Swords of Exodus [Dead Six 02] (32 page)

“Intelligence, personnel and logistics?” one of the Exodus leaders asked. “What does that mean?”

“I’m assuming that personnel, means they’ll provide personnel,” Lorenzo said dryly. “I don’t know what they meant by logistics. Maybe supplies, maybe transportation. Intelligence is pretty self-explanatory.”

“Who made you this offer?” Ling asked.

Lorenzo paused for a moment, as if lost in a memory. “A woman named Katarina. I used to work with her, a long time ago. She was on my team. I know her well.”

“How is it that this woman came to head the Montalban Exchange?” one of the Exodus commanders I hadn’t met yet asked.

“She’s absolutely ruthless,” Lorenzo answered. “That’s really all it takes.”

“Can we trust her?”

Lorenzo looked surprised by the question. “What? No. No, no. Not even a little bit. She’s dangerous and violent.”

“Then why should we go along with this?”

“I’m not saying you should,” Lorenzo said. “I don’t give a damn what you people do. I’m just here to find my brother, and I’m just the messenger. If your raid fails, the chances of me finding my brother go from slim to none. But I can think of some reasons why you might want to consider it.”

“What do you mean?” Ling asked.

Lorenzo’s mouth split into a mean smile. “I know you guys think you’re being all secret squirrel and everything, but you’re not. You can’t just put this many people into such a small area and not be noticed. I noticed, and I’ve only been here for a few days. Sala Jihan has been here for a lot longer, and the Montalban Exchange has already compromised you. Also, I haven’t seen your battle plan obviously, but how in the hell are you people planning on taking that fortress?”

“We are working on that,” said Ibrahim.

“I’ve been inside that thing. Do you really think you have enough people? How are you going to get them up there? Do you have good intelligence on Jihan’s compound? Do you know how many men he has? Do you know where they’re all housed, how they’re equipped, where their defensive positions are?”

Lorenzo was met with silence.

“Thought so. The Montalbans say they know. They told me to give this to you people.” He retrieved a folded piece of paper from his pocket, and laid it on the table. The Exodus leadership crowded around to get a better look.

“This is a map showing the interior defensive positions around the fortress,” Ibrahim said. “Including where they house their antiaircraft weapons.”

“Katarina says there’s plenty more where that came from. She says her spies have infiltrated Jihan’s operations. She’s ready to make a move, but can’t do it without you. You’re ready to make a move, and she says you can’t do it without her. Look, people, I’ve been inside Jihan’s compound. I’ve met the man.”

The room became uncomfortably silent.

Lorenzo was unfazed. “That’s right, I was face to face with Sala Jihan at the bottom of his missile silo. He’s not somebody to screw around with. I can give you guys information, but I only saw a little bit, and what I saw told me he’s got a lot more armed motherfuckers than you guys have.”

“What do you know of our strength?” someone asked indignantly.

Lorenzo scoffed. “Please. You aren’t as good at this as you think you are, no offense. I don’t know exactly how many people you have here, or what else you might be scheming at, but I know that Sala Jihan has an army in there, a lot more people and weapons than you people could have possibly smuggled into town. So unless you’ve got an air strike planned or something, you might want to at least hear the Montalbans out.”

“And what does she want in return for our assistance?” Katsumoto asked.

“She wants The Crossroads. With Jihan gone, she believes her group can take control of this place and get a share of all of the business that goes on here.”

“And trade one monster for another?” one of the Exodus leaders scoffed.

“No,” another replied. “We’d be trading an actual monster for a mere criminal.”

Katsumoto and Ibrahim looked at each other for a long moment. Lorenzo didn’t know about the plan to assault the dam. Neither did the Montalban Exchange, it seemed. The two Exodus commanders nodded at each other.

“I propose,” Ibrahim said, “that we at least meet with the Montalban Exchange. They have compromised our OPSEC. If we decline the meeting, they could turn on us, or even expose us to Sala Jihan. We must move carefully, lest we be lured into a trap. You all know the gravity of the situation. Our footing isn’t nearly as strong as I would like it to be. We need to be willing to take every advantage offered to us.”

