Chapter 11
Kasha hadn’t had any contact with Levi’s men or Bullard in over thirty minutes, and it was killing her. She wanted an update. When her phone rang, it was Ice, and the message she shared wasn’t what Kasha wanted to hear. “How many military are coming?”
“Two vehicles. Bullard’s contact says those men are his.”
“Do we trust them?”
“I’m not sure it’s a matter of trusting them as much as making sure somebody is keeping an eye on them.”
“So is his contact on his way?”
“He is. He’s due to land in about twenty minutes at the airstrip.”
“Okay, that’s good. Then it’s his responsibility if they take the weapons. If these guys steal them, then at least he can track them.”
“Exactly,” Ice said, her voice changing. “You need to be very careful right now. What about the bodies?”
“No idea. Hopefully the military will take them away.”
“That would be good.”
Kasha frowned. She hoped it was over. It had been quiet at the holding, but that didn’t mean it would stay quiet. She put on coffee, keeping her weapon trained on the five prisoners the whole time.
She understood Brandon’s suggestion about knocking them out, but, as she talked to the men, she tried hard to explain what her people were doing and why.
One man seemed relieved. He had a wife and a baby in the village. Another just stared at her, and a third one, the one supposedly sleeping, had woken up. He snorted and closed his eyes. She figured he would be trouble no matter what. The remaining pair were too scared to speak or didn’t understand English or her dialect of Arabic. With the coffee made, she picked up the weapon and turned back to the men, only to find one standing, his ties loose on the ground. It was the one who’d been sleeping.
She pointed the rifle at him, and he laughed. He let rip a stream of invectives about how women shouldn’t carry weapons and how she wasn’t strong enough. Women should have babies and look after their men, according to him. A common theme throughout many third-world countries. But it had never been her thing.
She told him, “Don’t move, or I will shoot.”
He spat on the floor and walked toward her. She raised the rifle and knew he would push it. Rather than deal with killing another person, she lowered the weapon to point it at his groin. He stopped, and anger such as she hadn’t seen in a long time ripped through his face. But she stood steady. She could hear the vehicles coming toward her. The man looked in the direction of the garage and said something she didn’t quite understand.
“Go sit down,” she said, “or I will turn you into a eunuch.”
He glared at her, hate dripping from his very pores. She shuddered but couldn’t ignore it. Neither could she turn her back on him. If she got too close, she knew he would be all over her. She should have knocked him out. She debated her options and realized that really there was only one option. Just as she made her decision, he spun and kicked. She fired. His knee went out from under him as the bullet passed through the joint. He shouted, grasping at his leg.
She didn’t move. In a hard voice she said, “Get your ass back over to your friends.”
Slowly, sobbing in pain, he shifted until he was lying on the floor beside the other four men. She glanced at them, and, instead of anger in their gazes, there was relief. She realized that if anybody here didn’t deserve a chance, it was the one she’d shot. The other men were happy to see him taken out of the picture. She motioned toward the bleeding man. “Is he one of the betraying assholes?”
The man with the wife and child, who talked freely, nodded. “He made us help them. He’s part of the group who was happy to raze the village.” He glared at the man on the floor. “You should shoot him again and this time kill him.”
The man on the ground sobbed.
She turned to look at one of the men who’d been silent. “What do you say about him?” The man looked up, and there was hate in his eyes, but it wasn’t directed at her. “He killed my brother. And he shot the men forced to stand guard outside the holding. They were innocent villagers.”
“Your brother?”
“My brother’s the one who was forced to kill all the injured men. They had his wife and sons. They said, if he didn’t kill all the survivors, they would shoot him. But then, when he made it to the airstrip, they shot him anyway.” He turned, spat at the man on the ground and said, “He shot my brother. Then he shot my brother’s wife too.”
She stared at the man on the ground. He’d stopped crying, but now just sheer anger and hatred and, yes, fear was in his eyes. “I should shoot you. It would be good for you to die at a woman’s hand,” she snapped. “But I’d rather see you rot in a jail with no food and no water for days on end.”
The jails here were notorious. The death toll was high from poor food, unsanitary conditions and fights among the men. She didn’t know much about the judicial system, but it would probably be a whole lot nicer of her to shoot him now than to force him through that. The thing was, she didn’t feel like being nice. He was an asshole. He deserved everything coming to him.
In the distance, she heard vehicles coming closer. She cast a hard look at the prisoners and walked to the window for a better look.
