Final Strike

by Jana Leigh

  Thane nodded and pulled out his phone; it would only be thirty minutes for them to get here. He took a deep breath, looked at the Commander, and nodded. The Commander turned and began barking out orders to the men sitting at the computers.

  Vince and the Commander worked as Thane walked to the front of the building to wait for his team, he stared at the wall of pictures and wanted to scream. His friends, the men who died were on the wall, killed in the line of duty. He walked forward and saw Oscar’s picture, the young solider had been support on the mission. When they lost him, Thane and the others had been devastated, as had the rest of the SEALs who were involved in the mission.

  Thane remembered the large file the Commander had set down on the table in front of him before the mission began. Javor Dragomir was on the most wanted list. Commander Norman Greese had been chasing the man for years. Julio Skolfield had been a member of his team, they were sent to find Javor and decide if their faction was indeed dangerous. So much chatter about the small group, but no one knew exactly what the man was about.

  According to the files, Commander Greese and LT Skolfield had been caught in a firefight. In the end, LT Skolfield was killed by friendly fire, when another team came to get them out. Commander Greese had vowed to catch Javor Dragomir after that. It had become a bit of an obsession.

  When the Commander finally found Dragomir’s hidey-hole, he requested permission to send a team in to capture the now most wanted terrorist. The higher ups had agreed. The only problem was the son, Diego, was the same, if not worse, than his father, and Javor had been grooming him to take over. There were two teams assigned to capture the men and bring them in.

  Thane remembered it like it was yesterday. The hot sun beat down on his back, his team was all in place. Javor Dragomir was meeting someone, but he would never make it to the rendezvous point.

  “Status,” LC said over the link.

  “The package is wrapped,” Boyscout said and the others confirmed Javor was right where he was supposed to be.

  “Roger that,” Thane said and moved a little so he could see when their target left the cover of the doorway he was currently huddled in.

  There were four cars waiting for the terrorist, they were supposed to be delivering him to the meeting. They already knew the men driving the vehicles would be armed and ready to help their leader.

  “Move,” Thane ordered and he saw Mason walking up the street with his head down. The large man blended into the crowd as he moved to station himself in front of the first car. Ice was on the roof of the building across the street, with his weapon trained on the lead car’s driver.

  It was like a dance, Thane loved that his team was so in sync with each other, they didn’t have to talk as they all made the move to capture the man their Commander had been seeking all these years.

  Pandemonium struck on the street as his men took out each of the men guarding the terrorist. Javor was strangely silent as he dropped his gun and held up his hands in surrender. It had happened too smoothly, but who were they to argue about an easy mission. However, as they drew near to the doorway, Thane saw the men who were hidden in the entryway, they had been waiting.

  Javor grinned and turned as if he was going to melt back into the building. LC knew if he did, they would never catch this man. Clipper was on his six and he turned and nodded to the young soldier.

  Clipper pulled a stun gun from his jacket and sent the prongs out to the man. LC wanted to laugh when he fell on the ground, giving them the perfect shot to kill his men who were in the doorway now.

  The team worked quickly so they didn’t draw attention to themselves. They gathered the limp terrorist, bundled him into one of his own cars, and moved with precision back to their meeting point. During the drive, they heard the coms from the other team.

  One of the team had broken protocol, all of them were helpless, and they listened to the fight the other team was in. They had their orders, get the terrorist out, but LC and the others had to pass right where the other team was fighting.

  LC ordered the terrorist be taken on to the extradition point while he and five of the others helped the other team. When they arrived to help, they found a mess. The son of the terrorist apparently had somehow known they were coming. He had firepower to back him up.

  The fallen soldier had, for some reason, not follow orders. He had been point and was supposed to subdue the son. No one knew what had gone wrong, the only thing they did know was their man was killed and thrown from the roof of the building the son was in just before the rest of the team was attacked.

  It had taken hours to get the team out of the fight, and when it was over, one man had been killed and five injured. Diego Dragomir disappeared and hadn’t been heard of again.

  Now they knew why, Diego Dragomir simply changed names and appearance, and he was right here in the US. Thane felt the rage boil as he tried to figure out how this could all have been connected and they never saw it.

  Chapter Twelve

  Amani Faisal Moghodan sat in the back of her limo and smiled. If only they had more time. She would have loved for the people she had been protecting to be here when she ended the game. But no matter, they were probably being taken into custody as she was driven to the last meeting she would attend.

  Her husband was the real hero. From the confines of Guantanamo, he had still been in charge of the operations. Her son only thought he was. Each move Diego made had been choreographed by his father. Her husband had too many contacts in the world to actually be contained. The only problem was her son’s inability to follow orders.

  Amani had waited when her husband was captured, waited for only a month before the first directive had come in from him. For so many years, they had planned this. Getting Amani into the position she was in, making sure no one knew of the connection they had. Names changed and information buried so the connection could never be made.

