“Give three of them to me. Here, Carlos. Your boys’ll need ’em.”
“Thanks, Jack,” said Rodriguez. “Gargrave, take these two sets to my guys on the other side of the house.”
“Right you are, sir.”Gargrave melted away.
Rodriguez slipped the goggle straps over his head and got them adjusted properly. Billy adjusted his set.
Jack could see Billy as clear as day.
“You have this kind of shit in your Game Room?” said Billy.
“My Gun Room. I used to be a SEAL. I got enough stuff in there to put down a small uprising,” said Jack. “Any sign?”
“Nope. Nothing. You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”
“I’m thinking they’re after the President and just found out he’s not in his God damn bed.”
“What do you think they’ll do?” Billy asked.
“What do I think? You’re Secret Service, you tell me.”
Jack saw a flashlight wobbling toward them, but it was coming from the north, not the west where all the action was around Flagler Hall. Billy saw it too and shifted on his knees, raising his weapon in the direction of the light. Jack grabbed his arm.
“They won’t be using flashlights, Billy.” He called out: “Who goes? Who goes or we shoot?!”
“It’s me, Jack! It’s me! Tony Verges!”
“Billy, he’s my neighbor!” To Tony: “Turn off the light, Tony, follow my voice!”
Tony was beside them in less than fifteen seconds, the portly man breathing heavily.
“The explosion woke me up. People are coming out of their houses. Thought I’d come to you first. What’s going on?”
“We don’t know. They’re not our people. They killed two snipers on the roof—we talked to the third one—and they blew up the Secret Service buildings so we don’t have communication.”
“Where’s the President?”
“He’s here with me. We were playing poker with Dumaine.”
“Jesus Christ,” whispered Verges. “What a mess.”
Billy touched his earpiece.
“Got it. Come up.” He turned to Jack. “Carlos is coming up.”
Jack turned around and saw Rodriguez very clearly, his image tinted green by the night-vision goggles. He came up to them in a low running crouch, breathing heavily.
“Carlos, this is Tony Verges, my neighbor. He’s a good shot. I’ll give him a weapon.”
“Yes, I know Mr. Verges. Okay, listen up: there’s no activity on the north or east sides. I’m sure whatever comes will be from this side, since we know they’re over to our west by Flagler Hall.”
“Yeah,” said Billy.
“Jack, I’m having George come up here with me and Billy. John’ll watch the east and north sides. You go back and make sure your dad and the others are organized. You guys figured out what’s going on, right?”
“We figured they were after Dad,” said Jack, “found out he’s not in bed and might go looking for him.”
Rodriguez nodded.
“Yeah, but we got our lights out fast. We’ll just hunker down and wait. Wait for help. Far as they know, he could be anywhere. No way they’d know he was over here.”
* * *
CHAPTER 97
“He’s got to be over at the son’s house, Seyed, he’s got to be,” Shahzad told his No. 2.
“We started searching the other rooms!”
Shahzad shook his head.
“Too many rooms, my friend. We can’t be here all night. He’s not here.”
They were having a very quick meeting inside the house to determine their next move. Any minute, the two rented helicopters would come sweeping in to take them out of the target area.
They moved outside onto the gravel driveway where his commandos had secured the area. People awakened by the RPG blasts were starting to walk toward the fireball across the golf course. Shahzad ordered his men to fire at them. This action sent the curious residents scattering for their lives. They wouldn’t come near the place until police arrived. Surely, calls to 911 had already gone in. Ambulances, police and fire trucks were already en route and could be expected to arrive within five minutes, just about the time Shahzad’s helicopters were due. And while there was no problem keeping these elements at bay, they would complicate the situation as they made the move to retreat into the helicopters. Even city cops have shotguns and heavy-duty arms that can disable a chopper with a lucky shot. Shahzad had promised the Supreme Leader to get his men off St. Clair Island.
The two or three dozen agents and soldiers patrolling the seawalls had rushed toward the scene, as expected, but Shahzad’s men were cutting them down almost as fast as they came into view.
“What’s your order?” Gilani wanted to know.
“The son’s house is over there,” Shahzad pointed, “just beyond those trees. The lights are off now. Remember we saw lights from the boat?”
“Yes.”
“Came from his house. Now dark. We have to go.”
In the distance, they heard the rotors of the Sikorsky S-76 helicopters heading toward them.
“We can’t!” said an alarmed Gilani.
“We’ve come too far, my friend,” said Shahzad. “I’ll take six men, be back in ten minutes. Hold everything for me.”
“But—”
Before Gilani could protest, Shahzad selected six men, pointed out the objective across the green, gave his orders to kill everyone in every room of that house, then return to board the choppers about to land.
“This will be our last action on this island,” he announced. “Now, let’s move!”
And they all bolted across the No. 16 green toward the son’s house.
* * *
CHAPTER 98
Jack ran back to the patio under the awning off the Game Room, calling out ahead of him.