Two military vehicles came to a dust-raising stop, one in front of the underground garage entrance and the other probably headed outside the locked front gate. Two men hopped out of the first vehicle, grabbed their weapons and took a stance on either side of the garage door entrance. She frowned, tapped her comm. “Ice, I’m not liking this,” she said.
“Explain.”
She quickly told Ice where the military men were.
“Three more vehicles are coming—one from the airstrip, two from town,” Ice said. “Two of our guys should be driving the two trucks from the village. Bullard’s military contact should be the one arriving from the airstrip. However, we can’t trust anybody until we see the men. So don’t let anybody in.”
Kasha had to admit that had been her thought too. The local military, who she didn’t trust, could wait until the rest of the men arrived. “Can you see where the other vehicle went?”
“It’s coming around the front here. It’s looking for an entrance at the front gate.” Then her voice dropped. “Oops,” she said. “They have just climbed over the gates.”
“Dammit, Bullard was supposed to get that set up. But we didn’t have time.”
“What was he planning on?” Ice’s voice was breathless, as if running.
Kasha could just imagine Ice moving quickly around the rooftop, trying to get in position to keep an eye on the men who were already jumping over the gate. “He was going to electrify it. Put underground sensors and alarms in the house.”
“Right. Yeah, he needs to get on that. The men are twenty feet from the front door.”
“Chances are it’s not locked,” Kasha said.
Ice chuckled. “Men like this, they won’t give a shit if it’s locked or not. Expect gunfire as they blast their way through.”
“I thought this was the military?”
“It is. At least they’re wearing military uniforms. Beyond that we can’t count on anything,” Ice’s voice deepened. “How are you set for ammo?”
“I’ve only shot one man,” Kasha said drily. “So I’m still fine.”
Ice paused, as if startled. She asked, “Did you kill him?”
“No. I blew his knee apart.”
“Good. If he makes a move, this time kill him. These men are dangerous.”
On that note, Kasha turned to study the men, but nothing had changed. The one on the ground was still moaning, and the other four were sitting quietly, but their eyes were wide and alert. They knew something was going down. Just then, she heard gunfire. The captives’ eyes took on a shocked look, and they started to yell at her. She held her finger to her lips. “It’s the military, but I don’t know if it’s the good military or the bad military.”
From the look in their eyes, they understood. So she said in a warning note, “I highly suggest you stay quiet until we know more. If you give me any reason, … any reason,” she repeated for emphasis, “I’ll kill you myself.”
With a hard glance, she walked to the monitors, laid down the rifle and clicked on the keys. A ton of potential lay in this holding, but it would take a lot of electronics to set it up properly. Right now, these new guys would be able to come through the house at whatever pace they wanted. But, if they didn’t know the layout, they wouldn’t find their way to the cache in the garage very quickly or to her in the kitchen or Ice on the rooftop.
However, if they knew the layout, she could expect company any second. She checked the cameras here on the first floor. They weren’t even wall-mounted yet. They were just stuck in corners at the main entrances. She caught sight of two men, both with their weapons ready, as if looking for an attack. She watched as they immediately came toward her. With her heart sinking and her chest seizing, she realized they were coming directly here. She couldn’t use the comm without letting the men in the room know what she’d seen. They said they didn’t speak English, but they could still understand more than they let on. She didn’t want to give them any more information than she had to. And she’d probably already said too much.
She tapped on her headpiece in Morse code.
Ice answered in code. She was on her way down. Her instructions were simple to follow because Kasha had already done it. She was told to hide. She was already tucked inside one of the multiple pantry cabinets. She knew the arriving military would see the captives, and that would start something. Almost as soon as she had the thought, she heard footsteps running in, then a sudden silence, followed by sharp orders. Two of the villagers tried to explain.
The man on the floor told them where she hid.
She lifted her rifle, stepped out and said, “Hands up.”
*
Brandon could see the holding up ahead. He could also see one military vehicle parked outside the gate and another in front of the underground garage entrance. He hoped all was well, but his gut said it wasn’t. They had already heard from Ice that two men had jumped the gate in front. Either they suspected terrorists were inside or they were planning on taking out the place. Neither was a good scenario. Brandon parked his vehicle outside the garage just as Levi hopped out and swept down toward the garage. But it was still locked from the inside. Levi spoke to Ice, asking if she could open it. Her response was an immediate “No.”
They looked for another entrance but couldn’t find one. They weren’t far from the tunnel though. With the same thought, they raced toward it. At the entrance, one crouched low and one stood high as they did a sweep to make sure it was empty. As soon as they entered, Levi told Ice where they were. Brandon knew things had gone from bad to worse, but they were here now.
