Salty Sky

1

THE THREE MEN
exited the side doors before the skids bent the grass. Heads ducked and backpacks jostling, they ran up the hill, ascended the granite steps, and disappeared into the villa.

Alone in the pilot seat, Cale radioed the ship, “This is Flyer. We are on-site. Seeker is on the move. Over.”

“This is HQ,” the response came. “Roger that. Any surprises? Over.”

“This is Flyer. No. Grounds appear empty. Over.”

“This is HQ. Roger that. Flyer, power down and keep updates coming. Seeker, do you have radio contact? Over.”

“This is Seeker. Roger that. We’re inside. No sign of life. Fifteen minutes to objective complete. Over.”

“This is HQ. Roger that. We’ll stand by for updates. Over.”

Cale powered down the bird. He looked west across the Caribbean, toward an unseen Panama. The equatorial sun raced behind the sea. Minutes before, it had been almost directly overhead. Cale took his headgear off and flipped the radio control to the handheld. With the back door open, he listened beyond the tropical soundscape for human sounds while visualizing the start-up procedure and flight path he would use in a few minutes for takeoff.

The radio broke in, “This is Seeker. We’ll come out of the west wing on the main level. Five minutes. Over.”

Cale checked his watch, then picked up the speaker, “This is Flyer. Roger that. I’ll fire up when I see you exit. By the time you cover the 100 yards to me, we’ll be ready for liftoff. Over.”

The approaching darkness was beaten back as lights flickered on along a low stone wall that stretched out a hundred yards on either side of the helicopter and ran down the driveway. With a jolt of adrenaline, Cale pulled his sidearm. His eyes scanned back and forth. Without looking down, he picked up the handheld. “This is Flyer. Exterior lights have turned on out here. I don’t see anyone moving outside. Do you have someone inside? Over.”

“This is Seeker. No movement inside. But this is a big place. Over.”

“This is HQ. These lights turn on every night—some type of timer or photocell. Over.”

Slightly more at ease, Cale set his firearm in the empty copilot seat and resumed rehearsing takeoff, listened for alarming noises, and scanned the area for movement. He checked his watch—two minutes to Seeker’s exit. He began to focus on the area of the villa where the men would come out. The glaring lights between him and the doorway blurred his sightline.

The sound of a combustion engine caught Cale’s ear. He paused for a second to confirm the sound, then picked the radio back up. “This is Flyer. I hear a car. Over.”

“This is Seeker. Roger that. We’re done. Heading out now. Over.”

“This is Flyer. Roger that. I see moving lights hitting the trees coming up the driveway. Recommend you change exit to lower level. Over.”

“This is Seeker. Roger that. We’re standing inside the doorway until we identify the bogey. We can see the lights coming into the drive now. Over.”

“This is HQ. Roger that. You have permission to go ‘weapons live’ at your discretion. Over.”

“This is Seeker. Roger that. Over.”

“This is Flyer. Roger that. Over.”

Cale had never heard that particular authorization before, and his fingers trembled slightly as he reset the handheld. He made sure all lights were off in the helicopter. Whoever pulled up might not look toward the field or, at a glance, might not notice the helicopter’s dark shape against the darkened field.

A convertible followed by a Range Rover pulled onto the stones in front of the villa’s west entrance. Thankfully, the headlights shined at the entrance and neither car cut their lights off. Behind the lights, Cale saw a man in white get out of the driver’s seat of the convertible, slide across the hood, and open the passenger door for a woman in a long dress. Four men in black stepped out of the Range Rover. Two of them hurried ahead of the couple, and the other two fell in line behind them.

“This is Seeker. We’re going downstairs and will come out below. Over.”

“This is Flyer. Roger that. I’ll fire up once all six of this party are inside or I see you exit. Over.”

Feeling highly visible, Cale watched the party move toward the entrance. The first pair of bodyguards entered the villa and immediately redirected the others back out. They must have either seen Seeker’s team or noticed the ordnance wiring. Cale could hear the group’s shouts in Spanish as they headed back toward the vehicles. Then one of the guards pointed a hand in his direction. Another one ran to the Range Rover and started it. He drove off the drive and down the stone walkway’s entrance through the wall.

