Contract to Kill

by Andrew Peterson

  “Let me know if he checks the ground at the fence where we arrived.”

  “Our footprints?”

  “Yep.”

  Harv watched the guy continue across the desert, weaving his way through the bushes and cactus. Whoever it was, he wasn’t concerned about being seen.

  Harv kept descending the rocky slope as fast as possible. Still, it felt painstakingly slow because he couldn’t go too fast without creating movement Runner would detect. He’d done this many times, and it never got easier. “I’ve lost eyes on the reservoir and the road paralleling the river.”

  “Thirty seconds,” Grangeland said.

  Harv cut in. “Runner’s almost to the rim, and it’s . . . definitely . . . a woman.”

  “Darla Lyons,” Nathan said. “We’re changing her designation to Lyons.”

  “Lyons just went over the barbed wire. She’s approaching the rim in a crouch . . . She’s got two rifles, not one. One of them’s suppressed . . . Oh man, she’s packing some serious firepower. I’m seeing an M4 carbine with an M203 attached.”

  “Grenade launcher,” Nathan said for Grangeland.

  “Shit! She’s sweeping toward me with field glasses.” Staying right where he was, Harv slowly took a knee. If he made a sudden movement, Lyons would see him for sure.

  “Did she see you?” Nathan asked.

  “Stand by . . . ”

  “Harv, talk to me. Her carbine can punch a silver dollar at three hundred yards. Are you blown?”

  “No. She’s focusing on Lookout.”

  “Does Lyons have a radio?”

  “Not that I can see. All I see are her rifles and a sidearm. I don’t see anything else clipped to her belt besides some mag holsters. She’s got a small backpack and waist pack. If she’s got an earpiece wire, it’s tucked tight behind her ear.”

  “Keep her in sight at all costs, even if you have to blow your cover and drop her.”

  “Understood. She’s on the move again, heading north toward section one.” Harv studied her movements, evaluating her tactics and looking for any kind of discernable pattern or repetition. So far, she seemed to be a capable adversary. Her only mistake was assuming no one else was up here, and Harv intended to make her pay for it. “She’s working her way along the barbed wire and not making any attempt to be stealthy. If she’d seen me, she wouldn’t be doing that. She just blew through the area where we crossed the fence. She didn’t see our prints.”

  “Lookout is five seconds from the rim,” Grangeland said.

  “Lyons stopped running. She’s looking for an SP. I think she’s gonna nail Lookout when he reaches the top.”

  “If Alisio’s men have radios, they’ll know Lookout’s gone silent, even if they don’t hear Lyons’s rifle. Grangeland, I need you on that peak above you to the south. Head up the mountainside and get eyes on the Imperial Reservoir and the road following the river. We need to know if Mason’s got other vehicles in the area. Go slowly. Lyons is eleven hundred yards away, but she could still detect quick movement at that distance.”

  “It will take me several minutes to get up there,” she said.

  “Understood; get going.”

  “If I circle the mountain to the east and maintain the same elevation, I’ll be able to see the reservoir and road paralleling the river from there. That will be faster and make me less visible from Lyons’s position.”

  “Stand by. Harv, after you drop down to section nine, will you be able to see if anyone else uses that north-south track we crossed?”

  “No. The low angle will screen it from view, but I’ll be able to see a dust cloud.”

  “When will you reach the rim?”

  “At least three minutes. There’s no way I can advance quickly. I’m in Lyons’s peripheral vision. I have eyes on Lookout now; he’s at the top.”

  “Grangeland, proceed due east and maintain current elevation. I’m okay down here until Harv arrives at the rim. Harv, what’s Lyons doing?”

  “She’s sitting in a cross-legged position, lined up on Lookout.”

  “Harv, you’re cleared to take her down if I hear her rifle report down here. Alisio’s men will hear it too, and all hell will break loose.”

  “Copy that, cleared to shoot . . . Lookout’s bent over. He’s gassed from the hike up there. Lyons is still lined up on him, but she hasn’t fired. He just pulled a radio. He’s talking on it and looking down into the pit. Okay, he just put it away. He’s scanning the rim with field glasses.”

