No Woman Left Behind: A Lexi Carmichael Mystery, Book Six

by Julie Moffett

  Elvis!

  I dropped to my knees in front of him sobbing. “Elvis. Oh, God, Elvis, are you okay?

  “You...came? I told you not to.” His head rested on his chest and his face was a mess of bruises and cuts. His words were slurred, but he was alive...for now. I had to get him out of there quick.

  I took an inventory of the wires that bound him. I used a small knife to cut his bindings, but my helmet prevented me from reaching far enough behind him to cut the final one.

  Great, there went the helmet rule. I quickly slipped it off and placed it on the floor at his feet, then put my gun in the helmet so I wouldn’t lose it. I couldn’t stop crying. Tears dripped off my cheeks and chin. When I finished, I grasped him under his arms and helped him stand.

  He swayed and fell into my arms. I had to brace myself to hold him up, but for the moment, I wrapped my arms around him and savored the fact that he was here and we were alive. I could feel his body shake, his heart beating, and it made me cry harder.

  “Lexi,” he breathed against my neck.

  “Yes, it’s me, Elvis. We’re going home.”

  “Broodryk...”

  “Isn’t going to win this time. Come on.”

  I heard a noise in the outer room. Wills? I suppressed the urge to scream out and leaned Elvis up against the chair.

  “Wait here,” I whispered.

  I approached the door cautiously and saw a man framed in the light of the doorway aiming a gun at me. My appearance in the doorway must have surprised him. I’d never seen him before, but he was clearly a native. He was yelling something at me in a language I didn’t understand, and I had no idea how he’d gotten in unless he’d come from the Alpha Team side. Now that Hulk and Wills were down and Hands was busy hunting Pentz, we were apparently vulnerable to approach from that side.

  My heart pounded. I didn’t know if this guy had any friends with him, but I held my hands up slowly, assessing the situation. I calculated one positive to my current situation. It was dark in the room behind me, which meant he couldn’t see Elvis from his vantage point. I didn’t think he knew Elvis was there.

  However, I had two bigger problems. Both my helmet and gun were now out of my reach. That meant I had no protection and no way to reach the team. I also had no idea what to do next.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  “Don’t shoot,” I yelled. It wasn’t for his benefit, but for Elvis’s. I didn’t know if he was alert enough to understand that we had a situation out here, but it was worth a shot. Actually, it was probably my only shot. I had run out of scenario-altering ideas.

  The man motioned with his gun for me to enter the main room, so I kept my arms up and walked toward the laptop. Panic swept through me. Time was ticking. I had to start up that computer and make contact or Broodryk was going to send the virus and/or blow the shack.

  Lucky for me, the man didn’t shoot me on the spot. He probably knew who I was and wasn’t sure if it were safe to kill me yet. The fact that I was female, wasn’t armed and was apparently alone definitely worked in my favor, too.

  I pointed to the television. “Broodryk,” I said, hoping he’d understand that. “I have to get him back.”

  I made typing movements with my fingers and pointed towards my pack with my laptop. At first the man said something, but he didn’t try to stop me or shoot me. Keeping his gun trained on me he picked up and checked out my pack and then handed me my laptop. I knelt, swapped out the cables with Broodryk’s laptop and started typing. He came up behind me and pressed the gun to my neck. I swallowed hard. At least his back was to the room with Elvis.

  I glanced up at him. “Broodryk,” I repeated and pointed again to the television screen. He grunted, which I took to signal approval.

  Thank God, my computer was working. My fingers flew across the keyboard as I sought access to Broodryk. The gun against my neck loosened.

  Twenty seconds passed. Thirty.

  Broodryk could blow the shack whenever he wanted. Or maybe he was busy releasing the virus. I momentarily wondered about the search team in Gabon. It was all slipping out of my control. It was probably an illusion that I had any to begin with, but still it had been comforting. If this was going to work, we needed some sort of break.

  Crack!

