“You can’t help in a situation like this. I’m better on my own.” I took a sip of my tea and looked back at the map. “Any idea on how much time I’ll have before there’s a response?”
Kashani tilted his head from side to side. “Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. Depends on the guards. They are arrogant. They’ll engage first instead of calling for backup.”
“That’s more than enough time.”
Kashani clucked his tongue.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Once you have the Wolf, you’ll be on your own until here.” He pointed to a field about a half-mile away. “It’s too risky to have my driver any closer.”
“Is Feza driving me?”
“No. I’ve arranged for another driver. My face is too familiar with the local police. I, even Feza, can’t be seen out that night.”
“And I should trust this driver? Is he competent? Can he drive well? I was told the Wolf’s health is questionable. I expect him to slow me down. I’m not being paid to babysit two people.”
Kashani brushed his hands together. “He won’t be a problem. You’ll have forty minutes to make it there. Take any longer, and he’ll leave. It’ll be too dangerous to keep waiting. Once the prison discovers the Wolf escaped, they’ll start shutting down the exits out of the city. I know the warden; he will use every resource, even the Askeri Inzibat, the military police. You don’t want to come into contact with them, trust me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, but I highly doubt I’ll have much control over that.”
“They’ll have the initials AS IZ printed across their helmets and on their vehicles.”
I nodded.
“This is serious, Sei. It’s no secret Demir’s arranged a sizeable financial deal with the Russians. He has much to lose should something go wrong with the transfer. You must get as far away from the city as fast as you can.”
“I heard you the first time.” The left corner of my mouth rose.
The tightness in Kashani’s face relaxed. “Sei-Sei, must you always be so tough?”
“It keeps me alive.”
21
The night of the prison transfer, I sat on the roof over Kashani’s apartment while waiting for my departure time. I took the opportunity to visualize my plan. I had memorized the landscape surrounding the ambush location, as well as various escape routes to the field. Success depended heavily on eliminating the guards quickly. There would be no way to keep the residents from hearing gunfire outside their windows, so the faster I put those men down, the better.
My contact, Tark, was unable to confirm the Wolf’s condition. That unknown variable concerned me the most. And if Diyarbakir’s reputation was accurate, he’d be in rough shape. The last thing I needed was missing toes or a broken leg. I had to move him on foot to the extraction point. There was no other way around it.
At a quarter to one, I came down from the roof for a final equipment check. Kashani had delivered everything I asked for and sat quietly in a chair, watching me.
I slipped the tactical vest on and loaded it with eight magazines, two fiber wires, a flashlight, and six throwing knives. The sniper rifle was stored in a lightweight carrying case that doubled as a backpack. I glanced at my watch. “It’s one thirty. It’ll take me thirty minutes to reach the building. I’ll have a little over an hour to settle in.”
“What happened to that black outfit you used to wear? I liked how it looked on you.”
“I retired it.” I still wore black but had traded in that form-fitting jumpsuit for jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, boots, and a wool cap to keep my hair out of my eyes. As usual, I wore black latex gloves, which I would ditch when I discarded my equipment.
Kashani stood and gave me a giant bear hug. “Be safe.”
I hadn’t experienced so much emotion from him, probably because I had never spent this much time in close proximity with him. He had really come through and made planning the job easier and the chances of my success much higher.
“Just make sure your driver stays put.”
“Be there on time, and he will.”
Once I left the building, I would no longer have any contact with Kashani—nor would I see him. I would be completely on my own, as he had warned me beforehand.
I was okay with that. The mission was textbook, with the exception of extracting the Wolf. Usually I kill my marks, not help them escape. I felt confident about exiting the city undetected. I had concern about the journey to the border, but thinking about reuniting with my daughter diluted any apprehension that I had. I gave Kashani another hug and left.
I moved swiftly through the night. Clouds dotted the night sky allowing a crescent moon to occasionally peek through. The air was cool and dry, and the only thing I could hear was the knocking of a diesel engine from a delivery truck the next block over. I reached the ambush location without any problems and quickly scaled the fire escape to the rooftop and to my predetermined spot. The roof had a perimeter wall around it, which allowed me to remain on my feet and rest my rifle on it. From there, I had an unobstructed view up and down the street.
The convoy was scheduled to leave the prison at three a.m. It was nearly two. The temperature that night hovered in the low fifties but my wool cap helped keep the chill off. I cupped my hands together and blew inside to keep them warm and limber. I peered through the scope at the road below. It was empty and quiet. In the building across the street, a lone light from a window on the fourth floor caught my eye. After a few seconds, an elderly man passed in front of the window. He was dressed in pajamas. Either he couldn’t sleep or he was up for the day.
I lowered the rifle and checked the time again. Forty minutes until show time.
22
Demir forced the Wolf to sit all night and listen to him jabber about the incredible deal he had brokered with the Russians. A quarter of a million euros would come into Demir’s hands, and he would share with a few influential people in the Turkish government. It was his hope that this windfall of goodwill would translate into another appointment, one he had eyed for quite some time: Minister of Finance. He had already developed various schemes that would have him dipping his hands into the government coffers for his own gain.
