Asset Seven Page 7

  There was barely enough light making it past the sentinels of the towering peaks for Karim to see the track, although it was hard to lose as it followed the path of least resistance around the rock faces and obstacles. By the time he reached the large monolith that loomed out of the darkness in front of him, night was almost complete. With a smile of triumph, Karim lowered his pack to the floor and arched his back, stretching out and groaning. He took a quick swig of water then swiftly fitted his NVGs to his head but did not lower the ocular tubes to his eyes. From the top-flap pocket of his pack he retrieved one of the satellite telephones and took it out of its protective cover. He laid the phone on a rock ledge beside him then picked up his pack and donned his load once again. He needed to be ready, once he’d sent the transmission, to be moving as far from the spot as fast as he could.

  Karim took a deep breath and composed the message in his head. It was a longer missive than he had originally planned, but it was important that he got at least a piece of the information to Vic, in the event that something happened to him. He picked up the phone and turned it on, his face lit by the blue glow from the small screen. It took almost a minute for the signal to kick in and then he stabbed the keys in a rapid staccato, knowing every second he was transmitting gave VAJA a better chance at identifying the signal. Taking one last confirmatory look at his message, he pressed the send key and waited several moments until the beep and green tick showed him the message had gone. He turned the phone around and tore the battery from its housing, hurling it into the darkness in one direction and the body of the phone in another. Grabbing his rifle, he lowered his NVGs, powered them up, adjusted them slightly then strode off into the darkness.

  His breathing was soon ragged as he maintained his punishing pace, but he wanted to be as far away from the signal location as he possibly could. It had been a short transmission and there was every chance that it hadn’t been picked up, but Karim was too professional to rely on luck to save his life. He knew a drone could be deployed to the area with thermal imaging capabilities and he needed to be far enough from the spot to not be in the drone’s cone of capture. The NVGs helped him maintain a good pace, the third-generation devices showing the land in front of him in a clear, green hue but picking out all the details of the terrain. His legs were tiring but it was a familiar sensation, a muscle memory from years of tough training courses and even tougher operations and he was able to turn his mind away from the pain. The thin air was also taking its toll, his breathing rapid and rasping as he tried to suck in as much oxygen as possible to fuel his lactic-heavy muscles.

  He had been on the move for some time when he decided it was safe enough to take a small break and check his position. Drinking some water, he had to time his intake between breaths as his body struggled to regulate and calm itself. He used a small flashlight to look at the map and saw he’d made a considerable distance and indeed, was nearly at the half-way point to the second rendezvous. He wouldn’t try to make that tonight, there being only a few hours of darkness left and his body needed rest. But it heartened him to see such good progress. His attention lingered on an area of the map that showed a large boulder field ahead of him. He nodded as he recognized that this afforded him a perfect position to lie up and rest for a few hours, giving any drone deployed enough time to see nothing of interest and return to whence it came. He stuffed the map back into his pocket and set off into the darkness once again. Despite the temptation to ease off, Karim continued with his fast pace, content with the fact that the next time he stopped, it would be for a long rest. Soon, all he could hear was his own breathing and the rhythm of his footsteps on the rocky track.

  He wondered how the boy was. Had he made it back to the valley floor? Returned to his village? Was, even now, lying sobbing in a shack after another beating? Had the boy said anything about Karim? He didn’t think so. The orphan was cut from a very different cloth to that of kids the same age. And he had no love for people who did bad things to others. No, Karim was reasonably confident that Affan wouldn’t tell a soul about his meeting with the mysterious stranger in the Zagros Mountains. Unless of course, someone forced it out of him. Karim didn’t like to think about that; the picture of the young boy being interrogated by VAJA officers because of Karim, not a pleasant one to imagine. But again, Karim thought this unlikely. It would rely on either Affan telling someone about Karim or VAJA learning that the boy had been in the mountains at the same time. Shaking his head, Karim discarded these thoughts from his head and concentrated on making progress up the steep incline.

