Cindy Gerard - [Bodyguards 05]

by Under the Wire

  “What the hell is he talking about?” Lily asked, her tension level about maxed out.

  Manny slanted Kavith a look. “Eastwood?”

  In the dark, the mahout’s teeth gleamed white. “Outlaw Josey Wales.”

  Manny grunted, knowing he needed to somehow get rid of Kavith and keep him out of the line of fire, yet oddly glad to have this strange little person around to ease the tension while they waited. He lifted the NVGs again. “I take it you like Eastwood.”

  “And Bruce Willis,” Kavith said, his enthusiasm hitching up a notch. “‘Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!’”

  Jesus.

  “Die Hard,” Kavith added proudly.

  “About the cave…”

  In his sometimes convoluted English, Kavith gave Manny a picture of what they were up against. The rest Manny could see for himself. A natural footpath cut into the cliff face and led in a series of switchbacks to the mouth of the cave. The path was narrow and steep, only a foot or so wide, and elevated at a twenty-degree incline to about forty feet off the floor. Fuck—it had to be high, didn’t it? Best guess, it was about fifty yards long—which placed whoever scaled the cliff face firmly in the sitting-duck category if they were made by the bad guys.

  Inside the cave it got even trickier.

  “Many caverns,” Kavith said. “Many rivers and holes to fall into. Many, many bats,” he added on a shiver.

  Speaking of bats, when the unmistakable sound of a Cobra spooked Rajah, Kavith took off like a bat out of hell to catch and calm him. It was too late. The elephant ran hell-bent for election toward the cover of the jungle, Kavith hot on his heels.

  “Come on,” Manny said, figuring that was the last they’d see of the mahout. “Let’s give Ethan a target to shoot for.”

  Manny pulled Lily to her feet and they ran down the bluff away from the cave. He dragged out his flashlight and shot a beam of light skyward. A short, answering flash of light—no longer than an instant—told him that Ethan had made his signal. Counting on the wind to carry away the sound of the chopper, he watched the bird set down on a grassy plateau.

  “Where the hell did you get the snake?” Manny shouted as the rotor wash wound down and Ethan and Dallas jumped out of the bird.

  Dallas grinned. “Little gift from Ramanathan. I must be growing on him. Either that or he’s getting mellow in his old age. He didn’t even shoot at me when I lifted his chopper. Of course the stack of bills I tossed his way earlier today might have made a difference.

  “For you, Rambo,” Dallas added, reaching back into the Cobra, then tossing Manny a rifle. “Merry Christmas.”

  Shit. Manny lifted the Russian Dragonov SVD sniper rifle to his shoulder. Sighted down the night-vision scope, then sliced a glance at Dallas.

  “And Happy New Year to me,” Manny said with a tight grin.

  The Dragonov wasn’t anywhere near the quality or as state-of-the-art as the Barrett that Dallas had “acquired” for him on the Jolo op, but it would do. It would do a helluva lot better than the Kalashnikov that had been dragged through enough mud and muck during the course of the day.

  “So what’s the story?” Manny asked Ethan. “Who are we facing up there?”

  “Long or short version?”

  “Make it short and sweet.”

  “Once upon a time,” Ethan began in deference to the request for sweet, “Sri Lanka was under the governance of India. According to the Web site Darcy found, there are those who feel it should be again.

  “SASL,” Ethan continued, “Society for the Annexation of Sri Lanka.”

  “Let me guess,” Manny interrupted. “They’re an extremist militant organization. Militant enough to infiltrate Sri Lanka, pose as Tamil fighters, and steal Ramanathan’s howitzer.”

  “Why would they pretend to be Tamil fighters?” Lily asked, shocked, yet seeing the logic.

  “If I were a small but zealous group and had lofty hopes of carrying out a takeover,” Manny said, thinking aloud, “and knew I didn’t have a prayer of building enough firepower or popular support to overthrow a nation, how would I go about it?”

  “By misdirection,” Lily concluded with a nod as understanding dawned.

  “You both get an A plus,” Ethan said. “They stage something so violent and repugnant and have the Tamil rebels take the blame; the Sinhalese have no choice but to retaliate.”