“It’s me! Jack! Jack and Tony Verges!”
“You okay?” said his dad.
“Jack?” Francesca called out.
“Gargrave, light a candle, something for a little ambient light, very low.”
“Yes, sir.”
“We’ve got people out there, so we can have a little light in here. They have the goggles.”
Once Gargrave got a couple of candles going on the far side of the Game Room, everybody could see everybody else, but just barely.
“Okay. Everybody here knows Tony Verges, right? Gargrave, give Tony a machine pistol. He knows how to use it. Everybody all right?”
Jack surveyed the scene: there was his dad, Verges, Francesca, Dumaine, Harcourt and Gargrave, all carrying heavy arms except Dumaine, who had a pistol that he didn’t really know how to use.
“What’s the situation, Jack?” asked his dad.
“Definitely an enemy attack of some kind, obviously intended to take you out, Dad. They got all the Secret Service personnel in the two bungalows, and two of three snipers on the roof. Don’t know how many died inside the house.”
“My girls!” Dumaine called out.
“They’re in the servants’ quarters,” said the President.
“That’s in the building behind the main hall, so maybe they’re safe,” said Francesca.
“All right, we’ve got to get organized in case they get through the guys outside.”
Jack felt the adrenalin rush through his body, a feeling that in other circumstances would have been exhilarating. He felt like he was back in action with the SEALs. But of course—he wasn’t.
“Okay, everybody, here’s what we do,” and he began to deploy his people. “Tim, you get down on the dock and use the higher part of the seawall for cover. Tony, you get behind those planters. Dad, you get behind that wall out on the patio. Gargrave, you stand back in the center, cover eveybody. Francesca, you stay in the Game Room and back up Dad. I’m the only one with the night-vision goggles, so I’ll get out up front and give you shooting orders when the time comes. We don’t want to hit any of our Secret Service agents by accident. Do not fire until you get the word from me!”
> “Son,” said the President, “you’d have made a pretty good Commander-in-Chief.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Jack felt naked without an earpiece. It was vital to be able to communicate with Rodriguez, but he didn’t have the equipment. He went out front to the edge of the patio where it met the grass, then moved out to the tree line where he’d left Billy and Carlos.
“Comin’ up, Carlos!” he called out quietly.
“Come up.”
“Any movement?” he said as he crouched behind them.
“Yes,” said Billy. “You see ’em, Carlos?”
“Yeah—six, seven, maybe eight—crossing the 16th green. Just heard from Pigeon 3 on the roof. He’s going to hit them as they reach the middle of the green.”
Jack looked over their shoulder. He could just now pick them out as well, dark figures, not crawling, but rushing headlong across the green directly towards his house.
He couldn’t figure out how, but they knew exactly where they were going.
Carlos was talking into his Motorola.
“John, get your ass up here with us. They’re coming from the west across the 16th green!”
To get additional cover, Billy crawled over to a tree next to the one they’d all been hiding behind.
“How you want to play this, Carlos?” asked Jack.
“Well…”
* * *
Pigeon 3, crouching behind one of over ten chimneys that rose on Flagler Hall’s roof, saw the commandos start off across No. 16 green and talked into his radio.
“Eagle One, Pigeon 3. Preparing to fire when they reach the middle.”
* * *
As Shahzad and his men hustled at double time across the 16th green, he felt confident that he could reach the son’s house, take out whoever was there and still get back in time to board the choppers. As his men moved ahead of him, he slowed down just a bit so he could look over his shoulder at the two helicopters making their approach. He also heard sirens in the distance. These would be from the fire trucks and police cruisers heading over the narrow bridge onto the island.
But Shahzad was shocked when the man just ahead of him and to his left took a burst of gunfire from the back, and then doubly surprised when his unit started taking fire from the trees separating him from the son’s house.
Withering fire from close-combat, high-powered weapons.
And you could hear these shots! Rat-tat-tat. No silencers.
All his men hit the turf and rolled out of the way.
Shahzad was on his side, looking at the roof of Flagler Hall. A sharpshooter on the roof! One they hadn’t got earlier. He could see the flashes of light bursting from the shooter’s muzzle. He also saw his men by the house begin offering cover fire from the ground. The sharpshooter moved for cover behind a chimney. Galini would keep him pinned down, now that they knew he was there. Still, he might do some damage to his helicopters when they took off.
Shahzad looked back to the trees. Fire came from four or five weapons, the shooters protected by tree trunks.
The heightened sound of the Sikorsky S-76 rotors intruded on his fast-racing thoughts as the choppers landed.
Shahzad looked to the edge of the green, but not the edge where the trees were, but the edge fronting on the southwest side of the island. There was a dock there that ran down from Flagler Hall to the son’s house. There was a deck that ran low, below the seawall but above the water.
