The Somali Deception Episode I (A Cameron Kincaid Serial) (13 page)

“What do we have Al?” asked
Cameron.

“They’re consolidated in
building four as we suspected,” said Alastair.
 
“The three you see scurrying are
positioning from there.
 
From the
sounds of it Ari has compromised tower one.”

“You left the gifts Eazy
packed?”

“I found a beautiful place to
stash the satchel.”

Cameron nodded and then touched
his headset, “H2 check in.”

“This is H2,” said Ari over the
headset.
 
“Are you ready to come
home?”

“Affirmative H2 four to pick up
repeat four to pick up.
 
Ready when
you are,” said Cameron.

“Now is good,” said Ari.
 
“Landing zone-one, repeat landing
zone-one.”

The rhythmic chop of the Dark Star
rotors grew louder as Ari maneuvered the copter to the clearing they designated
as landing zone-one across the courtyard.
 
The commandos instinctively did a periphery check of their gear, a rapid
weapon inspection, and an up down of each other, the type of actions trained
into their core.

Cameron placed his hand on the
handle of the door.
 
“Nikos, you’re
going out with Alastair first, then Pepe you’ll go.
 
I’ll cover from the back.
 
Straight to the chopper, got it?”

Nikos nodded his head and then
Cameron pulled the handle of the door.

Cameron peeked out, his nose
filling with the pungent fumes of the burning tower hidden from his view by the
barracks they had deemed as building four.
 
He then threw the door open wide, “Go, go, go!”

Outside warmth flooded into the
doorway with the thunderous rotor of the Dark Star copter touching down
directly across the courtyard.
 
Nikos and Alastair broke from the building in a dead run.
 
The courtyard was far brighter outside
than when Cameron had peered through the window.
 
The silhouettes and shadows now had
detail, though nothing showed true color, rather varying hues of blue with the
exception of the stucco and stone wall which appeared odd scales of grey.
 
At the end of a moment that stretched
with adrenalin, Nikos and Alastair were in the copter.

“Go!” said Cameron.

Pepe launched from the doorway
toward the copter.

When Cameron heard the
Kalashnikov, he instinctively turned.
 
The rotors muffled the rapid burst yet the compound walls surrounding
the courtyard created a loud echo trail back to building four.
 
Fortunately, the shooter had been
leading his target too far, so Pepe had seen bullets pummel the top of the
stone well at the center of the courtyard in time to dive safely below the line
of fire.

Cameron fired at the barrel of
the Kalashnikov protruding from the doorway of building four.
 
The shooter still had a clear bead on
the well and when Pepe tried to ease out of cover, he was chased back with a
rapid succession of rounds.

Pepe was pinned down at the well
by the shooter.

Building four was the barracks,
and as such, Cameron expected the inside to be wide open, without walls, so he
targeted the windows.
 
The barrel in
the doorway still did not waver.
 
He
decided to go in close and broke into a run toward the side of the
barracks.
 
The gunman in the doorway
paid no attention to Cameron running along the side of the courtyard.
 
When Cameron reached safety behind the
corner of building four, he pulled a grenade from his pocket.

Across the courtyard, Cameron
saw another fighter running up behind Pepe’s position.

Pepe launched himself from
behind the well toward the assailant.
 
One hand to a shoulder and the other to the waist, he hurled the man
onto the ground out into the open, away from the well.
 
A cat to his feet, the man was back at
Pepe fist-to-fist, hand-to-hand.
 
Cameron raised his MP-5.
 
The
two men were moving too quickly for Cameron to target and fire.
 

Alastair’s voice shot over the
headset, “We have an RPG.”

“Where?” asked
Cameron.

“The other side of building
four.
 
Can you get to him Kincaid?”

Cameron engaged the grenade he
still held and then lobbed the small bomb blindly around the front of building
four into the direction of the RPG.

A second later there was an
explosion.

A flash and debris shot past the
corner where Cameron stood, a bloodied flesh filled boot landed near his
feet.
 
“Did I get him?” asked
Cameron.

“The shooter ran out to get
you.
 
You got him,” said
Alastair.
 
“Ari can you lift us up.”

Ari did not hesitate to
Alastair’s request.
 
The Dark Star
lifted to hover above the ground and gently spun to the side.
 
Alastair immediately shot toward the
grenadier Cameron could not see.
 
Alastair fired too late or missed, from the far side of the building
four barracks, a rocket still flew.

The ghastly slow white smoke
trail of the rocket cut across the courtyard, not to the copter as intended,
rather toward the courtyard center.
 
The stone well blew to pieces.
 
Cameron threw one leg in front of the other, almost falling.
 
He could no longer see Pepe or the other
man.
 
Cameron put the other leg
forward, strong yet slushy.
 
The
next moment across the courtyard was eternal.
 
When Cameron reached what was left of
the stone well he found Pepe, struck down by the rocket.

* * * * *

“Let’s go!” screamed Alastair
over the headset.
 
This was not the
first time.
 
Cameron realized
Alastair had been screaming.
 
He
lifted his head toward the copter and Alastair was waving his arms.
 
Nikos, his face contorted, was beside
Alastair shooting a submachine gun out into the courtyard.
 
