Hide and Seek (40 page)

“Stay with me, Jose. Do you hear me? I’m giving you a direct order. You will stay alive.”

“Yes, Boss. Whatever you . . . say.”

The canister slipped from Jose’s hand and rolled on the smooth floor. J. J. could see a stream of white liquid pour from the nick in the metal container. “Please God, please, please, please . . .”

Jose stopped responding. Blood mixed with a clear fluid oozed from his ears and mouth, drying slowly on the skin.

J. J. removed his helmet and balaclava. “I let you down, Buddy. I blew it. You were my responsibility. I should have planned better; should have anticipated better; shoulda . . .”

The words and thoughts were ridiculous. Soldiers lost buddies. It had always been that way. It would never change. Neither would the temptation for team leaders to second-guess themselves. They came to rescue an American woman, a female soldier, a diplomat, and it cost them another life—the life of a friend.

An unwanted image floated to the churning surface of his mind: the photos they left behind at Manas. “For them and for those like them, we do this.”

The windows of the building began to shake, then the sound of two powerful rotors pressed through concrete and glass. The helo was here.

“Boss, Joker. Our ride is here.”

J. J. didn’t move.

“Boss, Joker. Do you read?”

“Yeah, I got ya.”

“The pilots brought a few Rangers with them. They just fast-roped on the roof and set up a perimeter. The crowd got sight of the helo and the fresh troops and are dispersing.”

“Understood, Joker. Is there a bio-chem team?”

“Yeah, Boss, some men in funny suits are headed your way.”

“Understood.”

After a long pause. “You coming up? There’s another helo inbound.”

“I’ll take the next ride.”

“Boss, you need to be up here.”

“I’m staying with Doc.” He spoke the words with finality.

The radio stayed quiet and J. J. used the time to clear his eyes of tears. A few moments later four men in full body suits and face masks appeared like aliens out of a sci-fi movie. Four other men followed: Pete, Crispin, Nagano, and Aliki.

“I ordered you men to the roof,” J. J. snapped.

“Yes, yes you did,” Pete said, “and you did it with flair.”

“Then get back up on the roof.”

“Yes, Boss. Will do.” They continued into the room. “Just as soon as the team is assembled. The
whole
team, I mean.”

“You are defying a direct order.” J. J. tried to sound furious but the fire in his belly had turned to ashes.

Crispin looked at Pete then the others. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what we’re doing. At least, I think that’s what we’re doing.”

“Yep,” Joker said. “I’ve defied orders before and it felt just like this.”

J. J. wanted to be angry, to fly off the handle, to apply his boot to four butts, but he couldn’t raise the rage. Instead, he felt admiration.

“Back away,” one of the men in suits said, then entered the secure room. They had to lean into the door hard enough to move Jose’s body. It seemed the final indignity.

The men carried a stretcher which they left outside. They moved with purpose and with obvious practice. Then they began to rush. It took several minutes to lift Jose’s body into a protective suit and another minute to carry him to the stretcher. J. J. was surprised to see their haste. Surprised until he heard, “He’s still alive.”

When they reached the roof, a metal rescue litter was on its way down from the helo. Jose was transferred to it and slowly raised to the helicopter, where another man dressed in a safety suit guided the device into the open, side door of the Chinook. A moment later a harness on a line descended to the rooftop. J. J. donned his helmet and started for it, but one of the men who took Jose’s body held up a hand.

“Sorry, but you’ll have to take the next one. This bird was considered contaminated the moment your man was loaded onboard.”

One of the other men slipped into the harness and was lifted skyward. In turn, each suited man ascended to the helo which peeled away.

The next Chinook hovered over the building, its two rotors pounding the roof and the men on it. A rope with a series of harnesses tumbled out the side, and J. J. did something he hadn’t done since Ranger training: Hooked himself to the rope, as did each of the men in his unit. The half dozen Rangers on the roof did the same with a second rope.

Once certain his men were properly secured, he nodded to one of the Rangers who radioed the helo.

J. J. and the others were lifted from the roof and left dangling in the prop wash as the helo rose and started for Manas Air Base. Below, he saw a caravan of military vehicles he assumed belonged to the Kyrgyzstan military. What was in the building—bodies and biochem—was now their problem. As the helicopter moved north, J. J. saw rioters, protesters, and looters. Buildings and cars burned. The further north they went, the more carnage he saw. The city had lost its mind.

Not one of the people below could know how close they came to being exposed to a substance that would leave them dead in the streets. J. J. prayed there were no other canisters out there.

TO J. J., LUCY
looked as if she hadn’t slept in weeks. Her normal makeup and perfectly styled hair was absent. The fact he was seeing her over a video conference system bridging half the world didn’t help.

“He’s better, Lucy. The doctors think he’ll pull through just fine, although they don’t know if there will be long-lasting effects.” He hated being that honest. What he wanted to say was Jose was outside playing basketball, but that would be a lie.

