they
? Who are
they
?”
“They,” Holmes answered, “would be Jonathon Payne and David Jones. They single-handedly wiped out the Plantation. Once I heard the details of Ibadan, I assumed that they were behind that as well.”
“I really doubt that,” Drake uttered. “Maybe they were behind things at the Plantation-you were there, so you would know-but I don’t see how they could’ve handled the Ibadan massacre. There was a variety of shell casings found, not just from one weapon but from several. And unless these are the type of men that would tote five weapons apiece, they couldn’t have done it alone. They needed plenty of help to pull that off.”
“Damn,” Holmes mumbled under his breath. “I hope . . .”
“What?” Kotto demanded. “What do you hope?”
Holmes glanced at Kotto, then at Greene, and both of them were surprised by the look in his eyes. The air of confidence that used to ooze from Holmes was gone. No longer did he carry himself like he was invincible. In fact, his face seemed to suggest fear.
“I hope I’m wrong about this, but this sounds like the MANIACs.”
THE semitropical landscape gave the soldiers many hiding places as they made their way across Kotto’s yard. They had already eliminated a few of his guards and several of his security cameras; now they were going for his power supply. Once the electricity was cut, they would storm the house under a cloak of darkness.
“What can you see?” Payne asked Sanchez through his headset.
The captain of the MANIACs was in the midst of an infrared scan of the house, trying to determine the current number of occupants. When he was through, he lowered the high-tech device and spoke into his radio.
“I can’t see anyone, sir. It’s like the place is empty.”
“No one?”
“That’s affirmative, sir.”
Payne and Jones winced, trying to figure out where everyone was. The house had been under surveillance for the last several hours, so they knew there should be people. A lot of people.
Jones whispered, “If you can’t see anyone upstairs, scan the basement. Maybe there’s someone down there.”
“I’ll try, but the moat around the house might interfere. It doesn’t see well through water.”
Payne crept closer to the house, trying to stay as low as possible. There was no sense risking his life before they knew if Ariane was inside. “Try closer to the drawbridge. The water might be shallower there.”
“You got it.”
Payne and Jones waited patiently while Sanchez attempted to get a better reading. After more than a minute of scanning, he gave them the bad news.
“He’s got something in the basement, but I can’t get a readout on this thing. It might be a vault or a bomb shelter of some kind, but whatever it is, it’s too thick for me to see through.”
“Keep us posted if anything changes.”
“I will.”
After switching channels on his radio, Payne tried to get an update from Shell, who was in charge of knocking out Kotto’s power lines with a small explosion. He remained silent until the device was set and he had repositioned himself in the nearby trees.
Once there, Shell turned his radio to an all-inclusive frequency and spoke to the entire squad, using the tone and mannerisms of a commercial airline pilot.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your lieutenant speaking. In exactly thirty seconds, we will be experiencing some violent turbulence, so I would advise you to prepare your night vision and put your firearms into their locked and loaded positions.” Shell smiled to himself before finishing. “And as always, thank you for choosing the MANIACs.”
Twenty … fifteen . . . ten . . . five . . . BOOM!
The earth shook as the explosion ripped through the power station, tearing the generator to shreds in one blinding burst of heat and light. Payne and Jones were tempted to glance at the display of sparks but realized it would ruin their night vision for the next several minutes. So they waited patiently, until the shower of orange light subsided and Kotto’s entire estate fell under the blanket of darkness.
When the moment felt right, Payne pushed the button on his transmitter and growled into the microphone. “Gentlemen, don’t let me down.”
With phenomenal quickness and stealth, the soldiers converged on the stone mansion and crawled across the structure’s moat in groups of two and three, using wooden boards that they carried with them. Windows, doors, and skylights were points of entry, and the MANIACs breached them effortlessly in a series of textbook military maneuvers.
“So far, so good,” Payne muttered as he watched the assault from Kotto’s yard. “I’d like to be inside, though, where all the action is.”
Jones nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, but there’s no way you could’ve climbed over the moat with that arm of yours. And you know it.”
“Actually, I
don’t
know it. I think if I was given the chance, I could’ve-”
Jones squeezed his friend’s injured biceps in order to prove his point.
“Jesus!” he grunted in agony. “You didn’t have to do that!”
But Payne was thankful that Jones had, because it reminded him that he’d made the correct decision by sitting this one out. If he hadn’t, he would’ve slowed down the team, and that was something he wasn’t willing to risk. At this point the only thing that mattered to Payne was Ariane, and everything else-his soldierly pride, his lust for action, and his desire for revenge-paled in comparison.
“I hope you realize there’s no reason to feel guilty. We’ve accomplished more in the last week than anyone, including myself, could’ve ever imagined.”
Payne didn’t respond, choosing to keep his attention on the mission instead.
“Plus, you set a good example for the squad by letting them take over. A man has to know his limits, and when he reaches them, he shouldn’t be ashamed to ask for help.”
“I know that. In fact, I might ask for some more help right now.”
“Really?” The comment surprised Jones. “Why’s that?”
