Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist Aftermath by Peter Telep

he’d carried as a Navy SEAL. The gun was now known as the P226
     MK25 and was one of the most reliable firearms in the world.
    Fisher’s updated OPSAT, or operational satellite uplink, was strapped to his left
     wrist, facing inward. The full-color screen, which could also be set to dim green
     stealth mode, glowed and provided real-time data integration with field intel collection.
     Fourth Echelon comms and onboard access to the SMI analytics engine up on Paladin
     were newer additions to the software. The OPSAT was like having a powerful computer,
     a satellite phone, and a smartphone in one device. It even offered ambient sound readings
     to check his own movements, along with light and temperature measurements. As its
     name implied, the OPSAT also linked Fisher to Keyhole spy satellites and drones like
     the Hummingbird wheeling overhead. He was capable of downloading data directly from
     them and from Grim on Paladin. The device even offered a rudimentary alarm system
     in the form of a T-shaped rod that nudged his wrist.
    Willing himself into a moment of calm, Fisher worked the touchscreen, keying in on
     Briggs’s GPS location. A satellite map with glowing grid overlay marked each man’s
     position. He sprinted off in the direction of Briggs’s landing zone, with the OPSAT
     serving as navigator, muttering course corrections to him via his subdermal.
    The OPSAT screen flashed with an encrypted message from Grim, and Fisher slowed to
     read it:
    No RF jamming of those enemy birds yet. As soon as we begin jamming, they’ll be onto
     us. I’ve plotted your course to Briggs. Keep heading straight. I’ve told him to shut
     down his beacon, so if you lose it, just stay on the coordinates of his last signal.
     Then you shut down yours. Total blackout now.
    Fisher raced around a pair of trees, spun, then checked his OPSAT while trying to
     catch his breath in the much thinner air of the mountains. The beacon was gone, meaning
     Briggs had to be conscious. However, Fisher was on top of his last signal. He moved
     around the largest of two pines, then spotted the man’s helmet off to his right. He
     winced and looked up. “Aw, shit.”
    Briggs was dangling nearly ten meters above the forest floor between a pair of thick,
     snow-covered limbs, his lines caught in the web of smaller branches. He was trying
     to swing himself back toward the nearest tree, but he was too far out.
    Fisher sent Grim a three-word status report: Briggs in tree. Then he holstered his
     pistol, took a deep breath, and began hauling himself up and across the sticky bark,
     wrapping his legs around the tree trunk until he reached the nearest branch. After
     that, he ascended much more quickly, reaching Briggs within a handful of seconds.
    He immediately got to work, digging into a pouch on his belt near his spare magazines
     to produce a twenty-yard length of 550 paracord. He unraveled the cord, broke off
     a small branch, then tied the rope around the branch so it would serve as a weight
     or small anchor. He reared back and tossed the branch to Briggs, who caught it on
     the first try and reeled in some line.
    Fisher ascended even higher into the tree, drawing the rope with him. Once he neared
     the branch on which Briggs’s chute had become tangled, he began drawing in the rope,
     then wrapped it over another, thicker branch to serve as a winch. Bracing himself,
     he began hauling Briggs back up toward the limb above.
    With both of them gasping and grunting, Briggs finally got his hand wrapped around
     the branch, and then, with his free hand, he triggered his quick release, breaking
     free from the chute.
    Coaxed by Fisher, he swung his legs up and did an inverted log crawl toward the trunk.
     Fisher hauled him to safety on the supporting limb, and Briggs took a deep breath.
     “Thank you, sir. Sorry, sir.”
    Fisher nodded. “We need to move.” He glanced at his OPSAT. Grim reported the launch
     of two Mil Mi-8 transport