“What do you think he meant by that?” Reskova asked as Rasheed turned the SUV around and headed back to the access road.
“I believe the Cold Mountain will want to know more about how this operation was conducted and how many were in on the specifics.”
“You don’t think one of our own…”
“Boss,” Rasheed held up a hand, “I only think we should not communicate openly over the same channel as the rest unless it has to do solely with your rescue project. I will be watching our backs. In my country we could trust no one. The men who fought with us could be turned from one day to the next because of threats to their loved ones. The recruits still die on a daily basis over there. I pray the elections turn things around.”
“It may be the same here,” Rasheed continued. “The Russians or these terrorist customers of theirs could have someone’s whole family held hostage. I will watch for something out of place. I became very proficient at it when Cold and I were in Iraq.”
“Did you kill them?” Reskova asked hesitantly, petting Dino, as she watched their destination in the windshield draw nearer.
Rasheed glanced back with a smile and then turned forward again. “We saved many, but not all. Betrayal, no matter what the reason, changes things forever.”
A soldier waved Rasheed over to where a circle of vehicles acted as a command center. Reskova saw Dreyer detach himself from the group near the vehicles and jog over to Rasheed’s SUV. Rasheed popped open Reskova’s door remotely, allowing her a chance to get out of the vehicle with Dino. Rasheed then went straight to the SUV’s rear doors. He extracted the Dragunov sniper rifle. Rasheed had already changed over the regular scope to night vision. They could hear screams of agony from the wounded men trapped in the minefield. Dino whined nervously as he picked up the strange scents in the air of blood, fear, and desperation.
“Can you do this, Diane?” Dreyer asked as he met her. “Clearing a way in will be a nightmare.”
“Just give me enough flares to mark my way. How many do you have trapped in there?”
“Two eight man teams, including Pete Donaldson - two are dead for sure.”
“Are they spread out all around the warehouse?” Reskova followed Dreyer toward the minefield.
“No. There are two small doors on the front of the warehouse. Each team was to secure its own entrance.”
The sounds of the wounded were horrific. Rasheed hurried up next to Reskova, the sniper rifle slung on his right shoulder.
“Boss, I see the two groups you will be rescuing. I will find a spot to be useful. Remember, talk only of the rescue. If I say down, get down.”
“I will, Kay.”
Rasheed jogged by Dreyer toward a huge equipment van to the far right of the other vehicles and people. He scrambled up on the van’s roof and began setting up his tripod. Once he had sighted in the warehouse and the minefield area, Rasheed took out his night-vision goggles. He systematically scanned not only where Reskova was to begin, but the entire encampment. Reskova returned Rasheed’s ready gesture.
Dreyer handed Reskova a pair of night-vision goggles and a bundle of small florescent flags. “We can see these clearly. They won’t screw up the goggles. I don’t like having Rasheed with a sniper rifle at my back.”
“Too bad.” Reskova flinched at the screams of the wounded. “Don’t do anything, Jim, until I see how Dino reacts in there. For God’s sake, can’t you throw in some morphine kits?”
“It’s too far. We had special minesweeping equipment flown in. They’ve done something to disguise the mines. Whatever it is makes them undetectable with the gear we brought in. The first guy who tried to clear a way in died.”
Reskova grimaced, pulling on her night vision gear. “I’ll let you know when to have the medics follow me in. Do you know where the field begins from here?”
Dreyer shook his head in the negative. “Sorry.”
Without another word Reskova turned and leaned down to whisper urgently in Dino’s ear. The dog immediately began moving forward in the direction of the group with the most casualties, allowing Reskova to guide him. Dino hugged the ground, moving forward only when he had cleared the area in front of him in a wide semicircle. Reskova marked the cleared area with the specially coated flags. Dino suddenly barked, shying away from the direction he had been heading. Diane petted and complimented him. She quietly repeated the command McDaniels had explained to her would keep Dino averting away from any explosives he found.
