boots, not having to deal with any of the crap.
But then, suddenly, he waved me over.
I looked over my shoulder, then back to him.
He nodded.
Harruck turned around and cried, “Mitchell? We need you over here right now!”
I liked how he called me Mitchell around everyone else.
“You wanna just take off?” Ramirez asked me. “Screw them all. Screw all these assholes.”
“No. You guys take Beasley back. Then get to the hospital and get everybody else checked out. If these idiots want to talk to me, then they’d better strap in and get ready for the ride…”
I took a deep breath, winced over a shooting pain in my leg, and marched toward them.
THIRTEEN
I wanted to beat down at least three of the four men in front of me. I already saw them lying unconscious and bloody.
You have to give me some credit for my honesty.
The new police chief hadn’t earned my hatred yet.
Kundi and Burki were shouting at Harruck, pointing to the ground, and then gesturing back up to the foothills.
Shilmani was there and came over to me. “The guns belong to Kundi. He says he bought them from the Taliban.”
“Do you believe that?”
“It doesn’t matter what I believe. What matters is that you can’t take them away, but I know you will.”
I raised my chin to Harruck. “Well, he’ll have to confiscate them, and no one’s going to be happy about that.”
“He speaks English?” Harruck called out to me.
“Yes, he does. His name’s Shilmani. He works for Burki.”
“Then come over here and help me translate,” said Harruck. “They’re talking way too fast for me.”
“Do you really need me here?” I asked Harruck.
“Yeah, I do,” he said.
Behind us, the rifle squads had finished up with their extinguishers, and the pickup trucks and Hummer were still smoldering. I’d grown far too used to the stench of burning rubber.
While Harruck went back over to Kundi and the water man, with a tense Shilmani forced to go along, I pulled Warris aside. “Now, where were we? Oh, yeah, I was telling you that if you think I’m going to filter my plans through you, you’re dreaming. Okay?”
“Looks like you’ve got some good plans here, too. Pissed off the locals. Got a whole sweeper team killed, one of your own guys killed.” He gasped. “A ll right, that was too far. Sorry…”
“Wow, when did you grow a pair?”
He puffed air. “The situation has changed. They brought me in here to clean up an old man’s mess. I’m hating it. I resent you for putting me in this situation. And every time I set eyes on you it’s an instant replay of that ass- chewing you gave me back at Robin Sage. I still hear about it to this day.”
I balled my hand into a fist and drew it back.
He sensed it coming. “Do it. Do us both a favor.”
“Mitchell?” cried Harruck.
He kept calling me by name in front of everyone, but who was I to argue at that point? They were going to dump it all on me anyway. I staggered over there like a drunk and didn’t realize I was favoring one leg until another pain needled up the hip and into my spine.
“Why were the minesweepers out here?”
I played dumb. “Uh, you told me you were going to find out.”
“They had specific orders to sweep the other part of the field.”
“Wish I could help you.”
“No, you don’t.”
I stood there, my gaze traveling a thousand miles away.
“Scott?”
I finally looked at him. “What?”
“I want an answer.”
“I don’t know why the sweepers were here. And I guess you can’t ask them. Maybe they got lost. Or maybe they wanted to check out this side of the field, too. Who knows…”
“You sent them here, didn’t you?”
“Guys, let’s get this under control,” said Warris.
Harruck looked at him, cursed, then told him to shut the hell up.
Warris recoiled, stunned.
“I need to be with my men,” I said, my tone growing even more sarcastic.
“And I need an answer,” snapped Harruck.
“All right, let’s cut to the chase, then,” I said. “I got a four-star behind me and my mission. And I was perfectly within my mission’s envelope when I ordered the field searched. I was defending my perimeter and protecting my men. The problem here is mission conflict. All three of us are doing exactly what we should be doing — which is why we’ve got a problem.”
“Why didn’t you notify me of what you did?” Harruck asked.
“I would have… eventually.”
He gave a slight snort. “Well, I got the entire United States Army supporting my mission, Scott. And it
Kundi drifted over to me and raised his finger. “You went with Bronco. You talked to my father. You know the right thing to do now. These weapons belong to us. Don’t let anyone take them.”
“What’s he talking about?” Harruck asked.
“I don’t know. They smoke a lot of opium here. They forget things.”
“This isn’t over, Scott. It’s just begun.”
I winced in pain. The leg again. “I hear you.”
“I’ll get with you later,” said Harruck.
“So will I,” Warris added.
I made a face. “I’ll be at the hospital if you need me.”
I took a detour before getting treated. I went back to the comm center and called Gordon. I updated him and asked for anything he could dig up about Bronco and any connection the spook might have to Zahed and the technology industry. “I think he has something to do with the EMP knocking out our Cross-Coms — if it’s EMP at all.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks, and oh, yeah, Warris tells me he’s in command.”
Gordon’s expression turned guilty. “Not exactly.”
“Good, then I’m
“Mitchell, we knew how difficult this job could become. That’s why we picked you for it. And you’re the last guy on earth I thought would be bothered by the politics. Everyone’s a bad guy there.”
“Even me?”
He nearly smiled. “Even you.”
“And you still believe that Zahed is the target and I need to capture or kill him?”
“Absolutely. Without any doubt.”
