by Dale Brown
The distance didn’t seem like all that much until one of the machine gunners spotted him and bullets began cascading around the rocks. By that time Boston was about halfway to cover and committed to moving forward. He pushed up like a sprinter, head low, legs pumping. As he reached the rocks again, he threw his arms out, diving head first into the small depression, curling his body into a ball as the fusillade intensified.
He didn’t just taste dirt in his mouth. He tasted the metal scent of the air, roiled by the passing bullets, the fury of the battle permeating everything.
On the other side of the fence, the Ethiopians crouched in a holding pattern, baffled and confused by what was going on. From their point of view, it seemed as if the bus and the trucks were part of the same unit, probably a rebel group trying to crash the border as they fled Sudanese army regulars. They concluded that the force in the hills was an advance group of regulars, assigned to ambush the rebels and hold them back until the main unit arrived.
While they were under orders not to let anyone cross, they were more than happy to let the Sudanese battle among themselves; they liked neither side. The Ethiopian commander formed a defensive cordon in front of the bus, then moved the bulk of his army behind it. The equivalent of a platoon was left to watch the refugees back near the gate; they could be dealt with later.
The mercenaries had been reinforced by another troop trained by Hienckel, which had come down from Port Sudan. Shortchanged by their employer — a trucking company hired and protected by the Sudanese — they saw their brothers’ cause of revenge as holy, and had vowed to assist them before the entire group moved on to Khartoum and a job waiting there. Their courage — as well as their anger — had been enhanced by a homemade alcoholic berry drink that was nearly 180 proof. Though terrible tasting, the liquid was said to convey nearly magical powers on anyone who drank it, making them impervious to bullets. Most of the mercenaries didn’t believe this, but after a few drinks it didn’t really matter.
With her machine-gun position caught in two fields of interlocking fire, Sugar slid down the hill a few feet to her rifle and grenade launcher. Picking it up, she packed a grenade in the launcher, then rolled onto her back and lobbed the fat pellet toward the second truck. Unaimed, the grenade flew too far right, exploding harmlessly thirty yards away from it. But the explosion drew the mercenaries’ attention; the ones who had been firing at Boston changed their aim, thinking the grenade had come from the fence area. While Boston scrambled up the hill, they concentrated their anger on the smoldering bus. Their bullets whizzed toward the Ethiopians, several of whom began returning fire, despite orders not to.
Boston scrambled up the rocky side of the hill. Abul crouched behind their gear, cradling a rifle against his chest and mumbling a prayer nonstop. His exhaustion paralyzed him; he looked wide-eyed at Boston as the American took the rifle from him.
“You all right?” Boston asked.
Abul didn’t answer.
“We’ll get outta here,” Boston told him. “Don’t worry about it.”
An explosion against the side of the hill seemed to put the lie to Boston’s promise, shaking the ground so severely he lost his balance. The mortar shell didn’t hurt anyone, but it put a good dent in the rocks, pummeling them all with dirt and rock splinters.
Sugar loaded the grenade launcher again. This time she rose over the crest of the hill just far enough to get her bearings and fired point-blank at the nearest machine gun.
It was a hell of a shot: The grenade hit the gunner square in the chest. The explosion diced him into so many parts that only his Maker could have put him back together again.
But the gunfire hardly slowed down.
“Put a grenade into the trucks,” yelled Boston as he scrambled up to her. “Blow them up so they can’t use them for cover.”
“You don’t think I’m trying to do that?” Sugar yelled back.
“Just making sure we’re on the same page.”
She fired another round. This one went short, exploding harmlessly in the dirt forty yards from their nearest enemy.
Boston circled back to a cluster of rocks on the left, peeking out from behind them to try and sort the battle out. The mercenaries had concentrated into two groups, one clustered near the four trucks by the road, the other to the right around the battered vehicles, spread out between them and a dried gulley that ran down from the hill.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopians had increased their fire. If they kept it up, the mercenaries would have to retreat pell-mell, or try to take the hill so they had some sort of cover.
The north side of the hill wasn’t the easiest to defend, but Boston believed they could hold the mercs off as long as they had ammunition. The western side gave no cover, but to get there the mercenaries would have to backtrack quite a bit.
Unless the ball of dust appearing on the horizon was being raised by their reinforcements.
Cursing, Boston scrambled back to the gear, grabbing a set of binoculars. He took a few grenades as well and ran back to the outcropping. The dust had grown somewhat. He focused the glasses and saw that there were a half-dozen pickups in front of it.
Boston thought the trucks held more mercenaries. In fact they were a Sudanese militia responding to monitored radio reports. The commander who paid them promised a two dollar bonus per rebel killed, but generally didn’t ask for much proof of allegiance once the dead man’s ear was presented.
Women’s ears were worth only a dollar. Since there was generally no way to tell what their owner’s gender had been, the ears presented were almost always male.
“More company on the way,” Boston told Sugar.
“We’re going to run out of ammo soon.”
“Yeah. We need the Ethiopians to fight harder.”
“We don’t want them too aggressive,” she said. “They may just come for us, too.”
