Guide Me Home (SEAL of Fortune) (6 page)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ryker creeps his rented Mercedes past the Masood residence for the third time. The house is an imposing place set just off the rocky beach, about 6 klicks south of Tyre. There is no cover and Ryker hasn’t stopped. The last thing he wants is to put the residents on their guard. He has seen no sign of security personnel, but he assumes the house has some form of electronic security in place. Nothing for that. The key is going to be speed. Get in and get the area secured before they can call for help.

As he slowly drifts by an older woman and beautiful teenage girl exit the house and get into a Mercedes G-Wagon SUV. Fuck… Women and children are going to make this a lot more difficult. Now would be the time to hit the place, but he isn’t ready. The Mogle isn’t here and he has no idea how long until Kadar’s family will be back. 

***

Ryker slides the card in the door and walks into their suite. He smiles as Ronnie looks up from her computer. “You have a plan?” she asks after he gives her a quick kiss.

“I think I do. But as the old saying goes... no plan survives contact with the enemy. Get your stuff. We need to go.”

“Are we coming back here?”

“Yes. Just take what you need for tonight.”

Ronnie rises from her chair and flows into Ryker’s arms. “Will you think less of me if I admit to being a little scared?”

“No. I would be worried if you weren’t, because that means you don’t understand what is going on.”

Ronnie is quiet for a moment. “Are you going to kill the man tonight?” she asks softly.

“No. Not if I can prevent it. If we get the virus there is no need to kill him. If he doesn’t have it, we need him alive.”

She relaxes a bit. She has had enough killing to last her a lifetime. “I’m glad. Do I need to change?”

He looks at her. She is dressed in a comfortable shirt, shorts and running shoes. “No. You’re fine. If you’re ready, let’s go. I want to get there before dark.”

Ryker has parked the rented Benz in the hotel garage, but this time they take the Mogle. As the truck rattles to life, Ryker looks over to Ronnie, still concerned that he is putting her in unnecessary danger by bringing her along… but he really has no choice.

As Ryker and Ronnie bang along the road to Tyre they talk little, each lost in their own thoughts. Ryker reviews his plan… then reviews it again… then reviews it yet again. He can think of a hundred ways the mission could go wrong and he tries to have a counter for every contingency.

When they arrive in Tyre, the sun is just setting on the horizon. He hasn’t eaten since lunch, but he is too nervous to eat now. He pulls the truck into a grocery story store parking lot, parking it well away from the store, and kills the engine. “Okay. Here’s the plan,” Ryker says, pulling two encrypted radios the embassy had given him out of the bag he had stowed between the seats. “I’m going to leave the truck here. We are about two miles from Masood’s house. I’m going to approach on foot. When I call, bring the truck. Go out of the parking lot, turn right at the corner, and stay on that road until you get to his house. This is the house,” Ryker explains, sending a picture to her phone. “When you get there, back the truck up to the front door and come into the house. I will be waiting.”

“How long will I have to wait?” she asks.

“Several hours. I am going to wait until the house is quiet. Leave your radio on, but if you can get some shut-eye, go ahead.”

Ronnie looks at the small radio. The button is in the center, presumably in the “off” position, and she has a choice between an ear and lips.She thinks about it a moment until the symbols starts to make sense. Ear to listen, lips to talk without having to hold the transmit button. She slides the small button to the lips before threading the wire under her shirt and puts the ear bud in her ear. “Comm check,” she says without touching the bud.

Ryker smiles. “You’re a natural,” he says when Ronnie’s voice sounds in his ear.

“I can hear you,” Ronnie replies with a grin.

Ryker rummages in the bag, pulling out ammo clips, plastic binders, a small pair of wire cutters, a pair of night-vision goggles, tiny flashlight and, finally, a deadly gun and suppressor. Ryker pulls the weapon from the holster, quickly checks it, then returns it to its home. “Okay, I’m leaving before it gets dark. Walking at night draws too much attention.”

Ronnie feels her heart freeze up. “Talk to me when you can,” Ronnie says softly. “The not knowing it the worst.”

