Brothers in Arms (10 page)

Jonah couldn’t help but be slightly nervous about their private comms. Outside of their convoy, the only one with the ability to hear their specially encrypted chatter was Top Resler back at Diyala firm base. He could send reinforcements
if
he heard it when everything went south. Neil guaranteed they couldn’t be overheard by the enemy. He had fit them each with a one-piece wireless headset and mic. They each keyed their mic with a button he clipped to the center of their chests. It was easy to reach, and no one’s clothing or gear interfered.

“Jonah, dude, I’m a genius,” Neil declared when they were on the road. “Your communications will be clear as a bell, and the hostiles can’t listen in. I’d explain how I did it, but it would take really hard math and shit. I don’t want you to tax your little grunt brain.”

“Screw you, McMurtrie,” Jonah sighed.

The suppressed laugh came from Yarwood. Kellan chuckled openly.

“Just like old times,” Neil continued, oblivious to Jonah’s annoyance. “It feels just like old times. Doesn’t it, Captain? Feels just like the good old days of rolling through fucking Iraq getting our nuts shot at.”

“Yes, Neil,” Kellan replied dryly. “Just like old times.”

Jonah turned to look at Kellan. There might have been a spark of affection in Kellan’s eyes, along with the humor, but then Kellan blinked and looked away. When they reached the crater of the IED that had killed Grizzly, Jonah ordered the victors to disperse in 360 degrees. The Marines exited the vehicles quickly and took up an aggressive and alert posture. Deshazo, Tisch and Lucena produced M16s and circled the SUVs vigilantly.

From inside a metal-sided case, Milagros removed explosive components. She held them up for Jonah to see. “Recognize these, Gunnery Sergeant?” she asked.

“They’re detonated IED components.”

“They’re the fragments you recovered from this crater and forwarded to DC.”

“If you say so, ma’am.”

“What’s the most common IED you come across?”

“Radio controlled.”

“Not CWIEDs?”

“Command wire IEDs are more often seen inside city limits. Radio controlled IEDs, usually cell phone activated, allow the enemy to trigger detonation from a distance.”

“Yeah, cell phones are the easiest way to match up the coding system of the transmitter and receiver to avoid spurious radio signals from accidentally activating the device,” Neil rattled off casually. Jonah suppressed a grin when everyone turned to gape at Neil. “What? I’m a genius. At least when it comes to radios. I told you all that. Why do you continue to doubt me?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Neil. Could it be the rants about conspiracy theories or the long-winded discourse on brothels around the world?” Milagros asked dryly. “So, Gunnery Sergeant, how often do you see components that are American military in origin?”

“Constantly. The actual triggers are almost always American military in origin.”

“But usually it’s old, outdated, as if a cache scheduled for disposal found its way into the wrong hands, right?”

“Correct.”

“What about components so new they look like they’ve just come off the production line? What about components so state of the art, even the American military isn’t using them yet?” This question was posed by Kellan.

“No,” Jonah replied. “Then again, I’m not in the business of ordinance removal.”

“How about weapons caches? Found any recently that contained new, unfired M16s, instead of the usual sporadic ones obviously taken from a casualty after a combat situation?” Kellan’s tone gave nothing away about his reason for asking the question.

A sense of trepidation knotted painfully in Jonah’s gut. “Yes, sir. Just last week.”

“How did you obtain the information on the location of the cache?” Carlene asked.

“We snatched an HVI who had information on activity in a distant hamlet. One of my Team Leaders exploited a confidential informant in the hamlet and located the cache.”

“Is that typical?”

“It’s common enough.”

“It would be great if we could get our hands on a cache like that while we’re here.”

“I can have Top Resler put it out to all the teams to give him a heads up when they find a cache. If the contents are of interest, we can rendezvous at their location,” Jonah offered.

“Please, Gunnery Sergeant Carver,” Carlene replied. “Thank you.”

Jonah stepped away from the group to hail Top with his request. As he took care of business, Jonah watched as Kellan carried on a conversation with Keef, the other agents occasionally providing input.

Milagros scrambled out of the crater, with some assistance from Giammona. Jonah rejoined the group.

“I’ve got what I need here,” Milagros said to Jonah, dusting futilely at her clothes.

“Can we visit the locations of Grizzly’s knock-n-talks?” Keef asked.

