"Great. Our punk just might live through this…"
Shoving the boy along, crouchwalking beneath windows, dodging past doors, they went directly to the main offices. Again, Abdul called out for surrender.
A voice answered. "I give up. I am only a technician. I can help. I am not a fighter…"
"Come out! Hands up if you want to live."
The Libyan radio operator walked from the offices of the commander. "I am only a technician, only a technician…"
Sweeping the Libyan's feet from under him, Lyons spread him flat on the tiles. He searched him, found a .25-caliber Beretta in his boot top.
"You're not a fighter? What's this for?"
"It is the only gun I have."
"Shut up." Lyons kicked him over onto his back and searched him some more. "Where's the American prisoner? Tell us and we'll let you live."
"Prisoner? I do not know. I only operate radio."
"Oh, yeah?" Gadgets asked. "Where is your equipment?"
"In there. I can tell you where Commander Omar hides. He knows where prisoner is."
"Show me."
The radio operator got to his feet. Lyons grabbed the guy's collar and shoved the man ahead of him.
"Any tricks and I will kill you."
"Not me — I only technician."
They went through the outer offices. The Libyan pointed to a door. "He is in there."
"Open it."
"No! He will shoot."
"Tough."
Shouting in Arabic, the Libyan opened the office door. Lyons heard the word Americans.
Blancanales shone the flashlight into the office. They saw Persian rugs, hand-carved furniture, but no officer. Lyons jabbed the Libyan with the Atchisson. "Tell him to come out if he wants to live."
The words had no effect. Lyons grabbed the Libyan by the collar again and forced him to another door.
"Open it."
They saw a white-tiled bathroom with modern European fixtures. "Now that other door."
As the closet door opened, Lyons heard an elbow strike the door, smelled excrement. A piece of metal flipped free. Lyons saw it was a grenade lever.
Slamming the radio operator against the door, Lyons jammed it closed. A scream came from inside the closet. Hands grabbed the doorknob, shook it. The Libyan struggled against Lyons's grip, finally twisted away.
Bits of steel wire punched a hundred holes in the closet door. The man inside screamed, fell out of the shattered door, rolled across the floor, his body in shreds, the front of it punctured.
He still lived only because the grenade had exploded below waist level.
Blancanales whipped cords from his pocket and looped fast tourniquets around the Egyptian's legs at the crotch. He reached into the tangle of shredded clothes and shoes inside the closet to find a wooden clothes hanger. He snapped the hanger apart and used two lengths to twist the cord loops tight. The blood flow from the commander's legs slowed.
"Where's the American?" Lyons shouted into the moaning man's face.
Commander Omar shook his head. Lyons shouted again, "Tell us and you live."
Ashen with shock, the commander looked up at the black-clad Americans who questioned him and tended his wounds. Finally he answered.
"He is alive. Alive. In the small room… below the stairs…"
"Who else is there? Any of your soldiers?"
"No one… he is alive… have mercy on me."
Blancanales looked up to Lyons. "The Agency will want this one."
"Then keep him alive."
Shoving the Libyan ahead of him, Lyons went back to the smoky walkway in front of the offices. The sky was light with day.
"Keep this one, Wizard. Talk tech with him. Abdul, come. Where are Mohammed and Zaki?"
"There… and there." Abdul pointed to opposite sides of the courtyard. The other two taxi drivers were crouched low, watching the walls and courtyards for movement.
"Good. Come on."
Lyons moved fast, crabbing under windows, sprinting past doors, down stone steps. He saw nothing down there. Holding the Atchisson ready, he followed the stairs around into a room.
Twisted bodies sprawled everywhere on the bricks of the floor. One clutched an AK as Lyons approached, struggled to lift the muzzle. A shot from the Atchisson destroyed the terrorist's throat and turned him into a dead man. Continuing, Lyons searched for the door. An autoburst from Abdul killed a wounded Arab.
Fearing a booby trap, Lyons jerked the door open and dashed to one side. He waited to the count of ten, then looked in.
The American lay in his blood, his hands and feet bound behind him. Lyons glanced at the interior of the room, actually a janitor's closet with sink and cabinets for cleaning supplies. Going to one knee, Lyons felt the prisoner's throat for a pulse; he found it.
Blood was clotting at the captive's mouth. The Agency man still breathed. Lyons examined his wounds by the glow of a penlight and saw huge bruises. He saw cuts and broken teeth and eyes, swollen shut. He saw the marks of shoes and boots on the man's face.
Lyons cut the ropes and carefully unwound them around the man's blue hands. Lyons laid the American on his back and checked his body all over. Boot marks and the ovals of AK butts marked the man's chest and back.
"You're okay now," Lyons whispered. "Just hold on. We'll get you out of here. Can you talk? Can you hear me? I'm an American, we've come to get you out."
Jake Newton struggled to open his eyes. Lyons continued speaking quietly, soothingly. "You'll be all right; you look okay; we're getting you out of here."
Turning on his side, Newton vomited blood, retched again and again.
Lyons keyed his hand radio. "Wizard, get on your radio, call the embassy, the Air Force, whoever. Our man's alive, but he's bleeding inside. He's been kicked and beaten all to bits."
One of Newton's bloody hands gripped Lyons's arm. A tortured voice croaked, "Thanks… thanks…"
"We got help on the way." Lyons turned to Abdul. "Stay with him."
Running up the stone steps, Lyons saw the Libyan radio operator tied hand and foot on the walkway. Inside the office, Gadgets had set up his radio and autorecorder beside the terrorists' American equipment.
"I got the leader," Gadgets laughed. "It worked. He radioed here, I recorded it…"
"You got the medics coming?" Lyons demanded.
"On their way. And the colonel's got the news on..."
"Tell me later." Lyons rushed to the commander's office.
Blancanales was working on the Egyptian's wounds, packing a field dressing against the ripped and punctured flesh of the terror leader's gut. His partner looked up as Lyons entered.
"Is the Agency man okay?"
"He's alive." Lyons stooped down to examine the tips of Commander Omar's mirror-polished boots.
"What're you doing?"
Clotted blood and some flesh clung to the boot tips. Lyons wiped his finger across the crevice where the boot's upper joined the sole. Flesh came away. Lyons's voice went cold. "Those tourniquets tight?"
"Tight, man. He'll make it."
20
Striding from the United States Embassy, Katz paced to his limousine. A light wind blew dust and diesel smoke from the boulevards, which were already crowded. The limo driver slept behind the wheel. Across the grounds, guards at the gates saw Katz and watched as the diplomat knocked on the driver's window.
The driver was startled awake. He pressed the button powering down the window. "Yes, Mr. Steiner?"
"Airport!"