Winter looked at Fox and said, “You might want to turn away.” Then he swung at the headlight of the motorcycle, shattering it upon contact, crushing both the glass and the bulb.
He mounted the bike and rolled his head for her to join. When she got on, he kick-started the bike and it roared back to life. “We’re going to improvise,” Winter said.
22
Active mine outside Freetown, Sierra Leone
NIKI CREPT LOW. IN the distance she saw a man standing guard, but she couldn’t make out the direction he was facing. Once she headed away from Vali and Lord, she was in the clear to lift her belongings from her backpack. She set the pack on the ground, and slowly tore the zipper apart, being careful not to make a sound.
She reached inside and lifted her night-vison scope. She wrapped it around her head and sparked it to life. Peering through the scope, she scanned the area. The man in front of her lit up green in her vision. He was staring in the opposite direction. Through the scope she saw another man was to his right, forty yards away but staring in her direction. She continued scanning right, figuring there must be a break in the line, but the farther her eye searched, the more guards there were, standing almost exactly forty yards apart in every instance.
This is going to be harder than I thought. Her only option was to split through the middle. The scope gave her an advantage, but her mission was intel; she couldn’t allow herself to be seen or heard.
After removing the night-vision scope, she slipped it back into her backpack. Inside the pack, she grazed the polymer body of her Glock, which she lifted and set into her belt line beneath her shirt. It would be there if she needed it, but it was a last resort.
Niki crept further, closing the gap between her and the men. Once she reached fifty yards, she hit the dirt; she’d have to crawl from there. Lying prone, Niki maneuvered on her elbows, pulling herself along as quietly as possible directly between two guards, one to her right and the other to her left.
If either guard saw her, she’d be shot on scene. She tried not to think about it; she had to carry on for the sake of her mission, but more importantly now, for the sake of the children in the village.
Sucking in air, Niki stalled. She was ten yards in front of the men, in a vulnerable position. As she continued to crawl, she no longer had her night vision to rely on, only what was right in front of her, and there was nothing but blackness.
Were there more men ahead? Was more danger lurking? No time to wonder, she had to persist.
A loud rattle echoed in the night. She stopped and immediately shoved her face into the dirt. The noise grew, and Niki quickly discerned it was an engine. Diesel. The low rumble of the engine roared when the driver pushed down on the gas pedal.
Unmoving, Niki stared down and covered her face with her forearms. Headlights flicked on, pointing in front of her. She looked up to see the beam; it was faint yet bright enough to illuminate her surroundings. Her current position was on a road, and soon, if she didn’t move, she’d be lit up like Christmas.
Niki slowly pulled her knees to her chest so at any moment she could jump to her feet and sprint if need be. Then she pulled her right leg forward, putting her heel to the ground, then her left, wrapping her arms around her legs.
Someone clicked the door to the diesel truck open. There were men talking, yelling about where the load of cargo was going. A slam boomed in the distance as the man shut the door before shifting the truck into gear.
It’s now or never, Niki. Run.
Niki rose to her feet. At any moment she expected to hear gunfire, a barrage of bullets tearing her apart. She sprinted through the beam of headlights—a shadow in the night as she crossed amid the rays. She kept running until the truck was gone and she felt safe. But safety was fleeting. In front of her, no more than a couple hundred yards off, a light was shining within what looked to be a large bowl of walled earth above the ground. Shadows of men grew along the perimeter, again forty yards apart.
Niki dropped to the ground and ripped her backpack open, this time in search of her camera. Using the light made inside the bowl, she snapped pictures of the men standing guard. She captured at least a dozen photos before shoving the camera back inside.
I need more proof, some sort of visual confirmation Payne is here. The director and Collar will consider this unacceptable, not enough evidence.
Niki lifted the night-vision scope again and searched. In front of her was an entry point where men and vehicles moved in and out of the mine, likely transporting diamonds.
Can’t get in there.
But to the left she noticed a gap in formation, a missing guard—exactly where she could make the climb up the face of the bowl.
She stuffed the belongings back into her pack and hustled, hunched over, to the bottom of the dirt mound. Staring upward, the climb wasn’t difficult. The incline was a little more than forty-five degrees. She took her first step but sunk into the loose dirt.
Maybe this is gonna be a little more difficult than I thought.
Crushed dirt and mud stuck to her foot on her next step, and the noise was louder than she anticipated. She paused for a moment, pushing herself against the mound in case anyone heard.
But she couldn’t linger long there, or else she was as good as dead. She made the decision to climb from there; it was time to cut her teeth and go for it. Midway up the hill, she noticed a man in her periphery. Again, she paused. He paced the top level, staring down into the pit, paying no mind to anything happening behind him, likely assuming he was protected by the guards in the field.
Once he turned to walk the other direction, Niki persevered toward the top. When she arrived, she peered over the edge and into the bowl, her mouth agape.
Men.
Women.
Children.
