The Relentless Hero

by Angel Vane

  Lifting the binoculars to his eyes, Julian leaned forward past the corner of one of the greenhouses and focused the lenses. He could barely make out the outline of tables and chairs lining the wall of the hangar, but no sign of any people inside. The sun was at an apex as noon approached. The roof of the hangar cast a looming, dark shadow across the interior of the structure.Trailing the binoculars along the front of the hangar, the edge of a bloody body came into view. Twisting the lenses to zoom in closer, Julian recognized the dead man bleeding out on the tarmac. He lowered the binoculars and turned to Reggie.

  “Tubeec was stabbed. He’s dying over there,” Julian said, handing Reggie the binoculars.

  “What? Are you sure?” Reggie asked.

  “See for yourself,” Julian said. He ignored the pain roaring through his muscles and the sharp stabbing in his lungs with each breath he took. On the ride toward El Wak, Julian had availed himself of the medical supplies in Reggie’s jeep, wrapping his chest tightly to reduce the pressure from what the ASF had confirmed were a couple of cracked ribs.

  Squinting into the distance, Julian could barely make out another body lying listless on the ground, not too far from Tubeec.

  If Tubeec Hirad had gotten himself and his team killed, did that mean Hakeem had been successful in exacting his revenge? Had Sunny’s brother rescued Mena in the process? Was that why there was no activity in the hangar?

  “Good riddance to one of Africa’s most wanted,” Reggie lowered the binoculars and handed them back to Julian. A smug smile of satisfaction spread across his face.

  “We need to get into the hangar,” Julian said.

  “Hold on. Team three is approaching in the next couple of minutes. When they arrive, we’ll join them and drive into the hangar. Just because Tubeec may be dead doesn’t mean there isn’t an ambush waiting inside,” Reggie warned.

  Julian wished like hell he had a way to communicate to the TIDES team. Glaze and Hakeem had likely arrived at the hangar long before he had with Reggie and the other ASF agents, but there was no sign of them anywhere.

  Pressing the button on the comms, Julian spoke, “Any sign of TIDES?”

  Waiting for a response, Julian wasn’t surprised when two negatives were returned.

  “Team three is here,” Reggie said, pointing behind him.

  Julian turned to see a military vehicle, machine guns mounted on its roof, approaching slowly, the rust color blending in with the terrain of northeast Kenya.

  Reggie turned and walked toward the vehicle as it approached, waving a hand in the air. Lowering the binoculars, Julian followed.

  “What took you so long?” Reggie demanded as he approached the driver’s door.

  “Picked up an extra passenger,” the agent replied. The back door swung open and Sunny Tate emerged, dressed in full tactical gear toting an AR-15.

  “What are you doing here?” Reggie asked, walking over to Sunny.

  “We don’t have much time. Taye got Enzo to a hospital in Wajir, he’s going to be fine. Hakeem and Glaze made their way to the military airstrip in El Wak and they are safe,” Sunny said, then turned to Julian. “But somebody else wants Mena. They let Glaze go, but tied Mena up and took her and put her on the plane.”

  Julian thought Tubeec wanted Mena as his mistress, not because someone else wanted her.

  “Do you know anyone who has a grudge against Mena or would want her kidnapped?” Sunny asked.

  “No,” Julian said, grappling with this unexpected turn of events.

  “Well, somebody wants her. We’re lucky that we got here in time before the Gulfstream took off, but who knows what they’re waiting on and how much time we have to get in there and rescue her,” Sunny explained.

  “Did Hakeem and Glaze tell you how many men are with this other group? What are we up against?” Julian asked.

  “They didn’t know how many were still in the hangar, but every rebel that came out of there was heavily armed and looked local, possibly trained by Tubeec or part of al-Harakat,” Sunny said.

  “We’re wasting time,” Julian insisted. Slipping the M4-Carbine over his arm, he walked over to the vehicle and eased inside. Sunny and Reggie followed behind, entering the tank. Each of them found a position where they could secure their weapons and shoot if gunmen were waiting to ambush them.

  “We’ll enter the hangar in twenty seconds. Wait for my command,” Reggie instructed.

