Military Fiction: THE MAC WALKER COLLECTION: A special ops military fiction collection...

by D. W. Ulsterman

  “Do you know the property you have been conducting surveillance on?”

  “Yeah.”

  The strain in Mardian’s voice was becoming even more pronounced as he spoke.

  “There is a man due to arrive tomorrow afternoon at that location. He is the American ambassador to Libya. We have confirmed he is the one responsible for the weapons transfers in Benghazi, potentially thousands of weapons. He has become an extremely dangerous and unpredictable man, who appears to now be working with, and aiding, the anti-American insurgents throughout the region. His actions will cost many lives Mr. Walker, and we are now asking you to reduce that potential number. We need you to save lives, do you understand?”

  Mac recalled the ambassador telling him he would be receiving a phone call just like the one Mardian was now conducting.

  “You’re saying you want us to kill a United States ambassador? Are you out of your mind? We didn’t sign up for this shit. No way.”

  Mac heard more indications of a struggle, and then the unmistakable sound of a gun firing.

  “Hello again, Mr. Walker.”

  It was Dasha Al Marri. Mac remained silent.

  “Mr. Walker, don’t be rude. And don’t be one who breaks a deal. We do have a deal. You took my money, remember?”

  Mac could feel his jaw clenching as his hand threatened to squeeze his phone into oblivion.

  “Where’s Tilley?”

  Dasha’s voice, with its hint of an English accent, betrayed no fear over Mac’s potential fury against her.

  “Mr. Tilley became an unreasonable liability to us, Mr. Walker. What is it you Americans are so fond of saying – a pain in the ass. So, that liability was remedied, permanently.”

  Mac felt gut punched at the news of Tilley’s death.

  “I’m not doing the assignment Dasha. You and whoever you are working with can go to hell. And when I get back home, you better not be there, because I’m coming for you, do you understand? You, Nigel, whoever else is behind this, I will kill every one of you myself.”

  Dasha laughed, the sound making Mac’s lip curl into a snarl.

  “Oh, Mr. Walker, if only your cock were as big as your threats, I might seriously consider the possibility of keeping you around for entertainment. As it is, I am already entertained enough. You either complete the assignment as agreed, or someone else will and you and your men, will not be allowed to live. Now before you answer, I would suggest you consider my words carefully Mr. Walker, for unlike you, I have the means to see it done. I will kill every one of your men one by one, and allow you to live just long enough to know you were responsible for each of those deaths. So grow up, and do what you’re told. Kill the ambassador, and save your men.”

  Mac ended the call, the adrenalin coursing through his body, making it difficult for him to think clearly. Benny, sensing how enraged the call had made Mac, was the first to question who it was.

  “Something wrong with Tilley, Mac?”

  Mac took a slow deep breath and looked back at Benny as he nodded his head slowly.

  “Yeah, he’s dead. Pretty sure Dasha had him killed. Think Mardian’s dead too.”

  Minnick’s face broke apart into open confusion.

  “Wait, I just heard you talking to Mardian. How can he be dead?”

  Mac closed his eyes briefly, still working on calming himself down to ensure he was thinking clearly.

  “I was. Heard a gunshot, and then he wasn’t talking no more. It was Dasha.”

  Mac shared the details of Dasha’s threats, as well as the information he had acquired from both the ambassador and Louis Danton. When he finished, Benny, Jack, and Minnick stood silently staring back at Mac. Benny looked particularly shocked at what Mac told him.

  “My god, Mac, these people think they can kill someone like Stephen Mardian? I mean c’mon that guy is connected, right? I’m talking about a man who hangs with senators, who gets invited to dinners at the White House. This woman, this Dasha Al Marri, she’s got enough power to kill off someone like that?”

  Benny’s words trailed off as he continued to stare at Mac, looking for some semblance of sanity in their world gone mad. Jack’s voice ripped through the silence left by Benny, his tone both angry and fearful.

  “I told you! Told you this was all wrong. We don’t do work for the United Nations, or some Middle East bitch! This government is all messed up, been that way for too long. We all knew it, but we didn’t want to admit it, did we? We were getting paid good, living large, all that shit. Well now what? They ain’t gonna let us just waltz on out of here. Not with what we know. They’re coming for us, and it’s gonna be soon.”

  Despite Jack’s understandable concern, Mac found himself more relaxed than he had been just moments before. He looked back at his men and offered a small, knowing smile, his eyes crackling with the energy of a man ready, and more important, willing, to go into battle.

  “Let them threaten us. They want to come after us? Fine, let them get a taste of what we do. Let them know the hell we can bring.”

  XVI.

