“We can leave here Ella – you don’t have to let us stay. I’ve put you in a tough position here and I don’t want you to get hurt because of it.”
Ella sat on a small cot that she used for a bed in one of the smaller rooms of the building. The room had no windows, just a door, the cot, and a single lamp. She raised her face upward slightly as she sat on the cot looking back at Mac.
“You think your purpose here and mine are so different Mr. Walker? We have been tracing the transport of weapons for some time, and like your Mr. Tilley, and Louis Danton, find the access to radioactive devices something we cannot simply allow to go unchecked. My life and those of my men have been in increasing danger since we arrived here. It is what I do Mr. Walker – much the same as what you do. Though I am happy to know, that I am afforded the protection of my own government, while you and your men appear to be endangered by yours.”
Mac found himself nodding in agreement to Ella’s words. Yes, the American government was in a complete shambles these days. An incoherent mess of a foreign policy that was putting everyone in danger, from citizens to soldiers, they were all suffering under years of anti-Americanism both at home and abroad.
“If you get out of Libya Mr. Walker, what then?”
Mac had been considering that very question for the last several hours. What then indeed. With both Tilley and Mardian likely gone, Mac and his team had few contacts within the government to turn to, certainly none who they could trust.
“Not sure – we’ll have to lay low. Watch our back, and see what happens.”
Ella’s face lost its unreadable mask, allowing Mac to sense her sadness at the future that awaited him.
“Not much of a life Mr. Walker, always wondering if and when someone comes for you. It will be as if you are still on an assignment, though the enemy is your own government.”
Mac leaned against the wall opposite Ella’s cot and took a deep breath.
“Yeah, though I know we won’t be the first people dealing with that scenario. Maybe things will change. A new election, a new way of looking at the world. Who knows…”
Ella shook her head slowly.
“Perhaps, but unlikely. Tell me Mr. Walker, what do you really want once you get back to America?”
Mac’s answer came to him more quickly than he anticipated.
“To be left the hell alone. I want a place I can go and just…relax. Just be myself, do what I want, and for the government to let me be. That’s it. I’ve seen all I want to see of this world. Done things I don’t want to think about. A little peace and quiet is all I want now, a little time to strum my guitar, a strong cup of coffee, a good burger, some cold beer. Man…that sounds like paradise to me right now.”
Ella smiled, her eyes illuminated by a warmth Mac had known was hidden inside her cold exterior.
“You want what the world once saw in America Mr. Walker. Opportunity, freedom, and the space to be left alone. Perhaps if you find that place again, you can invite me to visit you.”
Mac held Ella’s gaze and smiled back.
“I’d like that Ella. I’d like that a lot.”
Gunfire sounded from above them.
Ella jumped from her cot as Mac, with his handgun drawn, opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Udi was already running toward them holding an assault rifle.
“We’ve spotted at least ten men setting up a perimeter outside – all armed.”
Ella’s icy exterior had returned. She was all business, her training taking over.
Mac looked at his watch, noting it was just past four in the morning.
“I want to check it out Ella. See what they’re doing out there.”
Ella nodded to Mac, and then disappeared down the hall. Mac ran in the opposite direction, bounding up the narrow stairs of the roof access. Once on the roof, he crouched low, making his way slowly to the roof’s edge facing the street below. The second member of Ella’s security team was already there on his stomach, his assault rifle held out in front of him. Mac crept alongside the Israeli’s right side, peering out from the rooftop.
As Udi had indicated downstairs, there were at least ten armed men just across the street, spread out some twenty yards apart from one another. This was no Libyan mob – the men below had some training, though the darkness made it difficult to determine their skin color.
The Israeli man next to Mac extended his right hand to him.
“Hello, my name is Tamir. I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet.”
Mac shook the man’s hand firmly, realizing he hadn’t known the Israeli’s name until now. Tamir appeared to be around thirty years of age, similar in height and build to Mac, with , with a clean shaven face and dark, closely cropped hair. A long thin scar ran along his left cheek almost down to his jaw.
“Well Tamir, who do you think those men are down there?”
Tamir grunted.
“Saudis.”
Mac continued to peer down at the deliberate movement of the men below.
“Saudis? How do you know that?”
The tone of Tamir’s response indicated his certainty.
“Heard them speaking. Definitely Saudis. See the outline of their weapons? M16A1 – standard issue for Saudi Special Forces. Those men down there are not active Saudi military though. They are like you, contract soldiers, likely sent here from the Saudi embassy in Tripoli.”
“So what’s your plan Tamir?”
Tamir smiled and shrugged.
“That’s up to them. They fire on us, we fire back. Otherwise, we simply wait and see.”
Mac looked at his watch again.
“I’ve got a plane to catch in about four hours.”
Both Mac and Tamir turned to look behind them as Udi was making his way toward them with the MG-42 machine gun Ella had used from this same rooftop position to scatter the Libyan mob days ago.
Udi set the weapon up to the right of Tamir, pausing to scan the area below them as well. He glanced over at Tamir and then nodded his head in the direction of the Saudis.
