WAR: Disruption (30 page)

Over an hour later he heard the helicopter returning.

Crap.

The sound had been partially hidden by the rattle of the Jeep, so he hadn’t noticed it before now. When Max braked and peered through a gap in the trees, he saw the lights of the helicopter approaching quickly from the east. Because of the trees, Max quickly lost sight of it. But from the way the rotor sounds changed, he suspected that the helicopter was hovering near the ravine and Dietrich’s soldiers were rappelling in.

Thank God they’d left when they did.

Max drove forward, keeping one ear attuned to the sounds from the helicopter. Unfortunately, the jungle soon thinned, then gave way to tilled earth. He stopped the Jeep just before the trees ended, not willing to risk exposure. He got out of the Jeep and walked a little bit to the right, until he had a better view of the sky.

Shit. Here came the helicopter. Aiming directly toward—

A fiery trail streaked across the night sky toward the helicopter. A second later, the helicopter exploded in a bright flash. What the—

Max stared in disbelief as the blazing helicopter fell to earth. Christ. Someone had shot the helicopter down with a surface-to-air missile. Guess he knew why the courier’s plane had crashed.

From the trajectory, the missile had come from the other side of the road and to Max’s right.

Just what he needed. The rebels or some unknown militant group were on the prowl.

He listened for signs that anyone was nearby. Heard a raucous cheer from what must be the final village along this road.

Max climbed behind the wheel and drove onto the path at the edge of the field. Luckily, the field turned back into forest before they reached the area opposite the village.

The Jeep lurched over a thick root and Emily jerked awake. “Huh? What?” She rubbed her eyes. “Where are we?”

“Just passing the last village in this region.”

“Sounds like they’re having a party.”

“You might say that.” He explained about the helicopter being shot down.

“Oh. You think the villagers are responsible? Why?”

“Maybe, they’re smugglers who don’t want strangers in this area. Maybe they have alliances with Dietrich’s enemies.” He shrugged. “Hard to say. Either way, we’re steering clear.”

Emily nodded.

They drove in silence until a river blocked their path, forcing them back to the road. Max considered whether speed or stealth was more important. With the villagers behind them too busy partying, and the helicopter no longer a threat, he decided to chance using the road, since they were driving without lights.

Forty-five minutes later, the road disappeared into a wall of green.

“Uh, Max?”

“Yeah, I see it.” He eased the Jeep to a halt, then climbed out to take a look.

Well, that was what he’d intended. But his wounded leg buckled as he tried to put weight on it. He held onto the door to steady himself and ground his teeth as he rode out the pain. Yeah, okay, he’d known that driving would aggravate his injury. But couldn’t he catch a damn break?

“Max?” Emily walked around the front of the Jeep.

“Ah… My leg…” He coughed. “It’s…um…your turn to drive.”

“All right.” She walked over to the wall of brush in front of them, pushed against some of the leaves, then stuck her head forward. A minute later, she returned. “I think I should be able to get the Jeep in there. I can’t say how long the way will be passable, but the farther we get from the village, the better, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” She slipped her arm around his waist and helped him into the passenger’s seat.

“This is hard on a man’s ego,” he grumbled.

“Oh, poor baby.” She gave him a fleeting kiss, then strode around to the driver’s side.

Well, at least she seemed to have regained some of her energy.

She settled behind the wheel and he handed her the night vision goggles. Once she had them in place, she disengaged the parking brake and drove forward.

“Here we go again,” she muttered before the Jeep left the relatively stable surface of the road and lurched into the jungle.

“WHAT DO YOU mean the helicopter has been lost?” Dietrich pressed the phone against his ear, as if that would make the leader of his search team more coherent.

“Someone shot it out of the sky with a surface-to-air missile after it dropped us off. It exploded. There’s no way anyone survived.”

Dietrich pinched the bridge of his nose. Why him? This was the deal of a lifetime. More money than he had ever been offered, with promises of future deals if all went according to plan. But this past month everything had gone wrong, one thing after another. As if he had been cursed.

