Dead Six

the limp body toward our van. I grabbed his legs and lifted. He weighed a ton. We got to the van and tossed him inside, I was in right behind.

The van’s tires squealed as Carl got us out of there.

VALENTINE

Al Khor District, Safe House 4

March 26

2355

Tailor and I were surprised to find Gordon Willis waiting for us back at the safe house. As before, the big guy named Anders was with him, giving us a hard stare but not saying a word. Suffice to say, Gordon wasn’t happy. The two of us sat on folding chairs in the middle of the big house’s living room while Hal, one of our medics, worked to patch us up. I was sitting there, shirtless, as Hal worked on the wound on my shoulder. All while Gordon royally bitched us out.

It turned out Gordon’s cool demeanor came unraveled when he was mad. It was a little amusing to see the smooth-talking slickster sputtering and raising his voice. Yelling didn’t really suit him. He wasn’t unhappy about Al Falah; we’d done quite well in that regard. As we described what happened, I could see the anger in his eyes. We failed to kill the secondary target Khalid. We lost our vehicle and had to exigently acquire a new one. Worst of all, we were seen.

I honestly don’t know what the hell he expected. We were ordered to do the hit in public in the middle of the city; of course it was going to make noise. I thought that was the point.

Looking over at Tailor, I could tell he was kind of tuning Gordon out too. As Gordon blathered on about operational security and his expectations of us, Hunter stood quietly in the corner. Sarah leaned against the wall behind him, looking at me with an expression on her face that I couldn’t read. I wondered what she was thinking. One of Hunter’s security men stood by the door, giving Anders the stink eye.

After a few minutes of ass-chewing, Gordon visibly shifted gears, and the slickness returned. He plopped down on the couch across from Tailor and me and began to speak once more as I put my T-shirt back on.

“Well, what’s done is done,” Gordon said, straightening his tie. I wondered why in the hell he was wearing a suit. “Now we need to focus on the next mission. I need you two to be ready to move on this in a few days.”

Tailor and I looked at each other. I was able to read the expression on his face. I had a bad feeling too. “What’s the next mission, sir?” I asked.

“Ms. . . . uh . . . McAllister, right? Ms. McAllister, would you hand them the mission packets, please?” Sarah rolled her eyes and stepped forward, handing out manila envelopes to each of us.

“Your next mission will be pretty simple, boys. You’re going to return to the social club you snatched the younger Al Falah from and clean it out. The other two men in your chalk . . . um . . .”

“Wheeler and Hudson,” I interjected, my voice flat.

“Yes, Weiner and Hudson,” Gordon replied, “will be rejoining you for this one. It’ll be a straight-up enter- and-clear. Are you up to it?”

I sighed and looked over at Tailor. He nodded at me, ever so slightly. “What’s the plan, sir?” I asked after a moment. Tailor and I listened as Gordon went over the plan. He droned on for a long time. The man sure liked listening to himself talk. He asked us if we had any questions.

“When do we roll on this?” I asked.

“In the next few days,” Gordon said. “Word will be sent down soon, so be ready to go on short notice. Anyway, gentlemen, I need to get going.” Gordon stood up. Tailor and I followed suit. Gordon shook my hand vigorously, squeezing tightly, then did the same to Tailor. He then nodded at Anders, and the two of them strode out of the room.

“You heard the man, boys,” Hunter said after Gordon was out of earshot. “Be ready. The order to move will come down without much warning. You’re going to be operating at a high tempo for the time being. I need you boys to stay sharp. No alcohol, no sneaking off, nothing that will slow you down, until further notice. Tailor, I need you and Valentine to plan your routes to and from the target building, including contingency plans. I trust things will go smoother this time?”

“It would’ve went smoother if we’d had some backup,” Tailor said.

Hunter shook his head. “Gordon had the rest of your chalk on a wild goose chase. We sent a dozen men to hit a building, and no one was even home. Complete waste of time, unlike your next job, where I can promise you’ll have a target-rich environment.”

“Roger that, Colonel,” Tailor said.

“Outstanding.” Hunter turned to the medic. “Hal, you’re coming with me. Singer’s chalk is coming back from a mission tonight, and they’ve got some injuries. The doctor could use your help.”

Hal nodded and began to pack up his jump bag. “Valentine, make sure you change that bandage in the morning,” he told me. “I’ll check you out when you get back to the fort.”

“Sarah, do you want to come back to the compound tonight, or do you want to come back tomorrow?” Hunter asked.

“I, uh, need to pack my stuff, Colonel,” Sarah said, seemingly surprised by the question.

“That’s fine,” Hunter said. “You can ride back to the fort in the car that brings Hudson and Wheeler here. Let’s go, Conrad,” he said, addressing his security escort. It was the first time I’d heard him name one of his bodyguards.

After a few moments, Hal finished packing up his bag and shouldered it. With that, Hunter, his security, and the medic left, leaving the three of us alone in the big house. Sarah flopped down on the couch where Gordon had been sitting.

“This isn’t looking as good now,” I said after a long moment.

“At least we’ll have full chalk this time,” Tailor said. “What happened today was bullshit.”

“What are you going to do?” Sarah asked.

“What can we do?” I said. “We’re going to do the mission and hope we don’t get killed.”

“I don’t know about y’all, but I’m going to bed,” Tailor said, standing up. Without another word, he disappeared up the stairs, leaving Sarah and me alone in the dimly lit living room. I stood up and sat down next to her on the couch. The metal folding chair was making my butt hurt, and I was still sore from the crash.

“Where’d you get the tattoo?” she asked, breaking the awkward silence after a few moments. She’d seen it while I’d had my shirt off. “Were you in the military?”

“Air Force.”

“Really? Me, too. What did you do?”

“Security Forces. You?”

“Radio Communications Systems. I cross-trained as a Cryptologic Linguist after four years. Did three years of that after a year at the DLA,” Sarah said, referring to the Defense Language Academy in California.

“So that’s how you speak Arabic,” I said. Sarah nodded. “Hell, I was all proud of myself for learning Spanish. And I only did that after all the time I spent in Central America.”

“In the Air Force?”

“Uh, no. I was in Afghanistan for six months, but I got out after that. I was hired by, um, a contractor, after that.”

“You did construction?”

“No, not that kind of contractor. I worked for Vanguard.”

Everyone had heard of Vanguard. We’d been in the news a lot last year. “You were a mercenary?” she asked incredulously.

“Basically,” I said. “Tailor hooked me up here. How ’bout you?”

“I . . . This is embarrassing, but I ran into some financial problems. I had this boyfriend that . . . well, he was