Read All Necessary Force for Free Online Page A

been one of the best operators the Taskforce had ever seen—until his family had been brutally murdered while he was on an operation. Blaming himself because he’d volunteered for the deployment, he’d fallen apart. Kurt had tried to help him, but Pike had continued self-destructing until he posed a threat to the very existence of the Taskforce. A classified organization operating outside the bounds of U.S. law, it couldn’t risk having a loose cannon as an operator. At Pike’s request, Kurt had cut him free.
    A year later, after Pike had averted a terrorist threat, Kurt asked him to return to the Taskforce, but he had refused. Instead, he had broached a crazy scheme of starting a business with Jennifer as a partner. A business that the Taskforce would use to facilitate their operations. It would be just another cover organization, like the myriad of other ones the Taskforce used on a daily basis—from corporate air charters to shell boating companies—but with a distinct difference; this one would berun by operators. Kurt had thought the idea of a cover organization with a full-on operator at the helm had merit, and had agreed.
    Once that happened, Pike had sprung the Assessment request. Kurt had drawn the line at that, but Pike was relentless. Kurt had finally given in, and Pike had spent the better part of a year teaching Jennifer a host of skills to get her ready.
    At first, the men had all just grumbled. When Pike finagled her into the same hostile environment tradecraft course that the men attended, the grumbling got louder. Teaching her some hand-to-hand was one thing. Pushing people out of the way so she could do HETC was something else. When he began to teach her to shoot, it grew into a howl.
If she makes it through the next ten minutes, people are going to scream like a baby.
Kurt smiled at the thought, glancing up as a man entered his office.
    “What’s going on, Mike?”
    Kurt knew Mike was tracking the Assessment just like he was, probably down to the second.
    “You tell me, sir. Where’s Pike’s protégé?”
    “She made it to the house of pain. The last hurdle.”
    “Jesus. Pike must have swayed it in her favor.” When Mike saw Kurt scowl, he backpedaled. “Just kidding. I know it’s legit…. Uhh… You got a call on the unclassified military line in the Ops Center.”
    “Who is it?”
    “Some colonel from the embassy in Cambodia. Want me to transfer it?”
    “Yeah. Go ahead.”
    Kurt picked up the phone, wondering who on earth would be calling him from Cambodia. The line was rerouted from the Pentagon, so whoever was calling was dialing Kurt’s cover job as a staff weenie in the J3 Special Operations Division of the Joint Staff. It could be anybody with a Pentagon phone book.
    He identified himself and asked how he could be of assistance. After the first sentence, he forgot all about Assessment.

6
     
    J

ennifer stopped in the doorway to let her eyes adjust to the gloom of the sleazy roadside saloon. It wasn’t that impressive. Just a large open area with a smattering of chipped tables and the overpowering smell of stale beer. To her front was a cheap pine bar that ran down the length of the room, dead-ending into the wall. The ceiling had no tiles, just open rafters made of two-by-fours. The wall behind the bar didn’t even extend to the top, looking like it had been made as an afterthought, with a four-foot gap between it, the roof, and the room beyond. Not counting the bartender, there were five other people in the bar. All men. And all staring at her.
    One of these guys should
be the contact.
She waited for a pregnant second, hoping someone would approach. She really didn’t want to use her vetting phrase on a stranger. When nobody stood up, she went up to the bartender and got his attention. He looked at her like he’d just wiped something off his shoe, but came over.
    “You lost?”
    “Uh… I don’t think so. I’m looking for someone.”
    The bartender simply stood mute.