Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (75 page)

+++

They approached the long sled with weapons
drawn.

“What do you think’s in there?” asked
Dunn.

Travis shrugged and stepped
up beside it. He examined the exterior and noted that there looked
to be some kind of tank strapped to its side.
Oxygen?
he wondered.

Once he determined that the contraption
wasn’t booby trapped, he unhooked the metal latches holding the
medal lid. A hiss escaped as the seal cracked open and warm air
whooshed out into the winter cold. Travis carefully lifted the lid
and peered in.

“Holy shit! It’s Neil!”

Chapter 40

Grand Teton Mountain Range, Wyoming

3:35am, September 29th

Cowboy reported that the only remaining
snowmobile had disappeared. With the still unconscious Neil in
their possession, Travis had turned his mind back to Cal’s team.
He’d established variable communication with his cousin and
received the news of the team’s casualties. Before the connection
broke off, Dunn had their men fully ready to head up to Battleship
Mountain. They would take turns pulling Neil’s sled with a hastily
made set of double harnesses. No one complained as they marched
through the deep snow.

Upon arriving at Cal’s location, Travis took
in the devastation. The destruction of Ponder’s hideway was
complete.

“How’s Trent?”

“He’ll live,” answered Cal.

Travis could see that his cousin was taking
the loss of life hard. He knew the feeling. The former SEAL had
lost a lot of friends since 9-11.

“They all knew the danger, Cal.” Travis
tried to put a comforting hand on his cousin’s shoulder, but Cal
shrugged it off.

“Did you find Ponder?” asked Cal.

“No. We did a quick search of both groups
but he wasn’t among the dead.”

“So he got away,” Cal murmured to the
mountain.

“Looks like it.”

“Good.”

“
What are you talking
about?” asked Travis.

“That means I can find him…and kill
him.”

Chapter 41

Quetta, Balochistan Province, Pakistan

11:49pm, October 2nd

Nick Ponder stumbled into his shabby hotel
suite, a Chinese hooker under one arm and a half a case of beer
under the other. The suite was surprisingly spacious for the price
and the location. He closed the door and shoved the beer into the
hooker’s hands.

“Why don’t you go throw those in the cooler
I’ve got in the bedroom. I’m gonna go take a leak, and I’ll meet
you in there in a minute.”

“Any’ting you wan, big man,” answered the
prostitute in heavily accented English.

He patted her on the rear, then headed for
the bathroom. After relieving himself and rinsing off in the
shower, he padded toward the bedroom with a towel wrapped around
his waist.

Ponder stopped at the
doorway. The light was off. He smiled lustily.
Nothing against Chinks, but I’d rather have the lights off
anyway
, he thought.

“You in there, honey?” Ponder asked almost
sweetly. It had been a while since he’d gotten laid and his member
was already rising to the challenge. There was no answer from the
bedroom. Maybe this one liked to play games.

He fumbled for the light switch so he
wouldn’t trip over the mess he’d left in the room. Through his
drunken haze, he remembered that the only light in the room came
from a lamp on the bedside table.

“Shit,” mumbled Ponder, as
he tripped over one of his canvas bags on his way to find the
lamp.
Sure would’ve been easier if she’d
left it on, dammit.

Just as he reached under the lamp shade
something came crashing down on the back of his head.

+++

Ponder’s head was pounding.
He struggled to open his eyes through the searing pain.
What the fuck happened?
A
moment later, he realized he couldn’t move his arms or legs.
Panicking, he forced his eyes open. It took a second for his vision
to focus.

He was lying on his back looking up at the
ceiling. Ponder looked left and right and saw that someone had
strapped him to the bed.

Someone dressed in traditional Pakistani
robes walked into view. The person’s face was covered with material
from a black headdress.

“Who the fuck are you?” Ponder croaked.

The robed figure unwrapped the headdress and
stared down at him. Ponder looked back in complete shock.

“You were expecting someone else?” Cal
asked.

Ponder couldn’t find the words to speak.
He’d used every ounce of his skill to cover his tracks.

