Pushing the Limit (18 page)

“He doesn’t want to put temptation in their hands,” he replied. “If anyone were to take off with the money instead of delivering it to the agreed regions, His Highness would be duty bound to find and punish those people, and he really doesn’t have the stomach for that.”

“I get that. There’s only one group of people I trust with something like that,” Matt said. “I think it’s time to put the band back together. Let me make one more call and then we can go find the others. I think it’s time to tell everyone what we know.”

While Matt was briefing them, coming clean on everything he knew, or suspected, Harry wondered how long he’d known about these things and been keeping them from her. It pissed her off to imagine he’d deliberately been keeping information close to his chest. If he’d been trying to protect her…

In the middle of explaining about MGL, he put his head in his hands and groaned. What was wrong with him? She looked at everyone else, who seemed equally concerned. Then he jumped up and started pacing.

“Matt? What is it?” Harry asked.

He stopped moving and looked at them all in silence as if making up his mind what to tell them. Harry scowled at him.

“It’s David. I just remembered something. Just after Malcolm was killed, he took me to his hotel, and while we were talking, he referred to him as ‘the old man.’ ”

There was silence in the room. Molly raised her hand and said, “I’m sorry. I don’t get it.”

“He’d never met Rapson. How would he know that he was an old man?”

There was silence in the room. Harry couldn’t believe that one of Danny and Matt’s friends was a bad guy, someone who would kill a harmless old man. As far as she remembered, all the old EOD boys had been thick as thieves. An ironic expression, now that she thought about it.

“We need a plan to get that money before Megellin-MGL Security do, and to make sure it gets back to the people who need it. I can’t bear the thought of an American company getting their hands on the Iraqi people’s money and… basically, I don’t really care about anything else now. No disrespect to your story,” she said, looking at Mueen.

“None taken. But there’s no point having a plan to distribute the money if we don’t have a plan to actually get the money and keep MGL away from it.”

“They have my maps,” Harry said. “I’m sorry I didn’t think about it before, but I’d realized they were missing from the laptop case just before we started getting shot at. Someone took them from my room, probably the same time Malcolm…”

Matt squeezed her hand, and the warmth settled her heart, made her feel protected. She fisted her other hand. No. She can’t let this happen. She couldn’t allow herself to rely on anyone else for comfort or… anything. She gently pulled her hand away from his.

“The map wasn’t plotted accurately, but it had the ballpark location of the geo-phys results. And—”
Crap
. She’d left her actual laptop in the trailer, too. “My laptop with all the exact coordinates is in the trailer. It’s password protected, but…”

“No password will be too much of a problem for a professional military security firm.” Matt nodded pensively, and then he straightened and gazed at them with the air of a commander. “I have a plan. We need to get out there. We need to move before they bring in their reinforcements. We need to secure that money.”

* * *

The call came about three hours later. Jenks had told him that the satellite does a full rotation around the earth every ninety minutes. To task it to exactly the right spot would take a little longer. They had two hours and twenty-three minutes to get everything ready. Matt had gotten everything in order, and he just hoped he’d thought of everything. David and Maggie, his ex–Military Intelligence friend, were the only two rogue elements to his plan. He set the timer on his watch. Really, they needed everything and everyone in place about five minutes before that. He’d just have to manage as best as he could.

This is what he lived for. How had he stayed in JPAC for so long? It fulfilled him like no other job had, but he had finally figured out that his brain and body worked better when he was neck-deep in shit. Plans and puzzles were clearer when adrenaline bathed his system in a wash of vitality. He didn’t regret a day he’d spent reuniting military families with their fallen heroes. But this was where he needed to be. If only for his own benefit. He hadn’t felt this alive since his EOD work before Danny died. It was like he’d been given a new lease on his professional life. And he intended to use that lease to its fullest.

Matt, Harry, Molly, and Mueen had all left in one vehicle to the staging area the sheik had arranged for them. He’d given a list of things he’d needed to Mueen, and he had miraculously procured all of them within a space of a couple of hours. Fuck if he knew what he was going to do about him. That was a question for later. If they managed to pull this off. The odds were stacked against them, but he was nothing if not determined. He looked around the truck. They all looked determined and excited. Talk about ragtag group of misfits: a combat airman, an archaeologist, a grad student, and a deserter. If he could have left the women at the house, he would have. But he needed them there.

He let Mueen drive, since he was Matt’s operations guy. Which was amusing in itself. Besides which, he seemed to be able to navigate the dunes and roads that had few if any distinguishing features. Also they had to arrive perpendicular to the staging area that the sheik had pulled strings to organize. To whoever was at Harry’s site, in the distance, all they would see was what would look like a series of Bedouin tents. They could arrive in the black Suburban without being seen.

