Jungle Inferno (21 page)

Tia nodded. “So then I tried to figure what other kinds of things go on down there that would merit covert operations, something that would be the basis for a good plot for you.” She slid another sheet to the top of the pile. “This wasn’t connected to Special Ops, at least in specific stories. But there’s growing concern about the rise of Al Qaeda in Peru. Experts—whoever they are—claim they’re stepping in to fill the terrorist void left by the decline of Shining Path and one other group, a smaller one. Faith, this stuff scares the shit out of me. Surely you aren’t thinking of getting involved in this.” Faith pulled the paper over closer to her, ignoring Tia’s words. “This says they’ve been responsible for small terrorist activities but their activities are escalating. The assumption is they’ll use this is a launching pad to move north through the rest of South and Central America and up to the States.” She sat back in her chair. “Jesus.”

“Jesus is right.” Tia quirked an eyebrow at her. “Is this what you were looking for?”

“Maybe more. We need to find out if Delta Force, the Army’s Special Ops division, would be sent down there to handle anything like this.”

But I know they would. That’s why Mark and his team were there. And these people are
known for horrific torture. Oh God, Mark. I need help here.

“Faith.” Tia put her hand on Faith’s arm. “I know how you immerse yourself in your stories. Do not go off to Peru where you are very likely to get yourself killed.”
But Mark is there. If I don’t do something, he’s the one who’ll be killed.

“All right. I can see you aren’t paying one bit of attention to my warning. Why did I think you would?” Tia refilled their cups with hot tea from the ceramic pot. “But I’ve done my part. Now I think it’s time for you to come clean with me. Why the sudden change of plot? Abigail has to be having a fit.”

Faith laughed, the first taste of humor she’d had in two days. “Abigail’s fits are legendary but she gets over them.”

“But you have a reason for this, Faith,” Tia insisted. “I know you too well.” Faith stared at the woman who’d worked with her for ten years now. Tia was more than an assistant. She was a friend, a confidant, a one-person support group. But in all this time Faith had never revealed anything to her about her special abilities. Or The Lotus Circle. Or how Aunt Vivi had helped her all these years. Somehow she’d always had the feeling Tia would look at her as too weird and it would fracture a wonderful friendship.

But now, maybe she was left with no choices. She’d gotten nowhere at Fort Bragg and no one else would believe one word of what she had to say. She pushed the remains of her food around on her plate, trying to find a starting point.

“Just let it out, Faith.” Tai leaned toward her. “Whatever it is, it can’t be worse than keeping it inside. And maybe I can help.”

Refilling her tea cup, Faith took a calming breath and began her story.

* * * * *

“We won’t get shit out of Fort Bragg.”

Rick stomped into the cabin seconds after the helicopter set down and tossed his sport coat on a chair. He wanted to wring someone’s neck with his bare hands. At the same time, he understood the frustrating position Colonel Ryan and Major Gregorio were in but that didn’t solve the problem. No, that would be left to Phoenix to do. And damn soon.

“I take it the visit didn’t go the way you expected?” Dan asked.

“Actually, it did. That’s the problem. I wish I could blame those guys but someone on top is sitting on this whole thing.”

Rick related his conversation with the two officers almost verbatim, doing his best to control his own irritation with the political red tape that hamstrung them. He wanted to blame someone but logically that would be the traitor who’d leaked the mission. So he simply passed along what had been said and waited for a response.

Dan handed him a cold drink. “Joey was awake for a while, a bit more lucid and able to give us some more information. Let me show you.” He bent over the map on the table, his finger tracing a line to a spot marked with a pen. “The team landed at Iquito.

It’s well known in Peru the terrorists base themselves there. They chose a place accessible only by air or water, easily protected and just as easily defended. No surprise attacks for them to worry about. Except the one from SpecOps.”

“Did they do a helo drop? And wasn’t that a little dangerous? The noise of the bird alone would have warned these people someone was coming.” Mike, who had been standing to the side, shook his head. “Iquito’s a port on the Amazon. That means there are a lot of places for water landings. The helo dropped them and a Zodiac at night far enough downriver from the target spot. They moved up while it was still dark, ditched the boat and set up the comm gear at the extraction point.”

