HARD CASE (A John Harding Novel - Special Ops, Cage Fighter, CIA Agent) (38 page)

Lucas used a random series of maneuvers, varying turns and speed. One round hit so close it knocked us off course. Then the horizon lit up with two distinctive explosions carrying clearly to us. The shelling stopped abruptly. We watched the pulsating glow in the sky while Lucas corrected our heading. Denny checked in a moment later.

“
That sucker had deck guns and an Iranian flag guys. Head back toward Mumbai. We’re going over the films now, but I don’t like it. We may have to cut this excursion short. Is everything okay on board?”

“
We had a couple real close ones,” Lucas answered. “You’ll be the first to know if we notice any problems. Another thing, John went to sleep on watch, and we nearly woke up with pirates in our racks.”

That got a couple minutes of laughs and eased the tension.

“
Okay… carry on. Blood out.”

Needless to say, we all stayed in the bridge area and took turns dozing off for the rest of the night. Denny ordered us on to Mumbai the next morning. Chatter had it an Iranian military vessel supposedly on pirate patrol had been sunk by unknown assailants. The Iranian Navy was in the process of sending a flotilla toward the incident, hence our departure. Denny steered our carrier group in between the approaching Iranians and our course to Mumbai. Unfortunately for Jafar we had to get the hell out of the region, which meant no visits to the lovely Samira. Our assets took charge of The Sea Wolf when we arrived at the port of Mumbai. We landed at Travis Air Force Base a couple days later. After the debriefing, Jafar and I were back at my house sleeping off the jet lag when my doorbell kept ringing incessantly until I had to give up, throw on a pair of jeans, and go answer it. I looked through my peephole. It was Lora. Only way she could know I was back is her and Denny are friendlier than I thought. I open the door. She rushes into my arms without a sound, hugging me as if I’d been gone two years instead of two weeks.

“
I missed you so much,” Lora whispered in a husky, feather soft urgency that wiped my mind clean of all thought but her body pressed against me and moving in all the right places.

“
Your sister would have demanded to know where I’d been and what I was doing before she even said hello.”

Lora giggled, easing away slightly so she could look up into my eyes. “I don’t give a shit where you were or what you did. I want you inside me so bad I think I’m dribbling down my leg.

Oh… my… sweet… Jesus…

* * *

Much later, Lora went with me to the Warehouse for dinner. It turned out Grandma Connagher was staying through Christmas before returning to Boston. Alice and Grandma were spending some quality time together while Lora welcomed me back. We’re sitting there bathing in the afterglow of the greatest afternoon I could ever remember having when what to my wondering eyes did appear but the Grinch who stole Christmas: Denny. He waves and comes over with a big smile on his face like he was our favorite uncle or something.

“
Hi John. Lora, always nice to see you.” Denny shakes hands with Lora. “Was he glad to see you?”

Lora blushed which nearly made Denny’s unanticipated arrival worth it. “I think so, Denny. Thanks for letting me know he was home. Would you… like to join us?”

Denny pulled over another chair without a word and sat down. Marla brought over a menu for him right away, but he ordered without a look. “I’ll have the turkey sandwich and coffee. Thanks Marla.”

“
The quality time I spent with you at Travis wasn’t enough?”

“
A couple details came up that I’d like to speak to you about, John, if Lora could give us a few minutes.”

Lora wasn’t having any. “This better not be something about shipping him out, Denny, or-”

“
Nope, not happenin’,” Denny assured her. “I need only to give John a heads up on a couple of things. I guarantee it will be only five minutes max.”

Lora nodded reluctantly while trading glances with me. “Okay then.”

We left the bar and walked a little ways down the dark sidewalk.

“
The Iranians lodged a complaint with the UN. It seems they had your boat under surveillance after the first day’s pirate playtime. They had their own contacts with the pirates we suspected for some time, hence the nighttime pirate visit with them playing Mother Ship.”

I got the drift. The suits lost their stones because Iran complained. “So ends our pirate gig later, huh?”

