Monster (33 page)

“You weren’t kidding about us all being used, were you?”

“This war won’t be won by the sisters of the traveling pants wringing their hands and beating their breasts while screaming we can’t descend to the enemy’s level,” McDaniels said quietly. “We ain’t teaching our children to blow themselves up in restaurants and the only heads being taken from our side are the right ones.”

“You’re to take the fall for all of us?”

“Only for a little while. If I end up in prison like after the Hughes’ thing, I just have to bide my time,” McDaniels explained. “I may have to change names and hit the road for a while somewhere else where I’m needed.”

“And if they just write you off?”

McDaniels shrugged. “I know what I’m doing is right, Red. I went into this with my eyes open.”

“Senator Hokanson wasn’t just a worried influential uncle, was he?”

“I’ve told you everything I can, Hon. I trust you. I wanted you to know everything I could tell you safely. Now, Kay and I have to get to work.”

“What should the rest of us do, Mr. Mountain?”

“You guys aren’t parked anywhere near Stevie. Walk him the hell out of here and take Kay’s SUV. Give me about half an hour to locate these other clowns. I’ll call it in to you. You’ll have Kay and I between you and the bad guys. After I make sure these guys get buried where they won’t surface until we want them to, Kay and I will take Stevie’s car. Did you park in the lot with the Russian?”

“No. I parked up on the road and walked Dino in.”

“Good thinking. Give me your keys and Stevie’s.”

“What about a shovel?” Reskova handed him the two sets of keys.

“I have a couple field pack shovels in my gear bag where Kay and I were.”

Reskova turned toward the rest of the group with Dino still at her heel.

“What, no kiss?”

“Later,” Reskova called back over her shoulder. McDaniels fell in behind her with a laugh.

* * *

“I love this rifle, my friend,” Kay whispered. He and McDaniels made their way slowly to a point overlooking both sides of Chain Bridge Road.

“Keep it,” McDaniels whispered back. “I wish there had been a way for you to take a couple practice shots just in case I needed your help.”

“We will be fine. What you did to the sniper today… how do you say… made my hair stand up. In Iraq you surprised me many times but never so much as today.”

“There was some wind. It covered me a little. The ground was moist.” McDaniels halted in the dense brush. “This is as good a place as any. We have direct sight down over the parking lot and the hill on the other side of the road.”

McDaniels pointed to an area with a large stand of trees bordered by thickets. “That’s where I’d be. Set up the heat scanner. I’m betting these two henchmen ain’t the backwoods type. We may even be able to see them with just the field glasses.”

The two men quietly set up their equipment, concentrating on the area where McDaniels indicated Tomashevsky’s men would be.

“I am picking up nothing.”

“Kay, I’m getting a bad feeling about this. What have I missed?”

Rasheed turned from his screen. “I feel it too, my friend. I… hell!”

“What!”

“What if these men spotted our vehicles on the road? If…”

“Shit!” McDaniels exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “Follow me if you can!”

McDaniels, a cold aching dread lancing through him, pulled his cell-phone out as he ran rapidly through the thick underbrush. He hit Reskova’s number, rushing with all the expertise long years’ training and self-discipline could muster. His heart soared when he heard Reskova’s voice.

“Get to cover, Red! Don’t talk! Just do it!” McDaniels shouted into the phone. “I’m on my way.”

McDaniels heard Reskova relaying his orders to the others instantly.

“We’re down, Cold. Dino doesn’t like it.”

“Release him. He’ll rove around as he will and he’s a hard target. If the Russian moves put a bullet in his head. Do you understand?”

Reskova rolled toward Tomashevsky, drawing her handgun in one fluid motion. She placed the barrel hard against the Russian’s head. McDaniels heard her warn Tomashevsky.

“Move or make noise and I drill you.”

“Hold tight, Red,” McDaniels whispered. He pushed himself to move faster. “No matter what you hear, do not move.”

McDaniels heard gunshots.

