by John Lyman
Inside the cockpit, he found Ed Wilson, his helmet cracked in half and his face covered in blood as his twisted body lay smashed between his seat and the crumpled instrument panel. As soon as Lev saw the man’s jerky, agonal breathing pattern, he laid his hand gently on Wilson’s torn shoulder and began to pray, for he knew from experience that the colonel’s last moments were upon him, and that soon he would be in the arms of God. Before his prayer was finished, the breathing had stopped. Ed Wilson—warrior, father, and husband—was dead.
“Get out of there, Lev!”
Lev turned away slowly and saw Alon standing outside. He was limping, and his left arm was hanging uselessly down at his side. It was only then that Lev noticed the flames in the back of the chopper. With his good right arm, Alon reached in and literally pulled Lev through the jagged remains of the cockpit door. Together they backed away from the Blackhawk just as the fire whooshed through the cabin and totally engulfed what remained of a once proud flying machine.
Lev fell to his knees as a series of explosions rocked the ground around them. One after another, helicopters began falling from the sky, littering the desert with heaps of burning, twisted wreckage, while overhead, an orange trail of fire marked the spiraling descent of an F-15 that was missing a wing.
In the distance, they could see the bouncing headlights of vehicles heading their way.
“We’ve got to get out of here, Lev. Come on ... we need to head north.”
Lev focused his attention on Alon’s injuries. “Can you make it?”
“My arm’s busted, but my legs are still working. I think I may have cracked a rib or two, but I’ll make it. I’ve been worse off.”
“Ok, let’s go.”
As they alternated between hobbling and trying to run over the rocky desert terrain, they could hear sporadic gunfire in the distance. Darkness was a false cover, for they knew Acerbi’s men had night vision goggles. The small sand dunes covering the ground around them would be their only place to hide.
The headlights from the vehicles could be seen crisscrossing the desert, going from one piece of flaming wreckage to another, and then there were the gunshots. Lev shuddered when he thought of what was happening to his men out there in the darkness. He wondered how many had been able to escape.
“Get down!” Alon whispered. “There’s some men headed our way on foot.”
Flattening themselves against the ground behind a small dune topped by a large stand of cactus, they reached for the only weapons they had. Two pistols against a large group of men armed with automatic rifles. It was beginning to look like this would be their last stand.
“I think they’re over here.” A voice called out in the darkness. “Lev ... Alon ... is that you?”
Alon winced with the pain from his injuries. “Those are our guys!”
“Who’s there?” Lev shouted.
“It’s me ... Ben ... Ben Zamir!”
The two men lay there, unable to make themselves move as they peered at the dark shapes crossing in front of them in a zig zag pattern. In the light from the moon, they could see the young face of Ben Zamir leading a group of about a dozen men, including Leo and John.
Lev stumbled to his feet. “We thought you were all dead!”
“We thought the same thing about you, Professor. Your chopper was the first one hit. After they stopped shooting at the drones and started taking out helicopters I knew they were on to us, so I ordered everyone to land.”
“You landed! All of you?”
“The missiles took out five of the lead choppers before the rest of us landed. It was the only thing we could do with all those missiles coming at us.”
“But we saw dozens of fires on the ground ... fires everywhere.”
“We set them. We wanted to draw Acerbi’s men in close by making them think they had shot all of us down. They thought they were coming to finish us off. You should have seen the looks on their faces when they drove up to an undamaged chopper sitting on the ground next to one of the fires we had lit. It was the last sight their eyes ever saw.”
“So that was all the gunfire we heard.”
“Yeah ... most of our men are still out there. Acerbi’s people retreated back toward his compound. I figure they’re scared to death of coming back out here in the dark knowing the area is covered with American and Israeli Special Forces troops.”
“How did you know we were out here?”
“We found your chopper,” Leo said. “You weren’t in it, so we started looking.”
“Ed Wilson ... he’s ...”
“We know, Lev.”
