The Maverick Experiment (17 page)

“Start walking, brother,” mumbled Carson. “Dude, if he doesn't move, we are going to have to take him out and hope—”

“He's going,” interrupted Miller.

Habib slowly began to walk toward the entrance as Rafiq neared the door ahead.

“He needs to hurry his ass up, though. Rafiq is almost in.”

Rafiq shook the hands of the greeters at the door as he prepared to enter. As he shook the last hand, he turned just enough to see his friend Habib approaching. He was shocked and confused to see Habib, who he thought was dead. Still, he began to approach Habib as his once-key deputy screamed out, “Rafiq, get inside; there is a bomb!”

The constant traffic on the street behind Habib made it difficult for Rafiq to hear, and he continued toward his friend. “What?” he returned as he stepped closer to Habib.

“Go away. There is a bomb!”

As Habib yelled, others in the area who had heard him began to scatter as he now waved his hands for Rafiq to get away.

Miller moved his finger onto the trigger and prepared to fire in case he had to. “He is getting spooked. We gotta hit it.”

Carson didn't even finish his next breath or question the decision. He struck the button, detonating Habib, and fell back in a shower of blinding light and shards of colored glass as the front of the wedding hall was destroyed.

Miller slipped off his position on the rifle, splitting his lip on the rail of the weapon as he rolled to the ground. The blast, as often happened, had created a vibration that rivaled that of an earthquake.

Derek and Randy turned to look out the back window of the TownAce only to see a cloud of smoke rising above the buildings near the wedding hall.

“Oh shit, did they just blow it?”

“Apparently,” laughed Derek as Shafi continued to follow Ikram. “Four, this is One. Thanks for the heads-up on that one, brother. Did we at least get him?”

Carson crawled toward what was left of the front wall to check on Miller. The blast had completely knocked out the power to all the surrounding buildings, and he had to struggle across broken glass to reach his teammate as he responded to Derek, “Oh, we got him all right. In fact, parts of him will probably be landing near your location.” He laughed. “Habib started to panic, and our window of opportunity almost closed on us. We had to do it.”

Carson paused his communication with Derek as he reached Miller, who had pinned himself up against the front wall, keeping his head down.

The room had completely filled with dust and smoke, making it nearly impossible to see anything. That was actually good for the two, however, since the curtains and windows were no longer concealing their position. Both men were caked in dust and bleeding: Miller from his mouth, and Carson all over from crawling on the glass.

“You good, man?”

Miller nodded and smiled. “Did that shit just happen?”

“It sure did, brother.”

Derek's voice chimed in over the team's communication system, “Roger, Four. Move to the rendezvous point now, and we will be there soonest.”

Derek turned to Randy. “Imagine that. Habib panicked.”

“I guess I would, too, with that many explosives rigged to my body,” replied Randy.

Carson and Miller heard sirens erupt from all over town as local emergency vehicles began to respond to the incident. Habib's suicide vest had created a massive crater in front of the wedding hall. The blast had shattered the glass windows in nearly every building in the area and caused mass chaos on the road in front of it. Vehicles of various types and colors had smashed into each other, creating a tangled collage of wreckage covered in dust.

People began to climb out of their vehicles and check for wounded as Carson and Miller gathered their gear and prepared to egress. Fortunately, many of the innocent bystanders in the streets had survived with minor injuries, but anyone in the front corridor of the wedding hall had most certainly been killed. The detonation had collapsed the second-floor area above the foyer, causing a huge pile of rubble and overall building instability.

“Shafi, move in on Ikram and cut him off. We are gonna do this quick because we need to get back to our boys ASAP,” said Derek.

Shafi swerved around the taxi in front of him and was now parallel to Ikram's red Corolla.

“I'll do this,” said Derek to Randy as he sat by the sliding door, ready to exit. “Pin him into this wall, Shafi!”

Shafi cranked the wheel to the right, slamming the Town- Ace into the side of the Corolla, forcing it into the concrete wall to its right.

Before Ikram could exit his damaged vehicle to ascertain what had happened, Derek quickly slid the door open and put several rounds into him.

The mission was complete. Habib, Malawi Rafiq, and now Ikram had all been converted to worm chowder.

Police responding to the bombing were passing as Derek assassinated Ikram in his vehicle. Quickly they screeched to a halt and began firing on the TownAce. Shafi thrust the van into reverse and attempted to pull away.

“Go, go, go!” yelled Derek, spraying rounds at the police as the van squealed away. “Four, this is One. We are going to be coming in hot. What is your location? Over.”

Carson sprinted down the back stairs as he responded, “We are moving to the back entrance now and will be at the rendezvous point in about two mics, over.”

“Roger. We are being pursued and are going to have to make an adjustment. Stand by.”

“Roger,” replied Carson as he looked at Miller in frustration.