“They’re close. We are down with cover. Should I blow off little pieces of this prick if the bullets get closer?”

“Let your conscience be your guide, Red.”

McDaniels glanced back, spotting Rasheed doggedly keeping pace with him. McDaniels slowed as the sounds of gunfire became louder. Stopping abruptly, McDaniels tried to pinpoint where he heard the shots coming from. Rasheed caught up to him, taking a position on McDaniels’ right, staying silent as he crouched at the ready near his friend. Rasheed tore out set up the heat signature gear he had, pointing in the general direction of where the shots came from. McDaniels calculated distances with his digital field binoculars from the muzzle flashes.

“I have them, Kay. Forget the equipment.” McDaniels rattled off coordinates so Rasheed could track to the spot with his own field glasses.

* * *

Rasheed picked up the sniper rifle and began sighting in as McDaniels acted as spotter, giving him digital readings. Rasheed squeezed off a round, wounding the man in the forefront. They watched the other men drag their comrade’s pain convulsed body back further into the brush cover. The firing toward Reskova’s group stopped.

“Nice shot, Kay.”

“I was aiming for his head.”

“Strange rifle, no practice, nice shot. Can you keep them where they are while I get down there?”

“If they move, you will not need to go down there,” Rasheed promised. “There are four of them, not two.”

“I know,” McDaniels acknowledged. He moved down the slope they were on. “I saw them. Call the Boss and tell her to keep still for a little while longer.”

“It will be done.” Rasheed pulled out his cell-phone while still watching the sniper’s roost. “You and I will carve the Russian up later, yes?”

“Maybe so, Kay, maybe so.”

Rasheed hit speed dial and listened as Reskova answered.

“Yeah, Kay.”

“Boss, I shot one of the scum. They have crawled into a hole. The Cold Mountain has left to dig them out of it.”

“Is there just the one left?”

“No, Boss, I saw three more besides the one I shot.”

“Three more!? The Russian… you son-of-a-bitch!”

Rasheed heard the sounds of a struggle and Tomashevsky cry out in pain. Then he heard Barrington and Rutledge trying to calm Reskova down. Rasheed continued his watch of the sniper’s position, squeezing off a round occasionally in a counterclockwise pattern around where he had seen them hide.

“I’m back, Kay. I hear your fire so you must be keeping them pinned down.”

“Absolutely, Boss. If one gets his head up too far, I will make the odds better.”

“How did you guys know something was wrong?”

“I wondered out loud about Tomashevsky’s men having found our cars. Cold took it from there, ordering you all down.”

“You saved our lives, Kay.”

“I will charge the debt to the Cold Mountain, Boss. I am about fifty or sixty life savings behind him from Iraq.”

“As you will, Kay, but thanks just the same. I guess we just wait then.”

“It will not be a long wait,” Rasheed said with confidence.

Chapter 24

Take Out

“They have the high ground,” a man in camouflage whispered urgently in Russian. He pressed a piece of clothing into the wounded chest of the man who had been hit.

“We need to get out of here,” his colleague next to him replied, shifting slightly for more comfort. “These must be American agents with special forces training. This was no simple rival gang hit. They must have killed the Bulgarian already. He was the best I have ever seen. How else could they have taken Stephen?”

“They would have moved on us with an army if they were American agents,” the third man whispered. “There would already be helicopter gun-ships firing on us if these were federal agents. Let us drag Thomas back over the slope and then…”

“Thomas is dead,” the man trying to patch up the wounded man said. “Lead off, Nick. Maybe we can get out of here before this bunch…”

There was a mere rustle of brush and a thud. The man referred to as Nick turned toward his comrade. His companion stared at him through sightless eyes, the handle of an ice-pick sticking out grotesquely from the side of his head. The body twitched in its final death throes. Nick reached out to the third man who watched the area where their original target had been moving. Nick had fought in the Russian Special Forces against the Afghans. He was an old hand at this game and no stranger to combat. His heart pounded. He reached toward the pants leg of his comrade, a Chechnyan born Muslim named Sidor. The last thing Nick heard was the faint rustle of brush. He felt a sharp pain over his left ear. Nick felt nothing again forever.

