Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (73 page)

Thirty minutes later, Neil’s task was
complete.

“Are you happy now?” Neil asked,
dejectedly.

“Quite happy, Mr. Patel. The sooner you come
to realize the wisdom of complying with orders the first time, the
easier your time will be.”

Benjamin motioned to his men. One of them
picked up Neil and threw him over his shoulder.

As the blood rushed to his head, Neil masked
his gloom by sending his mind to a happier place.

Chapter 36

Grand Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming

12:08am, September 29th

Ponder watched as the foreigner prepped the
three snowmobiles Ponder had given them. He’d wondered how they
would transport the crippled Patel down the mountain, and had asked
Benjamin about it.

“We came prepared, Mr. Ponder.”

Benjamin waived one of his troops over. The
big man walked over with his oversized pack.

“Show Mr. Ponder how we’re taking Mr. Patel
down the mountain.”

The man nodded and unloaded the contents of
the backpack. It turned out that the team of buyers had a
collapsible sled. Fully constructed, it looked like an elongated
cocoon. The sled would be completely enclosed and could be towed
behind one of the snowmobiles.

“Aren’t you worried about the kid puking
inside that thing?” Ponder asked.

The ride down the mountain would be
treacherous. Ponder couldn’t imagine making the journey inside the
sled.

Benjamin smiled. “Mr. Patel will be given
sleeping medication prior to our departure.”

Not ten minutes later, all of Benjamin’s men
had their gear stowed on the idling snowmobiles. Ponder walked over
to the cocooned sled as Neil was being laid in. He watched
curiously as Benjamin administered the anesthetic from a small
syringe.

Ponder stood over Neil as the drug took
hold. “Have a nice trip, Neil.”

Neil looked up at his previous captor. A
look of amusement crossed his face. “Watch your back, Ponder.”

Ponder’s eyebrows furrowed. “What?”

Neil grinned like a drunk. “Oh, you’ll
see.”

Before he could say another word, Benjamin
stepped forward and closed and latched the lid.

“What was he talking about?” Ponder
asked.

“I believe it was simply the effects of the
medication. You never know what a person will say.”

Ponder’s bullshit radar was blaring in his
head. Benjamin looked to be saying the truth, but his instincts
were telling him something different. He finally shook the feeling
off by thinking about all the money in his bank account.

The bearded mercenary grinned and patted
Benjamin on the back, gruffly.

“No problem, buddy. You guys all set to
go?”

Benjamin breathed an imperceptible sigh of
relief. He’d thought Ponder wanted to press the point. This phase
of his operation would be the trickiest. Once he and his men left
Ponder’s compound he’d feel much better.

“We will be leaving momentarily, Mr.
Ponder.”

“Well, you guys know how to contact me if
you need anything in the future.”

“Thank you very much for your work and
hospitality.”

The two men shook hands and parted.

Benjamin jumped on the lead snowmobile and
the vehicles left the compound.

Ponder waited until the large doors closed
and then turned to go back to the main level. Between transferring
his newfound fortune and dealing with the remnants of the SSI team,
he still had a lot of work to do.

+++

Benjamin grinned under his mask as his small
convoy made its way off Battleship Mountain. It was always fun
dealing with greedy Americans. They were so easy to manipulate.

+++

Ponder sat down at his laptop and typed his
password. He took another sip of his whiskey as the web browser
loaded his bank’s homepage. After glancing at a small notebook he’d
pulled out of his pocket, Ponder entered his account ID and
password. He waited impatiently as the website took him through its
various safeguards.

Finally at his dashboard, the large man
clicked on his account.

“What the fuck?” he whispered.

The screen showed that his account had a
zero balance. Frantically, he refreshed the page. The balance
didn’t change.

Ponder could feel his blood pressure rising.
He wanted to kill someone. Picking up his landline, he dialed his
broker’s number from memory. The man picked up on the second
ring.

“Yeah?”

“It’s me,” Ponder responded, on the verge of
exploding.

