Warrior's Heart (SEAL of Fortune)

by Laura Day

  “Dr. Baker. Right this say,” the spook says, directing her to the second car the moment she enters the motor pool.

  “No,” Ryker says. “Put her in the last car. If you have to, bring a Marine up to my car. I want the two fire teams to hold back unless the shit hits the fan. No, scratch that. Get a fourth car. Put one Marine and Dr. Baker in that car. It is to hold well back until the area is secured.”

  “My orders…”

  “I’m changing your orders. Now move it!” Ryker barks. At first it appears the man is going to argue but then he moves off to comply. Ryker spots one of the Marines that were pinned behind the SUV’s when the bomb went off at the apartment. “Corporal!”

  Three men turn to look in his direction so Ryker points to the man he wants. “Corporal Londergan,” the man says, stepping up and cracking off a perfect salute.

  “Corporal, you are with Dr. Baker. You stay well back and keep her safe. She is more important than you, me, or this entire fucking mission. You got that? If the shit gets too deep you get her the hell out of there. Her safety is your only concern.”

  “Yes sir!”

  “Good man!” Ryker says. “Alright, everyone else listen up. I know the Marine way is to go in and BSU, but we’re going to do this nice and quiet and hopefully there won’t be any need to blow shit up. Londergan here is going to take Dr. Baker and hold back well out of range until the area is secure.

  "Team One,” he says, pointing to the first SUV, “when we get to where we are going I want you to hold back about three blocks if we are in town, about a mile if we are not. Go to ground and wait for my signal.

  "Team Two,” Ryker says, pointing to the second SUV just as another rolls to a stop at the back of the line, “I want you to do the same, but on the opposite side. I will be in the third SUV. I will go in alone.

  "Wait for my signal. I will call for fire support only if I need it. Gunfire is not the signal. Everyone clear on that? I’m going to shoot everyone I see except for Dr. Baker, so don’t come in with support unless I call for it. It will really piss me off to shoot one of my own guys. Once again, I will call for fire support only if I need it. If I do, you come in and kill everyone that moves. I mean everyone because all the friendlies will already be down. Clear?”

  “Do you have a go word?” one of the Marines asks.

  Ryker grins. “How about, ‘Marines! Get your asses in here!’”

  Everyone laughs. “Fuckin’ ay, sir,” says the Marine that asked the question.

  They are flying by the seat of their pants, so there isn’t a lot more to say. They will have to adapt and overcome when they get wherever it is they are going and the entire assault team is dressed in civvies to make them less conspicuous..

  “Alright people, let’s mount up. Everyone stay frosty and let’s get Dr. Baker and get out without any casualties.” Ryker then turns to Ronnie and Corporal Londergan. “Dr. Baker. You stay with his Marine. You do what he says, when he says, and nothing else. Clear? We’ll get your father secured then he will bring you in. Londergan, keep her safe.”

  Ronnie can feel herself wanting to pout. Yes, she had told Ryker to call her Dr. Baker, and yes she had told him to stay away, but he seems so formal around her now. Like she was never anything to him… the bastard. “Whatever you say, Petty Officer,” she snaps, her voice cool.

  Ryker hears Ronnie’s jab but keeps his face neutral, focusing on the mission. He just needs find her father and get him out. Then he can wash his hands of this whole fucking affair and get some normalcy back into his life. He takes his radio and attaches the thumb-size box to his belt, threading the cord for the small earpiece under his shirt as all the Marines do the same. “Hand me a radio for Dr. Baker,” he says, taking another unit from the private passing out equipment. Without asking permission he mounts the radio to Ronnie in the same fashion. “I’m putting you on push to talk. There is a small button on the ear bud. Press it with you finger…” he says, demonstrating on his own ear bud, “…if you want to talk. But keep quiet and just listen unless it is damned important. Got it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Comm check.” Ryker says.

  Each Marine speaks one at a time, Ryker hearing their voice in his ear as well as normally. “You too Dr. Baker.”

  Ronnie reaches up and pushes the ear bud. “Uhh… comm check.”

  He nods. “Now, without pressing the button.”

  “Comm check,” Ronnie says again.

  “Alright people. Mount up and get ready to come out swinging,” Ryker orders, then takes Ronnie by the arm as she begins to turn, pulling her back to face him. “We’ll get him out safe, Ronnie. I promise.”

  Her eyes are welling with tears as she nods and she stays silent, afraid that her voice might crack if she tries to speak.

  In that brief moment she sees the old Ryker, the man that is willing to die to protect those under his care, not the cold-blooded killer she has made him out to be.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Ronne and Corporal Londergan ride in uncomfortable silence. Ronnie is suffering from a serious case of butterflies, remembering how badly it all went horribly wrong the last time she was out of the compound to inspect a “secured” lab. Londergan isn’t nervous, but he is having impure thoughts about the stunning woman riding next to him and has to force himself to pay attention to his driving.