  My captor lurched and fell sideways to the floor, his gun skittering out of his hands. Gasping, I scooted back and looked at the dark room. Elvis stood in the doorway with my gun. While I watched in surprise, he staggered across the room and shot the guy two more times.

  I blinked and looked up at Elvis. “Are...are you okay?”

  “I’m perfectly fine.”

  I looked down at the guy and then nodded. I don’t know what had happened to me. I felt nothing. No sadness, no regret, no nothing. This was war, and it was changing me. I wasn’t sure it was for the best. It had definitely changed Elvis. He’d been kidnapped and tortured. The man at my feet was the second person he’d shot in just the past two months. What did that do to a person, especially one who hadn’t trained mentally or physically for such things?

  I pushed the emotions away. “Thanks, Elvis.” It seemed inadequate, but it was heartfelt.

  Elvis positioned himself by the door, still holding the gun. “Where are we?”

  “Somalia.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  “Sorry I asked. I realize we’re in a dire situation. Do what you need to do. I’ve got your back.”

  “I know. Thanks. Just don’t open that door. There’s a sniper positioned on it. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  I ran back into the room and grabbed my helmet and smashed it on my head.

  I quickly updated the team. “Alpha Star here. We’re okay in here. Both of us. Repeat, the hostage is free and alive. Bravo Team, we had a local visitor who probably came in through Alpha’s position. He’s down now, but we might need support from that direction if you can provide it. Do not enter the shack. It could blow at any moment.”

  I switched to the radio link with Mother. “Update, please. Status of Drop Team?”

  “ETA is approximately six minutes.”

  “What about the virus? Has it been released?”

  “Not as far as we can see. Proceed as planned, Alpha Star.”

  “How much time has passed since the Hellfire impact?”

  “Six minutes.”

  That meant the power blackout had happened about five minutes ago. It seemed like hours. I was surprised Broodryk hadn’t released the virus yet. That could only mean he wasn’t sure what had happened to the electricity and was trying to reestablish contact with me. If he weren’t able to get me back soon, he’d release the virus and blow the shack.

  I had to ask. “What’s the status of Alpha Two?”

  There was a pause and this time it was Hands who spoke. “Still unknown. I’ve got a fix on the Snake and am closing in. He’s on the move, which puts us on equal footing. He’s probably unhappy about that. Cobra 1 is approximately ten minutes out. Broodryk’s thirty minutes runs out in seven minutes, so I would be out of the shack by then just in case.”

  I closed my eyes. Wills was down. Hulk was down. Elvis and I were trapped in the shack. Had any of this been worth it?

  Almost as if he had been listening to my thoughts, Hands said, “Close it out Alpha Star. Have faith.”

  I glanced over at Elvis. He seemed steadier now, more alert. He held two guns—the dead guy’s and mine. There was a determined expression on his face. Yes, it had been worth it if we had saved Elvis and could bring Broodryk down for good. Otherwise he’d be at it again, playing his sick games with me or someone else.

  Elvis saw me staring and a smile touched his lips. “I’m okay.” He nodded at the keyboard. “Go get him.”

  “Okay, I’m on it. S
tay there and be quiet for the moment.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I smiled as my fingers flew over the keyboard. I had to get Broodryk back, and fast.

  I re-launched the backtracking program I had executed earlier. I hoped that the broadcast results of its scans were helping the searchers close the noose in time.

  After a few halts and starts I suddenly had a view of him. It was a side view, probably from a laptop camera. He’d removed the mask and was working on another computer, typing furiously.

  I steadied myself. “Hey, Broodryk.”

  He turned to face me and blinked a few times, staring into the monitor.

  “Well, I admit I’m surprised. How did you do it?”

  “You could probably figure it out if I gave you some time. Let’s say, thirty minutes.”

  He smiled. “Clever. You plugged in a laptop of your own and ran a reverse location search on me. So, here we are. What next?”

  “It’s your game, Broodryk. You tell me.”

