Counter-Strike (A Mitch Kearns Combat Tracker Novel Book 2) (13 page)

Chapter 29

Mitch gathered the group together a
hundred yards away from the main compound. “I want you two to flank out to the
right and left and cover our infil,” whispered Mitch to Dave and Petra, who
nodded in response. “Dev, Marco, and I will skirt around the back of the first
building and head inside.” He looked over his shoulder towards the airfield.
“If things turn to shit, we’ll meet up over there. Send a few rounds into the
diesel canisters by the generator if things get really bad to buy us some time
getting out of the building.”

After they all performed individual weapon
checks, the trio broke off from David and Petra, who split up and took
positions near fallen trees while covering their friends. Mitch led the way,
habitually scanning the ground for any tripwires or buried trail alarms like
he’d done in Afghanistan. Making his way to the edge of the forest, he squatted
low and studied the route ahead for movement. The mercenaries were concentrated
around the front, still moving the crates and sorting through the newly arrived
goods. There were two entrances to the L-shaped facility and Mitch used hand
signals to indicate he would take the door on the right while Dev and Marco
would proceed to the left.

Mitch bolted across the muddy expanse
surrounding the entrance, making it to the rusty steel door.
What I wouldn’t
give for some flash-bangs right now and about twenty more soldiers at my back.
He
twisted the handle and opened the creaky door slowly, squat-walking as he moved
inside. He made his way along the damp floor, centipedes creeping out from the
fissures between the old cement flooring. 

The door was slightly ajar on the first
room on the left and he could see the captive figure still suspended from the
ceiling while a guard in camouflage clothing leaned against the wall, his back
to the entrance. Mitch rushed through the door, grabbing the man from behind
and driving his blade into the back of the neck, piercing the cervical region.
The short fighter collapsed instantly in his arms and he lowered the figure to
the ground. He moved to the strung-up man, whose eyes had widened with interest,
and cut him loose. He fell forward, Mitch catching him before he hit the concrete.

“You OK, buddy?”

The man nodded, rolling his shoulders in
circles and grimacing. “I think I’m a few inches taller.” He lifted his head and
looked at Mitch.

Mitch’s eyebrows shot up and his face
tightened. “Charlie fuckin’ Brown
—
the guy from the Munich Airport. What
kind of blind luck has led me to finding your ass here?”

“Who are you?”

“The guy who’s been tracking you since you
whacked Yin and before that. The same guy who saw you tailing me in the bar in
Kuala Lumpur? You still gonna play dumb with me?”

Von was rubbing his aching jawline, sore
from the numerous centipede bites, and still trying to form clear words through
his swollen lips. Both men suddenly turned towards the window at some commotion
outside.

Mitch helped Von to his feet as they made
their way to the door. “We’ll resume this conversation later. Right now, I need
to find my friend if he’s here
—
an older man in his sixties, balding.”

“Sounds like Schueller
—
he’s been in
and out of the cell next to this one. We talked last night when the guards left
for a few minutes.”

“Yeah, that’s him. Is he OK? Where did
they take him?”

“Not sure but there’s a small lab in the
center of this building from what he said. He’s probably in there with
scarface, the motherfucker who strung me up here.”

Mitch rubbed his chin, studying the man’s
lacerations and swollen lower lip. “Looks like they did a number on you
—
anything
you want to tell me?”

“They abducted me a few days ago from the
city thinking I had some connection to their plans.”

They heard movement in the hallway and
pressed against the wall until the sound passed. “We’ve gotta get Schueller and
get the hell out of here,” he whispered, then noticed the man extended his
hand.

“Name’s Von.”

“Mitch.”

They moved towards the door, Von reaching
down to the slumped guard and removing his Beretta pistol. He did a partial
chamber check and tucked it into his waist then removed the camouflage shirt from
the figure and slid it over his blood-streaked torso.

Chapter 30

After she opened the exterior door, Dev
secreted herself against the wall and moved inside while Marco covered their
rear. Marco tapped her on the shoulder and motioned to her neck then he plucked
a leech off her skin before it delivered its anti-coagulant saliva. She gulped
and then gave him a nod of thanks.
I’ve been shot, stabbed, and blown up but
nothing terrifies me more than all these fucking bugs. Christ, let’s finish
this mission already.

She took a deep breath while the color
returned to her face. Dev crept towards the first room on her right, her
six-inch fixed blade in her hand. The last thing she wanted to do was alert the
other guards with the sound of gunfire and risk sending rounds down the hallway
in Mitch’s direction.

