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you’ll do a night HAHO from twenty-six thousand feet, then fly sixty miles to land in Iran.” HAHO meant “high altitude, high opening.” Alex and his men would jump out of the plane at high altitude, then quickly open their parachutes, so they could glide across the border to their landing point. They’d be too small to show up on radar, and Iran would never see or hear them coming.
    The Colonel used a red penlight to indicate the drop point on the aerial image on the projector screen. “You’ll land here, then hump ten klicks to rendezvous with Leila at her house.” Ten kilometers didn’t sound like much of a hike, but depending on the terrain and concentration of enemy in the area, it could be. An image of Leila appeared on the screen.
    â€œShe ain’t ugly,” Pancho said.
    â€œWould you shut it,” John said, elbowing Pancho in the ribs.
    Alex agreed with Pancho: Leila was hot. She looked like the actress in the TV series JAG, all smoldering eyes and jet-black hair. When Alex had free time, which was rare, he sometimes watched education channels on his cable TV, but one day when flipping channels, he watched part of JAG . She captured his interest more than the show did.
    The Colonel ignored Pancho and John and looked at the Activity guy: “Danny has been in and out of Iran a number of times and has been in direct contact with Leila. He’ll take you to her house and knock on her rear window twice. She’ll respond by knocking twice. Then he’ll knock four times. The next evening Danny and Leila will insert your team near the target, you’ll destroy it, Danny and Leila will help you extract, then you’ll return to her house. From there, you’ll proceed to Kandahar, where we will debrief you.” The bald Colonel looked at Danny and asked, “Do you have anything to add?”
    â€œLeila is solid,” Danny said. “She’s the most solid agent I’ve met. She’s a triathlete and scuba dives, so she shouldn’t slow us down too much.”
    The Colonel thanked Danny before continuing: “We can’t support you while you’re in Iran, but once you cross the border to Afghanistan, we can. Of course if your team is compromised, you’re on your own. No one will avow responsibility for this mission.”
    The Colonel went on to brief them about enemy forces and the lack of friendly forces in the immediate target area. The nearest friendlies would be in Afghanistan, too far away to bail the Outcasts out even if the friendlies were allowed to. Because of the different time zones, the SEALs would lose seven and a half hours between Virginia Beach and Iran. As for the weather, there wasn’t any place hotter—the Lut Desert was literally the hottest place on the planet. “Although the days are usually cool this time of year, right now the Lut is experiencing a record-breaking heat wave, with daytime temperatures exceeding one hundred ten degrees Fahrenheit,” the Colonel warned. Locals passed on a legend that a load of wheat was left in the desert for a couple of days; the sun turned it into toasted wheat. Lut Desert was about to become even hotter.
    The Colonel gave them maps and photos of the area, and a photo of Leila. Pancho nearly drooled on his photo of her.
    John picked at his trousers as if there were lint when there was actually nothing—he did that when he felt troubled or annoyed.
    â€œWhy us for this mission?” Alex asked.
    â€œBecause you do the missions that are dirty,” the Colonel said. “The missions that no one will take public responsibility for. And because you’re expendable.”
    â€œI don’t understand what’s so special about this mission. Why no one wants to take responsibility for it.”
    The Colonel pulled out an olive drab case the size of a briefcase and set it between his feet and the Outcasts. He handled it like it was heavy.