Swords of Exodus [Dead Six 02] (46 page)

“We must hurry.” Ling’s former teammates began helping the wounded. There were only a few of us in any shape to fight; me, Shen, Antoine, Phillips, and Roland. There were four others a lot worse off. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know how many men Exodus had brought it, but it had to have been at least sixty or seventy. Svetlana screamed as Phillips shoved the bone back into her leg and wrapped it in gauze.

“Damn you, Katarina,” I whispered to myself as I led the way back across the compound, a horde of fanatics only minutes behind us. This was going to be tight.

My radio chirped in my ear. I hit the mike, expecting news from Reaper or Jill. Instead it was Katarina, calling to gloat. I felt an indescribable ball of rage bubble up from inside my stomach. It made me warm.

“Well, well, well, you’re in a predicament now, aren’t you, Lorenzo, my dear?”

“I thought you wanted The Crossroads more than you’d want revenge. I was a fool to believe you.”

“Yes, and I was a fool to trust you all those years ago. Now you know how it feels. You abandoned me when I needed you, and now I’m abandoning you.”

“So that’s what this is about, then?” I spat. I moved quickly through the wreckage of the compound, running forward, and taking up a cover position as the others followed more slowly. “You’re willing to let all these good men die just out of spite?”

Kat laughed over the radio, having a good old time.
“No, of course not, silly. That’s absurd. I was going to betray them no matter what. That’s just sound business. This was a gamble for me to not only utilize Project Blue, but also to become the sole ruler of The Crossroads, like Big Eddie before me. Being able to destroy you along with Exodus was just a happy bonus.”

I didn’t respond. Half of my brain was trying to watch my surroundings, the other half was a calculating how I was going to track Katarina down and kill her. I paused, waiting for Exodus. Something moved in the shadows ahead. I hit the spot with my flashlight, but whatever it was had already moved.

“Do you know why I’m calling you?”
She didn’t bother to wait for my response.
“I just wanted to explain myself, and perhaps, to hurt you a little bit more. I feel I owe you that. After all, I loved you once.”

“You chose Big Eddie over me.”

“Oh, how stupid you are. You still don’t get it, do you?”
she asked as I leapt over more dismembered bodies. An arm dangled from a nearby roof, drizzling blood
. “Of course I was loyal to the Montalbans. I always have been. Back when we worked together, all those jobs that we did, you were Big Eddie’s right-hand man, and yet you never met him. I was always the go-between. I was the one that had to prove myself to the Montalbans, not you. I had to earn their respect.”

“Sounds like a personal problem.”

“Do you remember, once, so long ago, you always warned me about how people like us should never reveal our real identities to anyone? I heeded your advice. I never told you my real name. You were weak, and you told me yours, Hector Romasanta. So allow me to return the favor. My real name is Elizabeth . . .”

One of the Exodus operatives slipped in the snow behind me. The injured man he was carrying screamed as damaged nerves struck the ground.

“Katarina . . .”

I kept seeing shapes moving ahead of me, just out of the view of my light, but I couldn’t catch them. I kept moving.

“. . . Montalban.”

I stopped. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

Her laugh sounded distorted through the radio. The chopper was getting further away, and the reception on my portable was starting to break up.
“No. My older brother was Rafael Montalban. He was father’s favorite, as he was the legitimate heir. Eduard, or Big Eddie, as he insisted on being called, was next in line, but Eduard was always a little off, a little crazy, but at least his mother was respected English royalty. Rafael was a prodigy, Eduard liked to burn things and hurt animals. I was the youngest, and least legitimate of all my father’s children. My mother was a Swiss whore.”

“Crazy and sleazy runs in the family,” I snarled.

“Yes indeed. Eduard hurt me many times, but I thank him for it now, for it made me strong. After Father died, Rafael took care of the legitimate family business. Eddie inherited the dark side. There was nothing left for me. I was unwanted, unloved. So if I could not receive my family’s love, then I would earn it. That is when I went to work with you, to prove my worthiness to my brothers.”

“You used me, even back then.” This changed nothing. I was still going to get out of here and kill her, but at least it put her damaged nature in perspective.

“Oh, at first, but I really did love you. You were the one that made me choose, choose between happiness and destiny. You never should have done that, Hector.”

A thought flashed through my mind, a memory of Thailand, a few years ago, as the Fat Man, Big Eddie’s indomitable bodyguard, had arrived to blackmail my team with information about our real families. I had never understood how Big Eddie could have learned so much about me. “You . . . It was you that gave Big Eddie my family. It was you that forced me into the Zubara job.”

