Sheba's Gambit

by Kristine Frost

  “Marshall,” Nagle snapped. “Move over and let Frank drive. That’s an order.”

  “Ma’am, I’m sorry if I’m out of line, but you didn’t help Sheba either. She trusted you, me, and Tony. We all let her down. Now she and Braden are in danger and we’re just typing on the keyboard.”

  “He’s right, but he’s in no condition to help her himself.” Tony adjusted a dial, then added. “Let’s get to the CIA command center. There are medical people there that can help him.”

  Marshall slid into the passenger seat as Frank said, “What the best route?”

  Tony quickly gave him directions. “I’ll tell you more when you get closer.”

  Marshall had slumped in the passenger seat. Nagle said, “Toby, I think I’d better hang up and take care of Marshall. He’s in bad shape.”

  “Call me as soon as you know anything.”

  She shoved the phone in her pocket. She pressed her finger against his neck. “His pulse is weak. I don’t like the way he’s breathing either.”

  Tony said, “Trade places with me. I can’t do anymore until we get to the CIA command unit. You can watch the screen as well as I can. I’ll show you what to watch for.”

  Gratefully she eased out from between the seats and crawled over to Tony. Quickly he pointed out what she should be watching for. “Let me know when they land.” He said.

  “Right.”

  He laid Marshall’s seat back. “It looks like his head is starting to bleed again.” He gently felt the skull. “Wow! Whoever hit him, hit him hard. I can feel the dent through the bandages.”

  Tony said, “Pull over. I’d better drive. I can get us there a lot faster since I know the roads. This man needs medical attention.”

  Frank quickly pulled to the side of the road. He slid out of his seat, standing with his back to the windshield, leaning over Marshall.

  Suddenly, there was a blast, the windshield splintered, and Frank collapsed on top of Marshall.

  Dropping into the driver’s seat, Tony pull into traffic without looking. He shoved the gas pedal to the floor, leaving skid marks on the pavement. While Nagle struggled to check Frank, Tony swerved in and out of traffic, the big Humvee going up on the sidewalk or the center divider that separated the oncoming traffic.

  More shots peppered the Humvee. One bullet went through the passenger side mirror. “I think they are trying for the tires,” Tony said. “If they hit one, I’m not sure I can keep this thing upright.”

  Pulling out her phone, she frantically hit speed dial. “Toby, we’re under attack. Repeat, we under attack.”

  “Tony, where are we?” She screamed.

  “We’re on A3216. We just passed Pont Street.”

  “Can you tell how many are following us?”

  He looked out the side mirror. “It looks like two black SUV’s. I can see shooters out of both sides. They’re lousy shots, and they don’t care if they hit civilians.”

  Suddenly, a police car careened out of a side street. It pulled in behind the second SUV, ordering it to pull over. When the driver didn’t comply, the officers in the car opened fire.

  Tony heaved a sigh of relief. “I was afraid that police car wasn’t an armed response vehicle. A vehicle without guns couldn’t help us.”

  Tony looked out the side mirror. “Oh, oh,” he said. “The SUV’s is coming up on our side. That’s not going to be good. “Everyone down,” he shouted as he suddenly turned left, causing the SUV to miss the street he turned on.

  “Tell Maitland that we’re on 3217.That SUV is coming up on us again. I think the cop car took out the other SUV. At least I hope it did.”

  “If I can’t lose this guy, I can’t take us to the command center. It’s top secret.” Just as Tony finished speaking, a helicopter flew toward the Humvee, dropping down almost on top of it. A missile jetted out of a tube on the side of the helicopter. A half a second later, the SUV rolled over, bursting into flame.

  “You’re clear,” a voice with a British accent came out of the radio as the helicopter pulled up sharply, disappearing into the black clouds. “Remember you didn’t see a thing.”

  Tony replied. “Good shooting and thanks.”

  Nagle said, “What just happened?”

  “It looks like we just got help from the British Air Force.”

  “Was that an unauthorized op?”

