with you! I can't believe its release is just over a month away! I really love this story and can't wait to hear what you all think about it!
Captain Colt
Mitchell pressed his back against a low mud brick wall baked hard after years
of relentless summer days in Afghanistan. As he crouched in the darkness, he
could still feel a bit of warmth coming from the bricks, as if they didn’t want
to release their heat, even at night.
The sun would be up soon, though, and the bricks would be fired in the
scorching temperatures all over again.
Leaning forward a
bit, he made sure to blend into the shadows, his black tactical gear and camo
face paint like a second skin to him now.
With one more look at the non-descript two-story house they’d been
watching for the past forty-eight hours, he silently let out a breath. They had credible intel that Nazer al-Raimi
was using this house as a hideout tonight. This was the first whisper they’d
heard on the whereabouts of the AQIM terrorist leader in three months, so
they’d jumped on it. And while Colt had
wanted this man put away before, the attack on the Parliament buildings in
Ottawa, made it personal for him. The sooner this guy was in custody the
better, even if they had to come to the outer reaches of Afghanistan to do it.
Colt pulled back
the Velcro strap covering the illuminated face on his military-issued
watch. 0200 hours. The guards had
changed shifts at midnight and they’d switch again any minute. That’s when
they’d make their move.
“Check in.”
Commander Jake Williams’ voice came over Colt’s comms and he quietly tapped his
throat mic twice to signal he was in position.
Jake was intense
and thorough, both things that made him a good team leader. It had been
interesting to see how Jake’s Navy SEAL training was similar to Colt’s JTF2
training. Apparently Canada and the U.S. had very similar practices for their
elite teams. In their hunt for Nazer these past months, though, Jake’s ability
to root out details and make educated guesses had gotten them closer to Nazer
than they’d ever been before. If all went well, tonight was the night they’d have
him in custody. They had two minutes to
get in, grab Nazer, and get out. The extraction site was in the foothills just
outside of town and Colt was ready to get this done, especially if it ended
with Nazer on a helo headed to whatever black ops site waited for him.
Colt took another
peek over the wall. Even though it was
two a.m., lights blazed from the front windows and five heat signatures still
patrolled the house. Pulling back, he heard Jake’s voice in his comms. “Incoming.”
Colt pulled his
tactical face mask down and got his night vision monocular in position. An SUV rumbled up the road and turned down
the driveway toward the house. This was it.
He watched as four men exited the vehicles. “I have a visual on our target.” His pulse picked up. The second
man was definitely Nazer.
Their leader’s
arrival caused some excitement in the house. More lights went on, and agitated
voices carried through the night air toward them. “Hold your positions.” Jake said quietly.
His voice sounded
strained and Colt could relate. They all wanted this to work. Nazer had hurt so
many people, caused so much damage and heartache. All for what? A position in
the ISIS leadership? Acting out some
sort of vendetta on Westerners?
Nazer’s latest
attack in Ottawa had killed one of Colt’s closest friends from his time with
Joint Task Force 2, the Special Ops team in Canada. David Reeves was one of the
bravest men he knew. They’d served together in some of the most dangerous
countries in the world, but when David was ready to settle down, he took the
offer to be on the security detail for the Prime Minister. Not two weeks later
he’d been killed at the attack on the Parliament buildings and all the evidence
pointed to Nazer being the mastermind behind it. Canada’s sense of security was
shaken, his friend dead. Colt’s hand
clenched around his semi-automatic. He needed Nazer to pay and he wanted to be
the one to capture him.
The more he
thought about what was at stake, the angrier he became and that wouldn’t help
on this op. He used his tactical breathing― slow breath in, hold for four, then
counting to four as he let the breath out. After a few times, Colt was focused.
Ready.
The Griffin Task
Force had carefully plotted out this op, and he needed to be calm and in
control. No emotion. That was one thing he’d learned being part of JTF2.
Execution was easier when your prep, training, and self-control backed you up.
Of course he still felt a healthy surge of adrenaline on any op, but that was
easily channeled into getting the job done.
A bead of sweat
rolled down his back and he adjusted his position a little further away from
the brick wall. Not even the warm breeze rolling in every now and then offered
any relief from the suffocating heat.
Colt rolled his shoulders to shake it off. For just a second he let himself imagine breathing in the chill
air of an ice rink and lacing up his skates for a game. That was one thing he
missed about his home country and was high on his to-do list when Nazer was
taken care of and Colt was back home.
He brought his
attention back to the task at hand. Two
men were coming out of the front door, and Colt focused on the scene through
his night vision monocular. Squinting,
he leaned forward. It looked like they were carrying several laptops.
“You s-s-smell
that?” Elliott’s stutter came over the comms, a bit more pronounced under
stress. Colt sniffed the air. He did smell something. Smoke.
“They’re cutting
and running,” Jake said in Colt’s ear.
Colt turned to look at his team leader, waiting for that go signal.
Jake’s hand cut through the air. “We’re moving in. Go.”
Colt pushed
forward, staying to the left side of the perimeter. His job was to secure the back entry with Nate Hughes, his
partner on this op. They were about six
feet apart, both moving through the shadows, making sure they didn’t call
attention to themselves. Smoke was starting to billow out of the house now and
it covered their position even more.
Their window of time to grab Nazer had always been short, but with the
house on fire, it was even shorter. They hadn’t factored that into their
contingency plan.
Just before they
reached the rear entry, a window on the second floor shattered, and a chair
landed with a thud on the ground near Colt. He raised his rifle to the ready,
and looked up to see a woman leaning out, screaming, “Help me! Help me!” before
being yanked back inside.
“I’ve got a woman
screaming for help on the back side,” Colt said into his comms. No one had guessed from the heat signatures
that they had a woman in the house. Where had she come from?