“Is he conscious?”

He rubbed the skin of his hands which felt slightly oily from the decontamination cleaning he endured. “Yes. He does nothing but criticize me and talk about you and the kids.”

“Pain. Is he in much pain?”

For a brief second, J. J. thought about lying, but he had moral objections to doing so—that, and he was a lousy liar. He was never able to tell a fib and be believed. “Some, but not as much as I would expect. The doctors have him on morphine and other things I don’t understand. He sleeps a lot.”

Lucy wiped at her eyes. “Where is he now?”

“He’s being airlifted to Germany for more advanced treatment. My brother will be calling you soon. He’s arranging for a flight so you can visit him. Can you get someone to watch the kids?”

“Can I bring the children?”

“No, I’m sorry . . . It would be best they not see him. His skin is still recovering from the blisters. I’m told those are minor things.”

“I see. Yes, my mother will take care of the children. Do you think he’ll come home with me?”

J. J. shrugged. “I really don’t know, Lucy. That’s up to the doctors. My guess is, he’ll be in the hospital for several weeks, but then I’m just a soldier, my medical knowledge ends with Band-Aids.” He leaned closer to the camera as if he could whisper in Lucy’s ear. “I want you to know he saved not only the lives of the team members but probably thousands of lives of others. He is a true example of what Jesus said, ‘Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends.’ He was willing to do that without hesitation.”

“He has always been my hero.” More tears in Lucy’s eyes.

“Mine too, Lucy. Mine too.”

J. J. TURNED THE
video conference center over to the rest of team to call family and assure them that, like Mark Twain, their deaths had been exaggerated. He was certain no one would tell how close they came to fulfilling the news media prophecy. He was the last to make a call.

Tess looked more beautiful than he had ever seen her. “You’re looking good, kid.”

“You too. Especially now that I know you’re alive.”

“I heard about the misinformation. I’m sorry.”

“Why? Planning your funeral was fun. I got a pink coffin for you.”

“I always did look good in pink.”

“Of course, now I have to cancel all those dates I made with other men.”

J. J. chuckled. So did Tess.

Then she dissolved into tears.

J. J. AND THE
team moved to the official telecommunications site on the base and stared at a very weary-looking Colonel Mac.

“Glad to see you guys are alive. You gave me quite the scare.”

“Joker is a drama queen,” J. J. said.

“I’ve heard that.”

Aliki didn’t respond. J. J.’s next conversation with the big man would involve questions about his now-obvious hearing problem and a lecture about endangering the team, a lecture sure to scorch the skin from his face. At the moment, he didn’t see any need to mention the problem to Colonel Mac. Not yet anyway.

“Jose on his way to Germany?” the colonel asked.

“Yes, sir. Left twenty minutes ago. He said to give you his regards. Sir, I plan on putting his name in for a medal, blue one with five stars on it.”

“And I plan on approving it.” He cleared his throat. “I know I asked a lot of you, but I’m afraid I had no other choice. Time was working against us.”

“No problem, sir. This is what we do. No complaints here, just questions.”

“Such as?”

“I was given the impression all American flights over Kyrgyzstan were banned. Did you or Colonel Weidman just order the flights anyway?”

“Wanna take that, Colonel?” Mac said.

“Sure.” Weidman sat at the back of the small theater-style room. “We had the blessing of President Oskonbaeva. He also ordered the military to the building with the bio-chem lab. It seems saving his daughter put him in a better mood.”

“Do we know who was behind the attack?” Pete asked.

“Our president has been in contact with his Kyrgyzstan counterpart. The dust has settled, but he’s starting to think his prime minister was behind everything. He was staging a coup without it looking that way. The riots, the protests were orchestrated to focus on key areas. The bio-chem attack would be blamed on the United States, forcing us to close the base. At this point we’re guessing, but our intel guys think he was after the three billion the Chinese offered the country if we got the boot, and he was going to get a hefty pile of cash for himself. That’s still speculation.”

“Where is he now?” A female voice said.

J. J. turned to see Amelia Lennon enter.

“Sorry to be late. Jildiz is quite the talker—when she can breathe. Oh, and she’s doing fine. Still confined to bed, but she’s getting the care she needs at the Embassy. Her parents are there keeping her company.”

“Any word on where the prime minister is now?” J. J. asked.

Colonel Mac said, “He took a helicopter from Ala-Too Square just like the president did, except this time the chopper went all the way out of the country: to China.”

“So he’s going to get away with it?” Amelia said.

Mac shook his head. “Word has it the Chinese will return the helo. They might return the prime minister with it.”

“Does that mean the base is safe?” Crispin asked.

“I doubt it,” Amelia said. “This country needs cash and lots of it. Three billion is serious money. Besides, those riots could have only been arranged if the locals really do want us gone. An influx of money from China and Russia and the removal of a sore spot from their land will probably prove too much for the president to resist.”