Agents Under Fire

by Dana Marton

  They rode in silence through the early dawn. She was in pain, and he could do nothing to help her, had added to that pain in fact by not being honest with her from the beginning.

  She seemed to remember that, too, after a while. “You used me.”

  “You were an asset, someone with information I needed. I’m here to complete a mission.”

  Her face hardened. “So then the kiss in the cart was to keep me quiet.”

  He’d really crossed every line there. Hell of thing was, given the chance, he would do it again. “The kiss in the cart was inexcusable. I’m better trained than that. I know better than that.”

  Again, he wanted to take her hand, but now was definitely not the right moment. “I never meant to hurt you, Allison. Please believe that.”

  “I’m not inclined to believe anything that comes out of your mouth. Hope you understand,” she said, sounding infinitely tired.

  He would have preferred if she raved and ranted, or even shot him in the kneecap, but of course, she wouldn’t. Because Allison Myers was a lady to the bitter end.

  “We’re getting your passport, then I’m taking you to Kabul. I’m going to get you on a plane out of here. I swear.” The only thing he could do for her now.

  She didn’t react.

  “So what are you after here?” she asked after a while. “The XO-ST team? I’m guessing that’s why you went to the compound tonight?”

  Best thing would be to tell her nothing. But keeping her in the dark had only hurt her so far. And the XO-ST team was connected to Congressman Wharton via Mitch Wharton who was connected to Kenneth who was connected to Allison. Maybe she knew something or had a key piece of the puzzle without realizing she had it.

  “What I’m telling you is strictly confidential,” he warned.

  She nodded.

  “Ten years ago, I was part of a four-man Army team that found Khanbaba’s hidden gold in the old cisterns of Lahedeh. Millions of dollars of worth.”

  “Khanbabas? As in the warlord?”

  “Right. We’d taken some fire. Two medics rushed in to help, bringing the total who knew about the gold to six. The treasure was supposed to be taken off to a museum in Kabul, but the captain of my team and one of the medics, Brent Foley, stole it then came after the rest of us one by one. I was left last. I shot the captain in self-defense. That left me and Foley, who quit the Army by then. He decided to get to me through my sisters.”

  “Is that how Jasmine was hurt?” she asked, impressing him by remembering the name he’d only mentioned in passing.

  “Yes.”

  “How does Foley link to XO-ST?”

  “He needed to get back to Afghanistan to get the hidden gold out. He needed a free pass and looser supervision than in the Army so he joined the mercenaries.”

  “Did he smuggle out the treasure?”

  “With Congressman Wharton’s help.”

  Allison paled. “Do you think Mitch had a part in that?” Then her eyes narrowed as she said defensively, “Kenneth would have never gotten involved in anything like this.”

  “I don’t think he did. I don’t think even the congressman knew about the gold, let alone his little brother. The congressman was blackmailed by Foley into sneaking some sealed crates into the U.S. aboard his private yacht. He had no idea what they contained.”

  “Blackmailed with what?”

  “That’s what I’m here to find out. Wharton knows that I, and a few others, know something. He’s not safe until he neutralizes us one way or the other. Which means we won’t ever be safe until we take him down.”

  “Where’s the rest of your team?”

  He’d told her too much already. “Let’s keep that on a need to know basis.” He expected her to be mad at him, but she simply nodded.

  Lahedeh appeared on the horizon at last. He didn’t want to go in through the north road, which the XO-ST boys would expect, so he went around.

  “It’d help if I knew what Mitch Wharton was doing in this place. We found nothing so far to connect the congressman to Afghanistan other than his brother. Maybe Brent was blackmailing the congressman with something his little brother did here.”

  She thought for a second. “As far as I know, Mitch’s business interests are in the U.S. He buys office buildings from the government when they do some token downsizing every couple of years to improve their approval rating. He then rents the same buildings back to the next administration that hires new government employees to improve unemployment figures to improve their approval rating. The congressman sets him up with connections. It’s a lucrative business if you can get it, but to get it you have to be an insider.”

