A Bloody Storm: A Derrick Storm Short (10 page)

“I have faith in what will happen when I pull this trigger,” Storm replied.

Agent Showers jumped into their conversation. “Who are you?”

“The Jihad Group,” the man said. “And the American who is pointing his pistol at my sister’s head once tried to track me down.”

“The Viper,” Storm said aloud.

Dilya again yelled something in Uzbek.

The Viper replied with a single command in Uzbek, and the crack of a rifle broke through the night air. Oscar collapsed on the rocks, shot through the chest. It had happened so quickly that Showers and Casper, who were standing on either side of him, didn’t have time to react until the Russian’s dead body hit the ground.

“The next to die will be FBI Agent Showers,” the Viper said.

“Go ahead,” Showers said. “You’re going to kill us anyway.”

“Actually, you are more valuable to me alive right now,” the Viper said.

“I’d rather die,” Casper announced, “then have my head cut off on YouTube by a bunch of camel-screwing Hajis extremists.”

Storm looked at Showers and saw that all four red dots were now on her torso. The Viper wasn’t bluffing. She would be the next to die unless he released Dilya.

He made eye contact with Casper, and for once, the two men seemed to be on the same wavelength.

“Now!” Storm yelled. With his left hand, he grabbed Dilya’s throat and pulled her sideways toward the ground, as he began firing his pistol at the spotlight illuminating the cave entrance. Everything instantly went black.

At that same moment, Casper threw himself in front of Showers, shielding her with his own body while knocking her down, as the Viper’s men began firing. Bullets ricocheted off the rocks, making pinging sounds.

In the sheer darkness, Storm felt Dilya’s body become limp and felt warm fluid flowing onto his left hand that was still clutching her throat. She’d been fatally shot in the neck.

For a second it was completely quiet, and then the booming sound of Casper’s shotgun erupted. The first boom was followed immediately by another and another. The well-trained killer was using the red laser sights on their enemies’ guns to identify where they were hiding in the darkness. Casper’s final blast was answered with the primordial scream of a man whose body had just been ripped into by buckshot.

It became silent again, and Storm noticed there were no longer any laser sights aimed at the cave.

The Viper yelled out in Uzbek. And when one of his men replied, Casper fired his shotgun at the man’s voice. His shot drew a round of rapid return fire from the Viper’s pistol. Storm immediately answered that with his own handgun, aiming at the muzzle flashes.

And then there was silence.

Out of habit, Storm had counted his shots, and he knew he had only one round left in the gun that he’d taken from Dilya. He had no idea if Casper, Showers, or the Viper and his men were still alive.

No one wanted to speak, because that would reveal location. The evening’s already faint moonlight was now obscured by clouds. Storm slowly crawled in the direction of Showers and Casper, picking his way around the chest-high boulders that edged the cave’s entrance. When he reached the spot where he had last seen his teammates, his hand touched a body and he froze.

Was it her?

He felt a man’s hair and glasses.
Oscar.

“April?” he whispered.

“Over here,” she replied.

Using his hand as a probe, he felt a boulder rising up in front of him and made his way around its edge. Tucked between large rocks were Showers and Casper. They’d taken shelter on the ground.

“You hit?” Storm asked softly.

“No, but Casper is. Bad.”

“How bad?”

“One in the leg. One in my abs,” Casper replied. “But I can still shoot.”

“How many are still left?” Showers asked.

“Can’t tell.”

As if on cue, they heard a man screaming and then the rapid fire of a gun. It was followed by another man crying out.

“What’s happening?” Showers asked.

Storm carefully inched up from where the three of them were hiding and peered over the huge boulder in front of him, in the direction of where the sounds had come from. He saw nothing distinguishable, only boulders. He inched his way out of their hiding place and crawled
several feet forward, then stopped behind another large stone. Using it to shield his body, he peed over its jagged surface. Nothing. And then there was a movement, but it was so slight that he questioned whether his mind might be playing tricks on him. He hadn’t seen the outline of a man, rather it appeared as if one of the boulders ten feet in front of him had actually moved, as if the ground around him were coming alive. He picked a single rock and locked his eyes on it. Two minutes later, he was just about to write it off as paranoia and exhaustion, when the rock seemed to rise up and move forward, ever so gradually.

Storm raised his pistol and aimed it at the stone. If it moved again, he was going to fire.

As he stared at the rock, he felt the blade of a knife pressed against his throat and the warmth of breath in his ear. The words were in Russian, but Storm didn’t need to understand the language to know the meaning. He released his grip on the pistol.

The man holding the knife at his throat forced him to his feet and called out in a loud voice. Another Russian responded and Storm heard the sounds of people moving. Showers and Casper were being dragged from the rocks behind him.

The beams from the headlights of an SUV shined on them. The vehicle was one of two that the Viper’s men had driven along an alternate route to the cave entrance. The spotlight that Storm had ruined had been attached with a long cord to one of their vehicle’s batteries.

The headlights made it possible for Storm to see the “rock” that had been moving in front of him. Five bushy monsters now surrounded Storm, Showers, and Casper. They were not rocks. They were Vympel soldiers wearing Ghillie suits, elaborate camouflaged outfits favored by special forces. Their heavy outfits were designed to make them impossible to see when they were on the ground.

“I thought these bastards were a KGB myth,” Casper said. “I never saw them coming.”

The four men standing guard wore earpieces and had been wearing night vision goggles. Their leader came forward from the parked SUVs, where he had turned on the headbeams.

“Why didn’t they just kill us?” Showers asked.

“I’m guessing that’s their plan,” said Storm, “but first they want to make certain that the gold is here. We’re still the Russians’ best chance at finding it.”

