by Jon F. Merz
I rolled clear of his body and stayed on the ground, bringing the pistol up to handle the next threat. But the other bad guy and Shiraz were already gone.
I shouted for cover fire and moved back to the team’s defensive position by the electrical housing box. Talya was firing away, calmly picking off targets. The only problem was, she wasn’t firing Fixer rounds. We hadn’t come into this expecting to have to face vampires. As far as we knew, the team had been grabbed by human ISIS fighters, not members of our own race. So we’d only prepared and brought human ammunition.
Which meant that everyone we thought we’d killed wasn't actually dead.
That might explain why the entire airfield was now lousy with pissed off vampire terrorists.
While Denison’s team was doing a great job at keeping the bad guys heads’ down, the fact was we weren’t doing a bit of permanent damage to them. Yeah, they’d get shot, but then they’d heal quickly and get up and be a threat to us again.
We needed Fixer rounds to kill them.
Talya stated the obvious, “We can’t stay here. We’ve gotta move.”
Denison grunted. “I’m open to ideas, but the fact is they hold the superior position. If we try to move, they’re going to mow us down.”
“And they’re vampires,” I said. “Which mean that our rounds aren’t doing shit but pissing them off.”
Travis shouted a big old, “fuck!” Then he tagged a nearby bad guy with two rounds to his throat. The bad guy went down reaching for his neck. But he’d be back soon. They all would.
Talya eyed me. “We’re out of options here, Lawson. If you’ve got a back-up plan, now would be a good time to put it into use.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket. Apparently, I had service again. I grabbed it and saw a number I didn’t recognize. “Yeah?”
“This is Hotel Five. Hotel Five. How copy?”
“We’re in the shit,” I said. “Anytime you guys want to drop in would be great.”
“Roger that. Look up.”
As I did I heard gunfire from somewhere above me. And then I saw the dark canopies of parachutes. Our rescue team had arrived at last. “Welcome to the party. I hope those are Fixer rounds you guys are firing.”
As soon as I said it, I heard the muffled cries of Shiraz’s men dying.
All around the airfield members of STA-F dropped out of the sky, their chutes like wings in the night. As they descended, their elevated position gave them the perfect firing angle on the bad guys and they hosed them down as the targets of opportunity presented themselves. Denison’s team put a nice amount of lead down to keep Shiraz’s men confused.
I had no idea where Shiraz had vanished to, though, and that concerned me.
One of the STA-F guys from Hotel Five landed nearby and shucked his chute. He raced over to our position, smiling when he saw me.
“Davis.”
“Lawson.” I shook his hand. “ Boy, are you guys a sight for sore eyes.”
“I’ll bet,” said Davis. He checked his watch. “Our exfil is two minutes out. Once it’s down, we get aboard and get the hell out of here. Word on the net is the Russians are planning to bomb this area tonight and we don’t want to be around. They’re lousy at targeting and will probably end up carpet bombing this entire area.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” I nodded around me. “We’re ready to go now.”
“Wait here while we mop up this mess.” Davis moved to help his men.
As he moved away, I said, “They’re vampires.”
He nodded. “We know.”
About ninety seconds later, I heard the drone of an aircraft making its final approach to the runway. The plane dropped out of the air and came in hard and fast. The pilot knew his stuff, bringing the plane to a stop within short distance, but kept his engines fully cranked ready to take-off again.
Talya and I led the way with Denison and his team coming in behind us. We scrambled aboard the plane and waited while Davis and the rest of Hotel Five finished the business of killing every bad guy on the field.
A minute later, they were climbing aboard. The door gunner held it open for them and then when the last man was aboard, he slammed the door shut and called to the pilot, “Go!”
Within seconds, the plane was roaring down the runway and I felt the ground fall away from us as we lifted skyward.
I was anxious as hell about those Russian planes being around until we were out of Syrian airspace and over the Mediterranean.
But once we were, I slumped back into Talya, feeling her warmth, and breathed an enormous sigh of relief.
We’d made it.
24
It took us nearly a full twenty-four hours to reach home soil. Between refuelings and skipping our way across time zones, we were all pretty wasted by the time we touched down at Hanscom Field outside of Boston.
Talya had vanished as soon as we touched down to refuel in Italy. We’d discussed it enroute and figured the less she was exposed to the STA-F guys, the better. They didn’t know she was human and if we could keep the questions about her to a minimum, all the better. We even downplayed our being together and said a simple good-bye before she exited the plane while everyone was taking a piss break. I’d see her soon enough, and I had a lot of unfinished business to attend to back in the States.
Niles was waiting when we touched down at Hanscom. He had a silver BMW X5 waiting with its engine on. As I slid into the passenger side, I felt the wear of having been on the go for days. I was dirty, smelly, and wanted nothing more than a shower and a shave. And maybe a dozen stiff drinks.
“Glad you’re back safe and sound,” said Niles as he wheeled us out on the highway.
I noticed he wrinkled his nose slightly when he said it. “Sorry about the funk.”
“To be expected,” he said. “They’re going to want to see you right away.”
