“Kane, the only good thing we have going for us is that nobody will hear us coming.”
“I love how this guy can see the bright side of every situation.” Cullen grinned as he looped his arm around Leo’s neck. “Too bad it’s too dark for you to read a book tonight, huh?”
“Dumbass, when have you known me to read a book on the short hop to a mission? On the flight overseas, yes. On the helicopter ride to our target, no.”
He’d brought A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain this mission to read. He’d read that book as a kid, but as an adult, it was ten times better. He was midway through his second reading of it since they’d started the mission. If experience had taught him anything, he knew the pages of the paperback would be falling out by the time he was done, which is why he always started with a rubber band around the book when he brought it with him. Reading had been his passion since he started getting the highest kite on the wall for reading the most books in third grade.
The helicopter dipped hard down and to the right. Even in the dim light, he could see Asher swallowing hard. Put the man in the ocean, and he was golden, but give him a fuckload of turbulence and he had to force back the puke. Asher looked up and saw Leo grinning at him. He put up his middle finger. Leo laughed. Then the helicopter did another swoop. Leo looked at his watch, and did another look out the window. They should be at their landing site in fifteen more minutes.
He’d talked to their pilot Wilma before taking off. She’d been flying Apaches and Blackhawks all over the Middle East for the last twelve years. They couldn’t be in safer hands as far as Leo was concerned. As they got even closer, he was able to see the ground. Then he knew; Wilma would be touching down.
“Hold onto your butt, Asher,” he said through their comm system.
He saw his friend gritting his teeth. It wasn’t nice to laugh at his friend’s suffering, but hell, everyone on the team was laughing. Asher would just have to suck it up. When it came down to it, everyone had their time at bat providing entertainment to the team. Tonight it was Asher Thorne. Bless his heart. The weird thing though—Asher was happy as a lark jumping out of a plane. He’d do that five times a day, just fine. Go figure.
“I’m setting us down, gentlemen,” Wilma’s voice came over the comm system.
“She sounds hot,” Nic’s voice was filled with enthusiasm.
“She is hot,” Leo concurred. Any woman who could fly through this shit was hot in his book. Not as hot as Daisy, but hot, nonetheless.
Just as they were about to touch down, the helicopter did a hop to the left because of a strong gust of wind. Still, it didn’t stop Wilma from nailing the landing.
Kane did one last quick check on everybody’s commlink, then they put on their night vision goggles and headed out.
“I’m proud of you, Bubba,” Leo heard Cullen telling Asher.
“Go fuck yourself.”
“Seriously, you didn’t puke all over Wilma’s Blackhawk. You’re such a big boy.”
Everybody but Nic was able to keep from laughing out loud.
“Can it, Lyons,” Kane whispered after they went over the first big rise. This was pretty much how all their missions started—Cullen being a smart-ass until Kane or Max shut him up and that’s how they knew that they were on radio-silence.
They had five kilometers of hills and rocks to get over before he and Ezio would start looking for the best points for them to set up. They’d agreed ahead of time, it would be good to try to get no more than fifty meters apart and no less than twenty meters for the best sniper coverage.
Wouldn’t you know, the sandstorm had pretty much died down as soon as they’d touched down. Now they were heading to the cave at a steady but quick pace. Asher and Max were taking the lead, scouting out for anyone who might be on watch.
After three kilometers Leo eased closer to Ezio and pointed to a high peak. There was another one a little lower that was forward and to the right. Ezio gave Leo a thumbs up. They started to move faster, wanting to determine if these spots had a view of the cave—according to Kane’s coordinates, they should.
They caught up with Max and Asher and pointed to the peaks. Max nodded. Ezio headed toward the higher on the left. Leo started toward the one on the right, with every footstep he started to get in the zone. He mentally saw himself setting up his rifle, training his scope on his target, taking a breath, depressing the trigger.
By the time he got to the edge of the peak, he was ready. He took a look over. In the gloom, he couldn’t make out much, even with his night-vision goggles. He got out his rifle scope. Then he saw the mouth of the cave and only one truck.
Fuck.
“Only one truck,” he whispered into his mic.
He would bet his bottom dollar that the doctor had been moved, but they were going to have to try. Maybe they would get lucky and find a clue, or better yet, somebody they could get to talk.
“Stick to the plan,” Max whispered.
Leo used his scope to search out Ezio. He was already planted with his rifle, ready to take on all-comers. Leo was late to the game. He got set up fast. Once he was, he could see Max and Archer creeping up like shadows to the perimeter of the cave area. Max made a hand motion and Cullen and Nic immediately came up from the shadows. Nic and Cullen went to the left side of the cave where the truck was, Max went to the right side.
Kane came up beside Leo, his computer at the ready as he looked over the ridge with his binoculars, then back down at his open computer.
Raiden was the last to the party. He got into the bed of the truck, ensuring it wasn’t booby-trapped. “It’s clean back here,” he said. Well, at least they hadn’t departed and left us with some sort of parting gift. Raiden joined Max.