Their leader issued a command in Russian, and three of the soldiers disappeared through the cave entrance, leaving the leader and two men behind to watch their captives. As they waited, the leader stepped over to Oscar’s body and began digging through the backpack that the geologist had been carrying before he was killed. The soldier removed a small device, putting it in his pocket.

“A tracking device,” Casper said. “That Russian prick was helping them.”

Because of the dark makeup on their faces, it was impossible to see any facial expressions. Only their eyes showed through. They said nothing, and that made them appear even more fierce.

The three soldiers had positioned themselves across from Showers, Storm, and Casper. While two of them watched with their guns pointed at the trio, the third stepped forward to frisk them. He started with Storm and did it quickly, expertly removing his extra clips of ammo. Satisfied, he moved to Showers, beginning with her ankles, moving his hands up her legs, but he hesitated when he reached her waist because her right arm was in a sling. As he began to check her, Showers screamed in pain.

“I’m wearing a sling!” she yelled. “How can I shoot anyone?”

He stepped back, surprised at her outburst.

The leader said something in Russian, and the soldier moved on to Casper. They’d already stripped him of his beloved shotgun, but he was still wearing his Ka-Bar knife on his waist.

Storm looked at Showers, and she moved her right arm slightly, pulling the sling away from her abdomen. Without moving her chin, she looked down, signaling him.

In that instance, Storm understood.

“You Commie bastards are supposed to be invincible,” Casper said loudly, “but you look like a bunch of candy-asses to me.”

“Oh my God!” Showers screamed hysterically. “I don’t want to die!” As the soldiers watched, she threw her good left arm around Storm’s neck and cried, “Kiss me one last time, darling!”

The Vympel leader yelled, “Nyet!” But Showers clung desperately to Storm.

With her now blocking the soldiers’ view, Storm reached between the sling and her waist, where he felt the familiar metal grip of his Glock. Somehow she had managed to slip the gun back into its hiding place before she’d been captured.

“Now,” he whispered.

Showers spun to his left as Storm pulled the handgun and began firing. His first target was the leader. Afraid that the Russian might be wearing a protective vest, Storm fired directly at his face. His first shot found its mark. Leaping to his right, Storm fired at the surprised soldier guarding him, who reacted by raising his submachine gun. Storm’s shots whizzed by the Russian’s head as the soldier pulled the trigger, popping off two rounds as he’d been trained to do, rather than firing a full, ineffective burst in a panic. One round nicked Storm in his thigh. Its
sister sailed past his chest, striking a rock. Before the soldier could squeeze off another pair, Storm fired his Glock, killing him.

While Storm was busy firing at two of the soldiers, Casper attacked the Russian sent to frisk him. Although Casper was wounded, he released a crippling left hook into the soldier’s jaw while simultaneously slipping the Ka-Bar knife free with his right hand. Assuming the Russian was wearing an armored vest under his mountain man attire, Casper curved the blade so that it would puncture his attacker’s side.

He thrust his knife with such force that its hilt pushed into the wound. Casper pulled it upward and then sideways and down, ending the man’s life.

“Nice shooting, deadeye,” Casper called to Storm.

They had successfully killed the leader and two soldiers outside the cave, but there were still three inside it searching for the gold. Storm checked his leg. It was a flesh wound, but the gunshots that Casper had taken earlier, during their exchange with the Jihad Group, were much more serious.

Bending down, Casper retrieved his shotgun from the Russian who’d taken it from him earlier. “I’m bleeding out,” Casper said. “You two get going. I’ll keep the other three pinned in the cave as long as I can.”

“No,” Showers said. “We’re not leaving you behind.”

“It’s my choice,” Casper replied. He looked at Storm. “I thought you’d betrayed us in Tangiers. I blamed you for what happened.”

“I thought you were the traitor,” Storm replied.

Casper chuckled. “And it was neither of us. Dilya was working for the Viper all along, and Oscar was a mole for the Russians. They’re the ones who sabotaged Tangiers.”

He let out a painful groan and reached for his side.

“You don’t have to be a hero,” Showers said. “We can get you down the mountain.”

“To where?” he replied. “I’ll be dead by the time we hit the main road. Besides, I want to die a hero and I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Storm said.

“You saved my life when you shot that bastard on the roof of the slaughterhouse.”

“Then we’re squared,” Storm said.

“Not yet, deadeye. Not until after you leave and those rats come peeking out of their hole. I never loved anything as much as this shotgun so there’s something fitting about me holding it when I die and go to hell. Now get out of here before I change my mind.”

Storm drove the SUV down the mountain at daredevil speed, dodging rocks, trees, and drop-offs that seemed to jump before the vehicle’s beams.

They had gone less than a half mile over the rocky terrain when headlights appeared behind them.

“Casper?” Showers asked, but she already knew the answer. “Hurry,” she said.

“I’m not Sunday driving,” he replied. “But if I go any faster, I’ll rip out this car’s bottom.”

The SUV’s undercarriage banged against a rock, nearly knocking both of them from their seats. Mercifully, they reached a gravel road a mile later. The SUV chasing them was close enough now that Showers could see the outline of the driver and a passenger.

“Casper must have killed one of them,” she said.

Her sentence was punctuated by a bullet sailing through the rear window of the SUV. Shards of glass flew by her face. The Russian in the SUV’s passenger seat was leaning out his window firing his machine gun at them.

Storm handed his Glock to her and she started to fire, just as Storm swerved to avoid plunging off the narrow road. Her first shot hit their own SUV’s back side window and the second the interior of its roof.

“Shoot them, not us,” Storm said. “We’re the good guys.”

“They’re less a threat than your driving,” she replied.

The gunman chasing them fired another burst of rounds, peppering the rear of the SUV.