Pushed to the Edge (SEAL Team 14)

by Mathis, Loren

  As it were, Adil shifted upwards in his seat, almost turning over in the chair. Adil’s hands strained against his restraints as his arm muscles bunched up in protest. “Don’t you dare mention my son,” he choked out in broken English. The coloring in his cheeks had changed from a light brown hue, to a deep, angry red. He looked like he was about to explode with rage.

  “Sir, we’ve got Malook,” Joshua’s voice cut in over the static in Mark’s headset.

  Mark Dewitt motioned for Khalid and the other team members to join him out in the hall.

  “Mark, we don’t have a lot of time to get the information out of him about where the virus was taken …” Khalid started.

  Mark cut Khalid off before he could finish the statement. “Yeah, I know Khalid. Joshua repeat what you just said to everyone.” Mark took off his military tactical headset and turned up the speaker volume so that the men around him could hear.

  “Will, Jesse, and I have Malook, sir,” Joshua repeated. “We caught the bastard trying to hightail it out of here along the northwest corner. The roadblocks deterred him from crossing over the highway. We found him crouched down behind the trunk of a large oak tree. He had a briefcase on him. The briefcase has a very small cold transport device that contains three vials of a currently unidentified substance. We think the vials contain the smallpox. We’re bringing him in now.”

  “Good work men. Do not let those vials out of your possession or sight for even a second,” Mark ordered. Mark looked over at Khalid. The other man blew out a breath of what could only be classified as pure relief.

  Khalid cleared his throat before saying what was probably the understatement of the year. “Talk about cutting it close. Looks like it is Adil’s lucky day after all.” Mark didn’t say it, but he thought that it was probably Khalid’s lucky day too.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  I

  t was over. At least for now.

  Dr. Kale from the CDC had arrived from Atlanta into Moscow shortly after the SEAL team had arrived in Sokol. The scientist had positively confirmed that the substance in the three vials as being smallpox. The samples had indeed been altered into its hemorrhagic form.

  As soon as they had received the confirmation, Joshua and his team had proceeded with destroying the virus.

  Joshua had been fortunate to spot Malook when he had. Apparently, the man had dug a hide in the snow. They had had FSB agents circling the grounds, but those agents had missed Malook’s hiding place. Hiding in his cover until the FSB agents had passed him, he had then attempted to make a break for it. It had been an honest mistake, but if the SEALs hadn’t doubled back, the whole situation could have ended a lot differently.

  After sweeping the basement of the facility for the second time, the SEALs had discovered a makeshift tunnel that had been camouflaged by an iron metal façade that blended in with the flooring. The team had been able to surmise that it was through that tunnel that Malook had made his escape shortly after the SEALs had stormed the building.

  It was providence that Commander Dewitt and one of the lead FSB agents had had the forethought to set up an extensive roadblock, just in case one of the terrorists managed to get out of the building without detection.

  Now, both Adil and Malook were on a plane express for a secure U.S. federal facility where agents would detain them for further questioning. After which, both of the men would be prosecuted for their parts in the crimes. A team of special agents who were highly trained in high-value detainee interrogation would be taking over the questioning. The evidence against both of the men was overwhelming. They were both going to be going away for a long time.

  The SEALs weren’t the only ones happy about the successful takedown operation. The FSB agents were also elated. They had been able to recover half a ton of processed and cut heroin in the pharmaceutical building, and they had dozens of eyewitnesses in the form of the women who had been working at the facility.

  The confiscated heroin’s street value was worth close to $50 million. It was an unprecedented bust for the FSB, and it would definitely serve to send a signal to the gang leaders of many of the drug operations that were still rampant throughout Russia.

  Dimitriv Arshavin wasn’t doing so well though. The man was still alive, but hanging on only by a thread. Dimitriv had been transported to a hospital in Moscow where doctors had placed him in a medically induced coma in order to aid in the healing process. It was unclear whether Dimitriv would ever wake up and, if so, what condition he would be in. He’d lost a lot of blood and had had his oxygen supply interrupted for an unknown amount of time. If he ever woke up, it was quite possible that he would have significant brain damage.

