CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Luna hadn’t been working for Darks Ops all that long, and she was still adapting to how quickly things could change.
Their current operation was a prime example.
They’d gone into it thinking the whole thing might take a couple of weeks to resolve, but then Khalim showed up at the hangar late last night with some important information that escalated the urgency.
He was a well-respected elder in town, and people tended to trust him, so when a man who owned a vegetable stand in the market heard something that troubled him, he sought out Khalim’s guidance.
Weeks earlier, the man had noticed an American fitting Udall’s description asking around about the girls-only day school located on the south side of the Hunza River.
He had some bullshit story about how he was thinking of moving his family to Aliabad.
The vendor became suspicious because the locals all knew the only reason most people settled in Aliabad was because they were originally from there or because they were hiding from something or someone.
Unfortunately, he’d gotten busy with his vegetable stand and forgotten all about it.
Until yesterday, when he overheard the same American telling someone on the phone that he thought he was being followed.
The timeline for when this occurred coincided with when Cole and Viking were tailing Udall.
His rising suspicions and the fact he’d already arranged a way to transport the girls out of the country forced the team to accelerate their operation to take him down as soon as possible.
That night, right after Khalim left the hangar, Hawk and Lucas were sent to scout out the airport.
They’d spotted an old Cessna 408 Courier with the tail numbers scratched off being gassed up on the far end of the airstrip.
The plane was big enough for Udall’s purposes, and aside from the team’s helo, it was the only aircraft at the airport that couldn’t be accounted for.
So Hawk and Lucas disabled it by disconnecting the hydraulic lines.
According to the sheep farmer, Udall seemed to head up to the ruins every other day.
If he kept to that routine, he should be up there today.
They wanted to be in position before he arrived, so the team loaded up with their weapons and other essential gear and set out for the ruins well before daylight.
Luna was sitting at the main console in the ops center, checking that everything was ready for her to support the team, when that odd feeling of dread returned, threatening to derail her concentration.
“Ops center, we’re a go.” Cole’s voice cut through her looming anxiety before it could fully take root.
Time to focus.
“Activate body cams.” Luna looked up at the wall in front of her and watched views from each of their body cameras flash on separate flat screens.
After they turned them on, they each gave a thumbs-up for her benefit and said, “Test, test.”
“All cams are operational.” It was dark there, but their cameras were equipped with enhanced imaging and infrared capability.
The team gathered in a circle and went over the plan one more time. They each wore black tactical clothing with Kevlar vests loaded with all sorts of paraphernalia. They also had black tactical helmets with the most high-tech night-vision goggles available.
“Viking and Calliope will provide overwatch.” Cole pointed at them, and they nodded once.
“Lucas, you take the north side of the ruins. Hawk, you take the south,” Cole ordered.
“Eddie and I will position ourselves on the east side. Boone, you find your way into the main section of the ruins and see if you can hear anything. Our primary objective is to get Udall and find those girls.” Cole kept his voice low. “Activate earpiece comms.”
They all reached up and tapped the small device tucked inside their ears. One by one, all seven of them said, “Test, test, test.”
“All comms are functioning.” Luna now had two different audio feeds—their body cameras and their earpieces. She could hear them, and they could hear her.
“Viking and Calliope, report when you’re in position.” Cole’s voice was so clear, it sounded like he was sitting right next to her. “Time to take this shitbag down.”
They all knocked knuckles and separated.
She could hear their boot steps on the ground and their gear clicking against their vests as they ran to their designated locations. She checked each monitor to ensure their cameras continued working.
Calliope scaled a tree at the northeast corner of the ruins. Viking made his way up another tall tree at the southwest corner. How in the heck did they climb so fast? Between them, she had a bird’s-eye view to almost all of the ruins.
“In position.” Calliope checked in first.
Then Viking checked in. “In position.”
The rest of the team split up.
At first, all Luna could see through their body cams was indistinguishable piles of rubble and debris that had once been a massive stone monument to a dead shah. As they jogged to their designated spots, she was able to make out the sections of the structure that were still intact.