  He could see the beginning of the boulder field; intimidating monoliths guarding the access to the peak above. He slowed his pace to a gentle walk and took deeper breaths, calming his respiratory rate and lowering his heartbeat. He could feel his quadriceps burning and some chafing on his shoulders from the pack, the thought of rest now a welcome one. Weaving his way around the smooth rock formations, Karim left the track and meandered among the giant boulders until he found a space between two of them that afforded cover from above. Wasting no time, he dropped his pack, removed his tac-vest and began setting his camp for the next few hours. He unfolded the collapsible sleeping-mat and placed it on the ground before unrolling his sleeping-bag and placing it on top. The cold was seeping into him as he took off his jacket and the icy breeze found the sweat on his back. Wasting no time, he shuffled into the sleeping bag, pulled his carbine into his side then zipped the bag up to his neck. The warmth came almost instantly, the heat from his earlier exertions now captured and reflected by the down filling of the sleeping bag. His eyes began to droop and before he could have another coherent thought, Karim was asleep.

  He could not say what woke him, but he had enough of his wits about him to not react until he had identified the reason. There was silence all around save for the occasional whisper as the breeze caressed the walls of the boulders in a soft melody. There. The smallest of sounds, a soft scrape of something across rock. Eyes open wide, Karim listened, determined to locate the source of the noise. He could feel his heart beating faster and the blood pounding in his ears as adrenaline began flooding his system. He forced himself to concentrate on remaining calm then heard the sound again. The same thing; a soft scrape of something moving over the rocks. He frowned as he concentrated. Had they found him so soon? His body heat caught by the thermal imaging cameras of a drone? Had the boy given him up? Another sound reached him, closer this time and he thought about another possibility. Palang; a leopard. Maybe the animal had smelled an unusual odor and was investigating the intrusion to its territory. This was entirely possible as Karim had seen the elusive creatures from time to time and knew that this deep in the mountains, they had little to no experience of humans and consequently just avoided them rather than run from them. The sounds and smells that Karim had made however, would probably draw the attention of a juvenile animal.

  The sound came again. Very soft, and more akin to a tail brushing against a rock. Karim relaxed and, in slow increments, brought the pistol up from inside his sleeping bag. As quietly as he could, he unzipped the top of the bag one small piece at a time until his arms were free, and he had the pistol pointing out in front of him. He wouldn’t shoot the animal, would just scream at it to scare it away. But there was always the chance that the beast would surprise him and leap on him before he could react. His pistol provided a back-up in this eventuality. A louder noise to his front told him the beast was very close. If he’d been wearing his NVGs he would be able to see it clearly. Karim stared into the darkness and began to make out the indistinct shape of the leopard as it flitted between the darker patches of shadow among the boulders. Raising the pistol up, Karim took a deep breath and readied himself to scream before the animal pounced. Just as he was about to release his yell, the animal stood on two feet and took a step towards him.

  ‘Sir, do not shoot. It is I, Affan. Sir, the evil people are coming.’

  9

  ZAGROS MOUNTAINS, NORTH EAST IRAQ

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nbsp; Vic Foley gasped as the ice-cold water cascaded over his head. Pulling his head out of the stream, he grabbed his small towel and dried off quickly, the freeze of the water and the chill of the air cooling the CIA man rapidly. He pulled on his shirt and down jacket, zipping the garment up and burying his chin into the neck in an attempt to seal the warmth in. He made his way back the short distance to where the remainder of the team were sleeping and saw that Ned and Randy were both awake and brewing up some coffee. He nodded as he passed and stowed his wash-gear when he reached his own pack. He assembled his cooking stove and pulled out his rations, munching on a protein bar as he put some water on to boil. Looking around him he reflected on how beautiful it was in the mountains. The late morning sun painting the cathedral spires of the jagged peaks. When his water was boiled, he made his coffee and took a walk over to the Delta Operators. Randy grinned when he saw him.

  ‘Hey Vic. Sleep well?’

  ‘Like a baby. Must be the mountain air. How about you?’

  ‘Same, man. Great sleep.’

  Vic offered over his mug of coffee, but Randy just shook his head and pointed to his own water boiling in readiness. Ned looked up and smiled.