Payne took a moment to adjust his night vision, then calmly pointed over Jones’s left shoulder. “If I’m not mistaken, I think our targets might’ve found a way out of the house.”
Jones turned in the direction of Payne’s finger and had a hard time believing what he saw. Levon Greene was standing outside Kotto’s iron fence, helping Octavian Holmes climb out of a well-concealed passageway-a tunnel that wasn’t mentioned on the blueprints Jones had downloaded from a local database.
“Get on the comm,” Payne said, “and tell Sanchez to send half the team out to secure the periphery. Have the others continue their sweep for the slaves, but warn them about the tunnel. I don’t want Greene doubling back inside if we can help it.”
Jones nodded as he reached for the radio. “And while I do this, what are you going to do?”
Payne smiled as he grabbed his Glock. “I’m going to play hero.”
CHAPTER 61
USING
the darkness as his ally, Payne moved quietly toward the mouth of the tunnel, hoping to eliminate Holmes and Greene before they even knew what hit them. But as he approached the tall iron fence that surrounded the estate, he soon realized that there was more going on than a simple escape. Instead of slipping away from the house unnoticed, Holmes and Greene were trying to smuggle several slaves out of Kotto’s house as well.
“D.J.,” Payne whispered into his headset. “What’s your position? I need your input up here.”
A few seconds later Jones slipped into the bushes next to him. “You rang?”
“Take a look at them. Does this make any sense to you?”
Jones watched closely as the duo pulled two cloaked slaves from the tunnel and shoved them forcibly to the ground. Then, when Greene was satisfied with their positioning, he went back to the tunnel while Holmes hovered over the first pair with a handgun.
“No sense at all,” Jones answered. “They must have something up their sleeves, otherwise they’d be heading for the hills by now.”
“That’s what I figured, but what?”
Jones shrugged. “I don’t know, but it has to be something creative. They aren’t going to hold us off all by themselves.”
“Something creative, huh? See, that’s what I can’t figure out. What the hell could these guys come up with on such short notice? I mean, it’s not like they have a lot of experience with . . .”
Experience
. The word sent shivers down Payne’s spine, for he suddenly remembered what Holmes and Greene were experienced with. Of course! It made perfect sense. The reason they weren’t leaving was because they
needed
to stay nearby in order to complete their plans-just like when they blew up the Plantation.
Without delay, Payne hit the button on his radio and spoke directly to Sanchez. “Juan, get out of the house! Do you read me? Clear the area, now!”
“But, sir, we haven’t completed our objective. Do you understand? We haven’t-”
“Screw your objective, Juan! The house is hot. Get out at once!”
A few seconds passed before Sanchez replied. “But, sir, Ariane might still be in here.”
The notion hit Payne like a sucker punch. God, how could he have forgotten about her? How was that possible?
It took him a moment to shake off the guilt-for forgetting Ariane in her time of need
and
for the command that he was about to issue-but once he thought things through, he realized he couldn’t allow his personal feelings to interfere with his duties as squad leader. No matter how much he loved Ariane and how willing he was to give up his life for hers, he knew he didn’t have a choice. This wasn’t
Saving Private Ryan
. He couldn’t risk the lives of several men to save one person. That just wasn’t acceptable, especially since they were here as a personal favor.
After taking a deep breath to clear his mind, Payne turned his radio back on and said the most painful thing he’d ever had to say. “What is it about my order that you don’t understand? Get out of the house now!”
*
LEVON
Greene helped Hannibal Kotto to his feet before giving Edwin Drake a much-needed hand. Neither of the businessmen was thrilled with sneaking to freedom through the escape tunnel that started in the mansion’s basement, but once they were assured that it was the only way to get away from the MANIACs, Kotto and Drake relented.
“What now?” asked Drake as he dusted off his white cloak. “Do we make a run for it?”
Greene chuckled at the thought. “A run for it? Do you actually think we can outrun an entire platoon of soldiers? Fuck that! There will be no running from anything.”
Kotto heard the comment and moved forward. “Then how are we going to escape? Is someone coming to meet us?”
“No,” Greene assured him, “there’s no one coming to meet us. Octavian and I are going to take care of the MANIACs all by ourselves.”
“You’re what?” Kotto turned toward Holmes, looking for answers. “How are you going to do that?”
Greene answered cryptically. “Well,
we’re
not going to do anything. Your house is.”
“My house is? What kind of rubbish is that?”
Greene smiled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small detonator. “Not rubbish,
rubble
– because that’s what your house is gonna be in a couple of seconds. With a touch of this button, your house and our problems are going bye-bye.”
PAYNE
was relieved when the first wave of MANIACs made it across the moat, but they weren’t the men that he was truly worried about. That group was team two, the soldiers who were looking for the secret tunnel. Since they were ordered deep within the bowels of the basement, Payne knew it would take them much longer to evacuate.
He just hoped it wouldn’t take too long.
“All out,” declared Shell, who was the leader of the first team. “Should we secure the periphery as ordered, or lag here to assist the others?”
