Bull's Eye Sniper Chronicles Collection (The Second Cycle of the Betrayed Series)

by McCray, Carolyn

  Then they were through the worst of it, now flying through the sky over Africa. However, they were still very, very much on fire.

  “Heading toward Athens, alert the authorities we might need emergency assistance,” Lopez announced.

  “Ya, think?” Stark snapped over the com.

  Davidson took in several deep breaths, lowering both his heart rate and his blood pressure. He had a sneaking suspicion they were going to need all of the oxygen they had. No need wasting it on panic now.

  For now they were relatively safe. On fire, sure, but they had survived reentry which was kind of a big deal. Again, on fire, but he’d take it.

  “You are coming in too fast,” Stark’s mother informed them, although it wasn’t really a secret. Even he could tell that out the front window. The island nation was approaching quickly. Every second you could make out more and more of Greece.

  If this had been a ride at Disneyland the view would have been spectacular. Since it wasn’t a ride, it was slightly more problematic.

  It wasn’t like Lopez wasn’t doing everything in his power to slow the shuttle, however their braking flaps were just a big red glowing blob. Davidson doubted that there was much structural integrity to those flaps.

  “Deploying drag parachute!” Lopez yelled and hit a control.

  The red and white parachute flew out the back, catching the wind and billowing to three times their width. The shuttle tilted on its axis as the drag really messed with their trajectory.

  So it was fast and accurate or slow and wonky.

  “Oh crap,” Lopez grunted.

  The island was right in front of them and unfortunately there was a structure at the top of the hill they were careening toward.

  “What the hell is that doing there?”

  Davidson didn’t bother to tell him it was the Parthenon, one of the most famous ancient Greek ruins.

  Lopez did his best, but there was no way to avoid the columns. His best, however wasn’t quite good enough. Their right wing crashed into the temple, taking out a corner chunk of stone.

  “Sorry! My bad!” Lopez yelled to the tourists that were scrambling to get away from the destroyed monument.

  They spun mid-air, their left wing catching the edge of a column and bursting into shrapnel. A little hard to steer without wings, yet Lopez managed to keep them aloft. Still on fire, of course, but aloft.

  “In all fairness, landing is always harder,” Lopez stated.

  Davidson freed the nearest fire extinguisher from the wall and was ready if that fire broke through. Thank goodness the airport was just over the rise. The only piece of equipment that seemed to work, the parachute got caught on the jagged edges of the damaged temple and ripped away.

  Now they were fast and inaccurate. Not a good combination.

  The runway was coming up way too quickly. Lopez struggled to get the nose up. If they went nose down into the tarmac, they were done. Like toasty-fried done.

  “Hang on!” Lopez shouted the most unnecessary command of all time.

  Their nose skimmed the surface of the runway as their wheels hit, bouncing them once, which actually brought their nose up, then landed again, bouncing again and then again.

  “Hopscotch landing! I patented it!” Lopez whooped.

  Then they finally were on the ground just as the fire broke through the ceiling. Davidson hit the extinguisher, giving bursts of the gas to keep the fire from raining down on them.

  The wheel’s brakes screeched as Lopez engaged them to their max. The shuttle skid to the side, running into a chain link fence, ripping it from its moorings.

  Spinning in circles, the shuttle made its way to the end of the runway. There was a loud clunk as the shuttle left the tarmac and got stuck in the mud.

  “That works!” Lopez yelled, popping off his restraints. “High five!”

  Levont gave Lopez a sideways look then smiled. “High ten!”

  The two men slapped their hands together, cheering their near miss. It was wrong on so many levels as Davidson hit the extinguisher again.

  “Let’s get out of this death trap before we celebrate,” Davidson recommended while unhooking his bungee. Lopez put his feet on either side of the ladder and slid down, followed by Levont. Not even Davidson could resist. They rushed back through the shuttle that now sounded like an inferno. The fire was punching through nearly everywhere.

