Alex entered the maze, taking cover behind a tangle of metal pipes, and when he turned around to catch Major Khan and his men in less favorable terrain, Alex realized that Cat was nowhere in sight.
“Cat, where are you?” Alex called over the radio. He heard gunshots in the distance.
Meanwhile, six Guards and Major Khan came around a building corner. Alex thumped the first Guard twice in the chest. The remaining five Guards and Major Khan advanced quickly to cover behind a long storage shed. Alex fired at Major Khan, hitting the shed just as the major hid behind it.
Alex moved to a new position so he wouldn’t be a predictable target, behind a large metal pole. Two Guards appeared, one on each side of the shed. The Guard on the right exposed his whole body and peppered lead in Alex’s direction. Alex answered the Guard on the right with two rounds. Although Alex was aiming for the Guard’s chest, Alex inadvertently leaned into the shot, pressing his muzzle down, and hit the Guard in the right side of his belly. Alex’s second shot went higher, but too far right, missing the Guard. The Guard fell on his ass.
The Guard on the left emerged again and fired. Alex squeezed off two rounds, missing him. Alex ducked behind some pipes. He pushed his weapon around the side of the pipes and aimed at the left side of the shed, waiting for the Guard to show his face again. When he did, Alex busted a cap in the Guard’s eye. His second round struck the Guard in the forehead.
Major Khan and his three remaining Guards had only two places to stick their heads out from: left of the shed or right of the shed. Between the shed and Alex, the Guards would be in open territory. If Alex allowed Major Khan and his men to advance to his position, they could use the multiple sources of cover and their superior numbers to shoot at him from more angles than he could protect himself from. He had to hold his ground.
Alex hustled to a position behind another tangle of pipes. All three Guards appeared from the left side of the shed, advancing toward his position while shooting. Their shots gave the pipes concealing Alex a severe spanking—oil sprayed from them. Alex flicked his selector switch to full auto and cut into the Guards, stopping their advance.
While Alex focused on halting the advance of the Guards to the left of the storage shed, Major Khan had taken aim from the right of the shed. Bang! An AK round struck Alex in the back of the right hand, exiting his palm and knocking his rifle out of his hand. “Damn!” Alex’s rifle dangled by its sling.
Alex sidestepped and ducked to the left, avoiding Major Khan’s line of fire, but Major Khan advanced while shifting his fire in Alex’s direction, popping holes in pipes that gushed oil into a pool on the ground. Alex kept moving to the left while he gripped his rifle with his left hand. He rose and fired on full auto, emptying his magazine. Alex wasn’t accurate enough to hit Major Khan, but he was accurate enough to cause the major to slip in his tracks and fall on his back. Alex attempted to wiggle the bloody fingers on his right hand, but they wouldn’t obey. His whole hand felt like it’d been stabbed with daggers. And his rifle had run out of bullets.
Major Khan must have sensed Alex was in trouble, because the major hopped up and charged Alex, spitting hell out of his rifle barrel. Alex crouched down to avoid being shot. The noise alone terrified him, but Alex knew he couldn’t let his fear take over. He wanted to reload a new magazine into his weapon, but he wasn’t sure he could do that with only one hand and at the same time successfully dodge Major Khan’s bullets. Although Alex’s customized Zoaf sound-suppressed pistol was in the holster on his right hip, he could reach around with his left hand, draw it, and reposition it for firing. There was also the option for Alex to use his last grenade.
With his left hand, Alex jerked the pin out of the grenade, but the grenade fell out of its pouch, landed on the ground, and the spoon flew. Alex ran away from the grenade and Major Khan. He dodged pipes and took cover behind a cluster of them.
Major Khan pursued. Boom!
A piece of shrapnel ripped through Alex’s trousers and stabbed him in his thigh. He grunted. Ignoring the pain, he sneaked around to the side to see what had happened to Major Khan. Dozens of geysers spouted black oil from pipes, permeating the air with fumes and changing the white snow to black. Slowly, Major Khan rose from the ground, his feet unsteady. The oil had transformed him into a hideous black monster.
Fire. I need fire. Alex could shoot at metal and hope a spark would ignite. He didn’t have a thermite grenade or even a lighter that would stay lit as he threw it. However, he remembered he hadn’t used any of his flash-bangs. Alex put a flash-bang under his right arm and held it tight while he pulled the pins, then he tossed it at Major Khan. More than a million candela flashed, 170 decibels of boom shook the air, and the oil around Major Khan combusted.
Major Khan became a human flame. He ran away from Alex, passing through the fire surrounding him, screaming in Farsi.
With his left hand, Alex reached across his stomach and drew his pistol. Then he manipulated it until he acquired the proper grip. He crouched while moving in Major Khan’s direction, limping around the inferno. Fire had replaced the snow on the ground, and pipes sprayed flames like Roman candles. Alex felt the heat, especially on his face. The blaze lit up the surrounding area, helping Alex spot fresh tracks in the snow. He followed the tracks until he came to Major Khan crawling in the snow facedown. Major Khan was black from head to foot, his clothing tattered and smoldering. Maybe he sensed Alex standing there, or maybe he tired of crawling on his stomach, but Major Khan turned over on his back. He had no visible weapon. His badly burned face showed no emotion as he stared into Alex’s eyes. Major Khan said something in Farsi.
