He hopped on the first plane to San Diego as military standby. Without checked luggage, he was on his way to the apartment within five minutes of landing.
Fredo’s beater and several other vehicles were outside his apartment complex. Libby and Julie were sitting on the lawn, Julie starting to show signs of her new pregnancy. Little Cooper was strutting his stuff in diapers and no T-shirt, very wobbly on his new walking legs. The diapers were held up with the aid of red suspenders, the straps tied together with a shoelace so they wouldn’t slip off his bony shoulders. Tufts of near-white curls were all over the toddler’s head.
The crowd of SEALs and their wives was having fun watching him stand up, and then twist his body around trying to balance, and then fall on his baby butt. Someone was singing the somewhat-altered song, “Little Loose Coop,” and little Will was laughing as he tried to dance to the music.
Tyler stopped to pat Willy on the head, and then raced past everyone with Fredo and T.J. in tow. Luke ran to catch up with them. Frankie stayed on the lawn area with Libby, Julie and Will.
The duty bags were packed. He made a mental note, checking off his list. He’d done this dozens of times before, either on deployment or for trainings. Sometimes they didn’t know for sure if it was training or not. But this was definitely a Go mission.
Twenty hours later they landed with the morning sun in their eyes. It had been a hot, bumpy ride and he’d managed to get some rest by listening to Two Steps with his ear buds. And he scribbled a letter to Kate. She’d probably have trouble with the penmanship, but he was hoping she’d be able to at least read his love poem and note. Grabbing his gear, he and everyone else piled out of the plane and immediately were assaulted by the hot, smoky landscape that was Djibouti.
He checked his cell and found a couple of text messages from Kate.
Love you. Hope you landed in San Diego safe.
Damn, in his rush to get all his gear, he’d neglected to text her to let her know that. Her second message came through five hours ago.
Imagine you’re cruisin’ over the deep blue sea right now. Be safe.
He sent her back a message. Arrived safe. Miss you. Long trip. Love you, baby.
They piled into barracks-like buildings made from repurposed portable classrooms. Some were in better repair than others. But they had air conditioning, powered by a huge solar power grid near the remote base. Tyler found the mail drop-off and posted his letter to Kate.
It was about the most desolate place he’d been to, resembling some of the pictures he’d seen of the moon. Made Afghanistan look like Disneyland. Their liaison told them there was a pack of homeless kids everyone was sort of raising, giving them food, and clothes, but warned him about letting them into the barracks. It was a cruel reminder that even a child could become a terrorist. Although the country benefitted in many ways from having a U.S. base there, some had relatives in nearby Yemen, a country actively and openly training terrorist groups.
Kyle gathered them all in the staging room and outlined the mission.
“We leave at oh-twenty-four-hundred and drop into Kandahar to meet up with some friendlies embedded nearby. This is a very small, surgical operation, so no need to mention there won’t be any strike force coming to rescue your ass if you get into trouble, since officially we’re not here. And we got one shot at extraction. After that, you’re on your own. Any of you happen to speak Pashtu?”
The silence was sickening. Heads were shaking, muttered swearing, everyone expressing their quiet grief about the hell they were about to descend into.
“This going to be near where we were last year?” Luke asked.
“About five klicks away. The guy you drilled has a replacement living in his house and even co-opted all his goddamned women.” Kyle showed a map of the province and had circled the target area in red marker. They had drone surveillance photographs that showed the complex was isolated from anything large as far as other complexes, but did have a large warehouse attached to the gated grounds.
“We believe this is a weapons treasure trove. But that’s not why we’re here.”
He posted pictures of five military personnel, including two SEALs from Team 8 and a CIA advisor. Several other pictures were of local Afghani family members, including the love interest of their terp, who was now living in the States. Tyler could hardly recognize her, she’d been beaten so savagely.
“Fuckin’ assholes,” Luke barked. “I worked with Gibbs, one of the frogs. He’s a good man.”
