The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition) (39 page)

Santappia smiled and put up his hand as he spoke into his mic.

“
ARCHANGEL-one … Rigs, the hostiles you downed … where are their horses?”

Santappia could hardly hear Riggy’s reply over the gunfire.

“
ARCHANGEL-two … hold on … Pescy where are the horses of the ones we dropped? By the way, their gunfire is getting intense, Charley. This is gonna turn into Custer’s last stand at the Little Big Horn for me and Spiro if we stay here much longer …over.”

“
Rigs … where are the horses, over?”

There was a pause.

“
ARCHANGEL-two … Pescy said the horses are still on the trail around the bend to our north, over.”

Santappia smiled at Ahiga.

“
Let’s go get us some horses, Bryan!”

Chapter 35

Just north of the intersection

Sasabe Road (Arizona 286) & Refuge Entrance Road

Approximately 12 miles east of Tubac, AZ

1:30p.m., Sunday, September 11, 2011

Charley Santappia and Shadow Wolf Agent Bryan Ahiga had mounted two of the dead terrorist’s horses and Ahiga had led them on a trail that ran parallel to the one the bad guys had taken east. Before they left, Santappia ordered Riggy and Pescalitis to retreat, which was good for them since they were just about out of ammo. He also told them to take the chance and contact Nogales.

The two men made it to the highway an hour before and left their horses along the northern trail they took. Then they walked south along Arizona 286 for over a mile before taking position near some sparse trees alongside the southern trail. The plane showed up first, a Piper Chieftain, which was one that Santappia was familiar with and had flown several times before.

There was no time for planning. Santappia motioned to Ahiga to follow him and both men approached the plane, keeping their faces hidden. As soon as the pilot opened the door and dropped the stairs, they shot him. Their lack of planning almost backfired though, when they discovered that there was a co-pilot who was trying desperately to raise the stairs … but they were able to shoot him too.

After they dragged the pilot’s bodies into the brush, they boarded the plane and took their seats in the cockpit, being careful to conceal their weapons between their seats and the cockpit doors. Now they waited and Ahiga was uneasy.

“
Charley, this is insane! Why don’t we just fly this thing out of here?”

“
Because we can’t leave those men here with what is most probably a nuke, Bryan, you know that. We contacted Nogales, now all we have to do is sit here and hope that the cavalry gets here before the Indians … I mean the bad guys do.”

“
Not funny, Charley … and what will happen if the bad guys get here first? What do we do then?”

“
Try to stall them.”

“
What if we can’t stall them, Charley?”

“
Then I’ll shoot out the cockpit controls and you shoot as many of them as you can before—“

“
Before we both get multiple taps to our heads, right?”

Santappia looked at Ahiga.

“
Something like that.”

Ahiga reached for the radio.

“
I’m gonna check on Nogales’s progress.”

Santappia grabbed his hand.

“
Here they come! Bryan, stay cool, let’s see how long we can stretch this out. You got it?”

Ahiga just nodded his head as both men kept their eyes on the group of men approaching.

Hadi held up his hand to bring the Russian riders to a halt then he kicked his mount and started trotting over to the plane.

Santappia started throwing switches at lightning speed. Ahiga had to ask.

“
What the heck are you doing, Charley?”

Santappia didn’t reply as he worked at a furious pace to get the two Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD engines started. Finally, he pressed down on the break, pushed the throttles into position and started the engines. It had the desired effect and Ahiga understood. The noise from the two props sent the horse of the rider that was approaching, lurching back. He had all to do, to stay in his saddle and get his horse under control.

Hadi barely remained atop his mount as the engines of the plane revved up. He turned and shook his fist at the pilot and saw the pilot shrug his shoulders as a contrite gesture, in reply. For a moment, the men in the cockpit didn’t look like his men, but he couldn’t really make out their faces, not with the props spinning and the noise spooking his horse. After taking a moment to look around, he waved the Russians to come forward. They rode to his position about thirty feet in front of and to the side of the plane and dismounted. There they unfastened the road case and rolled it over to Hadi, who stayed atop his horse. Hadi had to yell over the noise of the plane’s engines.

“
Are you ready?”

The Spetsnaz leader, Oleg nodded with emphasis.

“
Then you know what must be done! My men are piloting! They will be able to fly this plane over Las Vegas in 90 minutes! You must arm the bomb and parachute out within one hour! Do you understand?”

The leader nodded his head again.

“
Then go!”

The Russians rolled the road case to the plane then took care to carry it on. Once the last of the six was aboard, he pulled the stairs up and closed the door. Hadi watched as the plane powered up then started rolling down the highway. Within minutes it was airborne. He started back towards the trail hoping to make it back to his men, but he didn’t get very far.

Over the Iranian’s head, a DHS-CBP Blackhawk helicopter appeared out of nowhere. He didn’t even get a chance to draw his rifle before he was chopped almost completely in half by machine gun fire.

