SIXTY-NINE
Thomas and the hostage extraction team stashed their scuba equipment behind a storage shed on the atoll base, and two of the SEALs set up a lookout there. Unpacking equipment from their dry bags, one of them set up optics with infrared while the other unpacked and assembled a sniper rifle. Thomas felt a small measure of reassurance to know that these men would be watching their backs.
The rest of the men, including Thomas, had packed pistols in their dry bags. Still wearing his wetsuit, he holstered his now.
Moving stealthily, Thomas and the team slipped through the shadows toward the building that the Uyghur escapee had identified as the base’s prison. Shouts in Mandarin emanated from within, punctuated by primal screams that raised the hairs on the back of Thomas’s neck. It
