Loved by a SEAL (16 page)

Based on the deeply worn tire tracks, they’d located the camp and the main access point where the trucks would come and go, but remained far enough away they wouldn’t be heard or spotted.

With two men set up along the narrow path, a gap, and then two more men, Charlie unit had positioned themselves to flank the enemy once they left camp and exposed themselves.

The team’s next battle should have been against the targets unlucky enough to drive a truck out of that camp. Now it seemed Brody’s team would also have to face off against snakes.

Mack, next to Rocky, slowly let go of his rifle and reached down.

Moving fast and with precision, Mack snatched the snake with one hand and sliced off its head with the knife he’d grabbed with the other.

 
“Command to Charlie unit. Report!” There was more than a little stress evident in Grant’s repeated question as it filtered into Brody’s ear.

 
Rocky let out a visible breath of relief as the snake lay in two parts in front of him. “Okay, yeah. Charlie unit in position.”
 

“You sure about that, Charlie unit?” Grant asked sounding relieved.

Brody figured it was best if he stepped in and finished the report while Rocky caught his breath. “Charlie unit in position. Holding and awaiting movement.”

“Roger, Charlie. Out.”

There was a click as Grant switched off the open communications, at which point Rocky let out a string of mumbled cusses.

After he’d apparently gotten it all out of his system, Rocky glanced at Mack. “Thanks, dude.”

Eyes again focused on the wooded path through the scope of his weapon, Mack answered, “Anytime.”

“Not a snake person?” Brody whispered, smiling as he too focused on the path leading to the enemy camp.

After a snort, Rocky said, “Nope.”

“I had a couple of snakes growing up. That one was a beauty. Shame I had to kill it.” Mack’s offering up personal details was so unlike him, it had Brody glancing his direction.

Rocky lifted a brow in reaction as he too shot Mack a look. “Yeah. Real shame.”

Smiling, Brody went back to watching and waiting.

Out of his field of vision, Thom sighed. “Well, at least that was exciting.”

Brody understood the man’s frustration. They had to be prepared for what could be a long wait for the target to decide to leave. It could be hours, if not days.

Or maybe not . . . the sound of an engine and something big breaking through the trees had all eyes focused on the path.

Brody clicked the communicator to life. “This is Charlie unit. We have movement.”

“Roger that,” Grant responded from the command post. Alpha and Bravo units, stand by.”

Brody was aware of both Zane and Chris acknowledging the order while he kept his focus glued to the path.

It was like the old days. Before Chris had retired. Before Zane and Jon had turned in their separation papers.

Adrenaline pumped through Brody’s veins. He was in the zone, primed and ready to take that truck or die trying. Though hopefully not. His dying could fuck up the mission.

It was a good plan. If the leaders were actually in this camp and hadn’t gone underground, this attack could take out the heads of this organization.

With any hope, just like the snake they’d encountered, if they cut off the head, the rest would fall.

“Hold steady,” he hissed.

The team didn’t respond. They didn’t have to. They’d been well trained. Rehearsed and re-rehearsed until every action was rote. Until muscle memory took over and freed up the mind to deal with more important things.

The truck, painted green camouflage to blend with the forest, broke through the trees and into view.

Brody had a clear bead on the driver but he didn’t take the shot. That wasn’t the plan.

All hell would break loose if the target knew they were being fired upon. But if the truck simply broke down, as trucks tended to do, they wouldn’t think much of it.

They needed to know how many vehicles and how many men they were dealing with, and to do that the team had to hold back and wait for them to get closer and be more exposed on the path.

Brody and Thom were set up closer to the truck with Rocky and Mack farther back and slightly to the side. From their cover amidst the foliage, the team would have the vehicle and its inhabitants surrounded.

A second truck emerged from the trees.

Two. Double the challenge, but still doable. Once the lead truck was disabled with a well-placed bullet in the tire, the second would be blocked from moving forward by the first until they changed the flat.

If all went as planned, the men would unload and move together to investigate the flat tire, giving Brody’s team not only a headcount but also a clear shot at them all, all at once, in one easy to manage group.

Of course, the targets would eventually set up guards before they fixed the flat, so time was of the essence.

Brody’s team would have to use the element of surprise to their advantage. They had to hit before the group got organized.

The trucks rumbled along the path, getting closer to Brody. When no other vehicle emerged from the break in the woods, Brody reported, “Two enemy vehicles. Unknown number of targets. Taking out the tire.”

With the sound of the shot muffled by a suppressor, the bad guys had no clue why their truck was suddenly listing to one side.

The convoy came to a stop almost directly in front of the team’s position.

Men piled out of the back of two vehicles, speaking fast and loud as they all moved to the one side of the truck to inspect the flat tire.

That was their fatal mistake.

It was over in under a minute.

Not a surprise, really. Usually firefights never lasted as long in real life as they did in the movies.

It was one of Brody’s biggest pet peeves when trying to enjoy an action flick.

Today, most of the ten men who’d left the safety of their camp hadn’t had time to raise their weapons before the bullets they never saw coming had taken them out.

Brody couldn’t feel too bad about that. One glance showed the targets were all armed to the teeth. Automatic weapons. Handguns. Grenades. Knives. Even a couple of machetes.

