They lose Mandy on a Monday. By the time Blackburn finds out about her disappearance, twilight has descended on the base, and she has been out of contact for eight hours. No comms, no word through sources. Just silence. By the time Blackburn gets approval through all the channels to go in and get her, it's been fourteen hours. There has still been no word from her.
She had gone out in the early morning, right after morning prayer. She had gone out into the neighboring city near the base, with only a local as a driver and interpreter, desperate for new information on the human trafficking ring that had popped up in the region. The night before she left, she had been all cavalier calm and certainty in the command center, even when Jason had presented initial unease at the plan.
"You're sure you're okay with this?" He had said, standing across the long table, hands on his hips, "There's got to be another way to get more info on this guy."
"Not with the time constraints were under. We've already seen fourteen girls go missing and end up on the black market this month. If we are going to stop this guy before the next 'buying day' we need to know more. We need to know who's he working with. Need to know who is his supplier on the Syrian side. We don't move now, don't try and get some more insight, that's a lot more innocence lost. I wouldn't sleep well knowing that, would you?" Mandy had replied, mirroring Jason's stance on the other side of the table. Two perfect statues of stubbornness.
"Still..." Jason has started before Mandy interrupted him.
"Jason, this is what I do. It's what I've done before in Syria, J-Bad, Panama. You want the right information so we get the guy before he spooks and runs? Then I've got to do my part. Only way a target package gets approved is with this information."
So she had left, her boss signing off without hesitation, desperate as well for more on the new ring.
But that was fourteen hours ago.
Eric finally gets off the phone, rather slams it down, shortly after the sun has set. He makes immediate eye contact with Davis, and tells her to summon Bravo team, double time.
They arrive in less than five minutes. "What do we know?" Jason demands as the rest of Bravo filters in behind him, staring at Blackburn across the room.
Blackburn stands at the end of the table, his back to two screens that are quickly loading with images, maps, and feeds from drones flying over the area. Jason has known bits and pieces of what's occurred over the past half day, but prays that things have taken a turn for the better. Judging by the look in his Commander's eyes, and the stack of papers Davis is quickly setting by each seat for his team, it's not looking good.
"As some of the team already knows, Ms. Ellis departed the base shortly after dawn with her driver, Mr. Amari. They were headed into the town of Ar-Rutbah to get more intel on the human trafficking ring that is funneling refugee woman out of Syria with the promise of a better life. That promise is a lie. There was hope of getting more info from two potential sources that had reached out via Ms. Ellis' network, regarding the points on the border where the woman and money are being exchanged."
"We know who these sources are?" Ray asks, running his hands over his beard, and glancing at the map showing the town and the nearby border.
"That's a negative. Ms. Ellis was planning to meet one at a local café in the town, and the other in a market. We do not have a visible ID on either source, though one is confirmed to be a male, older, potentially a local, but speaks English. Based on some voice modification, we believe the second source may actually be a female, but could not confirm prior to Mandy leaving."
"So she went in blind?" Clay scoffs.
"This was intended to be recon only, with a belief that Ms. Ellis had and one that her superiors agreed to as well, that the second source was potentially a victim, so time was of the essence in getting any and all information."
"Right," Jason jumps in, easing the burden on Blackburn, who's bearing the brunt of the decisions and unfortunately indecisiveness of two different government agencies at the moment, "Mandy thinks that these women, and potentially girls too, girls as young as six, are getting grabbed. Probably, it's because they are being told that they are getting safe passage to the border in order to get to Europe, but instead are getting sold to either ISIS or the Taliban. They tend to cross the border with the women every three to four weeks into this area, and based on previous timelines, the next crossing is due to occur within the week."
Brady, Mandy's top analyst, a guy who's been working with her, and by default Bravo team for a while, pipes in as well, "All we know for sure is that they cross somewhere north of the city, and that the women only stay in the area for a few short hours before being dispersed to different buyers. Once they are separated it gets incredibly harder to track the woman, or the men who are taking them. The two sources that reached out appeared credible, and mentioned that they next exchange was imminent."
"So you let Mandy go in alone, to a town that's serving as a front for a human trafficking ring, as a woman, alone, to get more information on a bad guy or guys that we know nothing about?" Sonny says, his Texan accent highlighting his disbelief at the turn of events.
"She's worked before with her driver, Mr. Amari, and he has acted as her interpreter in the past anytime she's in the region. She was planning to stay close to him." Brady says, hands wringing in front of him, "She knew that it was risky, but between the two of them, she thought they could handle it."
"There was no winning here guys," Jason defends, attempting to stop the rising tension between his team, the members of the analysis team, and Blackburn. For now, he's keeping his own arguments with Mandy from the night before to himself, "Pentagon wasn't going to approve any target package without knowing who the target was, and raiding blindly at the border with Syria would just spook the traffickers and cause more chaos than anything."
"We know Jase. Doesn't mean we have to like it, but we get it." Ray says, aiding in helping to bring down the tension in the room, and Trent nods in agreement, "So what's next? Where's Mandy?"
"That's the problem, gentlemen, and it's not one any of you all are going to like." Blackburn turns back to the screens and throws up ISR of the town, before turning back to the team and crossing his arms, "Ms. Ellis missed two check ins with her superiors, and the one 'unofficial' one we had planned. Her third and final check in, the one she must miss before any and all rescue missions can be discussed, was only just missed 25 minutes ago. We're gathering intel quickly, and the analysis team is working double time on possible locations where Ms. Ellis could be located, but time is not our friend here."
"You're telling me the CIA leaves agents out to dry for 14 hours?" Clay exclaims, honing in on that one fact Blackburn really hoped they wouldn't jump on.
Blackburn can only nod morosely, "We tried to spin up sooner, but Mandy's bosses boss thinks it could be that she's still gathering intel, or having conversations outside the town where coverage is weak."
