Innocent

Alpha 56 over.

Sky watch Alpha 56 copy over.

Alpha 56 copy target link tango one Lima 01 over.

Sky watch, go with link over.

Up link Alpha 56, copy up link, thanks over. Alpha 56 on standby over.

Sky watch copy; Alpha 56 relay Delta 6 Zulu alpha 9 copy up link lima 01 over.

Zulu copy up link; Alpha 56 link 5 by 5 copy over.

The alpha up link of suspected terrorist Alama Al-Ca Zomni was sent via high speed data link to Data Com US via the new satellite com set Delta Z satellites brought on line in late 2014 in conjunction with U.S. Data Com Defense and went active in early April of 2015.

“Don what do you have?” Dave Zeph said with a hand over his yawn.

“Oh one of our eyes in the sky have a possible sighting of a target, subject Alama Al-Ca Zomni.” Don Watson said without much enthusiasm. “Some place in Afghanistan.” “It’s one of those computer facial I.D. stat links.”

“Ok let’s look him up and see what we have.” Dave said as he reached and pulled a fat book from the selves hanging over his com desk. “Let’s see who we have, maybe he’s a big shot.”

Slowly turning pages Dave Zeph wasn’t just looking at pictures in a book, he was looking at the faces of some of America’s most hated enemies; faces of those who had killed or wounded countless American’s in the decade’s long war on terrorism. “Thank god they put them in alphabetic order; they all look the same to me.” Dave said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m so damn tired of looking at these faces.”

“Well at least we only look for the top of know killers and don’t have a data base full of thousands of faces of every terrorist out there like Israel does.” Said Don Watson chief of I.D. bringing a cup of stale coffee to his lips.

“I’ve heard it can take weeks for them to I.D. a guy and by that time he’s long gone.” Dave said with a little laugh.

“Here we go Zomni; born in Afghanistan, he was trained in Iraq from 2005 to 2009 before becoming head of the Northern group in 2010.” “Says here he was last seen in Iraq in 2011.”

“Got a good picture of him?” Don asked.

“Yeah, I’ll put it up on the screen.” Dave slid the photo under the over head projector and Alama Al-Ca Zomni filled the room.

Looking between the Alpha 56 photos and the large screen filling the room there was little questioning that the two people in the pictures were the same man.

“Run the video from 56.” Don asked.

“Yeah that’s him alright.” Dave said. “Don’t you think so?” He asked.

“Sure looks like him. The damn angle is all wrong in 56’s pictures. Must be from maximum angle; it’s just hard to see clearly.” Don said sounding not so convinced.

“Will the computer is 95% clear that’s our subject; Alama Al-Ca Zomni is a high ranking member and on the top ten kill list.” Dave said with excitement.

“Can we get another run on this guy by 56?” Don asked. “I just can’t make a clear decision on what I’m seeing here; I’m not positive it’s our guy. Damn sure looks like him thought.”

“Well let me see what we got.” Don said with an irritated edge to his voice.

Sky watch 56.

Alpha 56 over.

Sky watch requesting additional eyes on target Lima 01 over.

Alpha 56 copy additional eyes on target tango Lima 01 over; stand by, turning 270 at 16 five zero, mark.

Alpha 56 now five miles south of the targeted subject made a hard right hand turn at sixteen thousand five hundred feet and slowly turned to make another high speed pass over the targets position.

Alpha 56 stand by to copy pass.

Sky watch copy.

Alpha 56 copy down link.

Sky watch link 5 by 5 Alpha 56.

Dave and Don watched as the down link of Alpha 56’s high speed pass loaded into the data com’s computer and images flashed on the large screen. It showed a medium height man of about 5’6 walking with two other men towards a mason stone house just outside of Mosul Iraq. In the back ground sat a dark colored medium sized sedan with the driver standing at the side.

“Give me a close up of that guy.” Don asked.

The large screen filled with a close up of a thirty something dark haired man with sunglasses walking towards the camera talking to a large man on his left. The picture was grainy with the amplification and the lack of pixels.

“I think that’s him, no I’m positive that’s him!” Dave Zeph said. “We’ve got to hit him now; it could be months before we find him again.”

“Oh…. I’m just not sure. He’s not known to be in this area.” Don said in a quiet voice. “This isn’t part of his normal territory.” “The computer is only at 65% positive I.D.”

“It’s him……. I’m giving the order to strike.” Dave said with excitement.

“Dave what if it isn’t him, I’m just not sure; it would be better to let him go then to get the wrong guy.” Don said with worry creeping into his voice.

Dave Zeph was in command of the shift and his word carried any decision to strike.

Sky watch 56.

Alpha 56 over.

Sky watch you are cleared to fire on subject.

Alpha 56 roger cleared to fire on subject target tango Lima 01 over confirm.

Sky watch target tango Lima 01 fire confirm.

Alpha 56 copy.

Alpha 56 Hellfire away, good engine, good track, tracking….. Target destroyed.

Sky watch copy, good job over and out.

Alpha 56 on standby over.

Iraq officials report the death of a high ranking Iraqi business man today. He leaves behind a wife and three young children. Officials have ruled out insurgent car bombing and are looking into reports of the death.

The drone war continues.

From the Ramblings.

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