Gray really wished that he’d worked with any of the leadership at NSA Bahrain. He hated it when he had to rely on people he didn’t personally know, especially on a mission that was going to be so fucking complicated. He brought up a satellite image that encompassed the coast of Bahrain and the coastal city of Al Khobar.
“We need to cross this bridge.” He pointed to King Fahd Causeway.
He looked at his men. They all had their game faces on.
“Do we have a plan?” Aiden finally asked.
“The commander master chief at NSA Bahrain got his trident twenty-five years ago.”
“He must be ancient,” Wyatt mumbled.
“For God’s sake Leeds, thank fuck you’re not going with us. You’d get your ass kicked for sure.” Dex shook his head.
“As I was saying, our brother SEAL, Command Master Chief Baker is working on a plan to get us over to Al Khobar. Meanwhile, the diplomatic corps in Saudi Arabia is doing their best to determine if the women are still being held at the Al Khobar Beach Resort, or if they’ve been moved.”
“What is the status on the boys, are they going to live?” Aiden asked.
It was a damn good question. If they died, there was a good chance that they would stop questioning the women and would kill them instead.
“According to Langley, there has been improvement every day, and the fact that their father is regaining consciousness was a great sign for the boys,” Wyatt answered.
“Our transport will be taking off in forty-five minutes. I know you brought your go-bags. Make your phone calls, stock up on gear, and have your asses on the plane in forty.”
Gray watched as each man left.
Of course Aiden stayed behind.
“Shouldn’t you be calling Evie?” Gray asked.
“Already did,” Aiden said.
“What are you? Psychic?” He was only partially kidding. When it came to his wife, Aiden was eerily connected to her.
Aiden rested against the desk where the projector sat. They looked at each other in the dim room.
Aiden arched his eyebrow. “Are you calling Riya?”
“Why would I do that?”
“It goes like this,” Aiden enunciated slowly. “When a boy starts dating a girl, sometimes he has to leave town. When that happens, he does not leave the girl hanging so that she imagines he has lost interest, or God forbid, he has started dating someone else.”
“Or that he is an asshole who has blown her off.” Gray said sarcastically.
Gray hid a grin as Aiden winced.
“Yeah, definitely don’t follow in my footsteps. I was a total fuck-up,” Aiden admitted. “There’s one other reason you need to call Riya.”
“Do tell.” Gray crossed his arms over his chest.
“I hate it when we don’t have total control over a mission. We’re having to depend too much on the higher-ups in Bahrain. I don’t want your focus split.”
Most of the time Gray forgot that Aiden was a year older than him, and that he had lived a much harder life. It was at times like these that it shone through. It was the reason he had made him his second-in-command.
“Is there anything else, Mom?” Gray asked.
“Nope, that’s it.”
“Then gather your shit together, and get to the plane. I have a call to make.” Gray pulled out his cell phone and watched Aiden walk out of the briefing room.
He smiled as he got ready to press Riya’s number. He even had her picture next to it.
Face it, you’re totally gone.
He’d snapped the photo on their third date. She hadn’t noticed because she was fighting with her cat. Gray loved Einstein, that cat was the only thing that put her off her game. Riya always knew where everything was, except when Einstein decided to hide things from her. Then she was up shit creek. So Gray had a picture of her trying to pull a business card out of Einstein’s mouth. Riya was torn between frustration and laughter as she fought, and Gray had a perfect pic for his phone.
Riya picked up on the second ring. “This must be special if I’m getting a call during office hours.”
“You’re just as bad,” Gray countered.
“Hey, I sent you a text yesterday,” Riya sputtered.
“Telling me that traffic’s bad on The Five and that I should take the Eight-Oh-Five instead, is not what I would consider real live communication.”
“It got you to call me back,” she snickered.
“It did at that.” Gray fell silent.
“Uh-oh. That silence is not sounding good. Well not that it’s making a sound, but you get my meaning.”