  Tony shrugged. “I’m not asking questions. I’m just grateful they came when they did. We’d have been toast without their intervention.” He turned onto Chelsea Bridge Street. “You need to redesign this baby. She has the technology, but without an armed guard, she’s nothing but a burned out piece of metal.”

  “What are you talking about? She isn’t supposed to be a battle force.” Nagle snapped. “She’s recon, not military.”

  “You just saw how effective she is without weapons. Come on, Ms. Nagle. You have to think the way the bad guys think. You can’t expect them to act like nice bad guys. They don’t.”

  “But--”

  “We know Breckenridge left the country. You didn’t think about an attack. Surprise,” he said loudly. “He did attack and we almost bought it. If you’re stepping in to CIA territory, you’d better start thinking like the bad guys because they aren’t going to wait for you to catch up. I know we have gone too far in a number of ways, but you’d better look closely before you pull the plug on our operations because they work.”

  Before she could answer, he shut off the lights, turning into a wide dark alley. As he neared the end of it, a black wall slid back. He pulled forward, the wall sliding back into place behind them.

  A green light came on to the right of the Humvee. Tony turned toward it, threading the Hummer between dimly seen vehicles. He pulled into an alcove and stopped. It was immediately surrounded by men carrying assault rifles pointed at the Hummer.

  Tony opened his door, slowly stepping out, his hands raised. “We’re clean.” The men lowered their rifles.

  The Humvee’s door was pulled open. Two men dressed in white scrubs, stepped into the vehicle. The first one motioned Ms. Nagle out of the way. He knelt by Frank, taking his pulse. He shook his head. “It looks like the bullet went right through his heart.”

  He respectfully pulled Frank toward the open door, then he felt Marshall’s pulse. “This one is still with us, but barely.” He checked his head. “Pass me the backboard.”

  Tony came around the Humvee. “Come on, Ms. Nagle, we’ve got to find out where Sheba and Braden were taken. I’m betting Switzerland until he can get her information. Then he’ll head for the Middle East. We’d better be ready because once he knows what she knows, they’re both dead. He won’t share the glory.”

  As he hurried her though the complex, he said, “You’d better lose the heels and the skirted suit. This complex was made for efficiency, not high fashion.”

  She glared at him. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

  “We’re here,” he said with a chuckle. Stopping at the door, he put his hand on a viewer. When the light turned green, he placed his eye against another viewer. Then he tapped four numbers on the key pad. The door slid open. Once inside, he was stopped by a guard dressed in black. The guard was pointing the business end of a Glock machine pistol at him.

  Nagle noticed that he was wearing a belt holding several grenades, a Taser, a blackjack, another Glock and a pair of handcuffs. He was carrying an M-16 slung over his shoulder.

  “Halt,” he snarled. “Tony, you know the rules. You can’t bring in an unauthorized visitor.”

  “Jake, this is Alexandra Nagle who is your new boss. We’re on a combined NSA and CIA mission. We’re in a hurry.”

  “She got clearance?”

  Nagle pulled her ID out of her purse. Jake used a hand scanner to verify that it was legitimate. A machine beeped at his elbow, spitting out a tag. He hooked it to a lanyard, then handed it to her. “We’ll have to get her biometrics on file.”

  “Later,” Tony said. “Like I said we’re in a h
urry.”

  Jake nodded stepping back. “She doesn’t leave without them on file or she doesn’t get back in.” He snapped, determined to follow the rule book to the letter.

  “Right,” Tony said, hurrying her down a long, brightly lit hall. He stopped at another blank metal door, ran his ID, then rushed through. She kicked off her heels and pulled up her skirt so she could run faster.

  The room was huge, but low ceilinged. There were over a dozen computer consoles lining the room with more placed back to back to make aisles.

  “Who has the data I sent from the Humvee?” Tony demanded.

  A man at the largest console raised his hand. They hurried over to him.

  “Sam, have they landed yet?”

  “Yes. They touched down at the Geneva airport. Your tracking device has started moving. It is now leaving the airport.” He held up his hand, “I think they are in a helicopter. It looks like it’s going directly to Zermatt over the mountains.”