The room erupted into loud discussion. Lorenzo stepped away from the limelight and leaned against the wall. He seemed happy to no longer be the center of attention. Ling joined the energetic discussion as the Exodus leadership argued among themselves.

Awkward.
I stepped back. The debate reminded me I was an outsider.
What are you doing here?
I asked myself.
This isn’t your fight.
I was so lost in my thoughts that Lorenzo was able to sneak up on me. He startled me as he materialized to my side.

“Valentine,” he said curtly.

“What the fuck happened to you?” I asked, my voice lowered so the Exodus people couldn’t hear. “What is Anders doing here?”

“Come on,” Lorenzo said, indicating the door. “I need some air. Let’s get away from these crazies.” He walked out of the meeting room. We found a dark, quiet corner in the warehouse, away from prying ears, to talk. “You know this Anders guy? He’s an asshole.”

“You have no idea,” I said, not looking at him.

“Then fill me in,” Lorenzo said. “The short version. You tend to ramble on when you start telling stories.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Fine. Anders worked for Gordon Willis. He was, like, his right-hand man or something. Everywhere Gordon went, just about, Anders went with him. He was there in the office the day I was recruited. He was in Zubara. He was there when we raided Rafael Montalban’s yacht, too, so I’m guessing he was in on Gordon’s schemes.”

“How do you know?”

“The yacht raid was not one of our planned operations. It was part of Gordon’s plan, part of his deal with Eduard Montalban.”

Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed. “Makes sense. Go on.”

“Anders is an ice-cold motherfucker. I don’t know if he feels pain. He kicked the shit out of half my team in Yemen, and he’s the only man I’ve ever met that’s a faster draw than me.”

“You haven’t seen me draw. What were you doing in Yemen?”

I cracked a mean smile. “Oh please, pops, I’ve got you beat by a tenth of a second, easy. We were there recovering a nuclear warhead that was supposed to go to General Al Sabah.”

“We’ll settle this on the range someday, kid. So . . . wait, wait a second. Is it my bad ear, or did you just tell me that Anders got his hands on a nuke?”

“You heard me right. An old Russian ICBM warhead. We intercepted the transaction in the middle of nowhere, Yemen. Anders was there for the raid. We lost guys, too. Christ, he let Singer bleed to death. The guy was supposed to be our medic and the cocksucker didn’t even open his trauma kit.”

Lorenzo thought that over for a second. “Sounds about right. What else?”

“That’s all I know. I never saw him after the raid on Rafael Montalban’s yacht. I didn’t know what happened to him.”

“He told me about it. He went underground after Bob leaked all of that information to the press. He fled the country when you killed Gordon Willis. He thought Majestic sent you to clean up loose ends.”

I chuckled sardonically. “Yeah, Gordon thought Majestic had sent me to kill him, too. Blew his fucking mind when I told him I was there on my own.”

“Were they going to kill him?”

“I think they were going to take him alive, to interrogate him about Project Blue. The guys that were supposed to capture Gordon entered his house while I was confronting him. They captured me right after I shot him.”

“Damn. Couldn’t have timed that better, could you?”

“I should’ve just stayed with Hawk. It would’ve saved me a lot of trouble.”

Lorenzo leaned in closer to me, the tone of his voice darkening. “It would’ve saved us
all
a lot of trouble. You did the worst possible thing: you got
caught
. You
talked
. My brother could be dead because of you.”

“You think this is what I wanted? You think I don’t regret it every single fucking day I’m alive? You think it doesn’t just kill me on the inside knowing that my choices have gotten almost everyone I know killed?”

“I don’t give a shit how bad you feel,” Lorenzo said. “You got stupid. You let your childish rage compromise you. And you didn’t just compromise yourself, you compromised Hawk, my brother, me, Jill, Reaper, everyone!”

“Really? You’re going there? Okay, okay, let’s talk about your little high-speed chase down a public highway and shooting down a jet. Way to keep it low profile. And using your real last name as your pseudonym? Jesus, Batman, you think they’ll ever figure out that you’re really Bruce Wayne?”

