When Jake meets a woman at the Hard Deck, the last thing he expects is for her to be a Navy Seal. And not just any Seal, the Commander of Seal Team 3. She's beautiful, smart, dangerous, and everything about her just makes him want to get close. Her...
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The journey was long and unremarkable. No one could do much and there was only so long someone could be cooped up in close quarters before they lost it. Thankfully, only petty disagreements happened, and knowing her team, Bear knew that it could definitely have been significantly worse. For the most part, the Seals were nose deep in folders, trying to cram the smallest detail into their brains about this mission, possible formations, contingency plans, and more.
The pilots on the other hand, found themselves wandering aimlessly through the ship, alternating between bugging their Seal teammates and each other. But it was safe to say that everyone was bored out of their minds and arrival at Jebel Ali couldn't come soon enough.
Bear groaned, scrubbing her hands over her face in frustration. The numbers weren't adding up. There was simply no way that al-Hameed had as many people around him as he claimed. If that were the case, the drones that had been launched repeatedly over the area as well as satellite imaging would have confirmed the number she'd been given. Taking a deep breath, she got up and went in search of Flare, her expert in reconnaissance missions and information gathering. Hopefully her Lieutenant could give her some more insight into what was really going on beyond a man's over-exaggerated body guard number.
"Flare. Mind following me?" Bear asked, finding the young woman with her nose in a book.
"Bear? Is everything okay?" Flare asked, setting the book down and following after her Commander.
Bear nodded. "For the most part, I'm struggling to grasp something and hoped that you could shed some light on the situation."
"I'll do my best, but I can't guarantee anything," Flare replied. "What was causing the issue?"
"al-Hameed's number of followers at the compound. The IJU doesn't have many active posts in Saudi Arabia, most are in tribal Pakistan, so unless Khrushov's people were counted and then, I don't know, doubled or something so it filled the space for al-Hameed, something else is going on," Bear told her, pointing at the papers in front of her.
"Weird. Give me a second, let me grab my copies so I can compare because something is definitely off." The young woman rushed from the room, skidding around the corners and past other Navy personnel as she made for her bunk.
Minutes later, she was back, files in hand. "Okay, so this is the satellite image from this day, that matches. But this is from... huh. I see what happened. You were sent the wrong data, because I have these two dates on images and reports, while you have this other one, from weeks ago."
"So what you're telling me, Flare, is that my files were changed?" Bear asked, arms crossed.
Biting her lip, Flare hummed. "I can't say for sure, but it's weird that I have this and you don't. Especially since I sent you everything that came across my email in relation to this mission."