Reskova tugged the dog a little to the side, urging him again forward after marking the hot spot. Dino resumed his pattern with Reskova trying to blot out the sounds of the men in the minefield. Her heart thundered in her chest each time Dino exposed another mine. When she was sure Dino could detect the mines, she called over her headset for Dreyer to send the medical teams in after her.
* * *
Rasheed watched Reskova’s progress, alternately moving his line of sight between her and the warehouse. He could detect no movement around the solidly prefabricated steel walled warehouse. Rasheed scanned continuously for movement on the roof or at the corners of the building. The three windowed areas appeared to be nearly thirty feet from the ground. Rasheed saw the green glow of night vision goggles through the window area directly over the soldiers Reskova and Dino moved toward. The lower edge of the window opened slowly outward.
Rasheed looked around the encampment where he had seen other snipers set up with weapons trained toward the warehouse. To Rasheed’s trained eye they were unaware of the movement at the window. He slipped into position, training his weapon on the spot he had seen the green glow appear for a moment.
Chapter 27
Traitor
Inside the warehouse, six men not three were working in pairs around the building’s inner area. One team carefully unpacked the warheads they had claimed to already have prepped for firing. They had draped a tarp over their project so no light would show within the warehouse. Another team had set up an M60 machine gun, poised to fire at the two entrances. A third team worked along the metal scaffolding under the window located above the door to the right of the warehouse.
One man glanced every few minutes out the window while the other cranked the window open inch by inch without a sound. The man next to him lined grenades up in between them. Their comrades manning the M60 machine gun watched the men on the scaffolding nervously.
“They must hurry,” the bearded man controlling the machine gun whispered to the man next to him in Arabic. “The grenades will attract all the attention.”
“Will the others have the launchers ready in time? That is what worries me. We will escape easily if they fire the missiles.”
“You are right, Hakim. Quickly, go and check on their progress. If they are almost ready we can move the machine gun to the tunnel entrance.”
Hakim nodded and jogged over to where the third team worked on assembling the warheads. He ducked under the tarp, startling the two workers who immediately reached for their weapons. When they saw who it was, blinking at the bright light under the tarp, one of the men gestured angrily at Hakim.
“Get back to your post! I have just been in contact with our informer. All is well.”
“Gohar sent me,” Hakim argued. “He wants to know when you will be ready so we can move the machine gun to the tunnel.”
“Stay at your post, fool! You will have plenty of time to move while we climb up the scaffolding and ready the launchers. Go!”
Hakim ducked quickly out into the darkened warehouse, his eyes adjusting slowly to the darkness. He listened to the soldiers outside crying out in agony, smiling because he knew they would soon be dead. Finally, Hakim jogged to where Gohar still sat behind the machine gun, although he was now resting his head on the gun. Hakim sat down next to him and sighed.
“Yusuf told me we are to stay at our posts,” Hakim said, looking over at his friend.
Gohar stared at him through unseeing eyes. It was only then Hakim saw the huge gash in Gohar’
s neck, the dead man’s head still attached to his neck by strands of flesh. Hakim gasped in shock, feeling a thin coldness at his own neck. A moment later, Hakim felt nothing ever again. McDaniels propped the still twitching Hakim against his friend.
* * *
Rasheed watched the window intently. When the green glow appeared at the window again, Rasheed squeezed off a round. Rasheed saw another man pop up and he fired again, sure he had hit them both. Dreyer was yelling at him in his earpiece but Rasheed kept his eyes on the window. Machine gun fire erupted briefly inside the warehouse as floodlights were turned on the area. Rasheed saw the medical team had reached the first group. Reskova and Dino were halfway between the first and second group. He could see her hand shaking. She looked only at the ground directly in front of her as the dog worked. Rasheed grinned, knowing McDaniels had chosen well. This was a woman to be reckoned with. McDaniels voice spoke gruffly in his ear then, ordering silence on the line.
“Stand down,” McDaniels said authoritatively. “The warehouse is secure. Concentrate on getting the men out. I repeat: the warehouse is secure.”
