Operation Zulu

by Ernest Dempsey

  “So, you think it’s the Director that’s behind all of this?”

  “Think about it,” Zeke urged. “Who stands to gain the most and to lose the most from all of this? Those missiles are worth billions on the black market. If they’re as powerful as we were told, those weapons will be the most sought-after item on every bad guy’s Christmas list this year. There will be a bidding war on the black market for them.”

  “And the Director will be there to cash his check.”

  “Even if that’s true,” Phoenix jumped in, “he would have nowhere to hide once he did that. He’d have to leave the country, go somewhere with no extradition laws, somewhere the United States couldn’t reach. Those places are few and far between, and usually, they’re not very nice places.”

  “Oh, I don’t know, buddy,” Zeke said in a mock-cheerful tone. “A few billion dollars can buy quite a bit of anonymity in most countries. But if he’s doing a deal with the Chinese, that’s the real issue.”

  “Deal with the Chinese?” Gary asked.

  “Yeah. What if the whole purpose of that base is to do underground arms deals with the Chinese, the Pakistanis, or even other groups?”

  “Are you serious?”

  Jessica remained oddly silent. Zeke tilted his head to the right and looked at her in the mirror. He could see the gears were turning. Her expression was one of sudden concern as if his hypothesis carried some unexpected weight.

  “That…actually, that could be true,” she said.

  Gary turned to her. Phoenix did as well, both of them skeptical of the far-fetched idea.

  “I don’t mean to be rude, but that explanation sounds incredibly unlikely,” Gary said. “Don’t get me wrong, Zeke. I appreciate your outside-the-box thinking, but do you really believe that could be happening?”

  Zeke cocked his head to the side and stared, deadpan, at Gary. “Yeah, I do.”

  Gary’s lips curled up into a tight grin. “Good enough for me, boss.”

  “Wait. What? That’s it?” Phoenix sounded incensed.

  “He makes a compelling argument.”

  “Look, I’m not saying that didn’t happen or isn’t what’s going on, but you three have to realize that if we go to Zulu and that’s not where the missiles are….”

  “We lose some time?” Zeke asked. “We end up not finding them?”

  “Yeah, all of that.”

  “Right. But every second that passes puts us farther from those missiles. We don’t have any leads. This is the only thing we have to go on.”

  “Your gut?”

  “Yeah.” Zeke glanced down at his belly and sucked it in a little. He wasn’t fat, but everyone’s tummy bulged when they sat down. His was no different, and it made him self-conscious, even among friends. Maybe it was subconsciously about the woman behind the wheel.

  “So, the fate of the free world depends on a hunch?”

  “Guys,” Jessica interrupted, “I agree with Zeke on this one. Okay. I already said that. Seriously, are you guys just doing that to hear me repeat it?”

  Phoenix looked playfully to the front. “Yeah, pretty much.”

  Gary nodded. “Yeah, it was pretty good.”

  She rolled her eyes and let out a long, exasperated exhale. “Okay, whatever. We’re going to Zulu. I hope your gut is right about this.”

  Zeke noticed her eyes shift in the mirror as if looking at his stomach. He squirmed uncomfortably.

  “Yeah, that makes all of us,” he said. “It’s there, though. I don’t know how I know that, but I feel like that base is where we’re going to find the missiles.”

  “Let’s just hope they didn’t give us fake coordinates for Zulu, you know, considering this entire mission was one big fictional production.” The second the words left Jessica’s mouth, the cabin of the SUV went silent. What she said immediately became their primary concern. There was no way to know, though, until they got there. They would merely have to accept that they were going to the right place. Otherwise, if they were wrong, they’d be walking around in the mountains for hours, maybe days, trying to locate the mysterious Zulu Base, or whatever it was.

  As daylight began to wane, the stars poked through the sky overhead, dotting it with bright, sparkling light, more brilliant than most of them had ever seen before.