  With her contacts in the political arena, Amani had been able to provide her husband with names of men who were weak and vulnerable. Together they had weaved a web around the world, of men who they owned. However, one man had stood in their way. Over the years, Commander Greese had been a thorn in their sides, making waves and trying to capture Javor, until he finally succeeded. No matter though, Amani knew her husband would find a way and he had. Their only problem was Diego, her son refused to accept that his father knew what was best. No matter how many times she told him to let it go, Diego had ignored her.

  The day she found out about the suicide bomber she knew her husband would be pissed. They had never out right attacked a team from the US. Her son had taken it upon himself to extract revenge. She had been forced to clean it up, and Diego had fought her every step of the way, and had led them down this road. Ruined any chance she had of coming out of this unscathed.

  Her contacts told her that they were closing in on her, and she was going to end this before they had a chance to scoop her up. The limo pulled to a stop in front of the building where the meeting was set to take place. She knew she was being watched, they would be surprised that she had no intention of being taken alive.

  Her son was back at the embassy, probably still trying to find where the team was at. He was blinded with limited thinking, as if only killing the team was important. No it wasn’t, they needed to make a statement.

  Amani checked the package once again and smiled. It was ready, and she was ready to finish this. She pulled out a phone and hit the number she had wanted to call for so long. It only took a moment for him to answer.

  “Vince.” Her old lover’s voice came through the line.

  “Darling,” Amani cried.

  There was silence on the other end of the phone and Amani looked out the window and grinned. He had to know this call was coming. If she would have been able to see him, she would probably have laughed, knowing where he currently stood and who was listening with him. Commander Greese leaned closer to hear what she was saying.

  “Why?” Vince said tiredly. />
  “Oh, darling,” Amani chided. “You sound so tired, maybe you need to relax more, you know, take a vacation. Running a hotel, and then helping the military, it has to be tiring.”

  “Say what you need to say,” Vince barked and she laughed.

  “So gruff, okay, darling,” Amani cooed. “I thought you needed to hear right from the horse’s mouth, why you were brought into all this.”

  “I spent one month a million years ago with a woman I apparently didn’t know. How in the fuck does that equate to being involved in anything. You have been using my name because it was fucking convenient, don’t make it anything else,” Vince growled.

  “Oh, how wrong you are. Darling, I hate to tell you, but it is actually your fault some of the things happened to these young men,” Amani laughed.

  “How?” Vince yelled.

  “I admit you were only supposed to be a diversion you see, a means to an end. We had it all planned out. I was going to be named as a part of the governing council. You had connections and were so sweet. Of course, I was never supposed to sleep with you, my husband was very upset. We had paid so much money for me to look like the grieving widow. But I couldn’t resist you. So plans had to change and suddenly I was forced to marry another so I could finally be in the public eye. You almost ruined it all,” Amani said.

  “Oh really, how was that? Like I said, I was only involved with you a month and no one knew, how am I involved in any of this,” Vince ground out.

  Amani laughed and said, “Because my husband almost killed me because of you. When I showed up pregnant, he was livid.”

  Vince sat down quickly and tried to think as she continued to speak how being pregnant nearly ruined all of their plans.

  “I was supposed to be a widow, and showing up pregnant would have ruined me. So I found another man who was weak-willed, and slept with him. It was easy to pass off your child as his,” Amani said. “You should feel lucky, Javor wanted you killed immediately. I told him it would raise too many eyebrows. Then when Dario became friends with the American soldiers, Javor demanded your death again. I convinced him once again to spare you, although I did agree to set you up a little. Things just have not gone as planned.”

  Vince could still not speak, was she saying Dario was his son?

  “When you became involved I was going to call you when Diego killed Dario and let you listen. But now I guess I will have to be satisfied knowing that you lost all those years with him, and you will not have a chance to get to know him,” Amani said.

  “What are you talking about?” Vince whispered into the phone and nearly exploded when she laughed again.

  “Oh, sorry, I need to bring you up to speed. The documents that Dario took, look in the file marked TEN, you will see Dario’s bank account as the one that paid the suicide bomber who killed your precious team. He also signed documents denying the team from being told the government had information of what he was planning. They have been sent to the appropriate people, and he will be arrested soon I would guess. I believe terrorists are taken to Guantanamo, it is a pity the harsh environment they have. The guards don’t care if one of the detainees are killed, one less scum to feed, I believe they say,” Amani said flippantly.

  Vince felt his anger growing and knew he would not be able to contain it for much longer. Commander Greese was snapping his fingers to the men, telling them to look up the facts. “You bitch.”

  “Darling, is that anyway to say goodbye to me. We have meant so much to each other. I even sent flowers when your wife died,” Amani laughed. “I have one last meeting, and then I will be ready to face the music myself. I only can say, I take great pleasure in knowing that you and the others will be cleaning up this mess for a long time.”