“Have you found any sign of the plane?” he asked.

“Not yet. It’s still dark. Even with night vision goggles, the ravine’s terrain is treacherous. We’re going to have to wait until dawn to enter.”

Dietrich bit back a curse. He had thought they had finally received a break. He had paid an exorbitant fee in order to obtain two refurbished Soviet helicopters with radar and infrared equipment. They had been delivered just this morning and his crew had spent the rest of the day vetting one helicopter and preparing it for this evening’s flight. Not only had infrared revealed debris on the ground in an area far on the other side of the main road, possibly from his missing plane, but there had been two heat signatures nearby. The presence of human beings could simply mean that some of the locals from the nearby village had found the debris. Given his luck, it was more probable that Max had outsmarted him and found the plane first.

But no. The crew had reported two heat signatures and Max now worked alone.

Regardless, he could not allow Max or anyone else to gain possession of the briefcase. So Dietrich had authorized his men to rappel in and investigate.

“Do not forget,” Dietrich said. “This matter is urgent. You will receive a bonus for the quick retrieval of the object or for the capture of any foreigners in the area.”

“I understand. However, the other half of my team was on the helicopter when it went down. The plan was to drop that team closer to the heat signatures, which were on the move. Now eight of my men are dead.”

So. His soldiers had been killed. By the locals? Or by Max? Either way, the loss was both inconvenient and costly. He paid his men outrageous salaries to handle such problems quickly and with lethal force. The risk was understood, yet his commander would still have to waste time recruiting and training replacements.

Another cost to lay at Max’s feet.

After receiving his commander’s assurances that he would report back once his team had entered the ravine, Dietrich ended the call. He would have to send out a second team in order to chase down the heat signatures. Fortunately, he had a backup helicopter, but mobilizing another crew would take time. He did not know if the second helicopter would arrive soon enough to stop Max, or whoever was on the ground, from locating the prototype first.

That assumed that the plane had truly crashed there.

He sighed and glanced around his tent. He had only recently set up camp here, on the edge of the area his men had most recently been searching. Unfortunately, the debris they had located had proved to be the remains of an old bus. Not the plane carrying the courier and his precious cargo.

Now he had to wonder if the same party that had shot down his helicopter tonight had also shot down the courier’s plane. He knew that none of the rebel groups he dealt with would dare to do so. However, it was possible that some of the locals were ignorant enough to see both the plane and the helicopter as threats. After all, as Max’s escape had proven, the smuggling network in this area was quite complex.

It was also conceivable that the government had troops nearby. However, that particular strip of jungle was sparsely populated and the only reason the government would be in the area would be to search for his plane. Dietrich had been very, very careful to pay the pilot enough so he would take all maneuvers to avoid being detected by the government. So, if government troops were on the ground, it meant some of the villagers had witnessed the plane’s crash and reported it.

He turned to the rebel commander standing next to him. “Tell me again about the area surrounding the ravine.”

The man shrugged. “Few villages. Very primitive. No electricity. No telephones. No running water.”

Which meant that if someone had notified the government of the plane, they would have had to leave the area and place a call at the closest city. Not enough time had passed to allow such a delay in reporting and then the activation of forces. So, that likely eliminated the government as the source for bringing the plane down. Since he suspected the same person or group had shot down his helicopter…

“Where do the loyalties of the people in this area lie? With the government or with the rebels?”

The man shrugged. “This I cannot know. I am not from this place.”

Dietrich drilled him with a stare. “Then find someone who
can
give me the information I seek. I need to understand what type of threat we are facing before we pack up this camp and move.”

The man squirmed. He clearly did not want to believe that anyone had the authority to give him orders. Yet underneath his lust for power lay a weak-willed man. He liked to strut and throw his power around, but he had no head for war. He was entirely ruled by his juvenile emotions and often erupted in vicious outbursts that lost him the respect of his men.