They were all being driven to slog in the dirt. If they stopped working for one moment, they were poked, prodded, or beaten. Lying against the hill, Niki gnashed her teeth. In her seething anger, she gripped the handle of her Glock, wishing to rip it from her belt-line and dole out judgment upon these terrorists. But she couldn’t. Not yet. And she knew it.
Instead, she wriggled out of her pack and lifted the camera. She took more than thirty pictures of the mine, but still there was no sign of Payne.
Where are you, you bastard? I know you’re here.
She peered up from the camera. He was nowhere to be seen.
As she searched, time ticked away, and the last thing she wanted was for Vali or Lord to come searching for her. If she lingered, they would, and he or Lord would be seen, giving away her mission. Besides, from the look of things, Payne was absent. And though she wished she could wipe out every last terrorist, there was little she could gather in the form of intelligence.
Suddenly the man she’d seen on her climb turned and started walking back toward her position. Once again she pushed her face into the dirt and froze.
He walked on, his eyes focused downward.
But he didn’t turn around like before; this time he continued heading toward her.
He was close. And he kept coming. Then he stopped and squared himself to the pit, directly in front of her. He was less than a foot from her face. She could reach out and grab him, or better yet, she could swipe her knife across his Achilles, then jam the blade into his chest.
She refrained, but he lingered.
Would she be able to remain still? Would the loose dirt beneath her chest succumb to her weight?
She breathed in through her nose, sucking in a cloud of dust with each breath, but dirt got lodged in her throat after making its way through her nasal passageway. She needed to cough to release it, but it would give her up. The hack was coming. She had to act.
Reaching out, she grabbed the guard’s feet and ripped them from underneath him. Before he knew what was happening, he fell forward, tumbling into the center of the pit.
As he fell, she let out a cough, then turned and sprinted down the side of the hill toward Vali and Lord.
In a dead sprint, she tore open her backpack and ripped out the night-vision goggles. Green images glowed in the distance. She had ground to cover to put as much space as possible between herself and the mine. Soon the guard would come to, if he hadn’t already.
A loud reverberating alarm rang.
Niki had just crossed the road. Through her scope, she saw the guards running in unison toward her, and Niki dropped to the dirt. Lying motionless was her only play, and her only hope was a guard wouldn’t step on her as they ran past. Niki didn’t dare look up. She could feel their footsteps nearby. One man came within three feet. Soon they were beyond her, but danger remained.
Spotlights burst to life around the entire camp. Bright enough to reveal her lying there.
She stood and bolted, ripping the night-vision goggles from her head and dropping them on the ground.
The lights illuminated Vali and Lord in the distance as well.
They waved her in when the first shots came. Bullets flew overhead, but she didn’t falter. In fact, she signaled for them to retreat to the Jeep. They did as instructed, aware of the danger and seeing that Niki’s stride would catch them momentarily.
Vali started the Jeep, and Lord held the door open for her.
“Go! Go! Go!” She leaped in while bullets soared past them.
In the passenger seat, she panted.
“I thought you said you wouldn’t be seen.” There was panic behind Vali’s voice.
Niki turned to him, trying to catch her breath, and shrugged. “It couldn’t be helped.”
“They saw you, they recognized you. Now they’ll come for us,” Lord said, rocking in the backseat.
“Relax.” She turned around. “Nobody saw me.”
“Then why did the alarm go off?” Lord said, and both men looked at her.
What could she say? She couldn’t give up her mission. “I tripped a guard.” It was true.
“What do you mean, you tripped a guard?”
“I mean, he would’ve seen me, so I tripped him. I assume they figured out I tripped him, and then I ran.”
Lord fell against the backseat silent.
“Did you see Payne?” Vali asked.
“No.”
“Then this was all for nothing?” Vali said.
“Not entirely.” Niki grasped her bag, knowing she had all the proof she needed.
23
Freetown, Sierra Leone
THERE WAS ONLY ONE direction the military vehicle could travel: straight ahead. No side road could handle such a large vehicle, and no way they would take a detour. Winter spun the throttle of the motorcycle reaching speeds of only forty miles per hour. He needed to make up ground fast, but if they came up too fast, they would risk being seen or heard.
Climbing the hill, they approached the precipice. Winter felt the road begin to plain out beneath his tires. When they reached the top, the road was bordered no longer by dilapidated buildings but rather by jungle. And the road itself changed from paved to dirt.
“There.” Fox yelled into his ear through the microphone.
Brake lights shined in the night. Easily discernible. Even from far back they recognized the military vehicle.
Winter rode forward, keeping his speed lower with the challenging undulating terrain, all the while spying ahead. Suddenly the truck stopped, and so did they.
“Why have they stopped?” Fox said.
“No idea. But there’s no way we can get any closer. They may not be able to see us, but they sure as hell will be able to hear this thing as it gets closer.”
“What now?”
“We hoof it.” Winter lowered one foot to the ground, allowing Fox to dismount first. Then he clicked the shift lever into neutral and rolled the bike off the road, dumping it into the jungle.
“What are you doing?”
“If they double back, we can’t just leave it sitting in the middle of the road.”