Dan picked up the thread again. “By the time the helo would return it wouldn’t matter who heard them. Except the tangos were ready for them. Joey got into position, the others moved forward and all holy hell broke loose.”

“Okay.” Rick’s finger moved over the surface of the map. “Next question. If this was a temporary spot, where’s their permanent encampment? Someplace they could train, also.”

“That’s the rub,” Mike answered. “There’s about five different spots an hour or two away from there. We have to figure out which is the one. And do it quickly.”

“Yeah.” Troy walked in from the bedroom. “Joey’s very uptight about what kind of hell they’ll be putting Halloran through. They’ll want to know who told about this meeting so they can do their own cleanup.”

“One more thing.” Dan’s jaw was set and a muscle jumped in his cheek. “There was someone meeting with the tangos, I think the real target of this little exercise.” He looked around the table. “The meet was to conduct business with the Wolf.” The tension in the room ratcheted up several notches. The men knew the Wolf too well by reputation. The most prolific arms dealer in the world and supplier to every terrorist group with the bucks to pay him. In Central and South America, drug money provided an endless bank account to purchase an inexhaustible supply of weapons. He alone had been proven to be the supplier for the firepower in the worst of the Al Qaeda attacks as well as arming the rebels in several third world countries. In South America he sold to both the drug cartels and the guerillas, creating circumstances that put the government troops at risk on two fronts.

Whoever talked about him did so in whispers. Disloyalty was, in his mind, the worst crime of all. It was rumored he’d personally shot his own wife because he thought she’d betrayed him to one of his enemies. He would go to any lengths to learn who had told the United States government about his meeting with
El Serpiente
. If he thought Mark Halloran could tell him, hell would be a more pleasant place for the captured soldier.

Mike broke the tense silence. “We have to get this going ASAP.”

“But not until we have every bit of information,” Dan told them, “and know exactly what we’re doing. It won’t do Halloran any good if we get shot too.”

“I’ll boot up the Dragon and get everything I can,” Troy said.

The Phoenix and the Dragon were Chinese good luck symbols and seemed appropriate for their organization. Dragon was their very sophisticated computer system with the ability to tap into anything anywhere. Phoenix had seemed appropriate since it rose from the ashes of too much war and too many disappointments.

“Remember, guys,” Dan went on. “This is why Phoenix was formed in the first place. To do things the government couldn’t even consider. Off the books missions that needed doing. And to service corporations that couldn’t approach normal organizations. That’s never been truer for us than right now.”

“Rick.” Mike looked at the tall man staring through the bedroom door at his brother. “Did you get hold of that woman yet?”

“Negative. We’ve been exchanging voice mail messages.”

“Do it,” Dan told him. “I have an itch at the back of my neck that tells me she’s more involved in this than just someone looking for an interview.”

“You think this is someone who knows Mark? Why wouldn’t she use his name?” Dan shrugged. “Could be he never discussed us with her. Why would he?”

“I guess for the same reason all he told us about the woman he’s lost his mind over is her nickname. The less anyone knows about his life, the harder it is for anyone to get at him. He’s all about keeping people safe.”

“Well, now it’s time to take the lid off the pots. Find out who she is. She could be someone trying to get information on us and if we’re going to do exactly what we’re planning.”

“That would mean someone’s actually admitting they pulled the switch on this.” Mike’s voice was heavy with anger.

“We could sit here and speculate all day,” Dan commented, “and get nothing done.

Troy, set up the Dragon and ride its tail. Rick, talk to this woman. Mike, you and I will go over this map again with Joey and expand what we know as soon as Troy gets something for us.” He rapped his knuckles on the table. “Let’s do it.”

* * * * *

The day had not gone well for Mr. Brown and Mr. Green. They’d done a few things they thought would give Faith Wilding at least second thoughts about whatever she was doing but they all depended on her being home, which hadn’t happened yet. They needed her to check her email and answering machine. And their boss didn’t think too much of their plan. Too many holes, he said.

Now his voice was pounding in Green’s ear.