  Vince heard her hang up laughing and he sat stunned in silence as they were bustling around him. He had a son?

  Diego stepped back from the windows, the embassy was under surveillance, and he knew when his mother returned from her last meeting, they were leaving the country undercover. The plans were set; the only thing that pissed him off was that his mother insisted on going to this last meeting. It was with many agencies trying to arrange for aide to be delivered to his home country.

  He knew his mother didn’t care if their country received anything from the US, it was a cover, but he didn’t understand why going to the meeting was so important. Before she left, Amani had looked at him with anger in her eyes and told him not to screw it up again.

  Diego assumed she meant the escape into Mexico and then finally back to the Middle East where they would be hidden. His plans were solid, although looking outside at the extra men watching the embassy; Diego felt a sense of unease.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The team was met by Thane when they walked into the door of their old base. It was a strange feeling to be back. “In the large conference room,” Thane said briskly and led the way.

  “LC,” Drake said. “The meeting is right across the street.”

  They all knew what he was talking about. Dario had commented when they pulled in. Across the street, limos for the dignitaries were already parked. On the way into the base, they talked about going over and watching them take Amani into custody. Dario had said he would lead the clapping.

  Mel and Dario were right next to him as they walked into the meeting room, they were talking quietly about what they were going to do when done there. Vince and the Commander were the only ones in there now, and as they turned and looked at the group, Thane felt a chill. Something had happened.

  “What?” Thane growled and he looked closer at Vince who seemed to be struggling with emotion.

  The Commander motioned for them to come into the room. When they were all finally in the room, he said, “Amani called.”

  Dario shook his head and sucked in a breath, “Whatever she said is a lie.”

  “I hope not,” Vince said and looked at the man standing before him. Before the men had come into the room, Vince had taken a moment to think. His anger would do no one any good right now, and even though they lost all those years, Vince could say he was proud to know that Dario was his son. They were going to have to fix a lot of stuff though.

  “Before that, we need to actually talk about a few things,” the Commander said quietly.

  Vince nodded. They agreed they were going to have to deal with the authorities first. They found the documentation, and they also found out the State Department had received the documents and the CIA and FBI were currently looking for Dario. They were calling him a terrorist.

  “Let’s sit down first,” the Commander said and pointed to the table. The group went to the table and quickly sat down. All of them were tense and on edge. Thane felt a huge lump in his throat. He didn’t like the sound of this.

  Vince could not take his eyes off Dario, and when the Commander cleared his throat, he looked to his friend and nodded.

  “It seems that Amani has sent documents to both the FBI and CIA, currently they are searching for you, Dario,” the Commander said.

  “Why, what the fuck did she do now?” Dario ground out.

  “It seems she has proof that not only did you arrange for the bombing that killed Team TEN but also you withheld information from our military at the time, which delayed getting help to the men. You have been labeled a terrorist,” the Commander said and the room fell silent.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Melanie finally screamed. She grabbed Dario’s hand and looked at Thane helplessly.

  “I have already made phone calls about it, but they are adamant that he be brought in for questioning, now,” the Commander said.

  Thane growled and looked at the rest of his team. They all knew it was a setup, and they would not let it lay, it was a matter of how they were going to get him off the base. Security Forces would be notified soon to detain him.

  “We need to go,” Thane said quickly and stood.

  “No,” the Commander said. “We need to get this sorted out now. If you leave it will
make it worse.”

  “Fuck worse, if we allow them to question him, we will never see him again. You know as well as I do, the policy is clear,” Thane yelled.

  “He didn’t do this,” Gage agreed and stood. “We will prove it first.”

  The men agreed and all stood and the Commander held up his hand. “You know I can’t let you leave with him.”

  “Try to stop us,” Ice said and stepped in front of Melanie and Dario. Harper stood and walked around the table.

  “With all due respect, sir, I still have my FBI credentials,” Harper said.

  “So do I,” Joel said. “I will take him into custody.”

  The Commander sighed and shook his head. “There is more.”

  “How the fuck could there be more,” Dario snapped.

  Vince stood and looked at his son, he wished it could be different, that he could tell Dario at a more private time where they could talk about things, but knowing he was his father may be the only thing that could save him from being taken to Guantanamo. He was part American.

  “Your mother also decided to finally tell us the truth about your father was well,” Vince said slowly and Dario swung his gaze to the older man.

  “My father? He died after a heart attack fifteen years ago,” Dario snorted. “Is she trying to smear his good name as well?”

  Vince cleared his throat, looked at Dario in the eyes, and shook his head. “He wasn’t your father.”

  Dario’s eyes got wide and shook his head. “What the fuck?”

  “I’m your father,” Vince said quietly.

  Dario shook with rage, he looked at the older man and wanted to scream. They had completely screwed him over his entire life. “No,” Dario croaked out, Melanie reached for him as he backed up and looked around the room at the stunned expressions of his friends faces. At least they had been surprised as well.