Necessary Retribution (40 page)

Robin sat at the helm of the Picushkin's yacht. They were ten nautical miles from the bay heading into the Arabian Sea on auto pilot. So far no one came after them that he could see. He used a small camera and began photographing the pages of the Russian order of battle. He got that done and placed the book back into the briefcase. Then he picked up his satellite phone and called Ernie.

“Rob, where are you?”

“Alex and I are fine and we have the goods. Listen to me. You need to stay in Osh or go to Zurich. It's your call. Whatever you do, don't go to a country allied with the US or NATO.”

“Why?”

“My guess is you'll be arrested.”

“Damn, Rob, what kind of mess did we get ourselves into?”

“We'll be all right. Just don't do anything other than what I just said until I contact you.”

There was silence for a moment. “Roger. We should be in Osh soon.”

“Good. Hang in there, brother.”

“Same to you.”

When Robin told him to get the team back to Osh earlier that night, Ernie felt sick. On one hand he knew Robin was right. On the other hand he worried about his best friend being alone in a hostile country with a Russian GRU agent as his only ally.

Reluctantly, he had First Sergeant Setchinko contact Osh and arrange the pick-up. Osh came back and told them to make for the airport near Mingora, north of Peshawar on the N95 highway. The pick-up would occur the next night, which meant the team had to lay low for a day. This wasn't a comforting thought for Ernie. The team was being hunted.

The Peshawar Police were all over the place…looking. Fortunately, it appeared they really didn't know what they were looking for. Ernie knew the ISI, on the other hand, did have an idea of what they were looking for and the two helicopters in the air indicated they were indeed looking. Ernie fervently hoped the ISI didn't tell the police much…which is usually the case between intelligence agencies and the police.

Ernie gave the order to exfiltrate to Mingora and the team performed like the true professionals they were. They spaced themselves on N95 and some stopped and acted like tourists every now again. This
allowed the team to make sure they weren't being followed. Once in Mingora and the surrounding area, they mingled in the towns or stayed in the countryside until time to gather at the airport that night. Although, the second plane nearly got nabbed, Ernie felt good about how the operation went.

Robin said he had the goods and Ernie and the team captured two Al-Qaeda operatives, in addition to the several they killed in the warehouse. But Ernie worried about Robin. He had learned much from Robin, but he couldn't quite bring himself to be as eclectic about the world as Robin had come to be. Robin usually briefed Ernie on his conversations with Grassley, but Ernie knew he didn't tell him everything because he was protecting him. Robin made sure if there had to be a sacrificial lamb, it would be him and no one else.

The more he thought about it, the more he decided he would hold a council with the rest of the team when they got to Osh. They just may not lay low. There were a lot of devious minds in the Guardians.

F
ORTY
-F
OUR

THEY HAD BEEN UNDERWAY
for 12 hours and were one hundred and twenty nautical miles from Karachi, so Robin got more hopeful things were going to work out. They were in international waters, but a turn to port could put them in Indian waters in a couple of hours. He traded places with Alex every so often so Alex could take a break from watching the prisoners and interrogating Picushkin, as only Alex could do. It also gave Robin time to properly dress the ISI agent's wound.

Picushkin talked. He didn't like pain. When Alex asked him about the others involved in this plot, Robin sensed Picushkin held back from telling everything. Robin didn't really care. That was between him and his country.

It was during those breaks Robin was able to move the briefcase with the nuclear order of battle to the bridge and back without Alex noticing. In fact, the only one who knew was Ahmed, but he had seen his mother murdered and he now considered Robin his family…another worry for Robin as he knew he was far from a hero to the US Government at the moment and getting Ahmed into the country could be a problem. Ease up brother…one step at a time.

“Ahmed, I'm going down to give Alex a break.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ahmed, you've been through a rough time and I know you're confused and hurt, but you need to just call me Rob.”

“Yes, sir.”

Robin laughed. “Oh, well you'll get the hang of it.” He went down the stairs.

“You ready for a break?”

“Yes and we need to feed these guys again.”

“Okay, take a break and then we'll get some food.”

Suddenly an explosive roar blasted over the yacht. The two men looked at each other.

“Sounds like jet fighters!” Robin yelled as he ran for the rear door. He went out on the deck and caught a flash of sunlight off the canopies of two U.S. Navy FA-18 fighters in a climbing right turn.

