Laura 02 The God Code (16 page)

“Room secure,” Ernest speaks into the communication device and waits for the reply from the other team.

“No hostiles detected, entering the room…..room secured…..10 women located, all bound up.”

“Commander, we have a problem. We have hostiles moving in on our position. They are currently surrounding the building, all heavily armed.” Sam’s Voice is calm as he speaks, looking over a two foot high brick wall that runs around the edge of the building’s flat roof.

“Roger that, we are bringing the women to the main lobby, keep me informed.”

After freeing the 10 women in his room, Ernest leads them into the basement where they join the women from the other room. As they lead the women to the main lobby, one touches Ernest on the shoulder and speaks. “Gracias senor por liberandonos. Por favor, ?tiene agua?”

“Si si,” Ernest replies, as he takes a canteen of water from his belt and hands it to the woman. The moment the other women see that there is water, all plead to have a sip.

“Canteens out,” Ernest orders his men, while he takes a snack bar from his hip pocket. The woman’s eyes fill with tears when he hands her the bar. Suddenly she steps forward and hugs Ernest, tears flowing freely. Ernest tries to tell his men to give the girls some of their food, but there is a lump in his throat from the woman’s reaction. However, the order is not necessary as his men follow his lead and are already starting to open their backpacks and hand out some of their rations.

“How are we going to get out of here Commander?” Edmund is standing next to Ernest, looking at the women as he speaks, then turns to Ernest before continuing. “It will be too dangerous to try to run for it with the women.”

“We will call for help.”

“The radio is fried Commander. We did not locate any land lines, and unless you did not hand in your cell, we have no communication.”

“Nope, they took my cell as well, you know the procedures.”

“Okay, I’m waiting.”

“The Sat phone.”

“You’re going to call the White House to ask for support?”

“The order did come directly from the President, right?”

“Supposed to.”

“Well then, let’s see who answers the phone.”

The phone has only a power switch that also controls the volume, and two buttons, one to make a call and one to end the call.

The phone has a dedicated line with the White House, with the number preprogrammed in, preventing anyone from obtaining the number should the phone fall into the wrong hands. Ernest presses the green button labeled “Call” and waits as he listens to the phone ringing on the other end.

***

President Abraham stares intently at Secretary of Defense Jerry Reed’s cell phone. He had left it carelessly on the table with his notes, as he quickly went outside the room to deal with another matter. The phone is ringing for the fourth time now, and Abraham decides to answer it.

“Hello, this is the Secretary of Defense Jerry Reed’s phone.” The other people in the room make no comment as he answers, but he can see their disapproval of him invading Reed’s privacy by answering his cell phone.

“Is this Secretary of Defense Jerry Reed?” There is hesitation in the person’s voice.

“No, this is President Abraham. The Secretary of Defense is currently unavailable. Who are you and how did you get this number? Do not lie, this call is already being traced.” Abraham snaps his fingers as he says the words and a technician immediately starts entering information on his terminal to trace the call.

“This is Seal Commander Ernest, Sir. We are currently deployed and executing mission Irene. We were ambushed, and need immediate Evac.” Ernest decides not to mention yet how he obtained the Sat phone.

“You are the Seal team who went to rescue those women in Sector X?”

“That is affirmative Sir. Package located. Also found a terrorist cell and plans for an attack on US targets, including you Sir.”

“My GOD son, when are the attacks planned for?”

“Tomorrow Sir. Hostile force eliminated, located 20 suicide bombs Sir.”

President Abraham stares at the technician’s screen as he listens to Ernest talking. Tracing the call is fast and easy as it is a dedicated Sat phone. The screen shows an abandoned hotel, exactly where the team was sent.

“What is your status Commander?”

“Sir, I have three men KIA, three wounded. Package secure and unharmed. Perimeter set, but we are surrounded by around 200 armed forces. We need extraction Sir.”

Abraham looks again at the monitor, showing a thermal image of the building. He taps on the screen, and the view zooms out. Abraham gasps. Multiple red dots are moving all around the building, indicating heat signatures. It looks like an ants’ nest that was kicked and is now coming alive.