“Of course. When Eddie told me he needed the best for Zubara, you were the only man for the job. I was glad to give him your real name. I prayed for your death every day. But somehow, impossibly, both of my brothers died instead. Brave Rafael murdered by Majestic, and beautiful Eduard, dead by your hand. The great Montalban dynasty, one of the great Illuminati families for over five hundred years, shattered, and now scorned by the other
legitimate
families. But fate has smiled upon me. Anders has given me the key to Project Blue, a brilliant plot to put the Illuminati in their place, and with it, I will reclaim my family’s glory. The other families will kneel at my feet.”

“You’re toast. Jihan will destroy you.”

“The Pale Man’s power ends at the border of The Crossroads. I hoped to use Exodus to end him and regain this kingdom that Eddie built, but I don’t need it anymore. I am on to bigger and better things.”

I reached the gap in the back wall. The guards’ bodies that we had left in the shadows under the broken rebar were gone. I saw no movement, so I proceeded to secure the rope, my mind still reeling from the information I had just been given. “What about my brother?”

Her voice was breaking up badly now. I could barely hear her through the static.
“Hector, always so loyal to everyone except for me. Your brother is still alive, for now, but only because Anders has a use for him. Blue is coming—d”
Static interrupted the transmission.
“When it—the world—”
The signal was fading.

I smashed the button on my mike. “You know what the last thing I told your darling Eddie was before I blew him to pieces?”

“What was that?”

“I’ll see you in hell.”

The signal was gone.

Chapter 23: Weakness
Leaving the Body

VALENTINE

The Dam

We’d been given a second lease on life. At least, that’s how it felt. The situation was still dire. We’d lost a large chunk of our force, we had many wounded, and our exfil plan had gone to shit, but we were accomplishing the mission, and it looked like we would actually live to talk about it.

Despite the good news, we were in a real hurry. There was no telling when Sala Jihan’s forces would return to the dam. We had no idea what was going on at the fortress. No one was answering the radio over there, and the distance and terrain made communications difficult to begin with. Nothing seemed to be happening in town as near as we could tell.

Only one of our original vehicles was still in driving shape, but it didn’t matter. We had plenty of trucks to choose from. One had only to pull out the dead driver and not think about sitting in someone else’s blood. In this fashion we put together a new convoy and tried to contact the people that were waiting for us at the rendezvous point.

Despite our heavy losses, Ling was actually smiling. Katsumoto, limping badly from a bullet in his leg, was still alive, and we’d beaten back the enemy, at least temporarily. There’s a certain rush that comes with completing such a dangerous mission that’s hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t experienced it. The look on her face gave it away.

It never lasts. Sooner or later reality always catches up with you. It caught up with us when the two of the wounded who had been at the dam with Katsumoto succumbed to their injuries. It was driven home when Katsumoto received a static-filled radio transmission from Antoine.

“Sword Three, Sword Three, this is Sword Four.”

Katsumoto and Ling exchanged a knowing look. Ibrahim had been Sword One. Fajkus was his support Element, Sword Two. Sword Four was Lorenzo’s team.

“This is Sword One,” Katsumoto replied calmly. “What is the situation?”

There was a long pause, filled with static. “
We have failed.”

Katsumoto closed his eyes for a couple of seconds. Ling lowered her head. “Understood. What happened?”

“
I do not know. Sword One took his element down into the pit. They are all lost. Sword Two attempted to come to his aid, and they suffered severe losses as well. Sword Two Actual is catatonic. I am in command now
.”

“Are you egressing on the helicopters?”

“
Negative. One helicopter was lost. The other left without us. The Montalbans have betrayed us. That woman took her remaining men. They fired on us as they left, killing several more men.”

“Treacherous whore!” Ling snarled, her hands balling into fists.

“We are cut off by reinforcements from the mines. Our only means of exfiltration is down the cliff, on foot.”

“We will come get you, brother. It will take us some time, but we will come get you. You will not be left to die. We will meet you at the emergency rendezvous point with enough vehicles to extract you.”

“We will lose radio communications as we go down into the valley. It is a long walk to the rendezvous point, and we are carrying wounded. Our chances of making it are not great. Do not wait for us too long.”

Katsumoto’s face was a mask of resolve. “The Montalbans have betrayed us, but they will pay dearly for it. Our part of the operation has succeeded. We are preparing to initiate as we speak. This foul place will wither and die.”

Antoine actually sounded happy about that.
“That is the best news I’ve heard all night,”
he said. “
Good luck, my friend.”

