Chapter Twelve

Dread knotted my stomach as the Cessna Caravan rose into the air. General Masters had called an hour ago to inform us King Saraki’s cargo jet had been hit by a surface-to-air missile twelve nautical miles from New Zealand’s South Island. There were no survivors.

If Eric Roberts was responsible, were we walking into a trap? Probably, but the guys didn’t seem concerned. All that testosterone made them think they were invincible, and they pretty much were.

Kamous was adamant a rival warlord was to blame. Hmm. Like him? Had Kamous somehow managed to plant a bomb on the King’s jet? Maybe.

Me? I was sure my father had something to do with it. Why? He is a CIA assassin. My father certainly hadn’t done it to protect his only child. Nope. My guess was Saraki had crossed him and that was always a death sentence. Pops had to maintain his reputation.

Jeb’s calm voice sounded in my helmet’s earphones. “Prepare to jump.”

Stone slid open the door and the wind buffeted us.

“I hate skydiving,” Kamous grumbled.

I fastened my chin strap. “It’s pure freedom.”

“You are as crazy as they are,” Kamous shot back.

“Nah, I’ve got them beat.”

Rodriquez checked my oxygen bottle again, turned it on, and gave me the thumbs up.

I pulled my mask into place. My squad was becoming the family I never had. I would die for them.

“Go,” Jeb instructed.

Tex jumped first.

I was next up, and the others would follow behind me.

Stone tapped my shoulder.

“Yee-haw!” I leaped from the plane and dived toward the jungle below us. When I reached 10,000 feet my altimeter beeped. Arching my back, I spread my arms and legs to slow my descent. With my night vision goggles, everything was crystal clear.

The guys took positions around me.

“You’re an adrenaline junkie,” Stone growled in my earpiece.

“And you’re not?”

Rodriquez laughed. “She’s got you there, Sarge.”

“No deviating from the plan, Tinkerbell.”

“I won’t.” But, hey, shit happened. Jeb’s recon had revealed the mercenaries got drunk every night like clockwork. Stone’s plan was to attack at midnight when the idiots’ reflexes were dulled by fatigue and alcohol.

At one thousand feet, I pulled the ripcord. The parachute deployed and I drifted toward our landing zone which was an island marked with a big fluorescent green X. The tension in my shoulders lessened. No one had shot at us. If Pops was in the area, he would have killed the Alpha Dogs by now.

My eyes widened in horror when I floated over a dead tree. Hanging from its broken branches were ginormous webs filled with huge spiders. Tugging on my parachute line, I quickly changed my angle of descent and missed it by ten feet.

A shudder shook me at the thought of crashing into them and having a zillion creepy crawlies on me. Ugh. I came in behind Tex and landed perfectly. I gathered up my chute and watched the others do a straight-down descent known as a “dump in”. Only professionals with lots of experience could pull it off.

Tex grimaced. “Did you see that tree full of spiders?”

“I did.”

“Stay away from it. The spiders are poisonous.”

“Won’t be a problem.” I eyed the slimy water surrounding the small island. It appeared to be about six to eight feet deep, and dozens of empty beer bottles floated on the surface. The mercenaries were a bunch of slobs.

Stone, Rodriquez, Kamous and Johnson rolled up their chutes and stuffed them behind moss covered rocks. Since they were swimming to the stilt house, they were wearing wet suits and rubberized boots. The men literally bristled with weapons. Add in their combat helmets, night vision goggles and they appeared almost alien.

“Do you have your perch selected?” Stone asked.

I pointed at a large mango tree with a thick tangle of cylindrical roots. “That one. No spiders and there are a couple of stout limbs that’ll hold my weight.

“It’ll do.” Stone cupped his hands. “I’ll give you a boost.”

Slinging Bertha over my shoulder, I placed my right boot in his hands, and he launched me into the tree. “Shit!” I frantically grabbed a branch. It was like being shot out of a cannon.

“Are you in position?” There was a hint of amusement in Stone’s voice.

“I am, sir.” Since I had already attached Bertha’s night vison lens, I flipped up the goggles and laid on my stomach.

“How many enemy soldiers are at the stilt house?” Stone’s deep, gravelly voice sent shivers down my back.

I carefully inspected the building. “Two are patrolling the porch and dock. One is on the roof, and I can see three more inside the house.

“Copy that.” I watched the men slip into the water and vanish.

A spider crawled along my branch.

I jerked out my boot knife, chopped it in half and flung it in the water. Ugh.