"Also," Jason buts in, "because the last time Mandy got into a bit of trouble, it was when she met with Abad Halani back in Karachi. That time, she was able to 'get herself out of trouble' too, and with very valuable intel. They don't want to make a presence known if there's any reason not to."
"Well sure, Jace." Clay breaks in, incredulous, "But that was Mandy gone for three hours, and she contacted the base almost immediately after leaving Halani. There was a Humvee waiting for her right outside the Pakistan border."
Blackburn sighs, "Gentlemen look, it's not an ideal situation, but now we've got permission to do our own recon." He doesn't mention how initially CIA wasn't even game to go in now, wanting to wait closer to twenty-four hours before going in. It had taken pulling in the Rear Admiral to get the Agency to back down, the Admiral deftly reminding the spooks that while Mandy was assigned to Bravo team, the Admiral considered her a member of his team, and the Navy, unlike the CIA, does not leave their men and women behind.
With that Davis breaks in, "We've had ISR over the city now for about an hour, though if anyone from the CIA asks, it's been less than that. No unusual movement as far as we can tell for the past forty-five minutes, but it's getting dark now. There's been a small gathering beginning to form over the last quarter of an hour in the bottom part of the city, about seven or so blocks from the market where Mandy was planning on meeting with the second source. But we can't confirm the two are related."
"So that's where we'll start, pop in, say hello to a couple of the locals, find out where our wayward Ms. Ellis ran off too. My bet is she's at the local Iraqi spa getting her toes done." Sonny says, with eyes that haven't left the live feed of the ISR since it's been pulled up.
"Yeah, probably got herself a mimosa and a new shade of pink polish," Clay agrees.
"Probably a massage. She's always so tense" Ray adds in.
"You get her back safe and sound, and I'm sure she'll paint all your toes, even Cerberus'," Davis chimes in, smiling slightly when the dog tilts her head at the mention of her name.
"Our plan as of now is for Bravo team to take one Pave-Hawk helo in, and drop in about two clicks outside the city. From there, it'll be a bit of improvisation, since there's little confidence Ms. Ellis is still at either primary location. Brock, Davis has a few articles of clothing that might be useful for Cerberus." Eric says.
Brock nods, and gently slaps the dog's side, "She'll find her, no doubt."
"What kind of car was the driver using?" Clay asks.
"An old sedan. Mandy would sit in the backseat usually, especially over here." Davis answers. "It's pretty beaten up, so you might not see it at first, but the registration tag starts with "LWU" if you find it."
"I assume we've heard nothing from the driver either?" Rays follows up.
"That's a negative. Your primary mission is to retrieve both Ms. Ellis and Mr. Amari. If the second source is indeed a female who's been part of the human trafficking ring, retrieving her is a secondary priority, but only if it doesn't endanger the primary mission. When you find Ms. Ellis, on the off chance she's still searching for information, you have my permission to remind her of the grey hair agreement, and bring her home anyways." Blackburn replies.
"What's the grey hair agreement?" Clay asks
"That only Bravo team is allowed to give me grey hairs" Blackburn answers, with a small gruff smile from behind his beard. "Gentlemen, wheels up in five. Bring our girl home."
The town is quiet when they enter the city limits. Ar-Rutbah is a smaller provincial town in Al Anbar province, only notable for its proximity to the border, and thus it's capacity to be a channel for black market goods and terrorists. All six of them advance in quiet ease, night goggles a-fixed as they pass the first block of buildings in the southwest corner of the city.
"TOC this is Bravo One, we've passed Rivers."
"Copy that, Bravo One, passing Rivers."
"I don't like this one-bit, Jase," Sonny says as the come up against a street corner. The streets are quiet, with no late-night walkers or bystanders. "We should have learned after Pakistan to not let her go out with limited info."
"Look, as much as I want to agree with you, as Mandy said before she left, this is her job. This is what she trained for, as much as we trained for this."
"Yeah, she go through SERE?"
"Sonny, stop that." Ray butts in.
"I'm just saying, nothing good comes from fourteen hours of radio silence. And as much as Ms. Ellis likes to try and make us forget, her being a woman is a big disadvantage right about now."
No one responds, and they continue up the second block, getting closer to the market where Mandy would have last been seen. If she made it to the market at all.
They get to the market after a few minutes and fan out to begin looking around, still silent, making every attempt to not be seen. The market is closed up for the night, stalls empty of goods, the skeletons of tomorrow's work only.
From here, Brock pulls one of Mandy's trusty scarves out of the plastic bag Davis had put it in, and places the item in front of Cerberus' nose. The dog immediately begins to scurry, leading Brock to the edge of the market.
"Bravo One, this is Bravo Five. Bravo Nine has got something"
"Good copy Bravo Five, we'll follow. TOC this is Bravo One, we're passing Cho."
Cerberus leads them down two alleys and an even smaller back way, coming to a block further on the edges of the city. She stops, but doesn't sit, at a small house up against the corner of two streets and the wall from the old city.
"TOC this is Bravo One, looks like we've got a potential location for the package. We're going to proceed with entry now."
"Good copy Bravo One, proceed" Blackburn acknowledges from Command, the ISR watching at the men infiltrate the house.
They enter the building at speed, dusting the wooden door from its hinges, and letting Cerberus continue to lead inward. The first room they clear immediately, and enter the second room. As soon as they enter, chaos unfolds, as a man exclaims in shock at the intruders. Cerberus jumps up to attack him, dragging him across the floor, away from the side of the room he had been on.
Cerberus immediate attack becomes apparent almost immediately. On the other side of the room from where Cerberus is dragging the man to the ground is Mandy, tied up, bloodied, and blindfolded. Her head is down, and she doesn't appear to be moving.