Waiting... On You (Force Recon Marines)

by S A Monk

  Nick laid out a drawing he had made of the compound. He pointed to the edge of the bluff, above the dock that they had seen from the air yesterday. “Yeah. The main house and the guesthouses are connected to the docks via an underground tunnel. I explored some of it last night. It runs to an elevator that goes down the cliff, to the dock. We’re going to need chaff grenades to disable the security cameras that are mounted in the hallway along the tunnel.”

  “Got plenty of those,” Kurt assured him. “Damn, you got a lot done last night, Colonel.”

  Nick shrugged and shook his head ruefully. “I might be getting too old for these all-nighters, though.”

  Hanna was equally impressed with Nick’s thoroughness. It didn’t sound like there was much he had overlooked. What amazed her was that he’d done all that surveillance, alone, without being spotted.

  “How exactly are we getting in?” Kurt checked.

  “We can breach the fence without being seen back her,” he said, pointing to a spot along the perimeter fence he’d drawn, “behind the barracks. The security lights don’t reach that far out, and we’ll have fifteen minutes to get in and get to cover between patrols. We’ll have to jump over the fence, though, because it’s electrified. It’s also topped with concertina wire. But I chose a spot that will be an easy jump.”

  An easy jump? Over barbed wire and electrified chain-link metal? Hanna felt a frisson of real fear slide down her spine.

  “Is that how you got in and out last night?”

  “It’s the way I got in, but I came back out through their little airport. There was a breach in the fence in the area. It looked like it had been damaged recently by some large animal trying to get through the fence. They hadn’t put it back on line yet. I got lucky. Tonight, though, it will be easier and faster to take the elevator to the docks. It will probably be messy, though.” Nick leveled a determined look on his FBI friend. “We’ll have to keep Lance and Hanna between us. Hope it hasn’t been too long since your training on extracting civilians.”

  Kurt laughed. “I still operate in the field, and extracting civilians is too often part of it.”

  PREPARATION OF THEIR GEAR, choosing what they were going to take into the compound with them and what they were going to leave behind was meticulous. The wind was blowing in another batch of drizzle and bone-chilling fog that was already thickening. The moon was hidden behind a veil of clouds and the temperature was rapidly dropping. Conditions were nasty, but that would surely help their mission.

  For the first time, Hanna felt what it must be like to be a soldier going into battle; what Nick had felt all of his adult life. Besides being dressed entirely in black, each of them also smeared black and green paint all over their faces, although Nick assisted Hanna with hers. Afterward, she wished she had a mirror to see herself. Nick assured her that no skin showed to reflect any light as he tucked every strand of her blonde hair under her dark stocking cap.

  Having chosen to wear her contacts in, she prayed that they’d remain securely set and not hinder her. Just in case, she also packed a pair of her eyeglasses.

  Before Nick moved on to his weapons check, he tenderly traced the lines of her face with his fingertips. When they reached her lips, he bent to give her a gentle reassuring kiss, no words needed.

  As she rechecked her knapsack, she watched Nick and Kurt arm themselves.

  Nick shoved his 9mm Glock into his shoulder holster, then adjusted the sheath on his belt that held his Ka-Bar knife. They were all wearing bulletproof Kevlar vest, at Nick’s insistence. Before he zipped his dark quilted nylon flight jacket, he stuffed all his pockets with ammunition and grenades. Finally, he put his arms through the shoulder straps of his backpack, slung his semi-automatic assault rifle over his shoulder, and picked up what Hanna assumed must be a sniper rifle that had a very high tech, fancy scope on it.

  “I can carry that,” she offered, thinking all that gear he was carrying had to be heavy and cumbersome.

  “I don’t want you armed.”

  “But I’m wearing a bulletproof vest, too, and I’m pretty sure I could fire something,” she volunteered bravely.