Alon winced as he tried to stand. “That was a pretty gutsy move having all the choppers set down.”
“It seemed like a pretty clear cut decision at the time,” Ben said. “Basically, I just wanted us all on the ground.”
In the distance, they could hear the rattle of gunfire followed by a series of explosions that lit up the horizon.
“Our guys?” Lev asked.
“Yep ... we need to get moving.”
Two large soldiers reached down and lifted Alon to his feet. They continued to support him as he limped behind the others past the smoldering remains of the crashed chopper.
“Right now, I have teams out there blowing every missile site they can find,” Ben said. “They probably won’t get them all before we have to leave, but at least they’ll get most of them. I’m hoping that will give us a better chance.”
“A better chance for what?”
“A better chance to fire up the choppers and get the hell out of here. We’re still outnumbered at least ten to one ... maybe more, and as soon as the sun comes up we’ll be sitting ducks out here. We’ve got to make a strategic retreat and regroup.”
Lev looked into the hardened eyes of the men staring back at him. “This stops now. There will be no retreat. We’re going to do what we came here to do ... or we’re going to die trying.”
CHAPTER 60
When the attack began, Acerbi had been sitting at a table inside the hangar when the first missile streaked skyward and exploded against one of the slow-moving drones. Seconds later, flashes of missile launches across the desert floor were followed by dozens of explosions in the sky as the leading wave of drones crossed over the ranch and were instantly destroyed.
After the first series of strikes, Acerbi’s main targeting computer began to sense that it was firing on unarmed decoys and quickly readjusted as the ground-based radar began picking up the F-15’s and low-flying helicopters coming in behind the slow-moving drones.
Looking into their computer screens, Acerbi’s men waited. As soon as the fighters and choppers were in range, their commander gave the command to let loose with their remaining missiles.
Against the sound of distant explosions, Acerbi stood and held his hands in the air, indicating to his frightened guests that he was about to make an announcement.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m afraid I must leave you for the moment. It appears that a local gang war has just broken out on the highway and I must confer with my head of security. My best men are surrounding the hangar, and I can assure you that you will all be safe here until we put down this minor disturbance. I deeply apologize for this inconvenience, but for the moment, I must ask you not to venture outside until my men have the situation under control. As soon as they give the all clear signal, I will return so that we may continue our evening of celebration.”
“Nice job, Acerbi,” Thorn shouted from his table. “Maybe moving to Mexico wasn’t such a good idea after all.”
A chorus of hushed voices followed Thorn’s comment as Acerbi’s eyes met Thorn’s drunken stare with a look one gives a bug before he steps on it. Ignoring the remark, Acerbi quickly excused himself and walked from the hangar to a waiting SUV.
“Tell them to seal the doors.”
“Now, sir?’
“Yes ... now.”
In less than a minute, the large doors were closed and Acerbi’s men began locking
them on the outside with chains.
Inside, Dana Waters was beginning to panic. From a row of windows set high above, she had seen the unmistakable trail of a missile that ended in an explosion when it met with something in the air. This was no small incursion by a Mexican drug gang, but whatever it was, Acerbi had lied about it and she and the others were now caught in the middle.
Alan Thorn stood at his table and shouted to the others. “This is ludicrous! This hangar is nothing more than a big box of thin sheet metal. We’re sitting ducks in here. We should be going down into a shelter somewhere.”
The rattle of chains outside caused every head to swivel in the direction of the doors.
“They’re locking the doors!” a man yelled. Chairs and tables were knocked aside as a stampede of frightened people rushed toward the front of the hangar and began beating on the thin metal walls. Dana froze. Looking around, she spotted a small door in a corner at the back of the hangar. Backing away from the main group, she made her way along a side wall until she reached the door. Uttering a silent prayer, she turned the knob and pushed. The door opened. Looking back over her shoulder, she stepped out. Instantly, she heard voices approaching in the darkness. They’ll be here any second. Slipping out of her high heels, she started running barefoot across the concrete until she felt the sand of the desert beneath her feet.