  Tony nodded. “Keep tracking them just in case. You might pull the route to Zermatt to make sure that’s where they are going.” He looked at the woman sitting at the next computer.

  “Sarah, pull up everything we have on the Kingdom of Sheba especially anything that has to do with a location in Turkey or with an Aaron Aschler. He spelled the name.”

  Sam said, “What’s going on, Tony. You know we work better if we have background.”

  “Right. He quickly explained, adding. “My hunch is that he’ll threaten to harm the nephew to force Sheba to give him the information, then he’ll kill both of them, claiming the find for himself. Sheba was reputed to have hundreds of gold mines. Can you imagine the money he could funnel into ISIS and the Taliban?”

  “And any other army willing to destroy the Western world,” Sarah said bitterly.

  “So let’s get thinking. How can we stop this maniac?”

  “Are you sending in a team to get the hostages?” Sarah demanded.

  Tony said, “I wish that Marshall hadn’t been hit on the head. His recon team is the best we have for mountainous rescue.”

  Nagle said, “He has a second in command. I’ll put them on stand-by.”

  Tony said, “Go ahead, but I’ll bet that Marshall already has them on stand-by. I’d like to know where they are located, though. If they were here, it would be much easier to plan a mission.”

  Nagle looked at him. “Why don’t you check with your medics. I have a suspicion that he’ll go after Sheba if he’s able to move. If they can get him to where he can supervise the mission, we could move faster.”

  Tony picked up a phone pressing two numbers. “Dr. Carlisle, how is your newest patient?”

  Carlisle grunted. “I wish you’d send me a patient that would listen to what I have to say. As soon as I checked his vitals, he revived. He doesn’t have a concussion which totally surprises me. He’s demanding that I release him. This man has the constitution of an elephant and the skull of a Rhino.”

  “So, is he up to planning a mission?”

  “Tony, I hate to say this, but this man could probably qualify for the Mars’ Mission in the condition he’s in. Like I said, the man has the constitution of an elephant and the determination of I don’t know what.” He added, “I want you to know that I’m not recommending that he go on a mission. There could be some damage to his brain that we’re not seeing right now. I know he is telling me that he’s okay, but my gut says, planning yes, mission no.”

  Tony said, “Would you have someone escort him to the situation room?”

  “I’ll do that. I’ve given him some medication for the cut on his head and for the headache I know he has. He needs to rest when possible.”

  “Thanks, doc. I appreciate your patching him up. We desperately need him.”

  “I’m sending him with Allison. He overheard our conversation. He’s waiting, not very patiently, at the door.”

  A minute later, the door slid open. Marshall walked in. He was wearing a turban type bandage. He also sported a black eye and a swollen nose.

  Before Marshall noticed Tony standing by the computer, Nagle said, “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I wrestled a 50 foot gator and lost.”

  Tony said, “You’d better put your men on call because we’re going after Sheba.”

  “They are here,” he said starting toward Tony.

  Nagle stepped in front of him. “Stop. Tony’s on our side. CIA and NSA have been merged. Our top priority is to rescue them, but we must stop Breckenridge from finding Sheba. We’re looking at World War III if we don’t.”

  Marshall stopped, looking from Tony to Nagle. “We’re sure he’s actually working with us?” He turned to Tony, “Because if you’re not, if you put Sheba or Braden at risk one more time. I will kill you.”

  Nagle gasped, but before she could respond he added, “That isn’t a threat. That’s a promise.”

  Stung, Tony said, “If you can.”

  “Oh, I can and you know it.”

  Tony went red and then white. Finally he swallowed, walked to Marshall and stuck out his hand. “I give you my word that I am working for Sheba and Braden. I have been working for the CIA but since these two organizations have been merged by Presidential order, I am now working for whatever the merged organization will be called. Not only is my job on the line, not only is my life on the line, but my integrity is on the line.”