Before she reached the door, it swung open
and a tall Suma fighter emerged. He was as shocked by her presence as she was
by his and he reached for his holstered pistol. She sprung on him, thrusting
her blade into his left jugular then swiftly arcing down across the chest, performing
an angular stab into his ribcage. The entire flow of movements was over in a
second and the guard staggered backwards, collapsing onto the floor while
trying to clutch his leaking throat. Dev looked around the room, grabbing the
guard’s keys off his belt, and then glanced back at Marco whose mouth was
agape. He moved into the hallway, closing the exterior door and catching up to
her.

Chapter 31

Kyle was next to Carlos, his second-in-command,
as they stood in the small lab attached to the main compound where Schueller
had been working for the past twenty-four hours. The glass-encased containment
room was empty inside and the professor was going through a decontamination
vapor shower in a sealed plastic walkway that connected the lab to the
isolation chamber.

Kyle took the individual canisters which
had timed dispersal clocks mounted on each end and gently placed them in eight
padded blue daypacks which bore the white logo of a fictitious tourist company.

“Take these to the helo and alert the
other men to meet me there in ten minutes.” Carlos slung the backpacks over his
shoulders, his face tense as he made certain to avoid clanging the canisters.

Schueller’s eyes hung heavy and his face
was taut. He moved like someone thirty years older, his back hunched as he
plunked down into the swivel chair next to a steel table. Kyle walked over to
him and took the single vial from the older man’s hands. “This is the
injectable version, yes?”

The fatigued man just nodded without
making eye contact. “Excellent, then your work is done here, my good
professor.”

Kyle moved back to the desk near the door
and removed a syringe from a plastic container. He filled it with the fluid
from the vial and then inserted it into his arm, pushing the plunger down while
his eyelids fluttered like a heroin addict elated at the liquid pleasure
surging into his veins. He took a deep breath and paced his inhalation then
rolled his sleeve down and turned towards Schueller.

“I’ll give this a few minutes to make sure
there are no side-effects then we can wrap things up in this musty rathole.”

Schueller looked up as Kyle rested his
hands on the pistol in his waistline. “I know you have no intentions of letting
me live,” said the older man.

“I’ve never lied to you about what my
plans are. I never will. The CIA has lied to you all these years but I will not
do that to you.”

“Do you expect me to feel thankful? You’re
planning to unleash a deadly virus and you want my gratitude.”

Kyle swiftly withdrew his pistol and aimed
at Schueller’s head. “I could’ve killed you a dozen times over by now and had
my man mince your precious family so start showing me some goddamned respect.”
He lowered the weapon while softening his voice. “I may still need you if this
doesn’t work out as planned. Although the other test subjects I used this
latest sample on seemed to prove everything is good to go.” He tucked the
pistol back in his belt and walked to the door. He paused, tilting his head
towards the handle as he heard faint footsteps outside and then saw the rusty
gray handle turning slowly. 

Chapter 32

Von indicated the location of where he
thought the lab was as they made their way through the dimly lit hallway. Mitch
slowly moved to the right side of the door, feeling the handle. It was unlocked
and he twisted it then flung open the door, bursting through with his pistol
extended. He saw his friend Bob sitting in a chair in the corner. Several
rounds of gunfire struck the concrete wall above his head, sending rock
shrapnel onto his back. He and Von ducked under a steel table, flipping it over
and taking cover while the rounds raked their surroundings. Mitch peered around
the edge and shot off three rounds, seeing a figure in a gypsum-colored jacket
near a cabinet in the opposite corner. The man had a small metal case in his
hand and began running for the door while tossing a beaker of fluid on the
floor. The glass shattered and sent a plume of acrid gray smoke into the air
that smelled like burnt eggs. Mitch heard gunfire in the hallway as he ran to
the back of the room to grab Schueller.

His friend was sprawled on the floor,
coughing and covering his mouth. “It’s only sulphur,” the man said then looked
up at Mitch, his eyebrows scrunching together then releasing as his face
illuminated at the sight of his rescuer. “Mitch. What are you doing here? How
did…”

Mitch helped him to his feet and they
moved towards the exit, gagging on the strong fumes. “We’ll talk later. Can you
run?”

