— to be completely effective.”
“That’s enough, Colonel,” Patrick snapped. “I’m the MC on this mission, and that’s it. You will be the virtual mission commander; we’ll put Colonel Long and Lieutenant Grey in as the virtual aircraft commanders. I’m sure Dr. Jon Masters will want to be present as well; Captain Weathers will be on call as the weapons officer.”
“Not going to let me be the hero, eh, sir?”
“You so sure we’ll end up with a hero once this is over, Colonel?” Patrick asked.
“Damn straight, sir.”
Patrick clasped Daren on the shoulder. “Your confidence is infectious, Mace. All right, let’s do it.”
Three
It’s true, sir — they’re gone,” the platoon lieutenant reported. “The trucks and armored vehicles are all abandoned. We saw some stragglers camped out a few kilometers away, carrying wounded, but they ran off as we approached. They did not appear to be carrying weapons, so we let them go.”
The commander of Kerki Army Air Base glanced at his lead helicopter pilot. “What did you see?” he asked.
“The same, sir,” the pilot reported. “About a dozen light armored vehicles, four small tanks, two large main battle tanks, two dozen supply trucks, the two towed antiaircraft weapons — all scattered across the road and abandoned. Some appeared to be torched.”
“We did see evidence of scouts or infiltrators on the base, sir,” the captain in charge of base security added. “Perhaps they got a look at our preparations for a counterattack and fled.”
“Did you see any of their pickups?”
“We found a few nearby, broken down and abandoned, but all the rest of them are gone,” the scout platoon leader reported. “They are faster and more maintainable than armored vehicles — better getaway vehicles.”
“I’m well aware of that, Lieutenant,” the commander said irritably. “But I don’t believe for one moment that they’ve fled just because their scouts saw us getting some helicopters ready to fly. That Afghan terrorist who calls himself General Zarazi is a berserker, but he is crafty and unconventional. He had several hundred men less than twenty kilometers from here — they have to be nearby. I want search teams sent out after them immediately.”
“Then we shall postpone the assault, sir?”
“Of course. If their vehicles are abandoned, why bother attacking them?” What he did not say was that it was too expensive and too hard on the machines to fly them; he had to save the equipment, fuel, and ammunition for more direct threats. “Redeploy your men and search the area surrounding the base — they have to be moving in on us. If you find any, squeeze them until they talk. Make an example of a few of them.” The officers nodded enthusiastically and hurried off.
The call came just a few minutes later: “Colonel, we’ve captured several terrorists — including the leader, Zarazi!” The base commander hurried out to meet with his men. Sure enough, they had several scraggly-looking men kneeling on the dirt floor, hands cuffed behind their backs. All of them appeared to have been beaten. “Good work, Captain,” the commander said. “Did you get anything out of them?”
“We haven’t started questioning them yet, sir,” the security chief replied. “They came in like that, dragging themselves to the front gate. Looks like they were beaten pretty badly by their own men.”
“So much for honor among thieves,” the commander sneered. “Which one is Zarazi?” The captain pointed him out. “How do you know this?”
“We overheard one of the others addressing him as ‘General.’ He is clothed a bit better than the others, and he is the only one with a holster for a sidearm. We took fingerprints — we expect an answer back from Interior Ministry headquarters on his identity soon.”
“Let me know the minute it comes in.” The commander stepped over to Zarazi. “You are General Zarazi?” he asked in Russian. No response. The base commander reared back and smashed his fist into the back of his captive’s head, and Zarazi pitched forward, his face crunching into the dirt. “Now is not the time to act brave, scum. Either you talk, or you die.” Zarazi struggled back to his knees but said nothing.
The colonel dragged another man by his hair over in front of Zarazi. “You. What is this man’s name?” He did not reply. The colonel drew his pistol, placed the muzzle on the back of the second man’s head, and pulled the trigger. A mass of bone, hair, blood, and brains spattered across Zarazi’s body. Thankfully, the bullet lodged in the ground and did not ricochet around the small building. “I will continue to execute your men one by one in front of you until you talk.”
“Do I have your attention now? Are you Zarazi?”
“Yes, God damn you!”
The base commander ordered the others taken out to the detention facility, and soon he and the captain of security were alone with Zarazi.
“You are one bold man, Zarazi — stupid, but bold,” the colonel said. “You’ve killed scores of loyal Turkmen soldiers, shanghaied dozens more, destroyed several pieces of military equipment, and stolen hundreds of millions of manats’ worth of equipment. What is the point of this rampage you’re on? What is your objective?”
“After putting a bullet into your head, just as you did to poor Ahmed there? Destruction of your pissant cowardly country.”
“Destruction? Why? What did we ever do to you?”
“You and your corrupt government sat back and did nothing while the United States, the infidels, and the Zionists raped my country,” Zarazi said. “The infidels drove all my people out of our homeland, and you did nothing. My people tried to seek shelter and help in your country, and you did worse than nothing — you caged them up like rabid animals. You deserve to die, slowly and painfully, and God has chosen me to carry out this task.”
“Unfortunately, my insane friend, you have failed,” the base commander said. “You shall be brought to military headquarters at Ashkhabad, interrogated, then executed. Take him away.”
“Don’t you want to hear what will happen if I am taken away, Colonel?”
“Your men will attack my base? Let them try.”
“No — I mean, what will happen to your
The base commander’s face turned to stone, and he gulped involuntarily. It took just an instant, but the steel returned to his face, and he raised his pistol and pointed it at Zarazi’s right temple. “If you thought that would buy you more time, you were wrong, asshole,” he growled. “You just bought yourself a visit to a firing squad, right here at Kerki.”
“I have already surrendered my life to Allah. I am confident he will receive me into heaven,” Zarazi said. “I will meet your four sons, your wife, your two sisters, and your
“You fucking bastard!” the base commander shouted, grabbing Zarazi by the hair and pulling him to his feet. “What in hell have you done?”
“While your men were searching the desert for me, my men were moving into Kerki, Khatab, and Kizyl-arvat, capturing your family members,” Zarazi said. “Your men are not very happy with you, Colonel, especially the enlisted men. They were more than happy to tell me all about your families in great detail, after they swore loyalty to me and joined my brigade.”
The base commander threw Zarazi back down on the ground, then went over to a wall phone and dialed. After a few moments his men could see their commander’s eyes bulging in terror. He replaced the receiver on its cradle with a shaking hand. A nod from him, and Zarazi was lifted up to his feet.
“You’ll never get away with this, criminal,” the commander spoke. “The police and the military will hunt your men down and slaughter them.”
“Then they will find your family members dead beside them,” Zarazi said. “I told you, Colonel, we are all