  “The stars are so pretty out here,” Gary said.

  “Higher up, out in the middle of nowhere,” Phoenix said, “we’ll probably see the Milky Way. Don’t get a lot of that back home.”

  “Really?” Jessica asked, surprised. “I would think the deserts of Arizona had some of the best stargazing around. I remember seeing the stars in the Mojave Desert a few times when I was passing through. More than I’d ever seen before. Of course, off in the distance, the lights of Los Angeles mute it, but when you’re far enough away from the city, between there and Vegas, it’s incredible.”

  Zeke chuckled to himself as his friend tried to understand what she’d just said.

  “Arizona?” Phoenix asked.

  “Yeah. Aren’t you from Arizona?”

  Phoenix pressed his lips together and didn’t respond.

  “You know, buddy,” Zeke chimed in, “you could always go by your middle name.”

  “And you know I hate my middle name.”

  “I don’t get it,” Jessica said.

  “He’s not from Arizona. He’s from Georgia.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought since—”

  “It’s fine. Happens to me all the time. All. The. Time. Let’s just stay focused. I don’t want to get picked off by a sniper while we’re talking about where I’m from.”

  Everyone settled into an uncomfortable silence as they scanned the hills, slopes, and peaks for any sign of trouble. This drive was going to be anything but relaxing.

  21

  It was dark by the time the SUV reached the waypoint on the map. The group of four had foregone wasting time inspecting the site where the Alpha truck had gone missing, instead of heading directly for Zulu.

  The journey took nearly four hours of careful driving, and Jessica navigated the precarious mountain roads with deft precision. Zeke was glad someone else was driving. The roads were narrow, covered in snow, and provided almost no barrier along the edge to keep them from tumbling over. One wrong slip of the tires and they would roll thousands of feet down a mountain. There were a couple of spots where the slopes turned into sheer drop-offs that would allow for a quicker, more terrifying death were they to go over.

  As the truck came around a bend, Jessica slowed the vehicle to a crawl, not that it took much to do that. They’d basically been forced to go at a snail’s pace almost the entire time.

  She came to a complete stop on a wide part of the road where there was a couple of extra feet on the shoulder. Although leaving room for others to pass was a bit redundant, they hadn’t seen another vehicle on the mountain road throughout the entire drive. Back home in the US, a road under these conditions would’ve been closed. In hindsight, none of them probably knew how close to death they actually were.

  Now, however, they were back down at a lower elevation. They were still in the mountains, but not at such a dangerous level. Snow blanketed the ground on the slope surrounding them, a good indicator they were still several thousand feet above sea level, despite being in a valley.

  The road had wound its way down into a narrow gorge where a stream ran through at the bottom. Ice lined the edges of the little river. Perhaps in a week, it would be frozen solid. There were no trees, and no other signs of life, though there were probably some higher-elevation animals lurking nearby—snow leopards, goats, sheep, that sort of thing.

  Everyone in the SUV looked at the digital map in the console, then up through the windshield at the spot where the base was supposed to be. All hearts sank at the same time as they realized what they were looking at—nothing. The road curved around the bend, straightened for about an eighth of a mile, then turned to the right and continued around until it started going up
the next mountain on the other side of the valley.

  Zeke felt the worst of all. Before anyone else said anything, he started working on his apology to the group. He’d been wrong. There was no base here, no sign of a military installation of any kind. He felt his throat tightening as guilt seeped into his mind.

  He’d screwed up. Now those missiles were going to be in the hands of terrorists and it was all his fault. Although Jessica had agreed with him, so part of it was on her. That brought little comfort, though, since now she would go back to hating him if she’d ever stopped.

  He was about to issue his apology when they noticed a sliver of light appear through a crack in the mountain.