  Julian focused his eyes on the hangar. The vehicle jerked forward, speeding ahead. An agent sitting next to Julian handed him a vest of bullets.

  “You might need this,” the agent said, then turned to look through the front windows of the vehicle.

  Reggie shouted over the loud engine of the truck. “Be alert and vigilant before firing to ensure we don’t take out anyone we should be trying to save.”

  The truck blazed forward. Julian could see the Gulfstream inside the hangar. The loud hum of the plane’s engines started, whirring as it prepared to taxi out onto the runway.

  As they neared the entrance, Julian jumped from the moving truck followed by Reggie, Sunny, and the other agents and stormed through the hangar, with guns raised.

  Shots rang out from the plane.

  The agents scattered, seeking cover and returning fire. Julian pulled the trigger of the M4 Carbine, pelting the side of the plane with bullets as he rushed toward the airplane door. He scanned the windows. Mena’s face stared at him in shock. Julian unloaded on the plane’s door, riddling it with bullets that bounced back toward him, making small dents in the surface.

  Bulletproof?

  The door shifted open. Julian pointed the rifle at the figure hovering in the crack.

  “Open the damn door! Now!” Julian screamed, squeezing the trigger. A blaze of bullets clattered against the plane. Reggie and his men had taken out the snipers and had the aircraft surrounded.

  The door opened wider. The steps, unfolding slowly, descended toward the floor of the hangar. A man stood in the gap.

  Adam Russell?

  Adam was supposed to be in witness protection, waiting to testify. What was he doing here? Why did he want Mena?

  Realization struck Julian. Fuck!

  Adam didn’t want Mena, but Priscilla Dumay sure as hell did.

  Julian aimed his gun at Adam as the man hurled a container down to the ground. The glass crashed onto the concrete floor as Adam disappeared back into the cabin of the plane.

  A dense fog of gas filled the hangar, burning and clawing at Julian’s eyes. The fumes filled the space with a vengeance, the harsh chemicals assaulting his nose, and burning his lungs. Julian stumbled backward, dizzy, and disoriented. The ASF agents were disarmed, vomiting, and crawling away from the hangar, trying to get out to fresh air.

  Julian couldn’t go back. He had to get to Mena. Pressing forward, he reached the bottom step of the ladder leading up to the opening of the Gulfstream. His eyes glued to Adam Russell’s face peering at him through the window. Vomit and bile wretched in his abdomen. Julian stopped as the liquid spewed from his mouth, leaving a sour after taste. His vision was blurred, eyes watering and burning, but he couldn’t give up. He needed to get Mena off that plane. A fit of coughing launched out of his body, rocking him as he struggled to breathe. He could barely move, his muscles seizing and constricting, growing numb. The agents had all collapsed, unmoving in the hangar. Reggie Kamau lay on his back, a stream of vomit bubbling out of his mouth. Sunny was staggering out of the hangar, crawling on her hands and knees.

  Julian tried to move his arms and legs, but they weren’t responding. Closing his eyes, he inhaled a deep breath, then coughed violently, seizing internally from the fumes.

  A coldness infected his body, despair settling within him. He wouldn’t save her this time. He wouldn’t be her hero. Mena would be delivered to Priscilla Dumay and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

  Julian coughed again, the metallic taste of blood spreading in his mouth.

  He wanted to see Mena one las
t time. The woman he loved more than he’d thought was ever possible.

  He needed to lift his eyelids, to see her face one more time.

  Struggling to open his eyes, he gazed toward the window he’d seen Mena looking out of, her mouth was moving as she banged against the window. Tears streaming down her face. She was so beautiful. She’d blessed him with a gift he’d never thought he’d have after all the damage he’d done. She was strong. She’d escaped before and he prayed she would again. Even if he wouldn’t be around to be with her after it was all over.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  A bright light filled his vision.

  A blank canvas of white, warm, and inviting pulling him forward like a moth to a flame.

  “Come …”

  A woman’s voice, low and sweet whispered in his ear.

  “Julian … come …”

  He felt wetness against his face. He wanted to touch it, to feel something, anything, but he couldn’t.