“So what do you think, Wolf? Impressive, isn’t it? I know you don’t have the sort of education that would be required to orchestrate a deal such as this. We all can’t be educated. It’s no wonder you turned to a life of crime. It’s in your nature to be an animal. You know no better.”
Demir had consistently reminded the Wolf of his educational background. He had studied at two universities: the prestigious Bilkent University in Turkey and Warwick University in England, earning degrees in international relations and political science, before joining the Turkish army. None of Demir’s boasting impressed the Wolf.
For two years, Demir did nothing but attack the Wolf and his profession, yet Demir himself was no better. He was as corrupt as they came, abused his power, and thought little of stepping over others to get what he wanted. Demir had also earned himself a nickname, one that he was quite fond of. His men referred to him as the Engineer. And it wasn’t for his technical ingenuity. The warden had singlehandedly developed some of the most cruel and inhumane methods of torture used in the prison. The Diyarbakir Welcome was his pièce de résistance.
“Have you nothing to say?” Demir asked. “You are leaving this wonderful place. Isn’t there anything you want to tell me before you go off to your death? A painful one, I imagine.”
The Wolf stared at Demir through half-closed eyes, his jaw slack and his shoulders slumped forward. Nothing physical about the Wolf gave any indication of the firestorm brewing in his head.
He wanted to reach across and slam Demir’s head into the table until his skull cracked open and his foul brain spilled out. The Wolf had killed people for uttering a mere 00.1% of what the warden had said to him. But he continued to play his ruse, biding his time.
From the moment the Wolf was captured, he worke
d on a plan to escape. For two years, he played the weak victim. For two years, he bit his tongue waiting for an extradition deal to take place. No more.
The time had finally come. The extradition the Wolf always knew would take place had arrived. His escape, under Demir’s responsibility at the most crucial of all times, would set off a series of actions that Demir surely would not recover from. Bashing in Demir’s head could never satisfy the Wolf’s insatiable appetite for revenge. That would be too kind. Only one thing could inflict the pain he had always intended—public humiliation, a dark shame that would ruin Demir’s reputation beyond repair.
The Wolf relished in what he imagined would be the fallout from his escape. At first, there would be confusion in the ranks. Those who feared Demir would see an opportunity to attack. Those loyal to him would stand by his side as they sought answers. But eventually, they too would distance themselves as word of the Wolf’s escape from Diyarbakir spread.
Ridicule would assault the warden first, followed by punishment. Any hopes he had of ascending into the top position at the Ministry of Finance would crumble before him. The Wolf imagined Demir would be stripped of his position and any sort of authority. Those who followed him during his reign at the prison would scatter. Like rats in a barrel filled with water, they’d snap and claw at each other for escape. No one would want to be tied to what would easily be seen as a monumental embarrassment for the country. Demir would experience a real hell—loneliness. Isolation followed by ostracism. Alas, the Wolf refrained, giving no indication of what was to come.
The warden looked at his watch, it was a quarter after two. He had said all that he wanted. “Guards,” he called. Two men entered the room. “Do your best to clean the stench from this piece of shit and then dress him in fresh clothing.”
The warden left the room with a noticeable bounce in his step. A smile appeared on his face as he chuckled quietly. With the wheels in motion for the Wolf’s extradition, and the bounty that would follow, the warden thought how hard would it be to find any man who didn’t see him as deserving of his nickname. After all, he had engineered the deal of all deals.
23
My breathing slowed as I peered through the night-vision scope. Three black sedans, spaced equally apart, moved down the street. Each looked as though it could carry four men, at least eleven targets I would need to eliminate. According to Tark, the Wolf would be in the second vehicle.
I squeezed the trigger, and my first bullet slammed into the face of the driver in the lead vehicle. The car continued to roll forward, keeping the remaining guards inside for the moment. My second shot took out the driver of the next vehicle. By then the third vehicle had come to a stop, and all four men exited, heading straight for the second car. That confirmed Tark’s information.
I managed to drop three of them; the fourth ducked behind the second vehicle. I could hear him shouting in Turkish, and then I saw his hand appear, pointing in my direction. I shot his finger off. As I saw it, I had one maybe two more shots before I would have to move.
The guards from the first vehicle had managed to stop it from moving and exited. I put another man down with two bullets to his chest. By then the guards were returning fire. I left the rifle in place, moved quickly to rear of the building and hung off the side, clasping my legs around a drainpipe. I slithered down and reached the ground in seconds.
I drew my handgun and screwed the suppressor on as I moved around the back of the building into a small alley. I saw one of the guards standing near the entrance on the footpath with his AK-47 aimed up at the roof. I fired two shots into his chest and a third in his face. I continued forward quickly. I needed to get to those vehicles.
Another guard appeared just as I approached the front of the building. I shot his arm, and he dropped the AK-47. I put a second bullet in his head. By my count, I had eliminated seven guards—four left, one with an injured hand.
I executed a shoulder roll across the footpath and stopped behind a parked car. The remaining guards were clustered around their vehicles. They were shouting and pointing to the entrance of the alley I had just exited. Two of them were advancing. They held their rifles up and had their eyes aligned with the sights.