“Your orders still hold.” Payne wanted everyone as far away from the house as quickly as possible. “Be advised that six people have been spotted outside the fence. Repeat, six outside the fence. And some of them could be friendly.”
“Half dozen on the run: some cowboys, some Indians.” Shell waved his men forward before continuing his transmission. “Don’t worry, sir. We won’t let you down.”
Payne nodded as he turned toward Jones. “What can you see?”
He answered while peering through his night-vision goggles. “The two people on the ground seem to be slaves. Greene just kicked the one on the right.”
“Can you make out their faces?”
Jones shook his head. “Their cloaks prevent it. But if I were a betting man, I’d say the one getting kicked is a man. He’s way too big to be a female.”
Payne cursed softly. That meant the odds of Ariane being inside the house just increased. “And what about the other?”
“No idea. It could be Ariane, but I really don’t know.”
“Keep me posted,” he said, rising to his feet. “I’m going forward to help Sanchez’s crew.”
“You’re what?”
“I’m going to give them a hand. I’d lend them two if I could, but all I’ve got is one.”
Before Jones could argue, Payne sprinted full speed toward the moat. He wasn’t sure what he’d be able to do once he got there, but there was no way in hell he was going to sit passively while some of his men were still in danger. His men were his responsibility, and he was going to do everything he could to guarantee their safety-even if it meant risking his own life.
Once Payne reached the edge of the moat, he cast his eyes downward and studied the fifteen-by-twelve-foot trench that extended for several hundred feet around the base of the entire mansion. The walls of the pit were made of seamless concrete and had been laid with a steep slope to impede the climb of possible intruders. To discourage unwanted visits even further, Kotto had filled the bottom of the chasm with a freshwater stream and a family of Nile crocodiles that hissed and snapped like a pack of hungry guard dogs anytime humans approached.
“Knock it off,” Payne growled, “or I’ll make shoes out of your ass.”
Captain Sanchez heard the comment as he emerged from the house. “I hope you weren’t talking to me.”
Payne instinctively raised his weapon but relaxed when he realized who it was. “Sorry to disappoint you, Juan, but I don’t want to do
anything
with your ass.”
Sanchez smiled as he traversed the narrow plank with the ease of a tightrope walker. He’d risked his life way too many times to be worried about heights or a bunch of hungry reptiles. After reaching Payne’s side, he said, “I don’t want to sound disrespectful, but what are you doing here? You should be back by the fence, where it’s safe.”
“And let you play with the crocs by yourself? Not a chance. Besides, you know how I am on missions. I’d rather do jumping jacks in a minefield than sit around, waiting.”
“But, sir, aren’t you just waiting up here, too?”
Payne was tempted to lecture him on the basic concept of leadership-never put anyone in a situation that you’re not willing to be in yourself-but before he could, a second MANIAC exited the house.
The soldier immediately said, “Four more behind me, but I don’t know where.”
Payne nodded as he got on his radio to find out. “Team two status check, team two status check. What’s your twenty?”
“I’m coming out now,” answered the first, and a moment later he stepped outside.
“Making my way up the stairs,” replied another. “About fifteen seconds ’til daylight.”
Payne waited until the second soldier arrived before he went back to the radio. “Tea
m two status check . . . What are your positions?”
Unfortunately, the remaining members of team two didn’t reply.
Confused by their silence, Payne asked Chen, the soldier who had just emerged from the house, if he knew anything about their whereabouts.
“It’s tough to say, sir. That basement is a labyrinth of empty jail cells and twisting corridors. There’s no telling where they are or if they can even hear you. The walls are pretty thick.”
“Damn!” Payne growled. He knew if he didn’t get his men out of the house immediately, they were going to die. It was as simple as that. Out of sheer desperation, Payne used their real names over the airwaves. “Kokoska? Haney? Do you read me? Squawk if you can hear me.”
But the only noise that followed was the foreboding sound of silence.
CHAPTER 62
THE
sound of Payne’s radio disrupted the quiet of the Nigerian night, but the message didn’t come from the missing MANIACs. It came from Jones, and his words were ominous.
“The Posse’s taking cover. Prepare for detonation.”
Without delay, Payne ordered his men from the area while he dropped to his knees to secure the wooden plank with his good arm. After locking it in place, he yelled to Chen, the soldier on the other side of the moat. “Run for it!”
The young MANIAC did as he was told and started across the temporary bridge. Unfortunately, as he neared the halfway point, the first explosion erupted and its shock wave knocked him forward with the force of a hurricane. He instinctively tried to regain his balance using his arms as counterweights, but the jolt was way too powerful to overcome.
As Chen started to fall, Payne was tempted to lunge for him but knew it wouldn’t do either of them any good. Even if he’d managed to latch on, there was no way he would be able to maintain his own balance. So, instead of doing something impossible, Payne used his energy to yank the board off the far side of the moat while holding on to his end the best that he could. Agony gripped its claws into his injured biceps as the plank slammed into the water below, but he didn’t have time to suffer. If he didn’t get to the bottom of the chasm immediately, Chen was going to be the only human in a battle royal, and he wasn’t about to let that happen.
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