Aim And Fire r5-3

by Cliff Ryder

  Prone, she raised her pistol and fired four shots in the terrorists’ direction, more out of the need to mount some kind of defense than hoping to actually hit something. She heard a loud roar next to her, and figured Nate must have let loose, as well. The oddly quiet vehicle veered off to the right, back into the desert, moving out of range in seconds.

  “Dammit, where’s that backup?” Nate thumbed more rounds into his smoking shotgun as he looked in all directions—whether for other Border Patrol agents or their attackers, Tracy wasn’t sure.

  She strained her ears for the sound of the vehicle, but heard nothing. “We have to do something or else they’re going to chop us to pieces here,” she said.

  “I’m open to suggestions at this point,” Nate said.

  Tracy sniffed the air, inhaling a familiar acrid odor.

  “They hit the gas tank. The next time we’d have shot, we’d blow up with it.”

  Nate produced a lighter and a cheroot. “Then let’s help it along.”

  Tracy glanced under the truck and saw a steady trickle of gas leaking from the tank. She dug a furrow in the dirt to make the gas flow toward them, improvising a fuse.

  Crawling backward, she extended the small trench as far as she could, with Nate covering her until the quiet sound of the approaching off-roader reached her ears, followed by the unnerving noise of more bullets tearing apart the truck.

  Tracy saw the other vehicle slowly approaching the truck while the gunner on top chewed it up with short bursts from his rifle. She saw the driver was wearing night-vision goggles similar to hers. “Let’s see how you like watching this. Now, Nate!”

  Nate flicked his lighter and touched the flame to the trail of gas, then they both scooted away from the booby-trapped vehicle as fast as they could without drawing attention to themselves. The flare of the gas showed up white-hot in her night-vision goggles, and Tracy flipped them up at the last minute and looked away, shielding her face and head with her arms.

  The truck’s gas tank ignited with a dull whoomp and blew out the back of the cargo bed, flames licking all around the remains of the vehicle. Tracy felt the patter of shrapnel on her back and legs, and twisted around, making sure no burning debris had hit her.

  “Come on, get up!”

  She looked up to see Nate standing and ready to charge in.

  “You go left, I’ll go right. Shoot as soon as you have a target!”

  And with that he was gone, circling around the burning wreck. Goddamn cowboy, she thought, but got up and, holding her pistol low, trotted the other way, using the flames for cover as she tried to see around the inferno. She took another step out, and saw the hood of the four-wheel drive. One more step and she spotted the driver rubbing his eyes with one hand while trying to maneuver the stubby SUV away from the blazing vehicle. The gunner had apparently been more alert. He wasn’t wearing his night-vision goggles and spotted Tracy at the same time she saw him. With a shout, he leveled his rifle at her as she brought her pistol up, knowing that she was about to die but wanting to take this bastard out if she could—

  A shotgun blast boomed, and the rifleman jerked in his harness, the rifle barrel wavering as he triggered his weapon, sending a burst of bullets into the dust about three yards from where Tracy stood. She lined up the SIG

  Sauer’s sights on his upper chest, squeezed the trigger twice and was rewarded with another jerk from the gunman. Shifting her pistol down a few inches, she put three bullets into the driver’s side of the windshield, making the four-wheel-drive vehicle slowly drift away as the driver slumped over the wheel. The passenger’s door popped open, and a third man staggered out, holding a short-barreled submachine gun. Blood flowed down the side of his face, looking dark in the firelight.

  “Homeland Security. Drop the weapon and raise your hands!” Tracy shouted, aiming right at him. Hearing her voice, he stepped up to the hood of his vehicle and aimed the subgun at her.

  Tracy’s pistol and Nate’s shotgun roared at the same instant, and the terrorist stiffened under the impact of the bullet and buckshot, the pellets tearing at his face. He slid from sight behind the vehicle.

  “Cover me!” Tracy ran to the front of the off-roader, then, keeping her pistol trained on the man, moved up and kicked the subgun out of his hands. It was unnecessary, however—he was already dead.

  “Other two are gone, as well.” Nate came around the side.