Mueen slowed right down as they approached the tents, so as not to leave a trail of sand dust in the air. They got out of the truck quietly and slipped into the tent structure. It was empty of people, but they’d been provided food and water, as well as guns and ammo. Not good guns and ammo, but what looked like whatever they’d been able to collect in the last few decades. Some of the actions were rusty and unusable. Matt and Mueen got to figuring out which ones they could use.

“Please try to not kill anyone,” Molly said as she sat next to Harry and watched them check magazines and safeties.

Mueen ignored her, but Matt looked up. “That’s not the primary objective, obviously, but I hope you would rather we came back alive than they came for you alive?”

“Sure, sure,” she answered in a quiet voice.

“I think what she means is try not to shoot first and ask questions later,” Harry said, a frown furrowing her brow.

“You want the money, or do you want MGL to have the money?” he asked as he was slipping mags into his pockets.

She just stared at his orneriness, but he couldn’t help that. Not today. And God only knew if they had a tomorrow. His plan was… well, ballsy, and almost certain to fail unless all the moving parts worked exactly as he planned, which in real life was almost always never. But if they did have a tomorrow, he was going to get her, and keep her, come hell or high water.

Yeah, when this was all over…
Crap
, he couldn’t be distracted like this.
Mind on the game, Stanning.
He checked his watch. They had an hour now. No time to waste.

“You all ready?”

Molly and Harry nodded eagerly.

“Then let’s roll.”

Mueen had found the two-car patrol riding up the mile or so that accounted for both Harry’s and Malcolm’s sites. They stayed on the boundary road, and Matt guessed they’d been given orders not to disturb the sites.

Five of them walked to the site. The four of them plus one man leading a camel. It was the perfect camouflage; they were all dressed as Bedouins, or at least as Mueen said, how Westerners would expect them to look.

As they drew closer to Harry’s site, Matt nodded at her. When they passed the trailer, hiding them from the eyeline of the patrol, she and Molly peeled off and hid behind the trailer. Their mission was to retrieve the laptop, if it was still there. As they slowed next to the trailer, the extra man the sheik had provided pulled down their equipment from the camel and stacked it behind the trailer.

Mueen and Matt were going to neutralize the patrol one car at a time. That was the tricky part. It would be very obvious to the other car that one had stopped patrolling. But dressed as they were, they should be able to get close enough to at least get them to stop without seeming like a threat.

In order for Matt’s crazy plan to work, they had less than an hour to get everything prepared.

Matt checked his watch. “Ready to go, captain?”

“Roger that.” Mueen took the camel from his friend, and in a low voice told him to get back to the tents and wait for them. Mueen took a look at Matt as if they weren’t entirely sure they would make it back to the tents. Matt just grinned.

“Gotta go balls to the wall or go home,” he said to the pilot.

“Easy for you to say,” Mueen grumbled. “Here we go.” They were approaching the first black Suburban.

Matt stood in its way, with his head down. The driver sounded his horn but stopped, thanks no doubt to the camel. It was one thing to run down a man, a totally other thing to hit a camel.

Maneuvering the camel to hide his reach for the gun attached to the camel’s harness, Mueen went up to the vehicle as if to talk to them. While their attention was on Mueen, Matt ducked under the camel’s legs, and crouched down, he dug his knife into the Suburban’s front tire. He had to get them out of there because there was no other way to neutralize people in a bulletproof car. As soon as he was sure that the tire was deflating, he moved the camel, shielding himself from the car with it. Both Mueen and he walked past the vehicle slowly, watching as it tried to take off. If it had been on a road, it could have still driven well enough, but in sand, it was nonresponsive.

Matt slapped the camel on its behind, and it took off loping back toward the tents. Both men got out of the car, neither of them checking that Mueen and Matt had really walked past. Clumsy operatives. Matt shucked off his robe and pulled his weapon in front of him.

“Hey, guys?” he said.

They spun around, both reaching for their sidearms; one had his, and the other had an empty holster. Obviously he’d left it in the car, because Mueen had slipped in the open door and was waving it.

“Drop it,” Matt said calmly, pointing his weapon at the man who spat something in an unknown language at him.

The man dropped his weapon and put his hands on his head without Matt having to ask him. Nice.

“Company.” Mueen said.

Dammit. He was hoping it would take them a minute or so longer to realize something was going down with the other vehicle.