“He’s all yours, Kay,” McDaniels whispered into his transmitter and then threw a rock at Sidor.

The Chechnyan turned angrily after the rock hit him in the back of the neck. He saw his three dead comrades and immediately stood up to run. Sidor’s brains blew out the front of his head. The Chechnyan man fell heavily face first into the brush and rocks at his feet.

“Nice, you corrected well. Four down. Tell the Boss to get moving. We’ll catch up with her later. Did you bring your shovel, Kay?”

“I am not a grave digger, Mr. Mountain.” Rasheed dialed Reskova once more.

“Get down here as soon as you make the call you sheep herding son of…”

“Heyyyyyyyyy…” Rasheed cut McDaniels off. He smiled as Reskova answered.

“Four down, Boss. Cold said you, Tom, and Jen can head out with Tomashevsky. We will handle the clean up.”

“Thank God!” Reskova immediately jumped to her feet and kicked Tomashevsky under his left ribcage, evoking a scream of pain. “We’ll see you later, Kay.”

“Yes, Boss, we will meet you as soon as possible.”

“Acknowledged,” Reskova replied, cutting the connection.

* * *

Barrington and Rutledge were already on their feet, supporting the groaning Tomashevsky.

“It’s safe to go,” Reskova told them. “Kay and Cold got all of them.”

“They…they’re all dead?” Tomashevsky asked in a hushed voice.

Rutledge patted the Russian on the back. “Yep, and if they’re lucky, they still have their heads.”

Reskova moved in close to the cringing Tomashevsky. “When my men meet up with us later I’m going to let them interrogate you. This little deception of yours will be the last time you ever tell a lie.”

The Russian took a step toward Reskova when she turned away from him. “Wait! What can I do to keep from this interrogation you speak of? We had a deal.”

Reskova whipped around. The look on her face caused Barrington to step in front of the Russian, his hand gesturing in a calming fashion.

“Easy, Diane. Remember what we came here for. We can give this prick over to the Cold Mountain anytime.”

“Cold…Cold Mountain? You mean that guy from the papers who stopped the Syrian hijackers and killed the Mercados and cut off the head of the kidnapper in the woods. I…I did not believe he existed.”

“How many Cold Mountains do you think we have running around, Stevie? He exists all right,” Rutledge informed Tomashevsky. She pulled him toward their car. “Cold Mountain and Kay also interrogated the Syrian who led the attempted airline hijacking. The doctors say the Syrian might be able to eat whole food in another couple of years.”

Barrington handed Reskova the keys to Rasheed’s SUV. “Maybe you had better drive, Diane. Jen and I will terrorize the Russian for a while. He looks ready to pop anyway. If this keeps up maybe all we’ll have to do is show our prisoners a picture of the Colonel and they’ll start talking.”

“Maybe, Tom. He won’t be getting any headlines from this one for a change. God, I’m glad Kay spoke up in time. That was close.”

* * *

McDaniels threw the brush he had gathered over the freshly shoveled earth. When he finished, McDaniels looked at Rasheed questioningly. “How’s that?”

“Very nice,” Rasheed said tiredly. “We have missed our calling. Perhaps we can get hired at the local funeral home.”

McDaniels chuckled, brushing his hands off. “They do it with bulldozers, Kay.”

“Just our luck, obsolete already,” Rasheed replied. The two men gathered their equipment. “Did you get the first sniper tucked in well enough?”

“He’s part of the slope. The rains won’t be washing him down in the spring.”

“Do you want me to drive the Russian’s car or the Boss’s?”

“I’ll drive Stevie’s.” McDaniels handed Rasheed the keys to Reskova’s car. “You better come along until I find out what kind of goodies he has stashed in the trunk.”