  Nick was adamant. “Nothing is truly bulletproof. Remember that, and stay between us where we can make sure you’re safe.” He ran the back of one gloved knuckle along her grease-painted cheek. “Follow my hand signals when we get into the compound. No talking, except on the headsets when I indicate that it’s okay. I’m going to put our com devices on whisper mode, but you should be able to hear me just fine. If you don’t understand a hand signal, watch Kurt.”

  Nick had been practicing the hand signals with her since they’d left Port George, and Hanna thought she knew them pretty well.

  He handed her the small headset that hooked over one ear and curved toward her mouth. Little wisps of hair stuck out where she had moved her cap, and Nick tucked them back in before handing her a small Leatherman knife. It was a familiar multi-functional tool that was nearly indispensable to a good outdoorsman. She stuck it in the front hip pocket of her jeans.

  “Got your share of the C4 and detonators?” Kurt asked as he put a suppressor on the end of his own assault rifle to muffle the noise and flash from the weapon.

  Nick gave a quick, “Roger that.” He checked the laser sighting on his rifles and their silencers, then stuffed two more grenades into the pockets of his flight jacket.

  “I could put a couple of those grenades in my pockets,” Hanna offered. “How about the flash-bang ones, the ones that stun, or the chaff ones that knock out electronic equipment. They can’t be too dangerous for me.”

  Nick laughed at the way she put it. “Okay,” he relented. “Take a few chaff grenades.”

  “Got the stuff to make a couple of satchel charges?” Kurt checked with him.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “Thermal goggles all set?” This time Kurt was checking with both Hanna and Nick, since she wore a set of goggles over her knit watchman’s cap. She’d already learned how and when to use them.

  “Yep.” They both answered the FBI agent.

  “Let’s get going then and get your brother back!”

  Kurt’s exuberance was infectious. Nick gave him another “Roger that” as he took the lead and motioned Hanna behind him.

  Bringing up the rear, Kurt called ahead to Nick on the headset. “Just checking in to see if everything is working okay.”

  “Roger that,” Nick repeated into his mouthpiece. “Can you hear us, Hanna?”

  “Clear as a bell… Roger that,” she laughed softly and heard Nick chuckle.

  “Good. Stay close.”

  IF THERE WAS A MOON OUT TONIGHT, it was invisible. It didn’t take them long to reach the ridge that overlooked the rear of the compound. Nick led them to an area of dense foliage that concealed their presence, then squatted down and unfolded the map that he’d made of the compound. It closely reproduced what they’d seen from the air yesterday. His memory and eye for detail were excellent, Hanna noted as she and Kurt knelt beside him.

  “Beyond the fence,” Nick pointed out, “we need to take shelter here until the guard patrol passes. Then we make our way quickly across the first footbridge. We’ll sneak around the warehouse here. After that, we cross another footbridge to the big house and guest cottages. We’ll have to be careful to stay out of the lights in front of Chen’s residence. We’ll make a wide sweep around the house— here.” With his forefinger, he continued to point to specific locales on his map. “There are shrubs, rocks, and tall grasses to hide in as we move through this open area. We’ll be crawling on our bellies, staying low until we get clear of the patrolling guards.”

  Hanna was sure that he was going into detail on her account. Kurt surely didn’t need to be told to belly crawl. “How many guards did you say worked the compound?”

  “As far as I could determine twelve at night.”

  “Is there a back door to the guest houses?” Kurt asked.

  “Strangely, no. The tunnel that runs off
the basement must be the back door.”

  “What about the tunnel? Are there guards down there?” Hanna asked.

  “Not that I could see. Just security cameras mounted every twenty feet or so. We can use the chaff grenades to knock them out temporarily. What I’d prefer, though, is to sneak past them, or rather under them.” For Hanna’s benefit, he explained. “If you watch which direction they’re scanning, you can time yourself to move under and past when they’re scanning away from you. Kurt and I will help you. They will never know we’re there if we don’t have to tamper with the cameras.”

  “Looks like the fog is thickening. That will help.”