“Could be a trap.
Stay on target,” Jake’s voice was firm.
“We’ve got to get in and get out.
Move inside on my count.”
Colt bit the
inside of his cheek. He knew Jake’s
order was best for the mission, but that woman’s scream was desperate and this
house was going up in flames. Maybe
once they had Nazer wrapped up, he could go after her.
“Three, two, one.
Move!”
Colt and Nate
moved in through the back door, and gunfire met them immediately. Colt kept
low, which also made it easier to breathe with all the smoke coming from the
front of the house. From a quick
glance, it looked like they’d made a bonfire with furniture in the living
room. Jake and Elliott were pinned down
and under fire so Colt and Nate quickly shifted from room to room, looking to
spot Nazer.
“Not on the main,”
Colt said into his comms. “Heading upstairs.”
With Nate covering
him, Colt led the way up the stairs.
The crackle of the hungry fire was moving toward them, as if it knew
what it wanted to devour next.
They needed to
hurry.
The hallways were
clear, but there were four closed doors.
Colt started with the first, staying high while Nate stayed low. They
opened the first door. Empty. Before
they could go any further, a scream pierced the air. It came from the room at
the end of the hall. With a nod to
Nate, he headed that way. The door was
locked, so Colt raised his leg and focused all his adrenaline to kick it open. The woman was being held, a gun to her head,
and Nazer behind her.
“One step closer
and the woman will die.” The smoke was obscuring Nazer’s face and the floor
underneath them was starting to groan. Time was nearly out.
“Don’t let me
die,” the woman sobbed in broken Pashto. “Please.” Her eyes darted between Colt and Nate as she pleaded between
coughs.
“Let
her go,” Colt ordered. “You’re coming with me.” He tried to catch Nate’s eye. Did he have a shot? Could they risk
taking Nazer down with a hostage in front of him?
“Not interested in
a deal?” Nazer crouched a little lower and looked out the window.
“No deal.” Colt
inched forward.
“I’ll trade her
for you.” Nazer smiled, an evil little smirk that made Colt want to
punch it off his face. “I’d prefer Commander Williams, since we have unfinished
business, but you’ll do.”
I’ll bet. Jake
had been a thorn in Nazer’s side for too long and it was practically a vendetta
for Nazer now, but there was no way he would get near him. Not if Colt had
anything to say about it. “Just give us the woman and come quietly. I promise
not to kill you.” Colt kept his gun trained on Nazer. If the woman would just
move a smidgen to the left he’d have a shot.
“Don’t bargain
with him, Colt. Get out of there. Retreat. Now.” Jake’s voice over comms was
commanding, nearly angry, but Colt didn’t take his eyes off Nazer. Not now. Not
when they were this close.
“Do you really
think I’d be so foolish not to be prepared for your pitiful attempt to capture
me?” Nazer moved slightly, making sure his victim was shielding him. He pressed
his gun to her temple, his eyebrow raised as if he expected Colt to
answer. The air in the room was being
sucked out by the fire and the smoke swirled around their feet. When the floor underneath them started to
hiss like a warning, Colt took a step forward. They didn’t have time for bargaining.
This fire was coming for them.
“We’re on our way,” Colt heard Jake say, but
it was too late. If the fire didn’t get them all, Nazer had the advantage in
this standoff. If only the woman wasn’t
between them.
The floor groaned
again and Nazer straightened. As if realizing they were out of time, he raised
his gun. In that split second, Colt saw an opportunity to at least wing the
guy, and he pulled the trigger.
A scream rent the
air as the woman twisted out of Nazer’s grasp and fell on the floor. She
scrambled to the window and Colt felt a moment of relief that he hadn’t hit
her. He rolled toward the door, finding a bit of cover behind a table, but not
enough. A shaft of pain went through his arm. More gunshots popped through the
air and he heard Nate’s cry of pain echoing through his ears. “Nate!”
His partner was on
the floor holding his leg. Blood was
everywhere. “I’m okay, Captain. Let’s get out of here.”
The woman was
crawling around the perimeter of the room, trying to get away from the window
and Colt could see why. There was a man silhouetted in the window frame
motioning for Nazer. They must have a ladder for the second floor. “Nate, can you get her out of here?” he
yelled to his partner.
Nate shook his
head. “I’m not leaving you.”
Gunfire erupted
again, both Nazer and the man at the window shooting at them like fish in a
barrel. Colt returned fire. “That’s an order. Now! This whole floor is about to
collapse. Get her out!” With his
position, there was no way he could make it to the door on the opposite side of
the room.
“I’ll cover you,”
Nate said as the woman reached him. He pulled her to his side. “Come on!”
“I’ll be right
behind you.” But Colt knew he wouldn’t. He was going to die in this room, but
not before he took Nazer with him.
The moment Nate
and the woman were through the door, Colt rubbed his bloody arm on his cargo
pants to make sure he had a grip, then popped up from his cover position and
opened fire. His arm was going numb and his shots were off, but it gave him
some satisfaction when Nazer had to duck. He was starting to lose
consciousness, his lungs burning from the heavy smoke, but he had enough juice
to make one more shot.
This was it.
At the last
second, Nazer did a bob and weave and Colt ended up shooting the guy at the
window. With a grunt of satisfaction
that he’d at least gotten one of them, he let his gun fall to the floor, his
body following. The edges of his vision were going dark and he embraced it now.
At least he’d provided enough distraction that Nate and the woman could get
away. His death wouldn’t be for nothing.
He looked up, a
little jolt going through him as he realized Nazer was standing above him. Colt
lifted his chin. “Go ahead. Finish it.”
“Oh, I have plans
for you.” Nazer hunched over him on the floor, his face inches from
Colt’s. “And I think I’m going to enjoy
this.”