  Davidson brushed away glowing embers from his shoulders as they exited the shuttle. There weren’t any stairs so they slid down the half wing, then leapt to the ground.

  The runway was a kaleidoscope of flashing lights as dozens of emergency vehicles raced toward them. Although Davidson wasn’t so sure how many of them were to help them and how many were there to arrest them.

  * * *

  “They just cuffed them,” Stark informed Bunny and the rest.

  “Didn’t you let the Greek government know why they had to land there?” Malvern demanded.

  “Of course I did, but Lopez just wiped out the Parthenon which I might add survived the Axis occupation and thousands of years of human civilization so they aren’t exactly in a listening mood.”

  “Would they rather have had it be a nuclear bomb?” Bunny questioned over the com.

  “I think that concept is just too large for them, the Parthenon they can see,” Stark’s mother explained.

  “Get our Ambassador to Greece on the horn,” Malvern ordered.

  “Love to, but the embassy said that he is off island and that they would try to get a hold of him,” Stark commented.

  “Call his private cell then,” Malvern stated.

  “Love to, you have it handy?” Stark replied.

  “No, but give me a minute,” the colonel responded.

  “What’s going on?” Bunny asked.

  Stark studied the variety of satellite feeds and the Greek cameras he had hacked into. “It looks like the Army is the one taking them into custody. Which actually might not be a bad thing since quite the group of protesters has gathered at the airport.”

  “Ugh!” Bunny groaned. “I wish we could be there.”

  “You should be landing in about seven hours.”

  Unlike Lopez and the rest who had gone up into space in about ten minutes, taken another twenty to detonate the satellite then taken another ten to fall to earth, Bunny and her group had to fly to Greece the old fashioned way.

  After all the hoopla the flight did seem a little boring. Lopez was rubbing off on him.

  “The army is by far the most reasonable of the law enforcement bunch on Greece,” Stark tried to reassure her. “They will treat American military with respect.”

  Although he wasn’t quite sure about that as one of the Greek soldiers just punched Lopez in the gut, then spit on him. Stark knew the guys could take whatever the Greeks threw at them.

  “Just sent you the number,” Malvern piped up.

  Damn, the colonel really did have as much pull as he’d promised.

  “Calling now,” Stark’s mother stated.

  He could hear Bunny sniffle on the other side of the com.

  “They can handle this,” Stark stated. “They’ve been trained for situations just like this.”

  Even Stark’s mother raised an eyebrow at that.

  “Okay, maybe not exactly trashing the Parthenon, but being taken prisoner by a hostile government, that they’ve got down.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Davidson sat next to a drunken man who smelled of feta cheese, olive oil and the hint of lamb. Oddly the Army also took in the drunk and disorderlies. Davidson had heard the Greek jails were overflowing due to the austerity measures. Protesters and rioters had jammed up the municipal system so the Army base was the overflow.

  They had been parked in the cell for hours as the higher ups decided what to do with them.

  Shouts rose from outside the jail area. Davidson looked to Lopez who was the most fluent with the Greek language. He shrugged though and made the sign with his fingers of peop
le gabbing. So no real progress.

  The officials had been fighting amongst themselves since they arrested the team. Everyone wanted a piece of them, but no one wanted to take responsibility for interrogating an American Special Forces team.

  Davidson had faith that Stark, Malvern and Bunny were working behind the scenes to get them freed. So now his team just needed to sit tight until they were released.

  Levont was taking this opportunity to rest his eyes with his head laid back against the wall. Lopez was humming a tune since they had taken his iPod away. A travesty in his mind. Okay, fine he knocked down the Parthenon but his iPod, really?

  Davidson crossed his legs and sat in repose for some meditation. A good chance to clear his mind. Decompression was as important as all of their weapons and strategy training.

  Just a few minutes ago the world had been on the brink of nuclear war. Now it wasn’t. Those were some serious hurdles to cross. He had to allow his body to catch up with his mind. The body held onto trauma and stress longer than the brain. It took time to let go of all the adrenaline.