Before he could respond, the man with the beard and the sneer bent at the waist, placed his hands on the sand, and flung a foot out that missed Matt’s head by less than an inch but kicked the gun out of his hand. It had happened so fast, Matt had only managed to move that inch out of his way by leaning back, otherwise he’d probably have been unconscious as well as unarmed. Fuck that shit. Gun was out of reach, but then so was the other guy’s.

The man came at him with straight arms, like he was swinging swords, and it took Matt back a second. What the hell was he doing? Then as one of the guy’s forearms smashed into his face, he realized that the man had heavy-duty metal arm guards on. Light flashed in his eyes as his brain exploded under the blow. It was as if he’d been hit by a crowbar.

He lay dazed for a second before attempting to get up. The sun-bleached sand shifted and swirled around him. He managed to get on his hands and knees, but knew that if he didn’t get up, this was a perfect target for a…

The man kicked him hard in his ribs, and he went down again. This time he managed to roll under the Suburban, frustrating the foreign guy’s attempts at kicking him again.

He couldn’t see what Mueen was doing. He took a few breaths to try to eliminate the weird patterns of light in his eyes that were making it difficult to see anything. He rolled out the other side of the car before Iron Arms could find his gun again. He opened his eyes to see a black-clad man falling. He rolled again fast to avoid the man crashing on top of him. Mueen had delivered the same knockout punch that Matt had done on him.

“Get up, man. Stop dicking around. The other patrol is here,” Mueen said, offering a hand. Matt took it, not bothering to explain that he wasn’t hiding under the vehicle just for fun.

Gunshots erupted around them. Sand flew up as they dived behind the Suburban. “Are we allowed to shoot first and ask questions later if it’s clear they are?” Mueen asked.

“Okay by me,” Matt said, looking for his weapon. Mueen checked the clip in his. Then Matt looked into the car and laughed. No shit. He opened the truck, giving them an even bigger bulletproof shield. “Look.”

Like some good Suburban minivan, the trunk space had dividers so things wouldn’t roll around the back. Within each divider were guns. Lots of guns. With ammo. Mueen looked at his revolver and chucked it on the sand. He reached in for a SIG Sauer and checked the mag. “I might just love these guys,” Mueen said, sticking another under his waistband.

“They are certainly prepared for some kind of zombie apocalypse, that’s for sure,” Matt said, taking an M16 rifle.

There was a lull in the shooting. Car doors slammed. Okay, they were getting out of the car. Stupid, really stupid, but good for them. Matt checked his watch again. This might work.

He peeked out from behind the car, wishing he could open the side doors to get a bit more cover. Fuck. It was Maggie and David. He needed this to work, but he didn’t know if he could shoot in cold blood people he knew, regardless of their level of treachery.

“What’s the matter?” Mueen whispered.

“It’s David and Maggie.”

Mueen didn’t reply.

Matt took another look to see how close they were. Maggie shot at him, skimming the paintwork of the truck inches from his face. Yeah, he probably shouldn’t have pissed her off at breakfast.

David was shooting, too, but didn’t seem to be making contact. He was behind Maggie, who seemed hell-bent on making them both dead. Matt rolled around to the other side of the truck to see David better. He seemed to be laughing. And then he waved at Matt.

“What the…?”

David leveled his weapon and shot. It made a noise, but nothing hit the truck. Then he laughed again and pointed his weapon at Maggie and shot at her.

Maggie kept shooting toward the rear of the car.

Matt stood away from the car so that David could see him but Maggie couldn’t. He was still laughing. He shot at Matt again, then pointed the weapon at his own head and fired. Nothing. He’d been firing blanks, but his mag must be empty of even those. Suddenly the unscuffed Suburban from the morning made sense.

Maggie looked back at David for a second, and he straightened his face and aimed his weapon downrange again. She turned her attention back to Matt and Mueen, pulled out another extended mag, and continued to shoot at them. Shit. She was like the Terminator. She turned around to check David, just as he was pretending to take aim at her. She didn’t hesitate; she swiveled, and took aim at David.

Matt stood out from the side of the Suburban and positioned his rifle at eye level. He took a breath and winged her on the arm as she took a shot at David. Just enough to put her down and render her trigger hand unusable. As soon as she dropped, he brought up his gun to David. “Hold it right there.”

David immediately tossed his empty gun to the sand and held his hands out to the side. “She shot me.”

“Shut up,” Matt said, ignoring him and approaching Maggie. “Hey Mags, how ya doin’?”

“Fuck you.” She ground out, holding on to her arm. Well, he figured that was one for Harry, since it was obvious that one of Maggie’s bullets had caused her wound. He looked back at Mueen, who was still holding the other guys at gunpoint. He frisked Maggie quickly and found a flick knife and a small Baretta at her ankle. He pocketed those and made his way to David, who was still standing. David opened his mouth.