“And to you,” Katsumoto replied.

“Wait,” I said, before the Exodus commander signed off. “Is Lorenzo still alive?” Katsumoto relayed my question to Antoine.

“
He is still alive, Mr. Valentine. He is with us. Do you wish to speak to him?”

I took the radio from Katsumoto. “Not really. Did he find his brother though?”

“
I’m afraid not. He tells me that that, too was a Montalban ploy. His brother was never here. We’ve all been deceived.”
The radio went to static for a moment. “
He also suggests that you go fornicate with yourself.”

“Likewise. Valentine out.”

As the last of us cleared the dam, Ling and Katsumoto consulted on a plan. We had too many wounded to all go to Antoine’s rescue. Some would not last the night if we had to fight our way to our friends. There was little choice: we’d have to split up.

Katsumoto wanted to lead the element that rescued Antoine, of course. He was the senior Exodus commander on scene now, and saving his people was his duty. His right knee had been shattered by a bullet, though. He could move under his own power only with the aid of an improvised crutch, and he’d lost a lot of blood. He looked tired and pale.

The rescue mission fell to Ling. She’d been through a lot this night, but she only had minor injuries. She accepted her task solemnly and swore to Katsumoto that she’d get Antoine out if there was any possible way. The call then went out for volunteers, those who were still able to fight and wanted to go. As near as I could tell, every single Exodus operative still walking (and some that weren’t) raised his or her hand, Skunky included.

Their loyalty to each other was impressive. They were bonded as tightly as any professional army I’d ever worked with. You couldn’t help but feel respect for their level of dedication to one another, despite coming from widely different ethnic, national, cultural, and religious backgrounds.

Not everyone could go, and there weren’t very many to choose from. Of the original fifty Exodus operatives, only thirty were still alive. Of those, only sixteen were uninjured. Of those, not all could be spared for the rescue.

In the end, six Exodus operatives were to accompany Ling, including Skunky. It was a small element to potentially have to fight across hostile territory. They would have to bring enough vehicles to carry all of Antoine’s surviving people. Many were low on ammunition and had to scrounge for what supplies they could get.

For my part, I was leaning on one of our wrecked trucks, drinking a bottle of water from a case that’d been inside. I’d sucked the hydration bladder in my backpack dry and was thirsty as hell. I was leaning because my arms and legs were shaking. Adrenaline dump was hitting me hard. I was exhausted. I just wanted a hot shower and a warm bed to lay in. I think Ling sensed this as she approached, because she seemed to do so cautiously. “How are you doing?”

“I’ll be okay,” I said. “I just need a moment. What happens now?”

“I will lead my team to the rendezvous point to extract Lorenzo and Antoine’s element. I owe Antoine my life several times over. And Lorenzo . . . I asked Lorenzo to come here. Practically coerced him. I owe it to him to not leave him to die without trying to come to his aid. That is not the Exodus way.”

“I know,” I said. “I just needed a drink before we go.”

“Michael, you don’t have to go,” she said levelly, looking up into my eyes. “I can ask no more of you. I thought I’d brought you to your death, but by the grace of God we came through. All you need to do is go with Katsumoto. It is as close as you can get to being safe.”

“And Jill would never forgive me if I just left his stupid ass there. Besides, you need all the bodies you can get. So stop arguing with me, please. I’m going. I’m in this thing to the end.”

Ling looked at me the way Sarah had, very briefly, before putting her mask back on. “Thank you,” she managed. “But please, take your water with you. We need to get going.”

Damn it,
I thought. All of this and I wouldn’t even get to see the explosion.

LORENZO

The Cliffs

The last of the injured was tied to the rope and sent spiraling over the edge that I had climbed over just a few hours before. There were only three who couldn’t walk now. We had not been able to control the bleeding from a man named Solomon, and his body was behind us in the snow. I would be the last man to leave the compound, which was good, because we’d kicked the hornet’s nest.

There was a lot of movement inside the compound. I could see a lot of shadows moving in front of the fires. The gates had been flung open to let the reinforcements inside. I took one last look before going over the edge, and froze. A lone figure was standing silhouetted in front of the burning Tunguska. It was dark at the lip of the chasm. There was no way he could see me, but I felt an involuntary shiver anyway. The black sliver of a man was perfectly still, and somehow I knew he was watching me with deadly, soulless eyes.

Sala Jihan had come up out of his hole.

“You win this one, you son of a bitch.”

