SEAL Team Bravo: Black Ops IV (34 page)

I thought Lucas Grant was the most likely candidate, but I was blind. It was Whitman!

“Drop the weapon, Chief.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then your friend Bradford Rose gets a bullet in his head. I’ve no doubt Mr. Muhammad will be happy to do the honors for Nazir. He can go to meet his late father, so maybe it’s not such a bad idea.”

Nolan needed time, time to get on top of this.

“Don’t kill anyone, Whitman. Just tell me what you want. We can discuss it, and maybe we can all get out of here.”

Brad’s eyes were almost closed, his face partially covered in blood where Whitman had probably taken him by surprise. He tried to catch Brad’s attention, but Rose looked as if he was still stunned. Nazir appeared uninjured so far, and Chutani Muhammad wore an expression of triumph, now that the tables were turned.

“I want you to drop the weapon, Nolan,” Whitman repeated.

“No. I do that, and you’ll just kill me. Tell me what you want. We can strike a deal and part company.”

“No, you cannot do that,” Muhammad shouted. “Kill him, you must kill him. He has insulted me. You agreed!”

“Shut up,” Whitman snarled. “Are you on your own down here?”

Nolan thought of Mariko. He nodded. “They’re on the roof.”

“Waiting for exfil?”

So he didn’t know. It meant he’d somehow lost his radio or switched it off.

“Just tell me what you want, Jack.”

“Okay, you got it. I want five million dollars to set up a new life.”

“And what makes you think we’d give it to you, once we’ve left here?”

Whitman grinned. “Because I’ll keep ol’ Brad here as a guarantee. Soon as the money is paid, he goes home.”

“It was you who raped those women, Whitman, wasn’t it?”

He laughed. “You only just worked that out, did you? Damn, I covered that up pretty well. Who did you think it was, Lucas Grant?” He saw the flicker in Nolan’s eyes. “Yeah, I thought so. I planted a few hints, just in case I needed a scapegoat. Didn’t do too badly setting you up on that website either, did I? Got your cop girlfriend pretty pissed at you too!”

“And those people, those poor bastards you killed while we were on operations. Why did you do it?” Nolan was white with rage.

He laughed out loud. “Why do it? For the best reason in the world, that’s why. Because I could, and because I loved it, every second. Do you know what it feels like, to hold that kind of power over people? It’s better than sex, although,” he laughed again, “sometimes I get the sex as well. I don’t always kill those women, not if they please me. I might want ‘em again. I don’t want to have to screw a corpse. That’d be gross, even for me.”

His laugh was grating now, and crazed.

“You must kill him,” the Minister insisted.

“Must I?” Whitman gazed at the Pakistani. Then he pointed his Sig and fired, a single bullet that took the Minister in the gut. He fell to the ground, screaming shrilly, blood pouring from his belly. He lay there, and his screams echoed around the house. Whitman laughed again.

“I never could stand people telling me what to do, especially a fucking raghead.”

He looked at the man and fired a single shot into his forehead. Muhammad slumped, and they heard the last breath sigh out of his body.

“Those screams annoyed me. Now, me and Brad here are going back into the tunnel. We’ll just, kind of, disappear into the night. I’ll call you, Nolan, say in a day or two. I’ve got my own satphone, so when I make the call, you’ll never know where it’s coming from. We’ll…”

“Chinook in sight, Chief. You have to come up here!”

Will’s voice, calling down the staircase from the roof.

Whitman screwed the gun barrel hard into Brad’s neck.

“You stay where you are, Chief. Don’t move.”

“I need to leave, and I have to take Brad and Nazir with me.”

“Oh, sure, the fuck you do. Tell you what. You can take the kid. He’s no use to me.”

He pushed Nazir at Nolan, who thrust him out of the line of fire. Then Whitman started back toward the hatch that descended to the tunnel, pulling Brad in front of him. And he cannoned into Mariko, who’d moved unseen into position right behind him.

“What the…”

She fired, emptying the whole of the Baby Glock clip into him. The first rounds took Whitman under his arm, and he dropped his gun. She shifted her aim, and the rest of the shots embedded themselves into his head so that when he hit the floor, he was dead. Behind him, Mariko stood shaking. She was breathing hard and clicking the firing pin of the empty pistol, again and again. Nolan went and took from her shaking fingers.

“It’s okay, it’s all over.”

She nodded, but she was still shaking badly. Nolan held her and looked at Brad.

“Can you get up to the roof?”

“Yeah, I’ll make it. Bastard jumped me. I didn’t realize what he was up to until it was too late. He’d made a deal with that Paki Minister. I wonder why the hell he changed his mind.”

“He thought he could get more money from the US government. How much did Muhammad offer him?”

“A hundred thousand dollars to help him escape.”

Nolan nodded. “That explains it. If Muhammad could have offered him six million dollars, he would have shot one of us instead. Is the tunnel clear, no one else inside?”

“There was just us, except for the body of Richard Nixon down there, at the foot of the staircase.”

“I’ll go get him. I’m not leaving him here. Go up to the roof. Mariko, you go with Brad. Nazir, you go too.”

Mariko shook her head. “I’m staying with you, Kyle. You may need a hand with that body.”

“That’s a negative, get up top.”

“Sorry, Chief, I outrank you. I’m coming. Brad, Nazir, go up to the roof and get ready to leave.”