“I am not talking to you, you fucking traitor,” Matt said.

“Oh, come on, Boomer. I did all but take out a skywriter to tell you we were fucking with you.” David’s hand was stemming the weak flow of blood.

“What are you talking about?” Matt said, ripping his button-down off to wrap around his leg.

“I made sure your woolen socks to the west and your hangers were all messed up so you knew we’d searched your room. I all but left pointers to the bug… Told you I was keeping my
ear
to the
ground
. I had orders. I couldn’t come out and tell you you were under surveillance. My people don’t take too kindly to those who disobey direct orders. Not kindly at all.”

“You killed a man. An old professor who was nothing to do with this. I know you did; you called him an old man before you’d even heard of him.” Matt deliberately yanked the makeshift bandage around his legs, making David groan in pain.

“I didn’t. Those fucking Eastern Europeans did.” He looked back at the men Mueen was tying up. “They take photos of their kills. Yeah”—he groaned and leaned against Matt for a second—“they have a portfolio of people they killed to… I guess to prove they did the job. Like some kind of show-and-tell.”

Relief washed over Matt. Everything he said made sense. Then he caught a whiff of… “Dude, are you drunk right now?”

“I hope so. God, I hope so.” He hung his head and shut up.

Matt put an arm under his and led him back to David’s Suburban. He shoved him in the backseat, but as he was about to slam the door on him, he said, “Watch out… she’s on the move. And she has the keys to the truck.”

Matt turned. Maggie was already almost to the trailer. Harry. Molly.
Fuck
.

Shit. Matt looked at his watch. They were nearly out of time.

* * *

While Matt and Mueen had distracted the patrols, Molly and Harry crept into the trailer. It wasn’t empty.

“Jason?” Molly exclaimed. “What the hell?”

He was sitting on the cooler, hunched over Harry’s laptop. He was also crying. “I can’t… I can’t get in. I don’t know your password.”

“Why are you trying to get into my laptop?” Harry said.

“Katherine told me I had to. She said she’d come back and kill me if I didn’t. She’s out there. Except. How did you get in without her seeing you? I’m going to die, aren’t I?” His face creased up as if he was about to wail like a baby.

Molly and Harry exchanged looks. “It’s okay, Jason. I’m here now,” Harry said, trying to calm him down.

He didn’t seem to hear her. He jumped off the cooler and made a beeline for the small window. “Oh my God. She’s coming.” He looked at the women with a desperate expression on his face. Then he turned back to the window. “She’s coming.” His voice quavered. “You’ve got to get me out of here.

“What’s so scary about an archaeologist?” Harry asked. “I do remember right that she was in Professor Rapson’s team, don’t I?” Even as she said the words, she remembered that neither Molly nor she had ever seen a woman on his team.

“She told me I’d get rich. She said that her company would pay me fifty thousand dollars for your map. I thought it was harmless.” His eyes were glued to the window. “I thought she liked me.”

Harry stood behind him trying to see who it was. A woman in black headed toward them, clasping her arm. She turned to Molly.

“I’m guessing she came from one of the patrol cars.”

“She has a gun. More than one. She…” Jason’s chin quivered. “She put it in my mouth and pulled the trigger. Said she’d keep going until she found the one bullet with my name on it unless I’d help her.”

Harry looked around the trailer. “We need to find a weapon. I don’t know if she knows we are here.”

Molly started looking through the empty cupboards that they never thought to stock with anything. Nothing. She turned and shrugged wordlessly.

“Okay, this will have to do.” Harry banged on the bottom of the cupboard shelves until they popped up. “We will shelve her if we have to,” Harry said, trying to inject a little levity into the near-death situation. No one laughed. She didn’t blame them.

“Don’t leave me alone with her. Please,” Jason begged.

Molly rolled her eyes at him and Harry could tell she was wondering what she’d ever seen in the man. “Don’t worry, Jason. I brought you here, I’m going to be sure to take you back with me.”

The first shot came through the side of the trailer and passed directly between Harry and Molly. They both jumped and looked at the hole it left in the rear of the trailer behind them. Then they dived for the floor. Molly grabbed Jason and pulled him down. So much for the shelving they were going to give her.

The door burst open and she stood there with a tiny gun that obviously packed a big punch. She stepped inside, and all three of the real archaeologists scrambled to each other and sat on the floor watching her. She pressed her gun to Harry’s head. She didn’t say anything, just stared at the open doorway and waited.

Harry didn’t dare move. Her whole body went cold from the outside in, and she wondered whether she’d ever see her home again.