The Greatest Game

by J A Heaton

  “I already killed Aziz. I’ll kill you too. I’m not coming out,” Daniel repeated. “You’ll need to come in and get me.”

  Daniel didn’t like the odds of a knife versus a gun, but he had a better chance in this bedroom than in the hallway. Maybe an enraged Qaqramon would blunder.

  “You will regret this,” Qaqramon said, his voice now steps away from the bedroom entrance.

  Daniel held his breath and gripped Aziz’s knife tightly. He would only have one opportunity.

  “I’m not coming out—” Daniel began again, but Qaqramon lunged into the room and leveled his pistol towards Daniel’s voice and fired three shots.

  The bullets lodged harmlessly into the wall above the chair where Daniel’s voice recorder started to repeat the loop: “I’m not coming out…”

  It gave Daniel the surprise he needed.

  From behind the opened door, Daniel thrust the door forward and slammed it into Qaqramon’s back. He stumbled forward, and Daniel attacked from behind.

  Daniel slashed downward with Aziz’s knife at Qaqramon’s neck. Daniel forced him to the ground when Qaqramon tried to turn and shoot. Daniel smashed the pistol out of Qaqramon’s hand.

  Qaqramon howled in rage, and Daniel continued stabbing. Qaqramon’s hot blood made the knife’s bone handle slippery. Knowing he couldn’t risk losing the knife, Daniel delivered one last stab, grabbed the pistol and stumbled out of the bedroom.

  He hurried towards the sitting room, dropped the knife, turned, and raised the pistol.

  Qaqramon entered the hallway, covered in his own blood and gasping for breath. He fell to the floor outside the bedroom, looked up to Daniel, and bared his teeth in anger.

  “Where is it?” Daniel yelled, tightening his grip on the gun. “Tell me where the nuke is.”

  Instead, Qaqramon made the wrong choice. He summoned one last bit of strength and rose to rush at Daniel.

  Daniel fired five shots.

  Qaqramon fell to the floor in a bloody heap.

  The voice recorder in the bedroom repeated: “I’m not coming out. You’ll need to come in and get me.”

  Everything in Daniel’s body wanted to fall to the ground and pass out to wake up in a new world out of this nightmare. He forced himself to roll Qaqramon’s body over with his foot to ensure he was dead. Stepping over him, he went into the bedroom and stopped his voice recorder from repeating. He tucked it and Oybek’s pistol into his pockets and knelt by Oybek. Daniel shut his eyes and cried. He had killed Qaqramon and Aziz, but he had lost Oybek and Nigora.

  After a few moments, Daniel took several deep breaths and refocused on finding the nuke. It had to be with Qaqramon. He would have kept it nearby. He searched the sitting room and found nothing out of place.

  Daniel spotted the sack of rice in the kitchen, tucked away in the corner. He poured the sack out on to the ground and saw that rice served as packing material around a latched metallic case and a pack of Camel cigarettes.

  Daniel reminded himself that weapons-grade uranium or plutonium wouldn’t harm him if he were only exposed to it externally. After a deep breath, he released the latches.

  The open case revealed small chunks of metal. Some looked like lead weights used in the bazaar to weigh rice.

  Somebody switched the nuke, Daniel thought to himself.

  He only knew of one person who could get close enough to Qaqramon to do that.

  Nigora.

  Nigora betrayed Qaqramon and me, Daniel thought. He remembered Nigora taking something from the butcher before she called off the first meeting at the bazaar. Perhaps she obtained the decoy weights then.

  Daniel radioed General Jones. “Qaqramon was here. He’s dead, and—”

  “The nuke?” the general asked urgently.

  “It’s not here,” Daniel reported. “But I know where it is. Tell the East checkpoint I’m coming. And warn Rex to expect company at my host village.”

  Daniel checked his watch. With the motorcycle, he would have just enough time. It was Friday night.

  22

  As Daniel maxed out the motorcycle’s acceleration, Rex and the Special Forces men finished off the last of the Taliban at the top of the ridge. Turning around to see where they had come from, both Gunner and Walters spotted a new wave of Taliban rising up the mountainside towards their position.