“Commander, it is a negative on extraction on your current location.” President Abraham taps on the monitor again, causing the view to zoom out more.

“Commander, there is an open field two blocks from you, find a way there and we will be able to pick you up. We will monitor your progress from here and send support as soon as we see you are on the move. Give us two hours to scramble some choppers before you move.”

“Roger that Sir.”

Just then the Secretary of Defense walks into the room and to his horror sees Abraham talking on his cell, he quickly searches his pockets and a wave of panic goes over him as he realizes that he indeed left his cell on the table.

“Ah Jerry, good that you’re back, I was just in touch with the Commander of the team you sent to rescue the women.”

A cold child runs down Jerry’s back and he starts to perspire. He glances at the two armed guards at the door. What has the team found and why call on his phone? Fear chokes Jerry. Have all the plans been uncovered? What does the President know?

“It was a smart idea to give them a Sat phone. They have the women and information on a terrorist attack.” Abraham walks over to Jerry and hands him his phone. Jerry is speechless and automatically takes the phone, almost dropping it due to his hands shaking so badly.

“Jerry, are you okay?” Abraham looks Jerry up and down before continuing. “You’re as white as a ghost; maybe you should go see a doctor.”

“I…I’m fine sir, just lack of sleep. I’ll be okay. Is the team bringing the women out Sir?”

“They are currently surrounded in the hotel. We cannot help them there. The streets are too narrow to land a helicopter, and the roof is too cluttered with vents and antennas to make a safe pickup from there for the amount of people we need to get out, too much risk of a bird down scenario. If they can make it to this open field, then we can pick them up with a few helicopters and gunships as support.”

“Excellent idea Sir.”

Jerry walks to his chair and takes his seat, all the while texting a message to his secretary. “Urgent, full dossier on Commander of Seal team, operation ‘Irene’.”

He only partly listens as the President and the rest of the team prepare a speech to explain the missile launch and detonation, including the rescue of the women. Minutes after sending his request, his phone vibrates once in his hand, held on his lap. Glancing down he notices a return message from his secretary. It contains a full dossier on Ernest. Jerry quickly scrolls through the information until he finds what he is looking for. Ernest has a wife and two kids, with a current address listed as off base. Jerry smiles as he texts the information to George, his contact to Carlos, the leader of the armed group currently surrounding Ernest. A final instruction follows, “Use the Commander’s family as needed to flush them out, then kill them all, leave no one alive or any evidence behind. Mission compromised.”

***

“Commander, how are we going to get the women to the clearing, and what about our fallen comrades?” Sam is eating an energy bar as he speaks. He and the rest of the team trust Ernest with their lives, and will follow him anywhere he leads them, all they need is orders.

“We fight. We help carry,” says a female voice in broken English.

Both Ernest and Sam spin around to face the voice.

Penelope stands right behind them with her hands on her hips and a serious expression on her face.

“Have you handled a weapon before?” Sam asks before Ernest can reply.

“No, is easy, you show us. More guns, more enemy scared.”

Ernest smiles as he replies, “Well Sam, you cannot argue with that reasoning. What do you think, if we create a big distraction, and have teams of one of us and one of them carry our wounded and dead, can we make it out?”

“It will have to be one big distraction Commander, what do you have in mind?”

The rest of the team stands closer to the two men to hear the plan.

“Well, I’m thinking that it’s a shame these people went to all the trouble of assembling those 20 bombs and not see them in action. Maybe we should give them an opportunity?” There is a sly smile on Ernest’s face as he continues. “The women can rally at the basement exit, while some of us drop the vests down onto the men below from the roof. The explosions should clear the streets. If they stand near the corners of the basement side, we can cover three streets. As soon as the bombs explode, we will use the confusion and make our way to the field, engaging only if necessary. Those on the roof can then rappel down the wall and form our rear guard.”