“Anything different?”
Tamir shook his head.
“No – same thing. They have a perimeter set up, but nothing more. No sign yet they intend to attack.”
Udi placed his hand on Tamir’s shoulder and squeezed it firmly.
“If they do, Ella wants you to blow them to hell.”
Mac decided to follow Udi back to the building’s main level, certain his men would want an update. Jack was the first one to meet him in the hallway, one of the sniper rifles held in his right hand.
“What do we got Mac?”
Mac tipped his head in the direction of the reception area so he could address Jack, Benny, and Minnick at the same time. Benny and Minnick were both standing on either side of the entrance door. When they saw Mac, they walked over to him and stood next to Jack.
“There’s about ten men outside. They appear to be armed with M16s. Tamir, the other member of Ella’s crew, thinks they are hired Saudi guns. So far, they aren’t making any move – just seem to be waiting us out.”
Jack jabbed his left thumb in the air in the direction of the door.
“We ain’t missing that flight out of here Mac. I’ll shoot them dead myself before I let that happen.”
Mac nodded back at Jack.
“I feel the same way Jack. Don’t worry, if it comes to that, that’s what we’ll do. Udi already has the MG-42 set up on the roof.”
Minnick’s eyes narrowed as he glanced upward.
“Those men outside have to already know about the machine gun Mac. If all they have are some M16s, no way they have the firepower to take us out. The Israeli’s could rip apart half the street with that thing.”
Mac considered Minnick’s words. He was right – the Saudis either had no intention of going at them in a firefight – or they had some other plan. Not knowing what that plan could be made Mac increasingly uneasy.
“I need to speak with Ella. Anything we do, impacts her and
her men. We owe her the opportunity to be a part of that discussion.”
Benny nodded his head.
“Agreed. She’s helped to keep our ass alive.”
Jack and Minnick glanced at Benny and then also nodded in agreement.
Mac made his way back down the hallway toward Ella’s room. The door was closed, though he could hear her voice from inside the room. Mac knocked lightly.
“Ella, it’s Mac. I wanted to discuss possible options.”
The door opened, revealing Ella talking into a cell phone. She motioned with her right hand for Mac to come in.
“Understood. The Bulgarian Consulate. Thank you. Yes, I understand. They already have a flight out this morning. Thank you sir.”
Ella ended her call and sat down again on the room’s cot, as she waited for Mac to speak.
“Who was that?”
“That, Mr. Walker, was my superior. I have instructions to relocate myself and my men to the Bulgarian consulate. We have allies there who will provide my team further security.”
Mac considered Ella’s words. She intended to stay in Benghazi – but his team was to get the hell out.
“Your team – but not mine, right?”
Ella nodded.
“Correct. We are not to bring you to the Bulgarian consulate Mr. Walker. They don’t want the diplomatic dilemma such a visit could create.”
There was a light knock on Ella’s door. When it opened, Udi stepped inside the small room.
“Ella, the men outside are pulling back. No reason as to why, but they appear to be moving back their positions another hundred yards away from us.”
Ella looked at Mac.
“Any ideas?”
Mac was already moving toward the door.
“Don’t know, but I want to go take a look.”
Udi followed behind Mac as both men made their way quickly back to the rooftop where they found Tamir and Minnick laying on their stomachs peering down into the street below.
Mac crawled alongside Minnick.
“Udi says they are pulling back. Any idea why?”
Minnick was using the night vision scope on his sniper rifle to scan the area.
“No. Guy pulled up in a black SUV a few minutes ago. Got out, was talking into a phone, and then started motioning for everyone to pull back.”
Mac could see men moving across a side street nearly eighty yards from Ella’s building. He saw no sign of the black SUV Minnick had just described.
“Was he American?”
Minnick nodded.
“Pretty sure – yeah. Didn’t get a real good look at him, he was standing behind the SUV most the time. He acted like he was in charge though, no doubt about that.”
Without having to ask for further information, Mac knew the man Minnick had spotted was Densmore. Mr. FBI was out in front of a CIA operation and barking orders to a bunch of well armed and well trained Saudis in the streets of Benghazi in front of a building being run by Israeli Special Intelligence.
This is one hell of a mess you got yourself into Mac Walker.
Udi had been looking out into the streets with his own pair of binoculars. His mouth was curled slightly downward as he looked from left to right, and then back again.
“I did reconnaissance work just outside Rafah, right before the ground invasion. My team got caught too far ahead of the line. We were holed up in this abandoned two story home for almost three days, trading rounds with a group of militants whose numbers were growing by the hour. They had us pinned down, but were too afraid of just coming at us directly. Then they backed off. Just like that, after three days of shooting at us, they disappeared. My commanding officer, who was old enough to have served in the South Lebanon Conflict in the early 1990’s, ordered us to evacuate the house and run like hell.”
Minnick removed his eye from the night vision scope to glance over at Udi.
“And what happened?”
Udi continued to stare into the street below them as he answered.
