Operation Zulu Redemption: Act of Treason - Part 4

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www.teamzulu.com

© 2014 by Ronie Kendig

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

Published by Shiloh Run Studios, an imprint of Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.barbourbooks.com

Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

Welcome the season finale of Operation Zulu: Redemption!

As you now know,
Operation Zulu: Redemption
is a serial novel and a unique reading experience. The story, told in five parts, can be compared to a TV mini-series—complete with cliff-hangers, plot twists, and plenty of action. Be sure to start the mission with
Overkill: The Beginning
and then read each part in order. This way you won’t miss any of the heart-stopping action or important keys to the overall story.

Here’s a complete list of episodes for Season 1—

Overkill: The Beginning

Part 1: Collateral Damage

Part 2: Out of Nowhere

Part 3: Hazardous Duty

Part 4: Act of Treason

All episodes are available at your favorite ebook retailer. Visit
www.teamzulu.com
and sign up to receive alerts about the next season of Operation Zulu. We hope you enjoyed the mission and would appreciate your feedback and reviews.

Until next season…

Zulu One: Annie Palermo

aka Ashland Palmieri

After the tragic mission in Misrata, Annie became Ashland Palmieri, renting a small house on Lake Wapato and working at a sub shop in Manson, Washington. But the intrusion of a handsome former Navy SEAL,
Sam Caliguari,
threatens everything she’s worked to build and protect.

Zulu Two: Téya Reiker

aka Katherine “Katie” Gerig

After Misrata, Téya became Katherine “Katie” Gerig, embracing the quiet life of her Amish grandmother in Bleak Pond, Pennsylvania. She’s at peace for the first time in her life and is set to take the faith and start a relationship with
David Augsburger
.

Zulu Three: Jessica “Jessie” Herring

aka Jamie Hendricks

After Misrata, Jessie became Jamie Hendricks and fell into many of the vices of “Sin City”—Las Vegas, Nevada. The tragedy in Misrata fractured her psyche, and she could never pull herself back together. She’s a computer specialist, and despite orders not to, she continued researching what happened in Misrata.

Zulu Four: Candice Reyna

aka Charlotte Reynolds

After Misrata, Candice became a park ranger at Denali National Park in Alaska, who goes by the name Charlotte “Charlie” Reynolds.

Zulu Five: Keeley Shay

aka Kendall Shine

After Misrata, Keeley Shay became Kendall Shine, a dive instructor on Little Cayman Island.

Zulu Six: Nuala King

aka Nyah Kesebi

After Misrata, Nuala King became Nyah Kesebi, who works at a lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.

LTC Trace Weston

Lieutenant Colonel
Trace Weston was a Special Forces operator and team leader who assembled the Zulu team. He is now working for U.S. Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM).

CWO2 Boone Ramage

Chief Warrant Officer Boone Ramage
is Trace Weston’s former right-hand man. He helped train the Zulu team.

SFC Rusty Gray

Sergeant First Class Rusty Gray is former Special Forces operator who helped train the Zulu team.

Lieutenant Francesca “Frankie” Solomon

Frankie Solomon, daughter of
Brigadier General Haym Solomon,
works for U.S. Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM).

Houston Plunkett
is an Information Systems Specialist working with Trace and Boone to protect and vindicate Zulu.

Kellie Hollister
and
Mercy Chandler
are cofounders of the organization HOMe—Hope of Mercy, International—which had a branch located in Misrata, Libya.

Berg Ballenger
worked with HOMe. His wife and child died in the tragedy at Misrata.

Giles Stoffel
, husband of Mercy Chandler, is the CEO and owner of Spirapoulos Holdings.

Titus Batsakis
is the owner of Aegean Defense Systems.

The Lorings (Carl, Sharlene, Cora, and Charles)
are a family who have been hiding in Greece and may have information about the incident in Misrata.

AHOD
– all hands on deck

GIS
– Italian Carabinieri Special Intervention Group

Glock 17
– a semiautomatic handgun

HUMINT
– Human intelligence

INSCOM
– U.S. Intelligence and Security Command

KA-BAR
– type of combat knife

M4A1
– an assault rifle

RTB
– return to base

SF
– Special Forces

Téya glanced at The Turk, stunned and confused. Slowly, she swung her gaze back to the monitor. Every nerve ending buzzed. The man in the video was her stepfather. “How. . . ?”

The Turk watched her in silence, holding her gaze but saying nothing.

“How is this possible? He died—six years ago.”

“His death was faked.”

Téya straightened, feeling as if a tidal wave of unbelievable information pummeled her. “Faked?” Mind ablaze with that revelation, her brain immediately leaped to—“My mom.”

The Turk’s expression didn’t change. “She died in that accident.”