No more need for quiet. Cale flipped on the rotors. The blades’
whump-whump-whump
started up. Cale caught a glimpse of Seeker’s
team coming out of the lower level as the bouncing SUV accelerated and turned onto the grass toward the helicopter.

When it became apparent that the Range Rover was the weapon Cale needed to worry about, he dove out the back of the helicopter and tumbled onto the grass. When the SUV hit it, the helicopter’s cockpit crumbled. The spinning rotors tore open the cabin of the SUV and then lodged into its side. The evil sound of metal grinding on metal overwhelmed the night air.

When the noise stopped, Cale reversed course and made his way to what was previously the belly of the helicopter, now on its side. He reached for his sidearm and found an empty holster. He could still hear the radio chatter coming from the cockpit.

“This is Seeker. We’ve been spotted. Preparing for a firefight. Flyer’s chopper is disabled. Not sure of Flyer’s status. Over.”

“This is HQ. Roger that. We’ll have another bird airborne in five minutes, be there in ten. Over.”

“This is Seeker. Roger that. If we see signs of life from Flyer we’ll engage. If not, we’ll stay hidden until you arrive. Over”

Cale heard the car door open. He reasoned that if the door slammed shut again, the driver would come around the wreck from the left; if it stayed open, the driver would circle around the back and come from the right. Cale looked at his watch. Two seconds passed in the Indiglo light, and no door slammed, so Cale crouched low and moved right. He hoped to keep the wreck between him and the driver. He made it around the side of the SUV in time to see a heel pass the far corner of the helicopter.

He looked into the open doors of the SUV. The keys were in the ignition. He briefly thought about driving off, but he couldn’t free the SUV from the wrecked helicopter before being shot. He could see the other four men and the woman crouching behind the stone wall, alternating looks between the villa and the wreck. He couldn’t circle around the SUV without being seen. He doubted anyone could
hit him with a pistol from that distance, but being in the open would further compromise him.

From behind the wall, he saw a flash of light and then heard the long unmistakable
tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat
of an Uzi. With an Uzi they could hit him from that distance, and they only needed one out of the sixty shots per second to do the job. The gun, at that moment, was directed toward Seeker’s team. He heard but couldn’t see the return fire
pop-pop
-break-
pop-pop
of the semiautomatic pistols the team carried. Cale slid feet first under the SUV, uncertain how the driver would respond to the gunfire. Cale looked out from under the open door.

Tentative feet turned the corner, retreated, and then came back into view. They quickly strode to the SUV. Both feet stopped and spread out to shoulder width just in front of Cale. He heard the
thunk
of the driver’s gun settling on the car’s roof as he prepared for a side shot at Seeker’s team.

In one motion, Cale pulled both of the shooter’s ankles under his chest as he slid out from under the car. He heard a shot and the immediate ricochet as the bullet bounced off the rotors above them and into the SUV.

The driver let out an “Ugh!” as his back hit the ground, the impact knocking the air from his lungs.

Cale’s right fist struck the man’s face within a second of his head hitting the ground. He hit him three more times quickly. Cale grabbed the pistol from beside the semiconscious man’s hand, put a bullet in the man’s forehead, then rolled off him.

Cale edged to the car’s tail in a crouch. The sound of the gunfire continued. At least six weapons were being fired, but the dominant sound was the Uzi’s
tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat
. Cale sprinted away from the gunfight into the shadows, then sprinted to the stone wall and hopped over it, about fifty yards from the enemy. He crept along the curved wall. The man in white held the Uzi. Cale fired on him from
behind. Some of the man’s hair flew up. Cale thought he’d missed but then saw the gun fall to the ground, followed by the man.

There were more
pop-pops
, and soon, Cale saw Seeker standing in the open, his team lying unnaturally beside him on the ground. Cale stood up. He saw the bodies of the other three men and the woman along the wall. He walked up to the man in the white shirt and flipped him over with his foot.

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