—:—
“We’re in,” Striker told him and Dutch. “We’ll head out at twenty-one hundred.”
Mantis nodded. He’d hoped to have more time to talk to Dutch, but it would have to wait; they were leaving in fifteen minutes.
“Who in the hell is that?” Razor asked. “Jesus, what the fuck is Orlov doing here?”
Mantis looked in the direction that Razor was pointing, and watched as Sergei Orlov, paid assassin, touched Alegria’s face. He took a deep breath, knowing he had to wait for Razor’s signal, but right now, he wanted to storm in and rip Orlov’s arm off. His being here was definitely a complication they hadn’t anticipated.
“Shit,” he heard Striker mutter. He’d gone around and scoped out where they might be able to go in on the side of the building, and was just now seeing Orlov. “What is he doing here?”
“Who?” asked Dutch, who walked up with Striker.
“Oruzhiye.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“That’s four for four, gentlemen. No one knows why he’s here, and worse, no one knows what to do about it.”
“Alegria is our target,” said Mantis. “We go in. We get her. We get out. If we aren’t supposed to upset Kilbourne’s op, then we can’t go in there and shoot up the place.”
“You should know that Alegria’s father agreed to pay whatever Ghafor wants,” said Striker.
“A hundred million bucks? Are you kidding me? Did you know her family had that kind of money?” Dutch asked Mantis, who shook his head.
“I don’t think Alegria knew.”
“Her family is pretty weird.”
“Her mother has stage-four pancreatic cancer.”
“Shit,” murmured Dutch. “Now I feel like an asshole.”
“That’s because you are an asshole,” said Razor. “Now shut up so I can think this through.”
“We should wait it out until Orlov leaves,” suggested Striker.
Mantis thought the edict from the agency was bullshit. They should be able to go in, get Alegria, and whatever casualties there were would be collateral damage. As far as he was concerned, as long as they were here, they should pull Malin Kilbourne out too. What the hell? Why not take out Ghafor and Orlov while they were at it, and rid the world of two more wastes of flesh?
Would the Islamic State be able to endure without Ghafor? Mantis doubted it. Al-Qaeda was far less of a threat once bin Laden was assassinated. They struggled along, raised their ugly monster heads from time to time, but were they considered the biggest threat to the United States? Hardly.
“What’re you thinking?” asked Razor.
“You don’t wanna know.”
Mantis should’ve known that was the absolute wrong thing to say to Razor Sharp. “I sure do,” he said, smirking.
“I don’t give a shit about what the agency wants. One of our own is inside, and we need to get her out.”
“So you don’t want to wait.”
“Hell, no.”
“And Orlov?”
“Good excuse as ever to take out that sonuvabitch.”
“If Doc was with us, Orlov would already be dead. Same for Gunner. He’d kill the man with his bare hands.”
Back when the world thought they were finally rid of Oruzhiye, he’d taken Doc’s now wife, Merrigan, hostage, and used her to attempt to gain the upper hand with Moscow’s current ruling party, United Russia. Only believing he was already dead had stopped Doc from hunting him down and making sure he had a very slow and very painful end of life.
Orlov had turned up again when United Russia put out a hit on Gunner’s soon-to-be wife’s head. Zary, who had also been a Russian assassin, had defected and had asked Gunner to help her. Gunner would want Orlov dead in the same way Doc would.
No matter who was here or wasn’t, just about everyone who had ever worked in intelligence would celebrate the “second death” of the bastard.
“Let’s kill him,” said Razor, looking from Mantis to Dutch and Striker. “The agency said we couldn’t jeopardize Kilbourne’s mission. They didn’t say a word about not killing Orlov.”
“Because they didn’t expect him to be here,” said Striker.
“Screw ’em.”
“Does that mean we can extract Kilbourne too?” asked Dutch.
Razor looked at Striker.
“How hard do you want to bite the hand that feeds you?” Striker asked.
“What are they gonna do, fire us?” answered Razor.
“You might not get any more assignments.”
“Assignments? Hell, who wants ’em anyway? We’ve all been talkin’ about retiring.”
Mantis watched Striker’s reaction. He was probably the only one of the new partners who hadn’t been privately contracting for years. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t start if K19 folded. The odds of that were pretty damn slim. The men and women who made up the team were the best in the world, and the agency knew it.
Mantis’ head spun around when he heard Dutch’s bird call. What the fuck did he think he was doing? He’d just forced their hand. Alegria would know they were close, and if they waited even an hour to move in, she’d probably try to escape on her own and get herself killed. There was a reason Orlov was there, and while Mantis didn’t know what it was, he didn’t doubt for a minute that he’d been sent to kill someone.
“You bastard,” Mantis heard Striker seethe. “What do you think you’re doing?” Striker had Dutch by the throat, and before Mantis could move in and separate them, Razor did. He pushed Striker back and stayed in front of Dutch.
“This isn’t your op, Ellis. You’d do well to remember who you work for.”
Out of the four of them, Mantis should’ve been the one with the least level head given the love of his life was being held hostage by a jihadist mad man, but in this case, he was.
