Hunting Ghosts

by Brent Towns

  “Not a sound,” Brick hissed into her ear. “I don’t intend to harm you.”

  He could feel her screams against the palm of his hand. “Listen to me. Listen. Listen.”

  Heidi calmed down, breath replacing the muffled screams. “I’m going to take my hand away from your mouth and we’re going to talk. Do you understand?”

  She nodded.

  “Before I do, know this. If you scream, your friend out in the hall will come barging in here, and I’m going to have to shoot him.”

  She nodded again.

  “Are we good?”

  Another nod.

  Brick lowered his hand.

  With her body against his, he could feel her top half expand as she drew a deep breath. Brick’s hand moved back to her mouth before she could let it out in an ear-piercing screech. “No, no. Don’t do that. I thought we had an agreement.”

  Heidi struggled against him but soon found out it was useless.

  “Listen to me,” he hissed angrily. “We know. Okay? We know you don’t want to be here.”

  It was worth a shot, and it worked. She stopped squirming and relaxed.

  “We’re going to try again. Okay?”

  She nodded.

  Brick lowered his hand, and nothing happened. He turned her around and looked into her eyes. There was a mix of fear and—

  “Daijōbudesu ka?” (Are you alright?) The voice came from the hallway.

  Heidi stared at Brick, who was poised in case she screamed. Instead, she called in a calm voice, “Daijōbudesu.”

  She looked at Brick and said, “I told him I was fine.”

  He stared at her for a moment. With her long hair and fine features, she was quite pretty. “Thank you.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I work for the American government.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Kenji Ishida.”

  Heidi looked scared. “I can’t help you.”

  “Yes, you can, Heidi.”

  “You know my name?”

  “Yes. We also know about your parents and believe that Ishida is using them against you so you’ll work for him.”

  She didn’t need to answer; he could see it in her eyes. “We can help you. We can get them protection and out of Japan.”

  “How? How can you do that?”

  “Trust me,” Brick said. “We can do it.”

  “And what do I have to do in return?” Heidi asked.

  “Help us with Ishida. Testify for the DEA—”

  “No, I can’t.”

  “Listen, Heidi. Do you know what happened to his last accountant? Do you?”

  Her head bobbed. “I know.”

  “Were you there?”

  “I was in the car.”

  “Who was the woman? The one that brought the package?” Brick asked.

  Heidi shook her head. “I don’t know. They call her Nemesis.”

  “Nemesis? As in the Greek Goddess?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. Do you know anything else at all about her?”

  “No. Except she is British.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “I heard her speak.”

  Brick nodded. “That’s good. Now, do you want us to help you?”

  She hesitated for several moments, contemplating the offer, then said, “Yes.”

  “Why is Ishida in Hawaii?”

  “He has a deal happening,” Heidi told him.

  “When?”

  “Tonight.”

  “Where?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “Can you find out?”

  “I can try.”

  “I’ll give you a number. You need to memorize it. Get us the details and leave the rest to us. We’ll have you out of this in no time.”

  “What about my parents?”

  “As soon as you give me the details, we’ll pick them up.”

  “Okay.”

  Brick dug into his pocket and took out the thumb drive. “I also have this.”

  “What? How?”

  “I’m good at what I do. Now, I need to get out of here, and the only way I can do that is for you to take your friend out there for a walk. Will you do that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Get to it.”

  Kaneohe, Hawaii

  The DEA had set the team up out of the way in Kaneohe. The house was large and practical, with an operations room full of everything they might need. While they waited, the team was debriefed, and every morsel of their intel was analyzed.

  “What do we know?” Ferrero asked from the big screen.

  “Not a lot,” Brick said. “She’ll reach out when she knows where the deal is going down. The intel from the thumb drive is in Slick’s hands. However, she gave me a name for the woman who delivered the wayward accountant. You’re not going to like it. She’s called ‘Nemesis’.”

  “Oh, that’s just great,” Slick said off-screen. “Just great.”

