Freedom's Promise: Task Force 125 (18 page)

"We'll clean up and retreat back to the camp.  Brian's cousins will get rid of the trucks."

"Wait…Brian's
cousins?
"

"I don't have time to explain.  Just try to keep up, okay?" Sarah continued.  "Brian will take the guys to the airport in the civilian chopper.  Jason will take you, me,
Will
,
Guinea
and Chris back to the island in the Blackhawk.  If we lose a chopper, there is a cave one-point-three clicks south of the camp.  We'll fallback to that position and Leo will pick us up at oh-three-hundred.  Got it?"

"Yeah.
  Good plan.  But who are all the extra guys?"

Sarah took an exasperated breath.  She knew Vince was hurting and information would make him feel better, but she couldn’t risk getting caught in his room.  "Leo is a buddy of Will’s.  The rest are contractors.  Hopefully there won't be a fight but, if there is, we wanted to be ready."

"Leave it to Will to cover all the bases."

"I'd better get out of here.  The whole house is still in an uproar over that Aussie dick.  I'll be back to bust you out in five hours and ten minutes.  Get some sleep.  It's gonna be a long night."

Sarah bent to kiss him on the lips.

Vince grabbed her wrist.  "Sarah."  His swollen face appeared a little more serious than it had a moment ago.

She frowned at Vince.  "Baby, I gotta get my ass out of here."

He nodded.  "Whatever happens tonight, I love you."

A tingle of happiness raced up the back of her neck.  "I love you too."  She grinned.  "But there's no
'whatever'
when
Will
plans an operation.  We're getting you out of here tonight."

Chapter Thirty-Two

Samara seemed shaken when Sarah returned to the kitchen after spending several hours quietly dusting and memorizing every inch of the mansion.  "Sarah, the men are staying tonight." 

"What do you mean?"  Sarah looked out the kitchen window to see eight men milling about the trucks that they were supposed to have loaded and moved before sunset.

"Nikolai is having them stay so they can all leave with him first thing in the morning."  A shadow rolled over her face.  "Nikolai isn't planning to take Vince with him."

Sarah's heart raced as she realized what would happen. 

That bastard is just going to kill Vince and dump him in the desert.

"When is Nikolai planning to kill him?"

"Tonight."

"Did they say
when
?"

"I couldn't hear them."

Several men walked into the kitchen and sat down at the large table. 

Samara busied herself with a pot of chai and several plates of cheese and fruits.  It was clearly break time for the men, and there was no way Sarah could get upstairs to warn Vince. 

Samara continued serving the men their tea.  When all the men had been served, Samara prepared a tray and instructed Sarah that it was time for Nikolai's tea.

Oh, my God!  I'm serving frigging tea to these people when I should be warning Vince and Chris. 
Fuckity
-fuck-fuck-fuck! 

Sarah took the tea tray to Nikolai's study and served in silence. 

Nikolai glanced up at her. 

She turned away quickly and busied herself with some dishes on the tray until he went back to his computer.  When his attention was engaged elsewhere, Sarah served his cake and left quickly.

By the time she returned to the kitchen, the men had finished their tea and several of them were making their way upstairs.

"Where are they going?"

"They're going to the guest rooms to sleep until it is time to leave.  The others are closing up the outbuildings and then they'll be napping too."

