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  The vehicles were military. They raced into the village and hit the brakes. One of the leaders started shouting. Nobody moved. Brandon watched as Bullard stepped forward and called out to him. The man took one look and grinned. “Bullard, what the hell, man? Did you kill everybody?”

  Bullard, his rifle down but still at the ready, shook his head and said, “Just the gunrunners.”

  The officer raised his eyebrows. He laughed and said, “Good. In that case let’s get you over to the holding so we can take possession of the weapons.”

  Bullard tilted his head to the side and said, “Who sent you?”

  The man said something, but Brandon didn’t understand.

  Bullard shook his head. “Try again,” he said.

  The military officer straightened up, and anger crossed his face. Brandon realized what was going on. Bullard’s contact may have sent these men, but that didn’t mean these men had any intentions of following Konrad’s orders.

  Tucked in the house behind them, Levi had his phone in his hand. He was talking and taking photos. Bullard was trying to keep the officer talking as they figured out what was going on. Then finally Bullard nodded, pointed toward the holding and waited till the first vehicle passed.

  At that point, Bullard and Levi ran for their wheels. Brandon wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but men were going everywhere. He got back into his truck and drove around to where Levi loaded up his men in the other truck with Bullard. When Levi jumped in the truck with Brandon, he asked Levi, “What the hell’s going on?”

  “This is the team supposedly sent by Konrad, Bullard’s contact,” Levi said. He turned and gave Brandon a hard glare. “While Bullard trusts Konrad, he doesn’t trust any of these guys. Ice knows they’re coming. We’ve also got a phone call in to Konrad. I highly suspect these guys will take the weapons and run.”

  “Do we stop them?”

  Levi snorted. “Welcome to the law in this country. That’s a decision we may not get a choice about.”

  Brandon turned on the engine again and headed toward home. Kasha was there with the prisoners. No way in hell he wanted her to meet this lot alone.

  Chapter 11

  Kasha hadn’t had any contact with Levi’s men or Bullard in over thirty minutes, and it was killing her. She wanted an update. When her phone rang, it was Ice, and the message she shared wasn’t what Kasha wanted to hear. “How many military are coming?”

  “Two vehicles. Bullard’s contact says those men are his.”

  “Do we trust them?”

  “I’m not sure it’s a matter of trusting them as much as making sure somebody is keeping an eye on them.”

  “So is his contact on his way?”

  “He is. He’s due to land in about twenty minutes at the airstrip.”

  “Okay, that’s good. Then it’s his responsibility if they take the weapons. If these guys steal them, then at least he can track them.”

  “Exactly,” Ice said, her voice changing. “You need to be very careful right now. What about the bodies?”

  “No idea. Hopefully the military will take them away.”

  “That would be good.”

  Kasha frowned. She hoped it was over. It had been quiet at the holding, but that didn’t mean it would stay quiet. She put on coffee, keeping her weapon trained on the five prisoners the whole time.

  She understood Brandon’s suggestion about knocking them out, but, as she talked to the men, she tried hard to explain what her people were doing and why.

  One man seemed relieved. He had a wife and a baby in the village. Another just stared at her, and a third one, the one supposedly sleeping, had woken up. He snorted and closed his eyes. She figured he would be trouble no matter what. The remaining pair were too scared to speak or didn’t understand English or her dialect of Arabic. With the coffee made, she picked up the weapon and turned back to the men, only to find one standing, his ties loose on the ground. It was the one who’d been sleeping.

  She pointed the rifle at him, and he laughed. He let rip a stream of invectives about how women shouldn’t carry weapons and how she wasn’t strong enough. Women should have babies and look after their men, according to him. A common theme throughout many third-world countries. But it had never been her thing.

  She told him, “Don’t move, or I will shoot.”

  He spat on the floor and walked toward her. She raised the rifle and knew he would push it. Rather than deal with killing another person, she lowered the weapon to point it at his groin. He stopped, and anger such as she hadn’t seen in a long time ripped through his face. But she stood steady. She could hear the vehicles coming toward her. The man looked in the direction of the garage and said something she didn’t quite understand.

  “Go sit down,” she said, “or I will turn you into a eunuch.”

  He glared at her, hate dripping from his very pores. She shuddered but couldn’t ignore it. Neither could she turn her back on him. If she got too close, she knew he would be all over her. She should have knocked him out. She debated her options and realized that really there was only one option. Just as she made her decision, he spun and kicked. She fired. His knee went out from under him as the bullet passed through the joint. He shouted, grasping at his leg.

  She didn’t move. In a hard voice she said, “Get your ass back over to your friends.”

  Slowly, sobbing in pain, he shifted until he was lying on the floor beside the other four men. She glanced at them, and, instead of anger in their gazes, there was relief. She realized that if anybody here didn’t deserve a chance, it was the one she’d shot. The other men were happy to see him taken out of the picture. She motioned toward the bleeding man. “Is he one of the betraying assholes?”

  The man with the wife and child, who talked freely, nodded. “He made us help them. He’s part of the group who was happy to raze the village.” He glared at the man on the floor. “You should shoot him again and this time kill him.”

  The man on the ground sobbed.