“I know who it is, Nick. It’s like two in
the morning here. What do you need?”

“I need you to get your fucking ass out of
bed and find out where my fucking money went!”

There was a commotion on the other end as
the broker jumped out of bed, knocking several items off his
nightstand in the process.

“What are you talking about, Nick?”

“I told you. My fucking money
disappeared!”

Ponder could hear the man clicking away at
his own computer.

“Okay, I’m in your account. It says here
that the money was wired out less than an hour ago. What am I
missing here, Nick?”

“I’m putting you on hold. Don’t go
anywhere.”

Ponder replaced the phone on
his desk and ran for the server room. The only thought in his head
as he blasted past two stunned guards was,
I’m gonna kill those fucking ragheads!

+++

He berated himself for not keeping a closer
eye on Benjamin. Ponder realized too late that his greed had
seriously clouded his judgment.

Logging onto the computer in the server
room, he tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the thing to
load.

A new window popped up.

“What the hell?”

Words started appearing in the window as if
someone was writing.

Mr. Ponder, We will no longer be needing
your services. - Benjamin

Ponder picked up the flat screen monitor and
threw it against the wall.

“Motherfucker!”

Chapter 37

Grand Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming

12:30am, September 29th

“Get your asses moving!” Ponder commanded.
His men were hurrying to comply with the rushed orders. Some were
still scrambling to get their clothes on.

After destroying half of his server room,
Ponder had run through his compound rousing the rest of his troops.
He’d even radioed all his men posted outside the compound to
assemble in the oversized garage they were now prepping in. His
only hope of getting his money back was to catch the
double-crossing Pakistani.

“Take only what you need. We’re not coming
back,” Ponder ordered.

The mercenaries looked up in confusion. One
man had the nerve to question his employer.

“What do you mean we aren’t coming back? All
my shit’s in my room!”

Instead of answering, Ponder stepped up to
the man, pulled out his pistol, and shot him in the face. The boom
echoed then left the room in silence.

“Anyone else have something smart to
say?”

They all looked down at their dead colleague
in shock, then went back to the task of preparing the remaining
snowmobiles.

Ponder breathed heavily as he held his gun
out, ready to fire. Calming somewhat, he knew it hadn’t been the
smartest thing to thin out his already minimal troop strength. At
least his men now knew how serious the situation was.

The Ponder Group’s sole owner stomped out of
the room, his mind in full crisis mode. He had a few last things to
take care before leaving. Nick Ponder was planning on never coming
back to his fortress on Battleship Mountain.

+++

Cal’s team had made good time getting around
the mountain. They were at their final checkpoint trying to get a
look at Ponder’s hideout.

“Looks like the weather might be clearing a
bit,” MSgt Trent observed.

Cal looked up into the darkness with his
night vision goggles. He couldn’t tell.

“We’ll break up into the same groups as last
time,” said Cal to the group gathered near him. “Remember to keep
your eyes out for Ponder’s guys. Who knows where he’s got them
posted.”

None of the men commented. They knew their
responsibilities and were mentally preparing for the final descent
toward the hideout. If the enemy presented itself, their training
would take over.

“If there aren’t any questions, I’ll see you
boys on the objective,” finished Cal.

They dispersed and Cal caught up to
Brian.

“You sure you remember how to fire that
thing, Doc?”

Brian looked down at his weapon. “Shouldn’t
you be worried about making sure you don’t get lost again,
jarhead?”

The two friends looked at one another.
They’d left the tension between them behind. Both warriors knew how
dangerous this last part would be. It was entirely possible that
they could be walking into a trap.

“Doc, I don’t know how to say…”

“I know, Cal. Don’t worry. You know I never
would have missed this. Every one of us is doing this for Neil.
You’ve done good. Shit, we’ve been through worse, right? I’ll see
you down there, okay?”

Cal managed a nod as Brian turned back to
his assigned team.

I hope I’m not leading
these men to their deaths
, Cal thought
darkly.

