“Forget it. Besides, you’re not sorry a bit, you pirate. I needed it. From here on out, don’t expect a reply.”
“Acknowledged,” Rasheed focused intently on any fluctuation in the heat signature he was targeting. “The sniper is still playing dead. Wait one. I have movement along the edges of his cover. Yes, he is popping up ever so slowly. I have a very slight heat signature now.”
“The Boss is approaching,” Rasheed announced, glancing over at the picnic table. “The Russian has spotted her and has taken a book out of his briefcase. He’s pretending to read it. The Boss has Dino up tight to her side while she sits next to the Russian. Shifting to the sniper again - he’s holding position.”
“Kay?” Rutledge’s voice came on in his ear.
“I am here, Jen. You are loud and clear. Cold and I have radio silence now at least from him. He will hear whatever you have to update.”
“Does he have the sniper spotted?”
“He is already on approach. Have the negotiations begun?”
“The Russian already checked Diane for a wire and Dino gave Tomashevsky an attitude adjustment warning growl just for looking at him. The Russian was none too pleased with Diane having the dog. He thinks he’s setting her up so he doesn’t care that much. They’re just dancing around right now.”
Rutledge heard a gasp of disbelief from Rasheed.
“What’s wrong, Kay?”
“The sniper rose slightly to position his weapon. Cold just slit his throat,” Rasheed explained, excitement in his voice. “I did not even see him get into position. Give Dino the word, Jen.”
“Acknowledged.” Rutledge looked over at Barrington, who was monitoring Reskova and Tomashevsky. “Cold slit the sniper’s throat, Tom. Give Dino the call.”
“Christ, the Colonel is freaky,” Barrington mumbled, switching to Dino’s collar mike. “Nunca, Dino, Nunca!”
At the picnic table, Dino sprang up from where he had been lying at Reskova’s feet, a low growl like hum emanating from his throat. Reskova released the leash. Tomashevsky jerked back from the dog, waving his hand up in the air, obviously signaling for the sniper fire that would never come. By the time he reached for his shoulder-harnessed automatic, Dino tore into him just above the elbow of Tomashevsky’s right arm, yanking the Russian to the ground. Tomashevsky screamed in pain as Reskova moved to disarm him before calling Dino off.
Moments later, the team converged on the picnic table, weapons at the ready. Reskova plastic tied the Russian’s hands behind his back. She helped him up into a sitting position, letting him lean on the picnic table. Dino lay next to the Russian, eyeing him with malice. Reskova looked up from her charge as Barrington and Rutledge ran up. She lowered the 9mm Barreta the Russian had carried.
“That was fast. We hardly said hello.”
“The sniper broke cover and… well… you know.” Barrington pulled Tomashevsky to his feet.
“No prisoners?”
Rutledge shook her head. “Sorry, Diane, Kay says no.”
“What is the meaning of this outrage?” Tomashevsky blustered, looking fearfully at Dino. “Do you know who I am?”
“We sure do, Stevie,” Rutledge answered. “We’re going somewhere nice and warm for a long talk.”
Rasheed and McDaniels walked down the path toward the group. McDaniels held what looked to be a camouflaged scoped rifle. When the two men came into Tomashevsky’s view he saw what McDaniels carried. Tomashevsky glanced up at the spot where his sniper backup had been positioned in disbelief.
“Your friend will not be joining you,” McDaniels told the man in Russian.
“I demand to be taken to the Russian consulate.” Tomashevsky tried to maintain some aspect of anger and outrage in his voice.
“Give it up Stevie,” Barrington said. “If we took you to the Russians, we’d have to take along some of the evidence as to what you’ve been doing. What kind of treatment do you think you would get from them?”
Tomashevsky continued glancing up at the spot where he had expected his backup to be firing from. He looked over at McDaniels, who was examining the rifle taken from the sniper, pointing out areas of it to Rasheed while commenting on the probable modification. The Russian returned his gaze to Barrington.
“I want to see what you have for proof. I will say nothing until I see it.”