“First off, that was never
my
last name. Second, that’s not even the same fucking thing! I did what needed to be done! And shooting down that jet was awesome and you know it.”

I couldn’t argue with that, but I felt like arguing anyway. I was sick and tired of Lorenzo jumping my shit. “Whatever. I’ve had enough of you blaming me for your problems. Enough people have suffered because of me. I’m not going to take responsibility for the people that suffered because of you. I never asked for your help. You didn’t have to get involved in any of this. Your brother wouldn’t have gotten into this mess if he’d have quit while he was ahead and stopped digging. You’re pissed off at him and you’re taking it out on me.”

Lorenzo stepped back and seemed to deflate a little. I folded my arms across my chest. He thought for a moment, then looked up at me. “I’m trying to help you, goddamn it,” he insisted. “I’ve been where you are. Nothing to lose, nothing to live for, no longer giving a fuck. I lived that way for a long time. Look where it got me. You gave me some advice when were in Las Vegas. Do you remember? You told me to get out of this life, for Jill’s sake.”

“I remember,” I said sullenly.

“I wish like hell you’d have listened to your own advice, kid,” Lorenzo said. “It was the first smart thing I ever heard you say.”

I sighed heavily, looking around the warehouse. “Yeah, well, it’s too late now, isn’t it? For both of us. Look at everything that’s happened, Lorenzo. Look at all this crazy shit and tell me that it’s just a coincidence.”

“I don’t believe in fate,” Lorenzo said stiffly. “Or destiny, or predetermination, or unicorns, or pots of gold at the ends of rainbows.”

“If there were pots of gold at the end of rainbows, I can only assume that you’d have a lot of gold and there’d be a lot of murdered leprechauns buried in Ireland.”

Lorenzo actually smiled. “Damn straight.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t believe in any of that stuff either. But look around you. Can you honestly tell me you feel like you’re in control? I don’t know, man. There’s something wrong with this place, with this whole thing.”

“It’s a third-world, drug-trafficking, slave-trading, arms-dealing hellhole,” Lorenzo said, almost like he was trying to defend the place. “It’s going to feel wrong.”

“Not like that. I’ve been to places like that too. I worked in Africa for almost a year, you know. This is different. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something seriously messed up here. We don’t belong here. I have a terrible feeling about this whole thing.”

“Have you told Ling that? She’s pretty into you. She might listen.”

I raised an eyebrow at his comment, then shook my head. “Not on this. These guys are dedicated. They’re going to go through with it one way or another.”

Lorenzo sighed and rolled his eyes. “Bunch of fanatics is what they are. No offense. I can’t complain, though. This insanity is the only shot I’ve got at finding Bob.”

“What about your friend Katarina? Is she for real?”

“She’s for real,” Lorenzo said. “And she’s not my friend. The bitch is crazy. Genuinely, legitimately, totally screwed-in-the-head bug-nuts. She’s a businesswoman, though. She’ll uphold her end of the bargain, especially if she thinks she’s got something to gain, but if Exodus knows what’s good for them, they won’t trust her.”

“Exodus doesn’t strike me as the trusting sort. I have no doubt they’ll have a contingency plan.”

Lorenzo gave me a hard look after that comment, but I said nothing more. He didn’t know about the raid on the dam, and he didn’t need to. This whole thing was already complicated enough.

And for the life of me, I just couldn’t shake the bad feeling I had.

Chapter 17: Dance Partners

LORENZO

Somewhere in Kazakhstan

March 20th

There was an awkward silence in the small cabin. Terrorists on one side, gangsters on the other, nobody speaking, kind of like the uncomfortable beginning of a middle-school dance when the music starts and the boys are too intimidated to go talk to the girls. The Montalban Exchange was represented by Katarina and Anders, Exodus by Ibrahim and a tough-looking Czech named Fajkus. Outside the single-room dwelling, several other Exodus members and Montalban goons watched each other with nervous alertness while their bosses talked business.