  “You better reload—we’re not done here by a long shot.”

  He pointed back down the slope toward the road, and Tracy glanced back to see a procession of police, CBP vehicles and a SWAT team van, all with their lights off, coming toward them.

  She looked back at Nate, covered in dust and sweat, and sighed. “About goddamn time.”

  “I’m telling you, Kate, if these two make it out of this in one piece, I’m recruiting both of them. Improvisational skills, dead shots, able to think and react on their feet— they’re both naturals.”

  Denny had logged in to assist with the coordination of what was suddenly turning into a major U.S. government field operation, and had watched in admiration as the two agents had taken out the Spaceworks security team.

  The Room 59 hackers had grabbed a row of geosyn-chronous satellites that would be passing over or near the area, and set up a chain of surveillance to keep an eye on the situation.

  “Shut that dangling jaw of yours and let’s keep our eyes on the prize. There’s still a loose nuke on that site, and if we’re not careful, they might just set it off to make sure they destroy something,” Kate said.

  “You don’t really think he’d do it, do you?” Denny asked as he tapped keys at his office in D.C.

  “No, not unless he had no other choice. While impressive, it’s still in the desert, far enough away from the city proper that there wouldn’t be that many casualties, and they could most likely evacuate the closest neighborhoods without too much difficulty. If he was crazy enough to actually come here to see that rocket off, my guess is he’s not going to immolate himself in the blast. No, he wants to set that sucker off above D.C. or New York City, or both if he can manage it.”

  Denny nodded. “I agree, which means he’s probably got an escape route planned. I better put one of our boys on finding that—oops, gotta go, my federal judge is calling on line two. I’ll let you know how it goes.” He turned to another screen, but not before Kate heard him greet the man on the other end of the line, affecting a slight Texas twang as he did. “Marty, how the hell are ya? Sorry to bother you this early in the morning, but we got a bit of a situation in your neck of the woods—”

  Whether it’s tax cuts to Democrats or welfare programs to Republicans, Denny can sell damn near anything to anyone. Kate smiled as she touched the screen linking her to B2S, secure in the knowledge that the federal search warrant was as good as signed.

  “How’s it going?” she asked. The words transcribed into text on her screen.

  “Better if my boss wasn’t breathing down my neck.”

  The reply brought Kate up short—B2S usually wasn’t that curt.

  “Give me a sitrep.”

  “That 128-bit encryption was taking too long to hack, so I thought I’d do a back door—find out who programmed the system, and break their sysop code for instant access.”

  “And?” Kate asked.

  “I haven’t found anything yet. Whoever did this was good enough to find and eliminate the normal programmer back doors. Their own are very, very well hidden. I’m still working on the front door, and have been searching for the back way in—there’s gotta be one, but it’s a riddle wrapped in a mystery wrapped in an enigma.”

  Kate felt the first pang of doubt spike her stomach with a needle-sharp sting. “Are you telling me you can’t break it?”

  “I can, but I can’t give you a good estimate of how long it will take. Might be five minutes, might be thirty—”

  “That’s about twenty-five more than we have. Keep at it, and you let me know the instant you’
re in,” Kate said.

  “Okay. Want the rocket dxed once I’m there?”

  Even though she was concerned about the lack of progress, Kate couldn’t help smiling at B2S’s logical leap.

  “Negative. Establish operational control, but do not get caught, and if it launches, let it proceed as planned.”

  “Got ya. I’ll let you know when I’m in.”

  “Right.” Kate let the young woman work and rubbed her temples for a moment. It wasn’t that B2S wouldn’t gain access—there wasn’t a system made yet that she couldn’t break, but it was how long she might take to do it that could be the problem. Kate touched the screen again, and the night sky appeared in the window, along with an airspeed reading, longitude and latitude and digital compass pointing southwest. Kate split the screen and brought up a topographical map of the route that her midnight team, currently in a modified Lockheed C-130J

  Super Hercules, was traveling. At the moment, the GPS locator put them on the border between Oklahoma and Arkansas.

  She opened a channel. “Midnight Rider One, this is Primary.”

  There was a brief pop of static, then the pilot replied.

