Read Target Deck - 02 for Free Online

completely barren.
    “So he was bullshitting us,” Deckard said.
    “NO, WAIT, HOLD ON.”
    “It sounds right,” Pat said, his arms crossed in front of him. They stood in the OPCEN, pouring over what little data they had, trying to substantiate the information that Samantha had pried out of their prisoner. “The Colombian military captured a couple narco-subs last year. They were built up-river, deep in the jungle-”
    “I bought this new imagery from a private intelligence firm,” Cody interrupted, a little more subdued. Deckard had to admit, the kid was in the zone around computers.
    “Here is the latest satellite photography,” Cody said bringing it up on the projector.
    “Still nothing,” Pat sighed.
    “I will keep looking,” Cody said.
    “Hold on,” Deckard stopped him. “Zoom in on the Southeastern part of the grid square.”
    Cody enhanced the image, showing a close up of an empty coast line.
    “Now go back to the previous imagery.”
    Going back to the older image, Deckard walked in front of the projector, tracing the coastline with a finger.
    “Now back to the new one again.”
    The image flickered over Deckard and he began tracing the coast again.
    “Son of a bitch,” Pat cursed.
    “The coast is different,” Cody exclaimed.
    “It's this cove right here,” Deckard announced. “You can see the cove just fine on the old imagery, but on the new pictures it has completely disappeared. Someone camouflaged the entire cove and now it is blending in with the surrounding terrain.”
    “The perfect covert submarine pen,” Pat finished for him.
    “Get First Platoon in here and we will do a quick brief. We have to capitalize on this intelligence before the opportunity is lost. I want to be rolling out of the gate within the hour.”

10

    “VDO, VDO,” Deckard announced over the radio net. The convoy of assault vehicles slowed to a stop. The VDO or Vehicle Drop Off, was where the assault element would depart on foot and begin marching towards their objective.
    That it had been a long night was an understatement. They had pushed off in the early morning hours, driving overland across bumpy terrain on dirt roads, going off road altogether at times to take short cuts, avoiding the main avenues as much as possible. It was a long drive that had threatened to rattle the fillings out of their teeth but they had made it to the VDO just before dawn.
    As commander, Deckard had allowed his men to doze off in their seats as long as one troop stayed awake per vehicle. It was always possible, if unlikely, that another ambush was out there waiting for them somewhere. It was a tactical decision, he needed his men as fresh as possible when lead started to fly, even allowing himself to nod off for a few minutes until the rough terrain shook him awake.
    While the PKM gunners in the turrets and drivers would remain with the vehicles, the rest of First Platoon jumped off the vehicles and gathered around Deckard. Unfolding a topographical map, Deckard illuminated it with a small, red lens flashlight.
    “This is our current location,” Deckard said using a twig to pinpoint their location for his men. The mercenaries were mostly of Kazakh extraction, members of a Private Military Company that he had inherited from his former employers. There were a number of American and European troops thrown into the mix, Special Operations soldiers he had brought on as instructors who had stayed around after the initial contract.
    “We will move by foot from here on out to our objective here,” he said, pointed out the cove. “We suspect that this area here is a camouflaged base for submarines that the Jimenez cartel is using to smuggle drugs from Colombia up the Pacific coast and eventually into the United States. We could be wrong, it could be a dry hole in which case we'll turn back around and high tail it back to the compound. Once we get into position we will search the area but it should be pretty clear, there is either a