  “Will he see Lyons?”

  “No way.”

  “If you have to drop Lyons, things will escalate quickly, so make a beeline to the closest part of the rim after you shoot. Grangeland, hold position for the next thirty seconds and be ready to double-time back to your SP. I might need your firepower with that M1A. Copy?”

  “Copy. Holding position.”

  “Once the shooting starts, Alisio and his men could bolt,” Harv said. “They might be racing out of that pit in a big hurry. If they leave, Mason will likely follow them, and we could lose him. Should I disable their vehicles?”

  “Take down live targets first, then go for their vehicles if it looks like they’re making a run for it. Once the shooting starts, they’ll probably take cover in the buildings. I doubt those SUVs are armored.”

  “That pins them down. They—”

  Grangeland cut in. “Two more cars are coming up the access road.”

  “Will they see you?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m out in the open.”

  “Are their headlights on?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s in your immediate area?”

  “Just some rocks, but they aren’t big enough to hide behind.”

  “I want you to drop right where you are and curl into a ball. Don’t make any sudden movements at all and don’t look at the headlights.”

  “Shit!”

  Harv knew what was coming next; he’d heard it many times—Nathan’s cool and composed tone in the face of a potential disaster.

  “Listen up, Grangeland. Drop down and slowly form a ball. Please do it right now. Their headlights actually help you. Drivers and passengers tend to look at the cone of light in front of them. You’re at least six hundred feet away from the road, well beyond their visual range. That road is also bumpy and rutted. Their heads are jarring around. They can’t focus well. Those vehicles are going to pass harmlessly beneath you.”

  She didn’t respond, and Harv knew she was probably holding her breath.

  “Breathe, Grangeland,” Nathan said. “You’re invisible up there.”

  “I’m okay, thanks. I’m just not used to this kind of thing. Okay, I’m curled into a ball. I guess I just became a big rock.”

  “That’s exactly what you are. I wish you could see Alisio. He looks like a caricature from a comic book. He’s as clichéd as they get. Mustache, goatee, gold everywhere, white fedora—the works. I hope he gives me an excuse to kill him. A fashion asshole of this magnitude shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce himself.”

  “Hey, I’ve got dibs on him,” she said.

  “Now that’s the Grangeland I know and love.”

  Harv smiled at their exchange. Lyons must’ve heard the crunch of gravel from the arriving vehicles. She kept glancing toward the pit, but never took her eyes off Lookout for more than a few seconds.

  “They’re passing below me, just like you said they would.”

  “Copy that,” Nathan said. “Good work.”

  So far, Lyons hadn’t fired. If Grangeland’s new arrivals were the South Koreans, then Lookout would be expected to make contact with the others to warn them. A lack of a warning radio call would likely raise suspicion. Suppressed rifle or not, Harv thought Lyons wouldn’t shoot Lookout until after the new vehicles arrived in the pit.

  �
�Grangeland, we still need to get your eyes on the road paralleling the river. The next vehicles to arrive are likely to be Mason and Hahn, and their headlights will probably be dark.”

  “I’ll be watching for them,” she said.

  “Use your thermal imager. It’ll work well in this growing twilight. Any vehicle on that road will be a bright object. Harv and I will handle the action in the pit, but be ready to beat feet back to your SP on my mark. Harv, what’s Lyons doing? Is she still lined up on Lookout?”

  “Affirm, but I think she’s waiting to nail him until the other vehicles arrive.”

  “Agreed. Can Lookout see the arriving vehicles from section one of the rim?”

  “No, not until they get closer to the pit, but he should be able to hear their tires and see the glow from their headlights.”

  “Grangeland, what are those new vehicles doing? Did either of them stop?”

  “Negative, they just went through the barbed wire gate. Shit, I hear more vehicles coming!”

  CHAPTER 35

  Special Agent Mary Grangeland didn’t feel so special. What she felt was an upwelling of anxiety, bordering on panic.

