Code of Honor
Page 17
I’d been right all along. Haydar Ansari was in America. Here in my own backyard. And if Darius was still alive, he was right there inside that cave with him.
AALIYAH SWUNG THE UZI AROUND AT THE SOUND OF footsteps, but it was only Dane. He slid down behind the clump of verbena where we were hiding. It was getting on toward late afternoon, but there still hadn’t been any signs of life from the slitlike entrance to the terrorists’ cave.
“I took care of the rest of the snipers,” he whispered.
“How many more were there?” Aaliyah asked.
“Three. Two more watching away, but one watching the cave.”
If we had just gone right for the entrance, the sniper could have taken us out before we’d ever set foot inside.
“Are you sure there aren’t more?” I asked.
“No,” Dane said.
“Very reassuring,” Jimmy said.
“There’s very little in this life anyone can really be sure of,” Dane said.
Like whether or not Dane was a traitor? Or Jimmy? Or Aaliyah? Or Mickey? Had the same person tipped the terrorists off that we were about to storm their cave?
Dane handed me a pistol, and Jimmy an Uzi like Aaliyah’s. Taken, no doubt, from the other snipers he’d subdued. Dane kept another small machine gun for himself. Jimmy looked impressed at his new firepower, sliding the bolt back and letting it go with a practiced click. I felt distinctly inexperienced and outclassed holding my little handgun.
“You tell Mick we’re going in?” Dane asked Jimmy.
“Message sent,” Jimmy confirmed.
“All right. Stay close to the ATV tracks and the footpaths,” Dane told us. “They might have mined the other approaches.”
Mines? As if carrying a gun wasn’t scary enough. Now I’d be sweating out every step I took. Unless the plan was to leave me out here, which I was not going to let happen.
“I’m going with you,” I told Dane. “I won’t let you leave me behind.”
“Never considered it,” Dane said. “There’s only four of us, and who knows how many of them. We need every hand on deck. And I’ll want you there when we find your brother.”
I was stunned. I had expected to have to argue. But no argument was necessary: I was in.
And now that I was in, I was scared all over again.
“There will probably be guards just inside the cave,” Aaliyah said. She sketched a rough picture of the cave opening in the orange dirt and marked Xs where the guards would be hiding. “Here, in the shadows. You won’t see them before they see you.”
“Want to bet?” Dane said. “Stay here, everybody,” he added, I supposed for my benefit. “I’ll signal when I’ve taken out the guards.”
Dane slithered off through the scrub brush, and I stared at the gun in my hands, thinking about what was about to happen. My heart thumped wildly in my chest.
Aaliyah put a hand on my shoulder. “You’re going to be all right, Kamran. Just stay behind Dane and follow his lead.”
“Only don’t shoot him from behind,” Jimmy said. “Or us.”
I closed my eyes. I did not want to accidentally shoot Dane, Jimmy, or Aaliyah. And if my experience in the DHS mail room was any indication, I was more likely to hit one of them than a terrorist if I pulled the trigger. Watch my back, watch my step, watch out for friendly fire—I was going to be so busy watching out for things I would be frozen stiff.
Aaliyah could see my hesitation. “Kamran, you need to answer something for yourself right now,” she said. “Could you shoot him if you have to?”
“Shoot who?” I asked.
“Your brother, Darius,” she said.
I was shocked. “Shoot Darius? No. Of course not. I won’t have to. He’s not a traitor.”
Aaliyah and Jimmy exchanged a look. Before we could say anything more, Dane whistled from below. The signal. The guards were taken care of. It was time to go into the cave.
THE TWO SENTRIES AALIYAH HAD PREDICTED would be guarding the entrance were unconscious, and Dane was just finishing hog-tying them with plastic cables. He nodded toward a little camera up on the cave wall, and Jimmy ran over with his computer. Dane stood and held out his hands, and Aaliyah tossed him the duffel bag filled with explosives she’d brought along when we left the van. They worked quickly and quietly like a well-designed play from scrimmage, weaving in and out and around each other.
I stood on the sidelines, watching. Simultaneously hoping and dreading that the coach would put me in the game.