“We did as we were ordered to do – we ran like hell. They fired at us over and over again, and we simply ran and fired back. Lost two of our team, a few more injured. But we made it past them, knew we were no more than a half mile from Israeli forces. Knew the militants wouldn’t follow us. I was looking back from where we had come from, and saw the explosion. Felt it below my feet too. Military forensics tested the site a week later after the area was secured. The building we had been holed up in, was nearly gone. The detonation device was an enhanced Fajr-5 missile, one of the first to be used in the conflict – Iranian made, terrorist enhanced.”
While Minnick appeared uncertain as to the intent of Udi’s story, the realization hit Mac, turning his blood cold. His head lifted toward the dark Benghazi sky.
“Oh shit.”
XVII.
Mac Walker didn’t so much run down the stairs as he did fly down them. They needed to get the hell out of the building – and fast.
“Ella! Lock and load time! Does this place have a back way out of here?”
Ella seemed to know that whatever had Mac so spooked was not to be questioned. Perhaps her own instincts had already been telling her something was wrong with how the men had retreated outside.
“Yes – in the bathroom. Under the rug.”
Mac was already moving again, his body a blur moving at incredible speed down the hallway. He opened the bathroom door and threw back the rug to reveal the faint outline of panel cut with great precision through the poured concrete flouring. A single brass handle was located in the center of the panel. Mac grasped the handle and pulled upward with a grunt as he removed the solid concrete panel from the floor, exposing a narrow square opening just wide enough to allow a man access through it.
Mac placed two fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly.
“Let’s go! Move your asses! Bring weapons and ammo with you!”
Jack was the first to arrive in the bathroom. Mac stepped aside and motioned toward the opening.
“Get down there and wait. We’re all right behind you Alabama.”
Jack struggled momentarily to fit through the escape route, but then dropped down into darkness as Ella pushed both Udi and Tamir into the hole right behind Jack. Minnick and Benny were the next to drop down into the opening after Mac screamed for them to get moving. That left Mac and Ella looking at one another.
“Your turn Ella.”
Ella Lerner stared back at Mac, the faintest of a smile appearing on her face. What she did next shocked Mac Walker, and he was not one to shock easily.
Ella grasped both sides of Mac’s face in her hands and brought her lips forcefully against his own. Before she pulled away from the fierce kiss, she bit down on Mac’s lower lip with enough force to draw a bit of blood.
“Just in case one or both of dies tonight Mr. Walker.”
Mac found himself grinning stupidly at the space where Ella once was as she disappeared into the passage below. Recovering from Ella’s kiss, Mac slid his body into the opening.
The escape route was a narrow tunnel that was part of a long abandoned storm drain system. It was no more than three feet in height, requiring Mac and the others to crouch low as they made their way slowly toward what appeared to be a shaft of murky light some fifty yards ahead. As they neared the light, Mac could see it was coming from a metallic grate, a grate Udi was already pushing out from its frame.
One by one, each member of the group pulled themselves through the grate’s opening and emerged in a trench that ran alongside the same street that crossed in front of Ella’s building. Minnick was already looking out from the trench with his night scope to see if anyone had noticed their escape. After a few seconds, he slid his body fully back down into the trench, then whispered to the others what he saw.
“No sign of anyone. The Hummer is right across from our position here.”
Mac nodded back to Minnick and motioned for everyone to follow him to the Hummer.
Pulling himself out of the t
rench, Mac confirmed what Minnick had just reported. The street appeared empty. That good fortune did nothing to make Mac feel any better. It only confirmed to him that they were running out of time.
With Mac in the lead, the group made their way as quickly yet quietly as possible across the street. The light of the approaching morning was beginning to remove from them the still much needed cover of darkness.
Benny was the first to pause in the street, just steps from the Hummer, his head tilted slightly to the right.
“You hear that?”
Without thinking, Mac was holding his breath as he strained to hear what Benny was talking about. Soon he too made out a faint buzzing noise coming from an unknown location above them as Minnick scanned the early dawn sky with his sniper rifle scope.
“Three hundred yards southeast and approaching. Drone – predator class. It’s armed.”
Mac pointed to the other side of the Hummer.
“Over here. Get as low as you can behind the vehicle and don’t move.”
The sound of the drone increased considerably as it approached their location from above, its sound similar to that of a large, angry mosquito. Mac and the others watched as a single missile shot from below the drone’s right wing flew into the front of Ella’s building.
The explosion was massive, sending fragments of the building flying into the air and then falling down where Ella, Mac, and their men were crouched behind the SUV. The heat from the detonation ripped through the air around them, blowing out the Hummer’s windows and causing the vehicle to momentarily rock back and forth on its wheels.
Ella’s eyes glared back at the departing drone, her jaw flexing in rage.
“That’s your fucking government Mr. Walker. The same one that had my country’s Prime Minister enter the White House through the back door.”
Mac simply shrugged.
“That’s about right. Now let’s get the hell out of here. Jack, see if this thing will still fire up.”
Jack moved into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition, his face breaking out into a mad grin when the big American-made, Vortec V8 rumbled to life.
MAC WALKER'S BENGHAZI: The Complete Collection Page 16