  “Copy that, Primary. This is MR-1, go ahead.” Even with the sound baffles in the headset, Kate heard the roar of the four massive jet engines propelling the huge aircraft forward.

  “Estimated time of arrival at drop point, MR-1?”

  “ETA to drop point approximately ninety-four minutes, over.”

  “Copy that. Secondary cargo is on board and ready?”

  There was a brief pause, then the pilot answered. “Affirmative, secondary cargo is on board.” He paused again.

  “Are you issuing a target-elimination order, over?”

  “Negative, MR-1. I say again, negative. I’m just checking over all of my options. Continue on your flight plan and await further instructions. Primary out.”

  “Roger that. MR-1 out.”

  Kate rubbed her hands together. The secondary cargo was a pair of GBU-32 smart bombs, each carrying a two-thousand-pound warhead. Guided by GPS coordinates and satellite tracking, one of those would be enough to flatten the main building of the Spaceworks compound, or destroy the rocket, although she would not call for a strike on the missile unless absolutely necessary, due to the high possibility of a nuclear-materials leak.

  She turned her attention back to the cluster of vehicles and men that had gathered around her two floaters. They seemed to be planning their next steps. As if on cue, Kate’s screen flashed, telling her that Tracy was calling.

  “Agent Cassell.”

  “Stephanie, this is Tracy. We’re at Spaceworks. We were attacked by their security forces, forcing us to defend ourselves. Our backup has arrived, and we’re currently organizing the assault on the compound to arrest all suspects on the premises.”

  “Very well. Is there anything I can do on this end?”

  “Yes, mobilize any other law-enforcement officers or agents that have not been informed of the situation. Also, get me plans of the site and each building here.”

  “More reinforcements are on the way.” Kate had already sent out a radio call for all available law-enforcement personnel in the area to report to the site. “Believe me, soon you’ll have more people there than you’ll know what to do with. Remember, you’re the agent in charge at the scene, and don’t let anyone bulldoze you. Also, check your phone once we’re off this call. The plans will be there, and you’ll be able to download them wirelessly to any computer you wish.”

  “Believe me, that isn’t going to happen here. I’ll report in once we’ve secured the area.”

  “Good luck and good hunting.” Kate signed off and sat down, her eyes glued to the Spaceworks site, the ever-increasing number of police, Customs and Border Protection and FBI vehicles arriving, and the rocket with its deadly payload, still sitting quietly on the tarmac, waiting to be launched.

  Sepehr was livid as he watched the infidels kill his security team, but he kept his voice and fists under control. “Not as weak as I had first thought,” he said under his breath.

  Beside him, Joseph paced back and forth. “What are we going to do? This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen!”

  “Patience, my friend. The Americans will want a peaceful resolution. They will try to negotiate first, to resolve this without violence. They may even think this is a mis-understanding that can be resolved by talking with us.

  However, any attempt will be met with weapons. You’ve told me the defenses you have out there.”

  “Sepehr, do you see what I see out there?” Joseph pointed at the screens, which showed a large and ever-growing contingent of federal and local law-enforcement officers setting up a mobile headquarters. They heard the beat of rotor blades as a helicopter passed overhead.

  “They’re not going to wait this out like Waco or Ruby Ridge. They’re coming in here, and they will kill all of us!”

  “Then we will die in the service of Allah, if he has willed it, and when we open our eyes next, we will be in Paradise.” Sepehr’s eyes narrowed. “I am sure that every man here is willing to give his life for our cause. Are you telling me that you have doubts about our mission?”

  “No, of course not. It’s just that I didn’t think we would be discovered before we’d had the chance to launch. Now they may stop the whole thing,” Joseph said.

  “No, that will not happen.” Sepehr turned to the guard manning the console. “Deploy the sniper teams on the roof, with orders to destroy anything that approaches the outer perimeter. It doesn’t matter who they are, local police, FBI, Border Patrol—anyone is a target now. The guards at the front gate are also authorized to use whatever means necessary to repel the infidels.”

  He turned to Joseph. “Get me an update of the repairs to the rocket. We must launch as soon as possible.” He grabbed the other man’s arm, halting his aimless pacing.

