“Khalil!” Abdi said with a tentative excitement. “I was starting to wonder if you guys were coming.” Abdi had a nervous sound in his voice that June hoped he could squelch.
Maybe it was his natural way of speaking. Perhaps the others didn’t notice.
“Why would you think that?” the man in the white shirt asked. His sunglasses glinted in the sun.
Abdi rolled his shoulders. “No reason. I’ve just been sitting here for a half hour. I was starting to wonder if I had the incorrect time.”
“No,” Khalil said. “You have the correct time. We were…held up momentarily.” He turned and looked at the back of the truck. “The stuff in here?”
Abdi nodded and started to unfasten the lock on the back, knowing there were four men inside ready to apprehend the terrorist.
“Kind of a small vehicle for so many weapons, don’t you think?”
Abdi frowned, distracted for a moment from his task. “I don’t like to be wasteful. Why use a huge truck when a smaller one will do? I assure you: everything you asked for is in there.”
Adriana learned that Khalil Tosu was an Albanian national with a nasty reputation. To call him a terrorist was a bit simplistic. He was much more than that. On top of being an extremist, he was also a businessman, profiting off the suffering of so many others.
June’s dossier on the man explained that he’d grown up in one of the wealthiest families in Syria. Through a series of bad business deals with some unscrupulous Americans, his family had lost everything. They were cast into poverty, exiled from the people they once called friends.
Tosu learned the ways of the streets at a young age. He understood the code of eat or be eaten that the animals were so keenly aware of. So, he became something of an animal himself. He learned how to steal from those who had more than him.
By the age of thirteen, he’d killed a man. His victim had been just nineteen, but the fact that Tosu had managed to murder someone who was six years his senior filled the boy with a sinister confidence that swelled his ego to new heights.
Later on, as he grew into a fuller measure of treachery, he ran his organization like a Western drug cartel, using brutality and fear to keep rivals in line and to make sure his domain was secure. All along the way, he had exhibited an ironic religious fervor. He justified his actions by claiming he was the sword of Allah, the surgeon who had to cut out the diseased parts of the world to make it new again. Of course, Tosu was more than happy to profit off all that disease.
Apparently, selling slaves was also acceptable to Allah. A huge chunk of Tosu’s empire was in human trafficking. Adriana had seen too much of that sort of thing going on in the last decade or so. Maybe it had always been there and she had been just too naïve to know about it.
Tosu had also become a prominent provider of weapons to certain extremist groups, including the Red Ring. As a result, he climbed the ladder of trust until he was fully integrated into their chain of command—if terror cells called it such a thing.
He and his men organized attacks on schools, churches, and other public places, at least that’s what Shadow Cell’s intel said. There was no way to verify that Tosu had a hand in those horrendous actions.
Adriana thought of Osama bin Laden, pinned for the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks in 2001. She’d always wondered if he was the one truly responsible. The conspiracy theorist in her was always suspicious of the media and the lies they spun.
In the end, she figured bin Laden was probably guilty of something. This guy Tosu, however, was definitely guilty. Here he was, getting ready to transfer a truckload of what he believed were explosives and guns, weapons his men could use in the fight against the nonbelievers.
Abdi was fiddling with the lock. Adriana kept her eyes on him through a pair of binoculars.
“He looks nervous,” she whispered.
“Affirmative,” June replied. “Good thing he doesn’t have to do the fighting.”
Tosu put his hand on Abdi’s shoulder and gently spun him around so the two men were standing face to face.
“What’s he doing?” Adriana asked.
June didn’t answer, simply shaking her head.
“Qufar, you have done well for our cause. You have provided us with weapons and supplies. We have struck a blow to the heart of the infidels thanks to your diligence.” The man put his arm around Abdi’s shoulder and started walking toward the waterfront. “That is why I wonder….”
Abdi cast a confused, sidelong glance at Tosu. “Wonder what?”
The two strolled to the edge of the harbor where concrete and asphalt met the sea.
Tosu turned and faced his supplier. “I wonder why you would help the Americans and British.”
Abdi’s face filled with confusion. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Oh no,” June said. “They’re onto us.”
4
Istanbul
What?” Adriana asked.
Tosu pulled a pistol out of his waistband and held it at his side, tilting the barrel at the bewildered Abdi.
“You think we don’t know what you’ve been doing, Qufar?” Tosu asked. “We planned this whole thing.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“We knew you were being followed. We know they’re listening right now, watching. I have to say, while I’m disappointed by your treachery, you have done well in leading them into our trap. So, in a way, I suppose I should be thanking you.”
Abdi swallowed hard. His lips quivered.
“Thank you,” Tosu said. The pistol’s muzzle flashed. The pop echoed through the wharf.
A pink mist exploded from the back of Abdi’s skull. His body wavered for three long seconds and then toppled into the water with a splash.
“No!” June said and popped out from her hiding place.
Another gunshot rang out from near the truck. One of Tosu’s gunmen was holding a pistol in the air, pointing it at a newly shattered window. The driver slumped over out of sight.