  “Care to share, Slick?” Ferrero asked.

  He appeared on the monitor next to Ferrero. “Well, you all know what I’m about to say, right?”

  Kane nodded. “Do it anyway.”

  “Nemesis was a Greek Goddess, the goddess of retribution. Which she showed by delivering the accountant to Kenji Ishida. Now it all seems to fit. It’s amazing what a name can do. I managed to trace some of her footsteps by using her purchase of a ring in Geneva.”

  “So, you know who she is?” Kane asked.

  “No.”

  “But you said—”

  “I said I was able to trace some of her steps. I couldn’t get enough for facial ID because she always changed her disguise. The one thing that remained the same was—”

  “The ring,” Cara finished.

  “That’s right. I’ve placed her in five cities across Europe in the past three months.”

  “Is there anything linking her to her visits there?” Kane asked.

  “Now that I know those bits of intel, it’ll give me more to look for,” Swift explained.

  For a long moment, no one spoke. A pall of silence seemed to envelop both El Paso and Hawaii. It lasted thirty seconds, then Swift said, “Do I need to say it?”

  “What?” Kane asked.

  “Is anyone thinking Cabal here?”

  “Nothing says Cabal, Slick,” Kane replied.

  “Really? How about Nemesis for a start? The woman is a ghost. She has access to things only the intelligence community has access to, and—”

  “All right, Slick, we get the picture,” Ferrero said. “Get me evidence.”

  “I’ll do better than that, I’ll find her, and you can ask her yourself.”

  He disappeared off-screen and left them to it. Ferrero sighed and was about to say something when Cara spoke. “What are the chances that he could be right, Luis?”

  “Anything is possible. We never did find out who was accessing the accounts. Anyway. Keep me up to speed with the Ishida situation as it develops.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kane said, and the screen went dark.

  “Man, I wish those Cabal fuckers would crawl away and die already,” Axe growled. “You know the shit is going to hit the fan if it’s them, don’t you? It’s fucked up.”

  “Relax, Axe,” Cara said to him. “It is only speculation at this stage. We have no idea if it’s true.”

  “Ma’am, you know how our luck runs. If there’s any likelihood it is true, we’ll be up to our necks in assholes trying to kill us. Mark my words, this can only end badly.”

  Vilnius Lithuania

  Nemesis sat on the hotel balcony enjoying her morning cup of tea. Below on the street, traffic was starting to build, both vehicular and pedestrian. In the room behind her, she heard the encrypted satellite phone ring. There were a few words uttered on her end, then a thin man appeared on the balcony behind her. She sighed. “What is it, Henry?”

  “Your presence has been requested in Khartoum, ma’am,” the man named Henry
said in a heavy British accent. “A customer wants your services and is willing to pay a million dollars just for meeting with them to discuss it.”

  Nemesis placed her tea on the table and turned. “A million just to appear?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “It sounds like a trap to me,” she said.

  “I would have thought so too, ma’am, but for the name of the man who wants to meet with you.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, ma’am. He’s called The Ghost.”

  Chapter 5

  Hawaii

  Word came from Heidi later that afternoon. The meeting was to take place in Kalaeloa at an old refinery close to the docks. Ishida was meeting with the hierarchy of the H-41s, or Hawaiian 41s. They were an organized crime syndicate that ran most of the drugs on Oahu. All members had links to incarcerated ancestors from 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl harbor. If you weren’t linked, you didn’t get in.

  Kane and the others geared up and moved into position early, their backup provided by the DEA field office. Swift had a good feed from an NSA satellite and could monitor everything from WDI HQ.

  “Radio check,” Kane said into his comms.

  “Reaper Two, read you Lima Charlie.”

  “Reaper Four, read you Lima Charlie.”

  “Reaper Five, read you Lima Charlie.”

  “Zero is good.”

  There was a pause, then, “Pineapple Lead is good.”

  Kane shook his head. Damn Axe and his sense of humor. “Copy, comms are good.”

