Mamoon stared up into the sky and wondered if this was what Sameer felt when he died. Was his death quicker? What of Tariq? Did the boy know that he was about to die when he began to choke? Did he suddenly feel very cold?
Mamoon closed his eyes and felt peace for the first time in what seemed like a very long time.
Camp Deric, South of Dallas, TX
* * *
GREGG SAT BACK and stared at the screen. “I’ve got the feeds ready. We need to set the perimeter alarms.”
“Jim and Steve are on it.” Deric settled in next to him. “They’re starting on the south side and working their way up here.”
“Laser trip wires?” Deric glanced at his PDA and nodded. “You should get their signal any moment.” He tapped something on the pad and handed it to Gregg. “The frequencies.”
Jay pushed away from his computer and nodded to Gregg. “When you got a moment, I have the data bomb ready to go. You need to double check everything.”
Bridger blew his breath out hard and stared at the bullet proof windows mounted to the southern end of the bunker. “How big a caliber will that stop?”
Deric shrugged. “In theory, up to a .338 Lapua magnum, but I’ve never bothered to test it.”
Bridger’s brow creased. “Why not?”
Deric chuckled, “Those windows are over a grand a piece. I wasn’t about to start shooting at them just to see what might make it through. I trusted the lab reports.”
Bobby groaned and began to pace. “I don’t like this. Not at all.”
Jim appeared in the doorway. “Laser trips are set.”
Steve pushed past him and handed the data pad to Deric. “You might double check the distance on some of those. We may have surpassed their working distance.” He shrugged. “I wanted to get as wide a coverage area as I could.”
“Understood.” Deric tapped at his PDA and nodded. “They’re all green.” He handed the pad back to Gregg. “Key in.”
Gregg pulled up the sensors on his computer and leaned back. “We are live, fellas. Anything bigger than a dragonfly tries to get close and we’ll know it.”
Viktor’s face appeared on Gregg’s computer. “Hello? Are you there?” the Russian’s voice yelled.
“Viktor, where are you?” Jay yelled at the screen.
“I have led the men back to Fort Worth. I lost them in a bar and doubled back to their car. You have a drone following you.”
“I fucking knew it.” Jay slammed the table top. “Danger close, boys. They could already be out there.”
“I am sorry to be bringing you such bad news, but I felt that you needed to know.” Viktor’s face suddenly disappeared from the screen and his phone clattered to the ground. Black trousers could be seen in flashes as two men attempted to subdue the mad Russian. “Kill them all!” Viktor shouted. “No mercy! We are Baba Yaga!”
The screen went dead and Jay stood, his shoulders squared. “Lock and load, ladies.”
Gregg whistled low. “It’s clobbering time.”
Dallas, TX
* * *
ALI BIN-HAMZA shook his head slowly as the car slowed near the airport hangar. “This is not good. Look.” He pointed to the dark sedan parked behind a small aircraft. Two men sat inside. One man was staring at the hangar with binoculars. “They are being watched.”
“No, Ali. They are not there.” The babyfaced man held his phone up. “One of the trackers broke into their frequency. They are at some survival camp south of here.”
“How far?” Ali barked, his eyes narrowing.
The babyfaced man shook his head. “Not far. Maybe…forty minutes?”
Ali slapped at the driver. “Go! We must get there before the authorities do.”
31
Camp Deric, South of Dallas, TX
* * *
ROGER ALL BUT pushed al-Abadi into the tunnel. “Whatever you hear, don’t come out.”
“But this is a tomb!” The smaller man shook and stared at Roger with wide eyes. “You cannot leave me in here. It could collapse. It could—”
“Shut up and keep low.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “Those guys are the professionals. They can’t have you running around screaming and being a distraction.” He stood taller and glared at him. “That’s my job.”
He pushed the door shut and leaned against it, praying that this would all soon be over and there would actually be a life that he could get back to.
“Here.” Roger opened his eyes and Bridger was handing him an M4. “You remember how to use one of these, don’t you?”
Roger cursed under his breath and snatched the rifle from his grip. “Of course I do.” He slammed a magazine home and racked a round in it. “Where will I be stationed?”
“Machine shop.” Bridger turned and marched toward the front of the bunker.
“Wait…that’s clear on the other side.”
“Yup.” Bridger grabbed a MOLLE vest and began loading the pouches.
“I really think I should be with you.”
Bridger shook his head. “That won’t be the safest place.” He leaned forward and glanced through the blast windows. He couldn’t see the drone, but he knew it was up there. Probably keeping an eye on the entire place at a safe distance.
“What the hell am I supposed to do at the machine shop?”
Bridger turned and gave him a steely eyed stare. “Each of these bunkers are connected. Those are simple steel doors…they’re not blast doors. If they breach any of the bunkers, then they’ll have access to all of them. We can’t risk allowing them into any one of them.” He slammed a round home on a ten millimeter pistol and shoved it into the chest mounted holster. “ANY OF THEM.”
Roger nodded slowly. “I’m guarding the entire bunker by myself?”
Jim walked by carrying an RPG. “I’ll be there with you.” He set the RPG on the table and began loading his own MOLLE vest. “It’ll be fun.” He shot Roger a wink.
