* * *

We arrived in full dark the next day and immediately went into high gear. This place is crawling with military intelligence and a host of unsavory characters on a good day, so we had to get in and out in as little time as possible without being seen.

Mancini had a station set up in the desert, not sure how he pulled that off, but it looked like any other bivouac we’d ever seen and would cause no undue interest.

In the last few hours before we landed once everyone had rested, some better than others, we’d gone through the plans again.

Only a few of us were going into the camp where the signals from Khalil’s phone were pinging, because it would be too dangerous for us all to go.

Had this been a military Op, it wouldn’t have mattered, but some might call what we were doing illegal.

So while we were going in the others were going to stand guard around the perimeter. It wasn’t easy choosing who were gonna go in, but in the end it was Lo, Con and Zak who would extract him and bring him back.

We’d decided not to blow him away this time, because that shit never works. The good thing is, we know how he operates because we’ve been this close before.

The problem is, he always finds a way to slip away and survive whatever we throw at him. This time we’re going to have a face to face with asshole number one and put an end to him once and for all. At least that’s what we’re hoping.

As expected the place was crawling with military but at least there were no locals milling about this late at night.

We checked the signal to be sure it was still working and used that as a guide to finding Khalil’s exact location.

We pinpointed his location easily enough. You see, for a desert rat, Khalil can’t do without his creature comforts. His tents are like travelling five star hotels wherever he goes which isn’t hard to find among the others.

But he’s also used them as a trap in the past so we were highly vigilant since we knew that this might be our last chance. If we fucked this up those women’s lives won’t be worth shit, my woman especially.

While Lo and the others went ahead the rest of us got into position, blending into the dark night as we crawled on our bellies in the dust.

Ty took up his post right above with his scope trained on the tent, while the rest of us took care of the guards one by one.

We weren’t there to harm anyone so we used sleepers to put them down. The hardest part was dragging them out of sight after they fell but even that went off without a hitch. Lo’s constant drills paid off there.

All in all I was thinking our luck had really changed because the shit was way too easy. When Lo and the others came running out not even five minutes later with Khalil tied and bound, we headed back to the waiting vehicles and raced through the night to the bivouac.

It was well situated away from the others and would afford us the privacy we needed. We didn’t plan to be there long anyway, just in and out once we got what we needed.

We weren’t interested in interrogating the Fox, after all this time we just wanted to make sure this time that we got him, that there were no more tricks up his sleeve.

This time my brothers and I were all there while the others stood watch outside. We didn’t dare make too much light but it was enough to see that the man sitting on the chair grinning at us was indeed Khalil.

Everyone’s blood was up and we didn’t have a lot of time, it’s never too wise to hang around in places like this. So though we each wanted a piece of him we knew it wasn’t gonna happen. This was the end of the road.

The only thing we wanted from him now were the names of the men working for him on our end. He was tied, gagged and bound to the only chair in the room.

“Hello Khalil long time no see.” Con tore the gag from his mouth. It was easy to see his grin in the dark but he said nothing as he looked around at us.

Lo shone his light in his face and his eyes were either sleep glazed or the Fox was on something. Didn’t matter. Lo started the questioning while the rest of us listened and nothing this fool was saying made any sense.

It was like playing a game of cat and mouse. We were getting nowhere and I was seriously beginning to think he was high or drunk when Mancini rushed into the room.

We all went on alert. “What is it, what’s going on?” He didn’t answer Logan just walked swiftly over to the chair where Khalil was tied in the middle of the room and pulled his head back roughly. Then he slit his throat. He did it so quickly we didn’t have time to react.

“What the fuck?” Lo looked at Mancini questioningly.

“He’s not Khalil.” He opened the dead man’s eyes and removed contacts before pulling his scalp back and dropping it on the floor. There was someone else sitting there.

“Who the fuck is this?”

“I don’t know but your boy is on the move we gotta go.” As soon as the words left his mouth we were on the move.

“How do you know this?” I questioned Mancini as the others joined us.

“No time to talk now he’s heading to the airfield. Shit.”

We hopped into the desert buggies we’d left hidden behind a dune and headed back the way we came. We’d been so close, but I can’t say I was surprised.

Khalil always seems to be one step ahead of us; only this time there was no way he should’ve known we were coming.

Once back in the air we turned to Mancini for some answers. “Long story short. Track had a bead on the senator. Apparently he and his sister has been in contact since we left the island.”

“An hour ago he picked up noise between the senator and an unknown. I don’t know how he knows but he’s certain it’s Khalil, he has eyes on him.”

“What, how’d he do that?”

“Why don’t we ask him when this is all done?”