There were three four-wheeled ATVs just inside the cave entrance, in the shadows where they couldn’t be seen from outside. Dane taped the duffel bag full of explosives onto the handlebars of the ATV with duct tape and pointed it straight back into the cave. Then he duct-taped the throttle so that when he turned the thing on, it would shoot forward.
“Cameras looped,” Jimmy whispered. He fished in the backpack he’d brought with him and handed out night-vision goggles. We could still see here in the mouth of the cave, where the light filtered in, but soon we’d be deep in the cave, and the plan was to knock out their lights so we’d have the upper hand. I pulled on the night-vision goggles but kept them up on my forehead.
“Lights out in three, two, one—” Jimmy said. He pushed a button on a handheld controller, and the lights just beyond the cave entrance shorted out. Someone shouted in alarm farther in the cave. Dane started the ATV and threw it into gear. The front end came up off the ground in a wheelie and almost flipped backward, but it bounced back down and zoomed off into the darkness of the cave.
“Wait,” I said. “What about Darius—?”
“Down,” Dane told us.
I hit the rocky floor of the cave as the explosives went off. People screamed, and rock and dust fell from the ceiling. I struggled to pick myself up, still shaking from the blast. Darius! What if the blast had killed him?
“He’ll be deeper inside the cave,” Aaliyah told me.
Dane was already on his feet and disappearing into the darkness. Gunshots rang out in the darkness. More screams. Aaliyah flipped down her night-vision goggles and ran in after him, her Uzi at the ready.
I stared at the darkness, afraid to go in. Some soldier I was turning out to be! I tried to think of our Code of Honor.
Be the strongest of the strong, I told myself. Be the bravest of the brave.
More gunshots rang out—an automatic rifle—and I flinched.
Jimmy clapped me on the shoulder, scaring the bejeezus out of me.
“You only live once, right?” he said, pulling me in with him.
Yeah, I thought. That’s what I’m worried about.
WE PASSED THE SMOKING, burning remains of the ATV, stepping over dead bodies. None of them were Dane or Aaliyah, I was relieved to see. Or Darius.
We found Dane and Aaliyah a little farther in, hunkered down behind a barricade of crates. Machine-gun fire tore into the wooden boxes, showering the cave with splinters.
“The cave turns left just beyond here,” Dane told us over the gunfire. “That’s where they’re shooting from. Two of them. We need to move on them before reinforcements get here.”
“Al-Qaeda likes to leave bolt-holes in corners,” Aaliyah told us. “That way one man can hide there with a good view in both directions. I’ll bet there’s a bolt-hole somewhere between here and there.”
Dane nodded. “Aaliyah and I will go in. Jimmy, you and Kamran hold back and watch for somebody to come in behind us.”
I gripped the butt of my gun. It was slick and sweaty in my hands.
Dane pulled a grenade from the utility belt he wore, pulled the pin, and chucked it. Seconds later the cave resounded with a thudding POOM, and the area was filled with smoke. Even with the night-vision goggles on, it was impossible to see what was just ahead of us.
Dane charged ahead anyway, Uzi firing. Aaliyah ran after him. Jimmy stood, and I did, too, trying to see through the smoke.
“I don’t see anybody,” I said.
“I do
n’t see anything,” Jimmy said.
The night-vision goggles turned everything green, and the smoke was a big green-black blob floating in the air. It might as well have been another wall for all we could see through it.
I thought I heard the scrape of metal on metal, like a heavy door being opened.
Or a bolt being thrown.
“Somebody’s coming out!” I said.
“Where? Where?”
“I don’t know. I can hear it, but I can’t see it!”
Jimmy swore under his breath, and then he surprised me. He ran into the wall of smoke and disappeared.
Seconds passed, and then a single gunshot rang out.
I raised my gun, my hands shaking. The black smoke still clouded my night-vision goggles. “Jimmy?” I called. “Jimmy?”
No answer. Had he killed the man in the bolt-hole, or had the terrorist killed him? If Jimmy was dead, the terrorist would be sneaking up behind Dane and Aaliyah. He would shoot them from behind.
