by Finian Blake
Layla suddenly found herself in the editing area in the sub-basement. Sarah was leaning over the light table which was covered with pictures of all the people from the Inn.
“I know that it’s time to go. I have few regrets and those are buried under my successes. Please tell Anna thank you for all that she has done. Cherry, Victoria, Nina, Lilia, Filipa and Irina can split the studio, but I want Simone to have my share of the Inn.”
“Why Simone…?” Layla asked. Suddenly Terri and Susan appeared taking her by the hand not letting her finish. Sarah’s dream was finished and Layla awoke with a start to hear a frantic beeping. The doctor raced into the room seeing that the monitor had flatlined.
“I am afraid that your aunt has left this world,” the doctor said apologetically. “Please believe that we have done all that we could do.”
“Thank you doctor. It was her time. She was at peace when she went.” Layla said simply. “When Edward returns with Alex I will assure them of your efforts.”
“I hate to lose anyone,” the doctor said bitterly.
“Yes but as you say there was nothing that you could do.” Layla assured him.
When Edward returned to the hospital with Alex, they found that Sarah had died.
“I am sorry for your loss sir,” The doctor expressed his sympathies. “What would you like to do with the body?”
“Doctor, I would like to send her back to England today.” Alex said quickly being careful to avoid any recriminations.
“I am not sure that we can do that. When a foreigner dies we must report it to the Emirate.”
“You have a small hospital. I am sure that there is some equipment that you would like to have. Sarah was very special to us and we would like her body shipped home immediately. I know that Muslims want to bury the body within twenty-four hours, so I appeal to your beliefs.”
“Alexander, the UAE is very particular about foreigners that die here,” the doctor explained. “You will also need to have all the releases to bring the body into the UK.”
“I will have a jet ready and waiting to go to the UK in a few hours. We will be responsible for getting the body into the UK.” Having done so much business in the region Alex was sure of his statement. “It will return with whatever equipment you designate.”
The doctor shook his head in wonder. “She must be very special. I will make the arrangements for you. Your donation will not be necessary.”
“Doctor I wish to make a donation to the hospital in her name. Select your equipment and the equipment will be delivered. Try to keep it under two million. I need to use your phone to make arrangements for her arrival.”
Alex called Susan at the Inn with the news.
“Susan, Sarah has died from a heart attack and we are shipping her body back as soon as the body is released. I will accompany her back. Layla and Edward will stay to assist the mission. I will put the doctor on the phone please order any equipment that he requests.”
The doctor was excited when he hung up the phone.
“Your lady friend has guaranteed all of the arrangements for customs. She has also donated two million dollars to our building fund. Your friend will be ready to leave as soon as you can arrange transportation.” Alex made a second call to Dubai arranging for a 727 cargo jet to return the body.
Alex took Edward and Layla to the Oil Company’s air strip.
“Edward, you and Layla will stay behind, and work with Nadia on the mission. I will take Sarah back personally and deliver the news there.” Layla knew how much the mission meant to Alex.
“I can go back with Sarah.”
“No your talents are needed here and I will not send her back alone. If I didn’t trust you, you would never have come. Brief Nadia and tell Anna that I will do my part.” The Ark was already at its second fuel stop it would be in Al Ain by seven tonight. Alex was in the air on a chartered 727 cargo jet by five. They took on some returning drilling equipment as a favor to the oil company, along with Sarah and Alex. They would be back in England about the same time as the raid kicked off.
Ralph made the landing at the private strip with no problem. Anna was heartbroken when she heard about her sister. She knew that Alex would take care of all of the arrangements. It was what he did best. She hated the idea of waiting with Ralph by the Ark while everybody else went on the mission so she went to work making sure that the Ark would be ready to go when the time came. Ralph pulled a ladder up to the engines to check the oil and check for any leaks. Nothing would be overlooked.
Alex had agreed to leave the motor cycles and weapons with the oil company’s security force as payment for the use of their air strip. These weapons were in prime shape and motor cycles would be of great use to the company’s security team, plus it would knock sixteen hundred pounds off of the weight, allowing the Ark to top off its reserve tanks and still be well under maximum weight. With the extra tanks filled the Ark could go 2,000 miles without refueling. The raiders checked out their equipment and briefed. Edward and Layla made their final reconnaissance. The rescuers would be up against fourteen targets. The raid would hit the compound around one AM. There would be two on the roof of the house, two on the roof of the garage and two twenty yards across the road in the rover and one at the gate with the rest in the house. The prisoners would be in the northwest corner of the house on the ground floor in a windowless room and the sleeping rooms were on the second floor with the rest of their people.