  ‘The Asset make it to RV 1?’

  Vic took a sip of his coffee and gave a small moan of contentment before replying. ‘Yeah, he did. He also got something else out on the transmission that changes things a little.’

  Ned raised an eyebrow. ‘Sounds interesting. What is it?’

  ‘The Quds have got a major target being developed.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll bite. Where and when?’

  Vic paused and shook his head. ‘Only got the where, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Okay. Where, then?’

  ‘The US.’

  There was a moment’s silence before Randy stood and faced Vic. ‘Fuck. You got nothing more than that Vic? I mean, that’s pretty fucking bare bones to be out here extracting an Asset out of Iran for.’

  ‘Nope, I don’t have more. But Seven does. He’s bringing out a ton of stuff on this attack and a lot more. He could only collect it. Didn’t have the time or the capabilities to disseminate but he has it with him.’

  Ned nodded. ‘This changes everything huh?’

  Vic nodded. ‘Yep. Now that we know there is a planned attack on Continental US soil, Seven’s extraction is priority one; we get him out no matter how hard.’

  ‘He say anything about being followed? Hunted?’

  ‘No Ned, nothing. But then again, he would only risk the quickest of transmissions.’

  ‘Okay, what’s the play now?’

  Vic took a couple of sips of coffee then pointed to the east. ‘He’s coming through those mountain passes even as we speak. High altitude, thin air, tough climbs. As fast as he can. At some point the Iranians are going to figure out where he’s gone. We need to be ready to pitch in and help our boy the moment he needs us. But not before.’

  Randy spoke. ‘Why don’t we just fly in and grab him now? Quick scoot in and out of apache territory before the Indians even know we’re there.’

  Vic shook his head. ‘I’ve asked man, but the threat of losing a bird or US troops in Iran is absolutely out of the question. Seven’s got to make it as far as he can so that if we have to go in, it’s for the shortest distance and quickest time.’

  Ned sipped at his own coffee before standing and looking east into the mountains where the sun was now rising. ‘So, we wait for the signal from RV 2 then we move?’

  ‘Yeah. I’m anticipating it being pretty quick. Seven wouldn’t have hung around RV 1; would’ve put as much distance as he could between himself and the signal location. By my reckoning he’ll have covered a lot of ground towards RV 2 and then probably rested for a few hours.’

  ‘That’s what I figured. I assume we’re still walking in rather than call up the birds?’

  ‘Affirmative. I don’t want the Iranians to see any activity anywhere near this place until we absolutely need to. Since they shot down the Hawk, the Pentagon is squirrelly about putting any more American airframes into their cross-hairs.’

  Ned nodded, recalling the shock and surprise when he’d learned that the Iranians had shot a Global Hawk UAV out of the sky. Two hundred and fifty million dollars-worth of American taxpayers’ money destroyed in an instant. To say nothing of the propaganda value, and reverse engineering opportunity, for the Iranians. He could understand why the Pentagon was so risk averse to the deploying of further assets into Iranian airspace.

  But the Pentagon took risks in other ways: Ned knew there had been at least three serious cyber-attacks against Iranian military targets in the past month alone in retaliation for their seizure of international ships in the Gulf. Essentially the USA was at war with Iran through clandestine means. Deniable operations and non-attributable actions. He had no doubt that one day soon, one side or the other would escalate it into a full-blown physical confrontation, but in the meantime, everyone had to play the game. As he sipped his coffee, he watched Vic walk over to Dwight and transmit his Situation Report back to his people. Ned knew there was a lot riding on Vic’s shoulders; now that the target location had been identified as CONUS, the Continental United States, senior figures in Washington would be getting involved. He leaned back against the rock face where he’d laid his rack for the night and felt the rays of the sun as they penetrated the serrated mountain peaks. He enjoyed moments like this; rare snatches of peace in wild, faraway lands. He thought of Cathy and the girls and broke into a smile. When this rotation ended, he had a stint back at Bragg for six months and both he and Cathy were looking forward to some much-needed family time. Cathy and the girls were everything to him outside of Delta. His guys were everything to him inside. Cathy understood that, admired him for it even, the fact that he was a leader to his men in every sense of the word and that they worshipped him for it. But when he’d taken the family to Hawaii on vacation, he’d noticed something that hadn’t been apparent before.