I moved to the front bumper of the car, where it was darker, and waited until both guards were within range of my throwing knives. The first two struck the lead guard. He yelped and dropped his rifle. The other guard stopped, confused as to what to do or where to take cover. I popped up and fired one shot into the side of his head, dropping him onto the road. I fired two more shots at the other guard I had knifed and continued past him to the other side of the street. I wanted to flank the remaining two guards and get the Wolf out of there.
The two guards were shielded behind the open doors of the second vehicle. I could hear one of them shouting, most likely into his cell phone. I had to move fast. I didn’t want to be around when their backup arrived. I shoved a fresh mag into my gun and advanced.
Two to one—I liked those odds. I moved forward, using the row of cars parked along the street as coverage. When I got within fifteen feet of the second vehicle, I spotted another guard. He had crouched behind the driver’s side door, and from the way his head swiveled from side to side, I could tell he had no idea the number of attackers he faced. Sorry to disappoint. It’s just me.
I popped up over the trunk of the car I was kneeling behind and fired two bullets into his side. He slumped and fell to the ground. I approached steadily with my weapon in front and my eyes trained on the sights looking for the last guard. My breaths weren’t labored, but I could hear the thumping in my chest. Where are you? When I got within two feet of the guard lying on the road, I put a bullet into his head to end his whiny moaning.
From the corner of my eye, I saw the last guard pop up. He had hidden on the far side of the third car and took off running. I shot him twice in the back, and he tumbled to the ground. I quickly advanced toward him as he desperately tried to crawl away—his feet kicking and hands clawing. A single bullet to the back of his head stopped his futile attempt. “Wolf,” I called as I returned to the second vehicle. “I’m here to get you out.”
He didn’t answer. When I peeked inside the rear of the car, I understood why. It was empty. Before I could comprehend the situation, headlights from opposite directions approached…and then darkness.
24
I had no clue how long I had been unconscious. A few hours? A day perhaps? Pain was all I could fully comprehend at that moment. Every inch of my body ached. I rolled off my stomach and onto my side, triggering a dull throbbing in my left arm. I moved my weight off of it and rubbed my eyes. When the floaters cleared from my vision, I made sense of my surroundings. A cool cement floor. Four bare walls. An iron door. Somehow I had ended up in a jail cell. Diyabarkir Prison was the only logical conclusion I could come to.
I struggled to recall the events of that night. Bits and pieces of what took place flashed in my mind. I remembered advancing on the convoy and shooting the guards. I remembered the Wolf was nowhere to be found. What happened after that escaped me.
I brushed a few strands of hair from my eyes. They were irritated and dry. I plucked out the colored contact lenses, and my eyes immediately felt better. I winced when I tried to roll over. My body felt as if it had been used as a punching bag. My bottom lip throbbed, and it felt swollen to my touch. The metallic taste of blood still resided in my mouth, and flakes of dried blood had collected under my nails as I scratched softly around my nostrils. I reached around to the back of my head and felt a tender bump. I could only assume I had been coldcocked.
I had all my clothing intact, minus the tactical vest, my cap, and my watch. The cell was bare except for a metal pail in the corner. Very little sunlight shone through a four-inch by twelve-inch slit in the wall opposite the door. The floor was slightly damp in some places. At least I knew it was daytime. Before I could give my situation any more thought, I heard the shuffling of boots on the other side of the cell door
.
Two men dressed in military fatigues and carrying AK-47 rifles entered the room. They both had dark complexions and the prerequisite mustache. Neither said a word as they yanked me to my feet. The pain in my left arm intensified.
“Let’s go,” one said with a thick Turkish accent.
The hallway was badly lit and narrow. Identical doors lined the hall—other cells, I assumed. I refrained from asking questions about my whereabouts. Instead I focused on memorizing details of the building. If I wanted to live, I would need to find a way out.
I couldn’t quite come up with an explanation as to how the Turkish authorities had captured me, but walking seemed to awaken my memory. I remember calling the Wolf’s name and finding the vehicle empty. Headlights appeared in the distance followed by the wail of sirens from all directions. Within seconds, a swarm of vehicles sped toward me from both ends of the street. That was all I could recall.
We stopped in front of an open doorway, and they pushed me inside a dark room. Seconds later, two florescent lights flickered on. I saw showerheads along the far wall. Off to my right were four sinks; one had half of it missing. A cracked horizontal mirror hung above them. One of the guards pointed at the shower and mumbled something. He then pressed the barrel of his rifle against my head while the other guard bent down to unshackle my feet.
I had to admit, the urge to attempt an escape right then was overwhelming. An opportunity had just presented itself. Although the chance was slim, it was a window. I weighed the possible moves as the shackles fell from my ankles. My wrists were next. There wasn’t any doubt I could immobilize both men without a single shot being fired, but the question I had to ask, was that the appropriate time? Would there be another opportunity? Before I could decide, another guard appeared at the doorway and aimed his rifle at me. Never mind.
[Anthology] Abby & Sei Thriller Starter Page 29