The meeting place had been agreed upon by both groups. The house stood alone in a mountain pasture forty miles into Kazakhstan. It was a cramped, wooden shack, but since it was alone in a sea of stunted yellow grass poking out of the snow, there was no place for either side to set up snipers or an ambush. It was too open for any of us to have been tailed by Jihan’s spies. The lone shepherd who lived here had been given a small sum of money and sent off to watch his goats.

I had introduced the various parties, and was now leaning back in my rickety chair, arms folded across my chest, just an impartial observer at this point. I didn’t trust either side, but sadly I needed these people to free Bob.

After sizing each other up, Ibrahim broke the silence. “Lorenzo has told me that you wish to assist us. I’m willing to listen to your proposal. However, you must know that Exodus does not need your help. We are more than capable to accomplishing our mission.”

Kat smiled. “No. No, you are not. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here today.”

“I’m afraid you are mistaken,” Ibrahim stated flatly.

“Then why haven’t you killed Jihan yet?”

Fajkus scowled. The Czech was probably in his mid-thirties, stocky, with bulldog jowls, and short, spiky, black hair. The Exodus XO wore small, round glasses, and it was rather obvious from his expression that he didn’t like this meeting. “The Pale Man will be dead soon enough.”

“Oh, but think of all those poor slaves, dying by the score every day, living in squalor and suffering, while their saviors wait in relative comfort.” She gestured at the walls of the cabin. The only decorations were antlers off of some animal that I didn’t recognize. “That must be infuriating.”

“Don’t patronize me, Ms. Katarina,” Ibrahim said. “We both know that you do not care about the welfare of the slaves.”

“Of course not. I care about profit and competition. But for you, every day you wait, every hour, the odds of Jihan learning about you increase. My spies were able to discover you, so you are vulnerable. Should Jihan learn of you, he’ll hunt you down like dogs, but still mighty Exodus hesitates.” Kat leaned forward and rested her hands on the plank table. “No, you are not ready yet. You lack something.”

Ibrahim and Fajkus exchanged glances, conveying information like only two professionals who had worked together for a long time could. Ibrahim nodded. Fajkus turned back toward Kat. “We are waiting for a few more swords, our strike teams, to arrive. Jihan’s compound—”

“Is a fortress. Impenetrable walls, every building a concrete bunker, guarded by a legion of disciplined troops, and even if you carpet-bombed the entire place, your target spends most of his time at the bottom of an armored pit designed to survive a near hit from an atomic weapon. To take it will require a huge force.”

Ibrahim raised a single bushy Kurd eyebrow in my direction. “Perhaps by stealth then?”

“They’re thorough, no discernible gaps,” I answered truthfully. “The gates stay closed. Incoming traffic is searched. Walls are too high to scale. Guards everywhere, and there aren’t so many of them that they don’t all know each other. It would be difficult, but not impossible. I could find a way.”

“Trust me. Your usual methods of disguise won’t work. I’ve sent men in before, impersonating slave soldiers, and they were always spotted. Somehow they just know. You can’t impersonate a Brother, because nobody on the outside has ever heard them speak. How will you respond when questioned?” Kat shook her head. “You will fail. Jihan cloaks his people in mystery, but that secrecy becomes a formidable defense. You can’t get inside the head of something you can’t understand.”

“Oh, I’ll get in,” I responded. Kat of all people should have known that. Every defense has a weakness.

“And then what? Assassinate Jihan?” Kat had a cold laugh, more of a cackle. “Many have tried. Yes, that benefits me if you succeed, but if you fail, he’ll suspect the Exchange. And even if you manage to kill Jihan, it would be a suicide mission, which isn’t your style, and that does not free your brother. No, you need a full assault to assure his death and destroy his organization. It is the only way to be sure.”

“So what’s your plan then?” Fajkus spat. “Are we supposed to rely on your hired thugs?” He gestured angrily at Anders. “Murderers and trash? You expect me to believe that Montalban scum is going to take those monster walls and watch our back? I say horseshit to that!”

Anders shrugged, seemingly calm, his massive hands resting in his lap. The big man looked bored. He’d been called worse things than hired thug.