  “Please … Julian …” her comforting words grew louder. He couldn’t see who she was.

  An angel?

  Was this heaven?

  “Julian … come … please … come … back …”

  The voice.

  A sharp pang rocked the side of his face.

  He sucked in a deep breath, filling his lungs with air as his body revolted in agony. Deep, coarse coughs wracked his body, sending spasms of discomfort through his chest.

  The fog in his mind cleared. Julian forced his eyes open and stared up into the most beautiful face in the world.

  “Am I dreaming?” Julian whispered, his hands reaching up for her, but grasping nothing but air.

  Mena sat on the floor near his head, her body twisted at an awkward angle from the zip ties that bound her wrists and her ankles. She stared down at him, a warm smile spreading across her lips. “Thank God you came back to me.”

  “How did I get here?” Julian asked, trying to remember what happened before he succumbed to the darkness. Squeezing his eyes shut, Julian cycled through his fuzzy memories. The targeted attack on the private hangar owned by the Irungu Family, with Reggie and Sunny close behind him. Adam Russell standing in the open doorway of the plane.

  “Two of Adam Russell’s men carried you onboard,” Mena said, leaning back.

  “What happened to the others?” Julian asked, concern growing for Reggie, Sunny, and the ASF agents who’d charged into the hangar with him. Had they survived the ambush?

  “I don’t know. After they got you on board, the plane taxied and took off. I think they were left behind, passed out from the gas,” Mena said.

  Concentrating, Julian tried to move his legs, but they didn’t respond. Not yet. He sucked in a sharp breath from the excruciating, electric currents assaulting every muscle in his body as his nerve endings slowly came to life. In a few more minutes, he should have full mobility. “How long have we been in the air?”

  “Feels like hours, but I can’t be sure,” Mena said, a look of concern spreading across her face. “Adam is behind all of this. He told the pilots not to take off until you got to the hangar.”

  “You know that for sure?” Julian asked, stunned.

  “Priscilla Dumay wants both of us brought back to St. Basil. I don’t know what she plans to do to us, but this was all her doing. She paid Tubeec to kidnap me. I’m not sure why he took Wangari, Isaac and Grace as well.”

  “Tubeec got greedy and saw a way to use your friendship with Wangari Irungu to orchestrate a personal mission of his own,” Julian said.

  “He wanted something from Okeyo Lagat,” Mena said. “Do you know what it was?”

  “Evidence that could land Deputy President Kipsang Rono in prison. Tubeec arranged for the evidence to be destroyed. Either Rono paid him to do it or Tubeec was hoping to have the Deputy President owe him a big favor,” Julian said, no longer concerned with the nuances of Kenyan politics. Not when he needed to figure out why Adam Russell wasn’t in witness protection right now and what Dumay wanted with him and Mena.

  “How many gunmen are on board with us?” Julian asked.

  “Only two from what I could see,” Mena said.

  “Two guards, Adam, and two pilots,” Julian muttered out loud, trying to formulate a plan of attack once he was able to break the lock that he was sure had them trapped in the bedroom compartment.

  “And Dr. Quentin Tufa,” Mena said. “He’s on the plane as well.”

  “So Dumay has us with her beloved adopted brother.” Julian thought about the ramifications of that information. With Adam on board, he was fairly certain they wouldn’t be harmed before the plane landed. But with Quentin as one of the passengers, he knew Dumay wouldn’t take any chances that her brother wouldn’t arrive back safely. He could use this to their advantage.

  Mena said, “Once we land, I think we’ll find out exactly what Dumay has in store for us.”

  “We’re not going to give her that chance,” Julian said, pumping air into his lungs as the shooting pangs leveled off into minor aches in his muscles. Trying again, he was able to bend his legs and wiggle his toes within his boots.

  “What are you going to do?” Mena asked.

  “Get control of this plane from Adam,” Julian said. “But first, I got to get you out of those zip ties.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Sliding the door open, Julian peered out into the compartment. Two large sofas lined the walls of the plane. Dr. Quentin Tufa lay asleep on one of the sofas, snoring with his mouth slack. No sign of a weapon nearby him.