Lucas and Hawk arrived at their positions on opposite sides of the ruins and crouched down behind parts of the building that had not completely collapsed. Cole and Eddie did the same at the other corners.
Her attention continued to travel back to Boone’s camera.
He was approaching the front of the ruins, and the remains of the two columns flanking the main entrance to the tomb came into view.
Like tired sentinels from a bygone era, the once beautiful, twenty-foot-tall, white marble columns had cracked in several places.
Their top sections had broken off and left large chunks of marble scattered around their bases.
In front of him was the archway of the only remaining entrance into the main part of the tomb.
“Entering the tomb.” Boone continued forward into the darkness. “Switching to infrared.” His hand appeared at his chest, then there was a click when he switched over the camera. Everything glowed various shades of green. “Switching to NVGs.”
She recognized the brief high-pitched whine when they powered on.
Night-vision goggles would help him see what Luna was seeing through the infrared of his body cam.
With each crunch of his boots over debris, he moved deeper into the tomb, and his gloved hand lifted to sweep away years’ worth of cobwebs.
“Ew.” She shivered.
His deep chuckle made her smile, and she glanced up at the monitor to check the readings from everyone’s bio-patches. All looked normal.
“I found some steps, but I can’t tell how far down they go.” Boone’s camera showed some broken and cracked stone steps that led down to absolute darkness. “You seeing this, ops?”
“Yeah. Those steps should lead to a circular, main burial chamber with tunnels leading away out from it. Sort of like spokes on a wagon wheel. Unfortunately, I don’t know how far down the chamber is, how many tunnels there are, or where they lead.
” Luna had been frustrated by how little information she could find while researching the tomb.
According to local legend, the shah had been very wealthy and wanted to be entombed with his valuables to use in the afterlife.
Very much like Egyptian pharaohs. It had taken almost ten years to build the tomb and series of tunnels and hidden chambers.
Some might have led to where he’d stored his riches; some could be dead ends.
Unfortunately, there was no specific information about this particular tomb.
The shah had ordered the deaths of everyone involved in its design and construction.
Which was a pretty sure-fire, albeit barbaric, way to ensure no one pillaged his riches after his death.
Another legitimate concern was the structural integrity of the underground tunnels and catacombs. As with anything beneath the ground, natural or manmade, there was a very real possibility the whole thing could collapse on top of them.
Get out of your head, Luna.
“Lucas, go with him,” Cole said.
“Roger that.” He ran in a crouch toward the entrance, moved deeper into the structure, and switched his body camera to infrared. “Switching to NVGs.” They whined, he walked up next to Boone, and they stared down into the abyss. “Shit, it’s dark as a coal miner’s asshole down there.”
“Starting descent.” Boone took the lead, and Lucas followed.
She looked at the monitor and checked the time: 4:13 p.m. her time, 2:13 a.m. in Aliabad.
The satellite would be over the area any minute, at which time Luna would be able to provide overwatch. As far as she was concerned, that couldn’t happen soon enough. Having visibility from above gave them a definite tactical advantage.
A moment later, the screen with the satellite crackled with static and, slowly, a smattering of lights from Aliabad came into view.
She clicked a few keys to look up the estimated time for sunrise in Aliabad—seven thirty-seven.
Luna quickly input the code to gain access to the satellite and was able to zoom in to about a mile above them.
She scanned the area around the ruins and identified the heat signatures for each of the team members, with the exception of Boone and Lucas, who were too deep within the ruins.
The GPS signals being sent from each of their bio-patches matched what she saw on the screen.
“GPS signals functioning properly.” She moved her finger over the roller ball on the mouse and tapped it twice.
Son of a bitch!
“Four tangos, moving in quickly, approximately two klicks from the southeast.” No matter what she tried, she couldn’t get a better look of them.
She zoomed out a bit further for a broader view.
“Four additional tangos at about three klicks, approaching fast from the east.”
“I’ve got eyes on four,” Viking whispered.
“I’ve got eyes on the other four,” Calliope confirmed.
Thank goodness, Emily always made sure the teams had the most powerful scopes on their rifles.