“This is for Leila.” Alex shot Major Khan once in the left thigh.
Major Khan gritted his teeth and hissed.
“This is for Jabberwocky.” Alex shot him in the crotch.
Major Khan wailed.
“And this is for me.” Alex shot him in the forehead.
Blood oozed out of Major Khan’s forehead. His eyes remained open as snow fell on them. Soon a light sheet of white covered his charred body, flickering in the light of the nearby inferno.
Alex sat down exhausted. He knew the oil might explode at any moment, but he was too tired to move. Just need a little rest.
A minute later, out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. He turned his head and looked up to see an Iranian Revolutionary Guard standing there aiming his rifle at Alex’s face. So this is it. This is how it ends. The Guard grinned and squeezed his trigger. Alex closed his eyes. Pop. Alex felt a warm spurt of blood on his face.
Something was wrong. The shot wasn’t loud enough, and Alex felt no pain. He opened his eyes. The Guard bled from the middle of his face. He swayed once before toppling over. Behind him stood Cat with her sound-suppressed AKMS aimed at where the Guard’s head had been. “Sitting down on the job?” she asked.
Alex smiled weakly. “What took you so long?”
“Took the scenic route.” She noticed his right hand. “What happened?!” she exclaimed.
“Let’s just get to the car before we run into any more surprises.”
“You need a doctor.”
“Not in St. Petersburg. Not after what we did here.”
“I’ll charter a boat to Finland and contact our embassy. Take you to an operating room.”
“Thanks.” Alex stood and limped southwest.
Cat walked beside him. “What do we do about General Tehrani?”
“No idea.”
“Maybe he fell in the ocean and drowned.”
“I doubt it. He’ll turn up one of these days, and when he does, he’ll be somebody else’s problem.”
EPILOGUE
* * *
Just before sunset, Alex parked his SUV in the parking lot of a AAA four-diamond steakhouse on the beachfront at Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach. Wearing khaki slacks, a white button-down shirt, and leather car coat, he walked inside and a cheery hostess greeted him. She noticed the bandages on his hand, then pretended s
he hadn’t seen them. “Welcome to Salacia. I’m Jennifer. May I help you, sir?”
“Yes, I have a reservation.”
The waitress waited for a moment. When Alex didn’t respond, she inquired, “May I ask your name, sir?”
Alex paused. He had used so many aliases throughout his career that remembering sometimes became a burden, but he always kept his first name the same: “Alex.” Then he remembered the alias for his last name. “Alex Brown.”
“Right this way, sir.”
Alex followed her through the restaurant. They passed patrons dressed in business casual. Alex walked behind the hostess as she went out onto the veranda. Although it was still winter, the day was unusually warm and most of the seats outside appeared full. He could see and smell the ocean—it made him feel peaceful. The hostess sat him at an intimate table for two. “Is this table okay?”
Alex sat. “Perfect.”
“Your server will be with you shortly, sir.”
“Thank you.” For several minutes, he watched the shimmering sunlight fade on the ocean.
Alex sensed Cat before he saw her step out onto the veranda. She created her own breeze as she moved forward, air flowing through her blond hair. She took a seat.
“How’s the hand?” Cat asked.
“Doc says if I continue the rehabilitation, I should regain full use of it.”
Cat smiled.
“I was afraid you might not come,” Alex said.
“Since when have you ever been afraid?” she teased. Her voice became serious. “I know how much this means to you.” Cat looked around the veranda and inside the building. “Where are Pancho and John?”
“Um, I didn’t invite them.”
“What?” She looked stunned. “Did they piss you off or something?”
Alex smiled. “No.”
“What about the skipper? I thought the skipper was going to swear you in?”
Alex shook his head. “Skipper isn’t coming, either.”
“Then who’s going to swear you in?”
“I asked the skipper to let you transfer with me to Coronado, but he didn’t want to let you go.”
Cat sat with a numb expression on her face.
“I like the view here,” Alex said. “Do you like the view?”
“So will you still go to Coronado?”
Alex shook his head. “No reason to go, if I can’t be with you.”
“So you’re going to stay here.”
Alex said nothing.
“Who’s going to swear you in for your reenlistment tonight?” she asked.
“I did a lot of thinking. About the future. About the sacrifices I made for the Teams. About what Sarah would want me to do. About who I really am.” Alex spoke slowly, each word weighted with the decision that would change his life forever.
“Who you really are?”
“It’s something I’d like to find out,” Alex said.
Cat shook her head and brushed back her hair. “I don’t understand what all this has to do with your reenlistment ceremony.”
Alex took a deep breath. “I’m not reenlisting.”
Cat looked confused. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
“What will you do?”
“I have investments—stocks, bonds, and real estate. Money isn’t a problem. I thought I’d go to graduate school for my MBA while I’m figuring out what to do next.”
“Sometimes you don’t make a lot of sense!” She raised her voice.
Nearby patrons turned to look at them.