  He wasn’t ashamed that his hands were shaky. Of course they were shaky. They had just flown with Lopez for goodness sake.

  “Private Samuel Davidson,” a heavily accented voice called out.

  Davidson rose. There was no point in fighting off the inevitable. They had chosen him due to his rank, feeling like he would be the easiest to break. How little they knew.

  The dark haired man with a thick mustache open the jail door and waved him out. “Ela.”

  Davidson followed the man in the olive camouflage pants out of the cell and down the hall. He then entered a typical looking interrogation room. Brick with no windows save the one way observation window. No sunlight though. The walls were painted a dreary grey and the table and chairs were dented metal.

  “Sit,” the man said.

  Davidson obliged, stretching his arms as he sat down. He felt so heavy after being weightless in space. They had been up there less than an hour, yet he could swear he’d lost muscle mass. He felt like he needed to hit the gym for a week to make up for it.

  “Your team damaged one of the world’s most famous sites,” the man stated.

  Davidson looked to his shoulder. He had the stripes of a captain.

  “Captain, we are truly sorry for any damage, however it was not our intent.”

  “Are you certain of that?” the man asked in his heavily accented English.

  “Pretty much, yes,” Davidson answered not quite sure where the captain was going with this.

  “You do realize your government won’t acknowledge even your existence let alone what you were doing with a space shuttle.”

  Davidson wasn’t surprised at all. They were a black ops team on an unauthorized mission. He didn’t expect anything else of his government but full deniability.

  “So was this a terrorist attack?” the captain asked.

  Davidson couldn’t help but chuckle. “Ya, right. We stole a space shuttle, took it up into space just so we could crash land into the Parthenon. Brilliant.”

  He shook his head, still chuckling.

  The captain didn’t see it as too funny though. “You find the destruction of a world heritage monument amusing?”

  “No, just your theory,” Davidson stated. “It was an accident. A horrible, tragic accident.”

  The captain’s eyes narrowed as the door opened and two large thug-sized men entered the room.

  “Perhaps you will find this equally amusing,” the captain stated.

  Davidson sighed. He’d hoped they wouldn’t turn to torture, but what could you do?

  “From your gear you seem to be a sniper, so why don’t we start with your hands.”

  Davidson stiffened even though he didn’t want to give any physical reaction to the man’s words. He could handle pain. He could handle torment, but his hands? His hands were his everything. He’d spent months and months in painful rehabilitation after the burns. He had thought he’d never shoot again. He vowed to never feel like that again.

  One of the thugs grabbed his wrist and forced his hand down onto the cold metal table. The other thug brought out a hammer.

  Davidson knew not to squirm, not to show any resistance. They had to think he would take the punishment without comment, otherwise they would know they had leverage over him.

  The thug brought the hammer up high. Davidson watched his shoulder, was he really going to do this? Then the flinch, that hammer was going to come down at any moment.

  “Stamata!” the captain yelled just in time. The hammer came down onto the metal table with a clang right next to Davidson’s hand.

  He had hoped the captain didn’t have it in him. It was one thing to threaten torture. It was quite another to actually carry it out. Davidson should know.

  Plus even though his country wasn’t exactly proclaiming from the rooftops their support of Davidson and his team, to torture American military personnel?

  There were some lines that once crossed could not be uncrossed.

  The captain went to open his mouth when the door burst open and Bunny, Malvern and Prenner entered.

  “Release him immediately,” Malvern barked holding out a piece of paper.

  Davidson could only imagine it was some kind of pardon from the President of Greece.

  The captain’s eyes scanned the paper quickly, frowning. “I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t have to,” Malvern stated. “You just need to comply.”

  The colonel didn’t leave any room for argument. The captain finally had to nod to the two thugs to make room for Davidson to leave.