  “Baby,” said Walters on the radio. “This is Ice. We’ve forced our way to the top of the mountain. We’re proceeding to the extraction point. Requesting an airstrike on the mountainside. We’re clear.”

  “Copy that, Ice,” General Jones said over the radio. “Cover your ears. It’s going to go boom.”

  Walters and the others continued crossing the mountain ridge, and the Taliban scrambled up among the boulders, unknowingly to their deaths.

  For several hours, both a B-1B bomber and a C-130 gunship had been flying high above, waiting to help their fellow Americans. The B-1B bomber got the call.

  Without warning, the B-1B, affectionately called the Bone by those who knew them best, dropped a two-thousand-pound bomb on the mountainside. The threat to the rear of the Special Forces men was eliminated. The heat of the explosion killed many Taliban, and those who survived the heat were killed by the rocks blasting through their bodies.

  “You’re going to make it, Rex,” Walters reassured Rex as they hurried to the extraction point. There was no need for silence, and they had made it through the most difficult point of the mission. Though they would consider the mission a failure because they had not recovered the nuke, they raced against time to save Rex’s life.

  Less than an hour later, they halted and looked down on Daniel’s host village. Formerly, it had appeared empty. Now, dozens of Taliban fighters gathered in the center of the village. They spotted several more keeping a lookout. Walters quickly determined there was no way around the village. They stopped to rest, and Walters radioed General Jones again.

  “Baby,” Walters said over the radio to the base, “this is Ice. We need another airstrike. Superior Taliban forces in the village en route to the extraction point.”

  “No,” Rex said to Walters. “There is an innocent man down there.” Rex remembered that Daniel had met Bobo in that village.

  “There might be one innocent man,” Gunner responded. “But there are dozens of armed bad guys. You are running out of time.”

  “No,” Rex insisted. “I’ll attack from here to create a diversion as you sneak around to the extraction point.”

  Walters looked at Rex, torn between obedience and saving his life.

  “Air support is ready,” Jones interrupted over the radio. “Confirm target.”

  “No more innocent people need to die,” Rex told Walters. “I’ll go to be with my men.”

  “We’re not losing you, sir!” Walters said back. “We’ll get you out of here.”

  “Confirm the target,” Jones repeated over the radio.

  The C-130 gunship, which had been lumbering overhead, waited to unload death on the Taliban. It only required final confirmation from General Jones to eliminate the village and all the Taliban below.

  “Do we have clearance to fire?” the pilot asked, eager to unload on the Taliban.

  “Standby. Still waiting,” the reply came.

  What are we waiting for? the pilot wondered to himself.

  As the pilot waited and the gunners stretched their arms, a coded radio signal came into the cockpit. It was a signal the pilot had never seen.

  “I’ve got a coded kill signal from a Roach Bait,” the radio operator told the pilot.

  The orders with such a weapon were clear: no confirmation necessary.

  “Commencing attack,” the pilot said.

  As General Jones at the airbase wondered what had happened, the pilot said, “Warn our men on the ground to put up their umbrellas, because we’re going to make it rain.”

  Bobo had been right when he last saw Daniel. He wouldn’t live to see the next Ramadan, or another winter. Instead, he dec
ided to put the weapon Daniel had given him to use. Despairing of ever seeing his children again, he pressed the button and laid down to wait for his death. He smiled slightly as he considered how many of Qaqramon’s men he was taking with him.

  Rex watched with confusion when the attack began, knowing Walters had not confirmed the target.

  The Special Forces men watched in awe as over the next fifteen minutes, the gunship fired every round and shell aboard into the village and the surrounding clusters of enemy fighters.

  Once the gunship was on its way back to base, Walters and his men hurried to their extraction point.

  Rex was holding on, but it would be close.

  Minutes before midnight, Daniel sat alone in the backseat of the smuggler’s car. Daniel was glad that the smuggler tonight was different from the one last Sunday. He didn’t think General Jones would mind that he had bartered his motorcycle away to the smuggler for a few minutes of discussion with one of the passengers. The prisoner who had first told him about the Gate had said the smugglers made a run every Sunday and Friday at midnight. Nigora would attempt her escape with the nuke; she must have switched it as Qaqramon was sleeping after she had lain with him.