Ibrahim raised a hand to calm his subordinate. Fajkus was done, his distrust for the Montalban Exchange having been noted. I liked the Czech. He was angry. He kind of reminded me of a young Carl. Ibrahim nodded toward Katarina. “Please continue.”

“Just because your people are suicidal fanatics, do not underestimate what my
hired trash
is capable of. I offer you more than just men with guns, I offer you resources, and I offer you a way into that compound.”

Ibrahim kept up his poker face, but I could tell his interest was piqued. “And how exactly do you propose to do that?”

Katarina glanced absently at her absurdly expensive Swiss watch. She raised her head, and an evil grin split her perfect features. “Like this . . .”

The cabin door flew open. It was one of the Exodus operatives that I had met earlier, the Russian woman, Svetlana. She had a big bolt action sniper rifle cradled in her arms. “Ibrahim, we have incoming.” Fajkus rose, his hand moving under his sweater to his holstered pistol.

“Don’t worry,” Katarina said. “They’re with me.”

A CZ 97B appeared in Fajkus’s hand. “Treacherous—” He was cut off as Anders’ .45 materialized right under his nose. The big man had moved so fast that I hadn’t even seen the draw stroke.

“Calm down,” Anders ordered. Svetlana jerked her rifle to her shoulder and pointed it square at Anders’ back, then looked to Ibrahim for guidance. The Exodus commander shook his head slightly as he studied Katarina. Fajkus slowly placed his .45 on the table and removed his hand. Ander’s pistol didn’t move, and it was obvious that the Exodus man was only a few pounds of pressure on a trigger between life and death.

Then there was a noise. Faint at first, but it quickly grew, as the thunder closed on us. The dirty windows began to vibrate, clay pots rattled, and dust fell from the ceiling like fat brown snowflakes. Then it was deafening, as massive engines drove giant rotors, an endless deep scream, like some sort of leviathan descending on us. The room darkened as something blocked the sunlight.

“That’s certainly a large helicopter,” Ibrahim said.

“It’s a Mil-26. The Halo. Biggest in the world, I’m told,” Katarina shouted over the noise. “I have two of them.” Kat always had liked to make a big entrance. She was such a drama queen. The noise receded as the huge helicopter tore away, demonstration of speed and mass complete. Anders slowly lowered and reholstered his gun. Svetlana dropped the muzzle of her rifle. Fajkus grudgingly returned to his seat.

“An impressive fly-by, but we’ve already thought of air insertion,” Ibrahim said. “They’ll see us coming, and shoot us out of the sky.”

“I run the finest smuggling operation in Asia. My pilots are better than yours. We can run the mountain passes on night vision at a hundred and eighty kilometers an hour. Radar won’t see a thing until we exit the pass. We’ll be on top of the compound before Jihan even knows we’re there. I can drop all of your strike teams right into his lap. At the same time my men will destroy his garrison in The Crossroads and the Brothers. Once they and their master are dead, the slave soldiers at the mines will collapse.”

Fajkus shook his head. “It’ll still take a minute to make it from the mouth of the canyon to the target, and our intel indicates there’s a Shilka in the compound. That thing will tear your choppers apart.”

He was right. I had seen that antiaircraft monstrosity when we had reconned the compound. Flying right into four quick and responsive 23mm cannons with active radar and an alert crew?
Screw that.

“How do you propose we deal with that?”

Kat examined her nails like this was boring her. She took her sweet time responding. “You see, this is why Exodus needs me. I’ve been studying Jihan’s weaknesses for quite some time. I have a way to get someone into the compound undetected. I’ve been laying the groundwork for months. We’ll need someone capable of infiltrating when the choppers are in place, then at a predetermined time, that individual will disable the AA. It will be extremely dangerous and require someone skilled.”

Every set of eyes in the room turned toward me.

I snorted. “Yeah . . . figures.”

LORENZO

Crossroads City

March 24th

The last few days had been spent in preparation. I had gone over my part of the plan repeatedly, and had worked closely with both Exodus and Kat’s forces. The choppers were prepped and stashed in Mongolia. Exodus would be riding in style. Kat’s choppers could carry a small army, so they wouldn’t even be close to full, but if one was disabled, they’d still have a way out. The Montalban foot soldiers were going to assault the garrison in town. The final group consisted of me, Anders, and a handpicked group of Exodus members.