  “Did the electricity come back on?”

  “No. I’m working off the battery.”

  “I do realize that you’re now tracing my location. Don’t worry. I’ll be long gone before anyone gets here. From what I can see you haven’t broken the code. Only four minutes left. What a pity. I expected you to at least have one success.”

  Elvis came over, peering at the screen over my shoulder. He put one hand on my shoulder and with the other he gave Broodryk the bird.

  Broodryk laughed. “You think you won because you released him? You can’t possibly think you can bring me down. A novice like you? You do realize that you are in a shack in the middle of Somalia with just a few pathetic soldiers between you and the most horrible death a woman could endure? I didn’t even need to rig the shack with explosives. It would have been a waste of valuable powder. Once you arrived, you were never going anywhere else again.”

  “I’m not running scared.” I looked him in the eye as I said it, because I meant it. “But you should be.”

  He leaned forward. “Now you listen to me. Your country is moments from having its most valuable infrastructure being orchestrated into beautiful chaos by me.” He jabbed a finger in his chest. “Billions and billions of dollars are at stake and it’s just one fokken keystroke away.”

  I had to keep him engaged. “You’re brilliant, Broodryk, I’ll give you that. But you are also pathetic, twisted, psychotic and blinded by conceit. You underestimated me, something you never should have done.”

  He frowned, his eyes cold and hard. “No, you underestimated me. You and your pitiful little plans. You think I don’t know about your strike team only moments away from the location in Gabon that I so helpfully provided? You witless, stupid girl. It was all a set-up. Do you think I didn’t know? I knew exactly what you would do, which is why I gave you those coordinates. Your completely incompetent and pathetic cyber teams are no match for me. Cyberspace is my domain.”

  His lips curved into a smile. “Let it be known to all who are watching that this is what happens to those who try to cross me. You will not win. You will be eviscerated. I have taken on the most powerful nation in the world and won. Watch and learn.”

  There it was, his staged speech for his clients or potential clients, almost word-for-word as Gray had predicted. No question, game end was nearing. But Broodryk wasn’t quite finished with me yet.

  “Just so you know, Lexi Carmichael, your precious SEAL team is moments from capturing and taking down my biggest commercial threat and former partner, Gregor Muller. For that, I sincerely thank you.”

  Grinning, he picked up a laptop and angled it toward me. “Shall we watch it together? Shall we all watch the fumbling actions of the United States? God, this turned out far better than I ever envisioned.”

  Although it was distorted, over the next several minutes I watched grainy security camera images of a SEAL team breaking down the door of a structure and disappearing inside while Broodryk gloated and commented on their lack of stealth. Elvis’s hand tightened on my shoulder.

  The radio in my helmet crackled. “Drop Team is in. One minute.”

  I held my breath.

  “So, I guess this is game over, my dear. It was a magnificent performance, one that far exceeded my expectations. I shall think of you quite fondly.”

  “Don’t worry, Broodryk. I won’t think of you at all.”

  “No, you won’t. You’ll be dead.” He set down the laptop. “But I’m not without compassion, you know. Seeing as how you helped me get this far, I’ll let you watch as I release the virus. Actually, you should thank me, you know. You won’t be around to deal with the messy fallout and it will keep your replacement hacks fully employed trying to deal with the consequences.”

  The gunfire outside intensified and I looked toward the door. So far the teams were holding position and the hostiles weren’t pressing too hard, probably on the instructions of Broodryk. He couldn’t have his grand finale interrupted.

  “Well, this is it, my dear.” He swept his finger up in a grandiose movement and let it hover over the enter key, taunting me.

  I stretched out a hand toward the monitor as if I could physically stop him from pressing the key. “Wait. No, don’t do it, Broodryk. Please. I... I beg you.”

  He laughed. “Oh my God, how wonderful. My last glimpse of your face will be one of desperation and fear. Things simply couldn’t be better.”