The gunman climbed in the cab, started the vehicle, and shifted it into gear.
“Angel Two, open the cargo door and get out of there. They know!”
“Copy that,” the man’s voice came through the radio.
The van was already rumbling toward the sea where Tosu stood.
“Angel One,” the man said through the radio, “the door is locked from the outside. It won’t budge.”
“Dear Lord,” June said. “Angel Three—”
“I’m on it,” another voice said.
The guy behind the retaining wall took aim at the truck’s cab, but he couldn’t get a clean shot at the driver. So he turned the barrel slightly and squeezed the trigger.
One of Tosu’s gunmen dropped to the ground, the back of his skull now a bloody canoe.
The man next to him turned to face the threat, but he caught a round in the base of his neck and dropped to the pavement.
“Take out the truck’s tires!” June said in a tone that was nearly a shout.
The sniper turned the barrel again and lined up the crosshairs of his scope with the van’s back-left tires. He fired. The bullet pinged off the hard ground. He shot again and again, faster this time, now fully aware of what was at stake. The driver jumped out of the cab at the last second as one of Angel Three’s rounds struck a tire. The van dipped on the back-left corner but kept rolling toward the waterfront. He squeezed the trigger repeatedly, trying to get a clean look at the front-left tire. If he could hit it, the van would likely lurch to the left and circle back to safety.
He stopped firing for a second to calm himself, then aligned the crosshairs with the front of the vehicle, waiting for the tire to come into view. The van wobbled to the left. Angel Three let out a long breath, steadied his nerves, and fired.
The round zipped through the air at lightning speed. He thought for sure he’d hit the mark.
Unfortunately, the truck hit a bump and swung slightly to the right a split second after the sniper fired
.
“Crap,” he said into the radio.
Adriana and June watched as the van hit the chain barricade separating the water from land. The truck only paused for a second before it broke through the chain and the heavy posts moored to the pavement. The vehicle groaned and tipped forward, gravity sucking the engine down to a watery grave, the hood crashing into the water. The van bobbed for a moment before it started a nosedive to the bottom of the sea, slowly sinking a few inches at a time as it filled with water.
“No!” June shouted as she spun around from her hiding place.
She whipped her weapon around, took aim at one of the gunmen, and fired. The round hit him in the abdomen and dropped him to his knees.
Angel Three’s actions had already drawn the attention of Tosu’s men. They’d ducked for cover wherever they could find it and were now poking their heads out to try to find the shooter. When they saw June stalking toward them with weapon blazing, they clambered out from behind cover and opened fire.
Adriana knew her friend was acting hastily despite her extraordinary training. Emotions had no place in a gunfight. They could get you killed. So, Adriana stepped out from behind the steel box and searched for a target.
Angel Three’s weapon fired again, the report booming over the docks like thunder. One of the shooters fell on his back. Adriana aimed at the guy next to him and squeezed the trigger even as she moved forward. She kept on the balls of her feet so the weapon in her hands would stay steady.
Her gun fired one round at a time. She knew she’d be more accurate with semi automatic shots as opposed to full auto. Another gunman fell to her weapon, this one taking a bullet to the forehead.
June continued her rampage, emptying her magazine at a cluster of four gunmen crouching behind a stack of pallets.
“Backup, move in,” Angel Three said into the radio. “Go! Go! Go!”
He wasn’t the one in charge of the mission, but he took the initiative after June left her position to lead the attack.
Four more operatives who’d been covering the gate by the street sprang into action. They rushed down the short hill and into the fray, fanning out as they moved forward.
The second they were in range, the men opened fire. The cacophony of guns made the wharf sound like an urban war zone. One of the reinforcements took a bullet to the thigh and dropped to one knee with a yelp. That didn’t stop him from continuing his assault from there. He continued firing on the terrorists’ position to his left, bombarding them with a deadly hail of metal.
June and Adriana kept moving forward like two immortals, unafraid of the death whizzing by them.
One by one, the terrorists fell until there were only two remaining, hiding behind another shipping container next to a storage building.
Adriana saw a sudden movement behind one of the SUVs. A flash of white behind the hood told her Tosu was on the run.
She fired a round at the vehicle, but one of the last gunmen popped out of his hiding place and took a shot at her. She dove out of the way and returned fire, planting a bullet in his shoulder. The force of the round spun him around for a second before one of the reinforcements took him down with a flurry of shots.
Adriana sprang to her feet and charged forward. The SUV with Tosu inside squealed its tires and sped away in a cloud of white smoke. Adriana didn’t care about the target getting away right now. She had to save the men in the truck.
Her feet pounded the pavement faster and faster until she’d reached the edge of the docks. The back of the van was about one foot away from being completely submerged. She stuffed her weapon in her belt even as the men behind her finished killing off the last of Tosu’s men. Without hesitation, she jumped over the edge and landed on the big van door.
She could hear the men inside pounding on the door, screaming for help. She knew the water would almost be at the top and their narrow patch of air would soon be gone.