Ryker smiles. “I will, but it’ll be okay. Just be ready to do your part.”

Ronnie nods, pursing her lips in fear. Ryker gives her a quick kiss, then slips from the truck. He tucks his weapon neatly out of sight, then gives her a wink and strolls off as if he hasn’t a care in the world, all the items he pulled from the bag out of sight except for the goggles, which he carries in a plastic sack. Ronnie watches him go, just another guy walking with a bag of groceries, until he disappears from her view before she moves to the driver’s seat and settles in to wait.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ryker crouches across the road from the Masood residence. He has been waiting for nearly two hours and it is now nearly midnight and houses have been steadily going dark as the families turn in for the evening. He decides it is time to put his plan into motion. He slips the night-vision goggles on and moves silently down to his target. “Ronnie… Ryker. I’m going in. Stand by to move.”

“Ready,” Ronnie’s calm voice comes back in his ear. He can’t help but smile as he carefully places his feet.

He quickly glances up and down the empty road before crossing, a hundred yards from the Masood home. He pulls his weapon and attaches the suppressor before firing six shots into the transformer on the nearby pole. Nothing happens for a moment and then he hears a frying buzz followed by a loud bang. What few lights remained on are now out. He waits a few minutes to see if the lights come back on. When they don’t, he moves swiftly back to the Masood home.

Arriving at the house, he quickly circles it until he finds the utility hookup. Pulling the wire cutters from his back pocket he cuts the phone line, then throws the main breaker on the house. He had taken out the transformer to keep the street lights and the few nearby houses dark, and now, after throwing the breaker, if the power comes back on along the street the Masood house will remain dark.

Moving to the back of the house, Ryker tries the patio door. Locked, of course. He tries each of the windows, but they are all locked as well. Moving back to the door, he pulls the wire cutters again and begins to nip away at the edge of the plastic trim holding the glass in the door until he is able to quietly break the window and reach inside to unlock the door.

Less than ten minutes after shooting out the transformer, Ryker is quietly opening the door to the kitchen.

He quickly and quietly searches the kitchen for the vials but finds nothing, as he expected. He performs the same search on an office in another room with the same results. He had hoped he might get lucky, but apparently not. Now it is time to do it the hard way.

He moves silently down the hall, the night-vision goggles allowing him to see in and move through the unfamiliar house with ease. He peeks into the daughter’s room first, then moves to an empty room, before finally finding the master suite. Kadar Masood and his wife are asleep in the bed. He pulls his weapon and steps inside before slowly closing the door, his heart nearly stopping when it starts to squeak, and locks it. Moving to the bed he steels himself for what he is about to do before placing a hand firmly over Kadar’s mouth and putting the gun to his temple.

Kadar starts awake with muffled shout, his thrashing waking his wife. Ryker waits until the woman sees him before snapping the weapon up to point it directly at her head. “Do you speak English?” Ryker asks, making his voice as cold, hard, and deadly as he can. When the woman nods that she does, Ryker continues. “If you do exactly as I say, you both will live to see your daughter again. If you don’t… I won’t leave any witnesses behind. Do I make myself clear?”

Both Kadar and the woman nod silently, their eyes wide in terror.

“Very good. First, if you make so much as a sound I will kill you both.” Ryker looks at Kadar. “I’m going to bind your hands, Kadar. Then I am going to ask you some questions. You are going to answer these questions
truthfully
the first time I ask them, or I will kill your wife. Understood?”

Kadar nods his head frantically. Ryker releases Kadar’s mouth and pulls two plastic restrains from his pocket.

“Bind her hands and feet. I’m going to check them so make sure they are tight.”

Kadar does as he is told, kissing his wife on the forehead and wiping away her tears when he is done. “Don’t hurt her. Take…” Kadar begins.

“Shut up!” Ryker rumbles quietly. “You want to save your wife and daughter? Do as I say.” Ryker knows that Ronnie is listening. “Bring the truck.”