“Yes I do. Everything’s fine. It’s just that the team and I have to go wheels up in a half hour.”
This time the silence was on her end. Finally she said, “This is the scary stuff, isn’t it?”
“Not really, this is the stuff I’m trained to do.”
“That’s right. That’s exactly what I’ve read. For goodness sakes, you’re worth six hundred and fifty thousand dollars in Navy training aren’t you?”
“Nah, that’s Griff, I’m worth more,” Gray relaxed.
“I wasn’t sure. Yeah, you might have a longer period of time in the field, but there’s also depreciation because you’re old…”
“Woman, you are going to be in trouble the next time I see you,” Gray rumbled.
Riya’s laughter was a balm to his soul. “Promises. Promises.”
After her giggles stopped she said quietly into the phone. “You can’t promise when you’ll be back, can you?”
“No, Honey, I can’t.”
“Stay safe, Gray. I figured out why you like The Princess Bride, so I need you back home soon so I can tell you.”
“This I gotta hear.” He liked it that she was trying to end the call on a positive note. “I’ll miss you, and please for God’s sake stay out of trouble.”
“I’ll stay out of trouble, if you keep your head down, is it a deal?” she asked softly.
“As you wish.”
* * *
It was hotter than fuck.
Who in their right mind would give a briefing in the back of a truck when they could have done it in the comfort of a conference room back at CENTCOM? Oh yeah, this guy.
Gray hid his disgust as he looked at the acting commander.
Where in the hell had they dug up this dumble-dick, and why had they put him in charge of this op?
Acting Commander Harry Morris had decided to brief the five members of Black Dawn, the six enlisted men from the fifth fleet, and Command Master Chief Baker in the sweltering back of a tarp-covered truck. What kind of stupid-ass move was that? Fucker even had a laser pointer to highlight routes on the map of the King Fahd Causeway. Just how many men had the pompous asshole gotten killed over the years?
“Tyler, you and your men are going to hide in the refrigerated truck that Stark drove over here from Manama,” Morris said. “At one-fifty-five a.m., Paris and Slokovich will create a diversion by sideswiping one another on the causeway. At two-oh-five a.m. our man at customs will be expecting the refrigerated truck to be passing through, so they will turn off the x-ray machine, and you will be able to go through customs undetected.”
Morris was very pleased with himself.
Tyler glanced over at Baker. The high-level enlisted man might lack expression, but he’d been on the SEAL teams for years and Gray knew that he was pissed off. Baker was the man who was supposed to have designed and led this mission. It had to be a big, hairy political mess over at NSA Bahrain for command to have given the op to this this acting dumbfuck, who wasn’t acting.
“I’ll go in place of Slokovich,” Baker said in a deferential voice. Gray saw Slokovich’s look of relief.
Morris frowned. “That isn’t the plan. Slokovich will drive one of the vehicles.”
Baker opened his mouth again.
“I will write you up for insubordination if you persist in countermanding my authority.” Morris’ face turned red. Baker clos
ed his mouth and nodded.
Gray looked around to his team members. They all looked calm and comfortable and he appreciated it. That’s because they knew he had their back.
“We’re going to need to make some alterations to the plan,” Gray said quietly.
“What are you talking about? I’ve determined the course of action.” Morris’s voice was sharp.
“We’re not going to travel in a refrigerated truck. If someone opens it, we can be picked off like sitting ducks. We’ll use one of these tarped trucks.” Gray looked at the acting commander straight in the eye.
“That’s unacceptable. You’ll be seen.”
“No we won’t. You said you had someone manning the customs crossing. If we had a proper diversion. Something big. Then we won’t be noticed.”
“And just what would you suggest? We bomb the bridge? We have twenty women do a striptease on the bridge?” One of the men from the fifth fleet laughed. “This is not a laughing matter,” Morris shouted at the man.
