Domination Bid

by Don Pendleton

  Madari met her halfway across the field.

  She threw her arms around his neck and delivered a fierce, impassioned kiss. Her hands ran along his shoulders and back as his dipped from her waist to her ass. Then they broke and continued across the tarmac, her arm laced tightly inside his.

  “You look well,” he said.

  “I missed you,” she replied. “But thank you.”

  He nodded. “You traveled light, I see.”

  “I knew you had a full wardrobe here for me.” She smiled. “And one more suited to the climate. These thick pants and sweater are fine for Minsk this time of year, but hardly suited to the Mediterranean.”

  “What of the, eh…other business?”

  “It’s been taken care of,” she said. “I don’t really wish to talk about it.”

  “I’m sure it was difficult.”

  “It was.”

  They arrived at Madari’s luxury sedan, a foreign job Mishka didn’t recognize, and he followed after her into the spacious backseat. They sat close despite the room as the driver silently drove from the airfield to the estate.

  Mishka had always wondered where Madari got his money after being ousted, allegedly penniless, from Libya, but she had not pressed him for the information. She doubted he would have told her the truth anyway. However he’d acquired the wealth, she knew he’d spent most of it trying to bring democracy to the country that had shunned him, civility to a government that hated him. Despite the fact he’d lost everything, Madari hadn’t given up on his ideals and for that she’d come to admire and love him.

  Their meeting, she found out much later, had not been completely by accident. While Madari had originally approached her due to her position in the CIA, he’d eventually fallen in love with her just as she had fallen for him. They had at first looked to work with each other for mutual advantage, neither of them really having expected their relationship to transform into a passionate affair.

  When Madari asked her why she’d chosen to help him execute his plans, she answered, “I do it for love.”

  Mishka was convinced that Madari’s love for her was as genuine as hers for him. He’d now proved it by not only protecting her cover but arranging to get her out of the country.

  “You were able to leave Belarus undetected, yes?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “You’re positive?”

  “Absolutely,” she said. “There was no way for them to track me. And I had the location chip injected by the CIA surgically removed some weeks back. I kept it with me so it would not arouse suspicion until the American detachment arrived. That’s when I destroyed it and left it with…with my partner.”

  “I am sorry you had to terminate his life.”

  “I know. But it was more important that your plans succeed.”

  “It sounds as if you were diligent.”

  “I was.”

  “What of these American commandos? Do you have any idea who sent them?”

  “My CIA handlers didn’t tell me much,” she replied with a tired sigh. “Frankly, I doubt they’re from any official agency. I suppose they could be Delta Force but I highly doubt it. Military types don’t tend to work that closely with civilian espionage personnel, my darling. They go more for the defense intelligence circles. Not to mention these men were…different.”

  Madari’s brow furrowed. “In what way?”

  “They were older…seasoned. I don’t know, I can’t put my finger on it, but they weren’t your average special operators. Something about them just struck me as unique.”

  “Well, they are certainly of no threat to you now.” Madari chuckled. “In fact, I would imagine that they have their hands quite full with Steinham’s mercenaries.”

  Mishka couldn’t suppress a schoolgirl giggle. “I would imagine so. Your involving him in this was a masterful stroke.”

  “Thank you.” Madari’s expression changed to smug satisfaction. “I knew if we fed him just enough rope, he would hang himself.”

  “You realize he isn’t going to give up so easily?”

  “I do. In fact, I wouldn’t expect anything less. He’s an interesting man. For an American.”

  “As am I?” Mishka said, putting a purposeful baiting in her tone. It was her way of flirting with him and he knew it.

  “I do not despise Americans,” Madari said. “You know this about me. I just don’t hold to all the policies of your home country, my sweet.”

  “It’s not my home country anymore. I’m an outcast and a fugitive. An exile much like you, Ishaq. They would go to great lengths to extradite me back to the United States. They may even put out a hit. I’m a much bigger threat to them while I remain alive.”

  “I’ve taken care of the security, Mishka. Don’t worry. You are utterly safe here.” He reached out and stroked her hair. “I will allow no one to hurt you.”

  They rode the remaining distance to the estate. As they left the sedan and proceeded up the crush-refined walk to the flagstone patio, Mishka asked, “How’s your work proceeding with the prototypes?”

  “Nearly complete.”

  She looked at him in surprise. “Dratshev is actually cooperating with you?”

  “He is. In fact, we’ve made excellent progress since he agreed to help us.”

  “That’s amazing, Ishaq!”

  Madari waved it away although she could tell her praise of his efforts greatly pleased him. “It was nothing. He is a scientist with a scientist’s mind. I understand him. He wanted to see his life’s pursuits reach fruition as much as I.”

  “Do you think you’ll be able to mass produce them?”

  “Undoubtedly! The ship-based systems have already been tested and proved quite effective. In fact, as soon as construction is completed—which I suspect will be sometime late tonight or early tomorrow—I will have them shipped straight to my yacht. Which reminds me, we will be leaving in the next day or two.”

  “But I just got here!”