  She turned to look at one of the men who’d been silent. “What do you say about him?” The man looked up, and there was hate in his eyes, but it wasn’t directed at her. “He killed my brother. And he shot the men forced to stand guard outside the holding. They were innocent villagers.”

  “Your brother?”

  “My brother’s the one who was forced to kill all the injured men. They had his wife and sons. They said, if he didn’t kill all the survivors, they would shoot him. But then, when he made it to the airstrip, they shot him anyway.” He turned, spat at the man on the ground and said, “He shot my brother. Then he shot my brother’s wife too.”

  She stared at the man on the ground. He’d stopped crying, but now just sheer anger and hatred and, yes, fear was in his eyes. “I should shoot you. It would be good for you to die at a woman’s hand,” she snapped. “But I’d rather see you rot in a jail with no food and no water for days on end.”

  The jails here were notorious. The death toll was high from poor food, unsanitary conditions and fights among the men. She didn’t know much about the judicial system, but it would probably be a whole lot nicer of her to shoot him now than to force him through that. The thing was, she didn’t feel like being nice. He was an asshole. He deserved everything coming to him.

  In the distance, she heard vehicles coming closer. She cast a hard look at the prisoners and walked to the window for a better look.

  Two military vehicles came to a dust-raising stop, one in front of the underground garage entrance and the other probably headed outside the locked front gate. Two men hopped out of the first vehicle, grabbed their weapons and took a stance on either side of the garage door entrance. She frowned, tapped her comm. “Ice, I’m not liking this,” she said.

  “Explain.”

  She quickly told Ice where the military men were.

  “Three more vehicles are coming—one from the airstrip, two from town,” Ice said. “Two of our guys should be driving the two trucks from the vil
lage. Bullard’s military contact should be the one arriving from the airstrip. However, we can’t trust anybody until we see the men. So don’t let anybody in.”

  Kasha had to admit that had been her thought too. The local military, who she didn’t trust, could wait until the rest of the men arrived. “Can you see where the other vehicle went?”

  “It’s coming around the front here. It’s looking for an entrance at the front gate.” Then her voice dropped. “Oops,” she said. “They have just climbed over the gates.”

  “Dammit, Bullard was supposed to get that set up. But we didn’t have time.”

  “What was he planning on?” Ice’s voice was breathless, as if running.

  Kasha could just imagine Ice moving quickly around the rooftop, trying to get in position to keep an eye on the men who were already jumping over the gate. “He was going to electrify it. Put underground sensors and alarms in the house.”

  “Right. Yeah, he needs to get on that. The men are twenty feet from the front door.”

  “Chances are it’s not locked,” Kasha said.

  Ice chuckled. “Men like this, they won’t give a shit if it’s locked or not. Expect gunfire as they blast their way through.”

  “I thought this was the military?”

  “It is. At least they’re wearing military uniforms. Beyond that we can’t count on anything,” Ice’s voice deepened. “How are you set for ammo?”

  “I’ve only shot one man,” Kasha said drily. “So I’m still fine.”

  Ice paused, as if startled. She asked, “Did you kill him?”

  “No. I blew his knee apart.”

  “Good. If he makes a move, this time kill him. These men are dangerous.”

  On that note, Kasha turned to study the men, but nothing had changed. The one on the ground was still moaning, and the other four were sitting quietly, but their eyes were wide and alert. They knew something was going down. Just then, she heard gunfire. The captives’ eyes took on a shocked look, and they started to yell at her. She held her finger to her lips. “It’s the military, but I don’t know if it’s the good military or the bad military.”

  From the look in their eyes, they understood. So she said in a warning note, “I highly suggest you stay quiet until we know more. If you give me any reason, … any reason,” she repeated for emphasis, “I’ll kill you myself.”

  With a hard glance, she walked to the monitors, laid down the rifle and clicked on the keys. A ton of potential lay in this holding, but it would take a lot of electronics to set it up properly. Right now, these new guys would be able to come through the house at whatever pace they wanted. But, if they didn’t know the layout, they wouldn’t find their way to the cache in the garage very quickly or to her in the kitchen or Ice on the rooftop.

  However, if they knew the layout, she could expect company any second. She checked the cameras here on the first floor. They weren’t even wall-mounted yet. They were just stuck in corners at the main entrances. She caught sight of two men, both with their weapons ready, as if looking for an attack. She watched as they immediately came toward her. With her heart sinking and her chest seizing, she realized they were coming directly here. She couldn’t use the comm without letting the men in the room know what she’d seen. They said they didn’t speak English, but they could still understand more than they let on. She didn’t want to give them any more information than she had to. And she’d probably already said too much.

  She tapped on her headpiece in Morse code.

  Ice answered in code. She was on her way down. Her instructions were simple to follow because Kasha had already done it. She was told to hide. She was already tucked inside one of the multiple pantry cabinets. She knew the arriving military would see the captives, and that would start something. Almost as soon as she had the thought, she heard footsteps running in, then a sudden silence, followed by sharp orders. Two of the villagers tried to explain.

  The man on the floor told them where she hid.

  She lifted her rifle, stepped out and said, “Hands up.”

