"But there's a fourth route. She zoomed in on the cliff face here. A climbing route I used in 2017. It's technical. It's dangerous. And it requires a very specific skill set."
"That's why we're here." Walsh studied the image. "Ma'am, that's a vertical climb of what, 800 feet?" "847 feet, Sergeant, with three sections that overhang and one traverse that's 53 ft with no protection. We'll be climbing at night with combat loads under time pressure."
Chen, the female Force Recon operator leaned forward. "What's the weather window?" "New moon in 6 days gives us optimal darkness, but there's a storm system moving in that could hit our insertion window. We have a 12-hour window to make the climb, infiltrate Extract Park, and get back down before sunrise." Rodriguez the Seal asks the critical question.
"What if we don't make the time window?" "Then we're trapped inside a hostile compound at sunrise with every enemy in the region looking for us. Our extraction bird leaves at 0630 regardless of whether we're on it. Miss that window and we're on our own for escape and evasion across 70 miles of hostile territory." The room went quiet.
Patterson stood. "I won't lie to you. This mission has the highest risk profile of any operation I've authorized in my career. But Lieutenant Park is running out of time, and the intelligence he's protecting could save hundreds of lives. Captain Chen has the tactical plan."
"You have 6 days to train, and you all have one more chance to walk away right now. No questions asked." No one moved. "Outstanding." Patterson nodded to Sarah.
"Captain, they're yours." For the next six days, Sarah pushed her team harder than she'd pushed anyone in her life. They climbed until their fingers bled until their muscles screamed until the movements became automatic. She drilled them on the monastery's layout on contingency plans on what to do if she was killed and they had to complete the mission without her. On the fourth day, Morrison pulled her aside after a particularly brutal training session.
"Ma'am, can I ask you something?" "Of course." "Why me? I'm the youngest, least experienced member of this team. Why did you choose me?"
She looked at him steadily. "Because when I was teaching you, I watched you fail 12 times on the advanced tactical course. And every single time, you got back up, figured out what went wrong, and tried again with a better approach. That's what this mission needs. Not the most experienced operator, the one who won't quit when it all goes wrong."
"And it will go wrong, Morrison. It always does." "I won't let you down, ma'am." "I know you won't. That's why you're here."
On the sixth day, they loaded onto a C-130 for the flight to the staging area. As the plane lifted off, Sarah looked at her team. Morrison's youthful determination, Walsh's steady professionalism, Chen's quiet competence, Rodriguez's focused intensity. These were her people now, her responsibility, her mission.