Cama checked and then double-checked her trajectory, then she had to commit, closed her eyes. She did not want to see what happened next.
Pushing off the wall, she leapt toward Lopez, tackling him around the waist. Which provided temporary relief, however she didn’t knock them clear of the holograms.
It felt like she was being stung by a thousand angry hornets. She tried to get her feet under her, but her muscles were bunching up beyond her control.
Ki struggled to rise, but just didn’t have the strength.
Cama had doomed both she and Lopez.
Then they took a hit from behind. Brandt. He knocked them clear out of the way. Sprawling out on the floor, Cama rolled over as smoke snaked out of Lopez’s helmet.
“Help me get it off,” Cama urged Brandt.
She pulled Lopez’s helmet off. His eyes were closed and she wasn’t sure if he was breathing. Brandt cut the leather straps and pulled off the breastplate then both sleeves. Cama was about to do CPR when Lopez coughed a little then, of all things, smiled.
“Another bucket list item checked off.”
Cama could not believe this man.
“If you want to take off the leggings we can tackle another one,” Lopez said with a wink.
Cama smacked Lopez’s shoulder.
“Hey! Almost electrocuted.”
“Almost,” Cama said as she rose. She’d let Brandt get the rest of the suit of armor off.
“Is Lopez okay?” Bunny asked in Cama’s ear.
“More than okay,” Cama answered.
“Well then you better get going because guards are coming around the corner in…six…five…”
Cama helped a staggering Ki to his feet, shouldering his rather massive bulk.
Brandt flung Lopez over his shoulder, to great complaint.
They still had the damned knights.
“Hang on!” Stark yelled.
Cama had no idea what he meant until an electrical surge of epic proportions ripped through the knights sending them into a fiery death.
“Go!” Stark shouted.
He didn’t have to tell Cama again.
* * *
Brandt’s first thought was how amazing adrenaline was.
The second thought was how heavy Lopez had gotten. The guy must have put on a few pounds in sympathy to Maria’s pregnancy.
But they were out of the hallway by the time the guards showed up. Now they just needed to get to Philippe’s office
It shouldn’t be far. But far was relative to how much weight you were carrying.
After a right turn, there it was. The door to Philippe’s office.
It was a huge door. All dark mahogany, embossed with gold with what looked like a solid gold doorknob.
You see this was the problem with super rich people, they got all gold crazy, then actually crazy, crazy.
He swore even if Rebecca and he won the lottery, or to be this rich maybe a hundred lotteries, he wouldn’t gild a thing. As a matter of fact, Brandt kind of liked low budget linoleum. The kids could spill whatever they wanted and you could wipe it right off.
“I’m good,” Lopez croaked, flailing in Brandt’s arms.
He had never been so glad to set someone down before in his life.
Ki had recovered somewhat from his initial jolt and pushed away from Cama’s help, pulling into the point man position.
There didn’t appear to be any lock on the door. There certainly wasn’t a keyhole at the least, but with this castle and its holographic knights, who knew how the door could be barred. Electromagnetic doohickeys. He was sure Stark could name half a dozen, which was exactly why he didn’t bother asking.
He gave the nod for Ki to give the door a try. Much more cautiously then he might before the holographic knights, Ki stepped forward, reaching his hand out, hesitating just a moment before touching the gold metal with a fingertip, jerking it back, just in case, it seemed.
Since the knob didn’t shock him, Ki wrapped his palm around the knob and twisted to Brandt’s surprise, opening the door.
Brandt jerked his weapon upright.
Ready for anything and everything.
* * *
Davidson watched through an open window the team enter Philippe’s office. The man sat calmly behind his desk as the four soldiers crept forward. They were entering perhaps a bit more slowly, expecting holograms or worse to pop out at them, but no.
“So, this is the vaunted Alpha Tango,” Philippe said, rising from his desk. Davidson could only see his back, but heard everything crystal clear from his teammate’s live feed.
“Tell us where the attack is and we can be on our way,” Brandt said, taking another step forward, passing Ki.
Philippe laughed, sounding truly amused. “Never.”
Brandt gave the nod to Cama who rushed over to Philippe’s computer. Davidson tightened his focus to watch her plug in a USB that Stark had created for this mission in particular.
“Data flowing,” Stark confirmed over the line.
“This can go easily, Philippe or very, very difficult,” Brandt explained.
“Yes, yes,” Philippe chuckled. “This is where you tell me I am an enemy combatant terrorist who can be rendered back to Guantanamo Bay and interrogated by your CIA. But both you and I know the attack is scheduled for 9 am Eastern Standard Time so those threats are a little unimpressive.”
“I have pretty broad latitude,” Brandt growled, now right across the desk from Philippe.”
“But you won’t use it,” Philippe argued, backing away from his desk to the large open window.
“Don’t move,” Brandt warned.
“I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” Stark yelled. “The Empire State Building. A bomb in the elevator! I’m sending the info to the FBI right now. We should be able to intercept in plenty of time.”
Davidson squinted. Philippe didn’t even try to hide the information. Not by how quickly Stark figured out the attack.
What was up?
* * *
Brandt held his breath. Something was wrong. This was way too easy. Except for the holographic knights, those had been a bitch.