  Cara had secreted herself on top of an old oil tank, where she would have a clear field of fire with the M110A1 Compact Sniper System. She began sweeping said field, searching for anything that might remotely be construed as out of the ordinary. With that done, she radioed Kane that all was clear.

  “Now it’s a matter of patience, I guess,” he said. “I hate waiting.”

  The wait wasn’t as long as expected. “Reaper One? Bravo Four. We’ve got movement on ISR. Looks like three vehicles traveling at speed coming your way.”

  “Good copy, Bravo Four. Everyone, heads in the game.”

  A minute or so later, three black SUVs arrived on-site, forming a U-shape as they pulled up. Cara said, “Fancy.”

  “Gives them cover in case something goes wrong,” Kane surmised. “My bet is that they’re armored too.”

  The doors opened, and four bodyguards climbed out. They were all armed with SIG MPX Ks, compact weapons that carried a thirty-round magazine. Cara said, “Looks like they’ve come to play, Reaper.”

  “Home team can accommodate them,” Kane said. “Bravo Four, any sign of the 41s?”

  “They’re coming in now, Reaper. Three sedans about to arrive on-site…wait one.”

  “What’s up, Slick?”

  “Ooh, these guys aren’t playing by the rules. They’ve got a fourth vehicle coming in the back way. It’s just pulled up outside an old warehouse to the north of the meeting place. I count five shooters climbing out and moving into position.”

  “Roger that, Bravo Four. Keep an eye on them.” Kane took a moment to think. “All right, let’s see how this plays out. Remember, Ishida is the package, and our mission is to keep him alive no matter what.”

  The three sedans arrived and disgorged their loads. Unlike the Yakuza, who were dressed in suits and looked like they were about to dine out at a fine restaurant, the 41s looked like street thugs in jeans and T-Shirts or tank tops. Most had multiple tattoos and wore gold jewelry of some description.

  “Those assholes are fucking wannabe boys from the hood,” Axe growled. “The Yakuza guys will eat them for supper.”

  “I guess that’s why they brought the extra muscle.”

  A door on one of the SUVs opened, and Kenji Ishida climbed out. However, he wasn’t alone. Heidi was with him. “Shit,” Brick murmured though his comms. “What now, Reaper?”

  “The plan remains the same. We just have to hope she keeps her head down once this thing kicks off.”

  “Reaper One, the extra shooters have moved into position,” Swift informed them.

  Cara swept the warehouse. “I’ve got them, Reaper. There is a bank of large windows that they’re using as vantage points.”

  “Can you take them, Reaper Two?”

  “On my worst day,” she replied.

  “Them first.”

  “Copy.”

  The two leaders walked toward each other with a single bodyguard each. After speaking for several moments, they returned to their vehicles, where they grabbed separate items. The Yakuza boss grabbed Heidi by the arm while his bodyguard took a briefcase. The leader of the 41s took out a struggling male who was dressed similar to them.

  “What the hell is this, Reaper?” Brick asked.

  “Slick, can you get a look at who the 41s are trading here?”

  “Wait one, Reaper.”

  “Don’t wait too fucking long. Slick,” Brick said. “Shit is going down now.”

  Thirty seconds later, Swift said, “Reaper One, they are trading their leader.”

  “Holy shit. They’re giving Ishida their boss to kill,” Kane said. “But why…they’re onto Heidi. Reaper Two, take out those extra shooters. Axe, the 41s are yours. The rest of us move in. Now.”

  Cara was already in action when they moved. The CSASS slammed back into her shoulder, and the first shooter hidden behind the glass of the warehouse died with a 7.62 round in his brain. With the sniper system, she was using the weapon in semi-automatic mode, which meant she could aim and fire without having to reload. So, while the first one was falling, there was a second bullet in the air, reaching out to terminate the next target.