Barrington looked over at Reskova who nodded her okay. “Fine, my partner and I will show you why it would be in your best interest to cooperate fully.”
Barrington helped the Russian along with Rutledge walking slightly back from the Russian on the other side. They guided him toward where they had parked. McDaniels put up a hand gesturing them to a stop.
“Boss, I think we better have Dino check this guy’s car over and do a perimeter search of the area around where he parked. Until Dino checks it out, I don’t think we should go near the parking area,” McDaniels suggested.
“My friend is right,” Rasheed added in support.” This man may have a backup plan in case something happened. He could have someone watching the parking lot.”
“We checked out the surrounding area pretty thoroughly,” Rutledge said, but she saw McDaniels looking at Tomashevsky intently. “What’s wrong, Colonel?”
“Something’s up. Want to make this easy on all of us, Stevie? I saw the look in your eyes when my friend was talking about the parking lot. You are not very good at this game.”
“I know nothing of what you are talking about,” the Russian replied, looking at the ground in front of him.
Reskova glanced at McDaniels and then at Dino. “Cold, did you ever see that movie with Jim Belushi, called K-9?”
McDaniels smiled in appreciation. “Oh yeah, and I see Stevie boy has seen it too.”
Tomashevsky looked at Dino with dread. It was obvious he knew of the movie. “You cannot do this in America. You…”
“What is he talking about?” Rasheed interrupted as he saw Barrington and Rutledge trying to keep from laughing aloud. “I am missing something?”
McDaniels put an arm around Rasheed’s shoulders, watching Tomashevsky every moment. “There’s this movie where a cop goes into a bar and is in the process of getting his butt kicked. His canine partner, a huge German Shepard, comes in the entrance and growls. The bar’s full of bad guys. This dog tears into them like they’re dog treats. The dog stops the attack when he has the leader up against the wall with the guy’s balls in his mouth. That’s when the cop begins interrogating the bad guy who tells the cop everything he wants to know. It just so happens there must have been a K9 movie buff in the training program Dino came from. The commands are in the manual.”
By this time Rasheed is laughing and nodding his head in enjoyment while glancing knowingly at the Russian. “I see why you are upset. I want to see this movie very much, my friends.”
“Why settle for the movie, Kay,” Reskova said, surprising her team. “Let’s make our own movie, without the camera of course.”
“You do not scare me.” Tomashevsky turned away from the agents.
Barrington stepped back from the Russian.
McDaniels barked out a command. Dino bore a screaming Tomashevsky to the ground, pinning him helplessly. The Russian tried to curl away from the dog’s snapping jaws but Dino simply shifted position and continued his assault. McDaniels then shouted something else. The Russian yelped in pain as Dino nipped at his legs until Tomashevsky moved, exposing his groin area. Tomashevsky cried out as Dino gripped the whole middle of the Russian’s pants in his jaws, shaking his catch minutely.
“Did you want to tell us something, Stevie?” McDaniels asked.
“Yes…yes…I…I… please….please get him off me.”
“Not until I hear something very informative about the parking lot. The next command I give Dino will make you a eunuch. Speak quickly.”
“There…there are explosives in my car trunk.” His voice shaking, Tomashevsky stared into Dino’s eyes with dread.
“And?” McDani
els prompted.
Dino shook the Russian’s groin area slightly, eliciting another yelp of misery.
“Dino’s getting impatient, Stevie.”
“The…the parking lot is under surveillance. They will trigger the explosives if they see me in restraints.”
“How many and where? Don’t make me ask you all this like I’m pulling teeth.”
“Two…two across the main road.”
“You covered all your bases, Stevie, I’ll give you that.”
Reskova called Dino to her. The dog reluctantly released the Russian who rocked back and forth on the ground gripping his groin area. “Can I call in our Special Ops team?”
“Not if you want Stevie to remain incommunicado,” McDaniels answered. “Those boys will have to file reports.”
Reskova gestured for McDaniels to walk away from the others. When they were out of earshot she slipped her hand into his as he turned. “What did you plan to do with the sniper?”