But this whole scenario with Philippe was too easy.
“Did you really believe that I would really fund an attack on America? Who do you think I am?”
That was quick enough to answer. “Someone who has gold door knobs.”
A ghost of a smile crossed Philippe’s lips. “I have such grander plans than just a bomb.”
Brandt did not like the sound of that. He’d heard some pretty grandiose plans from men like Philippe. “Such as?”
“You know,” Philippe said, climbing up onto the window ledge.
“The end of days?” Brandt took a wild stab in the dark. It did seem to be a popular destination these days.
Philippe smiled broadly, “Oh, Brandt you know better than that. We are already in the end of days.”
How did the man know his name?
“I only funded the bomb to get Alpha Tango here. I have a message for you.”
“Sir?” Davidson asked in Brandt’s ear.
None of the team in the room could shoot at Philippe, not without knocking him out of the window. Davidson had the only shot, a non-lethal shot to knock the man back into the room.
“Take it,” Brandt ordered.
Within the blink of an eye, a shot sounded, but some kind of invisible barrier stopped the bullet. Now you could see an extremely thin, but strong sheet of plastic? It stopped the shot.
Philippe’s smile only widened. “They said it was sniper proof. Glad to know that I didn’t overpay for it.”
That it was.
“What’s the end game here, Philippe?” Brandt said moving around the edge of the desk. Within a few moments he would be within grabbing distance.
“The end is near. Vakasa and Rada are in play. It all hinges on you, Brandt,” Philippe announced before hurling himself backward, shattering the barrier, falling a full four stories.
&nb
sp; Brandt rushed to the ledge, watching the man in case by some miracle he was saved. But no.
Philippe splatted hard, really hard on the stone driveway down below. Like brain matter on the rocks, hard
“That had to hurt,” Lopez breathed out.
What the hell was Philippe talking about? They hadn’t heard from Vakasa for years, probably because she was dead. And the supposed anti-Christ, Rada? The boy was in sixth grade in England, a pretty normal kid if you talked to Davidson or Bunny.
And what the hell was Brandt doing in the middle of all of it?
Unfortunately, Brandt was pretty sure he was going to find out. Sooner rather than later.
Bonus Material
If you wish to skip past the bonus material and go directly to the Afterword, just click here.
RECON – the prequel short story for the Home Grown Terror Thriller Series
CHAPTER 1
Captain Dale Plank breathed in the hot desert air.
Another mission gone so far sideways that it had technically slid off the map.
They had originally gone into the Afghan tribal lord’s territory to confirm the presence of a high-ranking Taliban member, Awani Kalazar. After a few less-than surgical drone strikes, the upper brass were a little nervous about pulling the trigger without physical, visual confirmation that the target was in place, and that there wouldn’t be any major collateral damage.
So the good news was they had confirmed that Awani was, in fact, where he was supposed to be. Unfortunately, at the same location was a makeshift hospital for civilians.
There was no way they could use a drone. No without major collateral damage.
No one had been happy on the other side of the line when he reported in, but that wasn’t Dale’s problem.
His problem? Was that, not far from his location, the Taliban had attacked a family’s compound that had been very helpful to not only the United States Army, but to Dale’s team in particular.
The Bennahaniz’s were being punished for aiding Americans.
“Did you hear me?” Dale’s commanding officer stated in his ear. “You are on a recon mission only. You are, under no circumstances, to help assist any rescue of the Bennahaniz family.”
Dale didn’t bother to pretend like his equipment was fritzing. He didn’t bother to make fake static. He simply cut the line.
They were within five klicks of the family compound. His team was going to intervene. Period.
Not that Dale didn’t believe in the chain of command, however, in the field you had to use your brains. Some politician was making some idiotic decision probably based on really crappy intel back in DC.
Dale turned to Brandt. “You agree?”
“Give the order.”
Brandt, always the stoic one. Between him and Svengurd, their point man, those two were a real gab-fest.
“Can we please, please, please, take the modified ATVs?”
Lopez, on the other hand, sometimes couldn’t be shut up. Dale just nodded. If he didn’t let the corporal use the souped-up all terrain vehicles, he would never hear the end of it.
Ever since they had arrived in Afghanistan, Lopez have been tinkering with the ATVs. Who knew what his latest improvement would be.
Dale felt slightly uncomfortable going into action since they hadn’t had time to get a new sniper before heading out. Their last sniper, Gabbana, had finally had to admit that he had glaucoma, and could no longer trust his vision.
It was a hard loss for the team. Gabbana had been a world class sniper. It was kind of like having a friend up on high. And now he wasn’t there.
The sound of the two ATV’s engines roaring to life signaled their departure.
* * *
Brandt stood next to his commanding officer.
Funny how Dale didn’t move forward immediately.
Instead he looked over his shoulder to Brandt.
“Don’t look at me,” Brandt chuckled. “You’re the one that authorized the use of the ATVs.”
Dale smiled. “True. True. I guess I have to take my medicine.”
With that he loaded up with Lopez. Better his CO than him. Instead Brandt loaded up with Svengurd. The guy was aggressive but sane. Brandt didn’t feel like he would die at any moment with Svengurd.
