CHAPTER 40

REECE WAS UNDERWATER. IT was pitch-dark. He put his hand in front of his face but couldn’t see anything. He couldn’t breathe but there was no panic, only peace. A tiny light, as if glowing through a pinhole, emerged in the depths below him. He swam toward it, the water thick as jelly; it was like trying to swim in winter clothing. He heard a faint voice that sounded like Lauren’s; he swam harder downward toward it. The voice sounded garbled under the water, but became increasingly louder and clearer.

“James. . . James. . . ”

He swam as hard as he could, the voice morphing from his late wife’s voice to one with a tinge of an Eastern European accent. He felt himself floating toward the surface, an unseen force pulling him away from the light. Suddenly the light was blinding; he blinked away from it and turned his head to avoid it.

“James, James, you okay, buddy? ” The red penlight shifted from his eyes to his chest and he felt a hand moving over his body, searching for wounds. As he regained his senses, he realized that he was on his back and one of the contractors was administering first aid. He pushed the man’s hand away and sat up quickly, reaching around frantically until he found his weapon slung at his side.

“You good? ”

“I think so, ” Reece responded in a hoarse tone.

The man kneeling in front of him was wearing black “Ranger panty” running shorts, flip-flops, and a plate carrier. His NODs were pushing upward on his helmet and his belt-fed MK46 machine gun was sitting nearby on its bipod, barrel a glowing white.

“You’ll be okay, man. I like your outfit, ” he said, indicating Reece’s boxers.

Freddy ran up and knelt beside the two men.

“Reece, you alive? That guy in an s-vest came out of nowhere. I was changing mags and couldn’t get on him fast enough. Somebody tackled him right before he blew it. ”

“Yeah, man, I’m fine. ” Reece shook his head to clear the cobwebs.

“If you can watch this breach in the wall and make sure no one gets behind us, Brett and I can clear the rest of the place, ” Freddy said, nodding toward the XXX man.

“Check, I’m on it. ”

The sun rose an hour later, bathing the smoldering compound in the pink radiance of morning. Fires, big and small, were scattered about from the various explosions and bodies were strewn everywhere. All had been quiet since the last explosion that had almost killed Reece, and they had confirmed that the compound was secure, at least for now. One of the security contractors had been killed in the opening VBIED blast while another had been wounded shortly after the incursion began. By Freddy’s count, there were at least twenty-three enemy dead. Reece was cut up and bruised and probably had a concussion but was fine otherwise.

He rose to his feet slowly and walked stiffly toward where the suicide bomber had detonated his vest, examining the grisly scene.

Pieces of human flesh and bone were scattered across the blackened ground. When he saw it, he froze; it was a foot, severed at the calf but unbloodied and still wearing a brown leather sandal. He recognized it immediately. It had belonged to Maajid, his teacher. The man who had taught him so much about his own beloved religion in hopes of stamping out the darkness within it had died protecting him. Reece knelt and prayed to his own God silently, an act of which he knew Maajid would approve.

Within an hour of daylight, a twelve-man Crisis Response Force from the 10th Special Forces Group was fast-roping into the compound from a pair of hovering MH-60 aircraft, the powerful rotor wash turning the entire area into a dust bowl. They had been working with government forces in nearby Mali when the emergency call went out from the XXX unit on-site. They were hours closer than other units of similar capabilities in Italy and Djibouti, and were routed directly to the emergency. Unlike the debacle in Benghazi, they had launched on very little information and headed toward the fight.

The MultiCam-clad Special Forces men fanned out as soon as they hit the ground, forming a defensive perimeter and deploying a sniper and machine gunner to the roof of the main house. The team’s highly capable medic went to work on the wounded former Marine XXX contractor as the unit’s commander approached the two SEALs, who were sitting on the tailgate of a pickup. He was five feet six and stocky with a face of dark stubble, full tattoo sleeves on both arms poking from below his Crye combat shirt. A 10. 5-inch-barreled M4 hung across the front of his body armor. He looked too old for his rank, and Reece assumed that he was a fellow enlisted man turned officer.