Dietrich held the rebel’s gaze unwaveringly, until the man glanced down. “Yes, sir,” the man mumbled. He turned and fled the tent. Once outside, he began shouting orders in the local language, no doubt trying to boost his confidence.

Fool.

While the West African men who had started the rebellion were intelligent and disciplined, in order to quickly build up their army they had encouraged all people to join their organization. The result was that in many areas, unsuitable men had formed gangs of thugs and called themselves members of the rebellion. The man who had just exited did not realize that the rebel leaders were simply using him to consolidate their power. Once the rebellion was well-established and in control of the region, Dietrich fully expected the rebel leadership to purge their ranks of men such as this one. A man who could not see beyond his need for revenge for petty injustices.

Ultimately, the success or failure of this local group did not concern Dietrich. He simply wanted the money promised him. But first, he must retrieve the briefcase.

One of his lieutenants poked his head into the tent. “Sir, I understand that you want us to give up searching in this location and move to an area on the other side of the road.”

“Yes.”

The man stepped into the tent. “May I remind you that the rebels have dynamited the crossroads? We will have to clear a safe passage around the destruction in order to access the road.”

Dietrich swore out loud. His lieutenant gave him a look full of sympathy. This was another headache the unruly rebels were causing him. “Very well. See that it gets done.”

“Sir.” The man nodded sharply, turned on his heel and left.

The tent flap had no sooner swung closed than another of his lieutenants entered, dragging a local man by the arm. “Sir. This man lives on the other side of the road. He should be able to provide you with the information you require about the villages near the ravine.”

He shoved the man forward.

Dietrich gestured with his chin and his lieutenant took up guard position at the door.

Half an hour later, Dietrich released the man. Unfortunately, because the man had been helping to remove brush from the debris here, he was not up-to-date on today’s events on the other side of the road. This being an area without cell phone or even landline service, gossip relied on face-to-face contact. However, the man had been able to provide useful background information.

Dietrich paced around the small tent, trying to decide how best to use this new information. So. He had been correct. According to the local man, most of the villages in this region were part of a smuggling ring. They handled specialty goods brought over the border and sold them to buyers in the local markets. In order to protect their business interests, they had formed a local militia. The man claimed the militia was well-armed. That they had stolen a box of weapons meant for the rebels. Not, luckily for them, any weapons that Dietrich had sold. Otherwise, he would have had to destroy them all.

It being probable that their stolen weapons included a surface-to-air missile, these smugglers were the most likely candidates for having shot his helicopter down. Such an aggressive act could not go unpunished. His men would need to track down the guilty party. Then Dietrich would arrange for suitable retaliation.

In the meantime, he needed to start packing.

WAR Headquarters

The Democratic Republic of the Ivory Coast

West Africa

“ANY NEWS OF Max?” Wil asked that night when Kristoff answered his phone.

Kris closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. “Wil—”

“Don’t even think about it, Kris. I know you want to protect me, but he’s my brother. I know he can be reckless. I know he’s got a martyr complex a mile wide. What’s going to hurt worse than learning he’s finally managed to get himself killed is finding out you didn’t tell me just how much trouble he was in.”

Dammit, he shouldn’t have answered the phone. He didn’t want to have this conversation.

Yet the need to hear Wil’s voice, to feel just that little sense of connection, mattered more. It was the only thing that had kept him going today as WAR raced to put out fire after fire. Because once again, the region teetered on the brink of total chaos.

He sighed. “As far as I know, Max is still alive. He texted me a while ago to let me know that he’d found the briefcase.”

“So why don’t you sound happy?”

Kris stared at the regional map, wishing so much of it wasn’t covered in red flags. “Tonight, we finally got a satellite view of the region where Max is. The image showed a refurbished Soviet era Mil M-8 helicopter canvassing the area. We’ve identified it as one of two helicopters recently purchased by a shell company of Dietrich’s. Worse, we believe it’s equipped with FLIR.”