“I’ll take some grenades and hit the reinforcements from the west,” said Boston. “I’ll take them out before they can get close.”
“I don’t think we should split up. When’s that Osprey coming?”
“Soon,” said Boston. Optimistically, he thought it was at least twenty minutes away — and more realistically maybe an hour. “But we can’t afford to wait for it.”
“All right,” said Sugar. They didn’t really have much choice.
“Put the radio on. Stay in touch,” said Boston, grabbing some grenades.
* * *
The smoke from the bus lingered on the horizon, a black snake curled around a pulverized victim. Breanna told the computer to head directly for the smoke. Then she dialed Boston’s sat phone.
Boston didn’t answer. The phone had fallen from his pocket when he jumped from the bus. He hadn’t even realized yet that he’d lost it.
HEAVY GROUND FIRE AHEAD, warned the computer.
“Circle east,” said Breanna. “Bring altitude to two thousand feet.”
ALTITUDE NO LOWER THAN 15,000 FEET RECOMMENDED.
At 5,000 feet, the Osprey was an easy target for a shoulder-launched missile. It had several defensive systems — flares and a laser detonator, as well as a design that minimized the heat signature of the engines. Still, like all aircraft, it was vulnerable, a fact the computer had been programmed to dislike.
“I realize that,” Breanna said, though she knew the computer wouldn’t respond. She wanted to grab the yoke and take direct control, but knew the computer could do a much better job than she could, especially at low altitude.
There was a column of trucks on the road to her right as she approached, and two knots of soldiers firing guns in the direction of the border and the hill. Then there were the troops on the Ethiopian side. But where was Boston?
* * *
Boston heard the Osprey approaching in the distance as he ran to take his position on the road. He reached for his phone, then realized he didn’t have it.
His only alternative was to use his radio to broadcast a message on the international rescue frequenc
y. The problem was, anyone with a radio could hear him, including both the mercenaries and the Ethiopians.
“Whiplash ground unit to approaching Osprey. Can you hear me?” he asked.
The Osprey didn’t respond.
“Osprey, this is Boston. You there?”
“Roger, Whiplash, we’re reading you,” answered Breanna. “Where’s your sat phone?”
“Lost it. We’re under fire. Can you take out those trucks?”
“Negative. Set a rendezvous point.”
“South of the hill,” said Boston. “Just in its shadow. We can get there in zero-three.”
“Osprey One is inbound,” said Breanna.
“Sugar, the Osprey is three minutes away,” Boston said, switching over to the team channel. “We’re going to meet them down at the base of the hill. Can you get there?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
“Don’t forget Abul.”
“I won’t forget, don’t worry.”
“Leave anything you can’t carry easily.”
Sugar rolled up out of her hiding spot and fired one last grenade at the mercenaries. Then she scooted toward the pile of their boxes and rucksacks. Hidden among the gear were explosive charges she’d set earlier; she’d blow them by remote control.
Abul was crouching where Boston had left him earlier, rifle in hand.
“Help me with McGowan,” Sugar told him. “The Osprey’s going to pick us up.”
“The helicopter?”
“It’s like a helicopter.”
“Where?”
“At the base of the hill.”
The words were no sooner out of her mouth than Abul charged down the hill like a madman. Sugar yelled after him, but it was no use; he didn’t hear her and wouldn’t have stopped if he did.
McGowan was heavy, his body stiff and bloating. Bent low under its weight, Sugar began treading her way down the hill, sliding as she went. She was only halfway down when the Osprey appeared above her, its tilt rotors full overhead, helicopter style. The wash threw dust and grit in her face. She lost her balance and fell on her back, McGowan’s body bag on top of her. They rolled together down the hill, dirt swirling around them.
Sugar’s nose and throat clogged with the sand as she slid into a crevice between two rocks. McGowan fell on top of her. The world closed in. She coughed, having trouble breathing. Two mortar shells shook the hill, crashing more rocks around her.
Forty yards away, Abul froze, watching as the black Osprey settled down. It looked more like a dragon than a helicopter, an angry beast with two hammerlike arms ready to smash any creature in its way.
The rear hatch slapped to the ground. Breanna ran from the back of the aircraft, sprinting toward him.
“Get aboard!” she shouted. “Get in there. Where are the others?”
Abul looked at her as if she were an alien.
“The others?” she demanded.
He held out his hands and said in Arabic that he didn’t understand what she was saying.
“Get in the aircraft,” she told him.
Something moved in the rocks about forty feet from the Osprey. Breanna began running to it. There was a large gray-green bag there — a body bag.
It was moving.
God, she thought, did they put McGowan inside when he was still alive?
She ran faster. The bag slumped. Breanna reached it and started to pull upward. She heard a moan.
“I’ll get you out,” she said, but something wasn’t right. The body was stiff and heavy, not moving. She pulled it up, dragged it to the side, then saw Sugar beneath it.
“Come on, come on!” Breanna yelled.
She reached down, grabbed Sugar’s shirt and pulled. But Sugar was too heavy and her grip too loose; she slipped and fell back.
