Pushed to the Edge (SEAL Team 14)

by Mathis, Loren

  “So after we get the signal, we take down the guards and Dimitriv, evacuate the civilian workers from the building, and then hold onto Malook to make sure that we don’t have an issue accessing the safe?” Will asked.

  “Yeah, that’s the plan for right now. If the room is booby trapped or we otherwise have problems accessing the safe, we can use Malook as leverage,” Khalid confirmed.

  “Wait … maybe this is a stupid question, but if we want to destroy the virus, why don’t we just use an HIT fuel-air bomb to blow up the building?” Jesse asked. Fuel-air bombs were specifically more effective than many other types of explosive devices and were most successful when utilized in confined environments because they utilized oxygen from the surrounding air, which increased the explosions’ intensity and duration.

  Joshua fielded Jesse’s question. “Well for starters, even though our CIA brothers are extremely skilled at what they do, they are not psychics, and it will be next to impossible for us to know if what we grab are actually the smallpox samples rather than some decoy. So, after we take what we believe to be the virus out of the transport container we have to have one of our virologists confirm that what is in the tubes is actually the smallpox virus. Once we obtain a positive confirmation then we can proceed with destroying the samples. Second, our FSB buddies for the day will most likely need the tons of heroin that are no doubt in the facility for their investigation and future criminal prosecution of the King’s Triad.”

  “Joshua’s absolutely right,” their Commander Mark Dewitt replied, entering the room. He had arrived just in time to catch the tail end of the conversation and Joshua’s comment. Everyone in the room turned to give their full attention to him. “Remember even though you have all already been vaccinated against the smallpox virus, we still don’t know how the target samples have been weaponized so you need to handle the vials with extreme care once you grab them.”

  “Also, you need to remember to keep on the lookout for the two men who we believe that Adib Malook is using to convert the virus: Dr. Haseem Adil and Dr. Saverin Tarasov,” Dewitt continued. “Don’t let the fact that these two have medical degrees fool you. Both of these men are extremely dangerous and both have been connected to terrorist organizations for at least a decade.” Mark reached into his folder, and then handed out additional photos of the Team’s main targets. He passed the photographs around the room, so that the men would have a chance to memorize the faces.

  “You’ve all had a chance to look at the surveillance photos that were taken of the outside of the building by an unmanned drone,” Dewitt said. “Now that we know how many guards are currently patrolling the building, you’ll be using the same entry-technique that you’ve been practicing for the past two days in our practice runs.”

  “How much time do we have sir?” Joshua asked, “To get in and out, I mean.”

  “Our pickup plane is scheduled to be landing in one hour from the time that we send the signal that we’ve penetrated the building,” Mark stated matter-of-factly.

  “What if the smallpox samples aren’t in the safe, sir?” Will asked. That was the question on everyone’s mind. The tangos could have moved it at any point in time since Khalid was last inside of the building—if the samples had even been there to begin with.

  “If the samples aren’t in the safe, then we’ll go to our backup plan,” their CO answered. “The plan being that we will hold on to Malook and Adil and lean on them to get the information on where the samples have been moved. If they don’t cooperate, then we will have to assume the worst-case scenario and proceed as if it’s already in transport and has left Russia. If that’s the case, then we’ll have to give the CDC the go ahead to proceed with the mass vaccinations of U.S. citizens against the virus. We have a very limited window of opportunity to ensure that a critical mass of individuals within the U.S. has been vaccinated.”

  “What would be the most likely points of egress to move the virus from the country?” Malcolm asked.

  One of the FSB agents who was lurking in a corner of the room—Marcos Ivanov—finally piped up. “Probably via shipping carrier or transfer via airplanes. We have agents covering both the major airports in the region along with the two ports that we believe that have been affiliated with and would likely use for shipping the virus out of the country.”

  “Given the short window of opportunity that we have to take down the facility and secure the virus we have to work as efficiently as possible,” Khalid stated. “During the evening, there are usually only half as many workers present in the building. All of the workers appear to be women. However, there are still about thirty guards watching the building. Half of the guards will be patrolling the inside of the facility while the other half will be guarding the outside,” Khalid then moved from the table and checking the weapons that he would be using.

  “All right, get prepared. We’re commencing the operation in two hours. We will be hitting them hard and fast. Remember to be smart out there. The only easy day was yesterday,” Mark warned grimly as the Team finished suiting up.

  ****

  “I hope you that you two found your way to the facilities without too much trouble.”

  Dimitriv Arshavin looked across the spacious office on the first floor of the drug manufacturing building and at the two men who had just entered the room: Adib Malook and Haseem Adil. Dimitriv noticed that Malook was carrying a briefcase while Adil had a duffle bag slung across his shoulder. They took a few seconds to take off their wool coats, which were damp from falling snow, and hung them on the wall coat hanger.

  “Of course,” Adil said. The two men sat down in the white leather chairs in front of Dimitriv’s desk.

  “Can I offer the two of you anything to drink?” Dimitriv asked while pointing at the alcohol bar that was located in the front left corner of the room.