+++

Just as his team set out, Daniel silently
ordered the formation to halt. Through his night vision goggles,
Cal could see each man quickly crouch down. He made his way up to
the sniper’s position.

“What is it?”

Daniel pointed down the mountain. “I think I
just saw a bunch of snowmobiles head that way.” Daniel motioned to
the northeast.

“Could you see how many?” Cal strained to
see what Daniel was talking about. He could just make out
headlights moving in the direction Daniel had indicated.

“I’m thinking ten to fifteen vehicles.”

“Could you make out any of the drivers?”

“No. Visibility is definitely clearing, but
it’s not that good. I’ve got a bad feeling about so many leaving at
once, Cal.”

Cal didn’t know what to
think. Where were that many vehicles going?
Is it a decoy?
Cal wasn’t sure how
many men Ponder had. The whole thing was one big guessing
game.

“Let’s get down there fast, Daniel.”

The sniper nodded and motioned for the rest
of the men to get up and move out.

Cal did something at that
moment that he rarely did. He said a silent prayer.
God, please tell me that Neil is still down
there
. When no response came, Cal got back
into his position in the moving formation. Time was working against
them.

Chapter 38

Grand Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming

1:04am, September 29th

“We’re over the objective, Trav,” Cowboy
announced over the C-130’s loudspeaker.

Travis stood up and walked to the cockpit.
Keeping his promise, Cowboy’s friends on the ground had made quick
work of the refueling. Most were combat vets and highly experienced
in getting planes back over the battlefield, posthaste.

“How’s the visibility?” Travis asked.

“The snow gods must be on our side this
morning. Believe it or not, I think it’s clearing up.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Now, I’m not saying it’s gonna be like a
sunny day on the beach, Trav. Your drop is still gonna be hella
dangerous.”

“You just worry about getting us over the
target. We’ll let our GPS guide us in.”

Cowboy nodded and downed the rest of his
third Red Bull. “You wanna stay up here while I get the video feed
up?”

“Yeah.”

“Give Lieutenant Granes over there a second,
and he’ll let you take a look.”

Cowboy’s co-pilot fiddled with his
instruments, then looked up.

“I think we’ve got some tangos down there,
Captain.”

Travis moved over for a better look. The
co-pilot had the aircraft’s thermal imaging running.

“Tell me what you see, Mr. Haden,” said Lt.
Granes.

It took Travis a second to take the picture
in.

“That looks like a convoy of some kind.
Wait, up on this mountain?”

Lt. Granes nodded. “I make twelve or
thirteen small vehicles, or snowmobiles considering the
terrain.”

“They look like they’re going pretty damn
fast,” Travis observed. “Are they chasing something?” He asked in
alarm.

“Let me see.” Lt. Granes panned the camera
in the direction of the convoy’s movement. Seconds later, he zeroed
in on a smaller group of three vehicles. “A hundred bucks says
that’s what the others are after.”

“Shit. I wish I knew who the hell they
are.”

“Who who is?” Todd Dunn asked from over his
shoulder. None of the men in the cockpit had realized he’d walked
up behind them.

“We’ve got two groups of snowmobiles down
there. It looks like the larger group is chasing the smaller
group,” said Travis.

“How large and how small?” Dunn asked.

“Thirteen in the big one and three in the
smaller.”

“Any thoughts?”

“I hope to hell it’s Cal in the larger
group.”

No one answered as they all digested the
situation.

Dunn spoke first. “Captain Jennings, do you
think you can find a spot ahead of that first group to drop
in?”

Cowboy scrolled through his mapping system
before replying. “Yeah, I think this’ll be as good a spot as any.”
He tapped the screen to indicate the new drop zone.

“Skipper, have you tried calling Cal again?”
Dunn asked.

“Fuck! I completely forgot.” Travis hurried
to pull the satellite phone out of his cargo pocket. “I’ve got a
signal.”

Travis redialed the Cal’s phone. Cal picked
up on the third ring.