Silent and deadly, Stone rose out of the water, raised his silenced handgun and fired twice. There were muffled thwaps and the men fell into the water.

The guy on roof called, “Sam? What’s going on?”

Thwap! The man toppled off the roof and hit the water with a loud splash .

Gunfire erupted.

A child screamed.

A woman cried, “Kamous!”

The sudden silence was jarring.

Something moved in the shadows.

I focused on the ominous form. A man, bleeding from a head wound, raised his pistol. I fired.

He toppled into the water.

Stone stepped into view and gave me the ok hand signal.

Whew! That had been a little too close. I carefully studied the house for more enemy combatants. There were none.

I smiled. Kamous was raining kisses on a woman and child. The love on his face almost brought me to tears. I wanted that. The whole shebang. Marriage, children, and a place to call home.

Standing next to a rickety table, Rodriquez and Stone rummaged through a thick pile of papers. The rest of the squad checked the dead.

A thunderous roar sounded in the distance.

Airboats. Shit! It was too soon to be Jeb. I swung my scope to the north. Racing through the mango trees were two airboats full of heavily armed mercenaries. Dammit! Roberts wasn’t with them.

I clicked my radio mic, “Alpha One, we have two airboats inbound with eight hostiles.”

“Slow them down, Alpha Five.”

“Copy that.” The idiots hadn’t noticed the massive spiderweb in front of them. At their current speed, I should fire about… Now! I pulled the trigger twice, splintering the rotted wood.

A huge branch swung down. It clobbered the mercenaries in the first boat, knocking all but one of them into the water. The airboat zoomed off with the pilot trying to fight his way free of the webbing. Bam! The boat crashed into a tree.

A massive curtain of webbing engulfed the second boat. Horrified shouts filled the night as the mercenaries fought to get free of the sticky spider silk and the attacking arachnids. The airboat raced past my island, careened off a mango root and went airborne. The boat rolled and bodies hit the scummy swamp. Sploosh! Sploosh! Sploosh! Sploosh! The airboat smacked down on some rocks and the propeller churned the water violently.

Huh? Guess it was stuck. One shot took out the engine. The mercenaries weren’t using it to escape on.

“Well done, Alpha Five,” Stone commented.

“Thank you, sir.” I quickly scanned the water and to my surprise several spiders had hitched rides on the mercenaries swimming for their lives.

A loud crack echoed around the swamp.

Three seconds later, a bullet whizzed by my head and embedded in the tree. Crap! A sniper had pinpointed my location. How had I missed him?

“Where is the shooter, Alpha Five?” Stone demanded.

Hell, if I knew. As I dropped to the branch below me, my night vison goggles caught on a broken limb, stopping me dead. I hung there for a moment, trying to breathe and fighting to get my helmet’s strap to release.

I pushed the button again and again. Funny black dots were dancing in my vision when I suddenly fell. I slammed into a thick branch, rolled off it and plummeted to the next limb. I wrapped my arms around it and hung on for dear life. Holy hell. How come I wasn’t dead? Had the squad taken the sniper out?

My breath coming in painful gasps, I looked around. No sign of the squad or the sniper.

My helmet sailed by me, hit the ground and rolled over to fluorescent green X. I might as well have a flashing neon sign that pointed out my exact location. But, on the good side, I still had Bertha and my pack.

A volley of bullets turned the branches above me into kindling. I flinched as splinters of wood peppered me. That hurt. A lot.

Stone’s gruff voice bellowed from my helmet. “Alpha five respond.”

“Would if I could.”

More gunfire raked the tree.

Something wet trickled down my forehead. If I didn’t want to die, I needed to make a run for it. Reaching inside my backpack, I took out my last grenade, pulled the pin and hurled it in the direction of the shooter.

Boom!

The barrage of lead stopped abruptly.

I dropped to the ground. The moonless night made it impossible to see the shooters. Taking a deep breath, I did a fast tuck and roll and took cover behind a huge mango root. Were they dead or just playing possum?

Several mercenaries charged out of the water, firing wildly.

Aiming at the muzzle flashes, I shot back.

Someone grunted in pain.

The water churned off the shoreline, followed by smacking thuds. Was my squad fighting the mercenaries?

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of movement. Spinning, I fired my guns, but they just clicked. Shit! I was out of bullets. God, what a rookie mistake. I hurriedly took out a new clip.

A heavily accented male voice taunted, “Out of bullets, are you not? You killed many of my men. For that I will gut shoot you and leave you to die a slow and painful death.”

