They caught up with Max and Asher and pointed to the peaks. Max nodded. Ezio headed toward the higher on the left. Leo started toward the one on the right, with every footstep he started to get in the zone. He mentally saw himself setting up his rifle, training his scope on his target, taking a breath, depressing the trigger.
By the time he got to the edge of the peak, he was ready. He took a look over. In the gloom, he couldn’t make out much, even with his night-vision goggles. He got out his rifle scope. Then he saw the mouth of the cave and only one truck.
Fuck.
“Only one truck,” he whispered into his mic.
He would bet his bottom dollar that the doctor had been moved, but they were going to have to try. Maybe they would get lucky and find a clue, or better yet, somebody they could get to talk.
“Stick to the plan,” Max whispered.
Leo used his scope to search out Ezio. He was already planted with his rifle, ready to take on all-comers. Leo was late to the game. He got set up fast. Once he was, he could see Max and Archer creeping up like shadows to the perimeter of the cave area. Max made a hand motion and Cullen and Nic immediately came up from the shadows. Nic and Cullen went to the left side of the cave where the truck was, Max went to the right side.
Kane came up beside Leo, his computer at the ready as he looked over the ridge with his binoculars, then back down at his open computer.
Raiden was the last to the party. He got into the bed of the truck, ensuring it wasn’t booby-trapped. “It’s clean back here,” he said. Well, at least they hadn’t departed and left us with some sort of parting gift. Raiden joined Max.
Asher was already underneath the truck, planting bombs of his own. He scrambled out from beneath the truck then he ran to Cullen and Nic.
“Three, two, one,” Asher breathed into the mic.
The explosion shot outwards, away from the cave, just as Asher planned. It was less than twenty seconds before the first man ran out from the cave. Max grabbed him and yanked him back, out of sight of the mouth of the cave. The man lifted his pistol, then Max shot him. Three more men exited the cave, all shooting. Leo aimed and shot one while two more went down by others.
As expected, nobody else came out. Instead, shots fired outward from inside the cave.
Max hit the ground and peeked around the edge, his gun ready. He wasn’t going to take any indiscriminate shots, in case either the doctor or the reporter were inside. Leo moved, turned his rifle barrel, and saw that Cullen had done the same thing on the left side of the cave. He could see that Cullen was taking shots.
“They’re down,” Cullen said.
“Affirmative,” Max said.
Nic and Raiden went in as Cullen and Max continued to cover them.
Leo hated this. He trusted his teammates—they were fucking indomitable—but still, he wanted to be the one taking the risks, not them. And if he couldn’t be taking the risks, then he wanted them to be giving him a play-by-play of what was going on. Instead, it was dead quiet.
After what seemed like an eternity, there was a shot.
Then another.
Another.
He heard a man scream.
Two more shots.
“Down!” It was Nic’s voice. He must have been shouting at Raiden.
Three more shots in rapid succession.
Another scream.
Absolute silence. It was deafening. It seemed to stretch on forever. Leo always wondered how in the hell Max stood this, not demanding that Nic and Raiden report into him.
“We’re clear. No more tangos.” Nic said.
Asher began checking the bodies outside the cave to ensure nobody was alive. Cullen went into the cave to ensure all of the ‘dead’ were dead.
“We’ve got signs of a prisoner having been held here, at some point,” Raiden said.
Leo broke down his rifle, looked over, and saw that Ezio was doing the same thing.
“Kane, they left a camera tripod,” Raiden said.
“Guys, we’ve got to go. Another weather system is coming in,” Kane said. “We’ve got to move.”
They made fast time getting back to the helicopter. As soon as Wilma saw them, she started up the bird. There was no laughter as they headed back to Bagram.
“Tripod?” Kane said to Raiden.
“Yep,” came the subdued response.
“Chances there’s a video out there somewhere. Don’t know of what, if there wasn’t a body,” Kane said. It was clear he was confused.
“Kane,” Leo started. “Do you think it was possible that they were doing an internal message between just the Haqqani Network?” Leo paused. “Or maybe something to Siraj?”
“I can’t understand why a tripod. Why not just film it with their phone?” Nic said.
“Nope, they try to make these really pro. They’re going to be pissed when they find out they left it behind. But in answer to your question Nic, they do use their phones, they just put it on the tripod,” Kane explained.
By the time they got back to Bagram, they were whipped. After they cleaned up, Max had found them an even tinier closet to meet in since, even at six o’clock in the morning, the smelly larger conference room was taken.
“You did good out there.” Max took a moment to look each and every member of his team in the eye. He didn’t need to say or do more than that. Coming from Max Hogan…well, it was the highest