  “No, thank you,” Adil was saying, while Malook shook his head in the negative.

  “What is the status of the heroin shipment?” Malook asked abruptly.

  “Ah, I see that you like to cut right to the chase. I’m not a fan of small talk either. As of this afternoon, our factory workers have been able to package a quarter ton of heroin for shipment. We are ahead of schedule. Right now, we have men who are loading the packages into our transport trucks,” Dimitriv explained.

  “Great, that’s excellent,” Malook replied.

  “Yeah, there’s just one thing. I’ve been informed by a few of my security personnel that there’s a room in this facility your men won’t let them enter because the room is ‘off limits.’”

  Dimitriv carefully watched the two men as they glanced at one another, but otherwise neither man made a move to respond to Dimitriv’s comment.

  “You both know that I’m a very busy man, gentlemen. I don’t have time for a bunch of bullshit. I have multiple businesses that I’m responsible for. I pride myself on knowing all of those business operations—inside and out. This type of thorough understanding of all of the activities that I’m involved in, and that I involve my men, in has been the cornerstone of my organization’s success and longevity. Therefore, I cannot and will not allow things to go on in this facility that I have not been fully apprised of.”

  “With all due respect Dimitriv, the room is none of your concern,” Malook said with a deep frown etched across his forehead. He was sitting with his back ramrod straight against the chair. The man looked as if he’d never managed to crack a smile in his entire life.

  Malook’s jaw clenched tightly as he continued, “We appreciate the valuable business association that we have, but please do not mistake us for people that you can push around. We hired your group for a very specific and limited purpose. The agreement that we have in place with you is currently extremely generous to your organization. Tell me. Where else are you going to find a direct heroin supply source for the reduced cost that we are charging you?”

  Dimitriv glared across the desk. This motherfucker was really testing his patience. “So, wh
at’s in the room?”

  “Look, Dimitriv.” This time Adil spoke up, holding out his hands as if he were attempting to be the peace broker between the other two men. “We too have other business ventures in which we are involved. Our additional project does not in any way concern you or the King’s Triad. Nor will our project affect our current financial arrangements.”

  Dimitriv wasn’t a fool who was born yesterday. Whatever Adil and Malook were up to it was probably some shit that could cause trouble for his organization if it wasn’t kept under wraps.

  Before Dimitriv could respond, there was a loud banging on the closed office doors.

  “Dimitriv! Dimitriv!” one of his men was shouting through the closed door. It sounded like it was Andrei.

  Jumping up from behind the desk Dimitriv ran to open the door. He got the shock his life. Andrei was slumped over beside the door, with two bullet wounds to his chest and one wound to his left leg. His MP-446 Viking handgun was hanging limply from his left hand. His friend’s eyes were closed; he didn’t appear to be breathing. Andrei’s life was clearly draining from him.

  Just as Dimitriv crossed the threshold, kneeling beside his friend to check his pulse, the electricity to the building went off.

  What the hell was going on? Two bright beams of light illuminated the darkened night sky and shone through the front plate glass window of the pharmaceutical facility. The beams were accompanied by a deafening, distinctive, and repetitive whop-whop-whop sound.

  Der’mo. He glanced behind him to see that both Adil and Malook were scrambling from their chairs, upending them in the process. No doubt, these two assholes knew what was up. And look, surprise surprise: Malook had a weapon on him. He wasn’t a completely worthless sack of shit after all.

  Then there was a deafening rapid, relentless burst of fire, which sounded like a machine gun.

  The next thing Dimitriv saw was the shattering of the four floor-to-ceiling glass panels that made up one side of the building. The bullets fired from the helicopter destroyed everything in their path, including five of the guards that were patrolling the front of the building.

  Dimitriv could hear the women workers breaking out into a chorus of ear-splitting, hair-raising screams of terror.

  With glass shards flying everywhere, Dimitriv ran out into the open and yelled to his men who were upstairs. Adil grabbed his duffle bag and raced for a side exit. Malook on the other hand, had grabbed his briefcase, and was running for the basement, probably to cower down behind some of the crates that were kept there.

  Suki. Fucking cowards.

  Dimitriv had his guns out. He was shooting out of the now vacant space where the windows once stood.

  Dimitriv was not an idiot. He already recognized that his odds of winning this fight weren’t good. Hell, with a helicopter unleashing hundreds of bullets per several seconds—like some sort of unholy rainstorm—his odds of making it out of this situation alive were terrible. But he was going to take out as many of these assholes as he could before they took him out.

  That was the last clear thought that he had before he felt the impact of the first bullet cut through the skin, tendon, and the muscle of his right arm. One of his guns dropped from his hand, he held on tightly to the second one in his left hand as blood seeped through his blue dress shirt.

  Stumbling forward, Dimitriv continued to shoot. He didn’t even see the other men in the room until it was too late. There were four of them. All of the men who had rushed into the room were tall and dressed in all black. They were wearing helmets, goggles, and face coverings. The men looked like new characters in a twisted version of Mortal Kombat.