“We can,” Jonah confirmed. He ordered his Marines and the contractors into their vehicles and they were oscar-mike.

§ § §

When they reached the hamlet they had visited on their second day with Grizzly, Milagros and Carlene stayed inside the SUVs, but listened in to the translations on Neil’s comms. Jonah left a few Marines with them as security and led the rest of the group to the residence into which Grizzly had disappeared when he’d visited this location.

They cleared the house, bringing out the old sheik and two teenage boys. Jonah was confident the women and very young children posed no threat, so he let them remain inside. While Giammona translated, Keef and Kellan questioned the old man. Jonah stood back from the interrogation, weapon ready in his hands. It quickly became evident the conversation wasn’t going well.

From inside the house, a child began to squall. A toddler, wearing only a dirty cloth diaper and a filthy T-shirt, appeared in the doorway. The old man said something to the little boy, and he stopped walking, leaned against the doorjamb, and continued to cry plaintively. Jonah could feel the tension on the patio rise as the sheik and the two teens grew more agitated. A woman stepped out from an anteroom perpendicular to the main house, and he shifted his position in order to keep everyone in view.

Voices rose. The woman gestured toward the child, speaking rapidly in Arabic. The old sheik replied, visibly aggravated. Giammona spoke sharply, issuing both his own instructions and repeating some Kellan issued, as well. Lowering his weapon slowly but keeping his finger on the trigger guard, Jonah slowly approached the child in the doorway.

Carefully, gently, he took the boy by one hand and began to lead him across the patio to the woman. One small step at a time, Jonah walked with the boy. The toddler’s fist felt so tiny and fragile wrapped in Jonah’s much larger fingers. The closer they came to the woman, the quieter the child became. When they reached her, Jonah released the boy’s hand. The woman took it, and together they disappeared into the anteroom.

Jonah turned back to the group and took up his vigilant stance, both hands once again on his weapon. Across the patio, he met and held Kellan’s gaze. Kellan pressed his lips together and gave a slight nod. It was obvious, at least to Jonah, Kellan had just come to a decision of some sort.

Turning back to the old man, Kellan took off the cap he wore and tossed the sunglasses he was carrying into it. He handed the hat to Keef, who took it, seemly surprised. Jonah watched Kellan step in close to the old man, getting right in his face and making eye contact, unblinking.

Something shifted in Jonah’s chest as he watched Kellan assert his authority. It unfurled as he watched everyone respond, letting Kellan take control of the situation. The feelings blossomed into desire and affection that were staggering in their intensity. Asserting himself seemed to be as natural to Kellan as breathing and Jonah had forgotten how he enjoyed being in Kellan’s presence at times like this.

After that, things moved rapidly. Kellan asked questions, Giammona translated the question and the answer, and moments later, they were back in the SUVs and oscar-mike.

“Where to next, Captain?” Jonah asked Kellan as they left the hamlet.

“You took Grizzly to visit an apartment building in the city center, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“We have intel that the contraband material in question is passed from the hamlet we just left to a group residing inside the apartments.”

“Would this be the American-made military munitions even the military doesn’t have access to?”

“It would.”

“Damn,” Jonah muttered.

“Hitman-Two-One, Diyala firm base.” Top Resler’s voice sounded in Jonah’s ear.

“Go for Two-One,” Jonah replied.

“There’s chatter on the net saying an Army EOD unit is disarming an IED not far from firm base. Interested?”

Jonah turned in his seat to look at Kellan.

“Yes,” Kellan said shortly, jaw tight.

Jonah realized Kellan was angry. Whatever the cause of these suspicious items showing up in Iraq, it pissed Kellan off. Given Kellan’s level of anger, Jonah almost felt sorry for the assholes responsible for this investigation. Almost.

Jonah keyed his mic. “That’s affirmative, Diyala. Give me the grid.”

§ § §

They rolled slowly down the wide street. Several Army Humvees lined the sides, and two blocked progress where they were parked nose-to-nose. Jonah’s Marine status got them far down the line, but it was the FBI that finally got them past the roadblock. They used the gun truck as a meager shield, those not riding walking beside it at a steady pace.

Reaching the lone Army EOD Humvee, they found a sergeant and a specialist on high alert.