“If he survived, then she—”

He took a step forward and squared his shoulders. “Your perceptions about the man who married your mother were borne of a cover story he fed your mother and you.”

“Cover story?” Téya felt as if a bucket of ice had been dumped down her back. “What are you—” She severed the question and her thought. Did he seriously expect her to believe anything he said? “You lure me in here, you deceive and lie to me—why would I believe you?”

Again, The Turk said nothing.

Téya’s heart still beat wildly, scrambling to iron out the truth. Sort the deluge of shattered facts about her life. “My sister. . .” Her mom married Georg Hostetler when Téya was only four. “All those years. . .”

The Turk took a step back. “We need to leave.”

Téya flinched, looking at him. His eyes weren’t brown as she’d thought. They had tinges of green and gold. And they were intense. And he wasn’t looking at her. She followed his gaze to a monitor that showed a throng of guards racing through the halls.

Alarms shrieked through the cement halls, screaming about their intrusion. Alerting everyone here and around the mountain.

A sharp hiss snapped her back to him. He stood out in the hall. When had he even opened the door? The dude was lightning fast. Téya bolted into the cement corridor after him. He moved fast, not waiting for her. Not checking on her. Téya told herself to stick close. She wouldn’t put it past him to leave her to the wolves.

What bothered her more was his skill in navigating the passages. He knew them. Knew them well.

Uncertainty poured through her as they banked right. Téya used the opposite wall to rebound and keep moving, propelling herself faster. She toyed with the idea of tackling him. Demanding information, an explanation. But those instincts were muddied by the out-of-left-field reappearance of her stepfather.

He’s here. I’m here. And I’m running.

She would love to go back and hammer the answers out of him, the explanation of how he survived. But something about the way The Turk stared at her. . .left her sick to her stomach and uncertain those answers would provide closure.

No. Right now, she had to get out of here. And her ticket to escape just vanished into a room. A dart of panic threw her forward, narrowly catching the door before it slapped shut, dulling the blaring alarms. She rolled around to avoid getting hit by the door. Four steps in and she saw shadows flying toward her.

Hands up, she braced as the first attacker rushed her. She avoided his initial strike, but her ears rang with the meaty thuds and crack of punches and hits behind her. Fighting hand to hand was hard enough. In a room lit only by dim emergency lights, it was next to impossible.

She missed a block and the guy’s fist connected hard. Téya stumbled. He came at her. Rammed his boot into her side. Knocked her to the ground. She grunted and rolled to get back on her feet.

He pounced. Hands around her neck. Choking.

Flailing panic seared her mind. She gripped his wrists. Then the training Quade had thrown at her came rushing back. Téya dug her knee up under him. Oxygen deprivation thumped against her temples. She strained. Pushed. If she didn’t succeed, she’d die. Right here. Without answers. And Trace. . .

With a primal growl, Téya rotated her hip. Her knee went up under him. She used her other leg and swung it up around his neck. She arched her back and snapped her hips, effectively bringing him to the ground, his neck between her legs.

Something slid across the cement and bumped against her hand. But Téya focused on incapacitating the man.

“The gun!” someone hissed—The Turk.

Téya glanced down. Saw the Glock at her fingertips. She grabbed it by the barrel and rammed it over the guy’s temple. He went limp. Extricating herself quickly, she shoved her foot against his side. Held onto the gun. Scrambled to her feet.

“Here,” The Turk said. Robed in darkness and shadows, he waved to her.

She barely saw the motion before she sprang into action. Téya sprinted toward him. Out a door. When they rounded a corner, he slowed. Hesitated at a corner.

She saw then the damage of the fight on his face. His left eye was swelling shut. His lip was busted. A cut on his temple dribbled blood.

His lips quirked up, and the hint of a smile crinkled the edges of his other eye. “You don’t look so bad yourself,” he said through heavy breaths after a hard fight. He handed her something. “Here.”

She took it, then frowned. “It’s a twig.”

The Turk huffed, turning it over, as if that made a difference. “It’s a rose.”

Téya held it up. “A twig.”

“You are seriously lacking in imagination.”

Was he losing it? Only then did the pain in her own lip and temple register. She reached toward the spot and regretted it. “Why are we stopping?”

He thrust his jaw toward the other hall. “C’mere.” He tugged her closer, so her back was pressed against his chest. Awareness flared through Téya, but she shut it out. At least, she tried. More well-muscled than she remembered, The Turk exuded power.

She chided herself, told herself to grow up. Pay attention.

“Shadow,” he breathed against her ear.

Heat skidded down her neck, eliciting too much response from her betraying body.

But then her mind snagged on what he meant. Against the wall, which wasn’t in view when she’d stood behind him, a subtle shift in color—a shadow hung on the wall. She took in a breath, realizing someone stood out of sight, lying in wait.

