Noble Intentions: Season Three (33 page)

“Last chance, Mason,” Jon said.

Sasha stepped in front of Jon’s
gun. “You can’t do this. There’s nothing to back this up.”

“Bloody hell there’s not.”

Sasha said, “We’ve been on him for
the last twelve months. There’s nothing. He’s clean.”

“What do you mean, you’ve been on
me? You’ve been watching me?” Mason said.

“He probably knows about Joe,” Jon
said.

“He’s not responsible for what his
partner’s done. We’ve got no proof he’s involved in any way.”

“I’ll get my proof.” Jon pushed her
aside and placed the barrel of his gun to Mason’s forehead.

Jack felt that he should stop the
man, but he didn’t. He had lingering doubts about Mason, and this was sure to
clear it up. As long as Jon didn’t actually pull the trigger.

“What did Joe do?” Mason asked.

No one spoke. Mason looked at them
all in turn. His gaze remained on Jack. He didn’t look frightened. He looked
confused. And the puzzled look on his face deepened.

“Someone want to tell me what my
partner did? I don’t have a damn clue what’s going on here. I thought we were
all good guys here going to get the bad guy.”

Jon lifted his gun and took a step
back. He looked toward Sasha and shrugged.

“Mason,” she said. “Joe was at the
hotel the day Jack arrived in London. He was also there the days the bombs went
off.”

“What? No, he’s been on a fishing
trip. It’s what he does with his time off.”

Sasha said, “I’ve been in his home.
He doesn’t even have a fishing pole. How well do you really know him?”

Mason said nothing. As Jack
recalled Mason’s files tucked away in the man’s desk, he realized that life had
begun kicking the guy in the balls two years ago and had rarely let up. All the
signs of a corrupt partner might have been there, but he would have missed
them. Jack figured that by the look on the guy’s face, he saw them now.

Jon looked toward the front of the
van and nodded. Alex stepped out. He approached Mason, said, “I’m sorry about
that. We had to be sure.”

Mason nodded, looked away. Jack saw
the anger on the man’s face. He didn’t blame the guy for being pissed off. Here
you had a man who’d not only dedicated his life to his country, he put it on
the line every day to protect those who couldn’t. And now he had to suffer the
indignity of being accused of being a traitor. Someone who worked with
terrorists. Jack figured they were lucky Mason didn’t pull his weapon and take
one of them out.

“So what now?” Jack said.

“We go to the house,” Alex said.

“We?” Jack said.

“That’s right.”

“No, you need to head back to
someplace where you’ll be safe.”

“I can’t think of any place safer
than around this group of misfits. Right, Jon?”

Jon said, “You know I’m doing this
under protest.” He walked off toward the front of the van.

“He’s not happy about this, but
dammit, I’m tired of sitting around and signing papers and watching the news
and listening to my cabinet bicker. I’m a soldier, Jack. I need to be in the
middle of the action. This son of a bitch threatened my city, my country, my
life. I want to see him humbled, on the ground, crying. I want to press the
muzzle of my rifle to his forehead and watch him beg me for mercy.”

The look in Alex’s eye told Jack
that no one would be able to get him to change his mind. Jack had seen that
look dozens of times in the past. It’d had been a look that had crossed his own
face, usually right before some of the biggest triumphs, and mistakes, he’d
ever had.

“We should get going,” Sasha said.
“We’ve got no idea what we’re heading into and it’d be good to scout the
surrounding area in the daylight.”

So Jack got back in the van and parked
himself next to Bear. Mason and Sasha sat in the middle. Alex yelled for Jon to
join them, and he did. Mason still looked pissed, stayed that way for the next half
hour. He’d brought Naseer’s head to them on a plate, and his thanks was a gun
aimed point blank at his face in the middle of the woods.

Bear and Jack made small talk. They
had a lot to catch up on still. Both of their lives had been a whirlwind since the
day Jack found Mandy lost in the city.

Two hours later, Sasha turned in
her seat and told them that they were close.

“These people that live here have
no idea the demon that lurks in the dark, do they?” Jack said.