Alex spoke quietly. “When Sarah died, I felt so empty. Then angry. My job was a way of protecting others from having to feel what I felt. And honoring her memory. It helped channel my anger. But this job has left me feeling so lonely. After I met you, I didn’t feel angry, and I didn’t feel lonely. I thought maybe I’d changed, but when I thought about my childhood, I wasn’t an angry or lonely kid then. After you and I spent some time apart, I realized how much I missed you.”
“You’re talking in riddles. Have you gone crazy?”
“You once told me that I should think about trying something else. You gave me my life back.” Alex reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black square box.
Cat’s hands covered her mouth, muffling a gasp.
Alex opened the box so she could see the engagement ring.
“If this is some kind of sick joke, stop it now because my heart can’t—”
Alex pressed on. He had never been more certain of anything in his life. “This ring is my mother’s. She wants you to have it.”
“I’ve never even met your mother.”
“I told her all about you. She wants to meet you.”
A tear rolled down Cat’s face. “You sure do know how to ambush a girl.”
“Will you marry me?”
She didn’t speak.
“I’ll understand if you say no,” he said.
“Don’t be a dumbass,” Cat said, wiping away the tears.
Alex was fairly certain he knew her answer, but he wanted to make absolutely sure. “Is that a yes?” he asked.
Cat threw up her hands. “Of course it’s a yes.”
A woman at the table next to them clapped her hands and others followed.
Alex gestured for Cat to give him her hand. She did, and he put the sparkling ring on her finger, but in that moment her eyes sparkled brighter than the ring.
Dinner was a blur after that. Alex couldn’t remember what he ate, what he said, or even if he paid the check as they walked back outside. He put his left arm around Cat and held her close. She leaned her head against his shoulder.
“I love you,” Alex said, squeezing her.
“You better, mister,” Cat said, squeezing him back.
Alex fished in his pockets for his keys, not quite sure this wasn’t a dream. He was quitting the Teams, and he was engaged!
He heard the click-click of stilettos on pavement and looked up. He recognized her immediately: it was the blonde from the supermarket. She was walking through the parking lot toward them. She wore a shimmering blue dress that was every bit as stunning as the red dress she’d had on the first time they had met. Talk about long odds. It seemed ages ago when he’d first caught sight of her.
“Friend of yours?” Cat asked.
Alex shook his head. “Nope, don’t even know her,” he said, which was true. He didn’t want to start his life with Cat with a lie.
“She’s staring at you. I don’t like it,” Cat said.
Alex was about to say it was nothing, but when he caught the blonde’s eye he paused. She wasn’t smiling. This wasn’t the flirty dream woman he remembered. She looked angry. His running out of Whole Foods couldn’t have been that traumatic for her.
Movement off to the left drew Alex’s eyes away from the blonde. Two men were stepping out of the shadows by a large hedge. Alex’s mind cleared in an instance. Shit, I’m not carrying!
“Cat, get ready to run. Head between those two parked cars over there, then work your way back to the restaurant,” Alex said.
“What?” Cat asked. She lifted her head from his shoulder. “What is—she’s got a gun!”
Alex looked away from the men to the blonde. She was now thirty feet away and walking with obvious purpose. She had a pistol in her hand and was aiming it at him.
“Mohammed says hello,” she said, her voice harsh, and tinged with a Middle Eastern accent now.
Alex’s mind reeled. Mohammed? Which one? Then he remembered: the teenage son of the terrorist he’d killed on their last mission, the one terrorist who got away.
“I don’t know any Mohammeds,” Alex said, stepping in front of Cat to shield her with his body. “I think you have me mistaken for someone else.” He knew it was useless, but every second she didn’t shoot was one more second he might think of something.
“He knows exactly who you are. Allahu akbar!” she shouted, bringing her left hand up to steady her right hand as she squeez
ed the trigger.
“No!” Alex shouted. Three shots rang out. Alex gritted his teeth, bracing himself as the steel tore through his flesh. The blonde crumpled to the ground, the pistol clattering from her hand. Alex didn’t understand. He looked down at his chest. She’d missed. He spun to look at Cat; her eyes were wide with fear.
“Alex, are you okay?”
Alex turned and saw Pancho and John running out of the shadows of the hedge.
“How?” he asked.
John ran over to the woman and kicked the pistol away from her while keeping his own pointed at her. Pancho met John and punched his shoulder before saying to Alex, “We knew what you were up to tonight. We figured we’d wait until after you proposed and surprise you.”
Alex clapped Pancho on the shoulder. “I owe you.”
“You can name your first kid after me,” Pancho said.
The wail of police sirens sounded in the distance. People were crowding around the entrance of the restaurant, too afraid to come any closer.
“Who was she?” John asked, coming over to stand with them. “I don’t remember her being on any target list when we went after those terrorists on our last mission.”
“Mohammed’s been recruiting,” Cat said, glaring at the body of the blonde. “Looks like the son is taking after the father.”
“Not exactly the way I imagined tonight going,” Alex said. A shootout and a marriage proposal; well, maybe he should have expected it.
“So she said yes?” John asked.
Easy Day for the Dead Page 25