Rasheed heard cheers from around the parked vehicles. He turned his attention to the people within his sight. Although still on guard, weapons ready, many of the teams in place began hurrying toward the marked beginning of the minefield, hoping to assist the medical teams bringing out casualties. It was then Rasheed spotted a dark haired woman alone near one of the Special Ops vehicles. When Rasheed sighted in on her with his night vision scope he could see she was speaking urgently into a cell-phone. He quickly packed up his rifle and gear. Slipping down from the roof of the van, Rasheed went just over ten yards back and then hurried quietly toward where the woman stood.
“I told you, nothing has happened,” the woman said in a hushed voice, looking around her for anyone close by. “Someone just claimed the warehouse is secure. By the looks of it, it is.”
“I did exactly as you asked,” the woman whispered into the phone after listening for a moment. “I kept your men inside informed every moment. Something…”
It was only then the woman felt the barrel of a gun against her temple. Rasheed reached around her, grabbing the phone from her hand. He listened to a voice speaking harshly in a heavy Russian accent. Rasheed gave it back to the now wincing woman, making a cutoff gesture to her and pointing at the phone. She lifted the phone quickly and whispered that Dreyer was coming toward her. She acknowledged something the man said before ending the call.
Rasheed noticed the woman’s hand moving toward her back. He smashed her across the head with the barrel of his Glock 9mm. She collapsed to the ground, groaning, and holding her face with both hands. Rasheed roughly turned her to the side. He confiscated a holstered sidearm inside the waistband of her pants.
“Mr. Dreyer,” Rasheed said into his headset and listened for acknowledgement. “Come quickly back to the Special Ops van at the center of…”
“Now what, Rasheed?” Dreyer asked angrily. “I…”
“I have a woman under guard here who was in contact with the enemy,” Rasheed interrupted. “She will have a call back number to be traced if we hurry.”
“Do it, Jim,” McDaniels’ voice ordered. “Kay, stay with this until Diane and I can get to you. Don’t let her out of your sight.”
“Acknowledged.” Rasheed heard Dreyer cursing in the background.
The woman was sobbing in pain as Dreyer ran up next to Rasheed. He went to his knees next to her in shocked surprise.
“Deb, what the hell…”
“I…I’m sor…sorry, Jim, they have my two kids…I…”
When she started crying, Dreyer took the cell-phone from her gently. By then, two of his men were standing near the group, eyeing Rasheed doubtfully. Dreyer handed the phone to the man nearest him.
“Get on the last call made to this phone. Find out where it originated, Chet,” Dreyer ordered. “Hurry. Go with him, Deke.”
The two men left without a word, running toward the surveillance van. Dreyer helped the woman to her feet. He opened the Special Ops equipment van. Inside the lighted compartment after she was seated, Dreyer knelt next to her. Rasheed looked for and found a first aid kit. He made up a dressing with adhesive tape and antibiotic cream, pressing it to the woman’s head wound which had been bleeding profusely. The woman continued sobbing she was sorry.
“Now Deb,” Dreyer urged, “I can’t do anything for you unless you give me the story behind what’s happened. We’re back tracing the call. You have to tell me everything and quickly.”
“I…I answered my door just after the C.A.I.R. bust. Someone zapped me with a stun gun, and when I woke up my two kids were gone… Jim, you know me… I’m a single mom,” the woman Dryer called Deb began sobbing again. “I…I didn’t know what to do.”
As Dreyer nodded in sympathy, Rasheed looked longingly in the direction of the warehouse, hoping McDaniels and Reskova would come soon.
* * *
At the time Rasheed spotted the woman, McDaniels called out to Reskova from only twenty feet beyond where she knelt next to one of the wounded special ops men who was being loaded on a stretcher. She looked over at him in the harsh glare of the flood lights now making the area in front of the warehouse into daylight. The medical teams following her had already cleared the first site and were now doing emergency triage at the second site. Reskova saw McDaniels halfway toward her along the cleared path. She motioned him forward, holding tight to Dino.
“Hey, Red.” McDaniels knelt next to Dino. “Nice work. God, I’m glad to see you.”
Reskova had tears streaming down her cheeks. She brushed them away absently. She gave up Dino’s leash to McDaniels. He put his arm around her.