Asher was already underneath the truck, planting bombs of his own. He scrambled out from beneath the truck then he ran to Cullen and Nic.
“Three, two, one,” Asher breathed into the mic.
The explosion shot outwards, away from the cave, just as Asher planned. It was less than twenty seconds before the first man ran out from the cave. Max grabbed him and yanked him back, out of sight of the mouth of the cave. The man lifted his pistol, then Max shot him. Three more men exited the cave, all shooting. Leo aimed and shot one while two more went down by others.
As expected, nobody else came out. Instead, shots fired outward from inside the cave.
Max hit the ground and peeked around the edge, his gun ready. He wasn’t going to take any indiscriminate shots, in case either the doctor or the reporter were inside. Leo moved, turned his rifle barrel, and saw that Cullen had done the same thing on the left side of the cave. He could see that Cullen was taking shots.
“They’re down,” Cullen said.
“Affirmative,” Max said.
Nic and Raiden went in as Cullen and Max continued to cover them.
Leo hated this. He trusted his teammates—they were fucking indomitable—but still, he wanted to be the one taking the risks, not them. And if he couldn’t be taking the risks, then he wanted them to be giving him a play-by-play of what was going on. Instead, it was dead quiet.
After what seemed like an eternity, there was a shot.
Then another.
Another.
He heard a man scream.
Two more shots.
“Down!” It was Nic’s voice. He must have been shouting at Raiden.
Three more shots in rapid succession.
Another scream.
Absolute silence. It was deafening. It seemed to stretch on forever. Leo always wondered how in the hell Max stood this, not demanding that Nic and Raiden report into him.
“We’re clear. No more tangos.” Nic said.
Asher began checking the bodies outside the cave to ensure nobody was alive. Cullen went into the cave to ensure all of the ‘dead’ were dead.
“We’ve got signs of a prisoner having been held here, at some point,” Raiden said.
Leo broke down his rifle, looked
over, and saw that Ezio was doing the same thing.
“Kane, they left a camera tripod,” Raiden said.
“Guys, we’ve got to go. Another weather system is coming in,” Kane said. “We’ve got to move.”
They made fast time getting back to the helicopter. As soon as Wilma saw them, she started up the bird. There was no laughter as they headed back to Bagram.
“Tripod?” Kane said to Raiden.
“Yep,” came the subdued response.
“Chances there’s a video out there somewhere. Don’t know of what, if there wasn’t a body,” Kane said. It was clear he was confused.
“Kane,” Leo started. “Do you think it was possible that they were doing an internal message between just the Haqqani Network?” Leo paused. “Or maybe something to Siraj?”
“I can’t understand why a tripod. Why not just film it with their phone?” Nic said.
“Nope, they try to make these really pro. They’re going to be pissed when they find out they left it behind. But in answer to your question Nic, they do use their phones, they just put it on the tripod,” Kane explained.
By the time they got back to Bagram, they were whipped. After they cleaned up, Max had found them an even tinier closet to meet in since, even at six o’clock in the morning, the smelly larger conference room was taken.
“You did good out there.” Max took a moment to look each and every member of his team in the eye. He didn’t need to say or do more than that. Coming from Max Hogan…well, it was the highest praise you could ask for. Not even hearing something from an Admiral could make you feel better.
Max then turned to Leo. “I’ve been thinking about what you said, Leo, and I think you’re on to something. We know that they’re not going to kill Squires until Siraj is here in Afghanistan, so maybe they wanted to upload something on a website just for them, or send something to their leader.”
Kane pulled his laptop out of his duffel. “I’m on it.”
“All of you, including you, Kane, go find a bunk and get some shut-eye. Tomorrow’s another day. We’re going to find these sons-of-bitches.”
Leo laughed when Max pulled the laptop out of Kane’s hands. “No more toys for you.”
“But, Dad,” Kane whined. “Just a little longer.”
“You can have it back in the morning.”
9
Daisy woke up to the sound of her laptop squawking at her. It was a Skype call coming in. She looked at the phone on the nightstand and saw it was nine a.m. She bolted out of bed; how did she sleep so late?
She scooted over to her computer. It was Rayi.
She looked down at herself. She was wearing a Chicago Cubs T-shirt, no bra, and panties. She carefully positioned the laptop’s camera so he would only see her face.
She answered the call.
“I have good news,” he started.
“My father’s been rescued?” Daisy was ready to jump out of her chair.
“No, but we know he’s still alive. One of my colleagues monitors a chat room where the Haqqanis communicate.”
“Why haven’t we used that to talk to them?” Daisy wanted to know.
“It would blow the cover he has spent years cultivating. He cannot do it. But what he has done is discovered a video of your father from yesterday.”
“He has? Can I see it?”
“Yes, I’ve downloaded it to the secure server you provided to me. I must warn you, Miss Squires, he does not look well, but he is alive. That is the important thing to remember.”
“Trust me, I know that is the important thing. This is such good news! Are there any clues in the video as to where he’s being held?”
“None that I or my colleague could see.”
“Thank you, Rayi, I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.”