  Across from Quentin stood two African guys, their backs to Julian, engaged in a heated discussion in what sounded like French. Both were shorter and leaner than Julian. Two AR-15s rested against the sofa near the men, a couple of arms lengths away.

  Likely, they had expected Julian to be knocked out for much longer, which was why they hadn’t tied him up or restrained him in the room with Mena. They also had been careless in their search of his body for weapons, discovering the Berettas, but missing the butterfly knife secured in his calf holster. The knife had come in handy to get Mena out of the zip ties used to restrain her and to open the locked door.

  Closing the door, Julian rested the butterfly knife on the table next to the bed and assessed his options. With the element of surprise, he could easily take them out as long as Quentin didn’t wake up.

  Adam Russell was conspicuously absent from the room, likely in the front compartment of the Gulfstream, separated from the other men. Julian wasn’t naive enough to think Adam wasn’t heavily armed and ready to blow his head off if he discovered what he was doing.

  “Shouldn’t we wait until we land. It would be much safer to try to get away then, wouldn’t it?” Mena asked.

  Julian turned to look at the love of his life. She was wringing her hands as she stared back at him, fear and worry etched on her face. He didn’t want to do anything that could get her hurt, but not making a move on Adam and his men until they landed was the worst of all of their options.

  “We won’t get a better chance than the one we have right now. I can get the jump on the two gunmen, and then Quentin and Adam will be a lot easier to deal with,” Julian said.

  “It’s too dangerous!” Mena whispered, pulling Julian’s arm. He stepped away from the door and placed his hands on her hips, facing her.

  Mena continued, “I don’t want you to go out there. Whatever Priscilla Dumay wants from us, it’s not to see us dead. She needs us alive for some reason or she would have paid Tubeec Hirad to murder us instead. We should wait this out, see what she wants and then decide what to do then. Please, Julian.”

  Her idea wasn’t bad. But, his experience had taught him that going on the offensive was the best way of getting the upper hand on an enemy. Allowing Dumay to further embroil them in whatever web she was spinning could leave them trapped, with few options. Julian wasn’t going to let that happen.

  “We can’t play this game with Dumay. Right now, we have a chance to take the advan
tage and do something she wouldn’t expect,” Julian said.

  “I don’t have a good feeling about this,” Mena said, tears welling in her eyes as she pulled him into her arms.

  Julian pressed his lips against her forehead, wrapping his arms tighter around her waist. “Thought you trusted me.”

  “It’s not you I’m worried about. Adam has gone through a lot of trouble and dealt with some dangerous men to make sure he could kidnap us and take us back to St. Basil. He’s not going to let Priscilla down,” Mena insisted, as she rested her head against his chest.

  “And I’m not going to let you down. Priscilla’s days of terrorizing you are over. I promise you that,” Julian said. Hearing the fear and concern in Mena’s voice further solidified his resolve to end things with Dumay now. Once they got back to St. Basil, he didn’t want Mena worrying about being attacked or abducted. Forget testifying at Dumay’s trial. Julian was going to make sure that bitch never got the chance to hurt Mena again.

  “Fine. What do you need me to do?” Mena asked.

  Julian smiled at his fearless beauty. She had all the confidence and boldness in the world when he was at her side. But this battle he was going to fight on his own.

  “I need you to hide in the bathroom while I take care of things out there. It’s going to get … messy. I want you protected as much as I can,” Julian said.

  “You’ll need back up,” Mena said. “I know how to shoot a gun now.”

  “You got one hidden in there,” Julian asked, pulling her shirt open as he stared down at her amazing breasts.

  “Stop it!” Mena laughed. “Be serious. No, I don’t have a gun on me.”

  “Then I guess you’ll have to hide in the bathroom, Annie Oakley. Seriously, I don’t want to worry about you while I’m out there. Once I’m done, I’ll be back to get you,” Julian said.

  Mena caressed the sides of his face with her hands, leaning in to give him the most passionate kiss. Savoring the taste of her, Julian allowed himself a moment to indulge, swirling his tongue next to hers as his hands slipped down and rubbed her ass.