On the other side, Jihan had several hundred fanatical soldiers in his fort. We needed to work fast though, because he and another hundred guarding the dam and around a thousand or so possible reinforcements at the slave mines only a few miles away. We were leaving the dam and mines alone, because it was better to cut off the head and let the body die.

In twenty-four hours the great raid would begin.

Exodus was spread thin. I had not realized at first just how much this operation meant to their organization, but I had pieced together a few facts. Exodus wasn’t a huge operation by any means, and the force gathered here was one of the largest they’d ever assembled. Swords had gathered from every corner of the world for this. Ibrahim was their most experienced commander. Exodus literally had all of their eggs in one basket.

The Montalban Exchange was risking just as much. As soon as Kat struck against Jihan, she would either win total control of The Crossroads, or they were done, and they would be lucky to escape with their lives.

I had spent the last four days bouncing back and forth between the Montalban Exchange, the Golden Cloud, and various Exodus meeting places. Today I was once again on the top floor of the Exchange, near a crackling fireplace, sitting around a table with Ibrahim and Fajkus of Exodus, and Katarina, Anders, and a man named Diego from the Exchange. I’d been told Katsumoto was the other hotshot Exodus boss in town, and I was a little suspicious as to why I’d not seen him at any of the meetings with the Montalbans, but Exodus was probably just hedging their bets in case this was an elaborate plot for Kat to sell out their leader.

Reaper and I were at the end of the table. Jill was at the Golden Cloud. I was not comfortable having her near Kat, as I was still waiting for my ex to fly into one of her rages and kill somebody. Though she actually seemed a lot more grounded and
sane
than when I had last been around her. This mafia-don thing seemed really good for her.

In the middle of the table was a scale model of the compound. It was actually rather impressive, with carved foam blocks mimicking each building, the wall, and the surrounding terrain, with a red number painted on each structure to help us keep track. The compound was at the border between the windswept valley and the edge of the mountain. Three sides of the compound were exposed to open ground. The fourth hung over the side of the mountain, and had a near-vertical drop to the rock below. A red arrow was painted on the table, pointing to the northeast, the direction of the canyon mouth, where the helicopters would be coming from.

Katarina reached across the table and moved the toy tank that represented the dreaded ZSU antiaircraft cannon slightly. She turned the turret so it was pointing at me, and grinned. “So, you’ve had a chance to think it through. Can you do it?”

I stood, so I could have a better bird’s eye view of the fort. We had been through this a dozen times, but it never hurt to look again, to try and find that one hidden problem that was just waiting to bite you in the ass. There was approximately two hundred meters from the cliff edge to where the ZSU had last been parked, and most of it would be navigable in the dark without being seen.

“Assuming phase one goes according to plan. Yeah. I can do it. Phase one gets hinky, and I’m probably dead.”

“Then we’ll abort. Turn around and fly back to Mongolia, and be home in time for cocoa,” Kat replied. “If not?”

“Phase one complete. I’ll initiate phase two, bring up my team, and when we’re ten minutes off the ZSU I’ll give the signal,” I replied mechanically. I would only be on my own for the initial engagement. After that, in theory at least, I would have some help. I had received some good news from Exodus before the meeting. Shen had arrived, and would meet me at the staging point. I had worked with the man before, and had faith in his abilities.

“At Go, phase three will begin,” Ibrahim stood, and moved two plastic helicopters across the board, and into the red path of the red arrow. “We’ll move off station, and proceed through the canyon at maximum speed. My chopper will be in the lead position. One minute behind will be the second.” Ibrahim had insisted that the chopper he was riding on be in front, that way if I failed and the ZSU blasted something out of the sky, it would be his Halo. That way half of his men could still escape. “That is the point of no return.” He slowly sat back down. Once the choppers exited the canyon and were seen, we had to win, or Jihan’s forces would expunge our existence from the earth.