Thrilling Thirteen

by Ponzo, Gary

  “Walt?”

  “Yeah.”

  “When I come home tomorrow with Kharrazi’s head,” Nick gripped the phone a little tighter. Several sarcastic thoughts ran through his mind, but he knew they would be misdirected if he hurled them at Jackson. Finally, he took a breath and finished, “I’ll buy you a beer.”

  Chapter 31

  Jennifer Steele found a low spot in the forest to park the truck and the team unloaded their gear. Nick threw his duffle bag over his shoulder and said, “Everyone wearing their Kevlar?”

  The proper response was a fist pump to the chest. Nick heard five thumps and one, “Kevlar?”

  Steele looked embarrassed. “I guess I didn’t expect to—”

  “Don’t sweat it,” Dave Tanner said, “I’ve got a spare.” He threw her the lightweight body armor and Steele thanked him. Everyone else ignored the rookie mistake and allowed her a moment of privacy as she wrapped the Kevlar under her windbreaker.

  While Nick waited for Steele, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He was hoping it was Silk, but it was Walt Jackson again.

  “There’s been a leak,” Jackson said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The Washington Post is about to print a story on their website claiming that the KSF headquarters is located in Payson, Arizona.”

  “Shit. Who did it?”

  “We have our suspicions, but it hardly matters now. How far are you from the lead you’re chasing?”

  “Maybe ten minutes.”

  “I can hold off the story for another half hour, but that’s it. Get in and get out. Call me as soon as you’re done.”

  Nick dropped his phone back in his pocket and found his team with duffle bags over their shoulders, antsy to get going. Steele looked down at her compass and pointed to an area of gradually elevated terrain close to a mile away. “Over that rise. Once we cross that hill, the cabin sits in a bowl-like valley. It should be a perfect spot to gain a perimeter.”

  “All right,” Nick said. His heart was pumping now. He tapped his headset. “Remember, no communications unless it’s absolutely necessary. We go in silent. I’m not taking any chances.” He pointed to Matt and Steele and motioned them to go wide right. He motioned Carl Rutherford and Ed Tolliver to go wide left. Nick, Mel Downing and Dave Tanner centered the lineup. They all walked at the same pace staying in line with each other. The trees were spread out so Nick could have clear sight of both groups thirty yards to each side of him. The ground was thick with brown pine needles. He had to move around pinecones every other step. His head was pounding so hard he was practically numb.

  * * *

  Matt crept between the trees carefully, as if someone could be hiding on the other side of each one. Steele was to his right. The only noise he heard was the pine needles crunching beneath their footsteps. It had been ten years since he’d last seen her, yet she looked exactly the same. The same smart eyes. The same dimples that framed her lips when she smiled. He wondered if she’d even given him a second thought. After what he’d done, he couldn’t see how.

  “Aren’t there any birds around here?” he asked, quietly.

  He could sense Steele rolling her eyes at the city slicker. “It’s October,” she said. “Besides, they know enough to stay quiet with a deadly sniper like you around.”

  Matt smiled. He met her eyes for an instant as he continually swept his surroundings. She seemed a little stiff. A fake smile was painted on her face. “You ever been involved with a maneuver like this before?” Matt asked.

  “I’ve seen my share of maneuvers.”

  Matt looked at her. He wasn’t sure which way she was going with the comment. They walked in silence and Matt nodded intermittently to Nick, signaling everything was clear. Matt was scanning the horizon when he heard Steele’s voice come at him as a low sigh.

  “You let me leave,” she said.

  Matt almost stumbled at the words. Suddenly, he couldn’t remove his eyes from her. She moved through the twilight and brushed away branches as if she’d never said a thing. If Nick looked over, he would think Steele was deeply entrenched in the pursuit. But nothing could’ve been further from the truth.

  Matt’s heart swelled with regret. “You told me—”

  “I know what I said,” Steele snapped. “What did you expect me to say—‘Hey, Matt, would you be interested in stopping me from leaving you?’ You had sex with a stripper the night before our wedding. What was I supposed to do?”