  The only downside to the overall success of their operation was that Saverin Tarasov remained uncaptured and was now officially in the wind. The FSB and FBI counterintelligence unit had immediately sent out international BOLO requests, complete with color photographs of Tarasov. But given Tarasov’s extensive resources he could be anywhere in the world by now.

  With their key mission completed, however, Team Fourteen was now on a plane express to the United States. Even though they’d achieved their objective, it had been too close of a call for Joshua. If Malook had managed to transfer the virus to another random courier there’s no telling how long it could have taken for them to track him and the smallpox down. He shuddered to think about the tragic ending that could have occurred if Malook and Adil had managed to transport the virus out of Russia and into the United States.

  ****

  “Hey Josh,” Victoria said, watching Joshua close the door behind himself.

  Victoria was sitting on the couch in a new black silk robe, pink pearl necklace, with a black negligee underneath that she had picked up from Victoria’s Secret earlier that day. The lights in the living room were off, but she had lit candles. He was surprised. She could tell by the look on his face. His dark brown hair was slicked back from the rain that had been falling steadily for the past few hours. He was still wearing his military fatigues and had a green duffle bag slung over one shoulder.

  “Hey, Vicki. What are you doing here?” He smiled across the room at her. It wasn’t a tense smile. He actually looked happy to see her there. It was a good sign, but Victoria was still a little unsure of herself around him.

  “I wanted to surprise you,” Victoria said as she got up off the couch and walked to him. Joshua instinctively wrapped his arms around her, giving her a warm embrace and kissing the top of her head.

  “Well you did,” he said, looking down at her.

  “Is it a good surprise or a bad surprise?”

  “Definitely, a good surprise.” He winked at her, giving her another warm smile.

  “I made dinner for you. It’s one of your favorites: steak fajitas, casamiento, and curtido.” Casamiento was a traditional El Salvadoran dish that contained a mix of rice, beans, and onions. Curtido was another popular side dish that was essentially steamed cabbage with a dash of vinegar. Victoria had spent hours preparing the meal for him. Joshua had always loved the traditional El Salvadoran meals that she had cooked for him when they were dating.

  “Mmm … yum. It smells great in here. You did this all by yourself?” he asked. Joshua was still holding her in his arms and smiling down at her.

  “Yes, I did,” Victoria answered proudly, smiling back up at him. As tall as she was, Joshua still managed to be close to five inches taller than her. Standing next to him, Victoria always felt delicate. “I wanted to do something special for you.”

  Victoria knew that Joshua was an extremely capable and self-sufficient man. More so than most men. He was sort of a jack-of-all-trades. Of his many talents was the ability to cook well. He had inherited the trait from his French father. Joshua had occasionally surprised her with made from scratch French meals while they were dating.

  Her absolute favorite was when he made her breakfast in bed. One morning, three months into their relationship, he’d surprised her with French toast with bourbon pe
ach sauce, omelettes, and crepes.

  “Thanks, that’s really nice of you. Tell you what, let me wash up real quick, and I’ll be right back.”

  “Sure, of course.”

  Victoria watched as Joshua stripped off his jacket and headed for his bedroom. She had gotten back a few hours earlier in time for Joshua’s arrival back home from his mission. She’d spent part of the morning speaking to Detective Sage about the potential that Walker Cooper, Henning’s former business partner had been involved in the shooting. The police were just now exploring this avenue.

  Devin had at least been somewhat more forthcoming about his police department’s investigation. He mentioned that in his original interview with Walker Cooper, Cooper had adamantly stated that he had not been at the crime scene at the time of Henning’s shooting.

  It was a telling lie on his part, but as Devin had pointed out, they still did not have any evidence that placed the murder weapon in Cooper’s hands.

