Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (72 page)

Ponder looked up from his small horde. “I
thought we’d have a little lunch and then head down to see your new
pet.”

Benjamin smiled amiably. “That is much
appreciated, Mr. Ponder, but would it be possible to get our lunch
while we administer another test on Mr. Patel?”

Ponder gritted his teeth. “I thought we
already got past all this.”

Benjamin waived a hand in apology. “It’s
actually not a test to verify the purchase, Mr. Ponder.”

“Then what the hell is it for?” Ponder
growled impatiently.

“My superiors merely want to initiate a
certain operation prior to our departure. Please be assured that as
soon as I see Mr. Patel, your money will be wired to your
account.”

The comment seemed to calm Ponder. The man
known as Benjamin knew the next hour would be the most delicate of
his operation. It was important to keep Ponder happy. His superiors
had sent Benjamin not only because he was one of his country’s
deadliest assassins, but because he had the rare duel talents of
diplomacy and patience. Benjamin felt just as at home with the
Prince of Wales as he did with a common street beggar. Upon laying
eyes on Nick Ponder, he knew the man would be easily manipulated by
greed.

Benjamin smiled again. “Shall we meet with
Mr. Patel?”

+++

Neil was lying down on his
cot trying to rest. He’d heard the commotion almost an hour before.
His time had come. Neil was scared. Never before had he felt so
alone. That wasn’t completely true. After the death of his mother
and father at the hands of Pakistani terrorists, Neil went into a
drug-induced nosedive. It was only through the intervention of Cal
and his dad that he had come to terms with the murder of his
parents. Neil could still hear Cal Sr.’s words:
“
I can’t tell you that the pain will ever
go away, Neil. What I can tell you is that you’ll learn to deal
with it and get to living again
.” The man
had been a second father to the young college student.

The doorway at the top of the staircase
opened with a loud groan. Neil sat up and waited for the footsteps
to come down the concrete stairs. Nick Ponder was the first to come
to his cell door.

“I’ve got a visitor for you, Neil,” Ponder
said with a wicked grin.

A tiny light of hope flared within Neil.
Could it be his friends?

A man stepped in front of Ponder and peered
into the room. “Hello, Mr. Patel.”

Neil’s eyes went wide with terror. He knew
this man. It felt like all the oxygen was sucked out of the room
and replaced with unbearable cold. Benjamin smiled evilly and
nodded. He turned back to Ponder. “I am satisfied, Mr. Ponder. Let
us finalize our transaction in your office.”

Ignoring Neil, they both headed back up the
stairs. Neil stayed in his cell. The shock of seeing the man he
thought to be dead shook Neil to his core. All hope was lost.

Chapter 34

Grand Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming

9:05pm, September 28th

It was getting harder and
harder for Cal to put one foot in front of the other.
What I wouldn’t give for some food right
now.
He’d been dehydrated before and
recognized the signs that his body was giving. He needed water
soon, but stopping wasn’t an option. Occasionally he would scoop up
a handful of snow, stick it in his mouth and suck on it. Contrary
to what most people think, eating snow can actually dehydrate you.
Cal knew the only way to get water out of snow was to melt it. He
didn’t have time for that. It was already way past the time he
should have met up with the rest of the team.

Cal reached down for another scoop of snow
and took a bite.

“Didn’t your platoon sergeant tell you never
to eat yellow snow, Boss?”

Cal whirled around at the sound of the
voice. A red flashlight flicked on. Rising up from the snow and
darkness was Gaucho. Cal exhaled in relief.

“Please tell me Daniel and Lance made it
too.”

Gaucho’s smile faded. “Snake Eyes is here,
but Lance is gone.”

“What happened?” Cal asked.

Gaucho didn’t have a chance to explain.
Daniel walked up and put a hand on Cal’s shoulder. “I can’t tell
you how glad I am to see you, Cal. What the hell possessed you to
jump into the canyon?”

Cal looked at his friend in confusion. “How
did you know…?” His tired mind struggled to put the pieces
together. “You distracted the bear.”

“I was about to shoot the damn thing when
you jumped. I thought you were dead. We were giving you until 2200
and then heading out.”