“Damn, they found us,” he muttered to himself. He knew they wouldn't fly that low and close to a yacht unless they considered it hostile. He ran back into the main salon.

“It's the U.S. Navy, Alex! Find out where that sub is!”

Robin ran up to the bridge and found a terrified Ahmed. “Don't worry Ahmed. They aren't going to attack us.”
I hope.
Robin turned on the yacht's radar. He had kept it off to minimize them being seen, but now it didn't matter.

“Damn, we got a crowd coming!”
The radar showed a contact behind them and closing fast. He also had several contacts off the one o'clock position.

“Alex, where the hell is the submarine!”

Alex, poked his head through the stair hatch. “They are close, Robin. What are we going to do?”

“We're going to try to create a Mexican stand-off.”

“Look, sir! There's a submarine!” Ahmed exclaimed.

Robin heard a familiar noise and looked to the right. “Yeah, and here comes two Sea Stallion helicopters, probably loaded with Marines.” He reduced the throttle as the submarine came closer.

“Alex, get Picushkin and all the cases on the sub! Just leave me one of the money cases.”

Alex poked his head up again. “What about the other two prisoners?”

“Leave them for me. I need the bargaining chips.”

Alex's head disappeared, but then popped up again. “Robin!” Robin turned and met Alex's eyes. “
!”

“Brothers for life, Alex. Now get your ass outta here.”

Another set of jet fighters roared over the yacht, but this time they were Indian Mig 29s.

Damn, we got a regular international convention!

The Navy jets blasted for higher altitude. The Indian Migs stayed at low altitude and circled the spectacle building around the yacht, submarine, Pakistani destroyer and the US Marine helicopters. The submarine crew tied the yacht to the sub. Robin put the boat in neutral, grabbed Ahmed and took him down to the rear deck.

“Stay here, Ahmed!”

Robin went into the main salon and moved the two prisoners to the rear deck. When he came back out, Robin saw the Russian submarine crew pointing weapons at the US Marine helicopters and the Marines pointing weapons at the Russians. Jesus, this is insane! He tried Grassley's number again and got the same message saying the number was no longer operational. Then he dialed Ernie.

“Rob! Are you okay?”

“I'm on the deck of Picushkin's yacht with four countries surrounding me. Have you heard from Grassley?”

“Rob, Jordan Yates and Bill were fired. They're no longer with the CIA.”

The words stung Robin. He knew now the situation neared a deadly and catastrophic stage. “Ernie, if this doesn't work out, tell Karen and the kids I love them.” Robin pushed the end button.

Admiral James Ellison listened to the conversation between the president, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Director of the CIA on his secure satellite connection. He waited for orders. He relayed to the group a standoff was in progress around the yacht. From the conversation, he could tell they were really pissed off at this guy Marlette.

“Admiral Ellison, this is the president. You are ordered to terminate Robin Marlette with prejudice.”

F
ORTY
-F
IVE

MARINE SGT. ENOS BARCLAY
couldn't believe what he heard over his headset.

“Wolfhound One, you have a green light on target one.”

He looked over at his spotter, Sgt. Jeff Smiley. “Did I hear that right?”

“They're saying to take him out, Eno.”

“Fuck me! Didn't they say that guy Marlette was an American citizen?”

“Eno, they're not asking for our opinion. It's an order. We gotta take him out!”

Sgt. Barclay felt a tight knot building in his stomach.
This isn't what I signed up to do as a Marine sniper. I'm supposed to be taking out the commies and terrorists!

He shook his head to clear his mind and took several deep breaths. He made slight adjustments to his body position and settled his head behind the scope on his Barrett .50 caliber rifle. He began melding his mind to the rhythms of the yacht and the helicopter. He vaguely heard Sgt. Smiley tell the pilot to steady the chopper for a shot. Barclay acquired Robin in the crosshairs. Smiley gave him the final dope…range, wind, temperature. Barclay made two scope adjustments and took a deep breath and then slowly let it out while starting the squeeze on the trigger. He had the rhythm synced and the target's head in the crosshairs. Then the target turned and looked directly at him.

Alex saw the sniper in the helicopter focus on Robin and realized the he was preparing for a shot. He yelled at Robin and pointed to the helicopter and then screamed to the Captain of the submarine to open fire on the Americans. He saw Robin look towards the chopper.