“Stand down, all three of you. If you can’t get it together, then I’ll go in on my own.” Mantis wanted to add that he’d prefer it that way, but then he’d be just as bad as they were.
—:—
Alegria heard Dutch’s signal, but worse, Kilbourne did too. What happened next would confirm exactly who Malin was working for. If she acted, it would mean she’d been turned. If she ignored it, she was working an op. Alegria held her breath and waited, but the agent didn’t show any sign of acknowledgment.
She looked from Kilbourne to Orlov, and her blood ran cold. He had heard it too, recognized it, and all hell was about to break loose.
In the same moment Orlov grabbed Malin and put a gun to her head, Dutch, Mantis, Striker, and Razor stormed the room. It didn’t look like they’d thrown smoke grenades in the small space, more likely smoke bombs, and only enough to hide her extraction.
Mantis rushed over, threw her over his shoulder, and was out before enough of the smoke had cleared for anyone to have visibility across the room.
They were in the back of the SUV, and Mantis had her untied before she could’ve counted to ten. Seconds later, Razor and Striker climbed in the front.
“Where the fuck is Dutch?” Striker yelled. “That mother fuck—”
“There he is,” said Razor, pointing to where Orlov was taking Kilbourne out of the building.
“It’s an op,” Alegria yelled. “Go get her.”
She watched as Razor and Striker made eye contact. When Ellis nodded, they both climbed out of the vehicle. Razor tossed Mantis the keys. “Get her the hell out of here.”
Mantis climbed over the seat and sped away from the scene.
“What are you doing?” Alegria shouted. “You can’t leave! They’re going to—”
“Reinforcements are on their way. They’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“Alegria!” he yelled back, “this was the plan. Now stop.”
When they were several miles from the compound where she had been held, Mantis pulled the vehicle to the side of the road, got out, and opened the back passenger door. “Come here,” he said, and she climbed out.
He pushed her up against the side of the SUV, grasped the back of her neck, and covered her mouth with his.
Alegria threw her arms around him, kissing him back so hard it hurt. Their tongues warred against each other, and she heard Mantis growl.
“I love you so fucking much.” He put his hands on her bottom and lifted her up until her legs encircled his waist. “Never again, Flygirl.”
“Never what?”
“I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”
“Mantis—”
“Say my name.”
“What do you mean?”
“Tell me you love me, Manon, and say my name.”
“I love you, Gehring.”
“Forever?”
“Forever.”
“I’ve learned something very important in the last year.”
She smiled. “What’s that?”
“I don’t want to live this life without you beside me.”
“Mantis—”
“Say my name.”
She leaned forward and kissed him. “Gehring, I don’t want to live my life without you by my side either, although there may be times we have to be out of each other’s sight.”
“Says who?”
“Doc, for one.”
“Screw him. We’ll quit.”
She shook her head and brought her mouth to his again. “Kiss me,” she murmured. “Kiss me hard.”
Mantis kept her pinned between him and the SUV, their mouths grinding against each other’s until they saw the lights of another vehicle in the distance.
Chapter 31
Dutch
His eyes met Malin’s in the split second between storming the building and throwing the smoke bombs.
She was imploring him with those beautiful hazel eyes, and he was powerless to ignore her and follow the terms of the mission when Orlov had a gun to her head.
Dutch knew Mantis had already extracted Alegria, and the next step should’ve been for him, Razor, and Striker to exit the building before the men guarding her could see well enough to start shooting.
Orlov also knew time was short before he’d face the same response from Ghafor’s guards, especially given he was trying to kidnap a woman they believed worked for their boss.
Speaking of their boss, there had been no sign of Abdul Ghafor.
Dutch made his way through the smoke-filled room, almost not caring who he came in contact with; his weapon was at the ready, and there was no question that he’d shoot first.
“Let her go, Sergei,” he said, once they were outside. “She has no value to you.”
“On the contrary, it is you to whom she has no value. First you cast her aside to take another man’s woman, and then you rescue the same woman with no intention of taking our beautiful Malin with you.”
Dutch kept his eyes laser-focused on Orlov, all the while trying to process what he was saying. The Russian knew too much about his and Malin’s history for this to be a random act. He was here specifically for her, but why?
Striker would know if United Russia had an issue with her involvement with the Islamic State, which seemed highly unlikely, but what other reason could there be?
“What do you want from her, Orlov?” Razor shouted from behind him. “Whatever UR is paying you, we’ll double.”
When Sergei laughed, Dutch broke his stare and looked at Malin. She was scared, which had to mean she knew why Orlov had his gun at her temple, that he’d come specifically for her, and whatever it was, he’d either kill her or deliver her to whomever was paying him, where she’d eventually meet the same fate.
Each of the K19 partners brought their own special skill set to the table. For Dutch, it was his ability to make the one-in-a-million shot every time he fired. Orlov knew it too. While he may be known as “the Gun,” Dutch could very well have been known as “the Sniper.”