“What you want to do takes far too much time. We can’t wait to see if you frighten her. And from what I’ve learned about her, she’s one determined bitch, anyway. Get it done.”

Green laughed, an unpleasant sound. “We can’t exactly walk up to her house and shoot her.”

“Be inventive.” The voice was nasty. “That’s what I pay you for. And while you’re sitting on your asses there and making empty gestures,” the voice snapped, “I promise you she’s stirring the waters any place she can. Get her out of it before someone takes her seriously.”

“How do you know they haven’t already?” Mr. Green asked.

“So far we’ve only got kicking and screaming from one source and I’ve gotten it squashed. All the way down the line. We’re keeping as tight a lid on this as possible but there’s always some rogue out there who wants to be a Boy Scout. And I certainly don’t want her connecting with Latrobe’s brother.”

“You’re sure that’s who made the snatch?”

“I feel it in my bones. Right now I just see it as a former military person who’s overreacting to those negative reports about Walter Reed. Wants to keep his brother close and doesn’t trust anyone. We need to make sure that’s all it is. That somehow this woman hasn’t gotten to him.” The voice was like a sharp icicle.

“I thought you could find out anything about anyone,” Green said resentfully.

There was a long, empty silence. Green thought maybe the other man had hung up when the hard voice spoke again. “There are some people who know the government so well they can protect themselves from it. Unfortunately.”
Well, well. The great man has found a pie he can’t stick his fingers in.

“So what would you have us do?”

“We know she flew back to San Antonio today. Go there. Dispose of her and I mean dispose. Forget your stupid plan. Let people think she’s still traveling. Figure out how to accomplish that. Call me when it’s done.”

“But—”

“Don’t give me any more of your crap. Quit stalling and do it. And I don’t want it coming back to me, you hear me?”

“Yes, sir.” Green snapped his phone shut and stared at it. He felt a major case of indigestion coming on. He was about to do something for which he was long out of practice and mistakes would not be tolerated.

“Well?” he partner asked, impatient with the whole thing.

“We’re out of time. His Highness wants this taken care of right now and all evidence swept under the rug.”

Brown snorted. “Easier said than done. Doesn’t he know that?”

“He doesn’t care.”

“So what do we do?”

Green popped a Tums in his mouth. “We get on a plane and go to Texas.”

* * * * *

“That’s quite a story.” Tia finished the last of her tea and wiped her mouth very carefully with a paper napkin.

“But not one you believe,” Faith commented, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Was this where she and Tia would part company? Where her friend would say she couldn’t work for someone this crazy? On the other hand, she hadn’t leaped up from the table, a look of total disbelief on her face.

“On the contrary. I know a lot about psychic powers. My grandmother had them.” Faith’s eyes popped open. “She did?”

“Yes. She could sense things before they happened.” Tia balled her napkin and threw it on the table. “The family blamed her for a lot of things that weren’t her fault because of that. I wish she’d had something like The Lotus Circle to help her. She could have used the support.”

“Aunt Vivi and her friends have been lifesavers,” Faith sighed. “I don’t know what I’d do without them. And they’ve really helped me with this situation.”

“So all those attacks you’ve had, or whatever you want to call them, have been you empathizing Mark’s pain?”

“Yes. God, Tia, I know he’s in agony. I can’t even begin to imagine the kind of torture he’s going through. What I feel is just empathetic pain. His is the real thing. I don’t understand how he’s even holding on.”

“He’s strong, kiddo. Men like Mark outdo us all.”

“Yes but where do I go from here? I have to get help from someone.” Tia began clearing away the debris of their food. “Your friend, Senator Winslow, couldn’t help you?”

Faith made a sound of disgust. “Trey Winslow won’t do anything that would compromise his image or his position.”

Whatever Tia was going to say next was interrupted by the ringing of the cell phone, which Faith had placed on the counter.

“I’ll check your emails,” Tia mouthed and headed for the den.

“Miss Wilding?”

Faith frowned. The voice was unfamiliar. “Yes. Who is this?”

“Rick Latrobe.”

“Rick?”

“You seem to know me as Eric but I haven’t used that name since I enlisted.”