Across the courtyard, soldiers were
running and falling.
 
Cameron
dropped his head down again to Pepe.
 
Pepe was bloodied and half buried by heavy stone and limbs.
 
Cameron hovered above Pepe in an
elongated moment stretching in time and pain then dropped to his knees to shift
the weight of the stones.

The intense roar of the rotors
and gunfire around him became faded.
 
Smoke billowed throughout the rubble, pushed down to the ground by the
rotating blades of the Dark Star, close yet far away.
 
Cameron realized that Alastair had
kneeled down in front of Pepe.

Alastair was trying to lift
Pepe.
 
Alastair screamed at Pepe
again, still all muffled, this time without the headset.
 
Then Alastair struck Pepe.
 
Pepe’s eyes sharpened and cut into Alastair’s.
 
Pepe shook his head violently side to
side.
 
Where ever he had gone he had
now returned.
 
He let Alastair lift
him by his shoulders.
 
Alastair
pulled Pepe up from the rubble and from the mutilated remnants of the Somali
fighter, and then sent large man running past Cameron.

Cameron still did not move, not
yet.
 
Real time did not return until
Alastair shoved his shoulder.
 
That
is when sound returned.
 
When
Alastair yelled, “Let’s go, let’s go!”
 
With that, Cameron turned behind Alastair and followed him to the
waiting chopper.

Cameron climbed in with the
automated liquid motion that comes from years of training.
 
Into position, his weapon pointed out
the door.
 
As Ari began to lift the
Dark Star, Cameron saw a fighter run into the courtyard from the far side of
the barracks.
 
Cameron dropped the
man thoughtlessly without the waste of a second round.

“Eazy check in, this is H2,”
said Ari.
 
“We have cleared the
compound.”

“H2 this is Eazy, do you have
the package?” asked Eazy.

Ari peered over to Alastair, “We
have the package.”

“Bombs away,” said Eazy.

Ari glanced at Alastair
again.
 
Alastair reached into his
pocket and pulled out a small detonator, radio linked to the satchel of
explosives Eazy had given him to leave on the first floor of the main building.
 
With his thumb, he flipped back the
safety cover then crushed the igniter.
 
Back in the main building of the compound below, large explosions began
that mocked all of the early detonations, and as they flew south over the beach
berm the sky filled higher and higher with the aftermath of the incendiary
devices.

Cameron did not watch the
fireworks above the exploding compound.
 
He found solace deep in the eyes of his brother-in-arms.
 
Pepe, his face blackened and bloodied,
held his head high, his gaze fixed on the ocean abyss, and though Cameron had
no words, he felt no need to search for them.
 
Cameron and Pepe were committed to a
shared resolve, to find Christine.

* * *
* *

Cameron
Kincaid returns in

The Somali Deception EPISODE II

UK
Kindle
US
Kindle

The Somali Deception EPISODE III

UK
Kindle
US
Kindle

The Somali Deception EPISODE IV

UK Kindle
US Kindle

Or

The Somali Deception THE
COMPLETE EDITION

UK Kindle
US Kindle

* * *
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* * *
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Thank you for reading episode one of The Somali
Deception.
 
This story is the second
in the Cameron Kincaid series and a favorite of my lovely wife.
 
The original draft of the manuscript, shorter
and much different that the final release, was written during November of 2010
for nanowrimo, or national novel writing month.
 
I had planned a different project, and
then came an intriguing discussion concerning the misconception of piracy with
my friend Margot Kiser, an American reporting from Kenya.
 
Coincidentally I have other friends that
had already stirred my curiosity for the region, particularly my good friend
Alastair Boyd, who at the time was an eco-lodge director in Laikipia.
 
That was 2010, what happened?
 
Well in January 2011, I was asked to
oversee a multinational tech surge, in a hired gun manner if you will, and The
Somali Deception was shelved.
 
After
the consulting engagement, I returned to writing full time, and did not return
to The Somali Deception.
 
Then in
April of 2013, The Cathari Treasure connected with an audience and began to
climb the Best Seller list, sparking encouragement from my wife to dust off the
next in the series.
 
Around the same
time, an editor from a New York publishing house inquired as to whether the
story could be told as an episodic serial.
 
Up for the challenge, I rescaled the project and the result was a four
episode serial with twice the action as the first story in the series.

The are numerous contributors that bring a project to
completion, my family first and foremost, a myriad of fellow authors and
friends on twitter, and countless others.

Individually I want to thank Chad Ness, Lon Grover, Alastair
Boyd, and Margot Kiser all of whom supported the project either through shared
research or the diligent reading of first drafts.
 
I would also like to thank the readers
that signed up as First Readers for this manuscript as their contributions have
helped me to create a better release edition.

If you enjoyed The Somali Deception, I would appreciate if
you would share your thoughts in a review.
 
Reviews help other readers that may have similar interest as you decide
whether this is a story they would like to read.

And again
thank you.

* * *
* *

Daniel Arthur Smith is the international bestselling author
of The Cathari Treasure.
 
American
born, Daniel has traveled to over 300 cities in 22 countries, residing in Los
Angeles, Kalamazoo, Prague, Crete, and New York.