“Bury him a little deeper. We can have him picked up in the spring.”
“Oh boy,” Reskova whispered.
“Look Red, I kind of have my orders,” McDaniels said, squeezing her hand. “We are to take no one into custody other than the Russian. How else did you think we could pull this off and make Stevie disappear?”
“When did you talk to Aginson?”
“He called me right after you updated him on what we decided to do about Stevie. They don’t want anyone talking to Tomashevsky but us.”
“What’s the bottom line, Cold?”
“They know nothing and they want no live complications.”
“You can’t keep sticking your head onto the chopping block. If not for the media in the Mercado affair…wait a minute…you…”
“They wanted no complications in the Mercado case,” McDaniels answered the unspoken question. “We have idiots in this country who want to give our legal rights to terrorists. Aginson didn’t want to make the Mercados into the Rosenbergs. They had a baby. If they had lived, it would have screwed up your entire investigation. The press would have made them into poor misunderstood dupes. Even Dreyer was out of the loop.”
“This was all need to know and I didn’t need to know. So why tell me now?”
“I love you, Red, and you need to know. I have to go take care of a couple other loose ends. Kay and I will stay behind to tuck everyone in.”
“These people could kill you. You don’t have backup.”
“I have Kay. The sniper was using a Dragonoff. Kay is very familiar with it. He and I will go locate Stevie’s boys. Kay will have a bead on them in case I need help. I know how this seems to you with all that I’ve done and then getting hidden out in Iraq for a while. This is a rough war and getting rougher. Your team is on the front line here at home now. That’s why I ended up with your group. Think of it from Aginson’s standpoint. I’m leaving again for Iraq shortly. I pull this off and then I disappear for a while just in case anybody digs around here at Fort Marcy.”
“You weren’t kidding about us all being used, were you?”
“This war won’t be won by the sisters of the traveling pants wringing their hands and beating their breasts while screaming we can’t descend to the enemy’s level,” McDaniels said quietly. “We ain’t teaching our children to blow themselves up in restaurants and the only heads being taken from our side are the right ones.”
“You’re to take the fall for all of us?”
“Only for a little while. If I end up in prison like after the Hughes’ thing, I just have to bide my time,” McDaniels explained. “I may have to change names and hit the road for a while somewhere else where I’m needed.”
“And if they just write you off?”
McDaniels shrugged. “I know what I’m doing is right, Red. I went into this with my eyes open.”
“Senator Hokanson wasn’t just a worried influential uncle, was he?”
“I’ve told you everything I can, Hon. I trust you. I wanted you to know everything I could tell you safely. Now, Kay and I have to get to work.”
“What should the rest of us do, Mr. Mountain?”
“You guys aren’t parked anywhere near Stevie. Walk him the hell out of here and take Kay’s SUV. Give me about half an hour to locate these other clowns. I’ll call it in to you. You’ll have Kay and I between you and the bad guys. After I make sure these guys get buried where they won’t surface until we want them to, Kay and I will take Stevie’s car. Did you park in the lot with the Russian?”
“No. I parked up on the road and walked Dino in.”
“Good thinking. Give me your keys and Stevie’s.”
“What about a shovel?” Reskova handed him the two sets of keys.
“I have a couple field pack shovels in my gear bag where Kay and I were.”
Reskova turned toward the rest of the group with Dino still at her heel.
“What, no kiss?”
“Later,” Reskova called back over her shoulder. McDaniels fell in behind her with a laugh.
* * *
“I love this rifle, my friend,” Kay whispered. He and McDaniels made their way slowly to a point overlooking both sides of Chain Bridge Road.
“Keep it,” McDaniels whispered back. “I wish there had been a way for you to take a couple practice shots just in case I needed your help.”
“We will be fine. What you did to the sniper today… how do you say… made my hair stand up. In Iraq you surprised me many times but never so much as today.”
“There was some wind. It covered me a little. The ground was moist.” McDaniels halted in the dense brush. “This is as good a place as any. We have direct sight down over the parking lot and the hill on the other side of the road.”