The crew of this chopper was best friends with the crew of the first chopper - the one the terrorists shot down. They had just come from mowing down a group on horseback that was heading east on the same trail. They weren’t taking any chances … or any prisoners.

* * * * *

Ahiga’s voice crackled into Santappia’s headphones, “Charley, where the hell are we going? What happened to shooting out the cockpit controls?”

“
I wasn’t happy with the idea of our shooting out the controls and them blowing holes in us. It also occurred to me that they might just get themselves another plane.”

Santappia pointed to a black bag sitting between Ahiga’s legs.

“
Open that case, Bryan. It should have maps and charts in it.”

Ahiga opened the bag and rifled through all the manuals and binders until he came across a map, a chart and a receipt from Henderson Executive Airport. He examined the receipt first.

“
It looks like this plane originated from a commuter airport in Henderson, NV.”

Then he unfolded the chart and examined it.

“
There are lines drawn on this chart, Charley!”

“
Hold the chart up so I can see the lines.”

Just as Ahiga held the chart up, a large barrel-chested man with thick dark hair unbuckled his seatbelt and poked his head between him and Santappia.

“
Either of you speak English?”

Ahiga removed his headphones and nudged Santappia to do the same.

“
I said do either of you speak English?”

Santappia nodded his head without turning to look at the man.

“
My name is Oleg. Once you level off, we need you to fly a smooth and steady course. We can’t be bumping around. Do you understand?”

Santappia nodded again without turning to look.

The Russian lingered for a moment, suspicious of their silence then returned to his seat.

Santappia and Ahiga looked at each other with relief as they put their headsets back on. Ahiga spoke first.

“
That was close. Charley, where the hell are we going and what did he mean about bumping around?”

Santappia pointed at a location on the chart Ahiga was holding.

“
That’s where we’re supposed to be heading.”

Ahiga looked at the chart.

“
Las Vegas …?”

“
Bryan, listen to me. I think we were right all along. That road case has to contain a bomb. I have a feeling our Russian friends back there are about to rig it for detonation as soon as I level off … and this plane was meant to fly the bomb over Las Vegas. If you look at the chart, the plot ends over the Strip, not at any of the local airports.”

Ahiga nodded.

“
What are we gonna do?”

“
Well, Las Vegas is about 340 miles northwest, which means, at our cruising speed, we should be over it in approximately 90 minutes. That’s how long we have to figure out what to do. I’m leveling off now.”

The twin-engine plane smoothly ended its ascent. Santappia switched on the autopilot then turned to the Russian named Oleg, sitting in the first row behind the cockpit, and nodded. The Russian returned the nod then ordered his men in Russian to get to work. They all herded towards the back of the small plane, where the road case was secured, behind the back seats. They couldn’t see what they were doing though because the massive back of Oleg and one other Russian blocked their view.

“
Bryan, look, there are parachute packs hanging from every seat back there.”

Ahiga looked behind their seats.

“
We don’t have any parachutes, Charley.”

“
Yeah, I noticed …”

Santappia thought silently for a few minutes while he studied the chart as Ahiga kept watch on the men in the back. Then he took out a ruler and calculator from the black bag and went to work measuring and punching numbers into the calculator.

“
I think I know their plan, Bryan. From the size of that road case … have you ever heard the term, “suitcase” nuke?”

A chill ran down Ahiga’s spine.

“
Yeah, I heard the term but I didn’t think they really existed.”

“
They existed but I didn’t think any were still around. I don’t know … maybe these nuts got a hold of an old one and were able to make it operational or maybe they built one from scratch. Either way, it would take a boatload of money and definitely Russian expertise. That would also explain why our boys back there are Russian and not towel heads, like the others that ambushed us. The Russian Special Forces are most familiar with those devices. It would also explain why our destination doesn’t end at an airport. From the little I know about nukes, they’re most devastating when they’re detonated at a relatively low altitude … maybe 1,500 feet or so.”

Ahiga stared at the parachutes hanging from all of the chairs behind the cockpit.

“
So, they’re gonna rig that thing and bail out and we’re supposed to what … be martyrs, fly it over Vegas and blow ourselves to heaven, for our 12 virgins?”

Santappia smiled at Ahiga.

“
Something like that ...”

“
You keep saying that, Charley. Tell me some good news, would ya!”

“
Alright, take a look at this mark on the chart. It’s right on the plot to Las Vegas. I calculate it to be just about an hour away from here. I think that’s the location where they’re gonna bail out. That means we’ll have the plane to ourselves after they jump for about 30 minutes.”

Ahiga face lit up with hope but he saw that Santappia’s didn’t.

“
Okay, so what’s the bad news, Charley?”

“
The bad news is … if my calculations are correct and if they’re planning to parachute out at that location …that’s about 100 miles southeast of Vegas … that would mean they’re probably rigging the device with a 30-minute fuse.”

“
So, isn’t that enough time for us to put down somewhere?”

“
Sure, we can put down somewhere, but what then? Even if we could get away, that bomb will go off wherever we land.”