Be the strongest of the strong. Be the bravest of the brave, I reminded myself.
Help the helpless.
Dane and Aaliyah weren’t exactly helpless, but they didn’t know what was coming, and that was close enough. I took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the shattered crates.
I was going to have to go into the darkness alone.
DARKNESS SWIRLED AROUND ME AS I INCHED MY way farther into the cave. I sucked in a big lungful of smoke and it burned my nose and throat. I swallowed hard, trying not to cough and give myself away, and reminded myself to keep my mouth closed from now on.
Eyes watering inside my night-vision goggles, I slid my feet forward like I was crossing a room in the dark, trying not to whack my shins on the furniture. But it wasn’t really furniture I was worried about. Any second now, I expected a terrorist to come screaming out of the darkness and attack me. I was so scared I could barely summon the courage to keep moving, but I just kept repeating my Code of Honor, like a mantra.
Be the strongest of the strong.
Be the bravest of the brave.
Help the helpless.
Always tell the truth.
The truth was, all I wanted to do was turn and run back out of the cave, to the safety and security of daylight. I didn’t want to get shot, and I didn’t want to die. Watching soldiers do this in movies was always cool. You always saw the bad guys coming, and when the heroes shot the bad guys, they dropped like bowling pins. This was messy. Scary. Dark.
I inched forward. The smoke was clearing. The cave began to take shape again, and I saw a body sprawled out on the floor. I hurried toward it, afraid it was Jimmy, but it was a terrorist, wearing all-black body armor like the team back at the warehouse.
I heard a grunt and I hurried on, my fear replaced by the urgent need to help. Be loyal, I told myself. Never give up.
Then I saw Jimmy. He was wrestling with a second man in black, trying to keep the terrorist from lowering his gun enough to shoot him. Jimmy’s gun was on the ground beside him.
“Little … help?” Jimmy called.
I raised my pistol to shoot the terrorist, but they were struggling so much I was afraid if I pulled the trigger I’d hit Jimmy. Visions of missing the bright red fire extinguisher filled my head.
I ran at the man instead and brought the butt of the gun down on his head. In the movies, that always sent bad guys crashing to the ground. But this wasn’t a movie. The butt of my gun bounced right off the helmet he wore, and he didn’t go down. He did turn, though, surprised, and Jimmy was able to wrench the man’s rifle away. The terrorist kneed Jimmy in the stomach and Jimmy went down, moaning in pain.
The terrorist spun on me, and I raised my gun to shoot. But I didn’t. Couldn’t. I took a step back, and the terrorist understood at once. He lunged for me, grabbing the gun. We struggled, and the gun went flying. I kicked him in the shin, trying to remember what Dane had taught me. The terrorist ripped my night-vision goggles away. The sudden change from green light to no light was disorienting, and my punch at his neck missed entirely. He hit me in the chest and I staggered back, slamming into the rock wall. I put my hands up, expecting another blow, but all that came was the sound of him choking. As my eyes adjusted, I saw a big shape behind him. Dane. The ex–Green Beret had his arm around the terrorist’s neck, and as my attacker passed out, Dane lowered him to the floor.
Dane picked up my fallen pistol and handed it back to me. “You know, at some point you’re actually going to have to shoot somebody with that thing,” he told me.
A shot exploded right behind us, making even Dane flinch, and another terrorist fell face-first to the floor. He’d been sneaking up on Dane with a knife.
Jimmy was still on the floor, his Uzi in his hand. “You’re welcome,” Jimmy said.
Dane gave Jimmy his hand to help him up. “Come on. We found a locked door. We think Darius is inside.”
Darius! My fear and disorientation were immediately replaced with a desperate hope.
Aaliyah stood against the wall beside the door, her Uzi at the ready in case anyone came at her out of the darkness. She tensed as we came running around the corner, swinging her weapon up at us, but she quickly lowered it when she saw who it was.
“Jimmy, the door,” Dane said.
