Infidels (14 page)

“The
doctors don’t want her flying yet, but—what the hell is this?” Dawson cranked
the volume on the television, the CNN International anchor talking on one half
of the screen, a Breaking News banner in red emblazoned across the top, a
hooded man speaking on the other half.

“—just
received this prerecorded message. We will play it for you in its entirety in a
moment, but first we at CNN want to explain what you are about to see. Embedded
with this statement is footage that appears to show American soldiers with what
the speaker claims is the Black Stone, the ancient holy relic that is normally
located at the Kaaba in Mecca. Viewers may have seen images of the Kaaba with
hundreds of thousands of the Muslim faithful walking around it during the Hajj
holy festival. The footage of the American soldiers has been modified by CNN to
hide the identity of these men in the event the footage is genuine. Here now is
the speech in its entirety, delivered to us in English and Arabic versions.”

Niner
looked at Dawson. “This can’t be good.”

“No
shit.”

The
screen split with the hooded man on the left, the footage of what was instantly
recognizable as Red’s team on the right.

“Praise
be to Allah who created the creation for his worship and commanded them to be
just and permitted the wronged one to retaliate against the oppressor in kind.
To my brothers and sisters I say this: we are the wronged, and we have proof of
who the oppressor is. Two days ago the great Prince Khalid al bin Abdullah Al
Saud was kidnapped and killed by operatives of the American government. At the
same time they stole the great holy relic, the Black Stone, an unforgiveable, sacrilegious
sin.

“As
was clear to me and to all who follow the prophet’s teachings, peace be upon
him, Prince Khalid was forced to deliver a televised address against his will,
as no true Muslim could say the horrible things he said, willingly. His speech
was thankfully halted when forces loyal to the teachings of the prophet, peace
and blessings be upon him, attacked, in an attempt to free Prince Khalid and
recover the stolen holy relic.

“Unfortunately
they failed. The American soldiers responsible beheaded our great Prince and
took the Black Stone to a location only now discovered by our operatives. As
the footage clearly shows, these men not only wear the uniform of the enemy,
use the equipment of the enemy, but possess the Black Stone.

“This
cannot be tolerated. No greater offence has ever been made against Islam and
the prophet himself, peace be upon him. The Americans and their allies attack
us at every turn, declare war on our very way of life, and massacre us by the
tens of thousands, all in an attempt to subvert the one true religion. We have
fought back against them, killing their soldiers, killing their wives and daughters,
destroying their mighty buildings, but now, in an act of unspeakable blasphemy,
the infidels have taken the most holiest of relics for themselves, with the
clear intention of destroying it.

“This
cannot be allowed to happen, and there is only one way to stop this horror.

“I
call upon all true Muslims around the world to rise up against those who would
subjugate them, against those who would insult our religion, against those who
would dare to destroy the holy relic. I call upon all true Muslims to
kill
the infidels, to slaughter them where they live, where they
work, where they pray. I call upon all true Muslims to declare Jihad against
the infidels until the holy relic, the Black Stone, is back in the hands of the
faithful and the followers of the prophet, peace be upon him.

“The
time has come, my brothers and sisters, to put an end to the attacks on our
faith, and take what Allah himself divined was ours. All peace be upon he who
follows this guidance, and delivers justice to the infidel.”

The view
changed back to the talking head, several more appearing as the commentary and
analysis began, Dawson muting it and turning to Niner.

“I think
we better get to a secure location.”

Niner
nodded in agreement. “I think I might give my folks a shout.”

Dawson
rose. “Me too.”

The Unit, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

“Thank you for taking my call, Mr. Secretary.”

“I’m
busy, Colonel, as I’m sure you can appreciate.”

Colonel
Clancy frowned, the tone of the Secretary of Defense not one suggesting
cooperation was about to be had. Clancy decided not to beat around the bush.
“Of course, sir, which is why I’m calling. I have a team deployed in Yemen and
need to extract them immediately, but I’m getting the runaround. The Captain of
the USS Iwo Jima is refusing to deploy the evac helicopters. He says the order
came from your office.”

