“We’ll take it from here, ma’am.” Big, rough hands pulled Cassie out of the way. She looked up to see a paramedic drop a heavy bag to the ground and quickly assess Bailey’s injuries with his partner. “What happened?”
“The gun was on the table,” Billy said, pointing to the coffee table, “and it got knocked off by accident when the dog knocked over a drink.”
Cassie looked up at Billy quickly. He was going to cover for Bailey. She’d broken into the apartment, pointed a gun at Finn, and now Billy was going to cover for her. Why?
The paramedic asked a host of questions, all of which Cassie answered to the best of her ability, and none of which she could remember as she continued to stare at Bailey’s face. Her body jerked and jolted as they ministered their aid and readied her for transport. Don’t you dare die on me, Bailey Davenport. Don’t you even dare.
Billy helped Finn to her feet and kept his fingers wrapped around the dog’s collar so that the men could work on Bailey unobstructed. The dog started barking, broke free of his grip, and only quieted again when she laid her head over Bailey’s feet.
“We’re going to be taking her out of here ASAP. You need to do something with that dog,” the paramedic said to them.
Cassie clicked her fingers. “Come here, girl.” Jazz whined but crawled to Cassie’s feet and looked up at her pitifully. “She’ll be okay, sweetie. Your mama’s big and tough, remember?” She squatted beside the dog and wrapped her arms around Jazz’s neck. She just hoped she was telling the truth.
“What hospital are you going to?” Billy asked the paramedic.
“Roosevelt. Over on Tenth Avenue between Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth Streets, about ten minutes from here. You going over there?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, the cops are en route. I’ll tell them you’ll give them statements there.”
“That’s fine. I’ll go and get the car.”
“Wait.” Cassie looked from one to the other. They were all exhausted and running on fumes, yet they both seemed completely ready to sit with her in the waiting room for a woman they didn’t know, just because she was important to Cassie. “You don’t need to come with me. I’ll get a cab. You need to sleep.”
“No can do, Cassie.” Billy spoke quietly. “Goes against Navy law.” He winked and pulled open the door.
“Seriously, wait.”
Billy stopped and turned back around. “Don’t you want to get there and make sure she’s okay?”
“Of course I do. But you all don’t need to come with me.”
“No, we don’t,” Finn said. “But we’d like to support you.” She grasped Cassie’s hand. “That’s what family do for each other.”
Cassie felt the tears welling in her eyes as she pointed to Jazz while she sat whining at the door, obviously distressed and searching for Bailey. “What about Jazz? She’s family too.” She crouched beside Jazz and wrapped her arms around her neck, drawing comfort from her as Jazz licked the tears from her cheeks and rested her paw on Cassie’s thigh.
Billy smiled. “I’ll ask the doorman to keep an eye on her. She should be able to stay in the lobby with him till one of us can get back here to take care of her. That way the pup doesn’t need to be alone while she’s upset. How does that sound?”
“Sounds fine to me.” Cassie continued to pet Jazz’s head as Finn quickly grabbed her keys, wallet, and a clean jacket before they left the apartment.
Cassie waited until they were in the elevator before she turned to Billy and asked, “Why did you tell the paramedics that it was an accident?”
He shrugged. “It was an accident. She was only there trying to protect you.” She shrugged again. “Can’t say I blame her. She did some good work managing to break into that apartment. I wanna know how she did it.” He winked at Cassie. “Besides, I’m not buying that she’s not a girlfriend nonsense you’re selling. I saw the way she looked at you before she passed out, and I heard what you said to her.”
“We’re not together.”
“You care about her, though.”
“Doesn’t change anything.”
Finn wrapped her arms around Cassie. “Maybe it should.” The tender words and the hug were Cassie’s undoing. She sobbed and allowed herself to be comforted by her child, and wondered just how different her life could have been.
Chapter Fifty-three
Oz pulled the ear protectors off her head and grabbed half the bags that were filled with dummy camera equipment and canisters filled with Finn’s compound. The chopper had flown a circuitous route to make it look like it was coming in from one of the agreed routes for news broadcasters as it flew into Israeli airspace and touched down thirty miles outside of the Gaza strip. The news van was waiting for them just like Ari had said it would be. AJ dumped his bags in the back of the van and quickly popped the hatch panel in the floor to reveal the passports, visas, and credentials that they would need to get through the checkpoint at Erez, the border crossing at the very northern tip of the Gaza Strip and the closest point to the Hamas outpost they were heading to.
“We all good?” Oz asked.
“Looks like it. Everything he said would be here is here.”
“How’s your British accent, cuz?” Oz smiled, trying to ease some of her younger cousin’s nerves.
“Well, I don’t have the good fortune to live with my own Brit so I think I’ll let you do the talking on this one.”
“If at all possible, I will.” She noticed his shaking hands as he pulled the door closed behind him. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Actually, no, I’m not. I thought I could handle it, you know? The rest of you seem to do it all so easily, I thought I can’t be that different from you all.”
