Desert Fire (27 page)
Authors: David Hagberg
ROEMER RELEASED JACOB Wadud's wrist and stepped back, his hands away from his sides in clear sight.
Colonel Faulkner put his walkie-talkie to his mouth as Leila stepped around the communications table with a gun in her hand.
“If you call for help, I will kill you, Colonel,” she said in a steady voice.
Faulkner lowered the walkie-talkie.
Two of the Mukhabarat agents trotted down the corridor to cover the elevator and stairs. The Iraqi Ambassador, ashen, stepped aside. Wadud with his pistol backed Roemer into the conference room. Zwaiter came in behind them and closed the door.
“You don't want to do this, Jacob,” Roemer said.
“We're taking our general home with us,” the Iraqi detective said calmly. He motioned toward the blueprints spread out on the long table. “We spotted what was going on at the holding pond. Our technicians
figured it out immediately. They said it was risky, but it might work. Put your gun on the table, Walther.”
figured it out immediately. They said it was risky, but it might work. Put your gun on the table, Walther.”
Trautman, the plant engineer, wasn't armed. Zwaiter and the other Mukhabarat agent relieved the others of their weapons.
“Back in the corner,” Wadud said.
Roemer and the others sat down at the far side of the room. Wadud spoke into the microphone. “Habash, this is Jacob Wadud. Let me talk to the general.”
“That's not possible,” Habash radioed. “Don't interfere, Wadud.”
“Leila, Bassam Zwaiter and I are coming over there now. You are going back to Baghdad.”
“Negative.”
“The hostages can be released at the airport, or in Iraq, if you wish. But disconnect your explosives.”
“Anyone coming within one hundred meters of our perimeter will be shot.”
“I don't think so, Habash.”
“We want Roemer!”
Wadud put down the microphone and switched off the radio. He faced the room. “We're going to leave here in a group. I am taking my general home.”
“Don't be a fool,” Whalpol said angrily.
“It might work,” Roemer said. “But what happens if they start killing hostages?”
“You would be risking the same retaliation by trying to sneak into the place,” the Iraqi detective said. He motioned toward the door with his gun.
The Mukhabarat agent opened the door and looked out into the corridor. Everyone else was gone. “It's clear.”
“What if we refuse to go with you?” Manning growled.
“Then I'll shoot you,” Wadud replied. Again he motioned toward the door with his gun. “They'll be getting nervous over there.”
“Is this what you want, Leila?” Roemer asked.
She looked at him, painfully. “We can help him in Baghdad.”
“You're willing to risk all of those lives?”
“He's my father!”
“Move it!” Wadud ordered.
Roemer and Manning led the group out. Most of the activity outside was directed toward the main gate, where all the newspeople were still being held back, and along the sandbagged barricade that established the one-hundred-meter perimeter.
The helicopter was parked forty or fifty meters away. The crew stood by the machine.
“Walk directly to the barricade,” Wadud said.
“Do you want me to come in with you?” Roemer asked Leila.
“No.”
“His troops would kill you,” Wadud said.
“Fanatics,” Whalpol snapped. “The history of your peopleâ”
“Yes,” Wadud interrupted him. They headed across the parking lot to the barricade several hundred meters away. Generators roared, powering the floodlights illuminating the blockhouse.
“Keep it moving,” Wadud said behind them.
Colonel Faulkner had already given the signal to his crew at the holding ponds. Unless the Iraqis had stopped them, the torch man would already be working his way through the narrow pipeline to the pump room, where he would cut out the access plate. The plan was for him and two demolitions experts to enter the R&D building first, decontaminate themselves and then stand by as an advance guard. If everything went well they would radio their code.
There was no telling, however, what General Sherif's troops would do once they were confronted by Wadud, Zwaiter and Leila. If they fired the explosives, none of this would matter.
One of Faulkner's lieutenants, seeing the group approaching the barricade, came over. “Has there been any further word, sir?” Then the young man spotted the Iraqis' weapons and reached for his own sidearm.
“No,” Colonel Faulkner ordered. “I want you and your people to stand down.”
“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said. The soldiers at the sandbags moved away.
Wadud turned to Whalpol. “As soon as we have the situation controlled inside, we'll radio you. We'll need a couple of transport trucks or a bus, and a clear route to the airport. If you don't interfere, no one else will get hurt.”
“Do you know the general well enough to bet your life on it?”
“I do,” Leila said. Before anyone could stop her, she shoved roughly past Manning and in broad strides leaped over the sandbags and headed across the hundred meters to the tall chain-link fence.
“Hold them!” Wadud shouted before Roemer could move. The Mukhabarat agents raised their weapons as Wadud and Zwaiter jumped over the barricade and went after Leila.
They got barely ten meters when a line of automatic weapons fire was laid down from three spots along the roofline. Zwaiter was hit several times, his body erupting in spurts of blood as he was blasted backward off his feet.
Leila stopped in her tracks, the bullets ricocheting off the pavement all around her.
Wadud raced in a zigzag back to the sandbags, the fire on his heels as he dove to safety.
Sporadic fire was being returned all up and down the barricade. Colonel Faulkner raced down the line, shouting the cease-fire.
Zwaiter lay facedown in a widening pool of blood. Leila, not hit, stared in horror at his body.
Except for the generators, a heavy silence descended over the parking lot.
“Leila,” Roemer called from behind the barricade. “Come back. They won't fire on you.”
