MAC WALKER'S BENGHAZI: The Complete Collection (22 page)

One by one, each member of the group pulled themselves through the grate’s opening and emerged in a trench that ran alongside the same street that crossed in front of Ella’s building. Minnick was already looking out from the trench with his night scope to see if anyone had noticed their escape. After a few seconds, he slid his body fully back down into the trench, then whispered to the others what he saw.

“No sign of anyone. The Hummer is right across from our position here.”

Mac nodded back to Minnick and motioned for everyone to follow him to the Hummer.

Pulling himself out of the trench, Mac confirmed what Minnick had just reported. The street appeared empty. That good fortune did nothing to make Mac feel any better. It only confirmed to him that they were running out of time.

With Mac in the lead, the group made their way as quickly yet quietly as possible across the street. The light of the approaching morning was beginning to remove from them the still much needed cover of darkness.

Benny was the first to pause in the street, just steps from the Hummer, his head tilted slightly to the right.

“You hear that?”

Without thinking, Mac was holding his breath as he strained to hear what Benny was talking about. Soon he too made out a faint buzzing noise coming from an unknown location above them as Minnick scanned the early dawn sky with his sniper rifle scope.

“Three hundred yards southeast and approaching. Drone – predator class. It’s armed.”

Mac pointed to the other side of the Hummer.

“Over here. Get as low as you can behind the vehicle and don’t move.”

The sound of the drone increased considerably as it approached their location from above, its sound similar to that of a large, angry mosquito. Mac and the others watched as a single missile shot from below the drone’s right wing flew into the front of Ella’s building.

The explosion was massive, sending fragments of the building flying into the air and then falling down where Ella, Mac, and their men were crouched behind the SUV. The heat from the detonation ripped through the air around them, blowing out the Hummer’s windows and causing the vehicle to momentarily rock back and forth on its wheels.

Ella’s eyes glared back at the departing drone, her jaw flexing in rage.

“That’s your fucking government Mr. Walker. The same one that had my country’s Prime Minister enter the White House through the back door.”

Mac simply shrugged.

“That’s about right. Now let’s get the hell out of here. Jack, see if this thing will still fire up.”

Jack moved into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition, his face breaking out into a mad grin when the big American-made, Vortec V8 rumbled to life.

“Told you Mac! Knew it was a good idea to snag these wheels!”

Mac watched the street as the others positioned themselves inside the SUV before finally taking his place in the passenger seat in the front with Jack.

“Countin’ on you to get us the hell outta here Alabama.”

Jack slammed the Hummer into gear and slammed his foot down onto the accelerator.

“Like I stole it Mac! Like I fucking stole it!”

As the Hummer leapt forward onto the street, Mac heard multiple gunshots from behind them followed by the sound of bullets ripping into the Hummer’s tailgate and rear bumper.

“Heads down!”

The others followed Mac’s command immediately, as Jack turned the vehicle sharply to the right, driving across a median and onto another street as the V8 engine roared under the strain of Jack’s demands. Mac looked into the passenger rear view mirror and saw two more of the now familiar government issued black SUVs attempting to follow them.

None inside of the Hummer said anything as Jack maneuvered them around parked cars, across lawns, and even down and back up several large irrigation ditches as he worked his way toward the main road leading to Benina Airport. Once onto that main road, Mac looked back again and saw no vehicles behind them.

They passed a sign indicating the airport was eight kilometers away. Jack smiled again as he slapped his hand down hard onto the dashboard as the speedometer indicated they were travelling at nearly eighty miles an hour.

“Just a few more minutes and we’re there Mac, and on our way out of this shithole!”

Having done extensive work throughout both Iraq and Afghanistan in recent years, Mac Walker was all too familiar with the effects of an IED. Easy to make, easy to hide, and easy to have detonated when travelled over, they became by far the number one killer of American soldiers in those two wars.

The Hummer’s left front tire was lifted entirely off of the road surface as the explosion twisted the metal framing of the driver area inside the vehicle’s cabin. Both doors on the left side blew inward several inches, sending bits of metal from one end of the cabin to the other. The SUV’s entire frame groaned as the left tire blew out, slamming the left front axel onto the paved surface of the road, sending sparks shooting up as the Hummer’s momentum continued forward.

Mac watched as Jack, his head and face already bleeding from several chunks of metal that were imbedded into his flesh and skull, fought to keep the vehicle from turning over onto its side. His face grimaced with the effort as his lips pulled back from his teeth in a bloody snarl.

Finally the Hummer came to a stop on the right side of the road, the steel frame of the front left corner ripped apart by the roadside bomb. Mac pushed the passenger door open as his right hand held his handgun, yelling for everyone to get out. It took no more than a few seconds for everyone to exit the SUV and take cover behind it.

Everyone that is, except for Jack.

Mac made his way back to the open passenger door and peered inside.

“Jack! You need to get out of there!”

Jack Thompson looked back at his friend and team leader Mac Walker and shook his head as he moved his right arm to reveal the large piece of metal that was jammed deeply into the left side of his abdomen. When he spoke, Mac instantly recognized the sound. It was the voice of a human being quickly nearing death, and fully aware of its arrival.

“Not gonna happen Mac.”

Benny and Minnick stood beside Mac, looking in at Jack’s wound.

“Oh shit no. Goddammit no!”

Benny turned away, both of his hands covering his eyes. Minnick stood silently, though his lower lip trembled slightly as his hands clenched tightly at his sides.

