Authors: David Poyer
The Towers (53 page)
“Sorry, what?”
“Nothing. Nothing ⦠'n' who're you?”
“Just a guy with a couple of questions. About the mission. If you got the time.”
“I don't discuss missions.”
“You'll discuss this one,” the man said. “In the Safed Koh, over the Pak border, to get bin Laden. The back way, the Ghilzai route to the Parachinar. Where you lost Dusty Palladino and most of Echo Two. We on the same page now, Chief?”
“⦠Guess so.”
“Actually I really only have one question. And since you were the only dude on the scene, you're the only one can answer it. Here it is. Did you get him?”
Teddy closed his eyes. Tried to replay it, and only got part. He heard another sniff and smelled menthol and eucalyptus. “My guys. Moogie. Mud Cat. They make it?”
“Some of 'em. Not all. But you already know that.”
“Who? Whichâ”
“I'm not privy to that level of detail. We can have someone get you that info, though. But my question. Did you nail him?”
Teddy thought for a while. Trying to be exact. But the endless wind, the snow-smoke, the sparkling green murk, seemed to have blown across his memory too. Finally he said, “Don't know.”
“You
don't know
.”
“I ⦠might have. Last round. Too dark. Scope was ⦠fucked.”
“Well, if you don't know, I do,” the shadow said. A faint sound, as if he were spitting out a bit of tobacco, though the guy didn't seem to be smoking. “You missed.”
“⦠How?”
“Intercepted radio transmission. Well into the Parachinar, into the Tribal Territories.”
“So it wasâ?”
“It was him, all right. Confirmed by one of his aides we captured.”
“⦠See if he's⦔
“We checked. Sent in two operators. Found your overwatch point. Where you ambushed him. Nothing else, though. Hell of a mission, from what I hear. You can be proud of yourself, and your team. Just shitty luck there at the end.”
Teddy lay drifting, contemplating it. He wanted to squeeze the button now, but forced himself not to.
“I'll get back on my feet,” he said. “Build myself up. Then go after him again.”
“That's a great attitude. I like that. But unfortunately, there are certain things you won't find so easy anymore. Accepting that, they tell me, is the first step back.”
“What ⦠talking about?”
For answer the shadowman leaned over him. Took Teddy's hand and guided it down his side. He tried to resist, but didn't have the strength. His fingers slid down his leg. Then met cold steel, tubes, wires. The pain flared. He caught his lip in his teeth.
“Tissue damage. Frostbite,” the man said. “They can't tell me if you'll keep the leg or not.” He set Teddy's hand back on his chest. Patted it, then stood. “We'll carry on. Don't worry about that. This war's in good hands. But if you got anything else you always wanted to do, start thinking about that.
“So, I'll leave you to it. But I will say this. You're a hell of an operator.”
The shadow touched its forehead. When Teddy grasped it was a salute, he lifted his left hand and wiggled the fingers, like a toddler saying good-bye.
And with his right, pressed the button.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
WHEN
he opened his eyes again, the chair was empty. Maybe it'd been empty all along? Like with Sumo, he'd imagined the guy? His head swam. His mouth was puckered dry. What had they been talking about. Oh, yeah. Fuck yeah. That he'd missed, there at the end. Fuck.
He felt for his leg again, hoping like hell it had been a bad dream.
Nope.
He lay there in the dark, feeling by turns bitter and relieved. Then angry. But pretty soon, instead of himself, he started thinking about the guys he'd lost.
He probably wouldn't be able to make the funerals. Like a chief should. But he could meet the families, at least. Tell them just how brave their sons and fathers and husbands had been. When it counted.
Maybe he could do something else, too.
If you got anything else you always wanted to do, start thinking about that.
Was there? Maybe a stocky, cocky brunette in the San Diego Sheriff's Department? Yeah. Maybe. But something else too. Something much more important.
He couldn't bring them back. Dusty and Moogie and Harley, Doc and Vaseline. The L-T, Dollard, blown into bits so small they hadn't even looked human. And so many others. So very many others.
But he could stay on mission.
He stretched out an arm and dropped the button over the side of the bed. It hit the floor with the crack of breaking thermoplastic. He took a few breaths, pumping himself up. Doubled his fists. Then pushed himself to a sitting position.
Rested for a few minutes, panting as if in high, thin air. Then fought like hell and finally got his foot on the floor. He rested again, pulse pounding, almost fainting from the pain, but enduring it. Forcing himself to take it.
Yeah. There was something he wanted.
To get strong. Recover. Join the Teams again.
And finish the job so many had died trying to do. Call it payback. Call it deterrence, if you wanted. Or justice. Even just, revenge. It wasn't only that, but why not. He didn't have a problem with vengeance.
It might take years. But one thing was sure. America would never forget. Never turn back. And never, ever forgive. He belonged out there, at the pointy end of the spear. Someday, somewhere, on some mountainside or in a crowded souk or some isolated compound, in Africa or Afghanistan or Pakistan or at the fucking ass end of the earth, he'd get another chance. And the next time he or some other SEAL or Special Forces or Marine got in range, it would be a different story.
He owed them all that. At the very least.
Washington, DC
Washington (Navy News Service)âThe results of last year's active-duty captain line promotion selection board were voided on Feb. 21 after it was discovered that certain procedural safeguards required by the Secretary of the Navy had not been fully followed by board members.
“Our Sailors must have complete confidence in the absolute integrity of the selection process. We must not hesitate to protect that process in order to provide the best possible leadership for the Fleet,” said Vice-Admiral Barry N. Niles, who will be in charge of instructing the reconvened board.
The new board, with new members, will begin meeting next week to begin what Vice-Admiral Niles called “full and fair reconsideration” of all eligible officers. The new promotion list will be available by the first of May.
Also by David Poyer
Tales of the Modern Navy
The Crisis
The Weapon
Korea Strait
The Threat
The Command
Black Storm
China Sea
Tomahawk
The Passage
The Circle
The Gulf
The Med
Tiller Galloway
Down to a Sunless Sea
Louisiana Blue
Bahamas Blue
Hatteras Blue
The Civil War at Sea
That Anvil of Our Souls
A Country of Our Own
Fire on the Waters
Hemlock County
Thunder on the Mountain
As the Wolf Loves Winter
Winter in the Heart
The Dead of Winter
Other Novels
Ghosting
The Only Thing to Fear
Stepfather Bank
The Return of Philo T. McGiffin
Star Seed
The Shiloh Project
White Continent
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE TOWERS.
Copyright © 2011 by David Poyer. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Poyer, David.
The towers : a Dan Lenson novel of 9/11 / David Poyer. â 1st ed.
        p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-312-61301-3
  1. Lenson, Dan (Fictitious character)âFiction.  2. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001âFiction.  3. United States. NavyâOfficersâFiction.  I. Title.
PS3566.O978T69 2011
813'.54âdc22
2011019511
e-ISBN 9781429987790
First Edition: September 2011