Covert Assassin

by Ethan Jones

  “Carrie, Carrie,” Justin shouted.

  He dashed toward her.

  “I ... I’m all right,” Carrie said and coughed. “It’s all ... all this dust.” She coughed again.

  Justin nodded and helped Carrie up. They walked toward the gate, then Justin fired through the gap.

  No return fire.

  He crouched and looked inside the yard.

  Empty.

  “Isaac, we’re just outside the gate. What’s your position?”

  “Stop talking, Justin. No more coms,” Isaac’s shout pierced Justin’s ear.

  “What?”

  “Ying can hear us. Don’t talk.”

  “Ying? It’s okay if she—”

  “No, she’s the shooter. The one firing those RPGs.”

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Rutbah, Iraq

  “It can’t be. Ying hates weapons,” Justin said.

  “Not RPGs, obviously,” Isaac replied. “Now off the line. You and everyone else.”

  Justin shook his head and turned off the throat mike. He glanced at Carrie. “Ying? I can’t believe this.”

  “It’s possible, Justin. Let’s see what Isaac saw before we—”

  A long machine gun barrage silenced her.

  Justin and Carrie dropped behind the wall, uncertain of the direction of the fire. It sounded like it came from behind the target house. “Is that Isaac’s team?” he asked.

  Carrie shrugged. “Don’t know.”

  “Let’s get in.”

  He stepped through the gate and bolted across the yard. Reaching the front door without taking fire, Justin drew in a deep breath. Now that the situation was dark on all communications, it became harder to locate and identify Isaac’s team members and the other fighter, if he was still alive. Justin peeked inside the hall, then shouted in Arabic, “Friendlies at the main entrance. Friendlies coming in.”

  A moment of silence, then Hadi said, “Good, good, clear to come in.”

  Justin turned on his knee and aimed his rifle at the gate. He covered Carrie’s advance and gestured for her to get inside the house. When she did, he followed two steps behind her.

  Carrie dashed through the narrow hall leading to the back of the house.

  Justin assumed Isaac’s team would have cleared the rooms, as it was the basic task when entering a target house. He noticed only one body, whose leg was visible through one of the open doors. In a matter of seconds, Justin was in the backyard.

  Hadi was manning a position near the back gate, while Isaac was standing close to the wall. His pistol was aimed at the head of a detainee who was on his knees with his back toward Justin. The detainee’s hands were tied. “Who is he?” Justin asked.

  “Not sure. He’s lying to me, saying he’s a Brit helping the Peshmergas.”

  “That’s the truth,” the detainee said in a calm, firm voice with a clear British accent.

  “I’m not going to ask you again.” Isaac thrust the pistol into the back of the detainee’s head.

  “My answer isn’t going to change, even if you kill me.”

  “You’d like that, but it’s not going to happen. My men will slice you up slowly, piece by piece, like a shish kebab. Now, tell me the truth. Who are you spying for?”

  Justin stepped closer to the detainee, who said, “I’ve told you—”

  “Yes, you’ve told me lies. But—”

  “Isaac—”

  “Not now, Justin—”

  “I know this man.”

  “You do? How?”

  “He’s someone I’ve been trying to find.”

  “Oh, and who is he?”

  “Isaac, please meet SAS operative Malcolm Thames.”

  Isaac gave Justin a curious glance. “He’s British special forces? I knew he was lying. Too calm. What are you doing here?” Isaac walked around and pointed his pistol at Thames’s scraped and bloodied face.

  Justin said, “I’ll tell you about it. Now where’s Ying?”

  Isaac pointed at the entrance. “Sped through the alley when she realized that she couldn’t get to Thames.”

  “Ying was here for him?” Carrie said.

  Justin said, “Did you see Ying?”

  Isaac shook his head. “No, but Stephan did. He went after her.” He pointed with his pistol at the alley.

  “And Stephan’s sure it’s Ying?”

  “Yes, but you’re not convinced?”

  “No. As I told you, Ying hates guns. She doesn’t know how to shoot. Did Stephan see her face?”

