Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
“Half the village is on fire.” Adam scanned the valley below with a pair of binoculars. “People scattering south. More on the main drag being hauled out of their houses.”
Beside him, Jay hissed out a breath. “Let me go down there. I can slip through a crowd easier than all of us as a group. I’ll find them.”
“I know you would, but we have another convoy coming in. We need a plan if we’re going to go up against this many guys.”
Jay watched the village, shifting like he was about to get up and go no matter that Adam had told him to wait. Jay’s skill set might lean heavily toward going in ahead of everyone else and reporting back on the situation. But that would’ve been helpful a day ago—before they got the assignment.
“They have to think it’s some kind of weapon they can use.”
“Maybe it is.” Adam sniffed. “Either way we have to get it, and Ash and Kai, out of this mess.”
A small engine buzzed to life, the sound like a thousand bees in a swarm.
“Ready.” Dan, on his other side, thumbed a joystick, and the drone lifted off the ground. He guided it toward the village, keeping it high. “You want me to connect with them first, or distract the bad guys by making them think there’s another drone in the air?”
“I want comms.”
“Copy that.” Dan’s resolve hardened.
Jay looked back toward where they left the truck. “You think Ice will play nice with the CIA asset?”
“I think they’re both injured, and neither needs to be traipsing around in this. But I’m not going to tell either of them they could be a liability here.” Adam paused. “She’ll make her call. They’ll both get some rest. And we’ll have a ride out of here if we need one.”
“Maybe he’ll let her drive,” Jay said. “That’d be better than Ice at the wheel.”
“Whoa.” Dan swerved, piloting the drone like he was riding on the thing and not holding the controller a mile away. “They’re taking potshots at my tech!”
Adam couldn’t see the drone in his binoculars. “Got any defensive capabilities on that thing?”
Dan shook his head. “You wanted comms. If you wanted crowd control, that’s a different drone. Both together would be far too heavy, and much easier to shoot down.”
“If you invent a lightweight one and sell the patent, you could make a mint.” Jay cleared his throat. “And we can all retire from eating sand for a living.”
Adam grinned. “You think we’d quit this? We’re living the good life.”
Jay chuckled.
“Who’s living the good life?” The voice came through Adam’s comms earbuds.
Relief washed over him. “Ash?”
“The one and only, and little ole me,” Kai said. “We’re tracking the drone. Almost to—”
Gunshots echoed across the channel.
Soon as it quit, Adam said, “Drop a pin of your location, and we’ll meet you there.”
“Copy that.” Kai muttered something, then louder said, “We’re in the bucket.”
“No kidding. Hold tight until we get there,” Dan said. “The drone pinpointed them. I’m setting down on a rooftop, hopefully out of sight. I’ll guide you in.”
Adam turned his ball cap backward. “Jay and I are on our way.”
“Copy,” Kai said.
Dan echoed him. “Copy.”
“Call Ice and let him know we found them,” Adam said. “And watch your back up here.”
Dan nodded. “Got it.”
Adam slung the rifle strap over his shoulder and pulled the neck scarf up over his mouth and nose.
He ran in a slight crouch down the incline, sprinting flat out.
Jay wasn’t quite as fast, but they cleared two buildings in as many minutes and made a beeline between structures toward the south.
Air all around them was laced with smoke from the fire, quickly gathering steam and racing this direction like a wildfire out of control.
A helicopter flew overhead, the massive rotors kicking up dust.
“Reinforcements?” Dan said over comms. “They’re landing to the north, on the open plain on the other side of the fire. That isn’t any military I’ve ever seen. Probably mercenaries.”
“Am I going in the right direction?” Between buildings now, Adam slowed a little. He had to check around every corner, but a threat could come from anywhere, and clearing every shadow would take too long.
He spotted a guy down an alley, faced away from him. After motioning to Jay behind him, they crept across to the far side and carried on.
Gunfire to the south-southeast echoed over in their direction.
“You guys good?” Adam asked Kai and Ash.
“We’re pinned down. We can’t get to the drone.”
He heard the urgency in Ash’s voice, and the hint of pain that made Adam run faster. “Almost there.”
Jay patted his left shoulder.
“Yep.” He paused a beat while Jay ran off to the left, racing around so the two of them could come at this from opposing angles. “Dan?”
“Take a right when you can. Run to the end zone, then hang a left.”
Adam ducked right, down an alley. He counted the seconds that would get him the length of a football field and stopped at a corner. Men gathered in a group to his left.
“I’m coming in from the north,” Jay said. “The alley is full of guys.”
“Here, too.”
“We have another problem,” Dan said.
Adam ducked back behind the building. “What is it?”
“The helicopter spit out its load. A whole new crew, new team, new chopper.”
“And our unnamed woman from Argentina?”
Dan said, “I don’t see her. These guys are Chinese military, no doubt.”
“Shoot,” Kai said. “Let’s do this fast.”
“Jay?” Adam waited for his acknowledgment, then said, “Dan, you know I love that drone, but I need a distraction.”
Dan was silent for a second, then finally said, “You owe me.”
“Yes, I do.” Truth resounded in Adam’s tone. “Give me something good.”