She shook her head. “I’ve been sent
some satellite imagery, looks like the property is pretty isolated. There’s a
stretch of woods behind the house that extends fully along the property line
and is a half-mile deep. We’ll likely approach from there while we have men
stationed at points along the road, as well as across from the front of the
property.”

“How many inside?”

She looked at Mason. “Five? Six?”

Mason nodded. “We believe at least
four, up to six.”

“So we should plan for eight,” Jack
said.

They both nodded.

“How big is your team?” Jack said.

“Eight men,” Mason said. “These
guys aren’t desk jockeys. So combined with us, it should be plenty.”

They drove for a while longer. They
all paid attention to the intersections. Jon turned down several roads, located
ones that ran into dead ends. They began to map out possible escape routes.

Jon pointed to a store ahead on the
left. “I’m going to pull in there. We’ll grab some food and water.”

The van bounced across the uneven
parking lot, eased into a spot. Alex leaned his seat back, covered the side of
his face. Probably best that he not be spotted out here. If the media showed
up, Naseer would split.

Jack scanned the lot and the store.
A man approached the door from the other side of the slightly tinted glass.

“Get out of here,” he said.

“What?” Jon asked.

“Now.”

“Why?”

“Put the van in reverse and get
moving.”

“Jack, what is it?” Sasha said.

Jack pointed at the man exiting the
store.

“That’s Owen! Go! Now!”

Jon threw the van into reverse, hit
the accelerator, and whipped the steering wheel to the right. Gravel pelted the
undercarriage. Dust kicked up and created a haze around the car. Rubber and
pavement fought one another. The van flew back, jerked to a stop, then whipped
forward. They exited the parking lot and turned onto the road without slowing.
Jack was sure they were riding on two wheels for a few seconds.

“Well, that didn’t look
suspicious,” Bear said.

Jack had a laugh, then shook his
head. They were too close to Naseer’s hideout and the moment of attack for
jokes. At least, he had to make it look that way.

Jon drove on and made a series of
turns and then pulled off the road into a clearing between two groups of trees.
They remained seated in silence for a few moments. Ragged breathing filled the
void.

Sasha pulled out her phone and
placed a call. She asked for ongoing satellite surveillance. She wanted to know
whether or not their arrival had been tipped to Naseer and his men after Jon’s
driving escape clinic. Sasha’s contact told her that there was no new activity
at the house and they’d continue to monitor.

“We’ve got a couple hours till
dark,” Jon said. “I’d suggest we lay low here.”

And so they did. One hundred and
twenty minutes passed without a word spoken. Bear slept. Jack dozed on and off.
He didn’t pay much attention to the others. When the time came, Jon started the
van and slipped it into gear and they drove off to meet Mason’s tactical team.

They exchanged information with the
eight agents. The team had brought several maps of the area. They all confirmed
assignments and details, and then they split up.

Mason had one final thing to say
before he left with his team. “Naseer must be taken alive.”

An hour later, Jack and Bear and
Sasha trekked through the dark woods behind the house. Two members of Mason’s
team were a hundred yards or so to their left. Alex and Jon were a hundred or
so to the right.

Jack saw the signature of white
bursts lights through the trees. He lifted his night vision goggles, confirmed
it.

“We should get low,” he said. “They
might have thermals aimed out here.”

If they did, it wouldn’t matter
whether they were standing straight up or laying on the ground. The group of
them would give off a giant heat signature.

“We should split up,” Sasha said.

“No,” Jack said.

“Why not? We’re easy targets all
together.”

“And easy targets split up, if
someone comes at us from behind for a close range kill.”

They lowered to the ground when the
edge of the woods came into view. They halted there. Jack and Bear set up their
M4 rifles. They split coverage at the back door. Bear had the right, Jack the
left. Next to him, Sasha monitored the surrounding area.

Masons’ voice piped in through
Jack’s earwig. “We’re preparing to surround the house. So far, we have
confirmation of Naseer, Samir, and Yafi inside. No sign of anyone else.
Checkpoints, do you have anything to report?”