  The hours waiting in Ella’s building passed slowly. Though Mac and his men attempted to rest in shifts, none of them were able to fall asleep. They all sensed something would be coming their way. As Jack had said earlier, there was simply no chance they would be allowed to just waltz out of Benghazi knowing what they did. Mac didn’t fear a fight, though he did fear putting Ella and her men in greater danger than they already faced on a day to day basis.

  “We can leave here, Ella, you don’t have to let us stay. I’ve put you in a tough position here and I don’t want you to get hurt because of it.”

  Ella sat on a small cot that she used for a bed in one of the smaller rooms of the building. The room had no windows, just a door, the cot, and a single lamp. She raised her face upward slightly as she sat on the cot looking back at Mac.

  “You think your purpose here and mine are so different, Mr. Walker? We have been tracing the transport of weapons for some time, and like your Mr. Tilley, and Louis Danton, find the access to radioactive devices something we cannot simply allow to go unchecked. My life and those of my men have been in increasing danger since we arrived here. It’s what I do, Mr. Walker, much the same as what you do. Though I am happy to know I’m afforded the protection of my own government, while you and your men appear to be endangered by yours.”

  Mac found himself nodding in agreement to Ella’s words. Yes, the American government was in a complete shambles these days. An incoherent mess of a foreign policy that was putting everyone in danger, from citizens to soldiers they were all suffering under years of anti-Americanism both at home and abroad.

  “If you get out of Libya, Mr. Walker what then?”

  Mac had been considering that very question for the last several hours. What then indeed. With both Tilley and Mardian likely gone, Mac and his team had few contacts within the government to turn to, certainly none who they could trust.

  “Not sure. We’ll have to lay low, watch our back, and see what happens.”

  Ella’s face lost its unreadable mask, allowing Mac to sense her sadness at the future that awaited him.

  “Not much of a life, always wondering if and when someone comes for you. It will be as if you are still on an assignment, though the enemy is your own government.”

  Mac leaned against the wall opposite Ella’s cot and took a deep breath.

  “Yeah, though I know we won’t be the first people dealing with that scenario. Maybe things will change. A new election, a new way of looking at the world, who knows…”

  Ella shook her head slowly.

  “Perhaps, but unlikely. Tell me, what do you really want once you get back to America?”

  Mac’s answer came to him more quickly than he anticipated.

  “To be left the hell alone. I want a place I can go and just relax. Just be myself, do what I want, and for the government to let me be. That’s it. I’ve seen all I want to see of this world. Done things I don’t wa
nt to think about. A little peace and quiet is all I want now, a little time to strum my guitar, a strong cup of coffee, a good burger, some cold beer. Man, that sounds like paradise to me right now.”

  Ella smiled, her eyes illuminated by a warmth Mac had known was hidden inside her cold exterior.

  “You want what the world once saw in America, Mr. Walker. Opportunity, freedom, and the space to be left alone. Perhaps if you find that place again, you can invite me to visit you.”

  Mac held Ella’s gaze and smiled back.

  “I’d like that, Ella. I’d like that a lot.”

  Gunfire sounded from above them.

  Ella jumped from her cot as Mac, with his handgun drawn, opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Udi was already running toward them holding an assault rifle.

  “We’ve spotted at least ten men setting up a perimeter outside – all armed.”

  Ella’s icy exterior had returned. She was all business, her training taking over.

  Mac looked at his watch, noting it was just past four in the morning.

  “I want to check it out. See what they’re doing out there.”

  Ella nodded to Mac, and then disappeared down the hall. Mac ran in the opposite direction, bounding up the narrow stairs of the roof access. Once on the roof, he crouched low, making his way slowly to the roof’s edge facing the street below. The second member of Ella’s security team was already there on his stomach, his assault rifle held out in front of him. Mac crept alongside the Israeli’s right side, peering out from the rooftop.

  As Udi had indicated downstairs, there were at least ten armed men just across the street, spread out some twenty yards apart from one another. This was no Libyan mob – the men below had some training, though the darkness made it difficult to determine their skin color.

  The Israeli man next to Mac extended his right hand to him.

  “Hello, my name is Tamir. I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet.”

  Mac shook the man’s hand firmly, realizing he hadn’t known the Israeli’s name until now. Tamir appeared to be around thirty years of age, similar in height and build to Mac, with a clean shaven face and dark, closely cropped hair. A long thin scar ran along his left cheek almost down to his jaw.

  “Well, Tamir, who do you think those men are down there?”

  Tamir grunted.

  “Saudis.”

  Mac continued to peer down at the deliberate movement of the men below.

  “Saudis? How do you know that?”

  The tone of Tamir’s response indicated his certainty.

  “Heard them speaking, definitely Saudis. See the outline of their weapons? M16A1 – standard issue for Saudi Special Forces. Those men down there are not active Saudi military though. They are like you, contract soldiers, likely sent here from the Saudi embassy in Tripoli.”

  “So what’s your plan, Tamir?”

