by Matthew Dunn
“I don’t know.”
“It has to be a target in New York State, because he and his men are still here.”
“I agree, but I don’t know.” Patrick sounded exasperated. “I can contact the critical agencies, however, and place the whole eastern seaboard on high alert.”
Will shook his head vigorously. “Absolutely not. Megiddo will go to ground. We have a last chance to catch this monster and finally stop him.”
Patrick said nothing for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was quiet. “All right, Will. But I’m placing all my trust in you. I’ve got no other option.”
Will ended the call.
Roger glanced at him. “Why don’t we just stop her and force her to tell us where she’s going?”
Will shook his head. “Megiddo’s men are almost certainly watching her. If we move in, they’ll alert him.”
“Then call her. Tell her not to slow down, but ask her for details over the phone.”
Will shook his head. “No.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because while I’m damn sure I know what’s happening, I’m also damn sure I’ve underestimated Megiddo in the past. He could be monitoring her phone. He could be doing any number of things, and at this precise stage I am not one step ahead of him. I’m several steps behind. For the moment we have to just follow Lana until we can be certain where she’s going. At that stage we’ll move in and stop her.”
Roger nodded. “Lana’s car and Laith’s car are ninety minutes ahead of us, but we’re closing in on them.”
“What about Ben and Julian?”
Roger smiled. “By the sound of things, Ben’s driving their vehicle beyond all legal limits.” He pressed a button on the phone to turn on its speakerphone, and Julian’s commentary instantly shouted out over the noise of their vehicle’s engine.
“Clear of Harrisburg, on to the seventy-eight. No vehicles ahead, traveling at one-thirty MPH, increasing speed.”
Roger turned the phone back to normal and spoke. “Laith, update please.” He listened, nodded, then relayed the information to Will. “Lana’s in upstate New York now, driving at normal speeds.”
Will rubbed a hand over his face and said, “If she’s heading back to the house she was taken to by Megiddo’s men, why is he still there? Megiddo must know that she set his men up after we killed them in the Hotel Monaco.”
Roger held his index finger in the air, and it was clear that he was listening to his phone. He nodded and quickly glanced at Will. “Lana’s stopped her vehicle, has gotten out, and is checking a map.”
Will nodded his understanding. “She’s not been to the place before.” He looked out the car window. The scenery around them had become rugged and hilly. “So how the hell does she know where they are?”
Roger glanced at Will with a look of impatience. “She found something when she was in the house with them, something that gave her a clue where they were going.” He changed gears as they sped around a bend in the road, and the car screeched forward at an even greater speed. “She wants her revenge. She was never going to let them disappear from sight.” He paused, listening to his phone. “But wherever she’s going, she’s on the move again.”
They passed Lake George and Schroon Lake before moving northwest on Route 73. Hills were now being replaced with snow-covered mountains.
Roger spoke while continuing to scrutinize the route ahead. “Ben’s made up incredible ground. Their vehicle’s now only sixty kilometers behind us.” He frowned, clearly listening to his phone, and said nothing for a minute before saying, “Okay, I’ll get instructions from Will.” He slowed the vehicle and looked at Will. “Laith’s just reported that Lana’s stopped and exited her car in a wooded area near the town of Saranac Lake. She’s walking away from her vehicle. And she’s holding a handgun.”
“Damn it.” Will punched the dashboard.
“Do you want Laith to stop her?”
Will just banged his fist repeatedly against the dashboard.
“Will, do you want her stopped?” Roger’s voice was tense and firm.
Will exhaled and stopped punching. “Stop her. Get her out of there!” He ran his fingers through his hair.
Roger nodded and relayed the instruction over his telephone. Will watched the CIA man. He saw his eyes quickly narrow, and he saw that he was listening intently to his cell phone’s earpiece.
“What’s happening?”
Roger held a hand up again, wearing a look of total concentration. He spoke to the phone. “Absolutely not. You’re outgunned, and you’ll panic them into retreating and disappearing. Get as close to the building as you can, and get me an accurate layout of the place. But for God’s sake stay out of sight.” His voice became louder. “Ben, Julian—where are you?” He exhaled loudly. “Thirty isn’t good enough. We need you here in ten minutes maximum.” He looked at Will. “Megiddo’s men have her.”
“What happened?” Will shouted the words.
“Laith ran after her, got close to her, and saw that she was approaching a lakeside lodge. As she approached the place, men surrounded her, disarmed her, and dragged her into the building. Laith had to duck out of sight. But when the men’s backs were turned, he wanted to go straight in and fight them on his own. You heard my response.” Roger removed his earpiece, switched the phone into speaker mode, and pulled out his handgun.
Julian’s voice was instant and urgent. “Hard right in twenty. Accelerate. Sweeping left. East right, hairpin bend. Oncoming vehicle. Straight road. Accelerate now.”
Will’s heart pumped fast, and adrenaline coursed through his body. He punched the dashboard again and swore. When he looked out the window now, he could see road signs telling him that they were only four miles from Saranac Lake. He looked at Roger and spoke with urgency. “Do you know anything about this area?”