The truth was, he’d been waiting for this opportunity. Orlov wasn’t the only name on his hit list, not by far, but one by one, he intended to pick every one of them off, even if it took him until his last breath to do it.
Time to meet your maker, Sergei, thought Dutch.
With Razor and Striker at his back, Dutch didn’t hesitate, he fired and hit Orlov right between the eyes before the man knew the shot had gone off.
Dutch ran forward to grab Malin and get her away from the scene, when out of the corner of his eye, Dutch saw Ghafor walking toward them.
Chapter 32
Mantis and Alegria
“Papa,” Alegria cried.
Mantis stood near the door of the infirmary, watching her reunion with the man who had rarely been there for her when she was growing up.
The disparity between his own upbringing and hers was glaring, yet the love that passed between parent and child was almost universal.
As he watched, Mantis saw no recrimination on her part, only palpable relief that her “Papa” was alive and would make a full recovery from the beatings that had been inflicted on him.
Pierre Mondreau cupped his daughter’s face with his hand. “I was so worried about you. Thank God you’re safe.”
“Look at what they did to you, and it’s all my fault.”
“Non, ma fille.” Her father shook his head. “Your maman…”
Alegria turned and looked at Mantis. “We can leave as soon as your father is cleared to travel.”
“Thank you,” she mouthed to him, and then turned back to her father. “Have you seen the doctor tonight?”
He shook his head.
“Let me see if I can track him down,” Mantis offered.
An infirmary on a military base was a little different than a regular hospital. He should be able to find a doctor, and if not, one would come if called.
“How’s Alegria doing?” asked Doc, coming toward him from the bank of elevators.
“Shaken, but more worried about her father than herself.”
Doc smiled. “Wouldn’t expect anything different from Alegria.”
“As you can imagine, they’re both anxious to get back to Boston.”
“I heard her mother is quite ill.”
Mantis nodded. “I thought I’d see if I could find a doctor…”
“Will a physician’s assistant do?”
“If you can make the decision about whether Pierre can travel, then sure.”
Doc picked up the chart he saw sitting on the desk in the nurse’s station and read it over. “I think he’ll be fine to travel as long as I’m on board with you.”
“How many planes do we have here anyway?”
“What do you mean?”
“How did Pierre and Alegria get here?”
Doc shrugged. “Regardless, we have enough pilots to get us back. Excuse me,” he said when his phone buzzed.
When Mantis turned to walk away, Doc motioned for him to stay.
“Say that again,” he heard him say. “Roger that. Mantis is here. I’ll discuss this with him and get back to you.”
“That was Razor. There’s a situation back in Islamabad. Orlov is dead.”
Mantis raised an eyebrow.
“Dutch took the shot.”
“Then he’s really dead.”
Doc nodded. “Striker is making a deal with Ghafor as we speak.”
“What’s the deal?”
“They’re bringing Kilbourne back. Naturally, Abdul wants something in exchange.”
“What?”
“My guess is money.”
“Is he really in a position to ask for anything?”
“You know him better than the rest of us do. What’s his threat level?”
“To the world?”
Doc nodded. “Is there any reason whatsoever to negotiate with him?”
Mantis scrubbed his face with his hand. “He was the means to an end for me. If you’re asking if I think they should take him out given the opportunity, I’d do it myself if I could be in two places at one time.”
Doc nodded. “Let’s get this done, ge
t the hell out of the dark ages, and go home.”
Mantis knew what Doc meant. No matter whether world leaders believed there was a war worth waging in this part of the world, nothing could change the fact that the conflicts in the Middle East went back as far as time. It would never matter who invested what kind of money in Afghanistan; a few years and a few billion dollars couldn’t rewrite the history of a thousand years.
—:—
“Did you find out anything about my father being able to leave?”
Mantis nodded. “Doc will fly back to the States with us. There are a handful of details to be worked out, and then we’ll all be on our way.”
“I see,” Alegria answered, looking at her father, who was drifting off to sleep. “Come with me.”
She led Mantis down the hallway until she found an open room. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t know all the details, but evidently Orlov is dead, and Ghafor wants to make a deal.”
“For what?”
“To let Malin go, from what I could gather. Doc didn’t relay a lot of information.”
“He’s finished.”
“What do you mean? Ghafor?”
Alegria nodded. “The Islamic State is barely holding on to a semblance of relevance. My guess is the reason Orlov was there was because Abdul was trying to negotiate with United Russia.”
“What would United Russia want from Ghafor?”
“I’m not certain, but I got the feeling that Kilbourne was somehow involved.”
“There’s a reason UR wants her.”
Alegria nodded.
“I told Doc that if it were my decision, we’d take Ghafor out at the first opportunity.”
“I would make the same call.”
—:—
When they walked back out into the hallway, Doc was waiting.
“It didn’t go down quite as we thought it would, but Razor and Dutch are on their way back here with Kilbourne, while Striker, Ranger, and Diesel are working out a deal with Ghafor. My understanding is that they’ll be transporting Abdul to a safe house to finalize negotiations.”
Mantis (K19 Security Solutions Book 4) Page 17