He pulls another set of restraints from his pocket. “Turn around,” he orders. When Kadar complies, he binds his wrists. “Back on the bed,” Ryker orders, then binds his ankles.

“You’re almost free. Now Kadar, I know you are involved with the kidnapping of Dr. Julian Baker and the theft of the virus, so don’t waste my time by denying it,” Ryker hisses menacingly, watching as the woman’s eyes open wide, staring at her husband. Seems that Mrs. Masood didn’t know everything her husband did. “I want to know one thing. Where is the virus?”

“I don’t know!” Kadar whispers, his eyes widening, knowing that Ryker isn’t going to believe him.

“Wrong answer!” Ryker snarls, his weapon snapping up and pointing directly at Kadar’s wife.

“No! Wait! I swear!” Kadar pleads. “You’re right! I brokered the deal for Dr. Baker. But I never had the virus! I swear. I just provide the money and contacts! Please, I swear!”

“Who has the virus?”

“I don’t know! I swear!”

“Who’s your contact?” That question gives Kadar some pause. “Say goodbye,” Ryker sneers, his weapon never wavering from the woman’s head.

“Ghazi Kalif!” Kadar says loudly. “Ghazi Kalif is my contact!”

“How do I contact him?”

“I have his phone number! Please! That’s all I know!”

“Ryker, I’m here,” Ronnie’s voice says in his ear.

“Go around to the back of the house, onto the patio. The door is open, go left, down the hall to the farthest room. The daughter is asleep in one of the other rooms so be quiet.”

Ryker moves to the door and opens it, using his penlight to help Ronnie down the hall when she appears. “Watch them. Don’t kill them unless you have to,” he says as she steps into the room, just loud enough for the man and woman to hear.

Ronnie tries to look calm and willing to kill at any provocation. Maybe, in the dark, she can pull it off. “Where are you going?”

“To get the daughter.”

“No!” Kadar shouts, and Ryker snaps his weapon up and points it directly at his wife’s head.

“One more sound out of you and she’s dead!” he threatens, his voice deadly. “I only need you. Your wife and daughter are just a problem. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because I haven’t killed them already, I won’t now.”

Ronnie can’t believe that Ryker would actually gun down a woman and child in cold blood, but his voice is so cold and matter of fact she isn’t sure. Her heart thudding in her chest, she holds her tongue, letting the drama play out.

“Don’t hurt her,” the woman pleads. “Please, she’s just a child!”

“It’s up to you if she gets hurt or not,” Ryker says, lowering his weapon. “Watch them,” he says to Ronnie as he walks out. Less than a minute later they hear the shriek of a young woman’s voice, quickly silenced. Ronnie can feel her eyes tear up as the woman on the bed sobs quietly.

A moment later Ryker and the young woman return. The weapon isn’t pointed at the girl but Ryker’s hand on her shoulder makes his threat clear. The young woman speaks rapidly to her parents in Lebanese before Ryker shoves her onto the bed. Reaching into his back pocket he pulls out another plastic restraint and hands it to Ronnie. “Bind her hands behind her back.”

When that is done, Ronnie looks to Ryker. “Go open the back of the truck,” he says, pulling his wire cutters from his pocket and cutting the bindings on the adult’s legs.

“Where are you taking us?” Kadar demands.

“We’re going for a little ride. You won’t be harmed so long as you continue to cooperate. But the next time you think about getting mixed up in kidnapping and bioweapons, remember what could have happened to your family if I weren’t such a reasonable guy.”

Ryker hauls Kadar to his feet. “All of you, out the front door and into the back of the truck. This is almost over. Don’t do anything stupid now.” Ryker follows the three out, his weapon pointed down, but his hand on the daughters shoulder as a thinly veiled threat as they march out, Ryker last in the line. As Ryker climbs into the back of the truck he looks at Ronnie. “Shut the front door and then back to where we started… and call our friends for pickup.”

As Ronnie shuts the door Ryker takes the only chair. He locks it to the floor so it can’t move around on its track embedded in the floor. “Down on the floor. All of you. We have a long ride.”