If he could just get…
He heard the rush of boots behind him, turned and saw Gilani racing towards him with ten men, weapons blazing. All Shahzad’s men were on their bellies, so the men behind him coming in as reinforcements provided covering fire for them. He saw the shooting from behind the trees stop as the shooters took cover against this new onslaught.
Gilani slid to the ground on his belly next to Shahzad.
“Let it go, Reza. The choppers are here.”
“I know.”
“You can’t sacrifice all the men. You promised the Supreme Leader.”
“Fuck the Supreme Leader!” He paused a split second. “You’re right, Seyed. What am I thinking? We leave.”
He called out to his men to lay down covering fire and fall back to the choppers.
* * *
CHAPTER 99
Jack couldn’t believe it—they were falling back! The sons of bitches were falling back! Jack stood up, threw another clip into his P90 and took stock. He looked to his left and saw that Billy had been hit, was moaning in pain as he grabbed his leg. Carlos, John and George had moved out to pursue the attackers as they made a hasty retreat to the two choppers still landing on the expansive lawn at the edge of the gravel driveway fronting Flagler Hall.
He looked over his shoulder and saw his dad, Verges, Harcourt and Gargrave move out from their covering positions and up to the tree line.
“All right, everybody,” the President called out. “Open fire!”
They all opened fire against the retreating commandos.
Jack raised his FN P90 and began firing along with them.
* * *
Gilani’s second unit in front of Flagler Hall had done a good job keeping the sharpshooter on the roof from causing any more damage to Shahzad’s men. And they’d been able to keep him from firing into the open-doored S-76s as they landed. The men were holding up well against the onslaught of agents and soldiers who’d come away from the seawalls and were giving them fire, but it was sporadic.
As he raced for the choppers, Gilani could see red, blue and white flashing lights through the tree-line—police and fire units responding to urgent 911 calls.
Gilani ran for his life and leapt into the open door of the first S-76, rolling over once and then regaining his balance. He brought his weapon up and fired up to the roof to keep the sharpshooter there from firing on the helicopters. He saw Shahzad and the last two of his men jump into the other chopper and then Gilani gave the signal to the pilot to lift off.
Both choppers lifted off at the same time, easing away from Flagler Hall as commandos from both choppers kept up a relentless fire towards the roof of Flagler Hall in what was looking like a successful attempt to keep the sharpshooter there from doing any further damage. Gilani didn’t see a single muzzle flash from the sniper’s weapon. Maybe they’d even hit him!
But just as Gilani was feeling good about the whole operation, out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a small missile heading his way. It was an RPG! Someone one the ground had a launcher and he was using it to try to bring down one of the choppers!
The RPG went wide and Gilani heaved a sigh of relief. His chopper was about seventy feet above the second one.
Just as the helicopters made the turn to head out over the Bay and east to the ocean, another RPG came from out of the trees by the son’s house and slammed into the second chopper, the one carrying Shahzad, and the craft exploded in a horrifying bright ball of flames.
Gilani’s mouth dropped open as he watched the pieces of the stricken chopper fall into the waters directly off Flagler Hall. He wanted to cry. From boyhood, Shahzad had meant so much to him. But he couldn’t think about Shahzad now—he had to think about getting what remained of his unit out safely.
Gilani’s chopper gained speed and soared away out of range of the RPG launcher, towards the Atlantic… and freedom.
* * *
Tony Verges and Tim Harcourt let out a scream of joy when they saw the RPG hit the second chopper just as it got out over water. They patted Gargrave on the shoulder. Tim took the launcher off Gargrave’s shoulder and Verges hugged the butler, only giving him up when Tim hugged him as well.
When Jack and the Secret Service agents and the others had pursued the attackers beating a hasty retreat, Gargrave had gone into the Game Room and brought out the rocket launcher. It was an older Russian model, an RPG-7D2 that carried a PG-7VL warhead. He’d had plenty of experience with the weapon when he was in the Special Boat Service.
He hauled the launcher out
and asked Verges and Tim to help him with the weapon. Showed them how to load it and stand back, but gave them a second RPG in case they had a chance for a second shot, which Gargrave doubted.
They got off the first RPG, but it went wide. Verges was quicker even than the younger, fitter Harcourt, and the second shot went off just in time to nip the second chopper in its fuel tank.
* * *
CHAPTER 100
Shahzad peered over the seawall and watched as all of these events unfolded. When the first RPG missed the helicopter, his heart skipped a beat. When the second one hit home, his heart sank. He knew he would have been on that helicopter had he made it back in time. And he would be dead now, or mortally wounded and drowning in Biscayne Bay. So every moment was a gift from Allah.
He watched as the surviving helicopter raced east toward the ocean. His old friend Gilani would have to get the men back without his help this time. He thought they had plenty of time to make it to Cuba if they kept below radar detection level. If the Americans were slow to get their fighters in the air, that was good. And even after they were aloft, they first had to locate the chopper before they could intercept it.
The Running Mate (A Jack Houston St. Clair Thriller) Page 35
