rest of us. I need pilots who have b.a.l.l.s, in your case ovaries, the size of mountains. Because every single person I've got has those size b.a.l.l.s or ovaries. And because otherwise, well, I hope it was a nice trip but youdon't want to be a.s.sociated with me."

"Okay," Tammie said, half wonderingly. "That's an interesting proposition."

"I hate to ask this," Kacey said. "But I was raised to be practical..."

"I'd like you as permanent, or semi-permanent anyway, additions," Jenkins said, leaning back again.

"The vig is two-hundred fifty grand per year and combat bonuses. The bonus on this mission is fifty grand. If you don't make it, a half a mil goes to your beneficiaries. And let me be clear, thereis a chance you won't be around to spend the money. There is a chance that I won't be around but there are other people to cut the checks."

"You're going on this op?" Tammie asked, still with that vague sense of wonder in her voice. Kacey could comprehend it; she felt like she'd stepped through the looking gla.s.s ever since the visit from Major Stang.

"This mission is tight any way you look at it," Jenkins said, shrugging. "I'm taking everyone I've got, including me. It's...very hairy. This area is going to be secured by a Ranger company in our absence."

"Well, the money's right," Kacey said, shaking her head. "But you've really got to work on your sales pitch."

"I'm not out to pitch you," Jenkins said, shrugging. "I want you here because youwant to be here, because you love flying, because you love flying right at the edge of your ability and are hard, cold motherf.u.c.ker combat fliers. I was told that was what you were, that you b.i.t.c.hed unmercifully when the Marines pulled both of you off line duty and that you'd had serious experience in hot, hard, nasty flying conditions so you knew what you were going to be missing. Ineed that. But I don't want you here if you've lost that edge or you're not really what you seem."

"Well, we both ditched a bird in the Caribbean and that was about as hot, hard and nasty an operation as you could ask for," Tammie said with a chuckle. "I'll add that the bird going downreally wasn't our fault. There were...extenuating circ.u.mstances."

"Oh, c.r.a.p," Jenkins said, really leaning back and then grinning, hard. "Wait, were the extenuating circ.u.mstances a nuclear blast?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny..." Kacey started to say and then reallylooked at him. "Oh my f.u.c.king G.o.d."

"I said I get paid well," Mr. Jenkins said with a grin. "And that's because I usually get my a.s.s shot off and I'm very attached to it."

"Thatwas you," Tammie said, really grinning now. "I figured you for dead; I've only seen that much blood one other time and that guy didn't make it even with a medic and a defibrillator in the bird. He wasn't unconscious and strapped into the seat of a cigarette boat."

"I'm a hard person to kill," Jenkins replied. "As any number of dead people can attest. I'll go ahead and add, since it's really germane and I've got to trust such sterling characters as yourself, that we're on the same track. Three or four Russian nukes. They're being traded to the terrorists, through the Chechens, for a sizeable sum. We have a location and time of the transfer. But it'sright in Chechen territory. There's also a scientist, probably working under duress, involved. We need to get the nukes, the scientist and his daughter out, all in more or less functioning order. And, of course, this time keep them from detonating.

I've got a hundred and twenty shooters and the Chechens have about four hundred, that we know about, in the area. From your POV, they have heavy machine-guns, 12.7 millimeter andpossibly some MANPADs. No solid evidence on the MANPADs but it's the way to bet."

"That is kind of adverse," Tammie said, shaking her head. "Blackhawks will take a fair amount of damage, but not a whole h.e.l.l of a lot, trust me."

"Oh, that's one thing I forgot," Jenkins said. "We're not using Hawks, we're using Hinds. That's why you were chosen. You both did a transition stint with the 6thACS. Frankly, I was delighted to get someone Hind qualified."

The 6thAir Commando Squadron was an Air Force unit that flew several non-US helicopter systems, including the Hind-D attack helicopter. UnlikeUS attack helicopters, however, it had a crew/cargo area in the rear that could carry five personnel plus a crew-chief or be reconfigured for aerial-ambulance duty.

The Hind was heavily armored and generally referred to as a "flying tank." During the Afghan wars the quote used about the Hind by the mujaheddin was "We do not fear the Russians, but we fear their helicopters."

Kacey started to reply and then couldn't help bursting into a half hysterical laugh.

"What?"

"I'm getting Hinds," Jenkins said with a shrug. "They're cheaper than Hawks, more robust and Ican get them, fast. Two birds are being retrofitted inCzechoslovakia , sorry, 'The Czech Republic' at the moment for high alt.i.tude conditions. If you agree, and I'll give you the rest of the day to think it over, you're on a plane tomorrow for the CR. You'll go to the factory, refresh and then, in the company of a couple of the company's pilots, ferry them back here. That will give you just enough time to brief in on the details of the op, get used to the local flying conditions and then do the op. We're on short time here."

"Look, you alreadysaid this was going to be tough flying," Tammie said, exasperated. "And you're talking about birds we've got notime in! Wetransitioned two years ago! I can barely recall where the controls are laid out!"

"You're going to be ferrying them over a thousand miles," Jenkins said, shrugging. "Practice."

"There's..." Kacey said then paused. "We'll have to think about this. But there are a few things thatany helo pilot is going to need in this sort of situation."

"Go," Mike said, leaning back.