  Once Nick’s briefing was done, Hanna rolled onto her belly, took the night vision binoculars from him and scanned as much of the compound as she could see from where they waited. The fog made the security lamps look yellow and hazy, but there was enough light from them for her to make out the backs of the barracks that served as housing for the laboratory workers and guards. The long Quonset hut beyond the barracks was too far away to make out clearly, but she did see a few of the roving guard patrols. Finally, she handed the small but powerful binoculars back to Nick so he and Kurt could study the area.

  As a doctor, Hanna knew that the powerful painkiller morphine was made from opium, and that it was also the first stage in making heroin. The task of making the high-grade end drug was complex, according to what she’d read. It required more than just mediocre chemists. The chemicals that were added to the morphine stage to make China White, as Nick called it, were volatile, and the chemist really had to know what he was doing. Any mistake could mean a powerful explosion and instant death.

  She wondered what kind of people the chemists were that worked for Lee Chen. Didn’t they care that what they were making made people addicts for life, even killed them? The money they made must be significant. She shook her head, knowing that she was surely never going to understand the evil things people did in this world because of greed.

  This big beautiful island was a place of pristine water, nearly untouched land, and magnificent skies, a place where spectacular snow-capped mountains met the wild windswept coastline of the Pacific Ocean. Gray whales, sea lions, and otters made their homes in the sheltered inlets, like Stormy Harbour. Animals all but driven out of the lower continent thrived here. Ancient rainforests and magnificent landscapes ruled, not some foreign drug lord who used the remote area to manufacture death and misery.

  Once they got Lance out of here, this terrible perversion had to be shut down. Kurt said the DEA, the FBI, and the Coast Guard, in addition to Canadian law enforcement were off shore, where they couldn’t be seen, waiting to come in once they were given the signal that Lance had been safely extracted. Hanna prayed everything would go as planned. Nick looked so confident. She couldn’t imagine him failing. He was highly decorated and trained; an elite soldier whose skills had been honed to perfection in the field for twenty years. If anyone could get them through this safely, it was him.

  The plan was to wait another half hour before going in. The timing had all been worked out in advance by Nick, dependent on the guard patrols. With nothing else to do except wait, the three of them sat down against a huge monolith of a boulder that squatted between the trees. Kurt laid his head back and pulled his stocking cap down over his eyes for a brief nap. Hanna pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her forearms on her bent knees. She tried to relax, but after a few moments, she got up and walked away from the ridge, deeper into the trees.

  Nick followed, sensing she was feeling uneasy. She’d never done anything like this. He shouldn’t have brought her along. But he’d keep her out of harm’s way— one way or the other, he’d keep her safe. He’d said that to himself so many times it had become a mantra. Hell, he couldn’t have left her behind once he’d seen they would have to escape by boat.

  She was leaning against a tree when he reached her. He put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Are you okay?”

  She turned to him. “I think so... maybe. Oh, hell! I don’t know! I just don’t know if I can do all this stuff. And I don’t want to be a burden, or put you and Kurt in danger.”

  Nick pulled her into his arms and cradled her close. “Everything will be okay, Hanna. You won’t be putting Kurt or I in danger. It’s more likely, I’m putting you in danger, but I’m damn sure going to do everything I can to keep you safe, honey.” With his hand at the back of her head, he pressed her face to his shoulder and fervently prayed he’d be able to keep that promise.

  The three of them stayed concealed on the hilltop for another half hour. Nick watched through his binoculars for guard activity, then rose and led them to the area where they were going to breach the fence, giving Hanna a whole set of new doubts. Below the ridge they were perched on, there was a wicked looking line of concertina wire strung across the high chain-link fence. Beyond that, there was a wide expanse of native grass that carpeted the rear of the compound.

  Nick looked from Kurt to Hanna. “The grass makes it a fairly soft landing on the other side.”

  “It’s not the landing I’m worried about,” Hanna confessed. “If I miss and hit the fence, I’ll be toast!”

  Nick tossed her a reassuring smile. “I’ll go over first and show you how to do it.”

  Hanna wasn’t reassured.

