coffee? tea?

wa alaikum es salaam.
 <all there, boss.>

<yes, we have an understanding.>

we’ll be in touch. of course you will.

let’s boogie.
copy that. ten mics from flat iron. out.

that went well.

were you expecting trouble? we just

handed him a half million euro to sit on
his hands while we deal with the iranians.
you never know. the case officer
could’ve fucked up the credit check
and sent us to meet with some quds
force proxies looking to roll us up.

then we would’ve had to kill them all.

that’s what I love about you, man.

* ZZZZZ *

always finding that silver lining. fuck.

are you about to ruin my afternoon? you have no idea...

base - mobile 1.

GO AHEAD, MOBILE 1.

this is token. have received “vegas”

on the op phone “thumbtack”. need
routing and immediate qrf back up.

COPY THAT. STANDBY.

yeah.

thumbtack...our guy shammari? MOBILE 1, WE HAVE POSITIVE ID ON THUMBTACK.

copy, silver 230. request an isr*

CURRENT LOCATION SITE SILVER 230. platform on station for overwatch.

isr - intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance

WORKING ON IT.

out. let’s go.

base, what’s the status on that uav ? UAV IS UP. VENUE IS 3 BLOCKS OFF A
SHOPPING AREA. LIGHT VEHICLE TRAFFIC
COMING AND GOING WITH A FEW WALKERS
ON THE STREET. ROOFTOPS ARE CLEAR.

copy that.
HELLO?

we’re here to get you out. we are in a black

mercedes coming down the main drag out front.

I SEE YOU...

good. we will circle around

back and pick you up from
the rear entrance of
building. do you understand ?

YES.
we’re here. are you ready?

YES, OK...

start walking downstairs now.

come out, get in the car and we will leave.

the back door is unlocked.

MOBILE 1, I HAVE 3 VEHICLES CROSSING
INTERSECTION GREY 12-24 TO YOUR
WEST, HEADING TO YOUR POSITION.

shit...

copy that. eta to qrf?

ETA - UNKNOWN. MOBILE

2 IS STUCK IN TRAFFIC.

yeah, that’s not good.

base, be advised...
going loud.

down!
moving!

move!

come on!
 grinch, location ? ACROSS THE STREET. ADJACENT BUILDING.

down ! get down ! BACK DOOR.

grinch ?

got you.
base , mobile 1 has control of the COPY. MOBILE 2 IS STILL STUCK IN TRAFFIC. roger that.
package. need immediate extract. we YOU NEED TO FIND AN ALTERNATE OUT.
are two blocks west of the safe house.

!!!

!!!
 clear.

let’s go.
are you ok? are you hit?
ok ! i’m ok ! my family!
we must get my family!
no! i won’t go without them! i am discovered!
my wife has my laptop. it has all of my files.
if we don’t go now, the iranians will kill
them all and have everything!

no, we need to get you out first.

... MOBILE 1 - BASE, STATUS?

base, we have taken contact. multiple t’s

down. we have package thumbtack. repeat, we
have package thumbtack. moving to silver 147
for extraction of next of kin.

COPY. DIRECTING LOOK DOWN TO VENUE FOR OVERWATCH.

copy, out.
 we’re getting your family out. now. get yes, yes!
them on the phone and have them ready to
walk out the door as soon as we pull up.

< is everyone there? our < damn it, don’t ask questions!
family! get them together! i will be there soon. >
we are leaving for dubai.
yes, immediately ! >

we don’t have time to fucking

explain. get them ready now !
 we’re almost there...

call your family. base, status on that uav ? shammari, where are your people ?

LOOK DOWN IS DOING

RACETRACKS NOW. NO
VEHICLE TRAFFIC, NO FOOT
TRAFFIC. NO ONE ON A
ROOFTOP FOR 500 METERS
IN ANY DIRECTION.

copy, we’re here now.

starting the pick up.

they’re not ready, yet !

great.

get inside and get them

out here. we need to get
out of the city now !

yes, yes ! ok ! thank you !

< your deal with the americans is
over shammari. come inside, now. >
what’s the hold up ?

fuck.

don’t know. wait, standby...

base - mobile 1. package is

compromised. i say again...

package is compromised.
 MOBILE 1 - CONFIRM, PACKAGE IS COMPROMISED.

contact front !

base - package is lost!

i say again - package is lost! burn the venue!

COPY MOBILE 1. STANDBY.

 MOBILE 1 - STATUS?

base - mobile 1, confirm, all targets wiped.

COPY MOBILE 1. OUT.

*ZZZZZZ*

yeah ? got it. we’ll be there.

 the spooks intercepted a cell call made 20
minutes ago near basra international. subject,
mission accomplished, flight home delayed.

do’ha ran the feed against the biometrics

database and kicked back a quds force
colonel, amad jammi.

task force picked him up in 2011 during a raid on

one of talabani’s houses in baghdad. he was
running snatch operations specifically targeting
coalition third country nationals and relocating
them to iran for interrogation.
 here’s half a million euro. there’s another 2 mil
for him in the bank if he signs with us tonight.

what’s the plan ?

buy him out if you can.

quds force officers with
ten years plus in aren’t
known for jumping ship.

if he doesn’t want to play ball, bring him back

and we’ll dump him in sleep dep until he cracks.
company needs targets, dude. scud tels are
locked on, but we need target packages for the
quds force and irgc safe houses in the city.
 you’re taking this one
kind of personal ?

i ’m not thrilled.

this hajj connects the ...

dots up the food chain.
he signs up, he gets a
pass. if not, you heard
link. “fetch the pliers.”

hey, it’s not like i’m in love

with making these fuckers
rich but it’s business. and
it’s not like he doesn’t
have an expiration date we’re not in the saving
just because he’s working lives business anymore.
with us now. this is a paycheck. period.

i can’t do anything for a

dead man. or his family.
yeah, there’s a lot of
that going around lately.

MOBILE 1 - MOBILE 2. TWO BAD GUYS IN THE LOT.

copy that.
your coffee, colonel.

what can i do for you, gentlemen ?

panic room - suite 131. we have
positive id on bee keeper’s location.
ground teams en route to rally
point to link with cordon element.
we are greenfield across the board.
SCRIPT
JON CHANG
STORY
JON CHANG AND KANE SMITH
ART & COLOR
JOSH TAYLOR
LETTERING
JON CHANG
LEAD EDITOR
DAVYDD PATTINSON
BLACK POWDER \\ RED EARTH LOGO DESIGN BY
JON CHANG
SPECIAL THANKS TO
ECHELON SOFTWARE CREW
COPYRIGHT
2011, ECHELON SOFTWARE, INC. All RIGHTS RESERVED
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