Nolan watched helplessly as she rushed down the staircase into the bunker. He followed her and found her trying to pick up Nixon’s body. He pushed her to one side and hoisted the corpse onto his shoulders in the classic fireman’s lift. Then he nodded at Mariko.

“Time to move. If that’s okay with you, Captain.”

She gave him a small smile. “I’ll be right behind you.”

His earpiece clicked. “Chinook is overhead, Chief. We’re winching Boswell inside right now. They’ve lowered a ladder, so we’ll start climbing aboard as soon as the Lieutenant is clear.”

“Copy that. I’m on the way up. I’ll need the winch for Nixon’s body. He comes with us.”

“Understood. Any other bodies?”

He thought of Whitman.

Traitor and murderous rapist.

“None.”

As he rushed past the second floor, he could see out of the windows. Flames were licking around the compound, most of them started by the detonations of the Hellfires. He ducked back as several bullets whistled past him. A few of them had regrouped outside and were already firing at them. He couldn’t make out the location of the shooters, but it was enough to know they’d brought in more fighters. They were clearly determined to keep up the pressure in an attempt to make the Americans pay for daring to mount a second attack on their precious ‘Sheikh’. He ran up the last staircase, his muscles screaming with the weight of the heavy body. Willing hands helped him put Nixon down on the concrete, ready to winch up. But they weren’t out of trouble yet. Will loomed over him.

“We’ve got more trouble, Chief. They’ve brought up a machine gun. They’re going to try to bring down the helo.”

Nolan looked up. Boswell was just being winched aboard, and the first of the Seals were scaling the ladder.
 

“Can we do anything about it?”

“That’s a negative. They’re keeping well behind cover, but they can hardly miss the Chinook. It’s a mighty big target. I’d guess they’ll be ready to open fire any second.”

“How many machine guns and how many fighters?”

“Maybe ten or so, and just the one machine gun so far.”

He heard the rattle of automatic fire, and the Chinook rocked as a line of bullets stitched across the fuselage. It wouldn’t take too many hits like that to bring it down.

“Okay, here’s the deal. We’ll have to let the helo get away from here now before it’s hit badly. We’ll go out through the tunnel, so the helo can pick us up from the other end. That was the original plan. Get Nixon’s body on the winch line fast, and the rest of us will go out underground. It’s the only way, otherwise we’ll lose that Chinook, and it’s our ticket home. Mariko, call up the crew and tell ‘em what we want them to do.”

She nodded and began talking to the Chinook.

Nolan could see that Will looked doubtful.

“What is it?”

“The gomers in the compound. There are more of them arriving all the time. They’ll follow us down into the tunnel system and come after us. They could even try to take down the Chinook the other end if they get that far.”

“In that case, we’d better make sure they don’t get the chance.”

Nixon’s body had gone aboard. The crew chief’s face appeared in the open ramp, looking down, and Nolan waved him away. The engine sound changed as the pilot adjusted the collective and hauled the big craft away into the night, pursued by sporadic gunfire. He looked around his dwindling command. There were a dozen of them left on the rooftop, including Nazir Masih, who he’d kept back in case they needed help finding their way out. It was time to head out. He’d had enough of the bin Laden compound anyway, more than enough to last any man a lifetime.

“Let’s move out!”

They hurtled down the staircase, and Nolan called Zeke alongside him as they ran.

“We need to stop those hostiles from following us down the tunnel system. Can you rig anything?”

Zeke grinned. “I’d guess a booby trap would fit the bill, bury a few of the bastards. If I lay everything I have, it’ll take down the residence as well and bury the bunker for good and all.”

“Sounds good to me.” He shouted at Merano. “Vince, stay with Zeke while he fixes the charges. They’ll be right on our tail, so stay sharp.”

“Copy that.”

When they reached the ground floor, the oak doors were already starting to buckle as the enemy made frantic attempts to get inside.

“It’ll hold them for a short time,” Will noted, as he ripped out the half empty clip from his HK and slammed in a new one. He gave Zeke a worried look. “Five minutes, maybe ten, that’s about all we’ve got. It’s going to be tight. I wouldn’t take too much time, if I were you.”

“I hear you. Don’t worry, fear will lend me wings, as they say.”

“It better,” the big PO1 mumbled as the thick door shuddered to a furious attempt to break it down. They reached the hatch that led down into the tunnels. Nolan sent Mariko ahead with Nazir to make certain they used the correct route back. Then he checked his men as they dropped down the narrow stairway. Zeke finally dropped down with Vince still watching his back. Then there was just him and Will.

“After you,” he invited Bryce.

“You want the honor of being the last person to see this place intact?”

“Not really. I’m not planning on writing it up when we get back. I just like to see my people go out first. It’s a commander’s prerogative.”

“That it is.” Will went ahead. He jumped down and ran through the bunker, following the huge, armored back of Will Bryce. Zeke was already at work just outside the start of the tunnels, planting what looked like enough explosives to take down a shopping mall. He looked up as Nolan came abreast of him.

“I found this stuff in a couple of wooden crates in the corner of the bunker. It’s what the Afghans use to make IEDs, so I thought it’d be a way to put it to better use. It’s ex-Soviet stuff, probably they left it behind when they bailed out of the region.”

“As long as it makes a big bang.”

“Oh yeah, I guarantee it.”

“Just make it quick, Zeke. We’re running out of time here. Three minutes, no more.”

“Copy that.”

“And remember, we’re out of radio contact in this place, so just plant it and get out.”