  “Maybe that’s what Brent figured out.”

  “Except there’s nothing illegal in what Mitch does. Unethical, yes. It definitely costs the taxpayers a ton of money, but not against the law.”

  Anger and frustration clenched his jaw. He’d driven out on patrols for years in un-reinforced Humvees, gone to battle without a proper bulletproof vest because there wasn’t enough money in the budget, because politicians like Wharton back in D.C. were dicking around, rerouting government funds into their, their friends’ and their families’ pockets.

  “The only strange thing is… I could swear when Kenneth first mentioned it, he said Mitch came here on vacation, not on business,” Allison said. “Which makes no sense. Mitch is an adrenaline junkie. He’s into extreme sports. They don’t have much bungee jumping and avalanche snowboarding here. But he must have hooked up with some businessmen, because he brought in Kenneth.”

  Something pricked his instincts, an idea too vague to take solid shape. “Have you talked to Mitch lately?”

  “He won’t take my calls since Kenneth disappeared. I think he feels guilty because he talked him into coming here.”

  They finally reached the other end of town and he drove in, stopping in the cover of a delivery truck a block from the hotel. A familiar Humvee was parked up front; two men inside watching the entrance. He spotted a couple of other commandos at key points around the building. Unfamiliar ones, ones he hadn’t seen at the compound.

  The rest of the team must have arrived. Just what he didn’t need.

  He watched them for a few seconds before turning to Allison. “I’m sorry. I really am.” They were going to have to talk again. But not right now.

  He pulled a fake stick-on beard from the glove compartment and pressed it onto his face. “You need to get down.”

  He pulled out from behind the truck, drove up to the hotel then into the attached, multi-level parking garage, all the way to the top floor, to the very back. He stashed the laptop under the seat.

  Those XO-ST boys had no way to connect this car to Allison or him, so the laptop should be safe there. “Tell me the combination to the room safe. You should stay. Keep out of sight.”

  “And if they search the parking lot?” She didn’t quite meet his eyes as she said with reluctance, “I’d feel safer with you.”

  The words did something to his hard soldier’s heart. They really did need to talk. Later.

  He handed her the car keys. “Anything goes wrong in there, you get the car and get out of here. All right?”

  He led her to the back of the garage and helped her scale the metal service ladder to the roof. Not that she needed much help. Despite the long skirt she wore, she moved nearly as fast as he did.

  They stole across the parking garage roof to the open window of the third-floor utility room of the hotel. They couldn’t go through the lobby. That and the elevators were sure to be monitored.

  “How did you know we can get in this way?” she asked as he pushed the window in.

  The words ‘lucky guess’ were on his lips, but he caught himself. No more lying to her, not unless he absolutely had to keep some vital information confidential. “I make sure every day that the window is open, just in case I need a quick way in or out in an emergency.”

  He went through first, crossed the small, narrow room in ha
lf a dozen steps, and looked out into the hallway. All clear. Of course, he could only see to the turn in the hallway in each direction. He stepped back to help Allison, but she’d already climbed in.

  “Do you have your weapon ready?”

  She nodded, but didn’t look too sure of herself. She had no experience with guns. He hated to put her to the test if he didn’t have to.

  “Your room is only one floor up. You could stay here and hide in the closet while I go up there,” he offered.

  But the door opened before she could answer.