“Nothing of the sort.” Gray kept his voice calm. “I’m suggesting that we fill the refrigerated truck with a small amount of explosives and have it ram into the side of the bridge, approximately thirty meters in front of the customs point. This should be done when we’re ready to go into the x-ray machine. The subsequent fire will be just the sort of distraction we need to get us across.”
“And who is going to want to do this suicide mission with the refrigerated truck?”
“It’s not a suicide mission,” Baker said. “Not if it’s done right. What’s more, I should be able to arrange it so the cab of the truck goes over the side of the bridge and I’ll just dive into the Gulf. It’ll be perfect.” Finally, Baker was showing some enthusiasm.
“I don’t like it, we’re doing it my way.” Morris said.
Gray didn’t take his eyes off the acting commander, but he felt each and every one of his men sit a little straighter.
“Commander, can we step outside?” Gray asked.
“No. We cannot.” The man turned to Gray’s team. “I will take command of you men, if your Lieutenant is unwilling to follow orders. Are we clear?”
“We understand the situation perfectly Commander,” Aiden O’Malley said. “I suggest you step out of the truck with our Lieutenant.” Hunter, Dex, Griff and Dalton all nodded in agreement.
Gray got out of the truck and waited for Morris to follow.
When Morris jumped out of the truck, he hot-footed it over to Gray and shoved his face into Gray’s so their noses were almost touching. “You’re going too far.” His voice was shrill. “I will be informing my Captain, and he will be speaking to your Commander and Captain as well.”
“As long as I’m alive to hear about it, that’s fine by me.” Gray didn’t raise his voice, but he didn’t whisper.
Morris shoved Gray, who didn’t move. “You and Baker think you’re hot shit because you’re SEAL’s. You’re nothing. I can make and break you all day long. We’re doing things my way, or you’ll be out of the Navy.”
“Again, as long as my men live to see another day, everything is good by me.” Gray could see Dex over Morris’s shoulder. He had his phone pointed at them. He knew that Dex had done some kind of wizard-trick so the thing could record conversations at a long-distance. He’d been recording everything, starting with the grabtastic plan that Morris had laid out to begin with. Dex always wanted to have the team’s collective ass covered. Gray liked that about his communications guy.
It was time to egg the asshole on. More fodder for Dex to film.
“You don’t have the power to break me, I have friends in high places,” Gray taunted.
“You don’t have dick.” Morris’ grin turned sly. “Unless your uncle owns a Senator from Kentucky, you can’t do shit. It’s great to come from money, you should try it some time. So we’re going to do things my way. You got it?”
“Nope, I don’t got it. I’ve decided people are going to live, and then you can go sniveling to Uncle Moneybags about how the SEAL’s didn’t do what you wanted. I have one question for you though, because I’m curious. Did you even make it through even one day of BUD/S?”
Morris’ face turned red, then he spat on Gray’s boots. “You SEAL’s are pussies.”
By the time Morris turned around, Dex had disappeared from the opening of the truck.
6
It didn’t fall to shit until they hit Saudi Arabian soil. Getting through customs had been a breeze. Baker had performed like a rockstar. It turned out that the inside man at customs had two cousins who worked with him, so the three of them had combined forces to pass Gray and his team through while everyone else was concentrating on the fire on the bridge. It had been beautiful. By the time they reached the resort, Slokovich had notified Dex that Baker had made it safely back to land in Bahrain. But now they were here at the Al Khobar Beach Resort and not even the slightest bit of their intel had turned out to be correct.
“Dex?” Gray asked.
“I’m working on it.” His man’s eyes never left his computer. They were in the cramped mechanical room that was supposed to have housed the two women. Instead it was crammed full of boilers, air handlers and electrical generators. Two workers were hog-tied and blindfolded in the corner.
Gray so wanted to tell his communications expert to work faster, but that would be useless, because nobody worked faster on a computer than Dex.
Dalton and Griff were checking all of the Villas, while Hunter had the riskier job of checking out the rooms in the interior of the hotel. Gray had dispatched Aiden to check over the Royal Villa where the poisoning had taken place.
