When a fourth man joined the three at the mouth of the cave Leo was using every swear word he knew, in every language he knew. Is everybody in the cave awake!? He watched as the fourth man said something that caused the others to laugh, then they all shushed themselves and peered around as if to make sure nobody had heard them. Good, maybe not everybody was awake.
“Four at the front of the cave to the far left, shooting the shit. Still just the three lookouts, one is asleep,” Leo said into his mic.
“Gotcha,” Max responded. “We’re heading in.”
Even though Leo knew to be looking for them, they were hard to detect, as each member of his team moved slow and low out of the line of trees. They went the twenty meters to the cliff and hung close to the side as they crept along the mouth of the cave that was wide enough to drive two trucks through side by side. God only knew how big and deep the cave itself was.
Leo did a headcount—all six were there, and they would be ghosts inside the cave. First, they had to get past the four—nope, make that three—men who were still talking. The jokester had left.
“Only three men at the mouth of the cave now,” Ezio reported.
All six men slipped into the cave one after the other, unnoticed by the three men who were still talking away. There was no movement from the lookouts because they were still focused on the terrain in front of the cave, not straight down the side of the cliff.
Leo waited for thirteen heartbeats after his team was in the cave, then watched as each of the three terrorists who had been talking were taken from behind, their mouths covered as a knife silently dispatched their lives.
The longer the team could go without using their guns, the better off they were.
Leo jerked ever so slightly as he heard the first gunshots being fired from an assault rifle. So much for silence. Leo took out the guy right above the cave. He heard Ezio fire. Leo had his rifle trained on the man who had just woken up, and he killed him. All the while, he heard screams and loud spurts of assault fire over his receiver.
“Fuck!”
“Goddammit!”
It was Cullen and Nic. Had they been shot?
He saw headlights at almost the same instant as his teammates had started cursing. It had probably blinded them in their goggles. An engine roared to life. More rifle fire continued in the cave.
He heard a grunt of pain come over his receiver. It was one of their team, but who?
Leo didn’t have time to give a shit, they had bigger fish to fry as a truck with a canvas covering on the back came barreling out of the cave and headed toward Ezio and Leo’s hiding spots.
“No doctor,” Max said over his mic. “He could be in the truck.”
“Gotcha,” Ezio responded.
“Tires,” Leo told Ezio.
“Agreed.” They didn’t want to take out the driver for fear of an immediate wreck, so they’d go for the tires to begin with.
“Left side,” Ezio said.
“Right side,” Leo responded.
Shooting out all of the tires at once was the best way to ensure the truck didn’t end up on its side or upend itself. Leo spotted a driver and someone in the passenger seat. With the back covered, they had no idea how many were in the back.
As the truck got closer, Leo called out, “Now.”
They took their shots and the tires exploded. The driver kept driving. It was going slow. Perfect time to take out the people in the front seat. Leo took out the driver and Ezio took out the one in the passenger seat. The truck was closest to Leo. He jumped down off his rock, leaving his sniper rifle and pulling his M4 assault rifle off his back. He kept it in front of him as he moved in to see what he was dealing with in the back of the truck.
In the distance, he saw one man running toward him from the cave. “Coming your way,” Nic said.
“On the other side,” Ezio breathed into the mic.
“On the count of three,” Leo said as softly.
They came around the opposite sides and threw back the sides of the canvas tarp. Four men were in the back. Two were obviously unconscious but were held up anyway, as human shields. One had a gun to his head, the other a knife to his throat.
The one who held the knife screamed in Dari, “I’ll kill him.”
He was holding Daisy’s father.
Leo had no doubt in his mind that he was willing to kill his hostage.
“Siraj Haqqani will not be happy if you kill him without his permission,” Leo said calmly in Dari.
The man’s eyes widened. “What do you know of him?”
“I know that he would kill you and your family if you were to take the life of the doctor without his permission.”
“You will kill me anyway, so what’s the point?”
“I promise not to kill you. You and your friend release your hostages, and you will be taken alive.”
Leo saw him considering his words. He whispered to the other man, who shook his head vehemently. But the man with the knife continued to talk. Leo could hear him talking about their families. Finally, the man with the gun let his arm drop. It was enough; Ezio and Leo jumped into the truck and rushed the men.
The Haqqani terrorists dropped their unconscious