  Greenhorn number two pushed in, all wild-eyed and jumpy with surprise to see them, his weapon raised.

  ~~~***~~~

  Chapter Seven

  Jake lunged for the man, bringing him down and yanking his gun away from him in the same movement. He rolled them and used his body to shove the door shut. He pressed his elbow into the man’s neck. “Who are you and what are you doing with XO-ST?” he hissed the question into his face.

  “I’m sorry.” The guy’s eyes brimmed with panic, definitely not a true soldier. “I didn’t sign up for this, man. The targets aren’t supposed to be American,” he blubbered.

  “What did you sign up for?”

  “I can’t say.”

  He growled into the idiot’s face and pushed harder into his neck.

  “One month,” he croaked out the words. “Training. Real life combat action. One kill.” He struggled for air. “I’m sorry.”

  Combat tourism, the expression Jake had overheard in the courtyard came back to him and hit him like a steel fist in the face. Anger gathered deep in his belly as the puzzle pieces came together at last.

  He made sure the man was completely disarmed then got off him, yanked him up and shoved him toward the window. “Get the hell out of here. Catch a cab. Go straight to the airport. Don’t come back. I see you again, you’re dead.”

  The idiot scrambled through the window as if his life depended on it, which it did. Of all the stupid, unconscionable, unforgivable things to do--

  “Do you think Kenneth…” Allison stood in the corner, her face pale, her eyes round with shock.

  But Jake didn’t get a chance to comfort her. The door burst open, the XO-ST team leader charging in the next second.

  Jake went for him the hard way: hand-to-hand combat. He didn’t want any stray bullets with Allison in the small room with them.

  But no sooner had he tackled Maddox than two other men rushed in, filling the small room to capacity suddenly. They shouted at him to stop, their guns aimed. He made sure to move around enough so they wouldn’t dare fire for fear of hitting Maddox.

  But they were three against one, seasoned commando soldiers who weren’t afraid to fight dirty. He wasn’t going to last long, Jake thought, but he would make sure to last long enough for Allison to escape. He kept himself between her and the men. She had time to jump out the window. She had the car keys.

  He got in a good punch then ducked before his opponent could reciprocate. He grabbed the man, went for a chokehold and yelled at Allison to go.

  But instead of escaping, she stepped forward. “Stop!”

  Of course, she couldn’t shoot, for the same reason Maddox’s boys couldn’t. No telling who’d get shot in this situation.

  One of Maddox’s men jumped into the fight with Jake. The other one shoved by the whirling mess of fighting men and went for Allison.

  Jake struggled to block his way. He couldn’t.

  He turned his head in time to see her focus on the man coming for her. She still could have run. She didn’t.

  “I’m sorry.” She locked her elbows and shot the bastard in the chest, bringing him to his knees first before he dipped forward.

  Did she just apologize for plugging him? Jake grinned at her from under his two attackers. Once a lady, always a lady.

  He could so fall in love with her.

  The thought stopped him in his tracks for a split second. Long enough for a respectable left hook to catch him in the chin.

  The bald guy, Maddox’s backup, tried to pull away to go for Allison.

  Oh, hell, no. Jake caught the man’s head, put him in a headlock and rolled over him. Maddox threw himself on the pile. With his added weight on top of Jake, the other guy’s neck broke with a snap.

  Then Jake was on Maddox, holding him down, blinking blood out of his eyes as he asked, “What happened to Kenneth Hatch?”

  He already knew what adrenaline-junkie Mitch had been doing here.

  Maddox went for the knife tucked into his combat boot, but Jake grabbed the weapon from him and pressed it against his neck. “Combat tourism. Is that what happened?”

  Anger filled him all over again, boiled in his blood. “Do you have any idea how much effort the army puts into getting the locals to trust us, trying to convince them that we’re not the bad guys?”

  It made a big difference when people cooperated instead of looking for every opportunity to shoot you in the back. “Then idiots like you come along…” He could barely breathe from the fury that coursed through him.

  “You gonna kill me over this?” Maddox goaded him. “One of your own over a couple of dead camel jockeys? Come on, man.”

  “You’re not one of my own. You’re nothing like me. You’re one of the bastards who give my country a bad name. A country I happen to love and believe in,” he said each word with emphasis.