  Dimitriv turned his gun hand at the men. Three more bullets violently punched through Dimitriv’s chest and legs.

  But not before he was able to get off two shots. He hit one of the bastards square in the center of his body. Dimitriv’s satisfaction was short-lived, however. A split second later, he felt the stings of additional sharp pains hitting his legs and shoulder. Dimitriv collapsed to the floor, his second gun slipping from his fingertips and falling to the floor with a soft thud. Then everything faded to black.

  ****

  “Luke you okay over there?” Joshua yelled. Luke had staggered back under the force of the bullets fired from Arshavin’s weapon.

  “Yeah, I’m all right,” Luke yelled back after pulling at his shirt. He sounded slightly winded—no surprise there. He undoubtedly had a hell of a bruise forming underneath those layers of cotton and nylon.

  But Luke was okay—no lasting damage—thanks to the lightweight ceramic body armor plate vest that he was wearing. SEAL team members never went on a mission without wearing their “brain buckets” (reinforced helmets) and body plates. The plates were designed to stop at least one round fired from an ak-47 assault rifle.

  “Arshavin is down and out for the count on the first floor. He’ll need a medic and probably a priest,” Joshua said into his headset, relaying the message to the other team members. Out of the corner of his eye, Joshua saw a flurry of movement to his left-hand side. He swiveled quickly, his gun trained on the new threat that had entered the room.

  It was a woman. She was unarmed. And obviously terrified by the way that she screamed to the top of her lungs upon her sight of the SEAL team.

  “Hold your fire!” Joshua barked out to his team before yelling at the woman, “Get down!” She didn’t seem to understand so Joshua repeated the command in Russian. The woman dropped to her knees and Joshua said into his headset, “We have a noncombatant on the first floor, we need a pick up,” Joshua called out to his team members as FSB agents entered the room and took the woman into custody.

  Joshua, Will, and eight other team members then thundered up the stairs to the third floor.

  The loud, booming sounds of flash bang grenades were still going off downstairs, as the rest of the team who had entered the building, cleared the rooms on the lower levels.

  Flash bang grenades were a type of non-lethal grenades that set off a bright flare upon detonation, momentarily interrupting vision and causing temporary hearing loss. The use of these grenades would allow the team to disorient enemy combatants in order to aid apprehension of the suspects.

  “Copy that. We’ve taken down six more guards on the west end of the first floor,” Malcolm’s voice sounded in Joshua’s ear via the identical headset that he had been equipped with. “We also nabbed Adil just as he was running out of the side door. Jesse is in the process of opening the briefcase that Adil was carrying.”

  Joshua was the first to reach the top of the third floor of the building, stepping out into the seemingly deserted hallway. He would be the point man to clear the key room on the east side of the third floor, where Khalid thought smallpox virus was stored. Four other Team Fourteen members were clearing the additional rooms and corridors on the west end of the third floor.

  Joshua’s M4 was at the ready. The air around him was eerily silent and still. Joshua turned right off the top of the stairs, leading with his gun.

  He led the way with Will right beside him. The other four men followed Joshua and Will. Together, the group moved in a Tformation to clear the expansive hallway.

  “Weapon, rear!” Steel called out a split second before he fired his M4. Steel was guarding the rear of the formation as the group steadily progressed ahead. The next sound heard was the hollow-sounding thud of a body hitting the floor.

  The target room was only twenty feet from the top of the stairway. It was nearly pitch black throughout the building. Each booted step that Joshua’s group took was carefully placed. With his night vision goggles on, Joshua saw a faint movement coming in front of him off the left side.

  Ratatatat. Joshua fired before the tango could even bring his gun up. The man dropped to the floor right where he stood. The doorway to the target room was closed.

  “Go long,” Joshua ordered in a hush voice as he pointed to two other SEAL members. Motioning with two fingers, he signified that both of the
men were to take up security posts on either end of the hallway, while Luke and Steel were to stay to assist in the room breach. Joshua and Will moved to stand on either side of the door while the other men guarded their six.

  Joshua looked at Will, Luke, and Steel to make sure that they were ready for him to open the door. All three men nodded slightly to indicate that they were alert and prepared. Joshua expected that the door would be locked and that that the room would be heavily guarded. He figured that they would have to use a couple of the C-4 packs that they had brought with them to blast open the door. Regardless, whether the door was locked or not, they were ready.

  He took a few precious seconds to examine the outside of the doorway, to check for any type of death traps that may have been constructed by the tangos. After making sure that no wires were present on the door, he proceeded. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed and turned the doorknob.

  Joshua pushed the door open so hard that it slammed back against the wall. He immediately saw and took out a guard who was huddled in the far left corner of the room. Josh and Will were accustomed to working together as a seamless unit, so both of them entered the room nearly simultaneously.

  Joshua carefully trailed the wall on the left side, and Will followed along the wall on the right side. As both of them reached dominant facing positions on either side of the room, Luke and Steel moved into supporting positions to maintain different sectors of fire. The room was large at about 800 square feet, but it was windowless and open, so there were no pillars to obstruct their view or line of fire.