  Tamir smiled and shrugged.

  “That’s up to them. They fire on us, we fire back. Otherwise, we simply wait and see.”

  Mac looked at his watch again.

  “I’ve got a plane to catch in about four hours.”

  Both Mac and Tamir turned to look behind them as Udi was making his way toward them with the MG-42 machine gun Ella had used from this same rooftop position to scatter the Libyan mob days ago.

  Udi set the weapon up to the right of Tamir, pausing to scan the area below them as well. He glanced over at Tamir and then nodded his head in the direction of the Saudis.

  “Anything different?”

  Tamir shook his head.

  “No – same thing. They have a perimeter set up, but nothing more. No sign yet they intend to attack.”

  Udi placed his hand on Tamir’s shoulder and squeezed it firmly.

  “If they do, Ella wants you to blow them to hell.”

  Mac decided to follow Udi back to the building’s main level, certain his men would want an update. Jack was the first one to meet him in the hallway, one of the sniper rifles held in his right hand.

  “What do we got, Mac?”

  Mac tipped his head in the direction of the reception area so he could address Jack, Benny, and Minnick at the same time. Benny and Minnick were both standing on either side of the entrance door. When they saw Mac, they walked over to him and stood next to Jack.

  “There’s about ten men outside. They appear to be armed with M16s. Tamir, the other member of Ella’s crew, thinks they are hired Saudi guns. So far, they aren’t making any move – just seem to be waiting us out.”

  Jack jabbed his left thumb in the air in the direction of the door.

  “We ain’t missing that flight out of here. I’ll shoot them dead myself before I let that happen.”

  Mac nodded back at Jack.

  “I feel the same way Jack. Don’t worry, if it comes to that, that’s what we’ll do. Udi already has the MG-42 set up on the roof.”

  Minnick’s eyes narrowed as he glanced upward.

  “Those men outside have to already know about the machine gun Mac. If all they have are some M16s, no way they have the firepower to take us out. The Israeli’s could rip apart half the street with that thing.”

  Mac considered Minnick’s words. He was right – the Saudis either had no intention of going at them in a firefight – or they had some other plan. Not knowing what that plan could be made Mac increasingly uneasy.

  “I need to speak with Ella. Anything we do, impacts her and her men. We owe her the opportunity to be a part of that discussion.”

  Benny nodded his head.

  “Agreed. She’s helped to keep our ass alive.”

  Jack and Minnick glanced at Benny and then also nodded in agreement.

  Mac made his way back down the hallway toward Ella’s room. The door was closed, though he could hear her voice from inside the room. Mac knocked lightly.

  “Ella, it’s Mac. I wanted to discuss possible options.”

  The door opened, revealing Ella talking into a cell phone. She motioned with her right hand for Mac to come in.

  “Understood, the Bulgarian Consulate, thank you. Yes, I understand. They already have a flight out this morning. Thank you, sir.”

  Ella ended her call and sat down again on the room’s cot, as she waited for Mac to speak.

  “Who was that?”

  “That, Mr. Walker was my superior. I have instructions to relocate myself and my men to the Bulgarian consulate. We have allies there who will provide my team further security.”

  Mac considered Ella’s words. She intended to stay in Benghazi – but his team was to get the hell out.

  “Your team – but not mine, right?”

  Ella nodded.

  “Correct. We are not to bring you to the consulate. They don’t want the diplomatic dilemma such a visit could create.”

  There was a light knock on Ella’s door. When it opened, Udi stepped inside the small room.

  “Ella, the men outside are pulling back. No reason as to why, but they appear to be moving back their positions another hundred yards away from us.”

  Ella looked at Mac.

  “Any ideas?”

  Mac was already moving toward the door.

  “Don’t know, but I want to go take a look.”

  Udi followed behind Mac as both men made their way quickly back to the rooftop where they found Tamir and Minnick laying on their stomachs peering down into the street below.

  Mac crawled alongside Minnick.

  “Udi says they are pulling back, any idea why?”

  Minnick was using the night vision scope on his sniper rifle to scan the area.

  “No. Guy pulled up in a black SUV a few minutes ago. Got out, was talking into a phone, and then started motioning for everyone to get back.”

  Mac could see men moving across a side street nearly eighty yards from Ella’s building. He saw no sign of the black SUV Minnick had just described.

  “Was he American?”

  Minnick nodded.

  “Pretty sure �
� yeah. Didn’t get a real good look at him, he was standing behind the SUV most the time. He acted like he was in charge though, no doubt about that.”

  Without having to ask for further information, Mac knew the man Minnick had spotted was Densmore. Mr. FBI was out in front of a CIA operation and barking orders to a bunch of well armed and well trained Saudis in the streets of Benghazi in front of a building being run by Israeli Special Intelligence.