The man nodded while coughing. Von was at
the doorway and motioned to Mitch that it was clear. They moved into the
hallway, sucking in fresh air. When the smoke cleared Mitch saw Dev lying on
the ground near the entrance while Marco clutched a bullet wound below her left
ribs. A staccato of gunfire rattled off the walls outside the building and
Mitch knew their world was about to constrict.

Chapter 33

Rushing up to Dev, Mitch knelt down and
inspected her wound. The bullet grazed her right side below the floating ribs
and there was a huge swath of skin missing which was bleeding profusely. “Looks
like it didn’t pierce any vitals. I just can’t tell for sure.”

She winced and gripped his sleeve. Mitch
reached into his vest pocket and yanked out his trauma kit, removing the large
wad of gauze at the front and applying it to the entrance and exit wounds. Then
he removed his shemagh from his pack and wrapped it around her midsection and
tied it off.

A barrage of rifle fire resounded off the
concrete walls outside and he looked over at Marco, both of them giving a look
of recognition at the noise. “Those sure as hell aren’t AK rounds.”

Mitch glared at Von. “Pals of yours?”

He shook his head to either side and moved
towards a window in one of the rooms while Mitch followed him. They both
examined the men in black moving through the compound dispatching any
resistance with their AR rifles, which were tricked out with red-dot scopes and
flashlights. “These aren’t rebels. This is a murder squad sent to eliminate
everyone here,” said Mitch.

“Fucking Crenna,” muttered Von under his
breath.

“So these are associates of yours?”

“No but I can guess who’s pulling their
strings.” Von reached up to the desk and examined the laptop screen, which
displayed a scientific formula, and then removed a flash drive from the side,
shoving it into his pocket.

Mitch kept scrutinizing Von. “Look, I
don’t know who the hell you are but I’m not sure I want you on my six as we’re
sneaking out of here.”

“I want out of this place as much as you do.
Besides, the guy who shot your lady friend is about to launch a bio-attack
somewhere in Jakarta from the little I’ve gathered and I need to get to him
before he carries it out. This is my homeland and I’m not about to let a
lunatic like Redstrom decimate my country.”

Mitch looked down at the pistol in the
man’s waistband and at the lacerations on his face and arms then thought back
to his actions at the Munich Airport. He couldn’t figure what Von’s connection
was with Yin or what was going down at this remote facility but his gut
instincts told him that the man was telling the truth about what he’d just said.
Though he wasn’t sure how far his trust would extend with someone who was a
killer for hire.

Chapter 34

After he’d fired off several rounds at the
man and woman running at him in the hallway, Kyle bolted in the opposite
direction. He exited the building and wove between some fuel drums, making his
way towards the helicopters a hundred yards away. He saw most of his men
engaged in a gun battle to his rear and hoped the other eight mercenaries
selected for his mission to the Jakarta Airport were already aboard the
helicopter.

He saw several men in black tactical gear
sweeping through the southern part of the camp; their precision moves and
superior weapons were no match for the Suma mercenaries who were quickly being
dispatched. “Crenna sending his cavalry to the rescue. Only it won’t be
enough.” He reached into his gypsum-colored jacket and removed a detonator that
was connected to several crates of thermite buried under the lab. The steel
barrels beside him sparked with gunfire and he looked up to see a large man
with a flat nose firing at him from across the field.
Just like Crenna,
never wanting to get his lotiony hands all dirty and sending another disposable
asset to do his fucking bidding.

He could see the man reloading his AR and
Kyle used the brief pause to shoot at the jungle vines draped off the trees
above. A white viscous fluid sprayed onto the ground below, covering Masala in
a caustic shower. He immediately began rubbing his face at the burning
irritant. Kyle stood up and sent two more rounds into his head. Then he ran
across the field, darting from crate to crate until he reached the airfield.
Carlos was inside the first helicopter and the rotors had just begun turning as
the engines fired up. Climbing inside, he did a headcount of his men and then
gave the thumbs-up to ascend. He ran his hand over the thumb of the detonator,
flicking the red switch as the lab and surrounding buildings exploded.

***

The plume of flame resembled a green
tadpole swimming skyward on Crenna’s laptop as he studied the low-resolution
image sent from his aerial drone. He squinted, examining the small object
flying away to the northeast. Crenna glanced down at his radio, waiting for a
signal from his man on the ground.
Wonder if that’s Masala or Kyle?
He
thought for a moment, rubbing a finger along his pudgy chin. “Better assume
it’s the latter
—
guy just doesn’t want to stay dead.”