Colton placed a piece of paper on the table.
“You help us get those weapons, and you’ll be saving not just the people here but yourself. This is bad shit, Kadin. Those weapons are meant to stir up trouble here, kill your people. You get to help them, and you get to save your own ass.” He tapped on the paper.
Johnny leaned forward to get a look at just what that paper said.
He raised a brow and caught the eye of Clint to confirm it. He nodded to Johnny.
“That’s full protection and safe passage for you out of this country when this is over.”
Kadin looked up to the man. His face was far more pale now with something so important sitting in front of him.
“Where would I go?”
Colton crossed his arms and stood with his feet apart. “We have bases not far from here that you’d be a welcome addition to. Or you could hop the next flight out to the States. Up to you. We can even set you up with a translation job stateside.”
His jaw nearly came unhinged as the Delta Forces operator spoke. They were all aware of how much wiggle room they had, but this was almost unheard of. Most local operatives had to wait months, sometimes years for a chance like that.
Kadin sighed and ran a hand through his dark shaggy hair.
“This is my home,” he said. “I’d like to stay close.”
Colton nodded. “Understood. Now what can you tell us that might help?”
He looked over to Johnny as he spoke now. It was just like all those other times they had chatted before.
“Emir spoke to me before he was killed. He heard there was going to be a big shipment of weapons being moved.”
Johnny nodded. This was all stuff they had heard before.
“There had been some strange movement in the area, and a few times, the men he spoke to would talk about how foreign men where behind it.” Kadin leaned in. “We always thought that it must be Americans or Russians behind it. That was what really made sense, but when one of the men was pressed, they said the foreigners were from the south. It seemed strange at first.”
Johnny took a seat at the table with the Delta Forces operators and Clint.
“Did Emir know why?” Blake asked.
Kadin shook his head. “He was close to figuring it all out, but then he was killed. It wasn’t until I went to visit my cousin that all the pieces started to fit together. Did you know there is a need for people to work the mines?”
Johnny looked over to Colton, who seemed just as surprised. The area had some decent coltan and rare earth mineral deposits, but exploiting them was proving difficult, given the instability in the area.
“I thought they had slowed their mining here. Wasn’t there some land struggle between some of the wealthy land owners and the government?”
Kadin nodded. “Yes, but it was never really resolved. Just put on hold as they government dealt with the recent weapons being brought in the area.”
“So those wealthy land owners just decided to start mining again?” Johnny asked. “That seems a little risky, considering the fines that would be thrown at them, or even the risk of the government taking the mines.”
Clint shook his head. “Not if they didn’t plan on being hit with any fines, and they believed the government wouldn’t be an issue in general.”
All eyes turned to him and then back to Kadin.
He nodded his agreement. “Those land owners just needed the manpower and weapons to take down the government. Our independence is raw and new. Most people don’t respect the central government. The land owners only need to drop guns into the hands of some of the neighboring tribes, along with some bribes, and they would be free and clear to start mining again.”
Johnny’s frown deepened. “But that would plunge Chotastan into civil war. How the hell are they supposed to mine with a war going on?”
Kadin stared back at him, sorrow in his eyes. “Most trouble would be concentrated in the cities, where the government has the most power. My cousin is far enough outside the city. There are few people there, and nothing of much importance. It would be easy for them to avoid the hell of the city. The wealthy always come out ahead. Whatever is going to happen will be soon. They’ve had people working around the clock all weekend.”
Knowing that didn’t set anyone at ease. It was in their experience that when the enemy started being more open about their movements, it was a good indication shit was about to hit the fan.
“So Williamson gets precious minerals at rock bottom prices and walks away from this whole thing a richer man,” Colton said through gritted teeth. “And innocent people die.”
Blake looked over to him. “We’ll never be able to pin it on him. This prick has covered himself well.”
Johnny shook his head. Getting Williamson would be great, but making sure open war didn’t break out was more important.
He turned back to Kadin. “So where do we start? Where would they set up shop?”
His face turned pale, and he visibly swallowed. “Taimani Road.”
He knew the area. It was a rough spot. Not at all where he would expect a rich prick might hide, but maybe it would be easy to hide where no one really stopped to look at the people around them.
It was going to be hard to get the people in the area to give up the location, but he’d kick in every damned door there if he had to. He owed it to Maddy and the people of this area.
“All right, let’s get ready to move out,” Johnny said.
Clint stood and broke into his thoughts. “If we’re making a move on these fuckers, I want it done in the cloak of night, and I want it done fifteen minutes ago. The more time we waste talking is the closer we get to missing those weapons.”
The men all walked over to tables of ammo boxes and started to load up. Johnny paused when Clint grabbed his arm.
“She’ll be there,” he said quietly. “We will get her out.”
Johnny nodded, glad to know he had his support. Now he just needed to go get his woman.