Roger shrugged. “I’ve never been here before, but I know it’s got three lakes and is surrounded by forest and the Adirondack Mountains. Lana’s been taken to a lodge on one of the lakes. I’m betting it will be as isolated and as good a place as any to have our gunfight.”
Will clenched his fists again. “We save her, and if he’s there, we capture Megiddo alive. But everyone else dies.”
Roger nodded. “Damn right.”
Roger slowed their vehicle and then stopped by a deserted woodland picnic area. He looked at Will and said, “We’re one mile from the target. I’m not going to drive any farther.” He picked up his phone and advised his men of his location.
Will called Patrick and gave him a full update.
Both men got out of the car, and Will withdrew his weapon. He looked at his watch and muttered, “Come on, come on.”
He heard tires screeching and the high-pitched whine of engine noise. It grew louder, and soon he saw Ben’s car hurtling toward him along a narrow track at what must have been ninety miles an hour. The vehicle swerved sideways, skidded, and then came to a stop. Julian and Ben instantly jumped out and walked to the rear of their vehicle. Both men’s faces were covered in sweat, and their hair looked sodden. They were opening the trunk as Will and Roger ran up to them.
“I’ve done some fast trips in my time,” Julian said with a smile, opening one of two duffel bags inside the trunk, “but the one we’ve just made takes the prize.”
Ben and Julian started withdrawing weapons and other equipment from the bags and laying them out in the trunk. Will saw Colt M4A1 assault rifles with attached scopes and flashlights, Heckler & Koch MP5-N submachine guns, MK23 pistols with KAC sound suppressors, a Barrett M82A1 fifty-caliber sniper rifle, combat knives, and waterproof tactical communications systems. Roger moved closer to his men and started checking the weaponry. Like Will, the CIA men were all dressed as if they were about to embark on a mountain hike.
Will breathed in deeply.
He saw memories and images: A yo
ung boy waving good-bye to his father. Megiddo carefully attaching a saline drip to his father’s body. The boy sitting on his father’s lap as the man read a story to him. Megiddo cutting off his father’s feet. His father smiling as the boy ran toward him. A man who no longer looked like his father being dumped into the sea. The boy now angry, scared, and alone. The boy changing into a man who had no fear, who embraced isolation, anger, and death and nothing else. He saw the man he now was—a man who had decided to change all that and be with Lana, a man who was now in severe danger of losing that woman, of losing peace, happiness, everything.
Roger came to his side. The man lowered his gaze for a moment before looking at Will. “There’s no turning back now. There’s going to be a lot of killing.”
Will stared at him. “That’s what we do.”
“It is.” Roger glanced at the vehicle and his men before looking back at Will. He took his arm, pulled him a few paces away from Ben and Julian, and spoke very quietly. “Patrick told me that Megiddo killed your father.”
Will nodded. “And no doubt Patrick gave you a secret instruction to stop me from killing him if we capture him?”
Roger shrugged. “He did. But I’m not going to.”
Will said nothing.
“If you let Megiddo live,” Roger said, “you’ll have to spend the rest of your life knowing that you could have avenged your father but chose not to. If you kill him, you may have to spend the rest of your life knowing that your vengeance allowed thousands of people in this country to die. I don’t have to live with the consequences of either decision, but you do.” He looked at Will. “What you do now must be your decision and your decision alone, and I’m not going to get in the way of that.”
Will nodded slowly. “There is a third option. I’ll get his secret and then I’ll kill him.”
Jogging, Laith emerged from the trees but then slowed to a walk. He approached Will and Roger.
“I counted eight of them around the place,” he spoke quickly. “There are almost certainly more of them inside.”
“What guns are they carrying?” Roger asked.
“Three of them have shotguns, and the rest are holding automatic machine guns. Plus they’re all carrying sidearms.”
“What about Lana?” Roger beckoned to Julian and Ben, and the two men walked over to join them.
Laith shook his head. “No sign of her since they took her in there.”
Will and Roger looked at each other. Will looked back at Laith and said, “Tell us about the place.”
Laith crouched down in front of the four men and pulled out a knife. “Lower Saranac Lake looks like this.” He began carving lines in the snow. “It’s got about twenty tiny islands, and most of them are in the middle here. The lodge is on the east side of the lake, on the lake’s edge.”
“Are there other lodges, properties, or sites near the place?” Roger was carefully studying Laith’s growing makeshift map.
“None.” The ex–Delta operative didn’t look up as he continued his task. “Unlike the other Saranac Lakes, this one’s state-owned, and there’s restricted property development around it. Our boys have obviously chosen it because they know they won’t be disturbed there.”
“What’s the layout of the building?” Julian wanted to know.
“It’s rectangular in shape, it’s got a boathouse to the north here, and a pier goes straight out from the porch onto the water here. The lodge is on two floors and by my calculations has twelve rooms in total. Entrances to the building are here, here, here, and here. There’s one road into and out of the place.” Remaining in his crouch, Laith took a couple of steps back. “The area to the south is clear of trees for twenty-five meters, but we’re fortunate because there’s not much open ground around the north and northeast of the building.”
Ben asked, “Where are the men?”