  “Don’t know. You’ll have to ask him when he comes back.”

  “We should get out of here. Call the rearguard,” Justin said to Carrie.

  Isaac said, “No. Ying will learn of our plans. She has already killed the rearguard.”

  “We’re not certain it’s Ying.”

  Isaac shook his head. “We’ll have to go through the back. Find another exit.” He grabbed Thames by the arm and stormed toward the gate.

  “Is Hadi the only one left?” Justin said as he followed Isaac.

  “Yes. We lost two men during the attack on the house. And this was all for nothing.”

  Hadi threw open the gate, ran into the alley, and fired a quick burst from his machine gun.

  Isaac shoved Thames in front of him, then Justin and Carrie brought up the rear.

  “Which way did Stephan go?” Isaac asked Hadi.

  “Right, then left, following Ying.”

  The group reached the corner of the next house. Hadi turned right, then shouted, “I see Stephan. He has a truck.”

  It was a gray Nissan with only a dim headlight. Stephan backed it up as close as possible to the group. Hadi jumped in the front seat, while Isaac shoved Thames into the back. Carrie got inside the cab through the other door, while Justin climbed into the truck bed.

  “Go, go, go,” Isaac said.

  Stephan hit the gas. The truck swerved and rounded the next corner.

  “Where’s Ying?” Hadi asked.

  “I lost her four blocks that way.” Stephan gestured to his left. “That woman climbs walls like a cat.”

  Justin wanted to ask whether Stephan had actually seen Ying, but a bullet pinged against the steel-reinforced truck bed panels. He lay flat with his head low and prayed no one would fire a rocket-propelled grenade at the truck. The sheets of steel would be useless against the 40mm fragmentation warhead, whose shrapnel most likely would kill them all.

  He thought about Ying and the possibility of her being the attacker. Did I completely misread her? Did she lead us here because of Thames, and her objective was to kill him? What about Lim? Where is he?

  Someone fired a quick burst from the cab. It was an assault rifle.

  A couple of rounds thumped against the side of the truck.

  Stephan yanked at the wheel, first left and then right, to make the truck a harder target. The back of the truck scraped against one of the walls as it barreled through the narrow alley. Justin was thrown around in the truck bed, his body bumping against digging implements and a couple of sand bags. Stephan slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel one more time. The truck barely made the turn, but they were now out of the line of fire.

  Justin still kept his head down as they covered a few more blocks. He looked through a bullet hole in the side of the truck. Dark houses and the occasional light in the windows, but no muzzle flashes and no bullets pounded the truck.

  “We’re almost out of the village,” Carrie said to Justin. “You okay?”

  Justin grunted and said, “I’m all right.”

  Stephan cursed the turn of events.

  Isaac said, “We’re heading to Saloya. It’s just five miles north, and in friendly hands.”

  “Whose friends?” Justin said from the back of the truck. He lay there, but he kept his rifle still in the supine firing position across his body.

  “My friends, and by extension, yours.”

  “These friends will not turn on us, like yours did,” Stephan said.<
br />
  “Did you actually see Ying firing at you or others?” Justin said. “Did you see her face?”

  Stephan did not answer right away. “No, I didn’t have the pleasure, otherwise I would have put a bullet in her head.”

  “So we’re speculating. Ying could still be back in the—”

  “No, Justin,” Isaac cut him off. “Our team was decimated, and Ying went dark. Then we see a woman fighting like a ninja. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”

  “What if the rearguard fell under attack? They were killed or taken hostage. The jihadists have trained women fighters.”

  “Not like that one. Even Mossad female ops, the best in the world, don’t fight like that.”

  “So you’re convinced it was Ying?” Justin rolled onto his stomach and looked inside the cab.

  “It has to be. But we’ll go over this in detail when we’re alone.”

  Stephan said. “It doesn’t matter. Thames isn’t going anywhere.”

  “You know he’s with SAS, right?” Carrie said.

  Stephan shook his head. “Rogue operative hiding among Daesh fighters, which makes him the same as them.”