“Hey, you aren’t different, AJ. This isn’t easy for any of us. We’re all just full of bullshit when we say that.” She pointed at the green fields, the dirt road that would lead to the border crossing that they needed to get through. “This scares the crap out of me. Having to use those fake papers to get through that checkpoint is nervewracking, and anyone who tells you any different, well, they really are full of shit.”
“Even Junior?”
“Even Junior.” She started the engine and pulled out. “When we get through that checkpoint we don’t know what we’re facing, and we know that we’re on the clock with only seconds to spare. This is pressure, AJ.”
“Are you worried? Because of when you got shot?”
“Sure, that plays on my mind.” She tapped the steering wheel. “How could it not? When I was on the boat and that guy had Finn, I was on autopilot. I didn’t have time to think about what I had to do. I just did it and I’d do it again in a heartbeat to save her. This, today, is different.” She shrugged. “We’ve planned it, we’re organized, we know that if we have to we’re going to enter that building and kill men who don’t even know we’re on our way. That makes me sick to my stomach, AJ. But what worries me more is that I’ll think too much and freeze when we get in there. That one split second of indecision will get you hurt, like I got Rudy hurt. So I’m not even going to let myself think about them as people. Paper targets. That’s all I’m shooting at today.”
“Paper targets that are going to be shooting back.”
She laughed. “Most likely, but I know I’ve got you to watch my back today, and that you won’t let anything happen to me.”
“No way. Finn would kick my ass if anything happened to you.”
Oz laughed. “Best not to forget that.”
He looked out the window, head resting on his fist. “I won’t let you down.”
“I know.”
Twenty minutes later, they drew up to the border crossing and joined the lengthy line. Humanitarian aid workers were trying to enter in Red Cross vans, each being searched thoroughly. Palestinians lined up, their papers checked, their bodies searched, and questioned extensively under the hot sun as they tried to make their way home after a day’s work on farms and b
uilding sites. Broadcasters, like they were supposed to be, got through with a cursory check of the vehicle, a good sniff from the bomb squad dogs, and a scowl.
“Jesus. How do these people live like this?” AJ asked under his breath as they cleared the checkpoint and drove slowly away.
“They don’t have a choice.”
“And we’re going to make this situation worse for them by setting off these rockets from here.”
“We’re going to save a lot more lives by setting off these rockets, and if everything goes okay, we won’t add to the death toll ourselves.”
“I know we won’t, unless absolutely necessary. But what about those soldiers back there?”
“AJ, this conflict has been going on for more than sixty years. More people have died on both sides than should have, and more will continue to die. Yes, there will be retaliation for these rocket launches, but don’t forget, Mehalik was Hamas. He’s targeted the Israelis, and Balor will kill everyone in the Palestinian State and the Gaza Strip too if we don’t do this.”
“Is that how you can justify it?”
“For the greater good?” She glanced over as she caught his nod out of the corner of her eye. “Yeah, I guess I do. What’s one life when compared with a hundred thousand?”
“A number I can’t identify with.” He shook his head. “How long until we get there?”
She glanced at the GPS she’d tossed on the center console then the odometer. “About ten minutes. Time to shake it off, AJ, and focus on what we’ve got to do.”
He hoisted himself out of the passenger seat and into the back of the van, quickly disassembling the camera, microphone equipment, and the dummy satellite equipment, and then using the various implanted pieces to put together two pistols. He packed the canisters into a large backpack and slipped into a utility vest.
When Oz located the abandoned barn that they had been given as the outpost, she quickly killed the engine, climbed into the back, and slipped on her own utility vest. She checked her pistol and slipped it into her waistband, then she slung one of the two backpacks over her shoulders and locked her gaze with AJ.
“Qandri’s intel said that this was only ever a sparsely manned post with limited ordinance. They keep it that way to keep it off the Israeli’s radar. I’m going to drive the van through that wall there,” she said, pointing to the east wall. “And then we hit whoever is inside. Hard.”
“Right.” He checked his own weapon. “They’ve got rockets in there.”
“I certainly hope so.”
“And we’re planning on taking out an unknown number of men with two pistols.”
“Yup.”
“How’s that gonna work, Oz?”
“You know the first one you shoot with your pistol?”
“Yeah?”
“Take his bigger gun.”
AJ smiled. “Got ya.”
“You ready?” She held her fist out and waited for him to bump knuckles.
“Let’s do it.”
Oz turned on the engine and hit the gas hard, propelling the van through the wall. She didn’t stop until they were in the middle of the room. AJ pushed open the back door of the van and let off three rounds before she heard his feet hit the ground.
She ducked behind the console as a huge man aimed a shotgun at her. Glass flew all around her as she grabbed her pistol and took a deep breath. No time to think. Just do what has to be done and get home to Finn.
She peeked over the edge of the steering wheel, and quickly rose just enough to squeeze off the round that hit him between the eyes. She didn’t wait around to see if anyone else was coming at her before she was out of the van and diving for cover behind a fifty-gallon steel drum. She glanced around to see where the shots were coming from and spotted AJ moving for higher ground, an automatic cradled to his chest. She smiled. Good boy.