  Matt didn’t realize that he’d stopped walking until Steele was twenty feet ahead of him. “You mean you would have forgiven me?”

  Steele didn’t respond. Nick snapped a finger at Matt to get back into formation.

  Steele motioned Matt to catch up. “We’ll talk later,” she said. “We’re getting close.”

  Matt took syncopated steps to regain position. Looking straight ahead, he said, “I was only twenty-three, Jen.”

  “I know. You were a young twenty-three.”

  For some strange reason, it made him feel good that she seemed miffed. “Have you ever—”

  “Not now,” Steele said. “Later. We’ll talk plenty. Right now we have a job to do.”

  And that’s exactly where they were. The job. Something that was always more important to her than he ever expected.

  “We’ll talk plenty,” Steele muttered under her breath.

  They walked farther. Matt’s head swam with questions for Steele, but he needed to concentrate on his surroundings and get back to sniper mode. It was too dangerous to lose focus now.

  They passed a clearing to the right and Matt saw a log cabin a few hundred yards away surrounded by tree stumps. He gestured toward the cabin. “How come all the trees are cut down around that place down there?”

  Steele glanced over. “A forest fire threatened the region six months back and the homeowners were advised to clear the area around their homes. Sort of a fire line. Most homes burn because embers drop onto the roof.”

  “How close did the fire get?”

  She pointed to the left and Matt could barely make out a barren spot atop a mountain. “Two miles,” she said.

  As they kept pace with the other groups, Matt noticed she was swiveling her head in quick repetitions, as if trying to catch someone watching her.

  “Relax,” Matt said.

  Steele nodded. Her voice lowered as they approached the crest of the hill. “Have you ever been shot before?”

  “Shot at, but never hit. How about you?”

  Steele shook her head. Matt sensed a little tension as her stride seemed to shorten.

  The entire team slowed significantly while they crept toward the summit. Nick motioned everyone into an army crawl. As Matt peeked over the crown, he saw that the scene was exactly as Steele predicted. The cabin was about thirty feet below them in a tree-cut clearing, just like the cabin they had just passed. The sun was setting, but Matt could still see through the uncovered windows into each room of the place. There didn’t seem to be any activity inside or around the building.

  Since they weren’t using communications, Nick motioned everyone to huddle up by him. Matt and Steele slid backwards until they were out of view from the cabin, then they hustled over and merged with the group.

  Nick was on his knees and the team crouched down around him.

  “All right,” Nick whispered, anxiously rubbing his hand over the loose mixture of dirt and pine needles in front of him. “We have a slight problem. The clearing around the cabin is too deep to make a covert entry. I want to wait another fifteen minutes for night to give us more cover.” Nick swept clean a patch of dirt and unfolded the drawing that Sheriff Skrugs had made them. “Here’s the cabin.” He put the cap of a felt pen in his mouth, quickly pulled the pen from the cap, then spit out the cap. He made two small circles on the diagram on opposite sides of the cabin. “These two boulders should give us the cover we need. Carl and Ed will take a wide path around the perimeter and belly down to this boulder here. It should be
large enough to shield both of you. Dave and Mel will stay behind this boulder here and set up the Halothane launch.”

  Nick searched the perimeter of the tree line in the woods. He pointed to a spot between the two tree stumps. His voice seemed to get lower as darkness fell around them. “There,” he said to Matt, “I want you and Steele tucked away up there. You’ll have an open shot at both ports of entry. Get your night-vision gear ready, just in case.” He looked at his watch. “It’s five forty-five. At exactly six, we launch the gas. This gives everyone time to get into position. Remember, silence.”

  Matt grabbed his duffle bag and resisted the urge to carry Steele’s bag. She remained quiet as they stealthily worked their way toward the firing zone. The wind died down giving the forest an eerie feel. Matt had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched, but he attributed that to darkness and the unfamiliar territory. Steele, on the other hand, seemed downright skittish. Her head pivoted from side to side in quick, jerky motions. She stopped suddenly and stared into the distance.

