The old man ignored the twinge of pain in his chest as he downed the clear liquid. There was no time for pain now. All he had worked for, all he had lived for over the last thirty years was about to come to pass.

The three commanders toasted him back and downed their own vodka.

Chapter 33

Bill Beaman didn’t believe what he had heard. The big SEAL commander sat on a log and shook his head. A chill wind blew out of the northwest, tousling his short blond hair, depositing bits of gritty snow.

The team had been in place for a week now. They should be concentrating on extraction, not contemplating a new mission. One hell of a mission at that.

Jon Ward had just ordered him to do whatever it took to rescue the president of Russia from the clutches of Admiral Alexander Durov. He couldn’t imagine what Jon was thinking. This place was a fortress. The SEALs would need armor to go in through the front door, and so far, he had not found any back doors.

He turned to look for Chief Johnston. The second in command was huddled with Cantrell and Broughton a few meters down the slope. The chief looked at his commander sideways, reading the look on his face.

“What did the boss have for us?”

“You ain’t gonna believe this. They want us to amble down there and rescue President Smitrov while we’re resting.”

Johnston turned his head and gazed down at the sub base where the APCs still patrolled just outside the high wire fence. Both SEALs knew there was no way through those defenses. Not with the equipment or manpower they had.

Johnston looked back at Beaman. “What’ve you got in mind? I’ve never seen you without a plan.”

Beaman dusted the snow out of his hair and pointed down the hill toward the fjord. “Way I figure it, since there’s no way in by land, we’ll go by water. After all, we’re SEALs, aren’t we? Saddle up and let’s go find ourselves a boat down there.”

Jason Hall lay behind the sniper scope. His head ached from squinting into the thing for so long. This whole mission was getting old. He and Tony Martinelli had been up on this ledge for over a week now, watching and waiting. The cold and the wet were starting to take their toll. Hall could feel the stiffness in his joints and the lethargy building from lack of exercise.