Under the Wire (34 page)

"Let's go." Taking her hand, Ethan headed toward the door at a run. "Adam and the Muhandiramalas are running out of time. And we're late for a war."

Within two hours of Elkaduwa

"I can't fricking believe this." Manny stood by the water's edge. Hands on his hips, he glared at Rajah. The elephant wallowed in the shallows of a backwater tributary, trumpeting in ecstasy and spraying water from his trunk in a cascading shower over his head.

Kavith, his Air Jordans high and dry on the bank, stood knee-deep in water, scrubbing the elephant. He smiled his usual smile. It was getting goddamn grating.

"Many, many sorrys," Kavith apologized for the hundredth time. "But is necessary. Rajah is a working elephant. He wait for—thinks he is
entitled
to—bath. Top to toe. Every day. Must do. Critical—one elephant my grandfather own try one day to kill him when dirty. Not so upset when clean. Elephant very clean animal. Rajah go faster when done."

Beside them on the bank, the monkey—Tito, they had learned—sat like an old man leaning against Manny's leg, plucking at his pants and inspecting the hem.

Manny glared from the elephant to the monkey and back to Kavith.

God save me.

"How much longer?"

Kavith grinned. Shrugged. "When Rajah is ready."

"Kavith."

Manny turned when Lily spoke.

"Please. We must hurry."

For the first time since they'd met him, the boy's smile unfolded. He stared at Lily. Concern furrowed his brow as he waded from the water and stood in front of her.

Kavith had a serious case on her. Manny understood. In spades.

"New friend, Lily." Kavith patted her shoulder. "Not to cry. We will find your Adam."

A single tear leaked down Lily's cheek. She was banged, up, scratched up, sunburned, and sweaty. Not once had she complained. Manny felt his gut clench for her. For the tear she would shed for her son but not for herself.

"We're running out of time." She hugged her arms around herself and turned away.

"What can we do?" Kavith looked miserable.

"You could convince that elephant he's squeaky clean," Manny grumbled. "And as long as you're at it, you could conjure up a cell phone. That'd be a helluva start."

A grin so huge it closed his eyes broke out over Kavith's face. He dug into his baggy pants pocket, fished around forever, and finally pulled out a phone.

A SAT phone.

"That's my fucking phone!" Manny roared.

Tito screeched and jumped up and down.

"Tito has been a bad thief." Kavith made tsking sounds at the monkey. "My apology. Kavith did not know it belonged to you."

Swearing under his breath, Manny snatched the phone, turned it on, and dialed, hoping it had dried out enough to make a connection.

He heaved a breath of relief when he heard a ring tone followed by Ethan's clipped hello. Lily rushed to his side, her face animated with the first ray of hope they'd had in a very long while.

"It's me," Manny said. "I've got a location on Adam."

"Jesus. Where in the hell have you been? Never mind. Just listen. We may be fighting a new deadline."

Manny stiffened, reacting to the urgency in Ethan's voice. "What's happening?"

"We're pretty certain that Darcy discovered a link between Adam's abduction and the group that captured Ramanathan's big gun."

A lump lodged in Manny's throat as he listened. Ethan quickly filled him in on the soon-to-be-launched joint Sri Lankan-Tamil assault on the camp at the Wahala-purha temple ruins.

Manny pinched the bridge of his nose. Fuck. This was all they needed. If Darcy's speculation was accurate, Manny had to reach Adam and the Muhandiramalas before the group of radicals who held them got wind of the joint attack staged for Wahala-purha. If the attack was launched first, someone in the insurgent camp was certain to contact the abductors holding Adam. If that happened, Manny had no doubt that the midnight deadline would go out the window. They'd kill Adam on the spot—if they hadn't killed him already.

Manny checked his watch. Four hours to the deadline. "Okay, look. We're less than two hours from Adam." He gave Ethan the coordinates. "What are the chances you can stall the assault and meet us there?"

Slim and none, Manny figured, those were the chances.

But this was Ethan Garrett he was dealing with. A man who'd had Manny's back in more dicey situations than he could count—and vice versa.

"I'll be back in touch," Ethan said. "I've got to reach Dallas. We'll figure something out. And we'll get there. Count on it."

Wahala-purha temple ruins

Dallas hung up the phone, swore roundly, then headed across the staging area where Ramanathan and the Sinhalese field general, Kalukapuge, had their heads together over strategy.

Dallas was one man. And Ethan had just charged him with stalling an army.

Make that two armies.

Piece of fucking cake.

Low-level floodlights illuminated the makeshift encampment that had been set up out of sight and sound range, a quarter of a mile from the insurgent campsite. Jeeps, trucks, armored vehicles, and even a few bicycles—it was, after all, Sri Lanka—littered the nightscape where the Sinhalese elite Special Forces and Tamil rebels readied for battle. Fifty men, prepared to take on twice that many. Fifty well-trained, seasoned warriors who they were betting were better equipped and more experienced than the company of insurgents who were blissfully bedded down for the night.

