Pompeii's Ghosts (A James Acton Thriller, #9) (38 page)

“Let’s
move out. We’ll clear this level room by room,” said Niner, taking point. The
door was pulled aside and he stepped out in the hall, the entire group
advancing, Niner covering the front while Lee Fang covered the rear, the
Italians opening each cell door as they moved, all thankfully empty. At the end
of the hall there was another door, and through that Acton knew were the stairs
that led up to the rear of the compound, the same way they had been led in
here. Unless one of these doors led to another set of stairs, it was the only
way out he knew of.

The
rooms cleared, Niner opened the door at the end of the hall, all four of their
weapons now facing forward.

“Hold
your fire!” he yelled, his fist shooting up in the air as he stood straight, a
huge grin on his face. “We’ve got company!”

Acton
couldn’t see what was going on from his position at the back, Reese still
clinging to him, but the joy in Niner’s voice was obvious.

“We
thought you were dead!” cried Niner.

And then
Acton knew. It had to be Dawson. He pushed himself up on his toes and felt a
sense of relief wash over him as he spotted several of the Bravo Team members
on the other side of the door. He lowered his head and whispered in Reese’s
ear. “Everything’s going to be okay now, help is here.”

Red
stepped through the crowd and tossed a satellite phone to Acton. “Speed dial
#1,” he winked. “Why don’t you give them a sit rep?”

Acton’s
eyes narrowed and he held in the #1 button. It dialed.

“Hello?”
asked the voice he would recognize no matter how bad the connection.

“Hi hon,
it’s me,” he almost whispered, his voice cracking as the pressure of the past
two days began to lift.”

“James!
Oh thank god you’re alive!”

“We
didn’t all make it, I’m sorry to say, but Dawson and Niner are okay, and so am I.
Reese is good along with four of the observers. We’ve also got two of the
hijackers here. I’m afraid we took some casualties though.”

“Where
are you?” asked Reading’s voice as Laura obviously switched them to speaker
phone.

“Hi
Hugh, good to hear your voice. We’re still in the basement of the compound.
We’ve cleared this level but there’s a heavy gunfight happening outside.” He
looked down the hallway, through the doors, and saw the faces of scared women
begin to appear in the hall from several of the rooms. “Oh my God,” he
whispered as he realized what they had stumbled upon.

“What is
it?” asked Laura, her voice filled with concern.

“I think
we just found a human trafficking ring.” He felt Reese’s fingers dig into his
arm at his words as she witnessed her possible future. “We’re going to need
some serious help.”

“Hold
your position, we’ll be there soon with the Sudanese army, ETA ten minutes,”
said Hugh.

Dawson saw Acton with the phone and smiled as he watched his friend
speak to his fiancée. It made him want to call Maggie, which surprised him.

Maybe
there’s something real there after all?

Dawson
stepped through the crowd toward Acton. “Situation?”

“They’re
on their way with the Sudanese army. ETA ten minutes.”

Dawson wasn’t
sure he was overly happy with it being the Sudanese coming to the rescue, but
at the moment he had no choice. “Very well,” he said. He and Red pushed through
the crowd and reached the steps, Niner with them.  “What’s the layout,
Sergeant?”

“Half a
dozen cells beyond the door, all empty save a few bodies including one of our
own.” He nodded toward the stairs. “This appears to be the only way in or out.”

“Okay,
then this is what we have to defend,” replied Dawson. “Have all the civilians
moved as far back as we can, into the rooms with the doors closed. We don’t
want anybody getting hit by strays. First line of defense will be upstairs at
the door. Shoot anything that approaches. This is fallback position number one,
the second set of doors is number two. If we lose that, we lose the fight.” He
motioned to Atlas and Jimmy. “You two take point.”

Both men
rushed up the stairs and took up position on either side of the door. Dawson
followed them up and shattered the light bulb with his Glock sinking the entire
stairwell into complete darkness. He peeked out the door, satisfied no one had
yet discovered the true situation. The air was thick with smoke now, and his
trained ear suggested there was gunfire being exchanged from within the
compound now, the attackers apparently having broken through the gate.

Suddenly
his comm squawked, as did the others.

“Bravo One,
Defiant Leader. Identify your location, over.”

Dawson’s
eyebrows popped as he activated his comm, Red punching him in the shoulder with
joy. “Defiant Leader, Bravo One. Identify yourself, over.”

“Bravo One,
Defiant Leader. We are here courtesy Mr. Grey. ETA on your location in sixty seconds.
Please identify location of friendlies, over.”

Dawson
sent a silent thank you to Colonel Clancy, aka Mr. Grey at times. “Defiant
Leader, Bravo One. If it’s above ground, it isn’t friendly. We are in the
basement of the compound. Be advised Sudanese regulars are approaching location
along with at least one helicopter. I will try to get them to hold, over.”

“Roger
that, Bravo One. Keep your heads down until the rain stops, over!”

Dawson
rushed down the stairs with the others, being near the above ground doors no
longer a wise move. “Phone!” he yelled to Acton who turned and said something
to whoever he was talking to then tossed it to him. Dawson caught it. “To whom
am I speaking?”

“Laura
Palmer and Special Agent Reading,” replied the professor’s excited voice.

“This is
Dawson. Under no circumstances have the Sudanese enter this zone, I repeat,
under no circumstances. I will contact you shortly.” He ended the call and
tossed the phone back to Red.

“Let’s
button this place up, the cavalry’s arriving!”

Approaching al-Sadiq Compound, Hamashkoraib, Sudan

“He said to hold your troops!” yelled Laura, the General none too
pleased to be given orders from some unknown on the ground.