“I’m Mack, team leader. You guys okay? ”

“Thanks for coming, Mack. I’m Freddy. ” The exhausted operator shook the Army captain’s extended hand.

Mack turned his gaze to Reece and his eyes widened. “I know you! You’re James Reece! ”

“No, I’m not. . . I get that all the time, though. ”

“Ah, yeah. . . well, let’s just say that if you were James Reece I’d want to shake your hand. ”

“Well, in that case you’ll just have to settle for mine. ” Reece took the man’s hand and shook it warmly.

“You need the medic? ” Mack asked, nodding toward Reece, who looked like he’d bathed in blood.

“I think I’m good. Just a little rattled from that s-vest. ”

“So, what in the hell happened here? What is this place? They told us it was a CIA compound. ”

“It’s a training site, ” Strain responded. “They hit us in the middle of the night. Breached the wall with VBIEDs in two places. One of the XXX guys was killed immediately and another one was wounded, as you know. He and the other remaining contractor kept the bad guys busy back here while we fought them off the house. ”

“Looks like you guys kicked some ass. Sorry we couldn’t get here in time to help. ”

“No worries, it didn’t last very long. XXXXXXXXXX took the brunt of it. They hit the wrong end of the compound in-force if they were trying to get us. You actually made it here faster than I thought. ”

“You can thank the 160th for that, ” Mack replied, referring to the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which was widely regarded as having the best helicopter pilots in the world. “Any ideas on who they might be? Seems too coordinated for locals, and the gear is almost better than ours. ”

“I have an idea, ” Reece replied.

“Well, my team will run biometrics on them. If they’re on any databases, we’ll know ASAP. ”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Mack. ”

“I’ve got to check on my team. Holler if you need anything. We have a perimeter set up and there’s a Pred on station, so rest easy. ”

Reece nodded as the Special Forces captain jogged off toward the main house.

“You know who they were, don’t you, Freddy? ”

“I do. But I can’t bring myself to believe it. ”

“They were Agency trained, buddy. Someone at Langley wants us dead. ”

“We’ve trained and outfitted a few different units in this part of the world, Reece. Some of them are not under Agency control anymore, but they still have our weapons and haven’t forgotten our training. ”

“Is it possible that someone inside doesn’t want us to take down Nawaz? Even crazier, could Nawaz have someone in the CIA? ” Reece asked.

“That doesn’t seem possible, but stranger things have happened. ”

“Remember what Hastings told us the night before we left Moz? ”

“Yeah, I remember, ” Freddy confirmed. “He told us not to trust the CIA. More specifically, he warned us not to trust the politicians that control the CIA. ”

“Maybe he was right. ”

“I’m sure the XXX is on their way, ” Freddy said, changing topics and referring to the XXXXXXX secret police. “We need to get you out of here. CRF can stay and secure the site while we drive to the embassy. We’re obviously compromised. ”

“Roger that. I’ll get packed up. ”

“Don’t be a tough guy. Why don’t you go see the Eighteen-Delta before that shit gets infected, ” the former SEAL Senior Chief said, using the military occupational shorthand used to classify Special Forces medics.

“I will. Freddy, who knew we were here? ”

“It’s a short list. And I’m going to find out everyone who was on it. ”

• • •

They were halfway to XXXXX when a call came through on the Sat phone. Freddy mostly listened, chiming in only occasionally in affirmation, then ended the call.

“Change of plans. We’re headed to Istanbul. ”

“What’s in Istanbul? ”

“It’s not ‘what’ but ‘who. ’ Mo’s in Istanbul, at least that’s what the analysts think. ”

“Istanbul. Great place to go to ground. ”

“We need to hit the embassy in XXXXX to pick up your passport and then we’ll head straight to the airfield. They have a clean identity for you, and they’ve wiped your data off the facial recognition databases. You’re still technically a wanted man. We don’t want some cop in Turkey taking you down. ”

“Just like that? ”

“Just like that, Reece. ”

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