Fletch stood up off the ground, but one of the nearest guards — one probably in his early twenties — smacked the American in the face with the stock of his assault rifle. The blow sent Fletch sprawling. His men tried to react and keep him from hitting the floor, but their reflexes had slowed over the past days.
Toli turned to the guard and put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Be sure to keep an eye on them today. Now that they know what we are going to do to them, they’ll be desperate. If they do anything stupid, shoot them in the legs. I don’t want my test subjects dying before I get a chance to try out my new toys.”
He turned and ascended the steps, followed closely by the guards who kept their weapons aimed at the prisoners until the door was closed.
Garza and Mueller helped Fletch sit up. He wiped his lip with his forearm. A streak of crimson smeared across the skin.
“You all right, boss?”
Fletch grunted. “I’ve taken worse. I’ll be fine.”
“You think he was lying about the place being rigged to blow?” Tevin sounded dubious.
“No idea. But Toli is definitely crazy enough to do something like that. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through the years, it’s to never underestimate the lengths an insane person is willing to go to.”
Alberto spoke next. “Someone will come get us out of here. They’re probably on their way as we speak.”
Fletch took a long, painful breath and sighed. A sharp, stabbing pain radiated from the left side of his ribcage. He was pretty sure one of the ribs was broken but didn’t mention it to the rest of his team. They all had injuries. He could suck it up, though it made breathing an exercise in agony.
“Well, if they are on their way,” Fletch said, “they’ll need to get here soon. And if they don’t, we’ll have to make our move.”
Mueller never said much. He preferred to speak with action. He’d been sitting farthest from the other three, listening. Now he spoke up. “We’ll have to rush them. As soon as they open the door, we charge.”
“Exactly,” Fletch agreed. “Each time they open the door, one of them looks through the slit before unlocking it. They probably do that to make sure we aren’t close. Even so, when it opens, their guns are ready. Next time they come in, we sit around here in the middle of the room. As soon as that slit closes, I’ll get next to the doorway, and when the first gun barrel comes through, I’ll grab it.”
Alberto liked the plan. “That should take care of both guards because the other one will instinctively turn toward the trouble.”
“Right. And that’s when you guys go after him.”
The other three nodded.
Fletch winced again at the pain in his side.
Tevin put his hand on Fletch’s shoulder. “You sure you’re up for this, boss? Maybe I should go after the guard. You’re hurt.”
Fletch’s head twitched back and forth. “No. We’re all hurt. I’ll be fine. Just a bruise. You know how those things are. Feels worse than it is. That’s the plan. And we are going to stick to it. Once we have the two guards’ guns, we shoot our way out. Everyone remember the layout of this place?”
The other three nodded. They’d studied Toli’s compound for weeks, making sure they knew it like their own homes.
“Good. I figure we have about four hours. We’ll take one of their Jeeps once we’re outside. Grab as many weapons and ammo as you can along the way. Could be a tough fight to get out.”
It was a desperate plan. But the time for sitting and waiting around for the cavalry had passed. Better to make a move than sit around and wait to die.
7
“Rise and shine, campers! Time to get to it!” Agent Fitzsimmons stood in the middle of the hallway as he called out to the other two.
Sean groaned and stumbled to the door. Their concierge was a little too chipper considering Sean and Emily were about to jump into the proverbial lion’s den. He opened his door at almost the same time Emily cracked hers and stared at their host.
Fitz was holding a steaming cup of black coffee, wearing a pair of black tortoiseshell glasses and a white button-up linen shirt.
“Good morning,” he said cheerfully. “Sleep well?”
Sean nodded and scratched his head. “Well enough.”
“How about you?” Fitz turned to Emily.
“Same. Got any more of that coffee?”
“Definitely. It’s set up in the main building where we’ll go over your plan. Go ahead and have a shower. I’ll be waiting. Just follow all the wires. You won’t get lost.”
He spun around and disappeared out the door again without waiting for them to say anything else.
Sean raised an eyebrow. “You go ahead and hit the shower first. I’ll wait. Need to wrap my head around this time change anyway.”
Emily nodded and returned to her room.
Sean closed the door behind him and fell face down into his pillow. A few more minutes of sleep wouldn’t kill him. But he needed to stay awake. Today was going to be long. Hopefully everything would go according to plan. Most likely, it wouldn’t. Things never went as planned, which was why Axis agents had to be exceptional at thinking on their feet.
He heard the shower turn on through the thin walls, and the water was splashing around inconsistently. Sean looked over at the modest wooden nightstand next to the bed and grabbed the file he’d set on top. He pulled himself up to a sitting position with his back against the headboard and began flipping through the mission briefing he’d already read at least four times.
Sean’s mind was like glue. Everything he’d studied before only took one pass to stick, but there was always something, some tiny detail, that could have been missed. And he didn’t want to miss a thing.
He stared at the image of Toli in a beret and full fatigues. The warlord considered himself a general of sorts, a leader of the people. Beyond that, he believed God was on his side and that with divine help, Toli’s army would overthrow the government and lead the people to freedom.
It was an odd goal considering Tanzania was one of the more stable governments on the continent. The people seemed to be happy, and the economy was beginning to thrive, unlike most of their neighbors. Someone like Toli could ruin all that. The bigger issue was the crimes against humanity. Stopping men who did horrible things to innocent people was one of the reasons Sean joined Axis.
Sean had seen atrocities from afar but never up close. He wasn’t sure how he was going to handle it. He reminded himself that that was what made him human. Some viewed assets like him and Emily as some kinds of robots in a skin suit, incapable of feeling empathy or having fears.
It couldn’t be further from the truth.
Stable but fragile governments could be toppled if the right crazy person was given some guns, a little money, and an ego the size of Texas. It seemed to happen too often in Central America and Central African nations. And the countries usually took decades to recover from the carnage.
After Emily finished in the shower, Sean got cleaned up, and the two headed over to where Fitz said to meet. They found him in a room surrounded by gadgets, computers, monitors, and wires. Seeing all the technology in what was essentially a glorified shack was almost humorous.
“Nice setup,” Sean commented. His head swiveled around, taking in the array Fitz had put together.
Fitz looked up from a computer screen. “Thanks. Gotta say, it doesn’t suck to have an almost unlimited budget.”
“Almost?”
“Well,” Fitz shrugged, “there are a few things the director wouldn’t approve. But you can’t have it all, right?”