A muffled bang from inside was followed immediately by a hole exploding through the door. The men inside were trying to shoot their way out. Their desperation had reached its zenith.
She rapped hard on the door. “Hey! Friendly fire! I’m gonna get you guys out!”
The van shuddered. It sank another six inches almost instantly. Adriana lost her balance for a second. She bent her knees and crouched down, planting her palm against the back of the door. It was all she could do to hope none of the men inside would fire again.
“Help us!” one of the guys screamed.
Adriana knew in a few seconds the screaming would stop. The eerie silence would signal the water had covered their faces. When that happened, they’d have a minute, maybe two depending on how long each guy could hold his breath.
She worked her way over to the lock and wiggled it. Abdi’s key was gone. She’d seen him put it in the keyhole, but now there was no sign of it. Only one thing left to do, she thought.
She raised her weapon and pointed it at the lock, holding it less than a foot away. Her finger tensed on the trigger, and then the truck surged down again. Water rushed over the back of the van and covered her feet. It was sinking faster now, set on a course for the bottom of the sea that would drown the men inside. In less than ten seconds, the water was up to her knees and rising rapidly.
Adriana slid over to the lock and ducked her head under the water. She found the object and shoved the muzzle up against it. This would be close, she thought. Shooting the lock underwater would require it to be pressed directly up against her weapon since bullets lost a ton of momentum once they hit liquid. Keeping the muzzle flush with the lock would prevent that, but it could also blow off her fingers. Then there was always the chance shrapnel from the blast would damage the nerves in her hand.
Those concerns flashed through her head in the briefest of moments. They didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was saving the men inside the van.
She raised her head, took a breath, then ducked back under the surface and spied the lock one last time. Her finger tensed on the trigger and fired.
The recoil under the sea was much less than in the air above, but the gun did its job. The bullet tore through the tough metal exterior and freed the mechanism within. Adriana yanked the lock from the housing and slid the door handle free. Then, as the warm Mediterranean water rose to her shoulders, she grabbed the bottom rung of the door and pulled as hard as she could.
5
Istanbul
Adriana leaned against one of the steel shipping containers as the sun dipped toward the horizon to the west. Her clothes were soaked. Thankfully, she wasn’t cold.
The men she’d saved from a watery grave were clustered on the ground behind an ambulance. None of them were seriously injured, so the presence of the emergency vehicle and paramedics was a mere formality, a precaution June took to make sure they were all right.
June strolled over to where Adriana was standing. She placed her shoulder on the Spaniard’s shoulder. “You saved those guys’ lives.”
There were no more accolades, no more praise. The one sentence, June felt, was enough.
Adriana gave an absentminded nod. “I couldn’t save the driver.”
June shook her head and looked out toward the setting sun. “No. None of us could.” Regret filled her voice. “I should have seen this coming.”
“Don’t blame yourself. There’s no way we could have known.”
June didn’t buy it. “No. I pride myself on covering every possible angle, every potential threat. It never occurred to me that Abdi wanted to be caught so he could lead us here.”
“Are you sure that’s what happened?”
June rolled her shoulders. “Sure seems like it.”
“I doubt he would have done that if he’d known Tosu was going to kill him.”
“True. Unless he didn’t think Tosu would do that.”
Adriana sighed and followed her friend’s gaze out to the glistening blue sea. “I could hear genuine fear in Abdi’s voice. I don’t believe he was trying to get c
aught; however, his getting apprehended could have been part of Tosu’s plan.”
June gave a nod. “You’re probably right. Abdi did sound afraid, like he didn’t know what was going to happen. Tosu, on the other hand, must have known what was going on. Abdi was under surveillance during his entire stint with us. He had no way to communicate with the outside world. That means Tosu set this whole thing up to get to us.”
“You think he knows who we are, what Shadow Cell does?”
“Hard to say,” June answered with a shrug. “There’s no way to know. I doubt he has information on our identities, headquarters, and that stuff. If anything, he probably thinks CIA or another agency is hunting them down. He knows about the hunt but not the hunter. In that regard, we still have the advantage.”
“But in the other regard?” Adriana let the question hang.
“We lost our primary lead. Tosu escaped. Abdi is dead. And we are starting from square one.”
It was a heavy blow to their operation. Had they been able to apprehend Tosu, they might have been able to extract information from him about the scope of the Red Ring.
Then again, a man like him may have gone to his grave without giving up even a crumb of helpful intel. Difficult to say.
They’d banked on taking him down and using him to learn as much as possible about the Red Ring. Maybe they’d invested too much hope in him. Adriana felt like that’s exactly what Shadow Cell had done in their pursuit of Tosu.
The worst part of failing was the immediate threat he posed to innocent people. Who knew where he would strike next?
At least he hadn’t gotten the weapons he wanted.
That last thought loomed in Adriana’s mind.
“It was definitely a setup,” she said after a few seconds spent processing the events. “He knew there were no weapons. He knew there’d be men inside the truck, or at the very least he assumed there would be.”
Shadows Rising Page 3