“They’re rotating around the building, but at all times there are men to the north, east, and south.” Laith jabbed his knife into the snow to show the positions. “And they always have two men on the pier to protect the lodge from the lakeside.”
Will looked at Roger. “What do you think?”
Roger stared at the map and said nothing for a moment. He then nodded and said, “I don’t think it’s worth waiting for nightfall, because I doubt they’ll cut back their numbers then. In any case, time is not on our side. I think we go for it now.”
“I agree.” Will looked at the other men, and they all nodded. He looked back at Roger. “You’re in charge of the assault. Where do you want us?”
Roger drew a deep breath and said, “Ben and I will approach the building from the northeast. We’ll take out the men there, and I’ll then enter the building through the north door and Ben will take this entrance on the east. Will and Julian are going to approach the building from the south. You’ll have to get wet to avoid the open ground. Julian can get into the building through the south door. Will, you keep going until you get to the pier.” Roger looked up. “Laith, you’ll be our sniper. I need you on this island , but to get to it you’re going to need to swim six hundred meters with the fifty-caliber rifle on your back. And judging by the weather, you may have to break through ice along the way.” He smiled with a look of mischief. “That’s a job for a SEAL, not a Delta man, but I need to be in the lodge to issue commands. Do you think you can make the swim?”
Laith returned his smile. “Do you think you’ll be able to shoot straight on dry land?”
“I’m sure we’ll both do just fine.” Roger looked down at the map again, and his face grew serious. “The first kills will have to be synchronized, and Laith will instruct us when that’s to happen. Once we’re in the house, we go through it room by room.” He swept a hand over the snow. “And none of the targets must be allowed to escape the property.” Roger stood up. “When it’s over, we’ll bring our vehicles to the lodge for extraction of any prisoners.”
Ben asked, “Where are we driving to afterward?”
Roger shrugged. “Patrick’s working on that right now.” He looked at each man. “Any other questions?”
They all shook their heads.
It was now midafternoon, and the air was clean and still. Will nodded at the men. “There’s nothing left to be said. Let’s go.”
They all walked back to Ben’s vehicle and began arming themselves. Will donned communications equipment, gathered up a knife and pistol, which he secreted in his jacket pockets, and strapped a Colt M4A1 assault rifle to his chest. He saw Roger, Ben, and Julian choose their own weapons and watched as Laith checked the workings of the powerful sniper rifle. Will placed his cell phone into a waterproof pouch and tucked the parcel into an inner jacket pocket. The vehicles were locked, their keys were hidden under front tires, and they all walked out of the picnic area into the forest that stretched before them.
They were approaching their destination from the south, and though he could not yet see it, Will knew that the lake would be to his left. They walked slowly and in single file with five meters of space between men. Laith led the way, and occasionally he would signal silently for them to stop while he crouched and examined the route ahead of him through his rifle’s telescopic sight. They continued like this for thirty minutes before Laith stopped again, turned to face them all, pointed at his own chest and then at another direction. He left them, and Will knew that the man was heading to the lake to brave the freezing swim across to his sniper position on the island. They stayed still for nearly forty minutes before they heard Laith’s voice in their earpieces.
“I’m in position.”
They moved with Julian now leading the way. The area around them was quite flat but dense with trees. They walked carefully and silently. Within ten minutes Julian stopped and pointed at Ben. Julian walked in a crouch position back toward Will and stayed beside him. The two men watched Ben and Roger move onward and out of their sight. They waite
d for fifteen minutes before Will heard Roger speak.
“We’re in position.”
Will looked at Julian. The man nodded at him and moved off toward their left. Will followed, staying low. Within minutes they were at the lake’s edge.
Julian moved up close to Will and cupped a hand around Will’s ear. He whispered, “The house should be two hundred meters along the shore.”
They followed the shoreline for approximately eighty meters, and then Julian stopped, turned a little, and walked slowly into the water until he was standing waist-deep in the lake. He unstrapped his Colt assault rifle and lowered himself so that only his head was visible. Will moved into the water as well and immediately felt how cold it was. He focused his mind, controlled his breathing, and followed Julian.
He saw the lodge. He saw one man standing by the southeast corner of the building and two men standing on the pier over the lake. He watched Julian’s head submerge and knew that the man was now going to swim underwater to his position. Will looked ahead and estimated that he would need to swim a hundred meters underwater to get beneath the pier without being seen. He inhaled several times, relaxed his body, and sank down. He swam out to deeper water before turning back to face the direction of the pier. Swimming onward, he ignored the cold and the ever-increasing pain from lack of oxygen. He counted his strokes in order to gauge the distance traveled, and within three minutes he knew that he must be close to the pier. He gradually moved up in the water and saw the dark shape of the jetty before him. He swam until he was underneath it and then slowly allowed himself to rise until his head was out of the water. He sucked in air silently and moved toward one side of the pier, turning to look away from the lodge and out to the lake. Ahead of him and more than half a kilometer away was the largest of the many lake islands. Laith was on that island, and Will waited to hear him speak.
“I see you, Will.” Laith’s voice was very quiet. “Move back and along that side of the pier until I tell you to stop.”
Will moved several meters back.
“Stop.”