  “Do not lose heart now. We are so close to achieving everything we have worked for, what you have labored your entire life to create. I need you to believe for only a few more minutes, then we are done.”

  Joseph stared into Sepehr’s burning brown eyes, then, as if gathering strength from his will, nodded. “My belief in the jihad is infinite, brother. We will show the infidels the glory of Islamic might this day.”

  “Good.” Sepehr leaned close and spoke his next words into Joseph’s ear. “Make sure the tunnel is prepared, in the event we will need to leave quickly.”

  “Everything is ready. We just need that damn rocket to be ready, and we will strike a blow against America that they will never forget,” Joseph said.

  “Inshallah,” Sepehr replied. “As Allah wills, so shall it be.”

  Tracy snapped her phone closed and walked over, with Nate in tow, to a group of SWAT team members who had just exited their van. Behind them, a smaller armored truck pulled up. “Who’s in charge of your unit?” Tracy asked.

  A Latino man a few years younger than Nate stepped forward, dressed in the usual SWAT uniform of black fatigues with a bulletproof tactical vest, elbow and knee pads, a submachine gun slung over his shoulder, a pistol at his side and a Kevlar helmet on his head. “Sergeant Jose Elidondo. And you are?” His tone wasn’t confronta-tional, merely neutral.

  Tracy held out her identification. “Special Agent Tracy Wentworth, Department of Homeland Security, and rank-ing agent in charge of this operation.”

  Although Tracy saw a few eye-rolls from the other team members, Elidondo absorbed this information without a pause. “What’s the situation?”

  “There are anywhere from a half-dozen to thirty armed and barricaded terrorists in this compound that need to be neutralized. There is also the strong possibility of hazar-dous materials on site.”

  “Chemical?” the sergeant asked.

  “Radioactive,” Tracy replied.

  That got a reaction out of the previously unflappable SWAT leader. His eyebrows rose. “Confirmed?”

  Tracy barely hesitated, then nod
ded at the wreckage of their truck. “That’s their security team’s handiwork.

  They fired on us without provocation—it’s why you’re out here now.”

  The sergeant glanced over the smoldering remains.

  “Okay, call the ball.”

  “Sergeant, I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but I need the people inside that fence captured or eliminated as soon as possible. However you choose to accomplish that is fine with me. There is one stipulation, however.” She gave him a photo. “If this man is seen on the premises, take all care to capture him alive.”

  Tracy heard surprised muttering from the rest of the team. One tall man said, “Someone from DHS is actually gonna let us do our jobs? What alternate universe is this?”

  They were quieted by a look from their superior before he turned back to Tracy. “You’re sure this is the way you want to go? You don’t want to try and negotiate?”

  “We cannot afford to give them any more time. Even now, they may very well be on the way to putting their plan into action.” She pointed to the nose of the rocket, jutting up above the hill.

  “Holy shit.” Elidondo’s eyes widened. “Take out everyone inside except your guy—got it. What about the rocket?”

  “We’ve already got people working on that,” Tracy said.

  “Okay, what can you tell us about the site?”

  “I have detailed files. You boys got a laptop or patrol computer? What I can’t tell you is the level of weapons or any after-construction security details that may have been added.”

  “Right this way, Agent Wentworth.” Briggs, the tall man who had scoffed at her, opened the back door of the van and pointed to a console built into the wall behind the passenger seat. He gave her a USB cable to hook into.

  Tracy used the touch screen on her phone to send the files to the SWAT computer, then got out of the way as they all clustered around the screen. Elidondo printed copies, distributed them and outlined the insertion with swift strokes, creating a three-pronged assault in a few minutes. He led his squad out and joined a half-dozen more men. All of them gathered around as the plan was reviewed and copies of the building’s schematics were distributed. Four got into a small armored truck and drove back out into the desert. The helicopter that had been circling overhead was directed to land on the other side of the road. Three snipers, each carrying a Remington M700 rifle with telescopic sights, headed out to the rise with their spotters, giving the smoking remains of Nate’s truck a wide berth.