  “You don’t know the whole story,” Justin said.

  “No, but I know enough. He killed my brothers. That’s enough for me.”

  “They were shooting at me. All I did was defend myself,” Thames said in a weak voice.

  Stephan slowed down, then threw back his right fist, punching Thames in the face. “No one asked you.”

  “Hey, that’s enough,” Isaac shouted. “You, just drive. And you, keep your mouth shut.”

  Thames nodded slowly. The blow had opened a new cut in his face, which began to trickle blood.

  Justin heaved a deep sigh. How did everything go so wrong?

  Chapter Thirty

  Saloya, five miles north of Rutbah

  Iraq

  “I still can’t believe this.” Justin shrugged as he paced the small room. He stopped by the window and gave Isaac a look of frustration. Then Justin glanced at Carrie, sitting across from Isaac. Her frowning face showed her disappointment.

  “That’s because you don’t want to believe it,” Isaac said. “But it is very logical. Ying dragged you to Iraq and Rutbah because she wanted Thames. There was never a Chinese operative in the house or in the village.”

  “We can’t be certain of that,” Carrie said.

  “Certain? Of course not. One of the gunmen in the house confirmed he had never seen or heard anything about Chinese soldiers or irregulars in the area.”

  “The one who was killed before we reached the house?” Justin asked.

  “Yes, but you sound suspicious. Ying attacked the house, so we had to get rid of the gunman, or he would turn against us.”

  Justin shook his head. “Convenient.”

  Isaac shrugged. “Believe whatever you want. That’s what happened. Ying betrayed you, killed my men, and is on the run.”

  Justin drew in a deep breath. “I’ll find out what happened here. Give me half an hour to make a few calls.”

  Isaac stood up from the small plastic chair, which made a creaking noise. “Then we’ll interrogate Thames. He may know what’s going on.”

  Justin nodded reluctantly. “Yes, just make sure he’s still alive.”

  “Regardless of what he says, he won’t be for long. Once Stephan gets his hands on—”

  “You won’t let him—”

  “Justin, this isn’t Canada. The Brit shot and killed Stephan’s friend.”

  “Yes, in self-defense. Look, Thames is very valuable as an intel source.”

  “I agree, but this place is a jungle, Justin. There are no rules.”

  “You’re telling me you can’t control Stephan?”

  Isaac groaned. “No, of course not. I need to have a good reason to do so.”

  “You will. Once we talk to Thames, and he tells us what he knows, you, and Stephan, will see reason.”

  “I doubt that would be the case with Stephan.” Isaac walked to the door. “I better go out there before it’s too late.”

  “Yes, thirty minutes at the most.”

  Isaac closed the door behind him, and Carrie stepped closer to Justin.

  He said, “What do you think? Did Ying fool us?”

  “You won’t like my answer, but it seems so. She’s the only one to pull this off.”

  “The only one? What about the militants we battled?”

  “Yes, but their women don’t fight like that. Why would everyone say it was Ying if it wasn’t her?”

  “I don’t know. People like easy answers? Once Stephan said it was Ying, so did everyone else.”

  Carrie shrugged. “Even if it’s not Ying, she’s gone.”

  “Yes, and if she’s still in the village, we left her behind.”

  “You know as well as I do that we couldn’t have gone back for her. We barely escaped alive. If Ying was taken hostage—and I very much doubt that’s the case—we’ll hear from her captors.”

  “By that time, it’ll be too late.”

  “I’m sorry, Justin. That’s ... that’s how life goes in these lands.”

  Justin nodded. “Yes, death is around the corner, literally waiting for you. I’m going to call Flavio and update him. Then, depending on what he says, we’ll have a chat with Ying’s boss.”

  “That’s not going to go well.”

  “No. He’ll be furious, of course, with us, for losing Ying.”

  Carrie looked deep into Justin’s troubled eyes. “Look, Justin, we didn’t lose Ying. She tricked and betrayed us or was taken by the enemy. Either way, we’re going to look for her. But this wasn’t our fault. It wasn’t your fault.”