  She quickly looked around her but saw nothing taller than a shoe box.

  Not again . . .

  Nathan’s voice prompted her to get moving. “Grangeland, that’s probably Mason and Hahn. Find solid cover immediately! Do it now!”

  Her best bet was a trio of large boulders a hundred feet uphill. If she could reach them before the vehicles turned onto the access road, she might be okay.

  “There’s a spot above me.”

  “Balls-out sprint. Get your ass moving! If that’s our bad guys, they’ll have night-vision or thermal-weapon sights.”

  Abandoning all stealth, she slung the Springfield over her shoulder and scrambled up the steep mountainside toward the boulders. At least she couldn’t be seen from Lyons’s position. From the urgency in Nathan’s voice, he believed the newcomers were Mason and Hahn. And if they got eyes on her, she’d have a firefight on her hands while her backup was several minutes away. A lot could happen in several minutes. Like death . . .

  She focused on the ground directly in front of her and drove her legs. If ever she needed a burst of energy, this was it. She couldn’t tune out the radio chatter, but she couldn’t let it distract her either.

  “Harv, you’re on Lyons. If she shoots Alisio’s man with the suppressed rifle and it doesn’t alert everyone, don’t fire, and stay with her no matter what. She may relocate.”

  Despite her desperate situation and her lack of a ghillie suit, Grangeland found the experience strangely exhilarating. Part fear, part excitement, she imagined blue mixing with red to form a beautiful purple—her favorite color. She used the visual to stay focused and calm and to avoid tripping in the minefield of rocks, cacti, and spiked plants. Falling now would be a disaster. A face-plant into one of the many cactus patches would definitely ruin her evening.

  Halfway to her cover, the slope got steeper, and finding solid footholds became a problem.

  She shut out the unnerving sound of vehicles speeding along the road and kept driving her legs, reminding herself she was in peak shape. She could run several miles without breaking a sweat. This was—

  Nathan’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Grangeland, status?”

  “I’m halfway there, but it’s kind of steep. My feet keep slipping.”

  “Can you see the vehicles?”

  “Not yet, but it’s going to be close.”

  “Will you have eyes on the pit from the boulders?”

  “I don’t know. Probably not. I’m too far around the mountain to the east.”

  “ETA to your cover?”

  She wanted to say, “Sooner if you’d let me concentrate,” but instead said, “Fifteen seconds.”

  “Harv?”

  “Lyons is still lined up on Lookout.”

  “Let me know if the guy uses his radio. The South Korean vehicles are almost in visual range.”

  “Copy. You called it, Nate. He’s on the radio. I can hear the crunch of tires and see headlight intrusion. Lyons is hearing and seeing the same thing I am. We have to assume she’s in radio contact with Mason and Hahn.”

  “Grangeland?”

  “Ten more feet . . . ” She nearly fell, but regained her balance. Huffing a little, she said, “Shit, I made it.” She brought her field glasses up, took a deep breath, and tried to hold still. “Their headlights are dark, and they’re slowing for the access road.”

  “Definitely Mason and Hahn,” Nathan said. “What are they driving?”

  “A dark SUV and a sedan. The SUV’s in front. I lost sight of the South Korean SUVs. They should be arriving at your location any second.”

  “Grangeland, your job is to keep eyes on Mason and Hahn. We have to know where they are at all times. If one or both of them get out, let us know right away.”

  “I will.”

  “If they spot you, lay down a barrage of fire and keep shooting until you score a hit. The NV scope will automatically dim to your muzzle flashes. Shoot every second or so, then reload quickly. Each magazine gives you about twenty to thirty seconds of suppression-fire time.”

  “Copy.”

  “Be relentless and pour it on them. No mercy. Harv will drop Lyons and hustle down to the rim to support us.”

  “Got it . . . wait, something’s happening. The SUV turned onto the access road, but the sedan kept going. Okay, it stopped. Now the sedan’s in reverse behind the SUV. It looks like it’s going to back up the road.”