“Fun.” Roger blew his breath out hard and shook his head. “Sure. Why not. It’s not like I had anything better to do. The Rangers don’t play again until Friday and it’s an away game.”
Bridger packed out the last bag and turned to him. “If we survive this, we’ll see about getting you your life back.” He snorted. “Hell, I wouldn’t mind having my life back either. You know, the one I had hiding away in Bumfuck, Texas. The life I had before you came and asked me to do a little search and destroy for you online.”
Roger’s face fell. “Fine.” He turned and made his way to the tunnel door. He’d rather face al-Abadi and his incessant whining than have Bridger remind him that his involvement was all his doing.
Jim watched the man then turned to Bridger. “A little rough on him, dontcha think?”
Bridger leaned on the table and sighed heavily. “Maybe.” He glanced at Roger slipping into the tunnel and shook his head. “I’m hyper focused right now and just can’t…” He looked up and met Jim’s gaze. “I just can’t.”
“Understood.” Jim clapped his shoulder. “Be safe out there.”
Jay appeared beside Bridger. “You loaded?”
“For bear.” Bridger patted his different pouches and silently recited the contents of each.
“Then let’s light this candle.” Jay walked to the door and pulled it open. “Age before beauty.”
Somewhere Above Texas
* * *
AGENT DARREN CHESTERFIELD glanced around the interior of the chopper. Each man’s face was stoic. They knew what they were about to do and Darren got the distinct impression that none of them liked the idea of a pencil pusher forcing his way into their op.
He keyed the radio and addressed the pilot. “Keep us far enough out that they won’t see us coming.”
“Copy that.”
The man to Darren’s right tapped his shoulder and he keyed the coms again. “What?”
“They’ll hear us regardless. We need to do a dual pronged insertion.”
Darren assumed that meant hit them
from two different sides. “Agreed. Make it so.” He turned back to his ruggedized PDA and pretended to do something on it while the assault team leader barked his orders.
Darren could feel his hands shake as the chopper dropped and skimmed the deck. His stomach threatened to erupt on him and he knew that if it did, it would only contain old coffee and bile.
He leaned back and squeezed his eyes shut. Why in the fuck did I insist on coming on this op?
Near Camp Deric, South of Dallas, TX
* * *
ALI BIN-HAMZA motioned for the driver to slow down and he stared at the land associated with the GPS coordinates. “You are certain?”
The babyfaced man nodded. “Taken from their own communications.”
Ali nodded and pointed to the dirt road that he assumed would be the driveway. “We must hurry if we expect to beat the authorities.” He turned in his seat and glared at the soldiers behind him. “We must get al-Abadi before they do. The traitor must know that he was ended by true believers.”
The men nodded and Ali motioned for the driver to continue. “Everyone be aware. We cannot afford to lose anybody to traps and snares.”
He studied the lay of the land as the truck slowed and approached the dirt road that would lead to his prey.
The babyfaced man excitedly tapped the driver’s shoulder and pointed. “There! There, that is the way in.”
“Stop here!” Ali bin-Hamza barked. He was pushing the door open before the truck rolled to a complete stop. “Remember, be aware at all times. There may be traps here as well.”
The two trucks emptied and Ali noted the replacement soldiers he had acquired for the men wounded at Bridger’s home. He pointed at the two men. “You were not at the infidel’s home. He is a crazy war veteran and enjoys setting traps. Eyes open at all times. Do not fail me.”
He spun on his heel and marched to the front of the lead truck. “Take your team through on this side. We will go ahead and come in from the other.”
Camp Deric, South of Dallas, TX
* * *
GREGG KEYED THE coms. “All teams, we have movement near the west entrance. Two sets of signals near the driveway. They appear to be working their way into a flanking maneuver.”
“Copy that,” Jay whispered.
“Copy,” Bridger replied. “Advise when they break the inner marker.”
“You got it.” Gregg rolled to his other computer and tapped out commands. “No fix on the drone. They’re probably keeping it out of range for portable units. I’m setting the program to alert if it changes altitude and can be reached by our toys.”
Jay cursed and keyed his coms. “We’ve only got two ground to airs. It has to be a sure thing before I waste that kind of firepower.”
“Copy that, Poppa Bear. Will advise.” Gregg pushed back to his original keyboard and moved the feeds to the larger screens set up along the table. “Steve, keep an eye on the monitors set up for the North and West passages. Deric, maintain on South and East. I got the sensors.”
Deric ground his teeth as he settled in behind the screens. “I wish we could have set these cameras at better angles.”
Steve shook his head. “We had to keep them invisible. Otherwise they’d just pull them down and we’d be blind.” He pushed the monitor back slightly so that he could observe both approaches. “North and West are clear…wait one!” Steve leaned in and squinted at the blurry feed. “We have movement. Looks like six men in standard two by two formation.”
Deric keyed his coms as well. “I have a team approaching from the south. Another group of six in two by two formation. Poppa Bear, heads up. They’ll be entering your line of fire in about twenty seconds.”