“What can I say? I guess some of your good
luck must be rubbing off on me,” Cal smiled. “Wait. What happened
to the bear?”

Gaucho stepped closer and answered for
Daniel. “Wouldn’t you know it, this crazy Gringo shot that fucker
at point blank range. One shot one kill, right, Snake Eyes?”

Daniel shrugged at the compliment. “It was
dead before it hit the ground…the ground that I was lying on. The
grizzly’s momentum almost got me. I just barely got out of the way
as it came crashing down.”

Cal shook his head in amazement. Was there
anything the Marine sniper couldn’t do?

“What happened to Lance?”

“He died saving me,” Daniel answered
solemnly.

“How?”

“Trapper was about to shoot me when Lance
came running in and distracted him. The poor guy didn’t stand a
chance and he knew it. Trapper shot point blank. He died in my
arms.”

Cal recognized the grief in Daniel’s voice.
It pained him to see the sniper lose yet another of his men.

“And Trapper?”

“I took care of him.”

Cal nodded.

“Please tell me one of you has some water,”
Cal almost pleaded.

Daniel pulled a Nalgene bottle out of his
coat and handed it to him. Cal had to remind himself not to drink
too fast, but his overwhelming thirst won out. He downed the entire
bottle in seconds.

“Where are the rest of the guys?” Cal asked
once he was partially satiated.

Gaucho pointed up the hill.

“Let’s go see about finishing this fucking
hike,” Cal suggested.

The three men headed up the hill, each
rejuvenated by the sight of the other.

+++

The rest of the team was overjoyed to have
Cal back. After hearing the story of Cal’s suicidal jump from
Daniel, no one had held much hope for his survival.

Under the cover of darkness, the SSI
warriors prepped for their final journey around Battleship
Mountain. They would stick together for the last leg of the
movement.

Brian, MSgt Trent, Gaucho, Daniel and Cal
huddled together over a map to finalize the plan.

“We’ll stay in a column until we get right
here.” Cal pointed to the map. “At that point, we’ll split up and
approach Ponder’s compound from here and here.”

The men nodded. It wouldn’t be easy, but it
would maximize their chances of closing in unnoticed.

“Any questions?” Cal asked.

Trent raised his hand. “You get word from
Travis?”

“Not yet. This weather is really messing
with our comm gear. I can’t get a signal with either my cell phone
or the satellite phone.”

“So we don’t even know if Neil’s still
there,” stated Brian evenly. He was all about helping a friend, but
his feeling of unease grew as they got closer to their
objective.

“What can I say, Doc? It’s the last place we
know Neil was. Daniel confirmed that with Lance earlier.”

Brian wasn’t convinced, but said nothing.
Cal couldn’t ignore the look of doubt on his friend’s face.

“If you’ve got something to say, Doc, spit
it out.”

There were so many things Brian wanted to
say, but he didn’t want to dampen the men’s spirits. “Just ignore
me, guys. Must be the cold messing with my Hispanic roots.”

“You got that right, hombre!” Gaucho
laughed.

The atmosphere lightened. They made their
way back to their gear to get ready to go.

Brian followed Cal. “Hey, Cal?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry about that back there. I just
can’t shake this…vibe I’m getting.”

Cal looked at his friend. “I know how you
feel. This whole operation has been one big goat rope from the
beginning. Trust me, if I had something better, we’d do it. But
right now we need to push forward and find Neil.”

“I know.”

The two men stared at each other for a
moment. Brian broke the silence. “Just avoid jumping off any more
cliffs, Staff Sergeant. I’m a good corpsman, but not THAT
good.”

They both laughed. “Don’t worry. I hope I
never have to do that again.”

Cal patted his friend on the shoulder and
moved off to put on the gear the team had managed to piece together
for him. As he strapped on his new skis, Cal tried to ignore the
nagging sense of dread that threatened to overtake his resolve.
Neil and the rest of the men were counting on him.

+++

Travis stood in the cockpit looking over
Cowboy’s shoulder. They’d been waiting for the storm to die down
for hours.