  “I thought I saw something,” she said.

  Matt looked but saw nothing. “Calm down,” he whispered. “Probably some animal looking for a meal.”

  They moved on, but Steele was still jumpy. Matt grabbed her arm. “Stop it,” he said. “It’s easier to pick up quick, irregular activity than slow, deliberate motion. If there is someone out there, you’re a walking billboard.”

  She was panting too fast, so Matt dropped his duffle bag and held her shoulders. She looked up at him with soft Bambi eyes. “I’m sorry,” she managed. “I guess I’m a little nervous.”

  He squeezed her shoulders. “Listen to me. We’re going to get through this, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “When we’re done . . .” he looked off, his head fogged with guilt. “When we’re done, I’ll explain everything. Everything I should have done, and everything I did instead. I’ve spent too much time living with regret. I’m going to say my peace, then live with the consequences.”

  She nodded. It seemed that she had something to add, but was afraid to give it up.

  Matt looked over the perimeter, trying to get back to his task. “We’re going to make a nest to crawl into, give the team some cover and finish this assignment. Just think about our job and what we should be doing. Stay low, and when we get situated, stay still. Okay?”

  She smiled. The tranquil expression on her face gave him a chill. He’d had sex with women who didn’t give him the thrill her smile had just delivered.

  He let go of her and unzipped his duffle bag. He pulled out a stick of glue and told Steele to turn around. She did so warily and watched over her shoulder as he smeared the glue on her back, then took handfuls of pine needles and patted them on her shirt. When he was done, he handed her the stick of glue and said, “Here, you do me.”

  They patched each other up with camouflage and rubbed black wax on their faces. When Matt was satisfied with the results, he picked up his bag and said, “Now we’re going to find a good spot to get invisible.”

  Matt motioned to a group of bushes that were thick and low to the ground. He dropped his bag and instructed Steele to set up next to him.

  The sun was nearly set, but Matt knew there was still too much twilight for the night gear. He slid his rifle from its case and began working the scope into place. He was in his element now. Every move had been rehearsed over and over. Besides quarterly training, Matt had been on an average of twenty sniper assignments a year for the past eight years. It was the part of the job that made him the most comfortable. He could be invisible, yet strike the biggest blow for the good guys. He stopped to take a quick check of the location. He looked, listened, and smelled his surroundings, but found nothing that concerned him.

  Matt went back to adjusting his scope when he heard Steele say, “There’s something strange about this place.”

  Matt saw her gazing through a pair of field glasses at the cabin, then went back to examining his site. He was familiar with virgin nerves. On his first sniper job, he nearly peed in his pants as he fired the first shot. He didn’t want to appear cocky, but he couldn’t afford to waste time looking for ghosts either. “What don’t you like?”

  “Do you see all the cut down trees around the building?”

  Matt turned his head just long enough to see the tree stumps surrounding the cabin. “What about them?”

  “Well, like I told you, people cut down the trees to deprive a fire of fuel around their home.”

  “Yeah.”

  “If these people went through all the trouble of chain-sawing all of those trees . . .then why is there still a cord of wood leaning up against the house? And why is there still a pile of kindling next to the wood?”

  It was a good question.

  “And another thing,” she continued. “Do you see the roof? It’s not made of the shingle material you normally see up here. A few years back it became fashionable to pitch the roof with lightweight steel panels. They last forever and have no maintenance. Even though it looks like redwood, those panels are made out of metal. They can’t burn.”

  Another good observation, Matt thought. He put down his rifle and reached for his binoculars. With the two of them gazing at the cabin through binoculars, Steele said, “Why would someone with a metal roof clear out all of the trees around their place?”

  “You have an idea?” he said.