She remained rooted to her spot, her eyes on Zwaiter's body.
“Leila!”
She walked toward the blockhouse gate.
Roemer started over the sandbags, but Manning yanked him back.
“Leila,” Roemer called again.
She continued walking as if in a trance. No gunfire came from the blockhouse roof. Reaching the big gate, she took out her gun and fired at the heavy padlock.
“She can't crack the lock that way,” Trautman muttered.
Leila fired again and again. Then she stepped back from the gate and looked up toward the building's roofline. “Father!” she shouted. “Father?”
Roemer could see no movement. They were up there, watching her, listening to her cries, but they were keeping out of sight. Fanatics, but disciplined.
“Father?”
“It's no use, Leila,” Wadud called to her. “Come back.”
She turned and gaped toward the barricade. Then she started slowly back.
“We'll do it my way now,” Whalpol said.
“Roemer and I will go in,” Wadud said. “We'll take a couple of Mukhabarat people with us.”
“No way.”
“He's right,” Roemer said, watching Leila. “He and I, two Mukhabarat agents and two of Colonel Faulkner's people.”
Leila reached Zwaiter's body, stopped and slowly bent down beside it.
Wadud jumped over the barricade and went across to her. He grabbed Zwaiter's arms and dragged him back to the barricade. Leila followed. An army ambulance was already racing across the parking lot.
Roemer reached for Leila, but she pulled away and headed toward the administration building. It was no use going after her.
“We'll go now,” Roemer said.
“My torch man and demolitions crew are already on their way in,” Colonel Faulkner said.
“Sherif's people will be wanting you on the radio,” Roemer told Whalpol. “You're going to have to buy as much time as possible. Tell them we're all shook up down here. We need time to calm everyone down.”
LEILA WAS NOWHERE to be found when they got to the administration building. Whalpol tried to radio Sherif's force at the blockhouse, but they did not answer.
The plant engineer, Trautman, quickly went over the blueprints with Roemer, Wadud and the two Mukhabarat agents who would go in with them, Abdul Salman and Hani Bouchiki.
“Our equipment truck is set up down on the Autobahn,” Trautman said. “It's a couple hundred meters on foot up the hill and across a clearing to the holding ponds. You can't be seen from the R&D building because of the forest. But don't use any light until you are well within the tunnel, and even then it could be riskyâa chance reflection through the opening.”
“The radiation suits are in the truck?” Roemer asked.
Trautman nodded. “You'll have to carry your weapons and radios inside your suits so they don't become contaminated. Once you're decontaminated, there are
three ways up to the reactor room. Two sets of stairs and the elevator. Colonel Faulkner's men will be waiting for you in the subbasement. They'll head up to the reactor and begin their search and disarming procedures.”
three ways up to the reactor room. Two sets of stairs and the elevator. Colonel Faulkner's men will be waiting for you in the subbasement. They'll head up to the reactor and begin their search and disarming procedures.”
“We're using codes,” Colonel Faulkner said. “Situation One was their go-ahead to enter the pipeline and cut their way into the pump room. Situation Two, they're in place. Situation Three means someone is in place above the control room ready to stop Sherif from triggering the explosives.”
“Wadud and I will handle the hostages,” Roemer said.
“Which leaves Salman and Bouchiki above the control room,” Wadud said.
“Any questions?”
“Just one,” Roemer said softly. “If it becomes necessary to kill the general, will you be able to do it?”
LEILA WAS GONE. No one had seen her since she had walked away from the barricades after Zwaiter had been shot to death.
Rudi Gehrman and Colonel Legler stood with Roemer at the rear of a canvas-covered army troop truck.
“You don't have to do this, Walther,” Colonel Legler said. “Leave this sort of thing to the army.”
“I'm going to finish it.”
“Don't be a fool,” Gehrman snapped. “You're doing this because of Leila Kahled.”
It was late and Roemer was very tired. It had been only a week since this had all started. It seemed like a lifetime. He supposed his old friend was right, but he had to do it this way. “She's missing just now, Rudi. Find her for me.”
Gehrman grimaced in frustration. “And then what?”
“Get her away from here in case the reactor blows.”
Wadud came out of the administration building on the run.
“We have to move now!” he shouted. “Whalpol reached Habash. They're blaming us for Zwaiter's death. Habash promises retaliation.”
“They're going to kill the hostages?”
“Worse. They want you right now. I think they mean to blow the reactor.”
“As soon as we're on the way in, Faulkner is going to clear this place.”
“They'll touch off the explosives as soon as that starts happening.”
“Then I'll turn myself over to them,” Roemer said.
“The moment you showed up over there they'd set off the explosives anyway. Habash is as crazy as the general. You're the main issue now.”
Colonel Faulkner came out of the administration building, Manning right behind him. “We just received a Situation Two; my people are in and decontaminated. They're waiting for you.”
“What about the evacuation?” Roemer asked.
“Manning will get the civilians out, but I'm keeping my people here.”
“We're going to hold them back from the airport to the north and the Siegburg exit to the south,” Manning said.
“We're not screwing around any longer,” Faulkner said. “Number-one priority is disarming the explosives. If it means killing General Sherif and every one of his troops, it will be done.”
A helicopter came in low from the south.
“That's your father's body,” Faulkner said. “It is up to you if you want us to use it as an ⦠offering.”
Roemer had turned numb. “Do it.”
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