Angels Don't Die (Madeleine Toche Series Book 2) (30 page)

             
“But not on your mission, Ariel,” Jonathan said.

             
“Sorry, not this time,” Ariel said.

             
“Here are two maps showing the most direct route to the border.  If you drive straight through, you’ll be there in a bit more than an hour,” Jonathan said, as the rest of the group walked over.

             
“Are we likely to run into a check point?” Jack asked.

             
“Not inside the country, but I don’t know what it will be like along the Syrian border.  The area delineated on the map is pretty desolate.  I doubt you’ll run into a patrol. Their military is focused on defeating Israel, not repelling a small group,” Jonathan said.

             
“That’s why the fewer of us the better,” Ariel said, clasping Jonathan on the shoulder. “We’d best get started.”

CHAPTER
FORTY
-THREE

             
Madeleine and Ariel worked their way down a sand dune, on their knees and elbows as they moved closer to the perimeter fence surrounding the sprawling Syrian army base. They were using a low crawl, moving only their arms and legs while dragging the rest of their bodies along the ground.  Moving through the sand allowed them to keep their profiles as low as possible as they approached the fence.  The sun was just starting to set over the dunes behind them, casting shadows over them as they trained their binoculars on the main buildings.

             
“My guess is that Tracy is being held in the largest building, over there,” Madeleine whispered, gesturing with her finger.

             
“I watched this base on two different occasions, gathering intelligence.  Both times, I think I saw prisoners taken in and out of that building, but I can’t say for sure,” Ariel said.

             
“Why was the Mossad interested in this base?” Madeleine asked.

             
“We were looking for Scuds,” Ariel said.

             
“Missiles?” Madeleine said.

             
“Yes.  They have enough range from here to deliver a warhead into the heart of Israel.  The Russians supplied them to the Syrians, but I doubt they gave them any tactical nukes,” Ariel said. “Director Hartmann wanted us to check to see if there were any on the base.”

             
“Will the Syrian army actually fire Scuds into Israel?” Madeleine asked. “I can understand his concern.  Scuds are notoriously inaccurate and land indiscriminately.”

             
“They might, but they’d want to avoid the territories they want to recapture.  There’s also the possibility of a Scud hitting an Egyptian position.  I don’t think they’ll use them, but I can’t say for sure.  If they lose and use them to retaliate, Israel has a few missiles of our own,” Ariel said.

             
“If we see missiles during our attack, what do you want to do, Ariel?” Madeleine said.

             
“I’ll stay behind and disable them while you and the team get Tracy out,” Ariel said.

             
“We’re not leaving you behind.  Besides, a big explosion covering our escape would be great,” Madeleine said.

             
“I can’t ask you to jeopardize your mission, Madeleine.  We’re here for Tracy,” Ariel said.

             
“If Jack knows there are missiles stored here he won’t leave them in working order,” Madeleine said.

             
“Why?” Ariel asked.

             
“Jack is a Londoner. He and his family survived the Blitz.  I was there for part of it.  It was a constant barrage of bombing of both military and civilian targets, and thousands of civilians were killed.  At the end of the war, Hitler started firing V-1 rockets directly at London from across the channel. They were almost worse than aerial bombs, because the V-1s had only rudimentary guidance systems. London suffered more than two thousand V-1 attacks.”

             
“Couldn’t they be shot down?”

             
“Some were others were pushed out of the way,” Madeleine said.

             
“Pushed?”

             
“Yes, some of the royal Air Force pilots would topple the rockets in flight with their wing tips, lifting them slightly and disturbing the gyroscope inside, causing them to crash into the ground shy of their target,” Madeleine said.

             
“You’re joking,” Ariel said.

             
“It was a desperate war, Ariel,” Madeleine said.  “Now, we’d better get back up to the others and prepare to go in.”

             
“The Range Rover will be the rendezvous point after we get Tracy.  I think it’s best if Ariel and I go into the main building, with John and Jack setting up defensive positions protecting our escape route.  It will be night soon.  Once it is fully dark, we should go in,” Madeleine said.

             
“Are we going to need any kind of diversion once we’re inside?” Jack said.

             
“Ariel thinks they might have Scud missiles in one of the other buildings,” Madeleine said.  “If there are, we need to take them out.  Blowing the missiles will create a diversion and eliminate the possibility of their use against Israeli targets, if the war goes poorly for the Syrians.”

             
“I’ll blow their damn missiles,” Jack said in a dangerous voice.  “They always seem to land on civilians.”

             
“Jack and I will do that first, Madeleine.  We have timers and explosives.  How long do we set the delayed fuses for?” John said.

             
“Set them to go off at eight o’clock.  We’ll go in early enough so that if we are fighting our way out, a massive explosion might help us escape,” Madeleine said.

             
“Scuds can carry thermonuclear devices,” John said.  “Are we sure that none of these Scuds is a tactical nuke?”

             
“A standard explosion will not trigger a nuclear warhead, but will render it useless,” Ariel said.