  “I just don’t want to see any of you in my jurisdiction again,” the captain huffed like a child who had lost a game of jacks.

  Davidson stood and left the room without looking back. Bunny’s hand caught his and gave a squeeze. He did not squeeze back no matter how much he wanted to.

  Instead he strode from the room and walked straight down the hallway to the jail cell. Lopez and Levont were being released as he walked up.

  Lopez clapped his hands. “Time to get moving!” Then a look crossed over his face. “Which is where exactly?”

  * * *

  Bunny didn’t have time to explain. Stark had arranged a helicopter to take them to the city of Rhodes, located on one of the southeastern islands. Besides all you had to do was point Lopez in a direction and say “go.”

  Despite the glares, no one intersected them as they left the Army base headquarters. More problematic was the civilians that had lined up at the gate. Hence the helicopter. Stark had been spot on that the Greeks were going to be none too happy with the Americans. No matter the reason for the Parthenon crash.

  They loaded into the helicopter that had brought them. Lopez excusing the pilot. He shook his head and rolled his eyes as the man left the chopper.

  “At the least he hasn’t run into the Parthenon before,” Bunny commented as Lopez got settled into the pilot seat.

  “Touché.”

  Levont climbed into the co-pilot seat as Lopez revved the rotors.

  “We’ve got enough fuel. Looks like an hour and a half in the air,” Lopez reported.

  Bunny tried not to look at Davidson as she strapped into her seat. Talk about mixed feelings. Malvern though as she glanced over, gave her a five watt smile. Young guys were so conflicted. Older men seemed to know what they wanted.

  She smiled back, not feeling a bit guilty about it.

  Lopez lifted off and got them into the air.

  Bunny had forgotten how pretty Greece was. Such a small island to house the birthplace of human civilization. And such a cradle. The crystal blue waters of the Aegean sea and the green rolling hills. As they flew over the southern shore, the stark whitewashed walls stood out against the brown cliffs.

  She’d spent plenty of time in and out of Athens, Cyprus and Mikonos. The country was steeped in Jewish and early Christian history. You couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a sp
ot where the big kahunas had traveled. Each tiny church or even ancient well could be a wealth of proto-Christian history.

  But now they were going to the eastern edge or the country. To a tiny island whose greatest claim to fame was the most virgin of olive oil. That and a tiny sect of Orthodox Jews.

  Orthodox Jews who hopefully had some insights into the Righteous.

  Because those weirdos weren’t done. Not by a long shot.

  * * *

  Baasha closed his eyes, wishing for God’s love and wisdom to channel through him. The satellite had been destroyed which was solely his responsibility. He never should have mentioned their plans, but it had seemed so fool proof.

  Another lesson learned. If God wished for heaven and earth to be moved, it was moved.

  God did like to challenge his faithful.

  The jet rumbled around him, filling the space with the sound of the engines as they rushed to their destination.

  There were a few mouths they had to be sure to silence before they could spill any more of the Righteous’ secrets.

  He hated to carry out this mission. The sect had been loyal for centuries, however they were also known to speak out of turn, broadcasting their findings.

  Before the Righteous gave it no heed. Who would listen to a bunch of old, isolated men? But with the apocalypse at hand? Now the Righteous had to care and stopper the leak.

  Baasha looked down the row of men lined up in the cabin. Two dozen of his brothers. Even though they looked nothing alike, there were genetically identical. Identically dedicated to their cause.

  A cause that would see its goal reach fruition within the day.

  * * *

  Davidson split off from the group as they made their way off the helicopter. Everyone else was going to take the steep path down the cliff to the cult’s settlement near the water.

  He wanted a better vantage point. There were a cluster of trees that leaned away from the cliff. Centuries of wind from the sea had bent them over, yet they did not yield. Instead they grew and bent.

  The island was beautiful. A true hidden gem out in the middle of the sea. The brush was a dark green that contrasted with the brown of the soil and the blue of the water.