The idiot was standing on the fluorescent green X giving me enough light to see him clearly. I pulled my boot knife and hurled it.

It impaled in the man’s throat. His eyes widened in shock, and he toppled over.

“I’m not planning on dying today.”

“Don’t shoot me, Tess,” Tex said from behind me.

I jerked in alarm and glared over my shoulder. “I need to put a bell on you.”

Tex’s white teeth flashed in a grin.

“I’m glad to see you.”

His grin faded. “Looks like you have a few more owies.” He pulled out his medic’s kit.

“A few.”

Stone shouted, “Clear.”

Rodriquez tossed some glow sticks down. “Ay, chihuahua!”

“I’ll be damned,” Stone said, removing my knife from the dead guy’s neck. He cleaned the blood off and handed it to me. “Do you know who that is?”

“Nope.”

“That’s Boris Petrov, a Russian assassin with over two hundred kills.”

I winced as Tex treated my cuts. “Okay.”

Johnson laughed. “You have no idea how famous he is.”

“Not a clue.”

Clapping sounded from my helmet. “Congratulations Tess, you just killed the most wanted man in the world. An assassin I’ve been chasing for over ten years.”

“Shit!” I shot to my feet and slowly scanned the swamp. When I felt that familiar itch on the back of my neck, I stopped. He was in that tree, and he could easily kill all of us, if he wanted. I picked the helmet up. “Why are you here, Pops?”

“I’ve come for my errant daughter,” Pops answered. “A lot of people want you dead, and it’s my duty to protect you.”

A humorless laugh broke from me. “Your duty? Please. You need me for another one of your missions.”

“Come with me now and the Alpha Dogs get to live a bit longer.”

A cold fury engulfed me. “If you harm any of them, I will hunt you down and kill you.”

Pops laughed. “Will you now?”

“Yes. I’m done with you. Stay away from me and mine.”

Stone took the helmet from me. “What kind of father are you? You sent Tess behind enemy lines, alone, and on missions even my team would have a difficult time accomplishing. You cut her rations until she’s literally skin and bones. Plus, you’ve done nothing to stop Roberts from trying to kill her.”

“My daughter is a highly trained soldier who can take care of herself. Captain Harris and General Grandville have paid for their mistakes. I will find Roberts and deal with him,” Pops snapped.

Curiosity got the best of me. “Did you shoot down King Saraki’s cargo jet?”

“No, let’s just say Saraki kidnapped the wrong American.”

The roar of more airboats sounded in the distance. Hopefully, it was Jeb and our backup.

“Come with me now, Tess, and I’ll keep you safe,” Pops promised.

“I think I’ll pass. The Alpha Dogs are the only reason I’m still breathing.”

“Do blood ties mean so little to you?”

“When all hell breaks loose, I know the Alpha Dogs will be fighting at my side, and they will never ever leave me behind. Can you say the same?”

Stone wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Tess belongs to me now.”

I smothered a groan. That was guaranteed to piss Pops off.

“This isn’t over,” Pops said menacingly.

“Oh, but it is. You come anywhere near Tess, and I will kill you.”

Pops sneered. “Challenge accepted.”

“I’m not afraid of you, old man.” Stone’s voice was edged with steel.

I rubbed my aching forehead. Testosterone was the bane of my life.

“You will be. You will be,” Pops vowed.

Whump. Whump. Whump. A Huey appeared overhead, and a blinding white light lit up the area.

“What the hell? Who is that?” God, I hoped it wasn’t more mercenaries.

Stone smiled. “A CIA retrieval team. They parachuted in behind us. The CIA is very anxious to talk to your father.”

My neck stopped itching. “He’s gone.”

“Your father won’t get far,” Stone stated.

“Wanna bet?”

Sure enough, the manhunt for my father was a complete bust. The CIA hunters were furious and wanted to take me into custody. General Masters put a stop to that. The hunters left in a huff and took Petrov’s body with them.

“They’re going to claim they killed Petrov,” Tex groused.

I shrugged. Like I cared.

“You don’t want the million-dollar bounty on Petrov?” Johnson asked.

Flying for the movie production company paid well and I wasn’t hurting for money. “Nope. They’re welcome to it.”

“Petrov has a very large family,” Stone pointed out. “The hunters will soon become the hunted.”

Jeb guided his airboat up onto the shoreline. “Your jet is ready to go.”

“Thanks.” Stone hugged me tightly. “C’mon, I’m taking you home.”

Home. That single word filled me with such longing.