Dropping to the ground, she saw two darkened silhouettes approaching. As soon as they came closer, it was evident they were Acerbi’s security men. Talking in low whispers, they locked the open door and began searching the area. Dana held her breath. In the moonlight, they would have no trouble spotting her. She saw one of the men walking directly toward her just as something began crawling on her exposed leg, but she didn’t dare move. The security man stopped and looked out into the desert for a moment, then turned and joined the other man. After some discussion, they both walked off around the side of the hangar.
Dana reached down and swatted the invisible crawly thing away as more explosions shattered the still night air out in the desert. She had to think. It was obvious to her that Acerbi’s ranch was under a more serious attack than he was admitting to, and things were bound to get worse before they got better. She had to get as far away from there as she could.
On the other side of the hangar, she heard the startup whine of a jet engine. The plane! It was her only chance. Somehow, she had to get to that plane before it left. Jumping up, she ran from her sandy hiding spot and began inching along the side of the hangar until she reached the end. Peering around the corner, she heard the startup of a second engine.
She had to make it to the plane! Dana began to run. She didn’t care if Acerbi’s men saw her as she focused on the stairs. Looking up, she saw the forward aircraft door swinging shut. She ran faster. She was almost to the stairs when she tripped and rolled across the concrete. She lay there, holding her ankle and wincing in pain as the aircraft’s automatic stairs slowly rose off the tarmac and began sliding back into the fuselage. Lifting herself up, she looked back just in time to see Acerbi’s men driving away as the deafening roar from the start up of the jet’s fourth engine drowned out the screams from the people locked inside the hangar.
Dana wheeled around and began limping after the plane as it began to move, but her efforts were useless. She could do nothing but watch helplessly as the plane taxied out and thundered down the runway before lifting into the air.
Standing there watching the flashing lights of the jet disappear into the clouds, Dana began to sob when she heard the roar of another jet coming in from the west, and it seemed to be growing louder. Peering up into the darkness, she saw a bright flash in the sky. The flash was followed by a white streak of light that headed straight for the ground in a downward arc. Whatever it was, it was headed right at her at an unbelievable speed. Unable to move, she watched in fascination as something whooshed directly over her head. A split second later, the hangar behind her disintegrated in a shattering explosion that knocked her to the ground.
Rolling over onto her back, she ran her hands over her face and up and down her arms and legs. Other than the ringing in her ears and the pain in her ankle, she appeared to be unharmed. As if in a dream, she stood and looked around. The hangar was gone, replaced instead by pieces of burning metal that littered the concrete for hundreds of yards in every direction.
Aimlessly seeking some kind of shelter away from all the fire and heat, she began hobbling across the tarmac toward the desert path that led to Acerbi’s hacienda. Squinting her eyes against the smoke, she stepped over things she didn’t recognize, winding her way past smoking pieces of jagged metal until she tripped over something soft.
In the flickering light from the flames, she looked down at her feet and saw the open, staring eyes of Alan Thorn. She screamed and began to back away, only to step on another mangled body just as a second explosion rocked the hilltop above her. Dana continued to scream, but her screams went unheard as she held her hands over her ears and closed her eyes just as a second fighter plane swooped by overhead. When she finally looked up, the hilltop where the hacienda had stood was enveloped in flames.
Now, entering the first stages of shock and overcome by pain and fear, Dana dropped to the ground and placed her head against the warm concrete. Peering out across a landscape of carnage, she felt herself drifting, as though she was floating just above her physical body. Slowly, she closed her eyes and waited—waited for the end.