Chapter Twenty-one
Maddy glared at Hans. She muttered from behind the tape he’d placed over her mouth. The bastard had laughed the whole time as she tried to bite him.
Not that it mattered. He was far stronger than she was.
Mouth taped and tied to a chair, all she could do was watch as he placed the small box carefully on her lap.
“You wait for boyfriend here,” he said, his accent sounding somewhat thicker with his slightly off attempts at English. “Now don’t move or boom.”
He laughed as he mimed the explosion.
Her breathing increased as she stared down at the little black box balanced right on her legs.
Sweat formed on her brow. It rolled along the sides of her eyes, but she didn’t dare move.
He carefully tied the bomb to her body and then took another string hanging from the bomb and hooked it on the door.
It hung just a little with the door partially open, but she knew what was coming.
“See,” Hans said and pointed to the string and laughed. “Last thing boyfriend sees is you, going like firecracker. Big boom. Then splat.”
He laughed harder, and more than anything in the world, she hoped she had the chance to gouge his eyes out. The bastard was just evil.
He pointed at her from the door. “Now be good.”
She closed her eyes as the door closed and gave a little more slack in the string than before.
Through the window, she could hear men loading up and cursed every one of them. Rotten bastards.
Maddy moved her mouth to her shoulder and rubbed the tape there. If she could just loosen it, maybe she’d have a chance to call out.
The tape held fast, and a few tears dripped down. Johnny would find her, but there was nothing she could do to warn him.
She tried to sob around the tape, but it was no use. For now, she was just going to have to try and remain calm.
Her tongue pushed through her lips, and she loosened the tape around there.
/> Maybe that was it. If she could loosen the tape enough, she might just be able to peel it away enough to call out.
Maddy set to work, now on a mission to not just save herself but the man she loved.
* * *
The gathered Delta Force operators and SEALs pulled off just down the road from another sand-colored building on Taimani Road. This one was two-stories tall and looked empty, but they knew that looks weren’t everything.
The men quietly shuffled out of the vehicles and again readied their gear. Check and check again. A malfunction in combat might be the difference between life and death.
“Same as before,” Clint said. “We breach and clear the rooms and call out if we find anything. Trent is standing by on the line if you come across something. Don’t wait. Who knows what they have up their sleeve?”
Johnny nodded, ready to take on the next place. With each passing building, it was getting a little harder for him to not lose hope.
He watched as Luca and Nathan kicked in the front door, guns at the ready. It was getting dark out, but there were lights in the place, which was more than he could say for the last two sites.
“Clear,” Luca said.
The men moved into the building and broke into small groups.
“Colton, you take Johnny, Luca, Garrett and Nathan upstairs. I want four with me, and the rest should run a sweep of the grounds,” Clint said.
Johnny kept his gun up and made his way up the stairs just behind Colton.
The last man would kick in the door and clear the room while the others moved on, each calling out the state of the room. So far, all was clear.
A noise came from up ahead, and Colton held up a hand to signal they should stop. They listened carefully. It was strange, like someone was talking under water.
“I’m here!”
Johnny nearly dropped his gun at the sound of her voice from down the hall. “Maddy!”
He pushed ahead, his foot making contact with the door at the end of the hall. It crashed to the ground.
“Wait!” she screamed from behind another door.
Johnny paused. The men gathered outside the door next to the one he had just kicked in, with the rear guard surveying the area behind them, everyone all too aware of potential ambushes.
“There’s a bomb,” she said, her breathing slightly erratic. “It’s tied to the door.”
He looked around for something, anything they could use. It would take forever to break through the wall, and that might trigger the bomb.
“Is there another way in?” Trent buzzed in his ear
His friend had managed to stay quiet all through the mission, but now was his time to come through.
Johnny ran into the room next door and looked for some sort of vent or anything that might take him over there. All he found was a small window.
“I got a window here. Maddy, I need you to tell me if there’s a window in that room.”
“Yes, but it’s really tiny, and—”
“Good,” he said and quickly dropped his pack on the floor. “You stay real still, and I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Are you insane?” Luca said and forced him around to look at him.
Johnny looked back over to Maddy’s room.
“I have to get to her,” he said. “Now either give me a boost or back the fuck up.”
Luca sighed loudly and looped his hands together.
“I just want you to know that if you die, I’m having it put on your stone that you died being a dumbass.”
“Noted.”
Johnny slipped through the window and sat with his arms on the top ledge of the outside window, his legs still dandling inside.
From that vantage point, he could see the other small window. It wasn’t that far away. He’d have to take maybe three steps on the lip of the window and jump to catch it. He’d trained for this.
Well, maybe not exactly this, but if he could jump out of a plane and hit his mark, the window should be a walk in the park.
Johnny pulled one leg out and used it to pull himself standing, his other leg now on the fattest part of the ledge. Just a few steps, and he’d be able to make the jump.
