“There is a road,” Swann said. “It is marked as Unnamed Road. It hugs the Tigris River for several miles, on the west side. Just past a little piece of nothing called Salman Village, there’s a bridge across the Tigris. There’s a wide open dusty plain, and as near as I can tell maybe thirty tents. There may be a more permanent structure there, but if there is, I don’t see it. It looks like there’s an artillery range to the east of there, with some cannons lined up. On the imagery I have, which admittedly is old, there are about a dozen vehicles parked on the property. A few of them appear to be pickup trucks with rear-mounted heavy weapons. If I were you guys, I’d take those things out first, then hit the cannons.”

“Can you get some more recent imagery?” Luke said.

“Not likely. I can’t get control of a satellite in the next ten minutes, and I doubt there’s anything better than what I have. No one has ever taken a high priority look at that place. It really is a slice of nothing in the middle of nowhere. This looks like a very local gang. What I described to you is from me pulling generic imagery in that region and then zooming in.”

“Any place to land?”

“The whole place is flat as a pancake. I’d say land anywhere you like.”

Luke shook his head and smiled. “Anything resembling a helipad?”

“No. Nothing like that. These people appear to be earthbound. When they go somewhere, they drive there.”

“How recent is the imagery you have?”

“Uh… three months old.”

“Swann!”

“It’s all that exists. It’s the best you’re going to get.”

Luke gazed out the bay door for a moment. The choppers were moving fast above the parched, flat landscape. They were about to assault a militia compound, but had no idea what it was going to look like.

“Ed? Are you hearing this?”

Ed was flying in the second helicopter. He and Luke had split up to each take command of a small squad of SAS operators. This was an Americans show, after all.

“Yeah.”

“What do you think?”

“We got three choppers, man. These birds are loaded with Hellfire missiles and M60 machine guns. I say we come in and wreck the place. I doubt it’s changed all that much. Go with Swann’s priorities. Knock out the vehicles, then the stationary cannons. After that, if anybody still has fight left in them, we drop in and take them out, too. Shoot first, ask questions later.”

Luke nodded. It made sense.

“Okay, sounds good. But let’s spare a couple so we can ask questions later.”

A few moments passed.

Luke looked at the young SAS men on his chopper.