Sarah reached into the hidden pocket of her
abaya
that allowed her to touch the loaded .45 strapped to her thigh.  “Then we wait.”

~~~

Sarah looked outside.  The sun was nearly down and the guys would be here soon.  She had to get Samara out of the line of fire.  "Samara, you should get going now."

Samara grabbed Sarah's hands, panic lit her eyes.  "Will you be all right?"

Sarah squeezed Samara's hands.  "Yes, of course.  You should go."

"I can't thank you enough for what you've done."

Sarah grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her toward the door.  "Just go now and stay safe.  Please?"

The last of the men returned as Samara left.  One of them looked at Sarah.  "Where is
she
going?"

Sarah responded quietly just in case they might have known Bashira's voice.  "My mother is old and unwell.  She is upset by what happened earlier.  It has been a difficult day for her so I will finish up for her."

"You'd better get to work on dinner.  We'll all be hungry when we wake up and we have things to do tonight."

"Yes, sir."
  Sarah nodded and turned to start measuring rice so she'd look like she was working.  She knew full well that nobody in this house would be eating dinner tonight.

Soon.

Sarah listened for the sound of a helicopter but there was only silence.  She looked out the window toward the last burning embers of the sun.

Soon.

When the men finally left the kitchen and she heard doors close upstairs, she made her way up the creaky kitchen stairs.

She reached inside her abaya and pulled the warm key from within her bra.  She listened for signs of anyone awake. 

Silence.

She was suddenly aware of even the smallest noise as she listened for the helicopter.

Still no sound.

The key slid into the lock and she nearly jumped as the latch clicked open.  She put a finger to her lips as she opened the door.

Of course, he knows to be quiet, you idiot.

She dropped her hand as she peeked in and saw Vince standing by the door in the fresh clothes she'd brought him earlier.

She gasped at the sight of him.  The swelling hadn't gone down, and the bruises had darkened on his face.  White-hot rage burned inside her at what Nikolai had done to him.  "It's time."

The bruises and broken rib didn't slow him down.  When it was time for action, he was ready to roll as always.

"Let's do it.  Where's Nikolai?"

"He's still in the study."

"Good."  Vince pulled the forty-five from under his shirt and grabbed Sarah with his free hand.  "Let's put an end to that bastard now."

They hurried down the stairs and were both thrown against the wall of the stairway as an explosion rocked the compound.  Vince jumped the rest of the stairs and Sarah followed.

One of the trucks parked outside was engulfed in flames.

Another explosion rocked the compound and then another as a massive hole appeared in the concrete wall outside.

Men came running down the stairs behind Vince and Sarah. 

Sarah turned and fired on the first two.  They dropped in a heap on the stairs as the others turned back and took cover.

The mercenaries the team had hired stormed into the kitchen, armed to the teeth.

"Wait!  He's our man."  Will's voice was a welcome surprise.  He patted Vince on the shoulder.  "Good to see you, brother.  Where is that Russian fuck?"

"Took you long enough to get here!  Come on."  Vince led the way toward the study. 

Sarah looked at the mercs and pointed upstairs.  "There are six hostiles upstairs."  Then she followed Will and Vince to the study. 

She remembered her date with Nikolai in
Las Vegas
, before her last mission and before she knew he was a ruthless international arms dealer.  How charming he’d been.  She could be charming to her targets too.  She’d charmed Hassan before she killed
him,
and Victor too. 
The realization that she
and Nikolai worked people over in the very same way hit her right between the eyes.
  In order to end this, either she or Nikolai had to die.

When they stormed into the study, Nikolai was nowhere to be found. 

Gunfire rang out upstairs.

Vince and Will searched the room while Sarah watched the door but there was no sign of Nikolai anywhere. 

The mercs who had come in from the kitchen rushed through the hallway.

"Any sign of Nikolai?"  Anxiety pulled at Sarah’s stomach.

"No.  We got the guys upstairs but nobody resembling the Russian."

Will
remained
in charge.  "You guys sweep the interior.  Don't forget the basement.  We've got to get this guy before we go."  Will
motioned
to Vince.  "Vince, Sarah, let's get outside and see if they got him out there."

Sarah, Vince, and Will strode out the front door.

The Blackhawk helicopter purred as it circled overhead.

Will glanced up.  "Eye in the sky, you see anybody get out?"  He paused as Jason responded.

"Just the old lady.
 
Nobody else within two clicks, chief."

"All right, bring it down.  It's all clear."

Will
looked
at Vince and Sarah.  "Are there any tunnels?"

Sarah shook her head.  "I never saw any, Will."

One of the mercs summoned Will from the house. 
"Hey, Chief!
  We got somebody here."

Sarah looked at the doorway and her heart sank when she saw who walked through it. 

Samara?

"Fuck!"  It was the first time Sarah had seen
Will
lose his composure through all of this.

"Oh, God.
  He got away in her abaya."  Sarah ran to Samara.  "Are you all right?  Did he hurt you?"

"He held a gun to me but I am fine.  I am so sorry, Sarah."

Brian ran up to Samara.  "Did he harm you?"

She shook her head as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Brian looked over toward Will.  "We've got Vince, but Nikolai is a bust.  I’m gonna get Samara a truck and send her home.  She needs to get the hell out of here before the Saudi Air Force shows up."

As if on cue, Jason's voice came through their earpieces.  "We've got low flyers, two of them, six minutes out."

Will gave the sign to rally.  "The Saudis are on the way!  Move it out guys.  Let's go!"

The
mercs
scrambled for the trucks and chopper according to the extraction plan Will had laid out for them.

When Brian's truck wouldn't start, he and his crew jumped in one of the SUVs in the yard and hotwired it.  The truck and SUV, both loaded with men, kicked up a trail of dust as they tore out of the compound. 

"Okay, boys.
  Want to see something special?"  Jason, hovering above the scene in the Blackhawk, didn't wait for an answer.  He launched four hellfire missiles at the house and everything left in the compound was decimated.

Sarah watched the smoke rise as they flew off at nearly two hundred miles per hour.  She realized that leaving in the wake of an explosion, or at least a gunfight, was becoming a pattern in her life.  Her first mission ended with a multi-million dollar yacht exploding.  The second left a bullet riddled, blood stained mansion on the coast of
Italy
, and now a mansion reduced to smoke and dust. 

The helicopter arrived back at the Bedouin camp in minutes.  The tents had been taken down and moved out by Brian’s cousins.  Chris waited by the civilian chopper with his two
merc
bodyguards.  Jason kept the Blackhawk running while Chris threw his bag in and jumped into a seat. 

Brian pulled up in a cloud of dust along with another truck full of the contractors.  All of the hired men dropped their weapons in the back of the truck and scrambled into the civilian chopper that Brian was powering up.

Sarah hadn’t seen him at the compound but Hamza was there.  He hopped into the truck loaded with guns and drove like a bat out of hell toward the remote cave that would hide the truck and equipment from the Saudis until the heat was off. 

They hadn't had any casualties, and Sarah crossed her fingers, hoping that they'd get both choppers out of Saudi airspace before they were spotted.

Jason’s voice came through again on Sarah's earpiece.  "The Saudi's have Blackhawks too, so let's light a fire, kids."

Both choppers lifted off from the campsite.

Brian flew the civilian chopper, loaded with well-paid mercenaries northeast, toward the cities, while Jason flew the Blackhawk carrying
Guinea
, Vince, Sarah, Will, and Chris southeast toward an empty corridor so they could fly back to the island without being seen.  The air and sand blown by the low flying Blackhawk removed every trace of the tracks left by Hamza’s truck.  He’d sleep in the cave until morning and then drive home in the truck loaded with guns, a bonus for his assistance.