  Suddenly a surprised look crossed his face. He slumped onto the keyboard and lay still. Elvis gasped as a familiar face came into focus on the monitor.

  “Very nicely timed, if I do say so myself,” Slash said. “Now get the hell out of that shack.”

  Chapter Forty-Three

  A shout of joy sounded in my helmet. “This is Mother. Drop Team mission complete. Echo mission in Gabon complete. Alpha Star, what’s your status?”

  I couldn’t stop staring at Slash’s face. “Oh my God. It worked.”

  “It worked,” Slash said gently. “Go, cara. Come home to me.”

  I bolted to my feet and spoke into my helmet. “We’re okay in here. What’s the plan?”

  I suddenly realized that during the final moments with Broodryk, I had been unaware of the approaching sound of a helicopter—one that was clearly landing nearby.

  Hands’s voice came over my helmet. “Alpha Star, time to wrap up this party. Head directly for the chopper. Bravo Team, give your playmates a final goodbye and retreat to the bird. Charlie will cover you.”

  “Let’s go,” I shouted to Elvis. We could hardly hear each other over the loud whooping of the helicopter’s rotors. The entire shack shuddered. I yelled directly in his ear. “Head straight for the copter. Okay?”

  “Okay,” he shouted back.

  I took his hand, gripping it hard. I finally had him back and I wasn’t going to lose him now. I reached up from a crouched position and flung open the door. No sense in offering a clear target to anyone with a scope on the door. I waited to see if anyone would shoot and when nothing happened, I grabbed Elvis’s hand.

  “Now,” I shouted and pulled him out of the shack behind me.

  I almost collided with Hands, who seized me by the arm.

  “Go, go, go,” he shouted at me. “I’ve got him.”

  He put an arm around Elvis and steadied him. We fell in line to board behind two guys dragging someone between them. A few other guys formed a protective ring around Elvis and me as we loaded.

  I saw who the guys in front of me were carrying as they lifted him onto the helicopter.

  “Hulk,” I shouted.

  One guy on the helicopter helped pull Hulk’s form on board and then grabbed Elvis’s hand, hauling him in as easily as lifting a grocery bag.

  “Up you go, Keys.” Hands lifted me off my feet and into the waiti
ng hands of another SEAL. “I’m not leaving this time without you.”

  Once on the copter, I threaded my way back to Hulk, kneeling down beside him as a medic ripped the wrapping off of some kind of needle and jammed it in his neck.

  “Is he okay?” I shouted. “Is he alive?”

  The medic didn’t pay any attention to me and kept working on Hulk. I turned around and saw Hands helping more guys onto the helicopter. There was a sudden ping over my head as a bullet penetrated the skin of the aircraft and bounced around reminding me that we were far from safe still.

  “Where’s Wills?” I shouted at him.

  He pointed to the back of the helicopter where two people were knelt over a body. I staggered that way and dropped to my knees.

  Stricken I looked up at one of the guys. “Is he dead?”

  “Not yet,” he yelled over the rotors. “But he’s close. He’s lost a lot of blood. They’ve got a surgical team standing by for him if we can stabilize him en route.”

  Two more guys jumped on. We were taking heavy fire and one of the SEALs using a mounted gun got hit in the arm. To my amazement, he shifted to firing with one arm without even pausing.

  “Lift off,” I heard someone shout and we were airborne at last.

  Hostiles were firing up at the helicopter, but it was too late for them to reach us now. I watched the shack below as a squad of militants swarmed it. My stomach heaved and I had to swallow the bile before I hurled. Where was Mr. Wastebasket when I needed him?

  A soldier closed the helicopter doors as I crawled next to Elvis and linked fingers with him. Someone had handed him a blanket, which he’d thrown around his shoulders. He squeezed my hand and I took a good look at him. His face was a swollen mess of bruises and cuts, and his nose looked crooked.

  “Hey, bud, you feeling okay?”

  “I feel nothing short of euphoric to be alive. You came for me.”