The soldiers were chomping at the bit. Testosterone and the promise of glory elevated heart rates and made even these hardened and tested soldiers restless.

The Sri Lanka Special Forces—rapid mobilization units—had arrived ahead of Ramanathan's teams and were prepared to flank the insurgent camp to both the north and the south. Under cover of darkness and the jungle, Ramanathan's equivalent specialized teams were in place to move in from the west and east.

It had been an hour since Ramanathan's Cobra had sat down. It had been flying under a full moon and blackout conditions and trusting the prevailing winds to carry away the chopper noise. The Sinhalese spotters on the ground had waved them in with more low-wattage portable lights set up well out of sight range of the insurgent camp.

With Sri Lankan field general Kalukapuge calling the shots, the two military leaders and their joint task force were about to make history. With a little luck, Dallas was about to stop it—or at least slow it down a bit.

Both Ramanathan and Kalukapuge glared at him when he approached. "There's another bird coming in," he said, and two pairs of eyes looked skyward.

"He's flying blackout. I need permission to talk him in."

"A friend of yours?" Ramanathan asked sourly.

"My brother. And he has information that could affect the outcome of the confrontation."

"You press your luck, Garrett." Ramanathan held Dallas's gaze for several long moments before turning to Kalukapuge. The field general shrugged.

With a reluctant nod, Ramanathan relented.

"Bro," Dallas said when he reached Ethan on the radio. "What's your ETA?"

"You should be able to spot me."

Just then a dim beam from the tail section of a low-flying chopper came into view. Shortly after, Dallas heard the muffled
whoop, whoop, whoop
of rotor blades; then the shadowy hulk of a bird popped up over a rise and made a beeline for the center of the staging area.

"Got a visual," Dallas said, and proceeded to talk Ethan toward the LZ.

It was a civilian chopper, Dallas realized when the bird fell into the arc of the spotlights. One he remembered seeing at the Kandy airport and had passed on when he'd gotten a look at the motor. The sucker had to have three thousand hours of airtime since its last overhaul, and he didn't fly in birds in need of maintenance.

Dallas held his breath as the chopper sputtered, spat, stalled, then finally caught. Ethan set her down with a none-too-gentle bounce.

Wasting no time, Ethan jumped out of the cockpit, ducked under the rotor blades, and ran toward Dallas.

"Jesus," Dallas sputtered with a nod toward the bird. "Did you get stupid or decide it was time to fulfill a death wish?"

"Missed you, too," Ethan said.

"Where's Darcy?"

"Guess you could say she's a little ... tied up back in Kandy and most likely working on ripping me a new ass."

"You didn't."

"I did. Sent her for water while I revved up the bird, then took off without her."

"Extreme, bro. Even for you."

"I lost her once. No way was I going to take a chance on losing her again. I don't want her anywhere near us when the fat hits the fire. She can get over pissed. She can't get over dead. Now what's happening?"

"They agreed to wait for you—because
you
have information that could affect the outcome of the battle."

They jogged toward the waiting generals. "Why did I know you were going to pass the buck to me?"

"That's what big brothers are for. Make it good. These guys are locked and loaded."

Ethan put on his politician's hat and geared up to negotiate.

Five minutes later, they'd bought an hour. It wasn't much, but it was better than a kick in the ass. When the insurgent leader found his balls against the wall, there wasn't any question that he'd put in a call to the abduction team. And midnight deadline or not, it would be over for Adam and the Muhandiramalas.

Dallas grabbed Ethan's arm and stopped him when he ran toward the civilian chopper. "Fuck that. I'm not going up in that piece of shit."

"Like we have a choice?" Ethan barked back.

"Yeah—like we do." He hitched his chin in the direction of Ramanathan's Cobra.

Ethan did a double take when he saw the snake. "Ramanathan will kill you—"

"He's gotta catch me first. Get in the snake. I've got to grab something and I'll be right with you."

Thirty seconds later, Dallas jumped up into the Cobra. "Let's move. Time's wastin'."

CHAPTER 22

Bulutota Rakwana, 10:45
p.m.

Bellied down on a ridge with his NVGs, Manny strained to get the lay of the land in the dark. The sun set late this time of year in Sri Lanka, but darkness had descended about an hour ago. The moon hung like a great white lightbulb, bathing the area like a strobe. Still, except for some chatter around a campfire and the occasional movement of a torch, he couldn't see much activity. Not without getting closer. And he would. Just as soon as the cavalry arrived.

It better, by God, be soon. He'd counted twenty soldiers just as the sun had pulled a disappearing act. And he'd gotten a good glimpse of the cliff wall that housed the cave. Things didn't look good for the good guys. The camp was a fucking fortress.

"Where are they?" Lily whispered, her voice sounding strained.

She could have been asking about Adam and the Muhandiramalas. Could have been asking about Ethan and Dallas. Either way, Manny shared her anxiety. They were down to a little more than an hour before the insurgent deadline, a half hour before the joint military assault back at Wahala-purha. If they pulled this off under the wire it would be a miracle.