Sugar’s right leg had wedged into the rocks. She pounded with her hands and elbow and pushed, but that only moved the rocks tighter around her.
Another mortar shell hit the hill behind them, shaking the ground with a ferocious jolt.
“We have to get the rocks first,” yelled Breanna. She grabbed the biggest she thought she could handle and found it was too much. She took a smaller one and barely got it out of the way.
“My leg,” cried Sugar, suddenly feeling the pain.
“Push, push!” yelled Boston, huffing and out of breath as he ran over. He grabbed two rocks and threw them away.
“Help me with this big one,” said Breanna.
Together they rolled it to the side. Boston leaned down, wrapped his upper body around Sugar and hauled her up.
“Out, let’s go, let’s go!” he yelled.
Breanna turned, then remembered the body bag. She grabbed it but couldn’t lift it over her head. She had to drag it toward the Osprey.
“Blow our gear,” Sugar told Boston. She thought she was shouting, but the dust had strangled her voice, and Boston didn’t understand what she was saying. He got her into the Osprey, then went back and helped Breanna with McGowan. They had to drag it the last ten feet, both of them spent.
Realizing the position was no longer being held, the mercenaries charged up the hill, firing as they went. Two more mortar shells hit near the peak. For a few seconds the ground felt as if it were made of water.
Breanna punched the door panel to close the ramp, then scrambled forward.
“Emergency takeoff,” she yelled to the Osprey’s computer as she reached the flight deck. “Authorization Stockard. Go! Go!”
The aircraft launched. As it rose, a hail of bullets began spraying from the hill. The aircraft stayed on course, ignoring bullets and everything else once placed in emergency takeoff mode.
They were flying through a hail of tracers.
Breanna scrambled into the pilot’s seat. She grabbed the controls.
“Emergency override. Authorization Stockard!”
The aircraft bucked sharply to the side as she ducked away from the gunfire. She held it in the air, mostly by instinct, climbing away over the Ethiopian lines.
* * *
Breanna’s heart pounded in her throat.
“Computer control. Authorization Stockard. Orbit here at three thousand feet. No, five thousand feet. Climb to five thousand feet and orbit.”
The computer flashed the command in the center display. Breanna got up and went into the back.
Boston was cleaning Sugar’s leg, which had bruised and been cut by the rocks. One of her ribs felt broken. Her right elbow and wrist were sprained.
“You’re the bus driver?” Breanna asked Abul.
He stared at her, then nodded.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you. My name is Breanna Stockard.”
It took him a second to respond. “Amin Abul.”
“We didn’t blow up the gear,” mumbled Sugar.
“What are you saying?” Breanna asked, dropping to her knee next to Sugar.
“The gear,” said Boston. “She didn’t get a chance to blow it.”
“The detonator is in my pocket,” managed Sugar.
Boston slipped his hand in — delicately — and retrieved it. The device was essentially a short-range radio. Once the proper code was punched in, it would blow the charges. But they had to be within a half mile for it work: Nothing happened when Boston pushed it.
“We’ll go back,” said Breanna.
60
North of Tehran
The perimeter of the fields behind the building where Tarid and Aberhadji had met was surrounded by what appeared at first glance to be a dilapidated wire fence. With posts poked down in places, and strands bent and twisted in others, it looked like the forgotten remnants of the farm’s old boundaries, a doomed attempt to keep out ruin as much as animals and other trespassers.
But looks were not everything. Examining the series of satellite images taken of the area, Danny realized the wire was part of a perimeter surveillance system. Video cameras were placed near or on a dozen posts. Small transformers indicated the wire was powered. He suspected
that it was a tripwire as well, rigged to sound an alarm if it was moved more than a very minimal amount. Motion sensors, with floodlights and video cameras, were stationed close to the building. More subtly, there were several spots on the property that looked as if they could be used as defensive positions in case of an attack.
MY-PID analyzed the security system and showed several vulnerabilities, giving Danny a crooked but easy-to-follow path to the rear of the building. The only difficulty would be getting over the fence without touching it — a problem solved by stopping at a Tehran hardware store just before it closed.
The only stepladder the store had was an eight-foot aluminum model. Sturdy enough inside a building for light maintaining or maintenance, the legs were somewhat rickety on the uneven terrain where Danny wanted to cross the fence.
“Don’t hit the wire,” he hissed at Hera as she helped him get it into position. “We don’t know how sensitive it is.”
“I’m not doing it on purpose. The damn thing keeps shifting.”
The ground where she was standing was wet, and the leg kept sagging. She pulled it to one side, finally finding a sturdy spot.
Danny jiggled the ladder back and forth, testing how wobbly it was.
Very. No way it was going to hold him.
“Get some rocks and slip them under the right leg,” he told Hera. “I’ll hold it.”
The rocks made it a little sturdier, but not much.
“Are there any ground units in the rear of the building?” Danny asked the Voice. They had launched an Owl UAV before approaching the fence.
“Negative. Path remains clear.”
As far as they could tell, there was only one security person on duty, and he was down in a command post near the main building. Aberhadji had left the building some hours before nightfall.