There were no profound words to be uttered by Jack Thompson when death arrived. He was simply there, and then, he wasn’t. Mac watched as Jack’s eyes fluttered briefly, and then remained open and unblinking. His hands fell from his lap and remained on the driver’s seat, while his body slumped forward, a slight wheezing sound escaping his mouth as the last bit of air from his lungs was released.

“We have company Mr. Walker.”

It was Ella who now stood next to Mac, her hand on his shoulder.

“The ones who did this, the ones who killed Jack, are now coming to finish the job.”

Mac’s eyes looked down the road at the two approaching black SUV’s, certain one of them contained Mark Densmore. It was Densmore who was in charge of whatever shit was going on in Benghazi. Densmore who had the pull to order a drone strike against Ella’s building, and Densmore who set up the explosive device that killed Jack.

Mac Walker grabbed one of the sniper rifles from the back of the Hummer and began walking slowly down the middle of the road toward the quickly approaching SUVs.

It was killing time…

XVIII.

The first shot from the sniper rifle found its mark as the fifty caliber round plunged through the front windshield of the black SUV to Mac’s right, ripping through the left side of the driver’s skull and then blowing out the rear left passenger window as it exited the interior cabin. The initial kill shot set off a chain reaction where the SUV on the right careened sharply into the other SUV, the dead body of its driver slumped forward against the steering wheel.

The second SUV swerved to avoid being hit, nearly losing control completely and running into the ditch that ran alongside the road. Mac calmly aimed the sniper rifle and fired again.

The second shot missed its mark as the bullet tore off a chunk of the SUV’s roof, sending a spray of sparks and metallic fragments into the air. Mac took a deep breath, held it, and fired for a third time.

The bullet split the middle of the windshield, blew a fist sized hole in the chest of one of the men seated in the back, before imbedding itself in the rear tailgate. Mac knew the speed of the SUV left him with just one more shot before the vehicle would be right on top of him.

The fourth shot was aimed at the passenger. Mac was able to look through the sniper rifle’s scope and see Densmore looking panicked as he screamed at the driver to run Mac over. The image brought a small smile to Mac’s face as he prepared to pull the trigger again.

A bullet skimmed Mac’s right arm. The shot had come from one of the men from the first SUV Mac had fired at. The vehicle sat motionless on the side of the road some fifty yards away as three men emerged from it with guns, looking for a fight, all three pointing their weapons directly at Mac as the other SUV was now just twenty feet away and closing very fast.

Mac Walker had no choice but to jump and roll to his left to both avoid being shot and or driven over. He chose the left side knowing the passing SUV would then provide him a brief second of cover from the three armed men moving toward him. As he shifted back onto his left knee, already aiming the rifle for another shot, he spotted Minnick making his way down the ditch, attempting to get behind the three armed men. At the same time Mac heard Benny, Ella, and her men firing several rounds into the passing SUV.

Mac’s next shot blew half the head off of one of Densmore’s men, while Minnick just as quickly ended the lives of the other two. That left Densmore and whoever else remained alive in the second SUV.

Mac pushed himself back onto his feet and made his way quickly to where Ella and the others stood pointing their weapons at Densmore’s vehicle that sat unmoving in the middle of the road nearly a hundred yards from their position. Mac could hear its motor was still running, but detected no movement from inside.

Ella turned to Mac, her own assault rifle resting against her right shoulder.

“Suggestions on how you wish to proceed Mr. Walker?”

Mac used his rifle scope to look over the motionless SUV. Its darkened windows still made it difficult to determine how many, if any, were still alive inside. Udi stood next to Mac also looking at the vehicle through a pair of binoculars.

“Front right tire is blown. Nothing left but the rim.”

Udi was right, the SUV’s tire had blown apart.

Mac reloaded his rifle and began walking toward the vehicle.

“Spread out, ten yards apart, all weapons at the ready. Anything moves inside there, kill it. Otherwise, wait on my order.”

Mac walked slowly toward the SUV as the others in the group followed alongside him. He felt a stinging pain in his right bicep and realized he had forgotten about the bullet that had skimmed him moments earlier. He looked down and scowled at the wound.

Stop bleeding you little bitch.

The back window of the SUV blew out as several rounds of gunfire were shot from inside of it. Mac, Ella, and the others crouched low to the ground and brought their own weapons up and returned fire. Multiple bullet holes ripped through the black SUVs metallic skin as more of its windows shattered into fragments.

Mac held up his left hand to halt the gunfire. Again there was no movement from inside the SUV until after nearly two minutes, the passenger door opened and a man crawled out.

It was Mark Densmore.

Densmore stood up slowly, his right arm braced against the door frame of the vehicle.

“You shouldn’t be here Walker!”

Mac began walking slowly toward Densmore while keeping an eye out for any threats from inside the SUV.

“I was thinking the same thing about you Densmore. What the hell is FBI doing running around Benghazi? You here to solve crimes, or committing them?”

Densmore moved away from the black SUV, his steps somewhat unsteady as he wiped away a layer of blood from his upper forehead.

“Look Walker, you can’t kill me. I’ve already called this in. They know all about you and your team. They know about THIS right now. You understand? You kill me and they have you for murdering a federal agent. You and your team, you all go down. You got no protection back home. Tilley’s gone. Mardian too. They might let you go, you’re just a small bug in all of this, but you kill me – that can’t be allowed to just happen Walker. So be a smart guy for once, and just let me walk out of here. Do yourself a favor, do your team a favor, and we all just walk away from this.”

Mac stood no more than forty feet from Densmore.

“Can’t do that Densmore. You killed one of my men. That don’t sit right with me, you know? See, in my world, we don’t cut deals with little fucking shits like you. No, we do the world a favor and kill them. Kill them fucking dead.”