  “So,” Manny said, seeing it all now, “the plan was to let the two military forces in Sri Lanka duke it out until they either obliterated each other or diminished their military arsenal and personnel to the point where they were no longer effective.”

  “And open the door for India to step in, restore law and order, and establish a temporary government under their control,” Dallas added. “Most likely with the sanction of the international community.”

  Manny applied face paint, then handed it to Ethan. “A temporary government which would eventually become permanently controlled by India.”

  “And Amithnal Muhandiramala,” Ethan added, building on the theory, “was the key Sinhalese government official whose execution couldn’t be ignored. They’d have to retaliate—especially if the SASL turned the howitzer loose on a city in the Central Province.”

  “Which we figure is exactly what they planned to do,” Dallas added. “Then, as added incentive to incite, they’d produce Muhandiramala’s body—along with the rest of the family and Adam, who were all incidental to their plan—to ensure the Sinhalese military would launch attacks on Tamil territories for committing the atrocity.”

  “The incidental hostage.” Lily looked sick. “People as pawns.”

  “It’s a war game as old as time,” Dallas said grimly.

  “And yet it’s still hard to believe anyone would be capable of bartering with human life.”

  “Or human death,” Ethan added darkly, “which in this case, suits their cause much better.”

  “Okay. Let’s move.” Manny turned to tell Lily to stay back. She was busy shoving rounds into an extra magazine. His heart dropped to his balls when he realized she intended to go with them.

  “Someone has to wait with the chopper,” he said, making it clear he wanted that someone to be her.

  “The chopper isn’t going anywhere.” She met his gaze in the dark. Dared him to deny her the right to help find her son.

  Manny’s gut told him to haul her over his shoulder and lock her in the bird. But his heart told him she was entitled. After all she’d been through, all she’d endured, she was entitled.

  He glanced at Ethan as if seeking guidance.

  “Don’t look at me. I’ve already pissed off one woman tonight. This is your call.”

  Dallas tapped his watch. “Ten minutes before they launch the assault at Wahala-purha.”

  Manny glared at Lily. Bit the bullet. And he’d never forgive himself if something happened to her. “You do exactly what I say, exactly when I say it. Got it?”

  She gave him a clipped nod.

  “So help me God, if something happens to you—”

  “Let’s just do this,” Lily interrupted, and, chin high, pistol on full cock, marched toward the ridge and the waiting cave like an avenging angel.

  “Are you ready?” Adam whispered. He couldn’t see their faces in the dark, but he could hear Minrada and her parents’ hushed, “Ready.”

  They were all as scared as Adam was.

  Push through the fear. He knew that’s what he had to do. He’d read about guys who faced danger every day. They all said they pushed through the fear. That to not feel fear was stupid. And the best way to get killed.

  He was going to die anyway if he didn’t do something. So he’d made a plan. With Minrada standing guard, he’d spent the day exploring the cave, mapping out a route to a hiding place, and planning.

  It was time to implement it.

  “Now,” he said, and hunkered back in an elbow of the cave entrance, a softball-sized rock gripped between his bound hands.

  “Hurry! Please hurry!
” Sathi cried.

  It took a few minutes for the guard to respond—more out of annoyance than concern.

  He held his rifle in one hand, a torch made out of coconut husk in the other. The fire bathed his features in an orange-yellow glow as he stepped inside the cave and barked orders for Sathi to be quiet.

  As planned, Sathi, Amithnal, and Minrada had wedged themselves as far back in the cave as possible, out of sight.

  The guard stepped farther into the cave when he couldn’t see them—that’s when Adam moved. He brought the rock down hard on the back of the guard’s neck.

  It made a sickening sound—like bones breaking—and the guard dropped like a bag of cement.

  Making himself look past the fact that he might have just killed someone, Adam stepped over the downed soldier.

  “Hurry,” Adam whispered as the other three scuttled forward, grabbed the guard by his feet, and dragged him back into the dark. “Minrada, get his knife.”