Sam nods then replies, “Excellent plan Commander, Nelson and Lester, you two speak fluent Spanish, gather all the weapons and ammunition from the dead terrorists, then take Virgil and some of the women with you. Show them quickly how to reload, aim and fire.”

“Yes Sir,” the response comes in unison, and the men leave to follow their orders, speaking to some of the women who then relay the message to the others. All the women agree and the party splits into two, Lester leading one half the women and Nelson leading the other half.

“Ok, Tipper, guard the door, the rest, on me. We are taking the bombs to the top floor and activating them.”

Tipper shifts his grip on his gun and smiles as he replies. “Door covered Commander.” He dials the fire rate controller all the way up, allowing the electronic controlled motor to spin the six barrels at maximum rate. The two 500-round magazines inserted into the Microgun will be spent in 15 seconds, obliterating anyone trying to enter the door.

***

Jose stares at the phone ringing on his desk. “Unknown Number” is displayed on the screen. Victor had replaced the SIM card in Jose’s phone before he left. Hesitantly Jose slowly picks up the phone. Who can it be? Is Victor in trouble?

“Ola?” Jose answers.

“Who is this?”

“Who are you?”

“This is the President of the United States. I want to speak to Victor.”

“Oh hey dude, how is it hanging? Sorry but Victor is out.” Jose holds the phone a short distance away from his ear and makes as if he is going to throw up.

He dislikes the President and has no respect for him.

When his father took control of the country a month earlier, he contacted the President to ask him for arms and help in taking over the country, the President declined.

President Abraham is taken aback slightly by the response, then recovers and replies, “Who are you?”

“I am Jose, son of General Conzales, commander of the Columbian army. How can I help?”

“I need to get a message to Victor.”

“Sure, give it to me, and I will pass it on.”

There is a short silence on the other end, and then Abraham replies. “Inform Victor that we have secured the women, but our men have encountered heavy resistance and are currently pinned down. We cannot extract the women at this time.”

“Are you calling for help? I can send some of my men over to help your boys out.”

“Thank you, but that will not be needed. We will bring our own back. Just get the message to Victor that we will get the women out, just do not launch any more missiles.”

“Sure dude, no worries man.” Jose stares at the phone as the call ends. “Inconsiderate, he did not even say goodbye, typical politician,” Jose mumbles to himself. Jose then dials the number of the jet and waits for the call to connect.

“Victor?” Jose takes a chance that Victor will answer.

“Hi Jose, it’s Laura, how are you?”

“Hi Laura, doing good. Please tell Victor that his grumpy friend the President says that they have the women, but that they are a bit tired of fighting and are taking a break until they can get some more men to help them get the women out. I told him I would send him some real soldiers, but he said no.”

“I will do Jose. Do you want to speak to Victor?”

“Nope, got to go, my father just arrived.”

“Okay Jose, take care.”

“You too Laura.”

Jose ends the call and looks at his father walking towards him as he puts the phone down on the table. With a smile, he gets up and walks to his father. The two men greet each other with a handshake and then suddenly General Conzales pulls Jose into a hug.

“I am glad to see you. It is finally over. Where are Victor and Laura?”

“Oh, they went to have a chat with the Pope.”

“Why? There are plenty of priests here that will marry them, they did not need to go all the way to the Vatican.”

“I think they are going to have a different talk papa. He apparently gave the contract to have them killed.”

“Phew, for a moment I thought I was going to miss the wedding. Pity about the Pope though, kind of liked him, will miss him. Hope the new Pope is better.”

“Papa, there is no wedding. And they are just going to ask the Pope if he would kindly cancel the order.”

General Conzales looks at his son for a moment before he replies. “No wedding, pity, they are a nice couple. Let’s go celebrate our victory.”

The two men walk side by side, each relaying the experiences of the last few hours to each other as they make their way to General Conzales’s car, a black 500 SL Mercedes.

***

George walks over to Carlos while holding his cell phone in front of him as he reads the contents of a message.

“Boss I received a message from our contact in the White House. It contains details on the leader of the Seal team inside.”

“Anything we can use?”