He couldn’t hear the buzz of the drone from this distance, but the men down the alley reacted immediately. The small aircraft flashed strobe lights, noise like an alarm blared from it, and it spun in the air, moving off to the east.
Several of the men followed it, away from the huddle. The rest geared up.
Adam found some cover behind a couple of barrels and took aim, squeezing off a series of shots that took them out. When he could be sure he wouldn’t get immediately shot in the head, he ran down the alley toward them.
Gunfire on the far side of the building started up and didn’t stop.
The next corner brought him face-to-face with Kai, who lowered his gun. Ash leaned against him, his face way too pale, clutching a slimline drone that looked like alien tech. The thing was a shimmering gray color and at least four feet long.
Adam handed it to Kai. “That’s it?” He grabbed Ash’s arm, and they were on their way out of the structure.
Jay said, “Back the way we came?”
Before Adam could answer, a pained cry filled the comms channel. Adam said, “Dan?”
“Ah, no. That’s mean. They’re destroying—” Dan moaned. “No, Barbara…no-o-o. You were one in a million. Now you’re in a million pieces.”
Kai snorted, ducked out the door, and fired two shots. “Clear.”
Adam walked Ash outside, Jay behind them. As a unit they made their way back to the edge of town. “You got a twenty on the Chinese?”
“Are they our new nemesis?” Ash asked, his voice pained.
Adam muttered, “I’m sure they just want the tech.” Which meant he and his team would be collateral damage.
“Too far away,” Dan said. “They’ll never catch up in time.”
“Tell our ride we’re ready to get picked up.”
They raced out of town, up the hill, moving at a fastwalk in deference to Ash’s injuries.
Adam glanced at Ash. “How bad is it?”
“Caught me square in the calf.”
“Stole Ice’s thunder,” Adam said. “He was so looking forward to being the only injured member of Division Zero.”
Ash grunted. “We are, aren’t we?”
“Plenty still left for us to prove. Which means we’ve got to live long enough for the next mission. The next assignment.”
Dan said, “More fun rescuing damsels in distress. Though, she sort of rescued herself first by blowing that house in half before we got there.”
Adam focused on hauling Ash—not on the asset they’d rescued. At the top of the hill, he spotted the little pickup truck speeding their direction.
Kai said, “You didn’t order us an SUV?”
“We can stop by the car and split up.” Ash limped a couple of steps and pointed to the northwest. “It’s over that ridge. I think.”
The pickup sped toward them, turning in an arc. Ice leaned forward so they could see him through the open window. “One of you call for a—”
“We know.” Dan hauled a crate into the back of the truck. “Just drive. And try not to kill us.”
Adam helped Ash into the back and wound up sitting wedged next to Jay’s boots. He hammered the palm of his hand on the window. “Let’s go.”
Ice hit the gas, and the pickup fishtailed for a second before he got control.
Adam caught the CIA asset looking at him through the window.
He couldn’t make out her features in the shadowed cab of the truck but felt the heat of her attention on him.
Presumably she’d used Ice’s phone to call her handler, or whoever she checked in with at the Agency.
Had she learned they were the Division Zero team?
“We’re all gonna ignore the grinding sound of there being too much weight in the back of this truck, right?” Kai looked around, but no one responded. “Anyone?”
Adam lifted his chin. “You wanna walk?”
Instead of waiting for an answer, he checked the road behind them, and the sky for good measure, and didn’t see a tail. He shut his eyes and ignored the rest of them, and the sight of Dan putting a bandage around Ash’s leg.
Adam awoke on the other side of the border when Ice pulled over and he and Kai hotwired a car they found parked behind an abandoned building. Jay went with them, leaving Dan and Ash in the back of the pickup.
Adam switched to the driver’s seat, the asset beside him. “You good?”
“Sure. Peachy.” She glanced at the back window. “How’s your friend?”
“’Bout as good as you.” Adam headed for the airport, rolling the tension from his shoulders.
Appreciating the normalcy of being behind the wheel—even if the danger wouldn’t be over until they were wheels-up and he could report in to Earthnet that they had retrieved the package.
“You call your people? Check in that you’re good? ”
“Yep.”
Adam waited for more, but she didn’t give him anything. “Great.”
Neither of them said more until he pulled into the private entrance of the airport and he keyed in the code for the gate. The car rolled through behind them, and Adam led the way to the hangar where Henry should’ve already instructed the pilot to be ready to go.
He hit the brakes and when it stopped put the truck in Park.
The cold barrel of a pistol touched the side of his head. “Don’t move.”
Adam splayed his fingers but didn’t lift his palms from the wheel. “Care to explain?”
“You’re going to give me the package you just took from that village, or I’ll kill you.”
Ash yelled, “Guys!” from the back, and all of them closed in, rushing over to see what was going on.
Adam didn’t move. “You think we’re just gonna let you walk away?”
“Unless you want your brains all over the driver’s door.”
The small panel window slid back.
“We aren’t giving you the package. We’re Division Zero.” He couldn’t believe she didn’t know that. “That means we’re on the same side.”
“You have your orders and I have mine.” She slid toward him and grabbed his arm with her free hand. “Open the door slowly and slide out.”