“
I’m afraid so. Luckily, nothing tying us to the sinking of their ship was found. The only tie-in is The Sea Wolf, which will be retired to the San Leandro Marina. I have some other plans for it in the future possibly along the Gulf Coast. We’ll see. Who knows, I might even manage another pirate op for the Wolf if someone grows a pair. Second thing is Alexi will be coming by to get your official signature on a contract for the Dubai UFC meet up with Rankin. Sign it. It’s all good. They’ve moved up the date to late February and Alexi told me Rankin’s improving way ahead of schedule. Rankin’s destroyed a couple guys already in tune-ups.”

“
You and Alexi sittin’ in a tree, k i s s i n-”

“
I can’t waste a proven link like Alexi, John,” Denny quickly cut in to defend his partnering with a Russian mobster. “We have an agreement. Anything of interest on the terrorism front Alexi hears of we get instantly.”

“
And he gets?”

“
A free pass on whatever way he found it out.”

I hoped that was all it was. “This better not have any strings attached to the Rankin fight.”

“
Are you stupid? I’m conniving, not suicidal. Alexi has some very interesting info about Dubai’s proposed guest list for the UFC hoe down. They moved up the date because I guess when you tuned up Abdul, his beat-down went viral all over Europe and the Middle East. They don’t care whether you lose the Rankin fight or not – you’re to meet with a fatal accident after the bout. They recruited Ahmed Quadir.”

Shit! I walked away from Denny, my fists tightening into white knuckle land, and my teeth clenched while I endeavored to get the acid in my belly from eating right out through my skin. We’d heard the Taliban had sent an assassination team out after Badee led by a world class assassin named Ahmed Quadir, but there wasn’t much we could do about it. He caught, tortured, and gutted Stan Donnelly, one of the guys I’d been with for months in Afghanistan guarding Badee Karim, when Stan went down into the village for supplies. We repulsed the attack that came shortly after through dumb luck. A warthog helicopter was in the area when Quadir’s crew attacked our cave complex. They wasted them in seconds. Quadir wasn’t with them. The villagers led us to Stan’s body. We got shipped to Saudi Arabia with our charges shortly afterward. Quadir had filmed my buddy Stan’s torture and execution. He sent it to our embassy in Saudi Arabia.

“
We’re sending you, Lucas, Casey, and one other in two weeks early through Saudi Arabia. Quadir is due to arrive there a week before the fight. Your fight team will arrive a few days before the UFC match. You’ll meet up with the team as if you arrived with them. We know where Quadir will be staying. You guys will have a week to figure out how you want to take him out.”

I turned back around with the bile rising. I swallowed. “Who is it you’re sending as a fourth for our bridge club, Denny?”

“
The only guy who knows what Quadir looks like: Claude Chardin. He knows his face, his mannerisms, and his old habits. They’ve worked together before.”

I needed to kill something. “And why, pray tell, would Chardin come along and point out Quadir for us?”

“
Quadir’s next contract after you is Chardin’s daughter.”

“
How the hell would you know that, Denny?”

“
The Iranians employed Quadir for both assignments. They had controlling interest in Abdul. Alexi Fiialkov has a contact with the Iranian hierarchy. Quadir takes his assignments without any contact directly. We know the names he and his crew will be registering under because the Iranian interest hiring him supplies the passports. I know what you’re thinking, John. Listen, Chardin can barely walk. He’s crippled for life. It’s the only way we can get Quadir.”

Denny was right. “Let’s go back inside before Lora sends a search party.”

“
Will you do it, John?”

“
Yes.”

* * *

I married Lora two weeks after Christmas in Reno, Nevada. Only her Mom and Alice were there along with my best man, Tommy, and his family. We had taken an Amtrak train over the mountains together. When we returned to the Bay Area, life settled into a comfortable pattern through January. Training for my fight with Rankin began the day we returned. Plotting out details with Lucas and Casey, while cruising around on the recently returned Sea Wolf, became a weekly family outing. Claude Chardin and his daughter joined us the first Sunday in early February when we sailed south for some warmer weather.

