Harvath introduced Claudia Mueller to Jillian Alcott and half hoped to see a glint of jealousy in her eye, but there was none. Whether Claudia felt anything or not, she was being a complete and thorough professional. After everyone in the hangar was seated, Harvath began his presentation.

With the help of an AV tech from the military base, he had uploaded all of his pictures, videos, and drawings into a PowerPoint presentation, which he now went through for the benefit of Claudia, the Stern team, and the special pilots he had asked her to arrange. “This is the base of the funicular in Le Râleur, “He narrated along with the corresponding pictures. “Two police officers in each car. As far as we were able to tell, they have.40-caliber sidearms and tactical shotguns, but nothing heavier than that.”

“How long are the shifts?” asked a man from the Stern team.

“They appear to change about every four hours.”

“What about the actual compound?” said Schroeder.

“We did a couple of passes by plane,” continued Harvath, “and the reaction of the security team was exactly what I would expect.”

“Not very friendly?”

“I’ll let the video speak for itself,” said Harvath as he scrolled to that part of his presentation. “These are the main buildings here. Not much action until we go to this next clip and come in for a second, considerably lower pass.”

One of the men let out a whistle. “The way those security people run out of that building, they look like rats jumping off a sinking ship.”

“Hold it a second,” interjected Schroeder. “Can we back it up and enhance that? What is the man at the far edge of the patio doing?”

“Good eye,” replied Harvath. Regardless of what he thought of Claudia marrying the guy, the operative was definitely good at his job. “I noticed that too. “Turning to the AV tech helping with the presentation, he asked, “Can you sharpen that up a little bit?”

“Not by much, but let me see,” replied the young man, who tightened in on the figure in question.

Though most of the resolution was gone, there was enough left for everyone to know what they were looking at. “That man has a Stinger on his shoulder,” said Schroeder.

“I guess I can put my doubts about probable cause to rest now,” replied Claudia, who had sat down next to Jillian Alcott and was watching the presentation with rapt attention. “We definitely don’t allow private citizens to possess missiles in Switzerland.”

Harvath had known she would take him at his word, but he was glad to see her more convinced about the operation as he progressed through his briefing. “You may have heard that this operation is being based on Operation Oak, and some of you now probably understand why. For those of you who do not, let me clarify it for you.

“In July of 1943, Benito Mussolini was placed under house arrest by the Italian government in a hotel on top of Gran Sasso Mountain in central Italy. Adolf Hitler knew that without Mussolini in power, Italy would change sides and align itself with the Allies. In order to prevent that from happening, Hitler selected one of his top commandos, Captain Otto Skorzeny, to launch one of the most daring raids in modern military history. When it was over, Skorzeny had earned the Knights Cross to the Iron Cross and title of the most dangerous man in Europe.

“Much like Château Aiglemont, the hotel where Mussolini was kept was accessible only via a funicular railway, the base of which was heavily guarded by Italian carabinieri. Because of the height of the mountaintop, the stability of the air, and the limited open space available for use as a drop zone, a parachute insertion was ruled unfeasible and landing helicopters or airplanes would have been too noisy. So, the teams inserted via glider.”

“And that’s how we’re going in?” asked one of the commandos.

“Pretty much. Skorzeny evacuated Il Duce with a short takeoff and landing aircraft known as a Stork. The initial assault force in our operation will go in via self-launching gliders from this airport. Part of that initial assault force will secure the upper portion of the funicular so the rest of the team can be brought up that way from the village. Once we have Tokay under our control, we’ll hopefully be able to evacuate him down the funicular, but if we can’t, we’ll have to use one of the self-launching gliders.”

“They might not hear us coming,” said another commando, “but at some point they are definitely going to see us. What then?”

“First,” replied Harvath, “we’ll be coming in out of the east with first light, so they aren’t going to see us until we’re almost right on top of them. And secondly, we’ll be landing in a meadow at the side of the main building that I don’t expect them to be watching too closely.”

“That’s a lot to suppose,” said the commando.

“I’m counting on a glider landing to be something that will arouse curiosity but not alarm.”

“And if it does?”

“Then we improvise,” said Schroeder, cutting his man off and turning to Harvath. “I see where you’re going with this, but Skorzeny also had one other item at his disposal that we don’t-Ferdinando Soleti, a high-ranking general in the carabinieri.”

“Whose men were deployed at the hotel and tasked with guarding Mussolini. I know,” replied Harvath. “Skorzeny faced many of the same obstacles that we do. First, his commandos had to overwhelm the Italian forces quickly enough to prevent Mussolini from being executed. Secondly, the commandos were greatly outnumbered by the Italian troops. And finally, those Italian troops had the benefit of being dug into a serious defensive position.

“The best thing I can offer you are the words of Skorzeny himself, ‘The safer the enemy feel, the better our chances of catching them unaware.’” Harvath paused for effect and then continued. “Skorzeny realized his men needed to get out of their gliders and gain control of Mussolini within three minutes if their plan was to be successful. It is no different for us. This operation will require the same three characteristics brought to bear on any successful tactical undertaking-speed, surprise, and overwhelming force of action.”

Schroeder nodded his head. “Agreed, but the brilliance of Skorzeny’s operation was in having Soleti in the very first glider. Soleti was a carabinieri commanding officer. When he climbed out of that glider, the Italian troops were so confused that they had no idea what to do. That hesitation was what Skorzeny needed to gain the upper hand and the successful outcome of his mission. They were able to pull it off without a single shot being fired.”

Harvath fingered the Carthaginian wrist cuffs resting in his coat pocket, the same ones he had been carrying since their near-fatal climb in France, and said, “I think we can get our hands on a Ferdinando Soleti of our own, but I want to talk to you about that in private.”

As Harvath wrapped up his presentation, he hoped like hell that Timothy Rayburn was still all about the money.