I sighed. Fucking Council. “Yeah, well I’ve got a few things to ask them as well. I thought that I might at least get a chance to get cleaned up, however.”
“You know how they are.”
“Unfortunately.”
Niles glanced at me. “How’d things go with Talya?”
“Fine. She was a huge help. Wouldn’t have been successful if she hadn’t been there. We were able to keep the guys from asking too many questions about her. Hell, they might even figure she was working for you or something.”
He nodded. “That’s good. I took a chance contacting her. Hopefully it won’t come back to bite me on the ass.”
“Not from my end, that’s for sure. If you hadn’t gotten her involved, I would have been out there alone with no one to turn to. So thanks for that.”
“Welcome,” said Niles. He drove us into the city, with its twinkling lights and neon. Boston had always been my home and as many times as I’d been away from it, I always enjoyed coming back.
We slid off Boylston and headed into the Beacon Hill area. Niles took his time driving down the narrow streets so as not to infuriate the wealthy blue bloods who still called the neighborhood home. The Council prided itself on operating right under their noses and it wouldn’t do to make a ruckus that would bring unwanted attention down on us as a whole.
We turned down a slim alley that became a driveway that led into a building that housed a car elevator. The grate slid down behind us enveloping the area in darkness. Then the hydraulics cranked up and we descended rapidly into the underground garage.
Arthur stood waiting as we emerged from the car. He wore a smile on his face when he saw me.
“Bloody hell. You’re a sight.”
“For sore eyes?”
He shook his head. “Nah, just a sight. And a stench, too, mind you.”
I smiled. “It’s been too long since you were out in the field, Arthur. Don’t you miss the smell of being operational?”
“Not if I have to look and smell like you, mate. You look utterly spent.”
“I could do with about a week of sleep.”
&n
bsp; Arthur nodded and held up a glass. “Figured you’d say that. Better have one of these before you go up and see them.”
I took the glass and sniffed it. It was one of Arthur’s legendary Boomshanka drinks: stiff alcohol mixed with fresh blood. I downed it and felt a wave of energy hit me a moment later. My eyes popped open and I started to sweat a little bit as my heart rate shot through the roof.
“Damn.”
Arthur smiled. “Added a few new herbs to it, I did.”
“What kind of herbs?”
He patted my arm. “Nothing you need to worry about, lad. But if you happen to get lucky tonight, you might discover one or two extra benefits.”
“Jesus, dude, I don’t need any pills for that. It’s never been an issue.”
Arthur chuckled. “Well, just in case.”
Niles cleared his throat. “You got one of those for me?”
Arthur eyed him. “Were you there in Syria?”
“No.”
“Sorry. Only for the guy who was in the field.”
Niles sighed. “Figured you’d say that.” He looked at me. “All right, Lawson. Are you ready? They get cranky if they’re kept waiting. And I’m sure they’re going to want to hear all about how you rescued the team.”
“Yeah, let’s get it over and done with. I need sleep in the worst way.” I nodded at Arthur. “But thanks for the pick-me-up. It’ll help stave off the incredible boring and stupid questions I’m about to have to answer.”
Arthur smiled. “Just get through them best you can, Lawson. They know you won’t take their shit anyway.”
“Is Wirek in there?”
“Last I checked,” said Arthur.
“Thank god for small miracles,” I said. Knowing Wirek was still on the Council meant I would probably have at least one ally in there. Still, it could turn into a shitshow real quick if Ava steered things the way she normally did: namely anti-Lawson.
I glanced at Niles. “All right. Let’s go.”
Arthur patted me on the back as I walked past him. “Good luck, mate. Give ‘em hell.”
I winked at him. “Pretty sure that’s the only thing I know how to give them.”
“God, I hope not,” said Niles. “Remember we need to stay on their good side if at all possible.”
“I make no promises,” I said. “But then again, I do have a lot of things to talk to them about.”
25
The Council chamber had been redecorated since the last time I’d had the bad luck to be called before them. The walls were brighter now and the antiquated framed portraits of past Council members were gone. A few vases full of flowers stood in the corners. It was a homey touch, but the room still had the old world feel of a study in Victorian London: a lot of mahogany and the fire blazing in the hearth.
The members of the Council were all seated. I stood before them.
I nodded at Wirek who was still sporting a fairly long beard and he nodded back. I felt Ava’s eyes on me; cold blue steel she wielded like a pair of daggers. I never knew what she had against me aside from the fact that I frequently told the Council to get fucked and played by my own rules. Ava bristled whenever I did what I wanted. But she couldn’t argue with the results I achieved, which was why I was still tolerated. If Ava had had her way, I would have been dead ages ago on trumped up charges she had manufactured.
Staying ahead of her was something I always kept in the back of my head.
“Well, Lawson, it looks as though you’ve managed to make a mess out of things again,” she said by way of introduction.
I faced her square on, something I knew she didn’t like. “Would you mind explaining to me how rescuing the men I was sent to rescue is ‘making a mess out of things’?”
“You were directed to perform reconnaissance in advance of the actual rescue team such that they would then be able to proceed to the target location, handle the rescue, and then extract everyone out of the target area without alerting the entire region and getting into a massive firefight that very well nearly cost us the lives of all involved, but also threatened to expose our entire race.”