  CHAPTER 25

  NICK TOOK A RUNNING JUMP off the flat-topped bluff, vaulting over the rolled barbed wire that topped the chain link fence. Once he cleared it, he tucked, then rolled to

  land like a big cat on his feet. His white teeth appeared amid his darkly painted face as he looked up at Hanna and grinned. She stared back hopelessly. He’d cleared the electrified barrier so easily!

  She was fairly athletic and in decent shape, but she really didn’t think that she could do this. She wasn’t trained to do things like this. What if she missed and touched the charged wire? Would she survive the voltage of electricity? Would she become ensnared in the coiled concertina wire? Technically, all she had to do was run and make a long wide jump down. But it was dark, and she was wearing contacts. Could she trust her corrected vision to be reading the distance accurately?

  Kurt came up behind her. “You can do this, Doctor. Nick made it okay. He’ll catch your fall on the other side.”

  “It’s not the fall I’m afraid of,” she protested again, her voice betraying her anxiety. “I don’t want to get fried if I touch the fence going over.”

  “Just run and jump out as far as you can. Pull your legs into a tuck going over. You’ll be okay.”

  She groaned. “You make it sound so simple.”

  “Nick wouldn’t ask you to do this if he didn’t think you could.”

  She was scared, but Kurt’s last statement helped ease her anxiety. Nick wouldn’t ask her to do something that was too risky or beyond her capability. They had grown up together, and he knew the extent of her physical skills.

  “Okay.” She gathered her courage and stepped backwards. “Run, jump, and tuck,” she reminded herself. “Here goes nothing.”

  What good were her eyes in the dark anyway? She backed up as far as she could, then ran as fast as she could. At the edge of the bluff, she pushed off with both feet, imaging her legs were springs, and jumped out as far as she could, pulling her legs up into a tuck, so she wouldn’t touch the fence with her feet. As soon as she realized that she’d cleared the fence without mishap, she let out an elated breath, then immediately panicked. Oh, shit! The ground was coming up fast. Get ready to roll, her brain screamed a bit too late.

  She braced herself to hit the ground hard, but Nick was there to snatch her out of the air. He rolled with her momentum until he brought them both to a halt. Lying in his strong arms, she opened her eyes to his darkly painted face and his slashing white-toothed grin.

  “I made it!” she said proudly. “Thank you for catching me.”

  “Always.”

  She buried her face in his neck for a moment and hugged him tigh
t, absorbing some of his formidable power and strength. After helping her to her feet, he reeled her in and gave her a fortifying kiss, whispering against her lips, “You’re doing great so far.”

  Hanna beamed, then suddenly realized she couldn’t see clearly. “Uh oh! I think I lost my right contact on impact.” She looked futilely around the ground for it, but in the dark and fog, knew it was a futile search.

  “Did you bring your glasses?”

  “Of course.” She bent over and removed the contact still in one eye, then pulled her dark-rimmed glasses out of her breast pocket where they had safely survived the jump and the landing.

  Kurt came over the fence, rolled, landed to the side of them, and quickly got to his feet. “See, I told you it was a piece of cake, Doctor!” he immediately congratulated Hanna.

  She smiled. “I’ll try to have more courage.”

  “You’re doing fine,” Nick reassured her again. “Let’s go before the guard comes around.” He checked his wrist watch. “Follow me. Stay close. When you’re near the light, Hanna, keep your head tucked low so your glasses won’t reflect back the light.”

  It was getting progressively foggier, and it was so dark, it made it difficult to see one another, so Hanna stayed as close to Nick as possible, close enough that her fingertips periodically brushed the back of his jacket. They got out of the open as quickly as they could, easily avoiding the guard patrol in the area, and took cover behind one of the barracks. Nick raised a clenched fist, indicating a halt, and they stopped there.

  Over their headsets, Hanna heard him point out an eight by ten foot metal shed ahead of them. “That’s one of the places where they keep their ordnance,” he informed them. “Put one of the satchel charges at the back of the building,” he directed Kurt over their communicators. “And make sure you conceal it well. We may or may not need to detonate it, and I don’t want anyone finding it.”