“I’ll bet you’re wondering how I found you.”
Cal smiled and turned toward the living room. “Why don’t you come
in here, Neil?”

Neil Patel walked gingerly on a new
prosthetic device. Assisting him was the blond-haired sniper,
Daniel Briggs. Nick Ponder’s mind screamed. He was in Pakistan
tracking down that damn Benjamin. He’d hoped to somehow kill the
Pakistani and re-kidnap Patel. It looked like the double-crossing
raghead had lost his prisoner too.

“Double surprise, Nick. I’ll bet you thought
your buyers had Neil hard at work by now,” said Cal.

“How?” Ponder managed to ask.

Now it was Neil’s turn to grin. “While you
had me shutting down that power plant, I planted a program on your
server. It not only infected and tracked that computer, but it also
sent all the information about everything you hold electronically
back to our servers in Tennessee. The minute I had access to my
laptop we started tracking you. We’ve been reading every email
you’ve sent and listening to every phone call you’ve made.”

“Not too bad, huh?” Cal asked. “We figured
you might be coming to get your money back from the Pakistanis. It
would’ve been easy to take you at any time, but ‘ol Snake Eyes over
there,” Cal nodded toward Daniel, “thought we should wait and see
how your investigation progressed.”

When Ponder didn’t respond, Cal continued.
“Nick, now you’re gonna tell us what you found out at your
whorehouse meeting.”

Ponder felt like a fool. Already disgraced
and dead broke, tomorrow was supposed to be his chance for payback.
Not even a week before, he’d been so sure of himself. He was
supposed to be on some exotic beach drinking all day and screwing
all night. Now he didn’t know what to say. Ponder shook the
helpless feeling away. His confidence returned when he remembered
that he was dealing with Goody-Two-Shoes-Stokes’ son. They might
rough him up a bit, but he’d been through worse.

“You can go fuck yourself, jarhead.” Ponder
grinned at his comment.

Cal shook his head. “Go get Higgins.”

Daniel left the room to make the call to the
battered van on the street below. Two minutes later, Dr. Higgins
walked into the bedroom with a leather medical bag.

+++

As with the FBI agent and the traitor,
Ponder talked soon after the drugs took hold. Cal now had
Benjamin’s location. He’d instructed Higgins to administer the
reversal drug that would bring Ponder back to normal awareness. Dr.
Higgins nodded to Cal when he felt Ponder was back to his old
self.

“Thanks for your help, Doc.”

“Anytime, Calvin. I’ll be in the van.”

Higgins left, surrounded by four robed SSI
security staff.

Cal turned back to his prisoner. “Well,
Nick, now that we have what we need, we don’t need you
anymore.”

“What are you gonna do, kill me?” Ponder
laughed.

Cal stared back, unblinking. Instead of
responding, he pulled out a pistol with a suppressor screwed onto
the barrel and stepped up to the bed.

“Come on, man. I’m sure we can work
something out,” Ponder offered.

“We have Neil, the money, and the buyer’s
location. Tell me what you might possibly have to offer, Nick.”

The comment shook Ponder’s bravado.

“You have the money?” he asked.

“Oh, didn’t we mention that? Because
Benjamin had Neil use your computer, we easily tracked the money
and took it. So you see, Nick, we don’t need you anymore.”

Ponder’s eyes went wide, his mind finally
comprehending the danger. He’d underestimated the Marine’s
ruthlessness. Before he could respond, Cal extended the pistol and
fired two rounds into Nick Ponder’s face.

“That was for Brian.”

Chapter 42

Hanna Lake, Balochistan Province, Pakistan

6:37am, October 2nd

Benjamin relished his early morning rowing
on the nearly empty lake. Rowing was a passion he’d picked up while
studying at Oxford University nearly twenty years prior. He didn’t
like much about the Brits, but he appreciated their love of history
and sports like cricket and rowing.

After being on the lake for close to an
hour, he had worked up a good sweat. In a country where physical
fitness was uncommon, Benjamin was a rarity. He never overindulged
and, unlike the majority of his countrymen, Benjamin never smoked.
His lithe body was a testament to his dedication. There was always
the occasional newcomer that would laugh about his workout routine,
but that reaction was always their last. The jokester quickly
learned that Benjamin’s physique was the least of his worries.
There was a reason he’d become one of Pakistan’s leading
terrorists.