“Oh well, I can explain all of that.”
“I’ll just bet,” she said. “And the gods know we’ve heard enough of your explanations before. But please: proceed.”
I shrugged. “The insertion went according to plan. I HAHO’d in and was able to position myself a few miles outside of Palmyra. Once on the ground, I advanced into the target area, but without reliable intel on where the first team was being held hostage, I was forced to do a series of searches in order to find them. I finally did, but things happened that then necessitated me taking direct action against the enemy in order to prevent the first team from being massacred.”
“You were instructed to wait,” said Ava. “No one gave you permission to proceed.”
“I gave myself permission,” I said. “You know how this plays out: the Council gives me the tasking but it’s up to me to figure out how to accomplish that.”
“Yes, and you didn’t follow the tasking,” said Ava.
“I followed it to the best of my ability,” I said. “In the field, things are fluid and always changing. A plan goes to shit, you adapt and try to carry out the original tasking. It doesn’t always go that way. As soon as I got eyes on the actual target, it was clear that their timeframe for execution had been moved up. I couldn’t wait for the rescue team; I had to take action. And that’s exactly what I did.”
“As half of the eastern Mediterranean is now aware of,” said Ava.
I frowned. “Give me a break. That’s ridiculous and you know it. Palmyra is inland and there’s a civil war going on. I heard artillery shelling the entire time I was there. Stop trying to make me look bad.”
Ava leaned forward and stared at me with hatred. “I don’t need to try to make you look bad, Lawson. You do that well enough on your own.”
I flashed her a grin. “I love it when you flirt with me.”
She reeled back. Wirek coughed and then cleared his throat.
“If we could keep to the topic at hand, please.”
I shot him a look. “Here’s the thing: if I hadn’t taken action, then you’d be damning me right now for that. You’d have four good men in body bags and possibly we’d be exposed. Did things go to shit and get messy? Absolutely. I’m not denying that. But I cleaned up the situation as best I could. After all, I wasn’t the brain trust that sent the team in there in the first place.”
Ava harrumphed and aimed her finger at me. “Are you going to tell us how to do our business now?”
“Someone should,” I said. “After all, they were sent in without much intel and with no safety net.”
“Unless I’m mistaken,” said Ava. “STA-F is supposed to be used for sensitive high-risk missions and they are, by their very nature, used to working without the benefit of your so-called ‘safety net.’”
I shook my head. “Exactly the sort of sentiment I’d expect from someone who has never had to risk her own neck for the cause.”
Ava’s jaw clenched and then unclenched and she took several seconds to work through her seething anger. Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke. “Are you daring to call into question all the years I’ve given in service to our race, Lawson?”
“I dare to call bullshit when I see it,” I said. “Look, I’m not arguing with you about the role of STA-F. We understand the risks when we volunteer for the teams. But we also don’t expect to be thrown haphazardly into suicidal situations. What’s the point? If all you’re looking to do is sacrifice good men, then you’ve got plenty to choose from elsewhere. Give some guns to a few line cooks and watch them go Rambo. STA-F is special. We’re a surgical scalpel, not a blunt hammer.”
“There are times when I wonder if perhaps you aren’t all blunt,” said Ava.
“And there are times,” I said. “When I wonder if the entire Council isn’t completely corrupt.”
26
“What in the world is that su
pposed to mean?” demanded Ava.
“The whole situation was a set up. Designed to lure me there for the purposes of revenge.”
Wirek leaned forward. “Perhaps you’d better explain that a bit more in-depth.”
I nodded. “This entire operation was conceived of and planned with the full knowledge of someone on this Council. From the Syrian end, it was run by Shiraz Aziz. Does that name sound familiar?”
“Should it?” asked Ava.
“Only if you’ve been paying attention to things,” I said. “I was tasked with eliminating Khaled Aziz in Berlin some years ago. Over Christmas this last year, his brother Amir came for me. We thought there were only two of them, but like a bad set of luggage, there was another: Shiraz. Turns out he’s been intent on killing me for some time. When I took out Amir, he resolved to find a way to get back at me.”
“Go on,” said Wirek.
“Apparently under one of the monuments in Palmyra was a temple for one of the first communities of our kind. Word got back to someone on the Council that human archaeologists might stumble across it and potentially our existence would be exposed. In order to prevent that from happening, the person on the Council made a deal with Shiraz. In exchange for Shiraz and his goons destroying any evidence of vampires in Syria, I would be delivered into Shiraz’s custody.” I paused. “Obviously, it had to look convincing. Especially since I’m pretty good at sniffing out bullshit. And traitors. So the mission was cooked up to send a STA-F team in on a half-baked premise. Once they got snapped up, I was sent in.”
Wirek frowned. “Yeah, but another team was sent in as well. If someone really wanted to sell you out, why risk another team?”
I shrugged. “The way I understand it, Niles was the one who coordinated the secondary rescue team. Maybe in the original blueprint, another team was on paper only. But Niles read it and got to work putting them together. I don’t know.”