  In fact, other witnesses who were right in the area when the gunfire started, but quickly ran away from the scene, had finally been tracked down and interviewed.

  These new witnesses stated that the culprits were definitely two people on a black motorcycle who opened fire on the luckless quartet. Devin admitted, however, that the eyewitnesses’ statement didn’t preclude the possibility that Walker Cooper had paid someone to kill his business partner.

  One of the only things that Devin felt comfortable about confirming to Victoria was that the DEA was also investigating Walker Cooper about the drugs that were found in one of the Henning Cooper Company’s tankers. However, instead of prescription drugs—which is what Victoria had originally thought—the investigation actually involved the transport of heroin for sale and distribution in the United States.

  Devin made it clear that it was quite possible that the Dallas Police Department would never have enough evidence to connect Walker Cooper to Henning’s killing. Nonetheless, the police were developing large amounts of data on Cooper’s involvement to the heroin shipments that agents from the U.S. Coast Guard had found in his company’s tankers.

  Victoria was in the process of finishing her headline story on the federal drug investigation for her editor. It was poised to hit newsstands in a couple of days. The story would be her first front-page article. Edward had already mostly forgiven her for working on her unauthorized project into Henning’s business operations—mainly because this new news story was gold.

  When Joshua got out of the shower, Victoria was sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for him. He had thrown on a linen shirt and shorts. He must have taken a piping hot shower because when he opened the door, a plume of steam floated out of the doorway.

  Walking over to the table, he leaned down and gave her a kiss on the top of her head before giving her a deep kiss on the lips. Victoria reached her hands into his hair; his dark locks were still damp.

  “I forgot to mention this earlier, but you look beautiful,” he said as he sat down in the chair opposite of her at the small wooden dining table.

  “Thank you.” God she was blushing, she could feel the heat spreading out from her nose to her cheeks and then to the tips of her ears. She hated when she blushed. She looked like she had beet juice on her face whenever she blushed. Not to mention, it made her feel like she was a nervous sixteen-year-old girl again, who nearly fainted anytime the captain of the football team looked in her direction. Joshua only winked at her, as if he could read her thoughts. He reached across the table and took her hand.

  “No, thank you for doing this for me. It was very nice of you to think of it.”

  “My pleasure. I’m just glad that your mission went well and you’re okay.”

  “So what did you get into while I was away?” he asked as he dove into some of the food on his plate.

  “I’ve been working on the Richard Henning murder investigation and his subsequent killing.”

  “Oh yeah?” Joshua paused, taking a sip of the Dos Equis Amber Lager that Victoria had set out for him earlier. “What did you find out?”

  “I’m not sure. I had an interesting interview with a crime scene witness in Dallas who works at one of the restaurants across the street from where Henning died. She says that she saw Walker Cooper standing outside of the store during the time of the shooting.”

  “Who is Walker Cooper?”

  “He’s Henning’s business partner. Well, he was Henning’s business partner at the time of Henning’s death.”

  “Did he have a meeting with Henning after your interview?”

  “I’m not sure. It’s possible. But the weird thing is that my contacts inside of the Dallas Police Department are saying that in their initial interview with Cooper, he denied having seen Henning in the two weeks leading up to his death. He also denied being anywhere near the shooting. The eyewitness that I spoke to is very reliable, and is adamant that she saw him there right before the shooting. So why would Cooper lie about being at the scene?”

  “Yeah, it’s odd that he would lie about his being there. Do you think he’s somehow involved in the murders?”

  “I’m not sure, but his lying looks bad. On the other hand, no statements from any of the eyewitnesses put the gun in his hands. The police have evidence that Henning and his guards were killed by two individuals who sped off on a motorcycle.”