  “Look,” Gary said, pointing to the hillside directly in front of them. The dark shadow of the mountain was probably a few hundred yards off the road. A flat area led to it, but in the poor light, it was difficult to see what was there. At first, they had believed there was nothing. As the crack in the mountain widened, however, the four Americans realized that there was not only a massive opening in the side of the hill, but the light from it illuminated tents, guard shacks, and a gate in the fence that surrounded the area. The fence was covered in camouflage netting, and as more light escaped from the cave entrance, they could see the same concealment strategy had been used on the entire camp.

  Small figures emerged from the guard shacks near the gate. Headlights also appeared from inside the mountain and a pair of SUVs rolled out, their lamps burning bright against the encompassing darkness.

  “That’s it,” Jessica said. “That has to be it.”

  Zeke felt an overwhelming sense of relief wash over him. That was lucky, he thought. Even though he believed his reasoning about Zulu was sound, he still wasn’t 100 percent sure.

  “What’s the plan to get in?” Phoenix asked.

  “We’re going to drive up and tell them who we are,” she said plainly.

  “What?”

  “Yeah! Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Gary added. “I mean, if this is all one big shady deal going down, they’ll shoot us on sight.”

  “Maybe,” Jessica said. “But I don’t see another way in. Besides, the guards will have already seen our headlights. There’s no going back now. And we’re certainly not going to keep going. I have no interest in trying to cross the Chinese border, which according to the map, is just over that next mountain.”

  “Okay,” Phoenix relented, a little too easily. “Whatever. I just don’t feel like dying if this really is some kind of black market Chinese trading post.”

  “We’ll be fine,” Zeke said, again trying to take Jessica’s side. “Remember, we’re secret agents, buddy. Spies. We’re made for this.”

  “We’re decoys, Zeke. That means they think we’re not made for this.”

  “Well, I guess we have to show them they’re wrong. We’re the only hope of getting those missiles back. We didn’t come this far to turn back now.”

  He ended his pep talk and caught what he thought might have been a look of admiration in Agent Benson’s eye, but she quickly turned back to the road ahead, realizing he’d spotted her looking at him.

  She stepped on the gas and the SUV rolled forward.

  They drove around the bend and reached a point in the apex of the curve where a pair of tracks ran off the road and into the dirt and snow. The tracks would have been easy enough to miss had the group not been looking for the entrance. The giant door into the mountain stronghold was closing and the light pouring out of it diminished by the second.

  Jessica flipped on her blinker and turned onto the trail.

  “Really?” Zeke asked. “You’re using your blinker out here?”

  “It’s always proper to use your turn signal.”

  Zeke turned his head all the way around and looked back down the road. He spun around again, still wearing the same befuddled look. “But…there’s no one else out here, not on the road anyway.”

  She slammed on the brakes and he rocked forward. She immediately stepped on the gas again to send him rocking backward. His head hit the headrest with a thump, nearly dazing him.

  “Sorry, what was that?” she said dryly.

  He rubbed the back of his skull and winced. “Yeah, my bad. You keep driving. I’ll shut up.”

  “Thank you.”

  She steered the truck down the mostly straight path. Within twenty seconds of leaving the road behind, it turned to the right and then the left, winding behind outcroppings of enormous rocks. It was then that the occupants of the SUV realized that their previous position on the road had given them a view of the base’s entrance that they couldn’t get from down here on level ground. The rocks jutting up from the earth provided an excellent barrier to keep casual travelers from realizing what was back there.

  Once the SUV had navigated the maze of outcroppings, the road stretched out straight again, now leading directly toward the two guard shacks and the fenced entrance to the base. Behind the closed gate were the two trucks they’d seen before, although now it was difficult to make out the vehicle’s bodies. Their headlights burned brightly and nearly blinded Jessica as she drove toward the base.

  She took her foot off the gas and feathered the brakes as they neared the guardhouses. The shack doors opened at the same time and two armed guards stepped out, each carrying M4 carbine rifles slung over their shoulders. The men held the weapons at an angle at waist level. They both stepped forward in what appeared to be a standard form of greeting to strangers or intruders approaching the gate.