  “It’s for the cause, Mishka. We must be certain before we supply the rebels in Libya that Dr. Dratshev’s design is viable. I feel the best demonstration of that test will be in America.”

  “But that’s sending us straight into the lions’ den. Please, Ishaq…please, I don’t want to go back to America. I don’t want to go anywhere near it.” She stopped in midstride and grabbed his hands, clasping them in hers and holding them to her cheek. “I’m afraid.”

  Madari’s eyes narrowed and at first she thought he’d be angry with her. But then he smiled, detaching one of his hands and stroking her gorgeous hair. He’d always remarked how dark and lovely it was, bragged how her beauty surpassed that of even the most lovely women in his own country. She’d never believed him but Madari had also not given her any reason to mistrust his intentions. He was a good man.

  “Very well, my dearest. You can remain here. But I must go and lead this fight, and I cannot have any arguments on that count. It’s too important to the liberation of my nation.”

  She kissed his neck and cheek and then hugged him. “Thank you, darling.”

  “Now,” he said, steering her toward the house by the arm. “Let’s retire to my private quarters.”

  “Oh? And exactly what did you have in mind?”

  “Nothing too extravagant. A private dinner and I’m sure you wish to clean up. Perhaps a long bath. And then I intend to show you just how I’ve missed you so.”

  “Sounds nice,” she replied. “But why wait for dinner? I’m sure you would enjoy a bath yourself.”

  “I’m sure I would,” Madari said with an almost predatory grin. “Most definitely.”

  * * *

  Minsk, Belarus

  “GREECE?” SAID MCCARTER. “You mean, as in the Greek Isles?”

  “That’s the skinny
,” Price said. “We need you there ASAP. We’ll have more intelligence with an exact location well before you reach Greek airspace.”

  “Mission objectives?”

  “The U.S. has a representative buyer who’s supposed to be meeting with Madari’s front man. He’s been told to expect you and give you whatever support.”

  “A buyer. You mean CIA?”

  “No, actually someone from the Greek embassy. And don’t worry, he’s been fully checked out.”

  “That’s what they told you about Mishka.”

  Price sighed. “I know and we’re sorry about that. Nothing we could do—it was out of our hands.”

  “I understand, Barb.” McCarter cleared his throat uncomfortably and said, “Just stings a little. I had my suspicions—we all did really—but I didn’t act on them.”

  “Every so often one or two are going to get buy us. Name of the game.”

  “Acknowledged. Anything else?”

  “Your orders are to connect with the buyer from the embassy, learn what you can and then act on what you learn. Hal’s opened the floodgates wide with the Man. Either we win this auction or we take the goods. Barring either of those two outcomes, you’re to see to it that neither the prototypes nor Dratshev falls into the hands of competitors.”

  “And naturally we get to mop the floor with Madari.”

  It almost sounded to McCarter as if Price were smiling when she replied, “Naturally.”

  “Check. And what about our friends with Cyrus’s mercenary group?”

  “Let them go. They’re no longer in this.”

  “Understood. We’ll be airborne within thirty mikes.”

  “Acknowledged. Good hunting, David.”

  McCarter clicked off the phone and then left the small room at the private hangar and joined his companions. They were ranged around a table drinking coffee.

  “Braden, you and your crew are free to leave. You can have the vehicle out there to get back to wherever it is you got your transportation stored.”

  Braden looked sharply at McCarter. “What do you mean?”

  “Just what I said, mate. You’re done and finished with the op. Bosses say cut you loose, we cut you loose.”

  “What kind of shit is that?” Muncie asked.

  “The kind that shouldn’t surprise you if you’ve been doing this for a while,” Calvin James replied.

  “Stand down, Muncie,” Braden said, his gaze fixed on McCarter.

  “But—”

  “I said stand down.” Muncie closed his trap and then Braden said, “I thought we had an agreement, McMasters?”

  “My orders supersede the agreement,” McCarter replied. “Besides the fact, you no longer have any stake in this. We know where Madari is and we know how to handle him. He’s well equipped and we have it on good authority that he’s got a small army at his disposal. He also has significant resources.”

  “So does DCDI.”

  McCarter shook his head. “Listen, Braden, my team is fighting for the survival of our country.”

  “As are we,” Braden sad.

  “You fight for profit.”

  “It may come as some surprise to you, sir, but Cyclops and Colonel Cyrus…we believe in America. And so does Steinham. Sure, maybe now and again we’re overzealous. And we only engaged those combatants in Iowa because they engaged us first.”

  “You were trying to steal national secrets!” Encizo snapped.

  Braden shook his head. “But not for personal profit! And I was operating under orders from Colonel Cyrus, who in turn was operating under the mission objectives given to us by David Steinham.”

  “Look, friend, Steinham’s a defense contractor,” Manning said. “Nothing more, nothing less—he doesn’t have the authority to be dispatching armed mercenaries into a government facility or to pit you against civilian authorities. You guys should’ve stayed as far away from this mission as possible.”