  Adam snagged the rifle from the floor, then stomped out the flame from the torch, sending them back into total darkness. He’d never shot a rifle. But he’d seen pictures on the Web, read articles. He’d been curious about his father, about the Contra movement, and about the weapons they’d used.

  Minrada came to Adam, cut the rope binding his wrists.

  Fire ripped through his broken skin when the rope that had embedded itself into his flesh peeled away. He bit back a cry. Breathed through the nausea.

  “Let’s go.” He tucked the rifle against his side and the four of them followed the wall deeper into the bowels of the cave. “There’ll be another guard coming soon to check on this one.”

  This time, Adam was armed with more than a rock. He’d kill if he had to. To save Minrada. To save her parents. To save himself.

  In the meantime, if their captors wanted to kill them, they had to find them first.

  They’d just felt their way around the first ninety-degree turn when Adam heard shouts from the other guards.

  “Hurry,” he whispered. “They’ll be looking for him and we can’t be here.”

  Single file, low to the ground, Manny leading the way, they moved to the base of the enemy camp. With a hand signal, he sent Ethan left, Dallas right, and staged Lily well out of the line of fire behind a beat-up van where she could guard their flank.

  Manny didn’t plan on it getting to that stage. They were going to take these bastards out before they ever knew what hit them.

  Laughter broke out among the men lounging around the campfire. Manny caught bits of their conversation. They’d raised their voices, taunting one of the guards who had apparently gone into the cave to check on the captives and hadn’t returned.

  The sexual references made Manny’s blood boil.

  He signaled Ethan again, then Dallas, designating which of the targets they were responsible for taking out. Manny was about to give the go signal when he heard it. The unmistakable sound of a trumpeting elephant.

  “Sweet Jesus Christ,” he muttered when Rajah’s massive silhouette came charging into the middle of the camp, running full bore.

  Mounted behind Rajah’s great head, Kavith lobbed coconuts to a war cry of, “Go ahead; make my day!” as the pachyderm trampled through the campfire, sending the soldiers scattering and swearing and grabbing their guns.

  “Go!” Manny shouted, knowing they had to break into the melee before it got out of control and Kavith got hurt.

  Manny fired on the first guard to lift a rifle, saw him spin and go down. He took aim at a second, then a third, taking each of them out with a single shot. Behind him, he heard the pop of Ethan’s AK-47; then Dallas fired off a burst and mowed down another contingent of the bad guys.

  Rifle still at his shoulder, Manny moved in on the downed guards, kicked their rifles out of range of their bodies, then lifted his hand to Dallas and Ethan in a signal to stand down.

  “Friend of yours?” Ethan asked as Kavith and Rajah came thundering back into the center of the camp.

  “What in the fucking hell did you think you were doing?” Manny yelled up at Kavith.

  “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!” Kavith grinned, flying on a combat high. With coconuts, no less. “We did it, friend Manny!”

  “We damned near got you killed,” Manny pointed out, then spun around when shots from the ledge leading to the opening of the cave strafed the ground at his feet.

  He returned fire, aiming for the fire flashes from the automatic weapon, then lunged for the cover of a boulder. “Kavith, get back!”

  But it was too late. The boy took a hit. He slumped over onto Rajah’s great back, then slowly slid to the side. Dallas caught Kavith before he hit the ground, then dragged him back behind a jeep.

  “How bad?” Manny yelled as Ethan belly-crawled to Manny’s side, both of them too busy returning fire to turn around and check.

  “Hit to the arm,” Dallas said, suddenly bellied down beside them in the dirt. “Lily’s got it.”

  Manny rolled to his back with an oath, looked over his boot tops, and saw her. She’d run into the thick of things and was busy working over Kavith.

  “Goddamn it, I told her to stay back!” Manny ground out, rolling to his belly again and joining the Garrett boys, who continued to hold down the shooters in the cave.

  “Yeah, well, spank her later,” Dallas said. “How many are we up against?”

  “Based on the count down here, gotta be four—no more than five—left.”

  “So what’s the new plan, Stan?” Ethan glanced at Manny.

  “Cover me.”