  “They’re setting up a getaway car. They might park the vehicles at the bottleneck to block the road. The driver of the sedan will either transfer into the SUV or take off on foot to high ground. Harv, you copy that?”

  “Affirm.”

  Grangeland listened while Nathan and Harv continued.

  “Harv, if someone gets out, I don’t see them going up on Grangeland’s side of the canyon. Mason or Hahn will go northwest up the mountain, then turn left toward the rim. That will have him arriving at section seven or eight up there. Are you visually secure from that direction?”

  “Yes, I’ll be ready.”

  “Grangeland, confirm you can’t see the eastern side of the rim from your current position or your original SP.”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Harv, if things get heavy, drop Lyons first. You don’t want her using that grenade launcher on you. The first of us with eyes on Mason and Hahn outside their vehicles, check in right away. We need to know if they’re armed like Lyons.”

  Grangeland copied Nathan.

  “Harv, are you still on the move toward the rim?”

  “Yeah, but it’s slow going. I’m still a good fifty yards out.”

  “We may have to initiate the shooting. I don’t want you bracketed up there. Grangeland, where are Mason’s vehicles?”

  “They’re halfway to the gate.”

  “Stand by to open fire. Have five or six mags in your belly pack ready to go.”

  “I’m all set.”

  Then Nathan said, “The South Koreans just arrived in the pit. They’re getting out.”

  From his vantage point inside the conveyor, Nathan watched eight Asian men climb out of two SUVs. All four from the lead vehicle assumed a defensive perimeter around the second SUV. Including Alisio, there were now twenty heavily armed men in the quarry. Darla Lyons occupied the west rim with an M4 carbine and a grenade launcher at her disposal.

  Nathan was quick with a pistol, but he didn’t possess Harv’s skills. At this distance of a football field to where the men were standing outside their vehicles, Nathan could use his bolt-action rifle against them, but because of their numbers, it was far from ideal. The semiauto M1A would’ve been better. All factors considered, Grangeland needed that weapon. She would
n’t be nearly as fast as Harv or him cycling a bolt-action weapon. She also didn’t have the one-shot-one-kill expertise, but he had no doubt she could take down multiple targets once the shooting started.

  As tempting as it was to give the order, Harv couldn’t drop Lyons yet. It would alert everyone to Harv’s presence because his rifle wasn’t suppressed. The report would echo through the pit like a thunderclap, and everyone would immediately scramble for cover. Patience was the hardest part of an op like this. Being the first to shoot wasn’t always to a sniper’s advantage.

  Two of the South Koreans walked over and shook hands with Alisio. Nathan heard them speaking English, but couldn’t make out more than a few words. Alisio made more introductions, followed by more handshakes.

  “Everyone listen up. Including Alisio’s lookout on the rim, we’re facing twenty gunmen. Twelve are Alisio’s; eight are ROK. Grangeland, status?”

  “Mason and Hahn are still coming, but they’re going slowly. They haven’t reached the barbed wire gate yet.”

  “Maintain eyes on them with your field glasses. Be ready to switch to the M1A on my mark. Are you working your way back to your original SP above the bottleneck in the access road?”

  “Yes.”

  Harv said, “Alisio’s lookout on the rim just used his radio and put it away. He’s not acting very watchful. He’s . . . taking a leak. Oh, man.”

  “What?” Nathan asked.

  “Lyons just killed him. She shot the guy in the head while he was relieving himself.”

  “I didn’t hear the shot down here.”

  “I didn’t either. She just fired twice more; I guess to make sure the guy’s dead. She may be switching to the M4 with the grenade launcher. Its weapon sight is bigger than a normal optical. She’ll have NV for sure, maybe thermal too.”

  “Hold off dropping her, Harv. It’s a brutal reality, but every gunman she eliminates is one less we have to deal with.”

  “I’m ready; just give the word.”

  “Mason can’t drive up here like he’s part of the exchange. The players have already arrived. And he can’t sneak up here with his headlights dark or they’ll hear his tires crunching on the gravel. He’ll need a distraction.”