  Maddox swore viciously. “You think it’s fun babysitting those greenhorns? You think I’d do it if it weren’t for the money? Our government contracts are getting smaller and smaller. The local authorities are riding my ass every waking minute with complaints. The media is portraying us as--”

  “What happened to Kenneth Hatch?” He wanted Allison to have her answer.

  Maddox grunted when Jake pricked his neck with the knife. “That idiot didn’t follow orders and got himself killed in his first exchange of fire.”

  Allison gasped behind them. Jake wished he could see her face, wished he could go to her to comfort her, but not yet. He had to see this through to the end.

  “Was Mitch Wharton one of your tourists?” he pushed the knife harder. He needed confirmation.

  “What do you think?” Maddox went slack, as if giving up at last, but then he bucked up suddenly the next second, taking a deeper nick that drew blood, swiping Jake aside as he dove for Allison, going for the easier target.

  Everything happened too fast. She didn’t have time to bring up her gun and aim. The man grabbed her, twisted the weapon from her hand and pushed the barrel against her temple.

  “We’re leaving now.” The bastard dragged her toward the window. “But don’t think this is over.”

  He thought he held the trump card with the gun. He half turned to the window to shove Allison out in front of him. But Jake still had the knife and threw it with all his strength, hard enough to embed into the man’s neck and sever his spinal cord.

  He went down with a thud, dragging Allison with him. She didn’t scream or panic. She smacked him in the head with her elbow for good measure. Judging by the way his blood squirted, she’d broken his nose. She didn’t apologize this time.

  She was losing a little bit of her polish, Jake thought, nearly dizzy with relief. He was probably a bad influence on her.

  “Kenneth would…” Tears filled her eyes. “I can’t believe Kenneth would do something like this. If he did, he only did it to impress Mitch.” She sounded shocked and horrified.

  A police siren sounded outside. Somebody had probably reported Allison’s gunshot. They had little time to waste.

  He scanned the floor. His gun had skittered under the file cabinet at one point during the fight. He picked up Maddox’s weapon, noting the silencer, and looked out into the hallway. All clear. He stepped out. “Come on, let’s finish this.”

  Their safest bet was the fire stairs. Too easy to get cornered in an elevator.

  They stole up to the next floor without being seen. One of the XO-ST mercenaries stood
guard at the door to Allison’s room. Jake took him out the second he looked their way.

  They rushed down the hall and into the room that had been obviously tossed. At least the safe was intact, although it looked like it’d taken a couple of good whacks. She grabbed her passport, then they were on their way out and back down the hallway.

  He thought of the extra guns and ammo in his room. To hell with it. He could always get more. He wasn’t going to risk Allison’s life for them. He had his passport on him, the most important thing. He pulled out his cell phone, dialed a code, and put the phone away.

  “What was that?” she asked as they hurried down the stairs.

  “Self-destruct initiation. My laptop has a small capsule of acid built into it. I just popped it to melt the hard drive.” His op files were backed up on one of the FBI’s protected servers and could be retrieved when he got back home.

  He checked the hallway before they exited the stairs. All clear. They ran back to the supply room, stepped over the bodies on their way to the window. Allison wouldn’t look down at the men.

  She carefully kept her gaze straight ahead. She looked shaken, but held herself together with an iron will. She had gained his true admiration over the last couple of days in a way no other woman ever had. Something warm bubbled up in his heart.

  Man, he was in so much trouble here.

  They ran across the roof in a low crouch, to the emergency ladder. He went first, gun still in hand. She had the smaller gun in hers as she scanned their surroundings, alert, ready for anything.

  She looked nothing like the scared woman who’d run blindly from her pursuers when he’d first seen her. That woman, he’d been attracted to, drawn to her sheer beauty. This one… changed him. Made him want to be the kind of man who could be with a woman like her.

  He didn’t have time to ponder all that under the circumstances. He needed his full focus to make sure they weren’t seen and captured.

  His rental car waited where they’d left it. Still no sign of XO-ST in the back of the garage. She ducked down after she got in. He put the beard in place as before, and passed right by the police cars at the entrance.