“Look!”
yelled Reading, pointing out the open side door of the chopper they were in
with the American Ambassador and the General.

Laura
gasped as at least a dozen helicopters raced toward them. Muzzle flashes lit up
the area surrounding the compound, much of the main building on fire, the gate
blown open but blocked by several destroyed technicals. The scene was utter
chaos and as the General spotted the approaching strike force he yelled into
his comm. Reading pointed below at a column of Sudanese military vehicles as
they raced toward the firefight then suddenly stopped, several vehicles turning
around, a hasty retreat underway.

Missiles
streaked from the weapons pods of the helicopters, the guard towers ringing the
compound erupting in flames. A series of rockets quickly eliminated much of the
forces outside the compound, removing their cover within seconds, then turning
the exposed hostiles into ground beef as their cannons opened up on the
startled attackers.

From
their vantage point through the open door it was like a movie screen, the
horror almost lost at times as the action in the distance played itself out,
dozens upon dozens dying, never seeing their attackers, and as the heavy resistance
faded, several large Black Hawks positioned themselves over the compound, their
cargo leaping out the sides as dozens of Marines slid down ropes.

As the
troops split into coordinated teams, the compound was quickly subdued, the
firefight moving into the large house. Gunfire continued to be heard, muzzle
flashes lighting up the night through open windows, the occasional explosion as
a grenade was tossed.

And then
it was over.

They
continued to hover as they watched the compound being secured, several of the
choppers now landing.

“Look!”
Laura pointed to the rear of the compound as a large group of people began to
file out. “That must be them!” She turned to the General. “We need to land!
Now!”

Acton stepped outside, the gunfire silent, the shouts of dozens of
American soldiers and the thumping of helicopters filling their ears instead. He
and Dawson led Reese toward the command chopper, a full-bird Colonel standing
near it on his comm giving a situation report to somebody. As he saw them
approach he ended his conversation.

“Mr.
White, I presume?” he said to Dawson.

Dawson
nodded. He motioned toward Reese. “This is Miss Reese. She’s the ranking UN
official.”

“Glad
you made it out of this alive,” said the Colonel, nodding toward the large
group of women that had been liberated. “All in all it looks like a lot of good
was done here tonight.”

“We lost
a lot of good people,” replied Reese, still covered in blood from head to toe,
her story still a mystery to Acton. “Too many died, but every single one of
them died a hero in my books.”

“Agreed,”
said Acton. “There was one French soldier who threw himself on a grenade and
saved us all. It was the most heroic thing I’ve ever seen. When we’re situated
I think we’d all like to make sure that those who died get some sort of special
recognition from their governments for what they did.”

The
Colonel nodded. “You’ll all be debriefed on the carrier.”

Dawson
pointed at the two Russians they had captured earlier. “Those two are hostiles,
part of the team that hijacked our transport.”

The
Colonel pointed to two of his men. “You two! Take those two into custody!” he
ordered, indicating the Russians. He motioned toward the freed sex slaves.
“What are we going to do about them?”

“We take
them with us, of course,” replied Reese, her tone indicating how shocked she
was at the question.

“It’s
not part of my mission parameters,” said the Colonel, who held up a finger
cutting off Reese before she could respond, “
however,
they are clearly
victims in a hostile environment, and didn’t you say one of them claimed to be
American?”

Acton
smiled. “Yeah, that was me. I can’t remember which one though. And I had the
distinct impression there may have been more than one.”

The
Colonel motioned to one of his men. “Some of those women might be American citizens.
Load them all on the choppers and we’ll sort it out on the carrier.”

“Yes,
sir!” The Lieutenant rushed off to coordinate the evacuation as Reese beamed
her appreciation to the Colonel and then Acton, hugging him hard.

“Thank
you!” she whispered in his ear.

“James!”

Acton
spun around and saw Laura, dressed to the nines, and Reading jogging toward
them. Acton let go of Reese, who seemed to not want to release her grip on him
for a moment, then finally capitulated as he started to pull away. He ran over
to the love of his life and grabbed her in his arms, picking her up over his
head then kissing her hard. He had been sure he was going to die at so many
points during this ordeal, he had almost written off any hope of seeing her
again.

When
their lips finally parted he stuck a hand out to greet Reading, who took his
friend’s hand in his and pumped hard, clearly relieved he was okay. Acton
stepped back, still holding Laura. “What’s with the outfit?”

“I had
to play millionaire,” she said, twirling with one hand over her head. “You
like?”

“Very
becoming,” grinned Acton. “Anything I need to know?”

Reading
laughed. “Only that she intimidated the medals right off a Sudanese general who
wasn’t cooperating.”

“That’s
my girl!”

The
Bravo Team members waved a greeting as they approached, Laura giving Niner and
Dawson hugs, expressing her relief they were okay.

“In no
small part thanks to you, I hear,” said Dawson. “Red tells me you funded their
little enterprise?”

She
batted the words away with her hand. “It was nothing; I did what I had to do.
It was you guys”—she nodded toward Red and the others—“that put together the
plan and got the job done, and I thank you for it.” She squeezed Acton by the
waist again. “I have you to thank for getting him back for me.”

“And Niner
to thank once again for keeping me alive,” added Acton with a slight bow to the
man.

“Nothin’
doin’, Doc.”

Several
soldiers jogged up to them. “Please follow us, we’re evacuating immediately.”

Acton
and the others followed and they were split into several groups, Acton, Laura,
Reading and Reese, the four civilians, loaded onto one Black Hawk, it
immediately lifting off. Acton looked down at the still smoldering compound and
shook his head. He leaned back and closed his eyes as he wondered what had happened
to the gold, and whether or not it would ever be recovered, and those
responsible brought to justice.