  “Dr. Baker? May I ask you something?” Londergan finally asks to break the silence.

  “Sure. Londergan, isn’t it?”

  “You can call me Jason, ma’am. The rumor is that Evans jumped off a three-story building after you were taken. Is that true?”

  “I guess. There was no other way down that I know of. He jumped down to another roof, but there were no ladders or stairs that I saw. So I guess he jumped off at least a two-story roof to the ground. Why?”

  Jason shakes his head as he grins. “Those fucking SEALs. They are the baddest of the bad asses. I saw the car he was driving when he was ambushed. That thing is beat all to shit. I have no idea how he managed to get away in that thing.”

  “It wasn’t easy.”

  “You were there?” Jason asks in surprise.

  “Yeah.”

  “No shit? What happened?”

  “We were just sitting in the car when someone started shooting at us. Ryker, he used that poor car like a battering ram. He destroyed three other cars before we got away. Then, when the SUV died, we hid in a store until help arrived. I was never so scared in my life. Ryker shot a guy just as I ran out of the store to get in the SUV the embassy sent.”

  Londergan looks at Ronnie with new respect. Hot as shit and tough too! “I saw him get away with you after he took out your kidnapper. What happened after that?”

  “Were you one of the guys hiding behind the SUV after the bomb went off?”

  “Yeah. Me and Private Vaughn. I have to tell you, I was about to shit my pants, but that fucking Evans was standing out in the open cool as a fucking cucumber. It took real balls to make that shot.”

  “Which shot?”

  “When he shot that guy holding you. From that distance with a service pistol? Big brass ones.”

  Ronnie smiles. “You don’t know the half of it. After we ran off he shot two more guys before they could even get out of their car, then he stood down a guy that was shooting at us using his empty gun.”

  “He what?”

  “His gun was empty. At least I guess it was because he wasn’t shooting it any more. Anyway, this guy was shooting at us and Ryker stands up and just points his gun at him, making him duck back behind the wall.”

  Jason begins to laugh. “Big brass ones!”

  “Then he was going to run at the guy and try to take him with his bare hands I guess. Or something. I don’t know what he was going to do. All I know is that he was going to leave me at the car we were hiding behind and ‘draw his fire,’ whatever that means.”

  “It means he was going to try to get the shooters attention on him so you coul
d get away. What happened next?” Jason asks, intrigued. He knew that Ryker was a badass just because he was a SEAL, but if what Dr. Baker is saying is true, he is a serious badass.

  “I was so scared I was about to panic. I was holding onto his arm for dear life. Before he could get me off of him the embassy car arrived.” Ronnie can feel herself begin to tear up from the memory. “Those guys saved my life. Both of our lives. I don’t even know who they were.”

  “Probably CIA. They’re always late to the party.”

  Ronnie snorts out a chuckle. Talking with Londergan reminds her of all that Ryker has done for her. What he was willing to do to protect her. Over the past two days she had sort of come to an equilibrium with her feeling about Ryker. But now, after talking about it with Jason and seeing how impressed he is with his actions, she can feel a flicker of feelings for him return. She is just so confused! She both wants him and hates him at the same time!

  ***

  With the tracking car feeding them directions, it doesn’t take long for the rescue team to close the distance… especially when the bugs stops moving. They wait while the tracking car cruises past the location, only to discover the van is sitting empty. Though there is no way to know for certain, because the van is parked near a restaurant it is assumed that the driver is having lunch. After a moment’s thought Ryker has everyone go to ground and wait.

  As hoped, forty-five minutes later, the tracking car reports the bugs are moving again. They take a circuitous route through the city; the driver of the van obviously wandering about in a misguided attempt to throw off any would be tails. Because the embassy cars stick out like a sore thumb, the strike teams stay well back and out of sight.

  When the van stops again, this time in the Roumieh Main Road Industrial Zone, Ryker is certain they have arrived at their final destination. The Industrial Zone is on the north-east side of Beirut, well away from the hustle and bustle of the city center. That works to their advantage in that they won’t have to worry overmuch about civilian casualties, but it will make sneaking in a lot more difficult.

  The tracker car, a well-worn FIAT that won’t rate a second glance, waits twenty minutes then oozes past the van. The driver of the FIAT, the CIA agent that worked with Ryker to locate the supplier of the equipment, parks the car in a space beside the van and steps into the office on the pretense of trying to sell them a copier.

  The idea is to gather what intelligence he can, but he learns nothing, not even if the equipment was delivered to this exact facility. The bug works out to a couple of miles, but it can be located only to within a couple of hundred feet, which means the equipment could be located in any one of four units.

  While Ryker and the rest of the strike team wait, the two agents in the tracking car find hit a few more offices in the park, both for recon and to make the copier salesman scam more believable, before finding an out of the way place to park and settle in to watch the van. They don’t have long to wait before two men exit the building nearest the van, climb into the vehicle, and drive away. The men in the FIAT wait, seeing what else they might learn, reporting a steady stream of intel back to Ryker and the rest of the team.