  Another car soon arrived at the Gate, without its headlights on. Daniel peered out the back window and waited. Once the car stopped, a door swung open and a woman stepped out. She held two bags, one at each side. Daniel checked the pistol in his pocket and got out of the car.

  “Nigora,” Daniel said, less than ten meters away from her. She paused and dropped one of her bags. It toppled over, exposing clothes. She clutched the other bag to her chest.

  “Whose side are you on?” Daniel asked calmly.

  Nigora took a deep breath. The smugglers watched with bemusement, accustomed to face-offs, but more often with guns.

  “I am on my own side,” Nigora said. “I’m tired of being used as property.”

  “You betrayed me,” Daniel said, “and you betrayed Rex. You told Qaqramon what I told you about the minefield.” Nigora stood up tall and didn’t back down. “Was the car bomb planned to make you appear genuine?”

  “I told you about the meeting at the spring,” Nigora said. “Qaqramon never suspected me. I was lucky to avoid the car bomb. Qaqramon only told me about it afterward. He knew a woman had betrayed him, but my disguise had been sufficient.”

  “But I know you ordered the ambush in the city,” Daniel said. “I nearly died. You wanted everybody, including me, dead so you could get away with the nuke. Do you really think you can take it with you? That thing will make you a target. You fooled me, and you fooled Qaqramon, but don’t think for a second that you won’t end up dead.”

  “I didn’t directly order the ambush,” Nigora said. “Qaqramon arranged the ambush in case the Iranian was not a good buyer. He decided the Iranian was a good buyer, so he sent two signals. I switched both before I passed them to Oybek. That put the ambush on, but I didn’t know that at the time. I was simply trying to ruin Qaqramon’s plans, whatever they were. I couldn’t have known that you and Rex were going to be with the Iranian. If you hadn’t been, the ambush would have killed the Iranian, and Qaqramon would have lost his buyer.”

  “The other signal you switched was for the exchange location, wasn’t it?” Daniel guessed.

  “I didn’t know the actual locations, but I was almost certain from what Qaqramon had told me that one of the two signals indicated the location,” Nigora affirmed.

  “And once you told him about the fake minefield outside his village, he correctly thought we would attack from that direction,” Daniel said. “He thought he had signaled to meet the Iranian at the other exchange point, but the signal the Iranian saw when he drove by Oybek’s apartment told him to go to Qaqramon’s village. Rex found and killed the Iranian there.”

  “I don’t know where the other exchange location was,” Nigora said. “I only switched the signals because I was desperate. I had to do something to stop Qaqramon. I didn’t know what would happen.”

  Daniel took several steps towards Nigora. She stood her ground.

  Daniel raised his voice. “Do you think I’m stupid? You’ve fooled me long enough. You weren’t trying to stop Qaqramon. You were trying to help yourself. I do know where the other exchange location was, and I know the nuke wasn’t there. You have the nuke.”

  Nigora’s eyes flashed to the side, and Daniel knew the truth had surprised her.

  “The other exchange location was in the city,” Daniel said carefully. “I killed Qaqramon there. But he didn’t have the nuke. You had switched it, and you took it.”

  “I don’t have the nuke,” Nigora said defiantly. “And I’m leaving now. Don’t touch me.”

  Nigora grabbed her bag from the ground and took several steps towards the smuggler’s car behind Daniel.

  “You won’t leave with the nuke,” Daniel said.

  Nigora scoffed and took a few more steps, hiding her struggle to carry her two heavy bags. “I don’t have it,” she repeated.

  “Stop now,” Daniel warned. “Do you really think you can leave here with the nuke? If you do, you’ll be hunted down and killed. This is not a game.”

  “I’m not afraid of you,” Nigora said, continuing towards Daniel.

  Daniel drew Oybek’s pistol and pointed it at Nigora. She paused.