  “Even if the Cooper didn’t shoot Henning himself, he still could have orchestrated the crime. Do you know what Cooper’s potential motive would be for hiring to have someone kill Henning?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Victoria said as she bit her bottom lip. Gazing over at Joshua, she saw that he had already finished his first serving and was starting to heap more of the steak fajitas and side dishes onto his plate. “From what I can tell, the Henning Cooper Company is doing well financially. The only problem that they have is the federal drug investigation. Both men were being investigated at the time of the shooting.”

  “So you’re thinking that Cooper ordered someone to kill Henning so he could later pin the whole drug smuggling operation on his dead partner?” he asked, raising his eyebrow.

  “I know it’s extreme. But you know what they say, ‘dead men don’t tell tales.’ With Henning out of the way, Cooper is free to spin whatever story he wants to spin about why agents found heroin in the Henning Cooper Company’s tankers. And more importantly, he can tell the police his version of who put the heroin in the tankers.” Victoria watched Joshua take another sip of his beer. He stared at her but didn’t comment.

  “Look, I know this may sound a little out there,” Victoria continued, trying to convince both Joshua and herself of her theory. “But it’s not too far-fetched is it? Trying to avoid losing millions of dollars and going to jail are both extremely good motives for murder.”

  “That’s true. People murder other people for lesser reasons than those all the time. But Cooper can’t be a complete moron. He has to know that federal officials are going to be all up his ass for years to come. Every income tax form that he’s ever filed, every trip that he’s ever taken out of the country, and every business associate that he has are going to be heavily scrutinized. If he was involved in any way in the drug trafficking, he’s going to get nailed to the wall eventually.”

  “What exactly are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that murder wasn’t a sure thing for Cooper. People like Cooper only commit crimes like murder if they are confident that they will get away with it. If he murdered Henning, Cooper couldn’t have been sure that the DOJ would have cleared him of the drug smuggling charges. And if he wasn’t 100% certain that his problems would go away, why would he take on the very high risk of the death penalty for murder? This happened in Texas after all.”

  She nodded her head in acquiescence to the valid point that he was making. Victoria missed this—bouncing ideas for investigations and news stories off Joshua. He was an incredibly bright man. And in this instance, as much as she hated to admit it, he was making a lo
t of sense.

  “You’re right, I hadn’t thought of that before. But from what my federal sources tell me, the terrorist group that kidnapped Henning has now basically been ruled out in his murder. So who else would have had a motive to kill Henning besides his partner?”

  “Hey Vicki, you tell me,” Joshua said, “you are the investigative reporter here. But I think that it’s an angle that you should probably consider at least. Remember, Henning didn’t accumulate the wealth that he had by being an angel. I wouldn’t doubt that he had a lengthy list of enemies.” He stopped talking and stared into her eyes for a moment, he stretched a strong hand out on the table toward the center.

  Victoria thought he was finished, and that maybe he was going for the whole romantic handholding thing before he said, “I can confirm for you that the Haqqai group was not involved in Henning’s murder.”

  “How do you know that for sure?” she asked him, her eyes wide with curiosity. His only answer to her question was a smile and a squeeze of her hand.

  Okay, the perpetual secrecy about his job still kind of had the power to annoy her. She knew that she wasn’t being fair though; he told her as much as he could as soon as he could—so long as he wasn’t violating his oath to protect national security.

  Instead of pressing him for more information, and potentially ruining the romantic evening that she had planned for them, she changed the subject. “And then there’s Antonio Ortiz.”

  “Who?”

  “Antonio Ortiz. He’s a seventeen-year-old boy who was gunned down months ago. I’m investigating his murder. The police still have not identified a viable suspect for the crime.”

  “What are you like investigating all of the crimes in Texas now?” She shot a warning glance in his direction, and he got the message loud and clear. “So, are you close to wrapping that story up yet?”

  “No. At least I don’t think so. Honestly, I haven’t received a lot of leads in that case. The police think that his murder was due to his involvement with some sort of gang or drug cartel. And it’s certainly possible.” Victoria trailed off, getting lost a little bit in her thoughts.