  The man on the left held up his left hand while still clutching the rifle with his right, finger resting on the trigger. There was no question that, if provoked, he could extend the weapon toward the threat and open fire with one hand.

  Jessica rolled down her window and a cold blast of air shot in through the opening, instantly replacing the warm air in the truck’s cabin. Within seconds, the comfort they’d felt before was a distant memory. The temperatures this high up in the mountains were significantly colder than where they’d been before. The group had experienced the chill a couple of times when stopping to answer the call of nature, but that was hours ago and the temperatures at night plummeted much quicker without any source of heat from the sky.

  Both guards approached the SUV as Jessica stopped short of the gate. She shifted the vehicle into park and waited, hanging her left arm casually out the window as if she was sitting in a fast food drive-thru.

  “This is a restricted area, ma’am.” The soldier spoke in a gruff, authoritative tone. There was no question he was a tough guy, and also probably not too happy about his current posting. This place was about as remote as it could get, and that was on top of it being cold. Jessica imagined these guys were longing for a sunny beach right about now, so she didn’t take offense to his aggressive and borderline rude greeting.

  “Yes, sir. I’m aware of that.” She flipped open her wallet to show her ID. She’d expected that necessity before they reached the gate and went to the trouble of fishing it out of the center console so it wouldn’t spook the guards. There was nothing cops or security guys liked less than a driver reaching into the unknown depths of their vehicle. That raised all kinds of red flags.

  He leaned forward, keeping his feet and hips back a little. It was a defensive gesture. This guy wasn’t taking any chances.

  Gary watched from his side of the vehicle with nervous apprehension. He didn’t want to get shot and the guard was casually letting the barrel of his weapon drift back and forth, pointing at the passenger door.

  The first guard continued to analyze her identification for much longer than it should have taken. She let out a visible sigh, clearly not caring if it gave off the wrong impression. They were either going to let the SUV pass or shoot them dead. Everyone in the vehicle was thinking that exact same thing. It did nothing to settle raging nerves.

  The guard’s eyes lifted and met Jessica’s. “I’ll be right back, ma’am. Please hold here.”

  Jessica nodded
and rolled up the window. The guard turned and walked back toward his shack.

  “What are they doing?” Gary asked.

  “Calling their superiors,” Phoenix answered before the other two could.

  “Right,” Jessica agreed. “He’s going to check to make sure I am who I…why don’t you know this?”

  Gary suddenly looked like a deer in the headlights. “I…yeah, I guess I knew that.”

  “Then why did you ask?” Zeke arched an eyebrow and made sure Gary saw it.

  “Of course I knew, guys. I was just making sure. That’s all.”

  “Mmhmm.”

  “No, really. I’m serious. I knew what he was doing.”

  The guard appeared through the door of the shack and nodded to the other one. The second guard marched back to his post and disappeared through the door. A moment later the gate began to open.

  It rolled slowly to the side, bouncing along as the tires hit bumps on the surface. When the gate was completely open, the guards motioned Jessica through, and she pulled up next to him.

  He handed her identification back to her.

  “Thank you, sir,” she said.

  “You’re welcome.” He turned and pointed to the two trucks on the other side of the fence. They were turning around, backing up to get out of the SUV’s way. “That truck on the left is going to lead you into the base. The other will follow.”

  “Those trucks came out here to lead us in?” Gary asked. “How did you know?”

  “We saw you approaching twenty minutes ago.” The guard offered no other explanation and stepped back to let them continue.

  Jessica nodded and rolled up her window, accelerating forward at a slow and steady pace.

  “How did they know?” Gary pressed her.

  “I assume they have sensors and cameras in the mountain passes. Only explanation.”

  “Sites like this one usually have perimeter alert systems in place,” Phoenix added. “From what I’ve heard.”

  Zeke turned to his friend. “I am both impressed and concerned that you know that.”