It was apparent to the room that, while Luke had taken out the first evil warlord, one ten times worse had taken his place.
“He says he wants money, but we have intelligence that says he’s going to kill them all. Even the women and kids. They’ve been implicated in helping the American forces.”
More swearing ensued.
“And we think he’s moving on, is cleaning up his trail, probably got a high-level buyer for the weapons and doesn’t have the manpower to maintain or guard the stash.”
“And just where is the intel coming from, since our CIA guy is there?”
“Birds. And we got one pair of eyes on the ground. One very motherfucking careful pair of eyes.”
Luke nodded to Tyler. “How the hell did Jackie get back over there?”
“These two,” Kyle pointed to the two SEALs, “Got him in. And now they’re stuck.”
At midnight the Team was flown to Kandahar, where they HALO jumped to area. Fredo had given all of them a small tracking device, and they were rigged with Invisio earpieces and warned not to chatter, due to the size of the group. Fredo wore the radio pack with the antenna wire going up his back and out one arm for maximum reception. As soon as they dropped, a quiet test was made and the equipment was found to be working perfectly. Fredo informed the bird overhead.
Coop worked with a drone, getting ready to send it out for a look when they heard voices nearby. They tucked behind a pile of rocks that might once have been an ancient city wall while Kyle and Armando swung around behind a destroyed Humvee tilted on its side. Tyler knew Armani was locking his sights on them while the seconds ticked by.
They heard the familiar voice of their interpreter speaking to two other older men with AK47s strapped across their backs. Jackie was without body armor or a helmet, and he didn’t appear to be carrying a weapon.
Luke picked up a pebble and hit Jackie in the back of the thigh with his slingshot. That was the signal they were nearby.
Jackie became exuberant, beginning to speak in English. “See, you guys need to learn English, know what I’m sayin’?”
The two shrugged, not comprehending. “You have no fucking idea what I’m saying, then?” He spoke in Pashtu and the two broke out laughing. He spoke again in Pashtu and the men stopped walking and paid attention to something Jackie was saying. One of them said in heavily accented dialog, “I’m a bad guy.”
Jackie hugged him and then he and the other older man congratulated him wildly. The other armed gunman tapped Jackie on the chest, pointing to his own chest.
“Okay, my man,” Jackie said. He motioned to something, up in the sky and had him repeat something slowly until the man memorized it. “Go tell those American bastards what you think of them. Tell it to the drone,” Jackie said as he pushed the man away from him, making a good three feet of clearance between him and the two gunmen. The man dropped his pants, pissed on the ground and said, “Shoot me now.”
Which is exactly what happened. Armando’s two nearly-silent taps, sounding no louder than pebbles hitting the ground, were so close together Tyler couldn’t tell them apart. Both gunmen fell right after Jack Daniels hit the ground.
Luke whispered to Tyler, “Kid’s a natural warrior.”
Kyle’s voice popped in Tyler’s earpiece. “Roger that, Luke. Let’s dust him off and get to where we need to be before daylight.”
Jackie was happy to see Luke. “See, I told you the prophet would watch over you. Now you’re all married,” Jackie said.
>
“How’d you fuckin’ find out all that?”
“Facebook.”
“No way.”
“Way, my man. Facebook is the bomb. How you think I found her?” He nodded toward the compound with its lights and barbed wire, more like a prison than a home.
“The SEALs in there too?”
“Everyone who’s alive is in there. Someone died yesterday. Brought out a body wrapped in white linen. Our custom.”
“Could it be one of the Americans?”
Jackie shook his head. “Small. She was too small. A child, probably in childbirth. You know over 50% of the women die in childbirth.”
The unspoken part was whether or not Malalai was still alive. As if sensing their concern, Jackie added, “I think I would have felt it if Malalai had died. My heart would have broken.”
Tyler could understand completely.
“Come, we go now,” Jackie said.