  He swallowed. “I swore three years ago to take out Breckenridge before he did any more damage. I haven’t been able to keep that oath”

  He looked from Marshall to Nagle, “I swear to you now, that together we will not only rescue Sheba and Braden, but we will stop Breckenridge from funding any more ISIS or Taliban operations. If Sheba wants to find the land of Sheba, we’ll help her, but Breckenridge won’t be part of it. I swear he is going down this time. It’s either him or me.”

  Marshall grabbed his hand. “I can back you on that. We rescue Sheba and Braden, then we take out Breckenridge and his organization or we die trying.”

  Nagle said, “I’d rather neither of you died trying.”

  “We won’t, ma’am,” Marshall said, confidently. “I’ve got the best team in the world. We all have buddies that have died fighting ISIS or the Taliban. We’d all die to stop the flow of money to any terrorist organization because it would save thousands of lives, both civilians and military.”

  Sam interrupted, “They’re definitely on the way to Breckenridge’s little place in the country. I’ve pulled up our satellite information on Breckenridge’s Swiss retreat.” He put a schematic up on the big screen over their heads. “This is the compound. I don’t know what else to call it because it’s more than just a house.” He touched some keys.

  “I’m superimposing the fences on the compound.” He tapped some keys. The picture on the screen turned to show a face-on view of the fences. “It looks like they are all fifteen feet high and topped with razor wire. They are also electrified.”

  “I’ll need you to send this data to my men. It’s secure. I can put this on my team’s arm screens so they can see what we are seeing.” Marshall gave him the code.

  Sam nodded, tapping more keys. “Have you got it?”

  Marshall waited a moment, then nodded. He tapped a few spots on his cell, “Dean, do you read me?”

  “Loud and clear. What are we looking at?”

  “Our next target. We’ve got a hostage situation—a woman and a young boy. The man who has them is reputed to be funneling money into ISIS and the Taliban. Our mission is to rescue the hostages and nullify the threat.”

  “Got it, boss.”

  Sam said, “There are cameras and sensors outside the fence, even though Breckenridge doesn’t own that property. You will have to get past them before you can get to the fence.”

  “What about an air drop?” Dean said.

  Marshall looked at Sam. “Is that possible?”

  “I’m not really sure. Let me overlay these schematics with infrared.” He tapped t
he keys again. The schematics changed color. There were red dots visible between the fence and the house. “The red dots are men.”

  Marshall walked closer to the screen. “Remove the infrared, please.”

  Sam touched a key.

  “Can you show me the sensors?”

  Sam frowned and typed a command. “I can’t guarantee that I’m showing all of them.”

  Marshall nodded. “Dean, what do you think?”

  “It would be risky,” Dean said. “One flub and they’d know we were there.”

  “But it could work if we just sent in one or two.”

  “What are you two talking about,” Nagle demanded.

  Tony walked over to stand by Marshall. “They’re talking about parachuting men on to the roof of the house, right?”

  Marshall nodded. “We have parachutes that are so good that we can land on a dime.”

  Tony looked at Sam. “Are any of the cameras pointed at the house or the roof?”

  He typed in another command. “Again, I can’t guarantee 100 percent accuracy, but it doesn’t look like it.”

  Tony said, “I want to be one of the jumpers.”

  “Absolutely not,” Marshall said. “You aren’t certified to do this. You aren’t even trained. You’d jeopardize the mission.”

  “I know the house. I broke into it when Breckenridge was in the Middle East a couple of years ago.”

  “No,” Marshall said, stubbornly.

  Nagle said, “It’s not your call, Marshall. Tony, I haven’t even decided if this is the way we want to proceed so both of you back off.” She looked at Marshall. “The doctor didn’t clear you for this mission. You aren’t going.”

  Marshall looked like he was going to explode.

  Dean broke the uncomfortable silence when he said, “Put the outer perimeter up again, would you.”

  Sam nodded, and the screen changed.

  “Okay, now put up the infrared.” Again the screen changed.”

  Dean said thoughtfully, “Marshall, I could take him with me. I’m certified to land with a full load. It shouldn’t change the perimeters if he can hold still. It would be helpful to have someone who knows the house.”

  Gritting his teeth, Marshall looked at Tony. “How much do you weigh?”