  “I know that, but I’ll get the blame.”

  “They can do whatever they want; we both know how things went.”

  Justin nodded. “Let’s start looking for her. Whatever the truth is—Ying trying to kill us or taken hostage—she’s not too far away. Perhaps we can find some intel.”

  “I’ll get started while you call our boss.”

  “Yes, I have a few names of old contacts, and I want you to check something regarding Ying’s background. She was a part of a Chinese hostage rescue mission in northern Syria.”

  Carrie gave Justin a knowing nod. “If she’s a trained operative, like everyone is making her to be, it makes sense for her to be on the team.”

  “Yes, that’s what I want to find out. There was an intense firefight during the rescue mission. Some of the locals, most of them Peshmergas, were involved. Perhaps my contacts can confirm if Ying was just an observer, as the MSS records show her to be, or one of the rescue operatives.” He took the small notepad and a pencil from his rucksack. “Try these three numbers from top to bottom.” He copied the names and the phone numbers on one of the notepad sheets, then tore it off and handed it to Carrie.

  “All right. I’ll be back in ten, fifteen at the most.”

  “I should be done with our boss by then, and we’ll handle Ying’s chief.”

  “Yes, we’ll do that.”

  “Be safe, Carrie.”

  “You too, Justin.”

  He sighed, then reached for his phone and placed a call to his boss.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Saloya, five miles north of Rutbah

  Iraq

  “I absolutely, categorically, refuse your insulting allegation, Mr. Hall,” Suen, the MSS commander and Ying’s director, shouted on the phone. “Even the very idea of Ying betraying you is infuriating.”

  Justin had turned down the volume on his phone, expecting Suen’s outburst. Even on speakerphone, he was still very loud.

  Suen continued, “You’re responsible for Ying’s disappearance, Hall, and you’re inventing this story that she assaulted you and your team.”

  Justin glanced at Carrie sitting cross-legged on the carpet across from him and said, “Mr. Suen, I’m giving you an account of what happened, what my team and I saw.”

  “No, Hall, yo
u’re branding one of my best operatives as a traitor. I’m not going to allow this, and your director will hear about this.” Suen sounded like he had calmed down, but not by much.

  “Flavio has already been briefed on the matter.”

  “Well, he has heard your side of the story. Now, he will hear mine.”

  “On the topic of your side of the story, I’d like to get some intel from MSS about one of Ying’s ops.”

  “Why? Will it help you find her, rescue her from the captors?”

  “No, but it will help us to understand her involvement with—”

  “Look, Hall, you need to locate Ying and prepare for a rescue operation. No, forget the latter; just find where she’s being held. I’ll dispatch a team that’s competent to rescue Ying.”

  “Ying was involved in a rescue op a few weeks ago in Syria—”

  “I don’t think you heard me, Hall.” Suen’s voice again rose to a shout. “Whatever Ying did or did not do in the past will not, I repeat, will not, help you find her.”

  Justin sighed and looked at Carrie. She made a rotating gesture with her hand, indicating it was time to change the conversation. Justin nodded and said, “All right, all right. Now, about Lim, could it be that your team made a mistake in triangulating his signal?”

  “No, impossible. My team isn’t made up of amateurs. If they placed Lim’s phone in the village, he was there, but you missed him.”

  Justin ignored Suen’s last words. “Could it be that Lim came up with this trick to throw us off the trail?”

  “What, pretend he went to Iraq and instead go to London or elsewhere?”

  “Exactly. He could have given the phone to an associate. The signal indicates only the location of the phone, not the—”

  “I don’t need a lesson on tracking technology, Hall. We can assume it’s Lim when our system shows us his location, unless you have any evidence to the contrary. You don’t have that, do you?”

  “No, but we’re work—”

  “Well, until you have such evidence, stop accusing my team of not doing their job, and start doing yours.”

  Justin shook his head and bit his tongue, otherwise the words pouring out of his mouth would end the conversation and land him in trouble. “Mr. Suen, it will make everyone’s job easier and more effective if we shared accurate intel.”