“We’re gonna need to get a refill soon,”
Cowboy offered conversationally.

“How long will that take?”

Cowboy consulted his navigation system. “I’d
say no more than an hour and half. The ground crew is already
expecting us.”

“You can land in this stuff?” Travis down to
the roiling clouds.

“It’s all about trusting your
instruments.”

Travis wasn’t so sure. “I’ll be right
back.”

He walked to the troop hold to find Dunn.
Dunn looked up from the conversation he was having with one of the
team leaders.

“Cowboy says we need to get some fuel soon,”
said Travis.

“We can’t avoid it?”

Travis shook his head. “I think we’re
already on fumes.”

“How long will it take?”

“Cowboy says it’ll take no more than an hour
and a half.”

Dunn looked down at his watch. “That means
we probably won’t be over the target again until after
midnight.”

Travis shrugged. “I don’t know what else we
can do. Any word from home?”

“The weather’s still too bad to see
anything. I’m sure that even if we had Neil to hack into the spy
satellites, they wouldn’t be able to get us a clear picture.”

Travis did not like waiting. He hated to
think what might happen if they couldn’t parachute in.

“Let’s play it by ear and keep our fingers
crossed that the weather clears after we get some fuel. Who knows,
we may get lucky.”

“I hope you’re right, Skipper, because I’d
really like to get out of this aircraft.”

Chapter 35

Grand Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming

11:26pm, September 28th

After some haggling, the final wire transfer
was made to Ponder’s account.

“Now that you have your money, Mr. Ponder,
would it be okay to use Neil in your server room?” Benjamin asked
politely.

“Now that I have my money, you can do
whatever you want with that little bastard.” Ponder downed the
remnants of his drink and slammed the glass onto the table with
glee. He could almost smell the money he’d just made. Nick Ponder
was finally a wealthy man.

“You sure I can’t get you a drink,
Benjamin?”

“My religion precludes me from drinking
alcohol, Mr. Ponder, but thank you for the offer. Now, can you show
me to the server room?”

+++

Twenty minutes later, Ponder left Neil with
Benjamin and his men in the server room. Neil was sitting at the
main computer terminal. Benjamin handed him a piece of paper with
handwritten instructions. Neil read over the notes and looked up
incredulously.

“Are you kidding me? I won’t do this.”

“Yes, you will, Mr. Patel.” Benjamin
extracted a pistol from his trousers and rested the barrel against
Neil’s cheek. “You now belong to my superiors. These are the first
orders you will obey from your new masters.”

“I won’t do anything for you fucking
terrorists!”

Benjamin smiled patiently and nodded to one
of his men. The large henchman reached over, grabbed Neil’s ear
with one hand and pulled out a knife with the other.

“You will do as instructed or my friend here
will take your body apart piece by piece. We will only take the
parts that won’t hinder you in your duties. I would have thought
that after losing your foot, you would already understand the
gravity of the situation, Mr. Patel.”

Neil looked up at the man with absolute
hatred. This man had orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of his
parents. SSI had later conducted a clandestine operation to find
the terrorist cell and eliminate its members. It had supposedly
been an overwhelming success. Benjamin was supposed to be dead.

“Ah! I see you are still angered and
confused by my appearance.” Benjamin replaced his weapon and sat
down next to Neil. “You thought I was dead, no?”

Neil nodded.

“As you can see,” Benjamin gestured to his
body, “I am still alive.”

“How?” growled Neil.

Benjamin grinned. “My people are not as
stupid or primitive as you believe, Mr. Patel. It is quite common
for our leadership to employ doubles to ensure our safety. The man
your people killed in retaliation for your parents’ death was a
perfectly crafted duplicate. I have had to stay concealed until the
perfect time. It just so happened that my revenge coincided with
the wishes of my superiors. You see, Mr. Patel, you have grown as
arrogant as your father.”

Neil seethed and tears came to his eyes.
“You don’t know anything about my father, you murderer!”

“I know much more than you think. Now, shall
we get back to your first assignment?”

Neil glared at the man he’d killed over and
over again in his dreams.

+++