Nadia did the briefing. “We will snipe the guards on the roof and clear the compound. After we eliminate the sentries we have six targets. I want to do a creep instead of blasting our way in. At one in the morning, most of our targets should be asleep. If you hear the word ‘Blast’ repeated more than once we will go to the full force option. Any unfriendly holding a gun is fair game and we will shoot to kill. We want to get the prisoners out of the house before they have a chance to react. Every vehicle in the compound will be disabled before we move to the house. We have enough night vision to cover the whole mission. Suki has infrared detectors that will sense body heat. We can sweep the house for targets. Victoria and I will sweep the pass to make sure that they don’t have that area covered. We have a count of fourteen targets. With seven outside the house on guard I don’t think that they can have too much out there but we will cover any following targets. I don’t want to take any chances. We will follow on the motor cycles ten minutes after the trucks have passed. All of the night vision, weapons, trucks and the motor cycles will be left with the security force at the oil company. The safety harnesses and goggles will remain with us. The Ark will take off as soon as the team from the pass arrives. Dan will handle the inside team placing a shape charge on the ceiling under each second floor window and Ted will keep the count of the team and hostages. Do not board the truck without singing out to Ted. If there are any surprise hostages bring them with you. Hand cuff them until we are sure of their status.”
Nadia and Victoria left on the motor cycles just before sundown. They explored both ends of the pass finding it unguarded. Nadia took a fifty caliber sniper rifle with anti-material rounds and Victoria took an AN-94 with a three power scope. All of her shots would be from less than one hundred meters and that would be more than adequate for the job. They combed the pass on both sides and when it was cleared they settled in their hides at the center and exit of the pass. Nadia would disable the vehicle at the center and Victoria would setup a cross fire at the end.
Ted had command of the trucks. Edward drove at a leisurely pace and stopped in a wide spot in the pass. Layla slipped into her meditative state and checked out the compound. As predicted there were two guards across the road, two on the house and two on the garage. There were two guards sleeping in the kitchen, six sleeping upstairs and another person in the room with the hostages. The two guards on the garage were sleeping. Ted moved the truck within a mile of the compound. He released Adam, Noah, Carl and Sidney, to work the back of the compound and sent Tom and Harry to get on the far side of the car acros
s from the gate. Ted, Jamie and Marjani slipped out to cover the guards on top of the house. The guards did not seem to be anxious. With the night vision they could see the men in the car clearly. One was asleep and the other appeared to be smoking. The men on the roof never looked over the edge. Everybody was in position a half hour early. Ted called for a go on his com-radio not wanting to risk any surprises.
Adam and Noah scaled the wall at the corner of the garage. The guards were still sleeping. They took out the guards and signaled Carl and Sidney over the garden wall. Both men swept the garden and went in the garage to disable the vehicles. There were two Land Rovers and an old farm truck in the garage. Carl decided to go low tech and slashed all of the tires. He then took his knife puncturing all of the radiators.
Harry and Tom were waiting in position. Ted called Edward and Layla to drive the trucks up to the compound. He told Randy to take the shot on the driver of the Land Rover and Harry to take out the passenger. Harry and Tom shot at the same time killing both men simultaneously. When the truck was two hundred yards from the compound the two guards popped up to see what was on the road and were cut down by the fire of five AN94s. Each man had at least four slugs in him. Edward and Layla drove past the compound and turned the trucks around coming back down the road stopping at the compound. Ted started his count with Edward and Layla not allowing either truck to be shut down.
Adam and Noah moved next to the north door and Marjani and Sidney, opened the gate moving next to the east door after taking out the man on the gate. They detected no sound of alarm. Tom and Harry stayed outside of the compound while Ted and Jamie moved in. Ted turned on his infrared detector opening the door slowly. Randy moved in with Adam and Noah. The two men in the kitchen woke up and were cut down before they could raise the alarm. Carl and Sidney moved to the prisoner’s room finding an extra prisoner instead of a guard starting to evacuate them. Noah called the trucks and Ted about the extra hostage. Harry noticed some movement in an upstairs window with Ted calling ‘BLAST, BLAST, BLAST’. He let loose a short burst and killed the man looking out the window. Gun fire erupted from all over the second floor, the inside crew decided against forcing their way up the stairs. Carl placed four charges on the ceiling corresponding to the placement of the windows on the second floor. Ted called for covering fire and they evacuated the building with Adam and Noah firing grenades through the windows, and as they left Carl triggered the four charges causing the second floor to collapse into the ground floor. The inside team loaded the prisoners into the first truck and left. The outside team loaded into the second truck and left the area when Ted cleared it with the correct count. Ted did another head count over the radio by name, all of the team plus three prisoners were accounted for. Adam and Dan each setup their Barrett fifty’s on the tailgate of the second truck to cover their departure.
Ted called Nadia and Victoria on the radio to announce their passage through the pass.
“We have the only two trucks moving through the pass and have the package plus one.” Nadia and Victoria watched the trucks pass through. She started her ten-minute count as the trucks started out of the pass. At nine minutes she saw a set of headlights moving down the road at a high rate of speed.
“I have a car that appears to be a chase car moving at a high rate of speed down the road. I will take it out. Victoria hold your fire until we are sure that they are hostile.”
In her starlight scope Nadia could tell that the car was a Rover. She did not want to make a mistake and kill any civilians so she targeted the hub of the rear wheel with an anti-material round. At two hundred yards it was an easy shot. The round completely took out the rear wheel causing the vehicle to swerve radically and stop. She fired a second round into the front axle to guarantee that it was down. The occupants exited the rover firing wildly in Nadia’s general direction. Victoria opened fire from her low position killing the gunmen. Nadia made a call on her com-radio.”