  On the ground, Axe had opened fire with the team’s suppressed M249 light machine gun, while Kane, Brick, and the DEA agents closed on the rest of the armed men. The Yakuza shooters brought up their weapons and began to spray bullets wildly at their attackers. On the other hand, the professionalism of the team and the DEA shone through as they carefully chose and eliminated targets. It took very little time for it to be all over, the outcome being that nearly all the bad guys were down. Then came a cry of, “Medic!”

  Kane rushed over to where the cry had come from, but Brick had beaten him there. He looked down at the casualty and saw that it was Heidi. “Reaper One to Zero, over.”

  “Copy, Reaper One.”

  “We need a medevac in the air now. We’ve got a—”

  “She’s priority one, Reaper. She needs out now.”

  “Our WIA is a priority one, Zero. I say again, priority one. Brick is doing all he can.”

  “Roger, Reaper. Priority one medevac.”

  Kane looked around. “Axe, secure the prisoners. Keep Ishida separated from the others.”

  “Roger that.”

  He missed having Knocker around. His extra muscle would have been good in this instance.

  “Reaper One? Zero. Your medevac is in the air. ETA five minutes.”

  “Copy, Zero. Five minutes, out.”

  Kane looked down at Brick. The medic had an IV bag and tubing in his hands, but he didn’t move as he looked down at his patient. “Ah, shit.”

  “Brick?”

  “She’s gone, Reaper. I couldn’t help her.”

  Kane said, “You did your best.”

  “I did fuck-all.”

  Kane walked away from his friend and pressed the talk button on his comms. “Zero, this is Reaper One.”

  “Copy, Reaper One.”

  “Be advised, Zero, our WIA is now a KIA, over.”

  “Roger that. Out.”

  Cara appeared beside Kane. He glanced at her. “You want to give Brick a hand getting Heidi ready for transport?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I can do that. It’s all mucked up, Reaper.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  Sudan, Outside Khartoum

  Upon landing in the country, Nemesis followed the instructions she had been given. She crossed the Blue Nile and proceeded into the desert for fif
ty kilometers before reaching a mudbrick compound off the side of the road. Her escort consisted of six men, all specially trained and more than competent in their duties, armed with Heckler and Koch G36K compact assault rifles. The two armored SUVs stopped in a cloud of orange dust, and their drivers turned the motors off. The men climbed out first, forming a secure perimeter around the second vehicle.

  After they were set, Nemesis climbed out of the rear passenger seat of the vehicle they stood guard around. She closed the door and looked about. “Dry bastard of a place this is.”

  “Reminds me of my missus’ twat before we got divorced,” one of the bodyguards said.

  Nemesis glared at him. “Maybe because you’re shit in bed, Collins. Or your neighbor was fucking her instead because you were a dud screw.”

  The others chuckled at the comment. One thing Nemesis had was a whip-like tongue that, when used effectively, cut deep.

  The man named Collins scowled at her back.

  Nemesis was dressed in a white suit, a wide-brimmed white hat, and dark sunglasses. There was a slight bulge outlined by her coat where her personal weapon, a Glock 19, sat in its shoulder holster.

  “Well,” she called, “where the fuck is everybody?”

  There was movement from the doorway of the compound, and four men emerged. Three were armed with AK-47s, while the fourth held nothing. He stepped toward Nemesis.

  Instantly six men raised their G36s and aimed at the threat. One of them said in his tell-tale British accent, “I’d stop there if I was you, old cock.”

  The man, who was dressed in a thawb, stopped and raised his hands. “I am no threat. We are here to welcome you to this meeting. Besides, if we wanted you dead, it would be so.” He indicated the desert to their right, and through the heat haze, the visitors could see a line of armed men numbering around thirty.

  Nemesis nodded. “All right. You’ve shown me yours, now I’ll show you mine.”

  She raised her hand to shoulder level and waited. The snap of a high-powered round coming in was followed by a thud and the rolling report of the shot. One of the men who had emerged from the compound dropped where he stood, watched confusedly by his comrades. Nemesis said, “I also came prepared. I have two snipers out in the desert, as well as an assault team. After all, you never can be too careful.”