  Manny pushed to his feet and, running hunched over in a zigzag pattern, headed straight for the cave.

  CHAPTER 23

  Heart in her throat, Lily glanced toward the men as she knelt over Kavith and secured a pressure bandage on his upper arm. The round had hit him clean. The bullet had only nicked him and passed on through. As close as she could figure, it was the sight of his own blood that had made him pass out. He’d be sore, but he’d be fine.

  She didn’t feel that confident about Manny. She searched the dark, then sucked in a breath when she saw him. “What’s he doing?”

  Her reply was several short bursts of gunfire as Ethan and Dallas unloaded on the opening to the cave where she’d seen the fire flashes from the barrels of the gunmen’s weapons.

  Manny was a dark silhouette against the tan cliff face. He was crouched low, hugging the wall of rock as he swiftly made his way up the steep, narrow slope while Ethan and Dallas laid down cover.

  She held her breath when Manny stopped within five feet of the cave entrance and signaled for Ethan and Dallas to hold their fire. Then Manny shouted something in what she assumed was Hindi.

  Lily ducked over Kavith, who was coming around when Manny’s answer was a burst of gunfire and shouts.

  Panicked for Manny, she appealed to Ethan and Dallas. “What’s going on?”

  “He told them to throw down their weapons.” Ethan never took his eye off his rifle sight. “Let them know that their buddies were dead or wounded and their commander and his troops at Wahala-purha have been defeated. At least they should be by now,” Ethan added, checking his watch. “He told them they have no cause left worth dying for.”

  “What did they say?” She shushed Kavith, who was trying to sit up.

  “They warned him that they’d kill all four hostages if he came any closer.”

  Four hostages. Oh God. Terror and joy. Lily didn’t know she could feel two such raging emotions simultaneously, but both rolled over her like a freight train. Adam wasn’t dead. Joy leaped in her heart. For a brief second, it bypassed her terror for him.

  Adam was alive. He was still alive.

  The relief was overwhelming. All this time, in the back of her mind she’d fought, scrapped, and brawled to beat back the notion that he was already gone.

  But he was alive. And in the midst of the gunfire and the lingering threat, a calm settled over her.

  They hadn’t gotten thi
s far to lose Adam now. And she hadn’t come this far without complete trust that the man who would lose as much as she did if these killing bastards won was going to see to it that their son stayed alive.

  “Kill them and I guarantee your death,” Manny shouted when the gunfire stopped. “It will be slow and it will be painful. This I promise. Now put down your weapons and walk out. Hands up.”

  Manny waited for his words to settle. Gave them time to consider their chances. Weigh the consequences.

  While he considered his options if they balked.

  He had to assume that Adam and the Muhandiramalas were in there somewhere. It only made sense for the bad guys to head for their hostages. Hostages whose life spans grew more precarious with each passing moment. And each moment that passed now was one too many.

  “You have thirty seconds,” Manny shouted, then without waiting the span of a heartbeat, charged the opening.

  He had the element of surprise on his side, the rock at his back as he dropped and rolled. Rifle shouldered, he aimed in the direction of the fire flash from an automatic weapon.

  He heard a shout of pain, the thud of a body hitting the ground, then a frantic, “Surrender! I surrender!”

  “Out where I can see you!” he ordered, and rose to one knee.

  Two men, hands above their heads, took tentative steps out of the mouth of the cave.

  “The others!” he demanded. “Where are the others?”

  “Dead,” the younger soldier said, and glanced back over his shoulder.

  “Got ’em,” Dallas said, and Manny realized he and Ethan were suddenly beside him, flex-cuffing the Hindi soldiers.

  Peripherally aware that Ethan led them away at gunpoint, Manny stepped into the cave, the stock of the Dragonov pressed flush against his shoulder, still sighting down the barrel.

  Inside, he spotted one downed soldier. The other was nowhere to be seen. Call him crazy, but he wasn’t convinced that the other guard was dead.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Manny said in a low, lethal voice, then tightened his finger on the trigger when he saw a slight flicker of light emerge from deep in the cave. The light grew brighter and a shadowy figure appeared.