When they finally crept up the stairs and reached the kitchen pantry, they could hear yelling. Brandon went ahead and slipped to the left, while Levi went right. Brandon wasn’t exactly sure who was in the kitchen as most of the language was foreign.
Then he heard Kasha’s voice, cold and hard. He didn’t understand a word she said, but he understood the meaning.
He snuck farther along the wall, peering through the cracks in the pantry doorways, looking for more intruders. How many men had entered? From where he stood, the five captives were accounted for: one on the kitchen floor amid his blood plus four still tied to chairs. He could see Kasha holding a rifle on two new arrivals, both standing, both in military uniforms. Both their backs were to him.
With a hand motion to Levi, he swept past and around the two newcomers so fast that both the uniformed men turned to see who was coming up behind them and now they had a standoff. The military men barked orders, but Brandon and Levi ignored them. Kasha snapped something back at the men. They turned and glared at her.
She shrugged. “They don’t want to lower their weapons,” she said. “They say they are military police, and we are to drop our weapons.”
“That’s nice,” Brandon said. “They came into Bullard’s house without warning, jumped over the gate and broke down the doors. They have no reason to interfere.”
At Bullard’s name, she frowned. “How is he?”
Levi chuckled. “Bullard’s fine. He’s on his way.”
She nodded.
The military men slowly lowered their weapons. Levi motioned for them to step apart, and then he disarmed them. Without weapons, the men were ushered toward the other prisoners and told to sit down. Kasha walked toward Brandon. Instinctively he opened his arms and tugged her in for a hug.
She squeezed him back, and he held her for a long moment. Then he said, “What did they have to say?”
She pointed at the man on the ground. “He told the military police where I was hiding.”
Brandon turned his attention to the bloodied man. “You shot him?”
“Yeah, I did. I should’ve killed him,” she snapped. “The others are from the village. One has a wife and a daughter. He was forced into helping, and he would do anything to save his family. Another has a similar story. Two have remained mostly silent, but one finally spoke up. His brother was the shooter from the last night who then was killed. But the one on the floor with my bullet in his knee is just an asshole. He was part of the group who forced the village men into this.” She turned to look at Brandon. “What about the village?”
“Secure. As far as we can see, everybody is fine there.”
“What about those coming from the airstrip?”
“That’s Bullard’s military contact.”
Brandon walked over to the man with the bullet hole in his knee. He kicked it hard. The man screamed. He said to Kasha, “You tell him that’s for him throwing you to the wolves.”
She snorted. “Doesn’t matter. He’s a traitor to everybody. Whoever pays him the most is who he looks after.”
Brandon looked at the other prisoners. “Are you sure these men didn’t say anything to the police?”
She shook her head. “No, they didn’t say anything.”
The two men she’d conversed with the most looked nervously from one to the other, and the father spoke up. Kasha answered him. She turned to Brandon and said, “He says he didn’t do anything wrong. He’d like to make it up to the new owner. He didn’t want to get involved, but he had no choice.”
Brandon nodded and eased back slightly. As soon as the four villagers saw that, they settled into their chairs. They weren’t going anywhere, tied up as they were. As for the asshole on the ground, Brandon said, “You should have killed him.”
He heard Levi’s headset squawk, and Levi motioned toward the front door. Leaning closer to Kasha, Brandon whispered, “More company. I’m heading there.”
She took a better position so she had a good aim on everyone.
Brandon grinned. A girl after his own heart. He ran out the kitchen and down the hall to open the front door. The front gate was still locked. But this time Bullard was in the vehicle. Brandon raced to the gate and opened it. After letting Bullard and the rest of Levi’s team in, the two men greeted each other. “We’ve got two military men in the kitchen, another two were standing guard by the garage, plus the five captives. Everyone else is fine.”
Bullard nodded. He motioned behind him to another jeep, this one carrying four military men. “I know these four,” Bullard said.
“Do you think they are on the same side as the other soldiers inside?” Brandon asked.
“No.” Bullard smiled. “But we should have a talk with those two you have in the kitchen.”
“You may have better luck with the two outside the garage,” Ice yelled from the rooftop.
“Why?” Brandon hollered.
“I left them alive to get answers from, but they’ll need Bullard’s medical expertise,” Ice’s voice came again.
Bullard slapped Brandon on the shoulder. “Too bad she’s taken, boy. Of course, Kasha is still available.”
Brandon shook his head. “Kasha would have your head for saying that.”
“She would indeed. See? You already understand her.”