“Johnny?” Maddy called out.
“I’m coming, baby,” he said, his feet inching along the ledge as carefully as he could manage. “You just wait right there.”
He could hear her huff loudly. “Yeah, I’ll just wait right here with the bomb.”
He gave a little chuckle. At least this whole thing hadn’t killed her ability to be sarcastic.
Johnny reached the edge and jumped. Everything around him seemed to slow as he flew through the air.
His hand caught the flat surface and held tightly to the frame. He reached into the open hole, sliding his body through the small window. He braced for the impact of the floor but was surprised when he bounced instead.
“Are you insane?” Maddy said.
He looked over at her in the chair next to the bed. A piece of tape hung from her face.
Johnny couldn’t help but laugh as she scowled at him.
“I’m in,” he said over his mic. “Clear of tangos.”
“Now let’s get that damn bomb off my sister,” Trent said to him.
Johnny hurried to where the bomb was strapped to Maddy and frowned. Even he knew this design.
It was just a simple trigger switch, something they all learned about in training and nothing of any real consequence. Given who they were dealing with, he expected something way more elaborate.
He unhooked the string carefully from the door and opened it. Colton and the other men crept in, guns ready, frowns plastered on their faces.
Gingerly, he held the string up to inspect it then passed it over to Blake for a closer inspection. The hall outside was filling up with men as they came to see.
“This doesn’t make sense,” he said as he took off the bomb.
“What?” both Trent and Maddy said.
“It’s just a simple trigger switch,” he said slowly. “Why would they put something so simple on her if they were trying to take us out? This wouldn’t take out some Counter-Strike kid with a paintball gun and delusions of grandeur, let alone us.”
“I was a distraction,” Maddy said.
Johnny looked over at her. He untied the rope from around her arms and legs. “How do you know this?”
“They told me,” she said simply. “Some rich asshole and his German friend.”
Johnny looked back to Clint and Colton. It was Williamson and his fucking henchman. They had been here.
Worse of all, they’d played Johnny, and by extension, the entire team. This was all just a ploy to get them away from whatever they were really planning.
“It has to be something big,” Colton said. “Tonight has to be the night they make their move. They need something bad to get a real war going.”
Johnny looked between the two Delta Force Operatives. “Summer, night time. There’s only one place they would go with bombs like that.”
“The market,” Colton said shook his head. “It’s got to be booming right now with people coming out to enjoy the cool night air and some fun.”
Blake frowned. “It’s neutral ground, though. They set off something there, and it would be hurting people from bother sides.”
Clint shook his head. “But that’s the point. It’s the ultimate false flag attack, one where it looks like both sides did it.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Maddy remained quiet on the ride over to the market, the thick tension clouding her thoughts, after Johnny explained what was going on. She understood the threat of the men who kidnapped her.
The whole thing sickened her. The bastards didn’t give two shits if people died as long as they could make a little money.
She wasn’t going to admit it right away, but she’d been scared out of her mind. For him. For her. For any unsuspecting person that might walk through that door.
But he had saved her.
S
he glanced over at Johnny. His face was covered with dust, and he wore a uniform and gear like all the other men, a gun beside him.
Tension marred his face, and she wanted to soothe it away, but she knew she couldn’t help right now. Right now, he was a SEAL on a mission, and he had no room to be anything else but that.
The Humvee stopped with a jerk at the opening of the market. Delicious smells from the street vendors reached her nose, while lively music played in the distance.
Johnny opened the door on his side, and she slid out after him.
He turned quickly and held up a hand for her to stop. “You’re not going.”
Maddy frowned. Like hell she was going to wait in the car when that creep could come out and take her at any moment.
“I’m not one of your damn men,” she said and poked him hard in the chest. “I’ve spent the last twelve hours being knocked around and tied up. I’m about done with people pushing me around.”
It was crazy. She knew it was, but for some reason, she couldn’t stop herself from nearly breaking down at the idea of being left once again.
Johnny leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers. She could feel the rough five o’clock shadow as it scraped against her face. When he pulled back, he was staring into her face.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know you aren’t one of the men, but right now I need you to be tough just a little longer. We work as a team.” He nodded to the other men. “If you come, I won’t be able to do my job, and they count on me to be there for them. There are a lot of lives on the line. Do you understand?”
She nodded. Maddy took a deep breath and held out her hand.
“I want a gun,” she said.
Johnny looked like he might protest. She rolled her eyes.
“I’ve been shooting since I was eight. I’m not going to just sit here with nothing to protect myself. I’ll be damned if I let that bald bastard beat on me again.”
She jumped when someone reached into the passenger side and pulled something from under the seat. A man with a bushy brown beard handed her a pistol.
“There’s another clip under the seat,” he said. “Now let’s go.”
Johnny: #2 (Special Forces) Page 11