“He’s
correct, Colonel.” Clancy’s teeth sank deeper into his unlit cigar. “After that
broadcast catching your men with their pants down, all hell’s broken loose.
We’ve already got reports of attacks on civilians all across the globe and
protests beginning to form in front of our embassies worldwide. We’ve got to
get ahead of this Colonel, and the first step is denying any and all
involvement.”

“But
what about my men?” Clancy could feel his blood begin to boil, his cheeks hot
and red.

“They
were never there.
We
were never there.”

“What
the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It
means they’ve been disavowed. No United States assets will be used to retrieve
them, and we will deny any knowledge of them should they be captured. As far as
the United States government is concerned, they never existed.”

Clancy
yanked the cigar out of his mouth, whipping it across the room. “That’s
bullshit, sir! Those men were there under my orders, approved by my superiors,
by their government. They deserve better than to be abandoned in the middle of
some goddamned desert!”

“Listen,
Colonel, I understand how you feel. But with the footage released to the press
showing your men with this Muslim artifact, the most holy damned one they’ve
got, we have to distance ourselves from this as fast and as hard as we can.”
There was a pause followed by a sigh. “Colonel, Tom, do you know what tomorrow
is?”

“I don’t
understand. Friday?”

“Exactly.
Friday. Mosques around the world, including all across our own country, are
going to be filled to capacity, and if we can’t get ahead of this message,
those people are going to be pouring out onto the streets thinking our
government killed Prince Khalid and stole this black rock. And if that happens,
hundreds if not thousands are going to die. Remember what happened with those
Danish cartoons. Hundreds around the world died, even more were wounded, all
over some cartoons. What could happen with their holiest of relics being stolen
terrifies me, Tom, as it should all of us.”

Clancy
sucked in a deep breath, calming his voice if only slightly. “Sir, with all due
respect, retrieving my men means retrieving the artifact. We can then deliver
it back to the Saudis and put an end to this.”

“Absolutely
not, Colonel. If we did that then we’d be admitting the footage is genuine.
Even if we denied stealing it, no one would believe us and God knows when the
violence would end. We’re better off denying all involvement and maintaining
that denial.”

“So my
men, this country’s men, are the ones who are left holding the bag.”

“I’m
sorry that’s the way it has to be. Colonel, Tom, these are good men. The finest
our country has to offer. I know the type. They’ll find a way to get home.”

“Despite
your best efforts.”

“That’s
not fair, Tom.” He paused, the sound of a deep breath being taken bursting
through the phone. “Tom, Colonel, I have to ask this officially. Are you
absolutely certain they had nothing to do with this? The theft I mean?”

Clancy’s
grip tightened on the receiver. “Sir, you’re lucky you’re on the other end of a
phone.”

“I
understand. Good bye, Colonel.”

The call
ended and Clancy slammed the phone into its cradle then jumped from his chair,
rushing out of his office and down the hall. “Make a hole!” he shouted,
startled staff jumping out of the way and hugging walls. Swiping his pass, he
entered the Op Center for the Yemini operation, pointing at the coordinator.
“Get me Bravo Two.”

She
shook her head. “I’m sorry, sir. They just blocked all their comms. Their codes
have been locked out.”

“So we
have no way of communicating with them?”

The
coordinator shook her head. “Negative. Not unless they have a personal
cellphone and can get coverage. But this is Yemen, sir, there’s almost no
coverage.”

Clancy
clenched and unclenched his fists, looking for something to hit before he
calmed himself enough to continue.

“Get me
Dawson.”

Houthi Rebel Encampment, North-Western Yemen

“Shit, our comms just went dead!”

Red spun
toward Atlas. “What?”

“I was
just checking in and then it went dead. I tried reentering my code but it’s
coming back invalid.”

Red
immediately activated his comm but received an error tone through his earpiece.
He rekeyed his code into his TransApp enabled phone.

No joy.

What
the hell is going on?