The jeep rolled to a stop as the men approached, and Brandon shut the gate behind the military vehicle. He watched as Bullard’s contact got out, waiting for Bullard to walk over. After greeting the men, Bullard led the way into the house and to the central war room area. There, introductions were made. Within minutes they led the new arrivals to the kitchen where the men were being held. Kasha stepped back, still holding her weapon on the men.
The man Bullard appeared to trust the most, Konrad, stepped forward and barked something out in a language Brandon didn’t understand to the two other military police. They pulled out their identifications and handed them over. Konrad looked at them carefully. He picked up his phone and walked to another part of the room, so he could have his phone call in private. Brandon and Levi exchanged raised eyebrows. Brandon said, “We need to clean up the garbage outside the garage doors. Ice apparently injured two.”
“I’m coming with you,” Kasha said. She handed her weapon to Levi. “Let’s bring a stretcher.”
She pulled out a large stretcher from one of the pantry cabinets. Brandon looked at it and said, “I’m still surprised there would be such a thing here. And why so many?”
“Bullard brought several with him.” Kasha laughed. “Says he never travels anywhere without at least two of them.”
Levi snorted. “He came to us several times without them.”
Bullard’s loud voice boomed through the room. “That’s because I knew Ice already had them. You never know when you will need a gurney.” He pointed at the one Kasha was setting up on its wheels and said, “Look. Right now we need two of them.” He twisted to look at the asshole on the ground. “I don’t know what to do with that one.”
Konrad snapped, “He’s coming with me.”
Brandon stopped. “Why?”
Konrad growled, “He’s on our Most Wanted list.”
“What about these two soldiers?”
He spat on the ground. “They will be court-martialed for their activities.”
The two men looked at each other nervously.
Kasha stepped up beside Brandon and asked, “And the two men we have outside?”
Konrad nodded. “They will be coming with us too.”
“You need a bigger plane,” Bullard said. “We have two more dead in a freezer area.”
Konrad sighed. “We need a lot of things. But first and foremost, we need loyal men.” He shot a disgusted look at his officers. “These two are not good examples.”
“What did they have to do with this?”
“According to our intel, these two uniforms and the two from outside are most likely friends with the men you shot attacking the village and set up this place for the gunrunning.”
“Well then, why the hell did they not know it was for sale, and why didn’t they buy it?”
“It’s been for sale for a long time. They just helped themselves and lived here regardless. They figured, if it was ever sold, they could chase away the new owners.”
Bullard walked closer to the man on the ground who cringed and tried to shift backward. Brandon listened as Bullard ripped into him in the same language Kasha had used and then turned his attention to the two military guys. Before he was done, they were all desperate to get away.
Kasha on the other hand grinned like a two-year-old. “It does my heart good to hear Bullard open up like that,” she whispered, leaning into Brandon.
“I’m just sorry I didn’t understand a word of it,” Brandon admitted. “It sounded lovely though.”
She chuckled. “It was.” She straightened, grabbed the gurney and said, “Come on. Let’s get the other men. When the military leaves, they can take everyone. Dead or alive.”
Levi called back, “We also have to load up the weapons. Konrad’s taking them back with him. With the serial numbers, they should be able to trace where they were manufactured and hopefully find the middlemen.”
Brandon nodded. With Kasha at his side, he led the way to the garage. As soon as they opened it, the two men were visible beside their military vehicle. Kasha took one look and whistled. “Ice does good work.”
Both men were down, both legs badly damaged. But they’d live. And most likely they’d talk. That would save their lives more than anything would. They loaded both men on one gurney and slowly pushed them back toward the crowd in the central war room.
When the two military men from the kitchen saw the other two military policemen, they started yelling at the top of their lungs. Brandon had been in a lot of countries in the world, and he had heard a lot of languages, but, in this last couple hours, he wished he understood this language more than any other. He looked to Kasha for a translation.
“They say they were forced to help.” She shrugged. “It’s the same old story of betrayal. Same thing everywhere, no matter what language they speak.”
The next hour was chaotic. Apparently Konrad had arrived in a bigger plane than expected, but it still wasn’t big enough for the cache of weapons plus all the prisoners and the dead bodies involved and Konrad and his three men. With a second plane on its way for Konrad and the weapons cache, the real military took the injured prisoners, the fake military guys and the dead. Under a fully armed escort, the prisoners most likely spilled their guts before they even made it to the landing spot.
Brandon didn’t know much about the medical system here, except that it was expensive and nonexistent in many places. But at least the injured were still alive. Brandon could make peace with whatever happened to them later.
All in all, Brandon would say this was a good day’s work, and it wasn’t yet 3:00 p.m.