Denny set up the added company on our excursion. A thin, bearded Chardin arrived with leg braces and dual metal canes. His daughter, Karen, an attractive woman in her early twenties with long blonde hair, and a beautiful smile, approached the Sea Wolf with Denny as escort. Chardin let Denny introduce them while switching both canes to his left hand. We all shook hands like amiable citizens. The women went below while the conspirators went up to the bridge where Jafar navigated us out of the marina and on course south. Yep, I knew we were in the process of dealing with a monster to get a monster. Casey went over our planned route to get to Dubai by way of Saudi Arabia. Chardin listened intently while studying the map handed to him.

“
I see places all along this route where I have contacts we can use.”

I spoke up because this was going to be a rough trip. “Are you good to go on a convoy over the desert?”

“
I will have to be for my Karen’s sake.”

Good answer. “Is Quadir as familiar with your mannerisms as you are with his?”

“
We will be in full Arab dress. I have lost much weight since last he and I worked together. The canes will be an added disguise element. I see you have grown a beard as have I. With darkened skin, Quadir will not recognize either of us unless we call attention to ourselves. He will be expecting you to arrive later. Quadir employs three Iranians as bodyguards and accomplices. They’ve been with him a long time. One stays inside his room at all times, even if he is with a woman. What is your plan for taking him?”

“
The rooms adjacent to his will be ours,” Casey explained. “We are going to gas him and his guard. John will slip in then while Lucas and I keep watch. He’ll have a syringe cocktail for Quadir, impossible to detect, that will take that murderous bastard to hell.”

Chardin nodded. “We are all murderous bastards are we not?”

“
None of us here ever contemplated strapping a bomb on a ten-year-old kid to blow a bunch of innocent bystanders to kingdom come, Claude,” Lucas replied.

“
I have not enough time on earth to seek redemption. I have only my own child to protect. Quadir works almost exclusively for the Iranians. My negligence at some point while working with him exposed my daughter just as happened on this very boat. Your plan is a good one. Will you be able to question him, Harding?”

“
I wish. As much as I’d love to take him out into the desert for a question and answer period, we can’t take any chances.”

“
I can only pray then that he has not revealed my daughter’s name to the Iranians and he is holding it back. Otherwise they will send another.”

There’s a happy thought, Chardin praying, and a replacement assassin if Quadir fails.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Final Sanctions

By the time we reached Dubai we were some salty looking dudes. We cleaned up and changed at a safe house where clothing had been placed in advance. A limousine picked us up and took us to the Hilton Dubai Creek Hotel. The rooms we had were adjacent to Quadir’s reservation for two rooms so that no matter which one he slept in, we would have a room next door. We spoke nothing but Arabic while checking in, matching our Saudi passport identities.

Denny had assets working at the Hilton. When Quadir and his mates checked in Lucas and Chardin were there. Recognizing Quadir, Chardin snapped a picture and sent it up to us. Casey stayed out in the hallway as if waiting impatiently for some sort of service after studying the picture Chardin relayed to us. Dressed in full flowing robes and his skin darkened, Casey could not be recognized even if Quadir knew who to look for. He exchanged Arabic greetings with Quadir and his crew as the former entered the room to Casey’s left with one of his associates, while the other two entered the room on his right.

We had already drilled tiny holes at floor level under where the nightstand stood next to the bed. The tank with knockout gas had been brought up by Chardin, who pretended it to be an oxygen tank he had tubes from to his nose. No one questioned it because of his already frail condition and canes. Only the wait remained. Quadir and his crew partied hard until three in the morning, gambling and drinking like good followers of the religion of peace. Luckily, they had too much to drink and decided to return to their rooms without company. We waited until only the sounds of sleep assaulted our ears from the audio pickup we had pointed at their room. An hour of the gas and it was show-time.