I went over the edge quickly, a makeshift harness strung around me. My boots would impact the glasslike ice, kick outward, and I would plunge another twenty feet at a time. I hit the ground too fast. The others were already prepared to move out. Exodus was silent, each of them burdened by heavy thoughts and internal pain. Shen was mashing a claymore into the snow just ahead of us. The first soldiers down that rope were going to get a surprise. Hopefully an occasional booby-trap would keep our pursuers cautious and moving slow.

We took turns carrying the wounded, one unburdened man on point and the other at the rear. We passed the nomads’ tiny settlement and found it was abandoned. No sign of Lotus Blossom, her family, or their yaks. They apparently had the good sense to get the hell out of the area after I had shown up earlier. Wing’s body was probably stuffed into one of the many ice crevasses nearby.

We had memorized terrain maps of this area, not only because it was where my team had inserted, but also because it had been our last-ditch possibility of retreat if everything had gone horribly wrong. The canyon was far too rocky for vehicles to follow, so now we had us a foot race.

My team had been dropped off on the main road, and we had walked to the nomad village. Now that road was crawling with Jihan’s reinforcements from the mines. So our only other options were to hide or to try to walk out the other end of the canyon, which was about ten miles of brutal terrain that finally terminated on a Russian plain just off the Mongolian border. Judging by the ant’s nest we had just kicked, the smart money wasn’t on hiding.

The going was hard. The footing was treacherous and slick. Only half of the group had managed to retain their night vision, and we took turns wearing it, so that the person on point and the man bringing up the rear could always see. Luckily, the sky was still clear and the snow was so bright and reflective that none of us were totally blind.

Antoine set a brutal pace for the first thirty minutes. We needed to get as much of a lead as possible before the soldiers zeroed in on us. Finally, he called a brief halt. We needed to tend to the injured and better secure their wounds before anyone else ended up like Solomon.

Fajkus was still out. He was badly concussed, with a deep laceration on his scalp and several more cuts on his arms and torso. Nobody knew what had happened to him after he led the counterattack against the silo, but at least we had gotten the bleeding stopped.

The next was an Exodus operative from Korea, named Kim. He had taken a round through the forearm. It had struck him in the wrist, traveled right up the bone, and exited out his elbow. The flesh was totally pulverized. Shen had tied a tourniquet just above the elbow. Kim wasn’t looking good. He could scarcely walk, and kept stumbling. He had lost a lot of blood and was barely coherent.

Svetlana was hanging in there. The Russian sniper was in terrible pain, with bones in both of her legs shattered. She had to be carried, and the burden was increased for whoever had her on their back because she refused to put down her heavy sniper rifle. None of us could really disagree with that because all of us knew what the chances of us getting away were, and none of us were the type that would give up without a fight.

Phillips was limping badly now. His ankle was terribly sprained, and the flesh sticking out the top of his boot was black, purple, and swollen to twice its normal size. He grimaced at every step, but would not quit.

There was a muted thump far behind us. Somebody had set off the claymore. Antoine signaled for us to continue. It was my turn in the middle, so I helped Kim to his feet, locked his good arm over my shoulder, and helped drag him up the mountain.

LORENZO

The Mountain

“How many are there?” I asked.

Antoine shook his head grimly and passed me the binoculars. “Too many.”

I scanned down the mountain. The glass wasn’t night vision, but I could make out the dark shapes moving on the white surface far below us. He was right. There were hundreds of them down there. It was a full-fledged hunting party. Occasionally there would be a flicker of lights as they came across some part of our trail they wanted to examine in the dark.

“They’re not having any problem tracking us,” I muttered.

“Not much we could do about that, I’m afraid.” Which was true, we were leaving a trail that a blind man could follow. “We must go. They’re moving much faster than we are.”

“Come dawn, they’ll be able to track us even faster.” I exhaled, leaving a cloud of steam that instantly crystallized in the stubble on my face. If anything, it had only gotten colder as the night had gone on. Stopping briefly to check on our pursuers drove that point home as all the sweat from our exertion froze instantly to our bodies. My hands ached with a throbbing pain that was warning me that something was seriously wrong.

“And dawn will be here soon. It is spring, you know,” Antoine said.

“Antoine? Was that a joke? Exodus issued you a sense of humor?”

“Do not tell Ling. She would not approve.”

I tried my radio again, but still no signal from Jill. The mountains had to be between us now. Antoine and I ran after the others, following a rocky trail that had to have been created by goats or something else narrower than a person. We knew that it wouldn’t take long to catch up. Antoine was breathing hard. He and Shen had only been at this altitude for like a week, and had not had a chance to fully acclimatize before the raid. Both of them were feeling it now.