He activated
his unsecured comm, motioning to Atlas. “Zero-Seven, Zero-Two, comm check,
over.”

Atlas
gave a thumbs up. “Zero-Two, Zero-Seven, reading you five-by-five, over.”

Red
nodded. “Gather around, boys.” The others quickly joined him, including their
rescued hostage, Josh Pullman. “Here’s the situation. Our secure comms are
down. The computer is showing a connection but our codes aren’t working, which
means the satellite is good but we’ve been locked out.” He nodded toward the
crate with the Black Stone. “I’m guessing this has everything to do with that
thing.”

“Somebody
talked.”

Red
looked at Atlas, nodding. “Or the video from that damned camera setup you found
was released. Either way, there’s no way we’d be left out here hanging unless
something’s gone very wrong.”

“So
what’s the plan?” asked Jimmy.

Red
motioned toward the two vehicles belonging to the now dead terrorists. “Make
sure they’re operational, load up on supplies, and get the hell away from here.
If someone talked, then they might have given away our location.”

Atlas
motioned toward the crate. “What about that?”

“We
can’t leave it here, it’s too important. Load it in the back of one of the
trucks, we’ll take it with us.”

“And the
head?”

Red
frowned, eying the basket with Prince Khalid’s head inside. “We better take it
as well.”

Atlas
held up the portable satellite modem. “I’ll see if I can get this thing going,
maybe we can get a satellite connection through it.”

Red
smiled. “Good idea.”

“I’ve
been known to have one from time to time.”

Jimmy cleared
his throat. “Not calling in sick for this Charlie-Foxtrot wasn’t one of them.”

Atlas
eyeballed him. “If we’ve been disavowed, then I can kick your ass and not get
court-martialed.”

Jimmy
kissed his fingers then smacked his ass. “You’d have to catch me first, big
boy.”

“You may
be fast, twinkie, but I’ve got stamina.”

Jimmy
opened his mouth but Atlas cut him off with a raised finger and a cocked head.

“One
joke about my girlfriend and I tear your nuts off.”

Jimmy
cupped his boys. “Yes’m!”

One of
the trucks roared to life, Sergeant Zack “Wings” Hauser hanging out the driver
side window, giving a thumbs up. “Nearly a full tank. Engine light’s on, but
who the hell knows.”

The
second truck started, Sergeant Eugene “Jagger” Thomas giving a wave. “Three
quarters of a tank and no indicators. She looks good!”

Red
motioned to the crate. “Load it in the back, get water and enough of their food
for three days. We need local camo too—strip the dead if you have to—we need to
look like we belong here. Also take an AK each and all the ammo you can find. We
don’t know what we’re heading into.”

All I
know is it can’t be good.

Embassy of the United States, Paris, France

Dawson exchanged an angry glance with Niner, his blood past the
boiling point, and judging by Niner’s clenched jaw, the usually jovial man was
just as irate.

“Who the
hell’s decision was that, sir?”

“Straight
from the Secretary of Defense. I’ve confirmed it with the White House and
Pentagon. As of less than an hour ago, Red’s team has been disavowed and are on
their own.”

Dawson
could tell Colonel Clancy was just as pissed. “So what are we going to do about
it?”

“Nothing.”

Dawson’s
eyebrows jumped. “Nothing?”

“Officially.”

He
breathed a sigh of relief, Niner shoving back in his chair, the tension getting
to both of them. “Unofficially?”

“I’m
working the phones, but everyone’s ass is as tight as an inmate’s on his first
night. Regular channels aren’t going to cut it.”

Dawson
pursed his lips, his mind racing for solutions. “And if I have some non-kosher
ideas?”

“I don’t
want to hear about them, but do whatever it takes. I want my men back on
American soil. Alive.”

“Consider
it done, Colonel.”

The call
ended and Dawson looked at Niner. “Can you believe this shit?”

Niner
nodded toward the television on mute, images of torched cars, smashed windows
and smoldering American flags on a continuous loop with an inflammatory
headline,
How much worse can it get?