McDaniels pointed to an area with a large stand of trees bordered by thickets. “That’s where I’d be. Set up the heat scanner. I’m betting these two henchmen ain’t the backwoods type. We may even be able to see them with just the field glasses.”
The two men quietly set up their equipment, concentrating on the area where McDaniels indicated Tomashevsky’s men would be.
“I am picking up nothing.”
“Kay, I’m getting a bad feeling about this. What have I missed?”
Rasheed turned from his screen. “I feel it too, my friend. I… hell!”
“What!”
“What if these men spotted our vehicles on the road? If…”
“Shit!” McDaniels exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “Follow me if you can!”
McDaniels, a cold aching dread lancing through him, pulled his cell-phone out as he ran rapidly through the thick underbrush. He hit Reskova’s number, rushing with all the expertise long years’ training and self-discipline could muster. His heart soared when he heard Reskova’s voice.
“Get to cover, Red! Don’t talk! Just do it!” McDaniels shouted into the phone. “I’m on my way.”
McDaniels heard Reskova relaying his orders to the others instantly.
“We’re down, Cold. Dino doesn’t like it.”
“Release him. He’ll rove around as he will and he’s a hard target. If the Russian moves put a bullet in his head. Do you understand?”
Reskova rolled toward Tomashevsky, drawing her handgun in one fluid motion. She placed the barrel hard against the Russian’s head. McDaniels heard her warn Tomashevsky.
“Move or make noise and I drill you.”
“Hold tight, Red,” McDaniels whispered. He pushed himself to move faster. “No matter what you hear, do not move.”
McDaniels heard gunshots.
“They’re close. We are down with cover. Should I blow off little pieces of this prick if the bullets get closer?”
“Let your conscience be your guide, Red.”
McDaniels glanced back, spotting Rasheed doggedly keeping pace with him. McDaniels slowed as the sounds of gunfire became louder. Stopping abruptly, McDaniels tried to pinpoint where he heard the shots coming from. Rasheed caught up to him, taking a position on McDaniel
s’ right, staying silent as he crouched at the ready near his friend. Rasheed tore out set up the heat signature gear he had, pointing in the general direction of where the shots came from. McDaniels calculated distances with his digital field binoculars from the muzzle flashes.
“I have them, Kay. Forget the equipment.” McDaniels rattled off coordinates so Rasheed could track to the spot with his own field glasses.
* * *
Rasheed picked up the sniper rifle and began sighting in as McDaniels acted as spotter, giving him digital readings. Rasheed squeezed off a round, wounding the man in the forefront. They watched the other men drag their comrade’s pain convulsed body back further into the brush cover. The firing toward Reskova’s group stopped.
“Nice shot, Kay.”
“I was aiming for his head.”
“Strange rifle, no practice, nice shot. Can you keep them where they are while I get down there?”
“If they move, you will not need to go down there,” Rasheed promised. “There are four of them, not two.”
“I know,” McDaniels acknowledged. He moved down the slope they were on. “I saw them. Call the Boss and tell her to keep still for a little while longer.”
“It will be done.” Rasheed pulled out his cell-phone while still watching the sniper’s roost. “You and I will carve the Russian up later, yes?”
“Maybe so, Kay, maybe so.”
Rasheed hit speed dial and listened as Reskova answered.
“Yeah, Kay.”
“Boss, I shot one of the scum. They have crawled into a hole. The Cold Mountain has left to dig them out of it.”
“Is there just the one left?”
“No, Boss, I saw three more besides the one I shot.”
“Three more!? The Russian… you son-of-a-bitch!”
Rasheed heard the sounds of a struggle and Tomashevsky cry out in pain. Then he heard Barrington and Rutledge trying to calm Reskova down. Rasheed continued his watch of the sniper’s position, squeezing off a round occasionally in a counterclockwise pattern around where he had seen them hide.
“I’m back, Kay. I hear your fire so you must be keeping them pinned down.”
“Absolutely, Boss. If one gets his head up too far, I will make the odds better.”
Monster Page 24