  *

  Brandon could see the holding up ahead. He could also see one military vehicle parked outside the gate and another in front of the underground garage entrance. He hoped all was well, but his gut said it wasn’t. They had already heard from Ice that two men had jumped the gate in front. Either they suspected terrorists were inside or they were planning on taking out the place. Neither was a good scenario. Brandon parked his vehicle outside the garage just as Levi hopped out and swept down toward the garage. But it was still locked from the inside. Levi spoke to Ice, asking if she could open it. Her response was an immediate “No.”

  They looked for another entrance but couldn’t find one. They weren’t far from the tunnel though. With the same thought, they raced toward it. At the entrance, one crouched low and one stood high as they did a sweep to make sure it was empty. As soon as they entered, Levi told Ice where they were. Brandon knew things had gone from bad to worse, but they were here now.

  When they finally crept up the stairs and reached the kitchen pantry, they could hear yelling. Brandon went ahead and slipped to the left, while Levi went right. Brandon wasn’t exactly sure who was in the kitchen as most of the language was foreign.

  Then he heard Kasha’s voice, cold and hard. He didn’t understand a word she said, but he understood the meaning.

  He snuck farther along the wall, peering through the cracks in the pantry doorways, looking for more intruders. How many men had entered? From where he stood, the five captives were accounted for: one on the kitchen floor amid his blood plus four still tied to chairs. He could see Kasha holding a rifle on two new arrivals, both standing, both in military uniforms. Both their backs were to him.

  With a hand motion to Levi, he swept past and around the two newcomers so fast that both the uniformed men turned to see who was coming up behind them and now they had a standoff. The military men barked orders, but Brandon and Levi ignored them. Kasha snapped something back at the men. They turned and glared at her.

  She shrugged. “They don’t want to lower their weapons,” she said. “They say they are military police, and we are to drop our weapons.”

  “That’s nice,” Brandon said. “They came into Bullard’s house without warning, jumped over the gate and broke down the doors. They have no reason to interfere.”

  At Bullard’s name, she frowned. “How is he?”

  Levi chuckled. “Bullard’s fine. He’s on his way.”

  She nodded.

  The military men slowly lowered their weapons. Levi motioned for them to step apart, and then he disarmed them. Without weapons, the men were ushered toward the other prisoners and told to sit down. Kasha walked toward Brandon. Instinctively he opened his arms and tugged her in for a hug.

  She squeezed him back, and he held her for a long moment. Then he said, “What did they have to say?”

  She pointed at the man on the ground. “He told the military police where I was hiding.”

  Brandon turned his attention to the bloodied man. “You shot him?”

  “Yeah, I did. I should’ve killed him,” she snapped. “The others are from the village. One has a wife and a daughter. He was forced into helping, and he would do anything to save his family. Another has a similar story. Two have remained mostly silent, but one finally spoke up. His brother was the shooter from the last night who then was killed. But the one on the floor with my bullet in his knee is just an asshole. He was part of the group who forced the village men into this.” She turned to look at Brandon. “What about the village?”

  “Secure. As far as we can see, everybody is fine there.”

  “What about those coming from the airstrip?”

  “That’s Bullard’s military contact.”

  Brandon walked over to the man with the bullet hole in his knee. He kicked it hard. The man screamed. He said to Kasha, “You tell him that’s for him throwing you to the wolves.”

  She snorted. “Doesn’t matter
. He’s a traitor to everybody. Whoever pays him the most is who he looks after.”

  Brandon looked at the other prisoners. “Are you sure these men didn’t say anything to the police?”

  She shook her head. “No, they didn’t say anything.”

  The two men she’d conversed with the most looked nervously from one to the other, and the father spoke up. Kasha answered him. She turned to Brandon and said, “He says he didn’t do anything wrong. He’d like to make it up to the new owner. He didn’t want to get involved, but he had no choice.”

  Brandon nodded and eased back slightly. As soon as the four villagers saw that, they settled into their chairs. They weren’t going anywhere, tied up as they were. As for the asshole on the ground, Brandon said, “You should have killed him.”

  He heard Levi’s headset squawk, and Levi motioned toward the front door. Leaning closer to Kasha, Brandon whispered, “More company. I’m heading there.”

  She took a better position so she had a good aim on everyone.

  Brandon grinned. A girl after his own heart. He ran out the kitchen and down the hall to open the front door. The front gate was still locked. But this time Bullard was in the vehicle. Brandon raced to the gate and opened it. After letting Bullard and the rest of Levi’s team in, the two men greeted each other. “We’ve got two military men in the kitchen, another two were standing guard by the garage, plus the five captives. Everyone else is fine.”

  Bullard nodded. He motioned behind him to another jeep, this one carrying four military men. “I know these four,” Bullard said.

  “Do you think they are on the same side as the other soldiers inside?” Brandon asked.

  “No.” Bullard smiled. “But we should have a talk with those two you have in the kitchen.”

  “You may have better luck with the two outside the garage,” Ice yelled from the rooftop.

  “Why?” Brandon hollered.

  “I left them alive to get answers from, but they’ll need Bullard’s medical expertise,” Ice’s voice came again.