  “Okay, that’s enough,” McCarter said. “We don’t have bloody time for this. Major Braden, I understand your concern and I can tell you we all appreciate your love of your country and willingness to serve. But the plain fact of the matter is that our mission objectives don’t include working cooperatively with a mercenary outfit. Moreover, I can’t risk attaching your people to my team, allies or not.”

  “Fine,” Braden said. “Then we’ll do what we can on our own.”

  McCarter nodded. “I wouldn’t expect less, mate. And if it makes any difference I admire the hell out of you for sticking to your ideals. But let me be clear that if you attempt to follow us or in any way interfere with our mission, neither I nor my men will hesitate to take you out. Are we clear?”

  Braden’s face reddened slightly, but he nodded in way of affirmation. “Crystal.”

  The mercenary turned to his men and nodded. They rose and headed for the exit while Braden got the keys to the SUV Phoenix Force had been using. Braden looked at each of the faces staring back at them.

  For just a moment McCarter wondered if Braden’s expression wasn’t one of respect and admiration. But he turned so quickly and left the hangar that he couldn’t be completely sure.

  “Okay,” McCarter said. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about what’s going to happen now. I just got off the horn with Barb. Able Team managed to detect transmissions coming from an electronics suite at Steinham’s residence. Bear got all over it and apparently they figured out it was a trace on Mishka.”

  “Where’s she off to?” Hawkins asked.

  “She took a civilian flight to Athens, Greece—probably under a cover. Not important. The big news is she’s finally come to nest at a place in the Greek Isles. Coincidentally, that’s where the buyer for Madari’s auction just happens to be.”

  “So she’s with Madari, too?” James asked. “Holy cripes…is there anybody she isn’t working for?”

  McCarter shrugged. “The problem is we don’t really have a clue what she’s up to. It’s entirely possible she had nothing to do with Carnes getting his throat cut.”

  “Who else would’ve done it?”

  “Maybe the FSB caught on to what they were doing and killed him?” Manning suggested.

  “That dog won’t hunt,” Hawkins said. “Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, gents, but we know the whole FSB scouring Minsk was a farce to begin with. The FSB knows Madari has Dratshev. They knew it as soon as he put the good doctor’s work up for auction. They wouldn’t be combing Belarus to find him. Mishka placed us all for suckers.”

  “So what do we do about it?” James asked McCarter.

  “The plan is that we’re to get to Greece and connect with this bidder waiting in Athens. Barb tells me he has strict instructions to cooperate with us.”

  “Another CIA contact?” Manning asked.

  McCarter shook his head. “He’s attached to the embassy. Strictly a bureaucrat, so we won’t have to worry about his interference.”

  “Then what?” James said.

  “Once we get the details from our contact in Athens, we hit the location transmitter from Mishka’s beacon and we act on whatever we find there. Hal made no bones that we’ve got a free hand in this, mates. If we can’t acquire the prototypes and Dratshev securely, our orders are to stomp them out.”

  “So it’s secure or destroy time,” Hawkins remarked.

  “That’s what I’m taken to understand from my conversation with Barb.”

  “And what about Mishka?”

  “She’s another story. If we can take her alive and return her to the States, that’d be my preference.” McCarter frowned. “She’s a liability, yeah, but she may know quite a bloody lot about Madari and his true intentions.”

  “What would prompt a woman like that to work with someone like Madari?” Encizo a
sked almost absently.

  “Guess when we catch up with her we can ask her,” McCarter replied.

  “Yeah, I suppose.” Encizo shook his head and exchanged glances with his teammates. “But aren’t any of you guys curious about that? I mean…think about it, men. She had a perfect gig here. Young field operative, plenty of opportunities in front of her. Didn’t take her any time to move from a cushy, boring office into a field officer position—a position that many in the CIA would die for, by the way. Why the hell throw it all away and risk the anger of your country for a Libyan exile that just may be crazy enough to want to blow up the whole world?”

  “Money,” McCarter said matter-of-factly.

  “No, not the type,” Manning replied with thoughtful ease. “I think Rafe’s got a point. There’s no sense in what she did here. I think we’re going to have to accept the possibility she’s working for us. Maybe she saw an opportunity and she took it.”

  “Then why not just tell us about it?” Hawkins asked. “Why send us on a wild-goose chase?”

  “That may not be so easy to answer,” McCarter said. “And I do have to admit that our weapons were right where she said they would be. If she’d planned to set us up, she wouldn’t have made it so easy.”

  “Unless she wasn’t trying to make it look as though she was setting us up,” James noted.

  “That’s also a consideration,” Manning agreed.

  “Look, it doesn’t really matter now,” McCarter said. “Let’s gear up and get ready to go. I’m going to go let Jack know he can start warming up the engines.”

  “Ah, Greece,” Hawkins said with a fond tone of recollection. “I’ve not been there in such a long time. Beautiful women, fine spirits, balmy weather.”

  “And let’s not forget the good eats,” James added.

  “We’re not going there for a vacation,” McCarter replied with mock grumpiness. “So don’t get your hopes up.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Washington, D.C.

  “We have to make something happen,” Lyons said.

  “Hmm. You already mentioned that,” Blancanales replied.