“Holy shit!” Gregg yelled into the coms. “I’ve got at least a dozen perimeter alarms all along the northern sensor array.” He stared at his computer and shook his head. “Guys, they sent a fucking army.”
Bridger ground his teeth and flipped up the legs on the bipod mounted under his rifle. “Changing positions. Poppa Bear, you’re gonna have to cover the front and I’ll take the rear.”
Jay cursed and pointed his optics in Bridger’s general direction. He watched as a large clump of grass suddenly rose up and a man turned and trotted back out of his field of view. “Covering,” Jay whispered.
Bobby slid down an embankment and trotted along the side of the farthest bunker. He rolled with the incline and settled into some tall grass next to a large oak. He fluffed out his ghili suit and dropped the legs on his bipod once more. “In position.”
Gregg looked to Deric, his face pale. “D, I got at least twenty men pouring in from our rear. There’s no way Bobby can hold them all.”
Deric nodded and came to his feet. “Can you monitor the screens?”
“Yeah, man. Go, go, go!” Gregg shifted the screens back to his station and minimized each window. “Steve, you may want to grab the big guns and give them a hand.”
“On it.” Steve came to his feet and ran to the rear of the bunker. He hefted the M249 SAW by the handle and grabbed an ammo box. “I’m going topside.”
“Be careful man. One grenade…”
“I know.” Steve slung the rifle over his shoulder and gripped the ammo can in his left hand while he worked his way up into the interior crow’s nest. Once nestled inside, he flipped the exterior hatch and worked the M249 up and out of the concrete pillbox.
Steve quickly set the legs on the tripod and shouldered the M249 machine gun for a test fit. “Perfect. Baby Bear, I got your ten o’clock.”
“Copy that,” Bobby whispered. “First contact.”
Steve silently cursed and began feeding the disappearing ammo belt into the receiver of the M249. He chambered the first round then settled into the makeshift pillbox.
He scanned the area and could see movement within the trees behind the bunker. “Contact.”
Camp Deric, South of Dallas, TX
* * *
AGENT CHESTERFIELD FOUGHT the urge to swear as briars and berry vines snagged at his pants, some biting so deeply into the material that he could feel blood running down his leg. He swatted at the cursed thorns and did his best not to trip. He didn’t want to look like the novice he really was in the presence of professionals.
He stopped to get his bearings and noted that the tactical team was still slowly advancing. He glanced from side to side, hoping to find something of note then he stared at his PDA and the geographical map of the area.
He had no idea where they were.
He turned and noted that all of the assault team members were slowly leaving him behind so he trotted to try to keep up. They obviously knew where they were going, so Darren made the decision to follow rather than lead.
He continuously looked behind them, praying that nobody could possibly sneak up on them from the rear. Surely these guys had an SOP for making sure they weren’t shot in the ass during such strikes?
He turned back and had to jog again to catch up. “This shit is getting really old, really fast,” he muttered.
The man ahead of him turned and glared at him. “Cut the chatter.” He made a chopping motion with his hand, pointing through the woods and up the hill ahead of them.
Darren hated to admit he had no idea what the movement meant. Instead of asking, he merely nodded and fell into step behind the man.
Camp Deric, South of Dallas, TX
* * *
ALI BIN-HAMZA held a hand in the air, bringing his group of soldiers to a stop. “Something is not right.”
He turned a slow circle, his eyes piercing the shadows of the woods. “We should have encountered something by now. A trip wire, a snare, a spiked hole…something that indicated that we are dealing with the same person.” He shook his head and turned back in the direction they were heading. “Slowly.”
He motioned the men ahead and stayed back, waiting to spot something…anything that was out of the ordinary.
The man leading the party forward suddenly collapsed, the back of his head sp
raying the others with blood, bits of bone and brain.
The babyfaced man screeched and fell to the ground as the others quickly scrambled to the sides and behind what large trees they could find.
Ali bin-Hamza cursed and dropped to the ground. His scoped rifle scanning the area ahead of them.
“They know we are here, Ali!” the babyfaced man screeched.
Ali clenched his jaw so tight that he feared he might crack a molar. “Of course they know. Your screaming told them we were here.”
He glanced around and saw his men looking to him for orders. “Go. Between the trees. Use them for cover. Do not give them a clean line of sight.”
He watched as his soldiers broke away and darted from tree to tree, inching their way forward. The babyfaced man lay on the ground clutching his computer and papers. Ali shook his head and debated shooting the coward himself.
He slid around his cover and leapt to the nearest large tree. A chunk of bark erupted near his head and he ducked instinctively. He couldn’t hear the shot well enough to know what direction it came from.
“Spot the shooter!” Ali fought to keep his voice level. “There is only the one.”
“How can you be certain?”
“The time between shots.” Ali nodded to the man. “He is probably using a bolt action rifle. That gives us a small window between shots to advance. But we must discover his location.”
The man nodded and darted to another tree. Pieces of bark splintered from the side of the tree and Ali squinted, praying for a muzzle flash. He shook his head and motioned the men onward.
Another man stepped out and was quickly dropped by a shot to the gut. He rolled on the ground, his hands grasping at where his bellybutton should have been, his screams piercing the midday quiet.
Flags of The Forgoten Page 28