He signed off and she immediately went to the secure server. It took her just a moment to find the video. She opened up the video file and pressed play.
To begin with, she couldn’t see much; the focus was all blurred, and the camera was moving. Then it stopped moving and the camera came into clear focus. Someone shoved her father onto his knees in front of the camera.
“No,” she gasped. His face was mottled with bruises. There was dried blood at his temple, his jaw was so swollen she wondered if he could talk.
She traced her fingers over the computer screen as if she could touch him. As if she could somehow help him.
“My name is Ethan Squires. I tried to help the people of—”
Daisy watched in horror as the butt of a rifle came into view and hit him in the head. He crashed to the ground, a gash opening on the side of his head, blood pouring out. A voice from off-screen screamed at him in Arabic, telling her father not to lie. That he was an infidel who had sinned against the prophet. Somebody rushed to lift her father up. He was wearing a face covering as well as his keffiyeh; there was no way to tell who he was. He tried to get her father to kneel up on his own, but it was a lost cause.
More screaming in Arabic ensued. Swearing he would kill her father if he tried to fake an injury, telling him to get up and tell their leader how he had betrayed Muslims everywhere. The man was holding on to her father’s elbows. They were yanked up almost to his head. He was groaning in pain.
“Tell them,” the man kept shouting from off-camera. “Tell them your sins.”
“I did nothing wrong. I tried to help.”
Daisy cried out when she saw the butt of the gun come flying on-screen again, but this time the man holding her father yanked him out of the way.
“No. You’ll kill him,” the man cried. “Our leader wants him alive for the beheading.”
“He must repent,” the man yelled from off-screen.
Daisy kept her eyes glued to her father and saw the moment he passed out. She gasped out a breath and that was the moment she realized she’d been holding it.
The screen went black. Her whitened fingers were touching it while harsh sounds were coming out of her mouth. She tasted salt. What’s happening to me? What’s happening to me?
“Oh, God.”
She practically fell out of her chair as she rushed to the bathroom. She pushed up the toilet seat just in time to throw up. She heaved and heaved until there was nothing left in her stomach, but still, she heaved some more.
Daisy blindly reached for the toilet paper, wanting to wipe away the snot, tears, and saliva.
Suck it up, you’ve seen worse.
Her stomach heaved again.
She tried to think.
Why can’t I think?
She hit the tiles on the floor with her fist, happy when she felt the pain.
Think!
She shuddered, and hated it. She tried to push herself up from the floor but found her legs too weak.
Pull yourself together, girl!
Daisy heard her phone ringing from the other room but she couldn’t handle it. She just couldn’t handle it. Let the world spin on its own without her for a while. It didn’t matter.
I shouldn’t care!
She hit the tile again with her fist.
That’s why I came here instead of my siblings. I wasn’t going to care; it was just another job.
She tasted salt again.
She closed her eyes. She could do better than this. She’d always done better than this. Emotions screwed up every assignment. She couldn’t afford to feel them or they’d stop her in her tracks. Make her powerless. People suffered when she was powerless.
She closed her eyes and tried, desperately tried, to relax her shoulders. It wasn’t working, but she took a deep breath in, tightened her shoulders, then let out a slow breath and relaxed her shoulders.
She felt them relax a tiny little bit.
She did it again.
Then she saw her father’s bruised face and the gun hitting him. She winced.
She heard her phone ring again and forced herself up from the floor. Going to the bedroom, Daisy grabbed her phone and turned it off, not cari
ng who was calling. She slammed her laptop off and unplugged it.
The world can wait. The world can just fucking wait.
Something was wrong, Leo could feel it in his bones.
Could just be the fact that they’d just seen the video of Ethan Squires, but unfortunately, that was almost to be expected. Every single one of the Night Storm team was just thankful that the man was alive. They still had time to rescue him. Now it was just a matter of finding out where he was.
But that still didn’t explain why Leo was sure that something was wrong.
“Any word on our next target?” Leo turned from Kane to Max.
“We’re supposed to hear something tomorrow morning,” Max said. “The higher-ups are being cagey. They have a source they’re really trying to protect.”
“If this source is able to lead us to Squires, well then, they’re worth protecting,” Leo said.
“In the meantime, more drones are going up and looking for that jeep with the anti-aircraft gun. If they can spot that, it would give us a good indication that Squires is there.”
“They can’t have gotten too far,” Asher said.
“We’re not sure that others with trucks didn’t come in and load them up. We can’t just assume that that one truck and jeep were their only means of transportation,” Max explained.
He’s right, Leo thought.
“We’re going to get some training in. Nothing like some good one-hundred-and-twelve-degree heat to get a body moving,” Max grinned.
“My money’s on Kane falling behind first. He’s the oldest, I think the heat will do him in,” Raiden said with a grin.
“Nope, Max has me by a month, he’s going down. What’s more, he skips out on training back at Little Creek. He keeps saying he has paperwork to do. Nope, it’ll be Max for sure.” Kane closed down his laptop. He was definitely getting into the mood.
Her Sensual Protector: A Navy SEAL Romance (Night Storm Book 5) Page 7