Fox ripped open her backpack and pulled out her night-vision goggles. Both lifted them over their heads and sparked them to life.
They could see movement, in the distance, precisely where the military vehicle stopped. Multiple men leaped from the back and seemed to line up, awaiting orders.
As they crept forward, approaching the military vehicle’s position, Winter held up his fist in Fox’s line of sight, signifying a halt.
Voices boomed in the night, echoing through the corridor of trees toward them, but they were too far away to hear the exact conversation. It was only when the voices erupted in a collective roar that Fox and Winter could distinguish two words: “Burn them!”
Winter turned to Fox wearing a worried look.
“Did I hear that right?” Fox said.
“I think so,” Winter whispered.
They returned their attention to the men who were now entering the west tree line. Winter nodded toward the jungle. “We can’t enter here, we’ll lose them in the chaos. We have to get closer.”
“What if someone stays with the truck?”
“I can almost guarantee that’s going to happen.”
“And?” Fox pushed.
“We do what we have to do.”
“Including taking them out?”
“You heard them. They’re going to burn something, more likely someone.”
“But the director . . . Collar said—”
“Screw what they said, they’re not here,” Winter said.
“Mitch Winter, are refusing to follow an order?” Fox asked sarcastically.
“You’re damn right.”
“I like this side of you. No wonder Finley likes you. God knows I find you sexy right now.”
“Can it. Let’s just see how this plays out.”
Winter moved forward, now keeping his eye on the back of the military vehicle. At fifty yards away, they stopped again and knelt to the ground. One man had stayed behind. He was making rounds around the truck in a circle, as if anyone would be coming down the single lane road at that hour.
“What’s the play?” Fox said.
“We could get close, then sneak by.”
“Hell no. This bastard deserves to die. What if he was the one who saw me? We could kill two birds with one stone.”
“That’s wishful thinking.”
“Still. Could happen.”
“No. We’re going to slip by when he makes his way back around. Then we’ll enter the trees at the exact spot the other men did.”
“Sounds like a chickenshit plan to me, but whatever . . .”
“It’s not. It’s a way for us to toe the line.”
“What about what you said, do what we have to do?” Fox said.
“That was then.”
“Then? That was five seconds ago.”
“Trust me. This is the best way.”
“Always the boy scout. I take back what I said earlier. I hold zero attraction for you.”
“That’s enough,” Winter said. “Okay, on my count.”
The guard marched in their direction, moving like clockwork. He came to the back side but then stopped, something he hadn’t done before, not once.
“What’s he doing?” Winter questioned aloud to himself.
Both witnessed him reach into his pocket and lift a package.
“Looks like he’s lighting up,” Fox said.
Sure enough, they heard the cigarette lighter shut after the man sucked in a drag.
“Damnit,” Winter whispered.
“The longer we wait, the less likely we are to—”
“I know, damnit,” Winter interrupted.
They waited as the man ashed his cigarette and took another drag.
“Winter?” Fox said.
“Just wait.”
“Let me take him. I’ll sneak up from the side and slit his throat. He’ll never see it coming.”
“No.” He was adamant.
“Pussy.”
“Shut it.”
The guard dropped his cigarette on the ground and stomped it out.
�
��See. Done.”
Fox grunted, annoyed.
They started into a trot once the guard turned around the driver’s side, and once he walked around the front of the vehicle to mirror his movements on the passenger’s side, they ran into the jungle.
After running by about fifteen feet of dense trees, they came to an opening and stopped abruptly. Staring through their scopes, they realized they were on top of a hill, high above what looked like a village below. Tents, dozens of them, were strewn across an open field, with the biggest erected in the center. The village wasn’t far from where they stood, maybe a quarter mile. It was quiet. There was no movement—aside from the sixteen men advancing through the dark, with only one purpose.
“Burn them!”
24
Outside the city limits of Freetown, Sierra Leone
MARCHING IN FORMATION, Jabar signaled his men to stop. He moved in front of them, as they swallowed him in a circle.
He knelt and said, “We move in four-man teams. Amar, you lead your men east. Naftali, you move west. Yaeger, you go south, and I’ll go into the camp with Raiden and rip the professor, the doctor, and the woman from their slumber. Before we retreat, I will light the blaze. Once you see the fire, you follow suit. Work your way around the perimeter of the camp, trapping them inside. They’ll have no way out, as we sit back and watch.”
Jabar rose to his feet and led Raiden into the middle of the camp as the remaining men broke into their groups and walked into their positions until the sign was given. They walked slowly and quietly.
As Jabar and Raiden came upon the first tent, they heard loud snoring. Raiden stepped on a fallen branch. The snoring turned into a cough, and then silence. Jabar whipped his head around and put his finger to his mouth. Raiden paused motionless until the snoring started again.
Jabar pointed his fingers toward his eyes, then directed them to the ground, demanding Raiden to keep his eyes open.
Beyond the first tent they came upon a small clearing, a walkway between the living quarters and the infirmary.
Second Best: A Niki Finley Novel (A Niki Finley Thriller Book 2) Page 11