Two voices spoke one after another
indicating that they had seen nothing.

Jon said, “In position.”

Sasha said, “We’re in position.”

“OK. Moving in.”

Jack might as well have been in a
vacuum. That’s how the silence that followed caused him to feel.

His mind drifted. He wondered about
their safety in the woods, and when they had to cross the field to the house.
Had someone ever rigged it with traps or explosives? Sasha told him they had
checked for deed information on the house and found nothing. They had no idea
who owned it. How could people that high up in the government not be able to
locate this kind of information? Perhaps it was a generational ownership thing.
Something that didn’t exist in the U.S.

An icy chill trickled down his
spine. What if this was a set up? What if his indecisiveness on Mason came back
to bite them all here and now?

A flash of light appeared at the
back of the house. Jack inched closer to the M4’s scope. He peered through, saw
that the back door had been opened. Two men stepped out. The frame of the first
matched Naseer, but there was not enough light for Jack to verify facial
features. The second man lifted his hand, a smaller burst of light flashed
between the two. This was followed by two smaller dots that became bright when
the men brought their hands to their faces. A few moments later, Jack smelled
cigarette smoke.

Could there be a worse possible
moment for him to be reminded that he’d recently quit?

Next to him, Sasha eased herself to
the ground. She kept a pair of ATN Night Scout night vision binoculars pressed
to her face. Her head turned on a swivel, scanned one end of the field to the
other.

“Empty,” she whispered.

Jack lifted his head an inch or
two, then settled. He eased his eye to the scope. Steady hands drew aim on
Naseer. Sure, they were to take him alive, but things rarely go according to
plan. If it came down to it, he would not hesitate to pull the trigger and end
the man’s life.

He felt Sasha shift and brush
against his side. Instantly, his head rose and he began scanning the area
around them.

Sasha cursed under her breath.

“What?” Bear said.

“Two men, roving patrol, off to the
east.”

Jack looked to his left, saw two
shadowy figures fifty yards in front of them. He pulled his night vision
monocular down. The men looked like pros. They were armed with sub-machine
guns. Jack and Bear and Sasha waited in silence. No one moved. The men
continued past them.

“Call it in,” Jack said.

Sasha whispered over the radio.
“We’ve got a patrol unit in the field between us and the house. They’re armed
to the teeth and heading your way, Jon. If there’s one, there could be more.”

“We’re sending two guys your way,”
Mason said. “Sit tight. Do not engage these men. We’ll neutralize them.”

The radio went silent, so did the
woods. The men on the porch went back inside the house.

“You know any attempt to neutralize
these men is going to result in gunfire,” Jack said.

“Yep,” Bear said.

“And that is going to make a
surprise raid on the house a little less effective.”

“Unless they are planning to do
both at once.”

“Without telling us?” Sasha said.

“Or they’re coming after us,” Bear
said.

“Or the Prime Minister,” Jack said.

“I’ll go.” Bear rose and then
disappeared into the darkness.

“How’s he so quiet?” Sasha said.

“I’ll never figure it out,” Jack
said.

“What’s he going to do?”

“Warn them. Let them know something
doesn’t add up.” Jack glanced at her. “You any good with that rifle?”

“I’ve managed to hit a target or
two over the years.”

“All right, get ready. I’m not sure
what, but something is going down soon.”

And it did. Less than three minutes
later, the first shots were fired. They came from the right. The patrol team
had been neutralized. But the gunfire didn’t end there. As Jack had expected,
Mason led the raid on the house at the same time. Several shots erupted from
across the field. Dark windows burst like fireworks and faded back to black.
Shouts rode the wind. Men barked orders.

Then it was over.

Mason spoke over the radio. “All
teams except checkpoint come to the house. Move with extreme caution. Mind the
fields for any patrols.”

Jack and Sasha rose and took a line
that angled to the right. Their path would intersect with Bear, Jon and Alex.
Jack refused to enter the house without knowing that the men were unharmed.

Jack kept his focus on the house.
Sasha watched the field surrounding them. Halfway between the woods and the
house, they met up with the other men.