  Katrina had been talking excitedly about her upcoming summer camp and then a school excursion to DC. She’d been a non-stop chatterbox as she’d regaled them with all the things she was going to see and do. She’d then started talking about when the trips were and where and when she needed to be and which of her friends she wanted to travel with. And that’s when Ned had noticed that this final topic of the conversation had been directed at Cathy; he had not been included in any of it. When he’d interrupted Katrina and said he’d help out, his daughter merely looked at him in surprise and said she just assumed he wouldn’t be around. There had been no malice or anger, just a statement of fact but the words had hurt Ned. That his daughter didn’t even bother involving him in her plans anymore because he was never around to take part in them.

  Cathy had smiled and patted Katrina on the arm and told her to go and play while she and Daddy talked about who would be doing what. Katrina had skipped away smiling, innocent to the heartbreak Ned was feeling, but Cathy had known. She’d always been good at seeing through him and she’d recognized he’d been hurt. Putting her arm around him, she’d kissed his cheek and told him that the girls had come to terms with the fact that he was away from home far more often than he was there and so had begun working around it. They loved their Daddy, and missed him when he was gone, but they had also learned to function without him. She’d nudged him playfully and given him a small smile, telling him they were getting more like him every day. But he didn’t want them to be like him. He thought of himself as a good man with a strong moral compass. What he wasn’t though, was a good family man. Yes, he loved them with all of his heart, and he was a great provider, but he was never there. He’d missed practically every key moment in Elisa’s life and caught only a few of Katrina’s.

  He sighed as he came to the conclusion that it was maybe time to move on; hang up his spurs and enjoy what was left of the girls’ young years before it was too late, and he was contending with hostile, unruly teenagers who resented him. That would break his heart. He’d
seen it in a few of the older Squadron Sergeants-Major, men who’d dedicated their lives and sacrificed their family harmony to the Unit. Had missed so much of their children’s lives that on entering their retirement from the military, they were living with young people with whom they’d had little to no connection with for the bulk of their upbringing. Ned didn’t want that, didn’t want it to be too late. Maybe when he was back at Bragg, he’d look at his options. Extend his time in Support Squadron while he looked for conventional employment in the private sector. The thought filled him with conflicting emotions of excitement and dread: The thrill of a new start and re-engagement with his family, and a fear of turning his back on a life of intensity that he’d loved for over twenty years. His thoughts were broken as a shadow loomed over him and he looked up. Shielding his eyes against the sun he squinted at Vic.

  The CIA man gave him a rueful grin.

  ‘We might have a problem Ned.’

  10

  GURBUZ, NORTH WEST IRAN

  Colonel Hashemi watched as the General addressed his students although Hashemi wasn’t sure they could be called students any more considering they were now engaged on a live operation to hunt down the traitor Ardavan. He could see from their attentive faces, straight backs and puffed out chests that they respected the General, their entire focus on his every word. The whine from the rotors of the helicopters behind them underlined the urgency of the hunt. The Reaction Force that had gone into the mountains earlier that morning was already reporting boot prints on an old herders’ track. They were close to the location where an unidentified communication signal had been triangulated and the Reaction Force had requested the deployment of the Hunter Force to box their quarry in. Hashemi looked up as the General finished his brief, telling the students that this would probably be the most important task in their career as Quds Force operatives and as such, they could not fail. The zeal and determination not to let their General down was impressive to see and Hashemi reflected that he had rarely, if ever, in his thirty years’ service to his country, witnessed such undisguised reverence. The troops broke ranks and ran for their heavy packs and weapons, making their way to the waiting helicopters. He picked his own pack up as the General approached. The focus and determination in the older man’s eyes was identical to that of his students and Hashemi felt a surge of hope that they might, just might, catch their man. He smiled as the General slapped his shoulder and bent to pick up his own pack.