The hacker dropped to a knee in front of the metal door, pulled a lockpick set out of his backpack, and went to work. While he worked, we examined the room. Half a dozen bodies littered the floor, and two folding tables along a side wall held bullet-ridden laptops and TV monitors. Along another wall were stacked plastic bins and wooden crates.
“Food, water, guns, gear,” Aaliyah said, going through them. “But no explosives.”
“Maybe that’s what’s behind this door, not Darius,” Jimmy said. Something in the door clicked, and Jimmy stood back.
We were about to find out.
“JIMMY, KAMRAN, BEHIND THE DOOR. AALIYAH, take the wall,” Dane said. He clearly meant to be the one to stand in the doorway and face whatever was behind there first. None of us argued with him. When everyone was in position, he nodded to Jimmy.
Jimmy threw open the door and I ducked, waiting for the bullets to fly. But there was nothing.
“Hands on your head!” Dane yelled into the room. “Hands on your head, and don’t move.”
Dane went inside, his weapon held high, at eye level.
“Kamran,” Dane called. “You better get in here.”
My heart stopped.
I came around the door and hurried inside.
The small rock-walled room was lit by a hanging kerosene lamp. Standing right below it, his back to a small wooden table, his hands on his head, was my brother, Darius.
Darius looked like he had in the videos, but it still blew my mind to see him like this in real life. Completely different from the Darius I had grown up with. He was still young and strong, but he was scrawnier. Dirtier. He had a woolly black beard that swallowed his face, and his hair was long and stringy. He looked like a crazy old hermit.
No, I realized. He looks like Rostam. He looks like the drawings of the ancient Persian hero in our storybooks!
I felt a lump in my throat.
Darius lowered his arms. “Kamran?” he said, his voice coming out in a croak.
“Darius!” I said. I didn’t think. I just threw myself at my brother. We hugged. He was alive. Darius was alive, and here. I had really found him.
Darius held me at arm’s length to look at me, tears in his eyes. “Kamran, what are you doing here?”
“I came to rescue you!” I looked around at Dane and Jimmy, who’d followed me into the room. Aaliyah must have still been outside. “We all did!”
Darius shook his head. “You shouldn’t have come, Kamran. I’m so sorry.”
“Why?” I said.
Before I could even blink, Darius had the gun out of my hand and pointed it at me.
I STARED STUPIDLY DOWN THE BARREL OF THE GUN. “Darius, what are you doing?” I said.
Darius spun me around and pulled me close, holding the cold gun to my head. I couldn’t believe what was happening. No. No! My brother was not a terrorist!
Suddenly everybody in the room was screaming and pointing guns at each other.
“Put the gun down!”
“Step away from Kamran!”
“Get back!”
“Let him go!”
“I’ll do it!”
Dane inched forward, and Darius pushed the gun harder into the side of my head.
“No! Don’t! Stop!” I yelled.
A gun fired and I flinched, terrified suddenly that Dane had shot Darius. But Darius was still beside me, holding the gun against my head.
Dane was the one who slumped to the floor, blood running from a hole in his forehead.
“No!” I screamed. I tried to tear myself away from Darius, but he held me tight.
I didn’t understand. Darius hadn’t shot him. So who had? Jimmy?
No. Standing in the doorway was a woman wearing a black full-body robe, with only her eyes showing. She had a pistol in her hand, pointed at Dane’s body. She was the one who’d shot him.
A woman who was the same size and build as Aaliyah.
No. No, it couldn’t be! Was it her? Was Aaliyah the traitor after all? Aaliyah hadn’t come into the room with us, and she wasn’t here now, unless she was the woman underneath the robe.
More masked terrorists came into the room and took Jimmy’s gun away from him. I jumped as the woman shot Dane again and again in the back to make sure he was dead.
“Aaliyah?” I said through my tears. I hadn’t even realized I was crying. “Aaliyah, is that you?”
The woman pointed her pistol at me. “You were expecting the Lion, perhaps? Haydar Ansari?” she said. It wasn’t Aaliyah’s voice, I realized at once, relieved. But it still was familiar. I knew I’d heard it somewhere before, but it was masked by the veil she wore. I tried to keep her talking to hear more.