Jackie’s time spent training and doing missions with the SEALs made him a valuable asset. He understood their rhythm, and how things were done. Language was minimal. Things were communicated in the most basic of terms. Jackie knew, just as well as they did, there’d be no hope for them if they were caught out in an open area in the full light of day. It was risky for an Afghani. But for the SEALs, it was certain death.
They ran the few klicks until they reached the edge of the compound. Once again, Luke’s slingshot made fast work of two lights on high standards rising from the interior of the complex. Under the shadow of the walls they hovered in a line.
Tyler heard the distinctive clicks of Coop’s drone as he set the wings in place. He flipped a switch and the purring of a brushless motor came to life. He found a dark corridor protected from above and began running, stopping just before the cone of another light standard illuminated the ground. Holding the drone and reaching back he threw the plastic missile forward. It leapt to the air and began to soar. Coop tracked its ascent with the monitor, moving the direction of the nose with his thumb on a toggle switch.
The screen lit up deep green, since the drone was equipped with its “night shades” as Cooper liked to call it.
Green leafy patterns began to develop on the monitor. At one point, there were four almost yellowish flames blurring together. Since they were almost in a perfect circle, Tyler thought they might be restrained against a pole of some kind.
“I think you’re right,” Coop agreed when Tyler said as much. “We got more over here.”
Kyle looked over at the monitor. “My bet is the ones who are moving are guards or staff.”
“No staff. He uses the women,” Jackie disagreed.
Kyle looked squinted at him in the near-zero moon. “Can you get a message to her?”
“Your radio have a hot spot for Wi-Fi?” Jackie asked Fredo.
“Fuckin’ no. But we got something better.” Fredo pointed to the sky.
“Here’s your hot spot,” Cooper said to the monitor.
“Yeah, and it’s got a signal boost.”
Tyler turned back to Jackie, “It will pop up if she searches for it. Does she know how to do that?”
“Of course.”
“You get a message to her. If her cell phone goes live, that also sends a signal. So that’s two. Two signals is good for a pickup,” Kyle said.
Kyle gave Jackie his computer after logging in. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Everyone looked at Jackie’s lap. He was logging into his Facebook account.
He sent a private message to Malalai. “All we have to do now is wait a little.”
“Only a little,” said Kyle. “We don’t hear from her, we go in anyway,” Kyle checked the drone monitor. “By zero three hundred we go. That gives you about forty-five minutes to reach her, Jackie.”
“No problem. I think I will be able to get her. She has a little ping sound when she gets a message.”
“How’d she get a laptop in there?”
“It isn’t hers. The warlord bought it so his new child bride can watch movies. He thought it was just a video player, but the thing had full internet. She likes the Disney movies, Malalai says. He’s trying to bribe her to let him have sex with her.”
“How old is she?” Tyler asked.
“Eight.”
Tyler felt sick. T.J. swore and kicked pebbles. Everyone else was silent. “She know you’re in country?” Kyle asked.
Jackie whispered a response. “No. I could not risk that.” He continued to watch the monitor. “Okay, she’s online. She says he is upstairs sleeping with one of his wives.” Jackie skipped over the next line. “There are four men downstairs with big guns. One is positioned outside the leader’s door.”
“That makes five then?” Kyle asked.
“It appears so.” The screen changed and flickered. A bit. Someone swore.
“There’s some cloud cover up there and wind. The controls are a bit wobbly,” whispered Coop. “No worries.”
“She says there are many more sleeping in the big house. They are making bombs and packing weapons into crates. She says she was there yesterday. A group of twenty or so left this morning in a large bus.”
“Bus?”
“Municipal bus from town.”
“That’s going to be a bomb, then,” said Kyle.
“They’re going to pack it full of explosives. My guess is that’s where they’re going to put all the hostages,” Tyler said.
“And then they’ll blow them all away,” Jackie said.
Jackie’s comment reminded Tyler of how Kenny used to talk to him when they stoned behind the bleachers on the soccer field, “blow them all away.” He was struck with how matter-of-fact Jackie was about issues of life and death.