CHAPTER 61
Immediately after the fighters had destroyed the hangar and the hacienda, six commandos from Israeli Team 5 rounded the hill below the smoldering remains of Acerbi’s house just as a black Humvee rolled to a stop a hundred yards in front of them. In one fluid motion, the commandos dropped to the ground and watched as two of Acerbi’s men jumped from the vehicle and headed toward a camouflaged bunker embedded in the base of the hill. After pulling the netting aside, the men lifted a steel door set at a forty-five-degree angle into the concrete, allowing the red lighting from inside to spill out across the warm desert sand in a diagonal line.
One of the men then returned to the vehicle and opened a door. To their amazement, the Israelis saw the unmistakable figure of Rene Acerbi step from the back of the Humvee. He paused and looked up at the sky for a moment before walking through the open doorway and disappearing downward, as if he had descended a stairway. The Team 5 soldiers exchanged excited glances. Had they just stumbled on Acerbi’s shelter? They called in their position and watched.
Without bothering to recover the bunker with the camouflage netting, Acerbi’s men closed the door and drove away. Instantly, the Israeli soldiers were on their feet. Special Forces teams are trained to work independently and take the initiative, and due to the importance of their quarry, they were not about to wait for orders to proceed.
After trying the door and finding that it was locked from the inside, a hefty sergeant attached two small explosive charges to the hinges and backed away. Seconds later, the smoking metal door lay twisted next to the concrete bunker as the men scrambled down the stairway inside. At the bottom of the stairs, the men found themselves standing at the end of a long corridor bathed in red light. It seemed to run on forever under the hill where Acerbi’s hacienda had once stood.
They made a quick check for laser trip beams and other traps before moving cautiously down the long corridor, passing several locked doors and an intersecting corridor that seemed to disappear into infinity in both directions. Acerbi could be anywhere!
Moving farther into the maze, they were surprised by two of Acerbi’s men who charged from behind one of the doors and began firing their weapons. Acerbi’s men were immediately dropped by the advancing Israelis, who were by now becoming spooked by the immense size of the vast underground labyrinth they had just entered.
Suddenly, the lead commando raised his hand and pointed down to the floor. Beneath a thick glass lid that was sealed shut, a large C4 explosive charge was wired to a timer with a red blinking light, and
it was counting down.
“Run!”
The commandos turned and began running back the way they had come until they came to a doorway that had been locked but now stood open. Beyond the door was an empty room that contained another blinking red light on top of an explosive charge. The entire place was wired to blow! Time seemed to slow as the men began to run again. Up ahead, they could see the stairway they had descended, but it seemed like they would never reach it in their dream-like race. In their minds, they were already imagining the blast that would soon tear them apart. Run! The stairway was just up ahead, but their boots felt like they were made of lead. Safety was only a few hundred yards away!
The men practically flung themselves toward the stairs and willed themselves upward and out through the open doorway. They kept running. They were desperately trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and Acerbi’s underground web when a huge explosion ripped the ground beneath their feet, hurling them forward through the air. The earth around them moved in a visual wave that carried a wall of sound and shock outward from the center of the explosion and littered the surrounding desert with falling dirt and burning debris.
The stunned soldiers lay on the ground, coughing in the thick dust before finally lifting themselves up, each man looking into the eyes of the others as they stood among the dwindling remnants of the swirling maelstrom. Listening to the staccato bursts of surprised shouts coming over their radios, it was obvious that the other teams in the area had been equally stunned by the huge explosion.
In the distance, sporadic gunfire continued to echo across the ranch until finally, an eerie silence began to settle over the desert. Looking back at the smoke coming from the gaping hole in the ground, the Israeli soldiers who had just narrowly escaped death were beginning to feel that something wasn’t quite right. The way in which events had unfolded seemed strange to them, but stranger still was a feeling that Acerbi’s actions had been planned. It was as though he had never intended to win—that he had staged the entire thing just to lure them in close so that they could witness an orgy of self-destruction—but for what possible reason? Shaking the dust from their clothes, they walked to the edge of the giant crater and peered down into what was left of an immense underground web of interconnecting tunnels. If Acerbi was still down there, he was no longer among the living.