She rolled to the next drum, letting off three shots as she went, and a pain-filled shout and a thud told her that she’d hit something, probably a leg, but that the man was still very much alive. And loud. The sound of automatic fire peppered the air, accented with the tinny sound of copper pinging off steel as bullets flew left and right.
She crawled along the floor, managing to take out a third man as he ran toward the van, his finger holding the trigger down indiscriminately as he neared. She peeked around the side of her drum and aimed again, taking the man down with a shot to the shoulder.
A burst of three shots from above resulted in another wailing man, and the end of the gunfire. She and AJ worked quickly to round up the injured men, tying them securely with cable ties, their wounds dressed with rudimentary field dressings, and gags in place to give them some peace to work in.
“Nice work,” she said.
“You too.”
She slipped an earpiece in and keyed it to check the signal and make contact with command.
“Bravo one, do you read me?”
“Loud and clear, Command,” Oz said. “We have control of the building and are locating the ordinance now.”
“Let me know when you’ve got it, Bravo one.”
“Roger.” They searched quickly and methodically. Small side rooms that looked like disused stables, a hayloft, and a tack room provided them with nothing. Boxes large enough to store the rocket they were looking for were ripped open, the contents strewn across the floor as bullets spilled from one crate, but still no rockets.
AJ began opening the various drums that scattered the place while Oz began stamping on the floor to see if it was hollow anywhere.
“They’re not big enough for what we’re looking for, AJ.” When the floor provided no hiding place she began to tap on each of the remaining three walls, starting with the one that looked the most solid, the north facing one. A third of the way along she heard what she was looking for. The hollow sound of a secret compartment. “Here. Bring that sledgehammer from against the wall. We need to get through here. I’m not wasting more time looking for a fucking door.”
AJ put his back into it and the sheetrock wall disintegrated under his efforts. They entered the small space and he whistled. “Whoa. Now that’s what I call a rocket.”
“The M302. One hundred and fifty kilos and capable of travelling over a hundred and fifty kilometers. Chinese made, Hamas bought, and ready for bear.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah. You need to find the controls for that hatch before we can launch this thing.” She pointed to the hydraulic arms holding a part of the roof in place. “I’ll get this thing ready for its new mission.”
“On it.”
She keyed her mic as she started to prepare the canisters. “Command, this is Bravo one, do you copy?”
“This is Command, go ahead, Bravo one.”
“We’ve located the M302. I’m preparing it with the canisters now.”
“Roger, Bravo one. Good job. Let me know when you’ve got the last one in place.”
“Roger, Bravo one out.”
The barn was dusty and hot, and sweat dripped into her eyes as she fixed the stainless steel cans to the outer shell of the massive rocket and turned the remote control devices of each one to active as she went. It was an awkward process that took longer than she’d expected, but as she finished bolting the last canister into place, she added an amount of C4 that they’d found during their earlier search into six different sections of the rocket. Everything would be obliterated in the explosion. The only thing you’d be able to tell from the wreckage was that it was explosive and metal.
“Bravo one, this is command.”
“Go ahead, Command.”
“You’ve got five minutes before I have to get that puppy up in the air.”
Oz unscrewed the head of the rocket and removed the guidance chip and smashed it beneath her heel before she pulled a replacement from the front pocket of her vest. She quickly inserted it and screwed the head back into place before inserting a second one into the rocket launcher console. “No sweat, it should be coming online now.”
“Roger, Bravo one, I’m reading the signal. Command is taking control of the missile now.”
The system powered up, and Oz ran for cover as the rocket launcher catapulted the missile from the remains of the derelict barn northward. Six other modified rockets were already in flight or about to take off to cover the huge area that was serviced by the four water treatment plants, and the many hundreds of thousands of people whom Balor had infected or was about to.
“Command, any news on the other missiles?”
“All in the air now, and deployment has already begun.”
Oz smiled. Finally, something was going right on this godforsaken mission. It had been one cluster fuck after another. AJ checked the blindfolds, dressings, and bindings on the injured men.
“Bravo one, come in.”
The voice on the line was different this time. One that Oz and AJ were very familiar with, and she smiled as she answered, “Roger, Command, nice to hear from you, Admiral.”
“We’re getting unconfirmed reports from local news stations in Ashqelon of a school full of children coming down with food poisoning symptoms,” Charlie said.
“Fuck.” Ashqelon was a city covered by the plant that Oz’s missile was targeting.
“We’ve got a second report in Tel Aviv of a suspected outbreak of viral meningitis at the university.”
“We’re too late.”
“Not if this works like Finn and Cassie said it would. Then we’re right on time.”
“How many kids in that school?”
“Just under three thousand.”
“Goddamnit.” AJ punched at the wall he was leaning against.
“Son, cool your jets. We still have to get you out of there.”
“Is there a problem with the extraction plan?”
“Not right now, but I need you focused.”
“Dad, I’m okay.”
“Then proceed as planned, Bravo one and two.”
“Roger.” AJ quickly threw a large duffle bag he had onto the floor of the van, added his utility clothes as Oz added her equipment to the pile, and quickly set them alight. They made sure they were burned beyond recognition before they dressed in civilian clothing and exited the derelict building.
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