While surveying the sheer amount of firepower, Brody said, “We need to clear these weapons.”

Thom bent to retrieve one of the M16s. “I guess we’ll put it all in back of the good truck for now and deal with disposing of them later.”

“Good idea.” Brody agreed for multiple reasons.

They couldn’t risk the noise of destroying the weapons here and now but more than that, if they got into a firefight when they hit camp, having the extra weapons and ammo could come in very handy.

Mack, the Catholic among them, crossed himself as he stood over the bodies littering the ground.

Brody understood Mack’s reverence.

These men at their feet had been living, breathing humans just moments ago. But they had also been terrorists. They’d pledged fealty to a militant organization who killed, kidnapped and raped those who couldn’t defend themselves, all because they didn’t believe in the same things.

Judging by the patterns of recent movements and behavior, these men were very likely on their way to attack one of the nearby villages. That village was safe . . . for now.

Brody stood nearby, evaluating the results of a couple of dozen rounds delivered by the weapons of four well-trained men as his teammate finished his silent prayer.

Bending to grab one of the rifles, Rocky shook his head. “More than half of these are ours.”

By
ours
Rocky meant the weapons in the hands of the enemy were U.S. made assault rifles, probably the ones meant to arm their allies.

Obviously the days were long gone when the only weapons the bad guys could get their hands on were old Russian leftovers from the conflicts in the 1980s.

Mack turned to the group. “When I was in Fallujah, we learned from the Iraqi authorities that they lost weapons and Humvees when ISIS took Mosul. I guess this is proof it’s being used to supply Boko Haram.”

Rocky mumbled a cuss as Mack continued, “The north-south axis to Libya is one of the main supply routes and it's pretty much an open road right now.”

“Then we need to shut it down.” The determination was clear in Thom’s voice.

“And decimate Boko Haram,” Rocky added.

“Then we’d better get moving.” Brody clicked his communicator to deliver the report. “Charlie to Command. Ten tangos neutralized and we liberated two large presents for y’all.”

“Good job, Charlie team. Hold position. Alpha and Bravo, move in.”

After Grant barked his orders, Brody turned to the team. “Guess we’d better see about changing this tire if we’re gonna use both trucks.”

Rocky cocked one brow. “Or we could just use one.”

Mack rolled his eyes. “Jeez. I’ll change the frigging tire, city boy. Wouldn’t want you to get your hands dirty.”

“I am not a city boy.” Rocky’s dark brows drew low in a frown.

Mack let out a snort as he slung his weapon over one shoulder and moved to the back of the truck where a spare tire was mounted. “Whatever you say, Jersey boy.”

“Come on, guys. Back me up here.” Rocky glanced at Brody and Thom for help.

Brody lifted his shoulder, following the argument even as he kept an eye on the path behind the trucks so they didn’t get snuck up on. “You are a Yankee.”

Thom, weapon up as he also surveyed the forest around them, laughed softly. “I’m a Yankee too, but I know how to change a tire.”

“Motherfuck—” Rocky pressed his lips into a thin unhappy-looking line and shook his head. “I know how to change a damn tire. I just thought we only needed one truck. That was the original plan.”

Mack shook his head. “We should use both. Ten men and two trucks left. It won’t raise an alarm if that’s what comes back.”

Brody nodded. “Agreed. Two of us in the front of each of the trucks, and then three troops from Bravo unit in the back of both.”

Mack glanced at the bodies on the ground. “Of course, we’re gonna have to put on their clothes or the perimeter guards will notice that it’s not their men coming back in those trucks.”

“I had a bad feeling that was gonna be the plan.” Gazing down at the bloodied clothing, Rocky sighed.

“Bravo should be here soon. They’ll move quicker since we already marked and cleared the path for them,” Brody guessed.

Rocky glanced at Mack, in the midst of spinning off the lug nuts on the truck’s flat tire, and then at Brody and Thom, both watching the woods with weapons raised.

Swinging his gun over his shoulder, Rocky mumbled, “Crap. I guess I’d better get started on our new wardrobe.”

CHAPTER 19

“So I glance over and Rocky is literally face to face with this huge snake that I swear is looking him right in the eye, like they were in some sort of staring contest.” Thom’s recount of the story to the guys back on base got more animated with each telling, though Brody had to admit it had been pretty funny. “I swear, dude, this snake was like six inches away from the tip of Rocky’s nose.”

Eyes wide, Jon glanced at Rocky. “What the fuck did you do?”
 

Brody laughed. “Probably shit his pants.”

Rocky frowned. “Did not. And let’s see how you’d react.”

Thom wasn’t about to let the story go unfinished just because Brody and Rocky were bickering. He launched into the next part, saying, “So he was in the middle of checking in at the time. So command is freaking out on the radio because all they hear is Rocky cursing and then dead air.”

Grant rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t freaking out, but I was starting to think my star team—the ringers I hand-picked and flew in just for this freaking op—had gotten ambushed.”

“Aw, we’re your stars? That’s nice.” Brody grinned, teasing Grant.

Grant cocked a brow. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

Undeterred, Thom forged ahead. “So this is the best part. Mack reaches over, as calm as anything. You know, as if this shit happens to him everyday. He snatches the snake, lops off its head with his KA-BAR and then goes back to manning his rifle.”