“Pull out.” She watched as Victoria fired up her motor cycle and left. Nadia fired another round at the engine block raising a cloud of steam from the cooling system. She started up her bike and followed two minutes behind. Victoria caught up to the trucks just before they reached the air strip. Nobody relaxed until they saw Nadia pull up a few minutes later. She limped over to the Ark, “Where the hell did that other Rover come from?”
Harry was first to answer, “We didn’t disable the guard’s car it was outside the compound. We just took the guards out.” Ted shook his head in disgust. He knew where that failure rested.
“That one is my fault,” Ted had to admit. “Dump your gear and get on the Ark.”
The plane was in the air and flying north east in minutes. Carl broke out a bottle of whiskey passing it around. Ted noticed that Nadia was unusually silent. She held up her hand to show him the blood.
“I guess that we didn’t get them all. I felt something hit me as I drove off.” Ted stared at the blood.
“Where are you hit?”
Nadia wiped the blood on his shirt. “They shot me in the ass!” Ted rolled her over and looked at the wound. The bullet had torn out a small amount of meat, but had only grazed her. Marjani took her pants down and started to dress the wound making sure that it was not life threatening. Nadia looked at Ted.
“Of course you realize that you aren’t getting any until this heals.” While they were over the Red Sea everybody changed into civilian clothes. Ted threw the fatigues out while they were flying over the water. The flight was now a completely civilian flight. Ted had to endure the razing until they made their first fuel stop in Suez City.”
When they landed in Suez, Ted called in his report via hard line.
“Lynn we have a success both hostages, plus one extra and only one wounded.”
“Who was wounded?”
“Nadia, it’s only a flesh wound. She will heal. Call Scott and tell him to bring the SAS boys home. We will land at the Inn in about 6 hours.”
Scott called for a stand down and had a pilot from the HMS Invincible fly him directly to Manchester. He was at the Inn when the Ark landed. An ambulance met the plane taking Nadia and Todd to the hospital. The third hostage was an oil company executive from America that was taken ten hours earlier from Muscat and just arrived two hours before the raid. All three were taken directly to MI in a helicopter from the Inn. Todd was dropped at MI and the other two hostages were delivered by helicopter to a State Department Jet at Heathrow which left as soon as they were on board
Ted did his debriefing with Harry, Lynn and Scott with Lynn starting first.
“The mission was almost a text book exercise. Both hostages were rescued, plus an extra without any damage. He had a five-million-dollar insurance policy that covers kidnaping and the insurance company generally pays thirty percent of the insured value for rescue, which should come out to around one point five million. Adding in the twenty pounds from the families, and deducting half a million for profit that will leave one million twenty dollars to split between the team members. Scott what do you have?”
“The Sultan is filing a protest with the foreign office and we are claiming no knowledge of the operation. The Sultan was on board the Invincible 7 hours before the raid. The doctors at the hospital have been briefed and no report will be made. That will not be a problem since the Hospital was in the UAE. When the investigation is finished it will disclose that none of the weapons were of British or NATO origin and none of our SAS boys ever left the invincible. Since the Sultan was on the Invincible there won’t be much argument. The raid was carried out by unknown mercenaries. The Americans have their hostages back and are also not responsible for the raid either. We are negotiating with the Home Office and the Americans to compensate the insurance company for sponsoring the rescue of the hostages and let’s not forget the twenty pounds from the families.” Scott smiled as the room erupted in laughter. Lynn was relieved with the report.
“Ted you better get to the hospital for Nadia.”
“Wha
t about Sarah?”
“She is being cremated and we will have services in three days,” Lynn confirmed. “Alex is with Anna now. Harry I would like a private word with you.” Everybody filed out of the room heading toward the pub for a celebration leaving Lynn and Harry alone. Lynn did not waste any time.
“I want this matter with Alex and his family to end. Pauline is the last one left. Alex wants to call a truce. He will not act against her if she will do the same.”
“I can guarantee that. I am flying out to DC on a presidential jet with our consul. Give me twenty-four hours and the matter will be settled.”
Pauline was awakened at three in the morning and taken to Langley. She was escorted to a sub-basement room. There were just two chairs separated by a small steel table in the room. She recognized Harry right away.
“What the hell do you want?”
“I want to talk to you about this whole mess between you and the person that you have been targeting.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Harry removed a silencer from his jacket attaching it to the barrel of his gun with great ceremony, placing the gun on the table. Pauline continued her protest.
“I am an important government witness you can’t do this.” Harry smiled coldly.
“My party offers you a truce. If you take no action against him, he will take no action against you.”
“He killed over twenty-five people, our agents.” Harry stood with the pistol in his hand.
“He took out twelve, the police took out five and the other nine were taken out by your own group plus they killed three innocent people. Your group also took out an important CIA project. You did not personally order the sweep that started all of this so the agency will go along with the truce. We have positive control back again. Would you like a truce or a bullet?” Pauline knew that there was only one viable choice.
She took no time to make up her mind smiling broadly, “I would love a truce. As a matter of fact, I would like a job. My department seems to have been closed down.” Harry started removing the silencer putting his gun away.