They were already behind as Lopez took off as if a slingshot had flung him forward. Svengurd stepped on it, but it was like they were driving two different vehicles even though they were identical.
Soon the corporal and their captain disappeared over a low rolling hill. Good thing they had the GPS coordinates for the family compound.
By heading east instead of west, they were officially disobeying a direct order. They were off book, or off the reservation, or whatever you wanted to call it.
Brandt had started his career as a straight-shooter. Strictly by the book and by regulation.
Then life happened. The more missions he went out on, the more he realized that orders were more like suggestions. He couldn’t even count how many times he’d be dead if he’d followed orders to the letter.
This Afghan country was a helluva long way from the Pentagon. And some of the commanders hadn’t been out in the “wild” for decades. Conditions had changed. And any soldier better be ready to adapt or die.
The upper brass wanted the locals to help Special Forces units trek through this region. Then they better protect the farmers rather than bugging out on them.
Finally, in the distance, Brandt found Lopez’s ATV. It was idling quietly.
Once they came along side, the corporal smiled. “Better go by foot from here.”
The noise. How Lopez hated leaving his “greatest loves.”
The vehicles.
Brandt was just glad he wasn’t Lopez’s commanding officer.
* * *
Dale stepped off of the ATV. The good news? If he had any kidney stones brewing, they had been dissolved by that ride. The bad news? So might his spleen.
He noticed that neither Brandt nor Svengurd needed to grab hold of the ATV to fight the nausea.
Dale really shouldn’t indulge Lopez like this, but the look of sheer glee on Lopez’s face made him laugh every time he went on one of these wild adventures. Besides, it got the team to the border of the family’s compound in record time.
The rest of the hike didn’t take them that long, and it gave his inner ear time to sort out what was up and what was down.
Joining the rest of the team, Dale went belly down at the last ridge before they reached the compound.
He might be disobeying orders, but he wasn’t stupid. They would do a little recon before going in.
Dale really missed having a sniper right about now. That kind of bird’s eye view could be the difference between a mission completed and a death notification to your family.
They were supposed to meet up with their new sniper, Davidson in Kabul, but the kid’s flight was delayed. There was nothing they could do. They couldn’t wait the three hours for him to join them. Their time window was wicked narrow.
Svengurd lowered his binoculars. “Something’s wrong in there. Too many yellow green colors on the ground.”
Dale’s heart sank. Those were the colors of dead bodies cooling off.
“Any live bodies in there?” Dale asked.
“About a dozen,” the point man answered.
Had the strike already happened? Were they too late already?
He thought of the lovely Rimaha. The Chieftain’s daughter. A cheesy romance novel could have been written about the Afghani girl with green eyes that had mesmerized Dale. She was a good Muslim girl though and Dale would never disrespect the Chieftain by pursuing his only daughter.
Besides Rimaha, in casual conversation over dinner, had made it clear that she would never leave her native country under any circumstances.
And as Special Forces, he could never live in Afghanistan. Are you kidding? He wouldn’t last the honeymoon out here as a civilian.
So they had kept their
“relationship” to furtive glances over dinner.
“We are going in,” Dale ordered. He looked up to find Brandt watching him. “It’s not about her.”
“I know. It’s only partly about her,” Brandt responded.
That was Brandt. To the point. He didn’t pull any punches.
“And I’m totally fine with that,” Brandt finished.
“We’re totally fine with that,” Lopez said indicating Svengurd as well.
“There could be injured in there that need assistance,” Dale clarified. “We get in and we get out quickly. Lopez you are staying here.”
The corporal went to open his mouth, but Dale already knew what was going to come out of it.
“I know you don’t have a long range weapon,” Dale answered. “And I know you want to be in any firefight, but I need someone out here monitoring the situation and getting a vehicle into us if we need an immediate evac.”
Okay, Lopez brightened at that. “Yes, sir.”
“We will go in on the points of the triangle, working toward the center. Once we clear the rooms of anyone salvageable, we bug out. Is that clear?”
The men nodded. This wasn’t their first rodeo.
* * *
Brandt made his way through the darkened rooms swiftly but carefully. The floor was slick with blood. So much blood. The entire family had been slaughtered. Men, women, children, babies.
Who did this?
There was evidence of rape, everywhere. Men, women, children, babies.
Like he said, who did this?
No God that Brandt knew of would condone such a thing. The divine was nowhere to be seen in this hell-scape.
This had been no kidnapping gone bad. Whoever had done this came here with one thing on their mind. Murder. Mass murder. Wiping out the entire Bennahaniz family.
No three or four men had done this. This had been done by at least a dozen men. The Bennahaniz’s family had survived this long in Taliban territory. They hadn’t just rolled over. The walls were covered in bullet holes. An occasional body that wasn’t wearing the Bennahaniz family’s traditional gold, green and yellow colors would stick out like a sore thumb.
The attackers.
Brandt took pictures of any of those men. Hopefully they could identify them and discover who ordered this slaughter.
The 3rd Cycle of the Betrayed Series Collection: Extremely Controversial Historical Thrillers (Betrayed Series Boxed set) Page 47