Had she rushed ahead, she wouldn’t have noticed and might’ve ended up dead. But The Turk had seen it.

Did he miss anything?

His hand covered hers. Not for romance. But to remind her of what she held—the gun. Did he want her to give it to him? Nervous jitters squirreled through her. Give him the gun and she was defenseless. Powerless.

But he’d been in a place to kill her twice now, and hadn’t.

Even as she acknowledged that fact, she felt his other arm moving. Saw a dark object and knew he had a gun of his own. She shouldn’t be surprised. And she wasn’t. Not really. She doubted a man like him was ever unarmed, whether with a gun or some other type of weapon. And he probably didn’t need anything to kill. The time he’d pressed her against the wall and rammed his forearm into her throat told her that. One more thrust against her skinny neck and she would’ve been dead.

He touched her shoulder then slid out from behind her, shimmying along the wall like some type of spider. Crazy fast. Crazy quiet. He had to be half ninja or something.

As he closed in on the person waiting, she realized he had never looked back. Never verified that she’d stay with him. But where else would she go? They were in this together.

Unless he was part of this.

Unless he was the mastermind.

How else would he know the passages so well?

How else would he know Georg was here?

Sidling up against the juncture that held the attacker, he pressed his back to the wall. Téya scuttled up right behind him, breath jammed into her throat. He lunged around the corner.

A shot cracked through the deafening blaze of alarms. Téya sidestepped out, weapon ready. She took aim. Tangles of arms and bodies made it impossible to sort out who was who.

“Shoot!”

The voice, even in the thickly padded noise of the alarms, was distinctly The Turk’s.

Shoot. Right? But who? She couldn’t—

In a split second she saw The Turk’s profile. Instinctively, she fired at the other man. He thumped back against the wall. Turned to her. Angry.

He wore a vest beneath that security shirt.

Téya fired again—this time at the guy’s leg to at least slow him down.

The Turk spun around and retrieved his gun from the floor. He snapped it up. Fired at the guy. About to object to the brutality, Téya froze when she saw the serrated fighting knife in the man’s other hand.

He was going to kill her one way or another. The Turk had saved her.

She pushed her gaze to The Turk. He grinned. “You can’t be the hero all the time.” He caught her hand and jerked her around the corner, then down the long corridor. Ahead, a door beckoned, a glowing sign above it declared it an exit. They ran toward it for all they were worth.

Out. They were almost out. Téya felt a little giddy.

The Turk pitched toward the door.

Yes. Out. Home free…

Only, The Turk’s legs buckled. A dark stain spread over his shoulder. The door flung open. The Turk clung to it, using it to pull himself around.

Téya nearly tripped over his legs. Like a pileup on the highway. Her legs tangled over his. She flew forward. Rolled against the fall and came back to her feet.

She jerked toward The Turk.

He hauled himself up as he shut the door. Dropped hard against it. Holding his right arm.

Téya lifted his arm and hooked hers around his waist. Then they were rushing on.

“The guard hut on the south,” he said as they broke out across the parking lot.

She knew exactly what he meant and headed there. They came to a small overpass, the tunnel below part of a rail system.

“There.” He huffed and stumbled toward the rail.

“No, it’s—”

His legs were over the edge.

Téya gasped. Then saw the open-bed truck waiting below. Only a dozen feet, but it’d hurt if they landed wrong. Behind them shouts erupted.

Time for a leap of faith.

Téya climbed over the rail, feet perched precariously on the ledge. She looked at The Turk. Sweat dotted his brow in the lights of the facility. With a nod, he took her hand, then stepped off the ledge.

They dropped like a sack of potatoes into the truck. Téya’s legs crumpled, and she pitched to the side. Their heads collided. It felt as if a hammer hit her and knocked her sideways into the bed of the truck. Pain darted down her cheekbone and neck.

And even before she could untangle herself from The Turk, the truck lurched into motion, barreling into the darkness of the tunnel.

Hands hooked beneath her arms, startling her.

“Easy,” someone said, hauling her backward, up against the hull of the cab.

The deafening, windy roar of the tunnel gave way to the intermittent street lights. Swerving right, the truck sailed over the track and onto the street. The high rate of speed made conversation impossible, wind whipping her hair in her face like tiny snapping needles.

They’d made it. They’d actually escaped.

She turned to The Turk, to share her excitement. And found him slumped against a wheel well, someone tending his wound. But The Turk was watching her. Smiling.

A silent message telegraphed through that moment. What it said, she didn’t want to think about. She didn’t want to read that message right now. Guilt rushed in. Reminded her she was only working with Zulu to get Misrata resolved. To get back home to David. Not to fall for an assassin. Especially one who clearly had no compunction against beating her up, one who’d tried to kill her.

Was she really that stupid?