Seal Team Six Hunt the Wolf(57)
Chapter Fifteen
The only easy day was yesterday.
—U.S. Navy SEAL motto
HE RODE in the Sheraton Karachi elevator with a youngish couple from Vancouver who’d just been shopping on Tariq Road. Both tall and full of pride, wearing designer jeans, carrying multiple shopping bags. She had blond windswept hair, a tight little mouth, a dimpled chin. Assuming that the SEAL team leader was an American, the young couple started complaining about the room service at the hotel.
He half listened, still wrestling with his emotional response to the meeting. But the outrage behind their words drew his attention.
“It’s a crime, with what we’re paying,” the man said, thrusting out his square chin. “My wife ordered eggs Benedict for breakfast and they brought us something that looked like it had been scooped out of the sewer.”
“Completely disgusting. It smelled bad, too.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
She tossed her head back and swiveled her narrow hips as she stepped off. “We’re never coming back!”
Why? Because of the eggs? What about the fact that Pakistan is harboring terrorists who want to destroy our way of life?
He wanted to put her over his knee and spank her; tell both of them to wake up. But what good would that do?
His annoyance was quickly drowned in the flood of concerns roaring through his head.
What happens now? What do I say to the men?
The room he returned to smelled of burnt coffee and mildew. Klausen stood by the bed, speaking Norwegian on the hotel phone. Confusion, anger, frustration.
“He’s working on something,” Davis whispered from one of the chairs by the window. He and Mancini were watching a soccer match on TV with the sound turned off.
Crocker couldn’t hear clearly over the guttural sounds coming from Klausen’s mouth.
“What did you say?”
“Klausen is trying to get us to Oman.”
He wanted to change into shorts and go for a long run, but instead waited on the Norwegian, who slammed down the phone.
“Corruption,” Klausen snorted. “With all the other things we have to deal with, they add this! Always! Human complications.”
“Who?”
Klausen crossed the pale green carpet to Crocker and took him by the arm. “What do you say we go back to the mountains? It’s so good there. It’s healthy. We climb as far as we feel like. The air is pure. There’s nobody in our way. Here…we have to deal with one son of a bitch after another. You deal with one greedy person, you pay a second. A third one pops up behind him with his goddamn hand out!”
Crocker watched Klausen’s cheeks turn a rich crimson color.
“Davis said you were working on something,” the American said, hoping to turn the conversation in a positive direction.
“Yes.” The special advisor to the king of Norway inhaled deeply and shifted gears.
Mancini punched off the TV. He and Davis turned in their chairs and listened.
“I’ve arranged for a Gulfstream to fly you to Salalah.”
“When?”
“As soon as possible. You’ll land at the military airport. A man from the Norwegian embassy will meet you there. Since you don’t have visas, you’ll avoid immigration. It’s all arranged.”
“Wait a minute,” Crocker interjected. “Donaldson has agreed to this?”
“That’s correct. You have three hours to board the ship and search it,” Klausen continued. “Then you have to get back on the Gulfstream and return to Karachi.”
It wasn’t a lot of time, but it was something.
“What do you think?” Klausen asked, running a hand through his hair.
“That’s great news.”
“At least it gets you there, yes? If you find anything, this man from my embassy, his name is Halvor Reiersen. He’s an ex-soldier who is in charge of security.”
“Halvor?”
“Hal for short. He’ll meet you at the airport. If, God willing, you find Malie, Halvor will contact the proper Omani authorities. He’s a close friend of an influential Omani general. They will make any arrests, or seize the ship, if necessary.”
Crocker and his team had loads of experience with Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) operations. In fact, Crocker had taught the course to various platoons of SEAL Teams One, Two, and Six, and to combat troops stationed in Central America at Special Boat Unit 26.
During Operation Just Cause in Panama, he and his team had boarded and searched hundreds of vessels on the Panama Canal, capturing hundreds of General Noriega’s PDF combatants, weapons, demolition supplies, and valuable intelligence. Everything from large oil transports to carved canoes. He’d also run VBSSs on the open seas, in which he and his men would parachute in and, using cigarette boats, overtake ships. As the assault team’s lead climber, Crocker was responsible for being the first SEAL to ascend a telescoping pole with a ladder attached to get onto the deck of the target ship.