  ***

  Ronnie is about to jump out of her skin. While Corporal Londergan seems cool, only his eyes moving, she can’t sit still, her heel tapping a fast staccato on the floor of the SUV. She can hear the steady commentary from the two men in close, but no one else says anything and Ronnie wants to scream into the silence. How can these men be so calm?

  “Nervous?” Londergan asks without so much as a glance at her.

  She smiles. “Can you tell?”

  Londergan stops scanning the area long enough to smile back at her. “Yeah. The whole truck is vibrating.”

  Ronnie stills her leg with a conscious effort, but it is soon starts up again. “When is something going to happen?”

  “When Evans says go. Until then, we wait,” Londergan says, his eyes once again scanning for any possible threat.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Ryker is waiting. He hates going in blind like this. They don’t even know, for sure, if Ronnie’s father is inside. He assumes he is. His presence is probably required to set up the machines, but there is no way to know. He mulls his options.

  This is by far their best chance to extract Julian Baker, but only if he is inside! The facility is large enough to hold the lab and a small area where a couple of people could be made comfortable. It is unlikely that they would ever let Dr. Baker out of the lab so there is no point in waiting. If they are going to go, now is the time, while everyone is distracted with the arrival of the new gene sequencers.

  “Recon… I’m going in. Hold your position. Fire teams, wait for my signal.”

  ***

  Ronnie feels her breath hitch in her throat at Ryker’s words. She looks at Jason as he reaches down and starts the SUV. “Where are we going?”

  “Nowhere. But the shit is going to start happening fast now and we need to be ready to move.”

  She can hear the sounds of Ryker moving about in this vehicle, then the pinging of the door chime as he opens the door with the keys still in the ignition. A few minutes later Ryker’s voice, laced with a heavy southern accent, comes in her ear.

  “Hey, man, do you speak English? I’m so lost. I’m looking for FAST Auto Transport. Man, I can’t read shit around here. I’m supposed to see some guy there about a car.”

  “Do you have an address?” another voice asks with a slight Lebanese accent.

  “Yeah. It’s, uh… what the hell is this? Nahr el Mot—Roumieh Main Road? Which is what this is, right? But there is no street number or nothing! I thought I could find it, but I’ve finally given up. I don’t know how you guys find anything.”

  “I am unfamiliar with this business. Wait here a moment.”

  Ronnie waits, her heart in her throat as the silence lengthens. Finally the Lebanese voice comes back. “It is just down the road. Go back to Roumieh and turn left. Stay on Rourmieh for 12 kilometers. It will be on your left.”

  “Thanks man. I really appreciate it,” Ryker says. “Could I ask another favor? I really need to take a leak.”

  “A what?”

  “A leak. A pee. I need to go to the bathroom. I’ve been looking for this place for an hour. If I miss it again, I’m not sure I can hold it. Do you mind if I use your restroom?”

  Ronnie hears a pause, then Ryker’s voice returns.

  “Come on man. Please. I can’t negotiate for this car while having to piss, or with a wet stain on the front of my pants.”

  There is another long silence but finally, the man agrees. “Follow me.”

  ***

  Ryker follows the man into the back. He wasn’t sure the man was going to let him go, and he didn’t want to start shooting people until he was sure of his target. Shooting an innocent man would really ruin his day.

  As the door from the front office closes behind him Ryker makes a quick survey of the large room using only his eyes.

  To his left is a wall, formed by a small interior office space, the wall creating a short hall. To the right is a tiny room jutting out from the concrete wall… probably the restroom. As he steps from behind the office wall, he takes a quick count of the men.

  There are nine men there, counting his guide. Six of the men are busy uncrating and setting up equipment… and one of them is Dr. Julian Baker. Two more men are lounging on a couch against the far wall, watching the other six work, their assault rifles near to hand. In the far corner of the room is another small room with a large window. One of these two interior rooms is probably where Dr. Baker sleeps.

  “Here,” the heavy set man says, pointing to the door of the tiny room.

  Ryker smiles. “Thanks man! You’re a life saver!” Ryker steps in the bathroom and closes the door before he urinates so the man he is certain is listening at the door can hear it. He then flushes and turns the water on in the sink.

  As the water runs Ryker pulls up his pant leg an
d removes his weapon from his ankle holster, doing the same on the other leg for the suppressor, and quickly screws the two together. He pulls a couple of paper towels from the dispenser as he tucks his weapon to the small of his back out of sight.

  He takes a quick look in the mirror to make sure that he looks normal then opens the door tossing the paper towels into the trash after the door opens enough for the man standing outside to see him do it.

  “Whew! Better. Thank you.”

  The man relaxes slightly and backs off. “You’re…”

  He never gets to finish his sentence as Ryker quickly pulls his weapon and fires one shot into the man’s chest at point blank range. The suppressor keeps the noise low, but it is not nearly as whisper quiet as Hollywood would have you believe.