  She ducked down next to Matt and whispered. “Yes.” She turned and pointed toward the woods. “I think this is an ambush. I don’t think there’s anybody inside of the cabin. I think that the area was cleared out so we would be sitting ducks. Those two stones are in perfect position for a perimeter attack on the cabin, but if the enemy were behind us . . .” She looked at Matt as if she was going too fast for him. “Do you understand?

  “Yes, of course.” It was flimsy, but plausible. Oliver Stone would have loved it.

  “You have to warn the others.”

  Matt had to look away. He was having trouble thinking straight and his feelings for Steele were damaging his focus. He gazed into the woods as if he was considering her theory, but he was really buying time. There was no way he was going to break the radio silence over her borderline premise.

  “Hey, are you going to warn them or not?”

  Matt brought his eyes up to meet hers. “Listen, what you bring up are good points, but maybe you’re reading too much into it. It’s possible that there’s a simple explanation.”

  “Such as?”

  “It’s possible that the owners cut the trees down first, then later added the steel roof.”

  “What about the wood?”

  “Again, it could have been placed there long after the forest fire.”

  Her eyes drifted toward the ground. “You think I’m just a nervous R.A. frightened by my own shadow.”

  Matt looked straight at her, but said nothing. She needed some kind of support and Matt groped for the right words without patronizing her. He looked at his watch. It was five fifty-five. Just five minutes before Nick would begin the assault on the cabin. He opened his palms. “All right, here’s what we do,” he handed her his rifle. “You know how to use one of these?”

  She shot him a look.

  “Okay, okay. You stay here, while I go back and tell Nick about your observations.”

  She smiled again and then it hit him. She could manipulate him with just a look. This both excited and frightened him.

  “Stay low,” he demanded. Then pointing toward the cabin, he said, “And keep your focus on the target. Don’t move a muscle until I get back.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at the woods. “Okay, hurry back.”

  He grabbed his Glock and put the silencer in his pocket. As he turned to leave, he felt her gentle touch on his arm. She whispered, “Be careful.”

  Matt felt like he was back in high school again. His cheeks were flush and a smile lingered on his face as he crept back toward Nick’s position.

  A few m
inutes later he was making sure his footsteps could be heard as he walked into the clearing that surrounded the boulder where Nick and Dave Tanner hid behind. He held his hands up high while he approached the two agents who were training their pistols at his chest.

  “It’s Matt,” he whispered.

  Nick’s face screwed up into a scowl. “What are you doing here?”

  Matt lowered himself to his knees next to Nick. He told his partner about Steele’s thoughts on the unusually large clearing around the cabin, the roof, and the pile of wood. Nick got to his feet and peered over the boulder at the silent cabin with Matt over his shoulder. They both returned to their knees.

  “She seems to think that it’s an ambush. She thinks they’re behind us in the woods.”

  Nick appeared to be giving the idea some thought. He pressed his hand to the ground as if he was feeling for the warmth of a previous visitor. Before he could say anything, he reached for the cell phone in his pocket. Matt didn’t hear it ring, but he knew it would be set on vibrate.

  Nick put the phone to his ear and listened. His face dropped into a deep maddening glower. A minute later, he returned the phone to his pocket and looked past Matt’s shoulder into the woods.

  “Who was that?” Dave Tanner asked.

  Nick was squinting now. “That was Silk.”

  Matt was beginning to feel anxious. He waited while Nick worked it out in his head.

  Nick reached down and gripped the handle to his duffel bag. “Get your gear,” he said. “We’re going to the other side of this boulder.”

  They scurried around the large rock, leaving themselves completely exposed to an attack from the cabin.

  “Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Tanner asked in a high voice.

  Nick rummaged through his duffle bag. “Shit, where’s the infrared scope? Do you have it, Dave?”

  Even in the dark Matt could tell that Nick looked pale. A bead of sweat seeped down his temple. Nick growled, “The Sheriff couldn’t be with us tonight because he was on a manhunt—remember? He had a killer to catch.”

  Matt didn’t like the sound of it already.