It was a big contrast to his own growing up, the campouts and school dances with pretty girls who matured so darn much faster than his body did, the pickups he tried to make happen, the stolen kisses and make outs at the movies.
But Jackie and all the kids growing up in Afghanistan didn’t have a chance at that, and didn’t even know what they were missing.
Which he figured was a blessing. And somehow, he wanted to make a difference for them if he could, without losing his own life in the process.
C
hapter 34
Kate came home quickly to change, resisting the urge to shower, just like she’d promised Tyler. The white winery logo silk shirt and black slacks were the order of the day, because it was Sunday and their best-paying crowd. She put her hair up on top of her head and let a few strands fall down her neck.
Tyler had loved so many places on her body it hurt deliciously to move, and yet she craved even more. Doing anything right now reminded her of him and how he played her body and swept her senses with the skill of a god. She was filled to capacity, her heart expanded with so much joy, and yet so much pain, she wasn’t sure she could stand it.
But, God yes, she would. Compared to what he had to do, what she was going to do today—face tourists and try to guide them to purchases they’d love for years—that was simple, even with her ex-fiancé hovering about.
Sheila had been contrite and was behaving more like her old self. They were able to banter back and forth, and some of this made the pain of missing Tyler lessen. Well, not exactly lessen, but distracting her for short periods. Every time she was alone, like when she visited the ladies room, she would take a good look in the mirror and burst into tears.
She had such a strong physical reaction to him she began to feel almost sick. A dull ache in her belly no amount of coffee, water or even chocolate could satisfy. She suspected that if she could have two or three good days of rest, she might begin to feel normal.
Concerned her texting him might make him feel hedged in, she decided to wait for him to contact her. He’d said he would. She didn’t doubt for a moment he would. And because she’d promised she’d remain strong, she worked to simply enjoy the physical evidence of his lovemaking last night and ignore the part about having to wait weeks and months
to experience it again. If there was such a thing as being addicted to a man, she was, and she didn’t care.
In the afternoon, Sheila brought up the subject of Tyler.
“Your guy is quite the looker, Kate,” Sheila said between groups of guests.
Kate had to nod. Despite telling herself not to, she blushed.
“I see that glow about you. Never had that with Randy, you know.”
“I don’t think we were right for each other.”
“At first, I didn’t believe you. But now I see something settled with you. You’re satisfied. Sexually satisfied.”
Kate didn’t like that comment one bit. But Sheila had a way of digging right to the truth of things, painful as it was.
“It’s more than sex, Sheila,” she said.
“Of course, Kate,” her friend gushed. “How stupid of me. Poor choice of words.”
She watched her dip her head down and to the side, sliding out her next comment more carefully than her last one. “Kate, did you and Randy—did you have an active…you know, were you good together?”
Kate had to think about it for a bit. That part of her life seemed so far away now. In less than a week she could hardly remember what it had been like with Randy. And now she didn’t want to.
“I honestly don’t remember, Sheila. I’ve kind of moved on.”
“That good, huh?”
“Look,” Kate said as a new flock of guests entered the tasting room with their tour guide in tow. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m really not sure Randy was ever into me. Not the same way—”
The crowd was lined up at the pouring table like blackbirds on a telephone wire. Kate rolled her eyes at Sheila, who returned a giggle, holding her fingers across her lips.
“Sorry,” Sheila said.
They each proceeded to entertain the guests. Randy entered the showroom.
“Ladies and gentlemen! We have a very special guest today. The winemaker’s son is joining us here, Randy Heller.” Sheila’s voice glittered with bravado as she extended her fingers toward the ceiling in a flourish, and then pointed to Randy, who beamed at the attention. Immediately he was flocked with a small cluster of tasters. He attempted to make eye contact with Kate several times, but she looked just before they connected.
SEAL of My Heart Page 18