  “Don’t think I won’t shoot you on account of what we could have had years ago,” Daniel said. “Even with your own brother’s gun.”

  “You wouldn’t dare shoot me. You love my father and brother too much,” Nigora said.

  “Oybek is dead,” Daniel said coldly. “Qaqramon killed him. Because you signaled Qaqramon to go to Oybek’s apartment.”

  Nigora couldn’t hide her dismay. She dropped her bags and stopped walking.

  “Come with me now and give me the nuke,” Daniel said. “If Bobo is still alive, you can be with him, but the nuke will only be more trouble for you.”

  Nigora gathered herself and said, “I don’t have the nuke. My father is as good as dead. I will make a new life for myself in another country.”

  Daniel continued pointing his pistol at Nigora. “Show me your bags. Where is the nuke?”

  Nigora heaved each of the bags towards Daniel and said, “I did have the nuke, but you’re right. It would get me killed. So, I hid it.”

  “Where is it?” Daniel demanded. He emptied one bag but found nothing but clothes and some bread.

  “It’s hidden,” Nigora insisted.

  Daniel unzipped the other bag. Inside were stacks of hundred-dollar bills.

  “You took the down payment?” Daniel asked.

  “Like I said, I will start over,” Nigora said. “Take some if you must, but for my father’s sake, leave me most of it.”

  “You can have all the dirty money. But until you tell me where the nuke is—” Daniel started.

  “When I hid it, I made a wish,” Nigora said. “I wished for a new life.”

  Daniel immediately knew where it was.

  “How can I trust you?” Daniel asked.

  “You can shoot me, or trust me,” Nigora said. “Grant me my wish.”

  Daniel lowered the pistol to his side. He knew it was empty. He had unloaded it into Qaqramon. But Nigora didn’t know. Daniel wondered if he could have shot her if possible and necessary.

  Nigora walked to her bags, grabbed them, and went towards the smuggler’s car.

  As she passed by Daniel without looking at him, Daniel asked, “You’re abandoning your father?”

  “He would want me to choose a better future for myself,” Nigora said. She turned at the smuggler’s car and said, “If you see him again, tell him to visit me. My money will go far.”

  “Where will you go?” Daniel asked.

  “Where I’ve always wanted.”

  Nigora sat in the backseat of the smuggler’s car and pulled the door shut.

  Daniel watched as the car raced north towards the border of Tajikistan. He pulled out his radio to up
date General Jones.

  “Do you have the nuke?” Jones asked. “Air support is in place.”

  “No air support needed,” Daniel reported. “Let the smuggler go. Send me a chopper. I know where the nuke is. And I’ll have to explain about your motorcycle.”

  About an hour later, as Daniel’s watch passed one in the morning, a Black Hawk helicopter was flying Daniel south towards the mountains. Walters and Gunner accompanied him in case they encountered Taliban.

  “No rest for the wicked, huh?” Daniel asked the two men. They had barely seen Rex carted off to the medical tent when they were ordered on to this helicopter.

  “Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Walters replied. “The doc said Rex should pull through.”

  “What happened after you were attacked on the mountain ridge?” Daniel asked.

  Walters recounted the story. Rex had refused to bomb the village because of a civilian. But that same civilian had activated a Roach Bait.

  “The civilian ended up dead with all the Taliban,” Gunner concluded.

  Rex wouldn’t kill Bobo, Daniel thought to himself. Instead, Bobo had a measure of his own revenge and saved American lives in the process.

  Daniel wondered how much Nigora would care that her father was dead.

  The helicopter descended near the spring. Daniel and Walters jumped to the ground before the chopper touched down. Gunner scanned the area with his machine gun, ready to dissuade any potential enemies.

  After Walters and Daniel hiked up the path to the spring with their equipment, Walters stood guard at the water’s edge. Daniel turned on the high-powered and waterproof flashlight Jones had sent with the helicopter.

  Daniel saw Aziz’s lifeless body, resting at the bottom, perfectly preserved in the water that was a few degrees above freezing.

  Near the corpse, Daniel spotted an object.