“Where are we going?” the ambassador asked.
“For a little ride.” Hopefully. They cleared the stairs and made their way through the bodies scattered on the floor. The diplomat gasped when he saw them. It was probably the first time the man had seen a dead person who wasn’t fixed up and lying in a coffin.
They exited the building, and Talon hustled to each of the vehicles. “Keys are in all of them. Jug, tie up that fucker, and you and Hammer take the Jeep. Stryker, you, the ambassador, and sleeping beauty in the back of this one.” He tapped the back of an old SUV. “Wolf, you’re with me. Blue piece of shit following the Jeep.”
“Copy.”
“I’ve informed the bosses that you have the primary,” Dude said as they worked to settle the ambassador and the hostage taker.
Talon turned the key and asked, “How much gas do you have, Jug?”
“Not enough.”
Talon didn’t either.
“Hand pump is over there,” Hammer said as hegrabbed a full fuel barrel and rolled it on its edge toward the vehicles.
Jug dumped his man in the back of the SUV, pushed his legs in, and slammed the door shut. Grabbing the hand pump, he cranked as they filled up the vehicles.
“Fucking failed save your own ass 101. Always make sure your vehicles are full,” Hammer grunted as he moved a second barrel toward the vehicles. Talon held the metal tip of the hose in the tank. He almost cracked a smile at that. Hammer had a way of lightening the mood, even when he wasn’t trying.
Hammer changed places with Jug and cranked like crazy, filling the Jeep. They fired up the engines and were moving within five minutes. Five very long fucking minutes. He stopped for Wolf as the man jogged toward him. Then they moved out, heading to the border and their waiting evac helicopter.
He wasn’t expecting two helicopters, but the British government had moved hell on earth to get their special forces down to the Sahel region. They were only two hours behind Guardian, and that was fucking amazing considering how slow some governments worked. Their special operations team would retrieve the ambassador and question the man Talon’s team had taken from the compound. So,the diplomat and the hostage-taker went in one helicopter, and Panther team boarded the other, but not before the ambassador shook each of their hands. “I’m alive because of you. They were going to kill me.” He swallowed hard. “They thought it was humorous to show me exactly how they were going to lop off my head.”
“We’re glad we were in the area and could get to you in time,” Talon said and then jogged with his team toward their ride home. He put on his headset, strapped in, and closed his eyes. It had been a hell of a day, but it was also rewarding. He glanced at his team through heavy eyelids. Each of them had strapped in, and all eyes were shut.Never stand when you can sit. Never sit when you can lie down, and never stay awake when you can sleep. Talon closed his eyes and promptly followed his teammates.
CHAPTER 2
Nine days later, Air Base 201, Agadez, Niger
Talon carefully wipedthe oiled fingerprints off the retractable stock of his MK18. The heat was oppressive in the cool of the morning, but at noon, the heat lifted in waves from the tarmac of the six-thousand-foot runway like Satan’s furnace on steroids. Not that the base moved much during the day, other than the security that circled the hardened perimeter of the dust-covered enclave.
Talon stopped moving at the knock on his metal door, put down his weapon, and walked silently to open it. Jug stood outside, sweat streaming down hisforehead. Opening the door further, Talon motioned for him to come in.
“You took your comms out. Dude has been trying to get a hold of you.”
Talon frowned. He hadn’t taken out his comms. “No.” He pulled out his earpiece.
Jug pulled a small case out of his cargo pocket. “Didn’t sound like you, so I brought batteries.”
“It was just changed out three months ago.” Talon took the small device over to the desk and turned on the light for Jug as the man sat down.
“Could’ve been a bad battery,” Jug said before putting on magnifying glasses and extracting a pair of tweezers with tiny tongs at the end. Then he pulled out what looked like a needle, but it was a screwdriver. He carefully extracted the almost imperceptible screw and hatch, used the tweezers to withdraw the battery, and then carefully picked up another. Without magnification, Talon couldn’t see a damn thing. The batteries were the size of lice, tiny yet more powerful than anyone could have imagined.
After tightening the screw, Jug lifted the device and gave it back to Talon, who placed the comms back in his ear and tapped it. “Testing.”
“Ah, there you are,” Dude said. “Bosses want a secure call. Ops Center has a SCIF ready for you.”
“On my way.” He grabbed his weapon and his ball cap before glancing at Jug. “Thanks.”
“No worries, Wraith. I’ll always have your back,” Jug said as he closed his kit.
“I know.” His hand landed on Jug’s shoulder. “That’s why I’ll always make sure you make it home to Shelly.”
Jug smiled at that. “Can’t wait for the next rotation. This place is boring as hell.”
“You mean you can’t wait to get back to your woman.”