This morning’s row was especially important
because it gave him time to think. His current predicament was
aggravating, but did little to unnerve the unflappable assassin.
Not only had he lost his entire team, he’d also lost Neil Patel.
The only satisfaction he’d received after the berating from his
masters was finding out that someone had apparently stolen all the
money the Pakistanis had stolen back from Ponder. Luckily, Benjamin
had nothing to do with the technological aspect of the operation.
Some poor Pakistani geek was probably already dead for failing to
protect their masters’ funds.

A plan was starting to form in his head as
he pulled his racing shell up to the small dock. Standing up, one
of his bodyguards handed Benjamin a towel.

“Any phone calls?” asked Benjamin.

“No, sir.”

“Good. Pull the car around. I want to go
home.”

His three bodyguards trotted off down the
road while Benjamin finished drying himself with the towel.
Throwing on an Adidas windbreaker to ward off the chill, he
stretched as he waited, still mulling over his options. The master
terrorist still didn’t know who had stolen the funds and where Neil
Patel had ended up. It bothered Benjamin that a new enemy had
somehow ambushed him and probably ended up with Patel. None of the
feelers he’d put out had yet to find any of the information he
needed.

Benjamin finished his stretches and wondered
what was taking his men so long. They’d parked just up the road. He
decided to walk down the road and meet them on the way.

After a minute of walking,
the car still hadn’t come his way. Benjamin cursed himself for not
having a weapon. He was getting too lax in his supposedly safe
surroundings. Coming around a bend, he spotted the armored black
Audi A8 parked on the side of the road. He could hear the smooth
engine purring.
What are those fools
doing?

Because the vehicle had
blacked out windows, Benjamin couldn’t see inside. Moving
cautiously around the vehicle, he made his way to the passenger
side.
I’ll kill these idiots if they’re
looking at porn again.

He’d been forced to find new bodyguards
after losing his most loyal men days before. Reaching out a hand,
Benjamin went to open the rear passenger-side door.

“Hello, Benjamin,” said a voice in
English.

The Pakistani whipped around, dropping into
a protective crouch as he spun. Standing with his hands casually
pointing a rifle at him was a man with brown hair and a sly grin.
He’d apparently materialized from the tree line next to the
road.

“Who are you?” Benjamin asked.

“I’m surprised you don’t know,
Benjamin.”

He stared at the man dubiously.

“I assure you that I have no idea. It seems
that you have the upper hand.”

The man nodded. “That’s true.”

“If you know who I am, I can also assume
that you know I am a man not to be trifled with. My men will be
here any second.”

The stranger laughed as if he were the only
one privy to a secret joke.

“I’m afraid your men won’t be coming to your
rescue, Benjamin.”

Benjamin’s eyes narrowed.

“Go ahead and take a look in the car.”

“Are they dead?”

The man shrugged. A chill
ran down Benjamin’s spine.
How did he get
to my men?
This was his territory. He owned
every roadblock and soldier in the area.

It would be unfair to say that the terrorist
was afraid. He’d been in too many battles to be frightened by
death. It would be accurate to say that Benjamin was concerned. No
one had ever gotten this close to him in nearly twenty years. He
still bore the scars from the interrogation he’d received at the
hands of the Pakistani Intelligence Service.

“How did you do it?” asked Benjamin, now
casually leaning back again the sedan.

“It turns out the big wigs in your capital
don’t like you much. Sounds like you’ve been a thorn in their side
for years. They were more than happy to give us safe passage. That,
plus a little cash went a long way.”

“So you’re here to kill me.”

“Not me.”

“Who then?”

The young man motioned to the tree line
behind him. Benjamin looked and saw a figure emerge. His eyes went
wide as the second man limped out.

“Surprised to see me, Benjamin?” asked Neil,
as he stepped up next to Cal. He stood with obvious discomfort on a
new prosthetic. Neil held a pistol in his right hand.