“C’mon, we can’t do anymore here but get in their way.”
“Did you get those bastards?” Reskova allowed McDaniels to draw her away from the area.
“They were in the middle of lobbing grenades down on you folks when Kay blew the ones responsible away. I took care of the rest. There wasn’t any time for prisoners. They’d almost assembled the bio-warheads for their launchers. They planned on killing everyone here before escaping out of the area in the confusion. I can’t figure how the hell they…”
It was then McDaniels heard Rasheed call for Dreyer. After telling Dreyer to follow Rasheed’s directions, McDaniels looked over at a now seething Reskova. “I guess that answers that… hey, Red… where…”
Reskova, who had followed the conversation on her own headset, doubled her speed out of the mine area. McDaniels carefully kept pace, bringing Dino along. He was nearly abreast of her as they cleared the last flag. The area past where the minefield ended was an almost chaotic jumble of busy medical teams and wounded Special Ops men. Helicopters flew out the first of the wounded. Reskova bypassed everything, angling directly for the equipment van.
* * *
“This woman is lying, Sir.” Rasheed watched Dreyer put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Dreyer snapped angrily as the woman’s head whipped up toward Rasheed. She stared at him openmouthed.
“She is working with the enemy, Sir,” Rasheed stated. “I…”
The door to the van burst open. Reskova rushed in, followed closely by McDaniels and Dino. Reskova spotted the woman and ran at her. Before Dreyer could jump between them Reskova kicked her in the face, sending the woman flying backwards off her stool. Dreyer intercepted Reskova, grabbing her before she could dive on top of her prey.
“Reskova!” Dreyer screamed in her face.
“I’m going to kill that fucking bitch,” Reskova whispered menacingly, twisting violently in Dreyer’s grip as she reached for the 9mm automatic holstered in her waistband. “Best get out of my way, Jim.”
As the fallen woman tried to crawl groggily toward the back of the van, McDaniels put a gentle hand on Reskova’s arm.
“Easy, Red, let’s find out what she knows.” McDaniels gestured at Rasheed who went
over between the woman and Reskova to watch their prisoner.
“What the fuck’s the matter with you, Reskova!? Have you lost your mind?”
Reskova ran a hand through her hair wearily. “We’d all be dead if she had her way. Those body-bags out there are her doing. I knew those guys. Wake up, you stupid son-of-a-bitch and use your head!”
“They’ve got her kids. She…”
“Her kids, my ass!” Reskova yelled back. “What, you think they read our minds and brought her into this shit on a whim? She’s into this up to her eyeballs. Give me five minutes with her. I’ll have the bitch…”
“That’s enough, Diane,” Dreyer warned. “What possible motive would she…”
“Money,” Reskova cut him off, trying to pull free of McDaniels’ iron grip. “The greedy traitorous whore sold us out for money. There are four good men bagged in pieces out there, still missing parts of their anatomy, and others maimed for life.”
Dreyer turned toward the woman, who leaned against the inside of the van watching the exchange fearfully. Reskova pulled on Dreyer’s arm.
“There’s no way she could have known about the Special Ops mission at her level in your office. The only reason those guys were still in the warehouse was she didn’t get word in time. If…wait a minute…you two are sleeping together. You fucking bitch - you’re sleeping with this idiot. That’s the only…”
Dreyer swung his left fist at Reskova, only to have it intercepted in mid swing as if it had been seized in a force field. McDaniels shook Dreyer’s engulfed fist gently, shaking his head at the stricken Assistant Director.
“Put this back down at your side, Jim.” He released Dreyer’s hand. “Kay, how much of her story do you think is true?”
“Very little.” Rasheed kept his eyes on the prisoner as Dreyer backed away, holding his arm. “It is as the Boss says - she is in it up to her eyeballs. She did not appear to be talking to the enemy like a frightened mother, but as a co-conspirator.”
“How much were those men’s lives worth, Dillon?” Reskova asked coldly, addressing the woman by her last name.
Monster Page 28