It was now four-thirty in the morning. His team knew that they only had fifteen more minutes before they had to reassemble back at the beach.
“Got something,” Aiden’s voice came over the team’s shared receiver.
Dex’s eyes never left his computer screen as he continued to search, but Gray knew he was listening to Aiden’s words.
Aiden continued, “There’s blood in the master bathroom. A lot of it. Rope’s hanging from the shower curtain.”
Gray’s blood ran cold. “So they questioned the women in there?”
“Looks like.” Aiden’s voice was flat.
“How much blood?” Hunter asked over the com. “Do you think they’re dead?”
“No,” Aiden answered. “One of them left a message behind the toilet. It’s small, but I can make out the world ‘gold’ and some kind of symbol.”
“Describe the symbol to me,” Dex said urgently. His fingers slammed the keyboard.
“It’s an upside down triangle with two lines in it, and a line coming down from the bottom.”
“Time’s up. All of you get your asses to the beach,” Gray ordered.
“Not me, I’ve almost got it,” Dex said. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. Gray went to the door and opened it a crack. The sky was beginning to lighten.
“Forget it, Dex. We’re leaving.”
“Aiden, you still there?” Dex demanded.
“Yep,” Aiden answered.
God fucking dammit.
“Aiden, I told you to get the hell out of there.” Gray was going to kill Aiden if he wasn’t killed by a bogey.
“What’s your question, Dex?” Aiden asked calmly.
“Could the symbol be a tulip? Could the whole thing be Golden Tulip?” Dex demanded.
Gray could actually hear his man’s hope. “Absolutely. Does it mean something?”
“You heard our boss. Get your asses to the beach,” Dex said as he crashed his computer shut and shoved it into his rucksack. He turned to Gray. “Let’s go.”
“What? Explain it to me.” Gray peered out the window of the cabana, then nodded to Dex when he saw the coast was clear. They kept to the shadows until they hit the high wall that separated the beach and the luxury resort. Gray gave Dex a leg up, then hauled his own ass up and over. They were the first to arrive at the rendezvous point.
“
Status,” Gray demanded. Seconds seemed like hours as he waited for his team to answer. The flavor of the air changed and Gray turned to see Griff and Dalton coming up behind him.
“Goddammit—” Gray started.
“Got a problem.” Gray could barely hear Hunter’s whisper.
“Need backup?” Gray whispered back.
“Negative.” Aiden’s voice was tense.
Fuck! Information would really be appreciated at this moment.
Dex had his comp out again, Gray saw the satellite image up on his computer. He was trying to focus in on the royal villa.
A gurgle came through the receiver. Aiden answered the unasked question. “One tango down.”
“Guys, there’s a total of eight in the villa,” Dex said quietly. “That makes six bad guys and you two mugs.”
“Five now,” Aiden’s voice was almost soundless.
“Make that four,” Hunter whispered. A light thud came through the receiver. “Oopsie, now there’s only three.”
When the hell did Diaz turn into such a smartass?
Silence.
Gray looked down. Even in the moonlight he could see the individual grains of sand on the beach, the Navy appreciated his perfect eyesight.
He started counting, willing his mean to be all right. To be safe.
Gray flinched as a rifle shot went off with a muffled roar.
He heard more shots. He wanted a report. Damn it, he wanted to know what was going on. Listening intently, Gray tried to imagine what was playing out in the villa. It was definitely his guys doing the shooting, but then he heard another volley of shots from farther away.
Still no sound from Aiden or Hunter.
That was good news. There would have been a very familiar thud / grunt that would have come through if their body armor had been hit. Gray refused to even think about the sound any other type of accurate shot could have made on his men’s flesh.
Goddammit. I want a report!
He looked up from the sand and his gaze caught Dalton’s.
Her Captivated Hero: A Black Dawn Novel Book 6 Page 7
