Rao turned his pistol on a man coming at him with a wrench and shot him. Ijay ran forward and let off a burst at the last two men in the detachment. It had taken less than a minute to kill everyone at the complex.
Ijay ejected the spent magazine from his gun and inserted a fresh one. He wiped the metal down with a cloth he pulled from his pocket.
It was important to keep your weapons clean.
CHAPTER 62
Akron kept the Huey low and fast, flying a few hundred feet above the valley floor. They followed a narrow stream toward the tunnel complex. Nick listened to the old, familiar tune of the helicopter blades as the sound echoed from the mountains, chopchopchopchop…
…and he was back in Afghanistan, back in the village and the brown dust and the heat, the helicopters lifting away, beating up a blinding storm of dust and grit. He signaled his Marines forward. They trailed out behind him as he moved along the deserted main street, the only street. Somewhere a baby was crying. He could smell the sour scent of his fear.
He held his M4 up close to his face, the selector on three round burst, safety off, his finger laid along the side of the receiver. He came to the market. Strips of stringy meat glistening with gristle hung in the open air of the butcher's stall. Flies buzzed in clouds around the stall, a nasty, irritating sound.
Men with thick beards rose up from a flat rooftop across the street and cut loose with AKs. The bullets shattered the flimsy market stalls, ricocheted off the walls, kicked up dirt at his feet. He ducked into a doorway and began firing at the roof. His men were shouting, firing, the noise deafening. Someone screamed in pain. Dozens of automatic rifles spat out their messages of death. Russian Kalashnikovs, American M4s. All the guns spoke the same language.
From across the way, a young boy ran toward him, screaming about Allah. He had a grenade in his hand. He cocked his arm back to throw.
A boy, no more than ten or eleven. Just a child. Nick's finger paused on the trigger.
The boy threw the grenade. Time slowed. Nick fired, one, two, three, the rifle kicking back against his shoulder. The first shot knocked the boy backward. The second took him in the throat. The third blew open his head like a ripe melon. Nick watched the grenade float toward him. He watched it tumbling in the air, unable to move, Then everything went white…
Akron was shaking him by the shoulder. "You all right, man? You don't look so good."
They were in India, not Afghanistan. He'd been lost in a flashback. It hadn't happened for a while.
Shit, Nick thought. How long?
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Ahead of them the guard post on the road was coming up. So, not too long. A minute or two. Two men stood looking up at the approaching helicopter.
"Wave," Nick said.
"What?"
"Wave. When we go over. Like we're friendly." He turned around to Lamont and Selena and yelled over the noise. "Wave at the guards down there."
They flew over the barrier, waving and grinning like idiots. Then the post was behind them.
"Keep right on like we planned," Nick said.
In another minute they came up on the staging area, off to the left and up the side of the valley. They flashed past. Nick had time to see bodies lying on the ground. Men in black with assault rifles watched them go by. Then they were around the bend in the stream and out of sight of the tunnel.
Akron dropped down, fast.
"Hot damn," he said. "Just like the old days, 'cept no one's shooting at us."
"Not yet," Nick said.
Akron brought the skids within inches of the ground and hovered. Whatever his faults, he knew how to fly. Selena and Lamont were out in seconds, weapons ready. Nick came right behind. Akron lifted away in a soaring bank and headed upstream. Anyone watching from the staging area would see the chopper reappear from the turn and head straight for the temple ruins.
"Think they bought it?" Lamont said.
"I wouldn't bet on it. You see the bodies?"
Both Selena and Lamont nodded.
"Cobra must have decided to take them all out. He's probably got the general with the codes inside."
"The missiles aren't in position yet," Selena said. "We still have some time."
"Not much," Nick said.
The three of them studied the terrain. The land sloped up from the streambed where they stood, toward the tunnel with the missiles. A shallow ravine ran up the side of the mountain through a forest of evergreens.
"What do you think, Lamont? Up that ravine there? We're probably four or five hundred feet below where we want to be."
"It goes in the right direction."
"I'll take the point. Selena, you in the middle, keep an interval. Lamont, you cover our six."
"What's the plan when we get there?" Selena asked.
"Don't have one yet. As the situation demands. If they're suspicious, they'll send scouts out to look around. Be ready for anything."
"For some reason I thought this time would be different," she said.
"You ought to know better by now," Lamont said.
"Weapons free," Nick said.
Three metallic clicks as the safeties went off.
They set off up the side of the mountain.
Rao came out of the tunnel. "I heard a helicopter," he said.
Ijay pointed at the green Huey flying toward the ruins.
"Looked like a bunch of tourists going to the temple. They were in civilian clothes, except the pilot. I think he was wearing fatigues. "
"Tourists? When war's coming and in a helicopter like that? I don't think so."
"I don't either," Ijay said. "It's too much of a coincidence."
"How many?" Rao asked.
"At least four. I saw two up front and two passengers. If they aren't tourists, we'll know soon enough. It shouldn't be a problem."
Ijay walked over to one of his men. "Sergeant. Take Panav and Darpak." He pointed in the direction of the temple. "Go down the side of the hill and make sure no one gets by you."
"Sir."
The sergeant called out to the two men. In a minute they were gone, out of sight in the trees. Ijay turned to Rao.
"Get one those missiles out here," Rao said.
CHAPTER 63
Selena watched Nick moving through the woods ahead of her. It was hot under the trees. There was no breeze. Tiny insects swarmed and bit her, drawn by her sweat. Her shirt was already soaked through. It felt strange to be doing this in civilian clothes. No boots, no armor. The last time she'd gone into a fight without armor it hadn't worked out well. At least she was wearing jeans and her Nikes. A skirt and regular shoes would have been impossible here.
She'd gotten better over time with the art of moving quietly but she still felt clumsy compared to Nick and Lamont. They made no noise as the team worked their way up the ravine.
She was careful not to dislodge any of the loose rocks in the wash. That's all she needed, kick loose a rock and have Nick give her one of his looks of disapproval.
Damn it, why did she care so much about what he thought? Sometimes she felt like she'd never be able to equal what these men did. They had years of specialized training in warfare she could never match. On the other hand, she could whip both of them in hand to hand, though she wouldn't want to take both on at once. Still, she could kick Nick's butt if she had to.
That thought brought a smile.
They came to the end of the ravine. The land sloped up for another twenty feet and leveled out. Nick held up his hand to stop.
He signaled Lamont. Go left, then up. He pointed at himself and up. I'll take the center. To Selena, he signaled right and up. He pointed at them and at his eyes and then himself. Watch me. Follow my lead. He gestured ahead. Go slow.