             
“Are you sure?” Karen said.  “I don’t want to be standing up here waiting for the rest of you to return and get vaporized.”

             
“You won’t, I promise.  I have a degree in nuclear engineering.  That’s why Hartmann sent me here twice to check it out.  I’ve been inside that building.  There weren’t any Scuds there then, but that was several months ago.  The Russians could have delivered some in the meantime,” Ariel said.

             
“If there are any nukes, they’ll be meant for the Israelis.  We’ll destroy them if they’re there,” Madeleine said. 

             
“What time does the flight leave from Damascus, John?” Madeleine asked.

             
“Four A.M.”

             
“That gives us eight hours,” Jack said.

             
“That should be plenty.  We don’t want to be waiting around to leave,” Madeleine said, looking at the luminous dial of her watch.  “We leave in thirty minutes; we’d better get our gear organized.”

             
The four of them moved down the sand dune towards the perimeter gate, where Ariel and Madeleine had earlier observed the base.  The four of them reached the bottom and John went to work with a bolt cutter on the chain link fence.  The heavy tool easily cut through the links, leaving a gap just wide enough to crawl through, but not easily spotted by a routine patrol vehicle. 

             
John pushed the ends of the fence together after the group was on the other side. Madeleine and the others crouched in a tight circle and nodded as Madeleine pointed to eight o’clock on her watch dial, one last time before they split up.  John and Jack headed towards the far left of the compound, while Ariel and Madeleine headed directly for the central building.  Both teams paused briefly when they were within one hundred yards of their objective and waited for a security patrol to pass by.  The patrols were hourly, according to their observations of the base.

             
John and Jack lay prone, their machineguns pointed forward as a patrol passed a few yards from their position. They each followed the lone jeep with the barrels of their guns. On John’s signal they got up into a low crouch and moved towards the large storage building they thought might contain the missiles. They approached from the far end of the building and stopped to watch the door nearest them.  The building was illuminated at the end near the entryway facing the main building.  The two buildings were more than two hundred yards apart, insuring that if ordnance was stored in the warehouse and it detonated, it wouldn’t kill everyone in the main building.

             
“If the missiles are on the base, I bet they’re in here,” John said. 

             
“You’re right. They wouldn’t leave them lying about for a plane or spy satellite to spot.  Scuds are usually on mobile launchers; it wouldn’t take much to drive them out onto that field we just crossed and launch them from there,” Jack said.

             
“They must have a camera on that door,” John said.  “We should try to find another way in.”

             
“Should we try the roof?” Jack said.

             
“We need a way up,” John answered.

             
“I have a grappling hook in my knapsack,” Jack said.

             
“Well done, commando, “John said.

             
“We were the first special ops guys,” Jack said.

             
“Amen to that,” John answered as the two men moved further into the shadows towards the rear of the building.

             
Jack stopped and took a treble hook with a fifty foot rope tied to it with a series of knots tied along its length as hand holds.  The hook itself was rubberized and made little sound when it struck the flat surface of the roof.  Jack slowly pulled the rope towards him until it snagged on the edge of the roof. Jack then pulled himself up the rope while John covered their position from below.  Glancing up, John saw that Jack had made it to the top of the roof and was now guarding their position from above.  John grabbed the rope and was on the roof next to Jack in a couple of minutes.

             
“I don’t know about you John, but that used to be easier,” Jack said.

             
“No argument there,” John said.  “Good thing it’s a low building.”

             
“There’s a skylight over there,” Jack said.  “I’ll get the rope.”

             
Jack and John looked down into the interior of the building and saw several large trucks each with a launching system holding a rocket in the down position.  The interior of the building was dark except for a few lights that illuminated the entryway and the doors at the opposite end of the building, that were wide enough to allow the trucks to be driven directly out of the enclosure. The room was laid out efficiently; a missile could be ready for firing in moments.

             
“I’ll bet those already have their target coordinates calculated,” John whispered.

             
“They could fire those things on Israel without warning,” Jack answered.

             
“Not when we’re done with them,” John said.

             
The men remained silent watching for movement and moved back slightly when they saw an interior door open near the large exit doors.

             
“Guards, at least one man, maybe more,” Jack said.

             
“Probably doing an interior patrol, let’s let him finish and go back inside his office. Then we’ll enter, and I’ll go down and take out the guards while you start on the Scuds,” John said as he pulled a silencer out of his pack and began to screw it onto the end of his short barreled machinegun.

             
“Is that thing quiet?” Jack asked, nodding towards the silencer.

             
“Dead quiet,” John answered.

             
The two followed the guard’s flashlight as he made a pass around the perimeter of the missile launchers.  The man ran his flashlight the length of each missile as he made his way around. He wasn’t in a hurry. Jack looked at John and touched his watch.  They needed to move.

             
The guard returned to his office and closed the door.  The interior was dark again when John and Jack went over the side of the skylight and lowered themselves down in tandem, having securely tied the rope above.  John hit the floor first and jogged towards the security room.  The rubber soles of his boots made little noise as he approached the door.