“Due respect, sirs,” the sergeant said, not looking away from where his weapon was pointed. “I don’t know what kind of juice you have to get past all that security, but my team leader is currently suited up and disarming an IED. I gotta keep eyes on all the unfriendlies that think this is a spectator sport.”

Written on the side strap of his helmet, Jonah saw the sergeant’s name: Whitcomb.

“Sergeant Whitcomb, I’m Gunnery Sergeant Carver,” Jonah said, understanding Whitcomb’s anxiety. “I’m providing security to an FBI team that needs access to that IED once your Team Leader has cleared it.”

Both of the EOD soldiers froze momentarily. Jonah knew the look; they were listening to a radio transmission.

Whitcomb keyed his shoulder mic and responded, “Roger that, Haines. Be advised, you got FBI here that wanna see the device when you’ve cleared it, so don’t keep any souvenirs.”

Whatever Haines’ response had been, made the specialist, whose helmet strap identified him as Buress, snort a brief laugh.

“Yeah, you can tell them yourself when you’re clear. Their security is a tall-ass Marine who looks like he could handle even
your
brand of crazy,” Whitcomb spoke again into his mic.

“Sergeant Whitcomb, I got three on a roof, eleven o’clock,” Buress stated, lifting his weapon higher.

Jonah and his Marines lifted their weapons too.

“Hurry it up, Haines,” Whitcomb said.

After a pause, Whitcomb addressed himself to Jonah. “Haines says he’s sorry for the delay, but he’s found additional devices and would appreciate it if the FBI would find a way to keep American components out of the hands of the enemy.”

Jonah felt the entire FBI team tense at Whitcomb’s words. Kellan gripped Jonah’s arm tightly.

“Sergeant Whitcomb, please advise Sergeant Haines to neutralize all the devices, but otherwise, do not touch them,” Jonah ordered, knowing the Army was not required to follow his order.

“Haines don’t take too well to bein’ told what to do,” Whitcomb responded. “Your best bet is to get to his location quick as you can.”

“I’ll leave some of my men here on the outer perimeter if you’d be so kind as to escort us to Sergeant Haines.”

§ § §

“This guy is a diabolical motherfucker,” Haines said with something akin to respect.

“How so?” Milagros asked.

Haines gestured with a multifunctional tool that resembled a Marine’s Leatherman. “This one here’s the decoy. Oh, it was a live device. It woulda done some damage. But, it was designed to be disarmed. See how the decoy is wired to the other six devices? That’s what makes this bastard extra evil. If he managed to lure some poor, unsuspecting EOD team into disarming it, and the additional devices go undetected, then the next group of Humvees that roll through what they think is a secured area…” Haines mimicked the sound of an explosion, emphasizing his point with expansive hand gestures.

“So simple, yet so devastating. Have you been seeing this type of thing more frequently?” Milagros asked.

“Not really.”

“What about American military components?”

“Yeah, more and more all the time.”

“Meaning?” Kellan interjected.

“Stuff’s showin’ up out here I’ve read about being made by companies like KNG, Eros, and Deepwater. Hell, I blew up a whole warehouse of stuff just the other day. But it’s always showin’ up in the hands of the enemy, never any of ours.”

There was a long silence.

“Tell me about this warehouse,” Keef demanded.

Haines shrugged. “It was your typical enemy warehouse in the center of the city. They’d obviously been interrupted in the middle of putting together whatever they were up to. There were primers, detonators, det cord, and a bunch of other stuff, obviously American made, but way better than what a bunch of insurgents should be able to get their hands on. Way better than most stuff
I
can get my hands on.”

Sergeant Haines stowed his tools and lit up a cigarette, as calm and casual as if he hadn’t just faced down death or dismemberment. There was definitely something just a little cold and a little crazy behind his eyes.

The Feds were talking amongst themselves. When Milagros mentioned a certain type of detonator, manufactured by a defense contractor she carefully
didn’t
name, Haines interrupted their conversation.

“See, that’s what I’m talkin’ about. Com’ere.” He gestured for her to take a closer look at the disarmed IEDs.

§ § §

When they returned to firm base, they all took over Hoegerl’s office again. It was a tight fit, made more miserable by the still heat, but they made do. The agents cleared an entire wall then covered it with photos, notes, and bits of evidence they tacked up with thick bits of tape. Jonah watched the case take shape, folding his arms over his chest as if that could shield him from the truth.