As a result of spotting the F18s, the terrorists had not ventured away from the landing area. None had braved the open ground, staying close to the plane instead, no doubt hopeful that the F18s would disappear and let them reboard their plane and depart.
The Delta sniper set up his AX338 sniper rifle, alongside his CIA counterpart’s McMillan TAC-338. Both approved each other’s choice with a nod before zeroing in on the terrorists before them.
“Target acquired,” the Delta sniper said into his mic, quickly adding, “Target down.”
“Target acquired. Tango down,” said the CIA sniper.
Delta sniper: “Target acquired. Tango down.”
The commentary continued. Ten jihadists ceased to exist before the other jihadists had managed to squirrel themselves away into safer positions, outside of the snipers’ view.
CIA sniper: “Osprey, could you please stir up the nest?”
The V-22 Osprey had been hovering just outside the terrorists’ small arms’ fire range and had stayed out of the fight. The pilot swung the Osprey around and the M2 opened up. The .50 caliber bullets tore into the ground and had a number of terrorists running for cover, the very cover that protected them from the snipers. The snipers, once again, began their duck shoot.
“Jesus, guys!” shouted Flynn into the mic, as the Delta and CIA team were about to enter the battlefield. “Leave something for us!”
With the snipers and the M2 pinning the terrorists down, the CIA and Delta teams had an easy run into the killing zone. Working in four four-man squads, two CIA and two Delta, the teams approached the last few entrenched terrorists. A small cluster of rocks had proved an excellent defensive position for Al Zahrani and his last four bodyguards. Impervious to the long distance fire, it was down to the assault teams to break down their resolve.
Flynn directed the two Delta teams who converged from the east while the CIA team leader directed his two four-man teams from the west. The bodyguards, armed with AK47s, tried in vain to halt the advance but the onslaught of the highly trained operatives converging on them was overwhelming. The individual teams worked in tandem. Two men laid down cover while the other two moved forward and repeated the procedure. The teams literally walked across the open desert floor without so much as a single bullet in response from the pinned down bodyguards. As the teams reached the opposite side of the rock cluster, a number of flash bangs preempted the final assault into the small area that held Al Zahrani, further neutralizing Al Zahrani’s loyal bodyguards. Despite the overwhelming odds, two of the bodyguards were suicidal enough to try and stop the capture. Both fell to the ground, three bullets apiece, double tap to the chest and a kill shot to the forehead just to make sure. His other bodyguards dropped their weapons, just as Al Zahrani had done himself. Al Qaeda had just lost its newest leader, even before the world knew who he was.
Once the area was announced clear, only two additional jihadists were alive, although barely, alongside the new Caliph and his loyal bodyguards. The rest were all killed in action with no casualties among the CIA or Delta teams. A number of high fives were exchanged throughout the ops center. Even the F18s were allowed in on the action. Their job was to destroy the AN-24 aircraft that had been left in the landing zone. A short burst of their M61 Gatling guns saved the US tax payer a few thousand dollars, destroying the plane without the need for any missiles. All in all, the operation had proved an overwhelming success.
“What about the other plane?” asked Carson of the smiling Turner, bringing him back down to earth with a bump. Their job was not to capture Al Zahrani, their job was to catch Nick Geller.
“Oh yes, I suppose we continue to watch it.”
Carson shrugged. “I doubt there’s much point. I’m sure if Nick were somewhere in that desert, he wouldn’t go anywhere near that plane again, given the noise we just made.”
“Sir, I have Special Agent Reid on the line, she says it’s urgent,” announced one of Carson’s DoD team.
“Put her on speaker,” said Carson.
“Frankie, it seems, was right.” Reid said.
“About what?” asked Turner.
“Geller doesn’t slip up!”
“Would you mind explaining?” said Carson irritably.
“Al Zahrani is laughing at us, telling us how we fucked up big time,”
“We just captured his sorry ass!” said Turner.
“Yes we did. However, we captured him on his way to killing Nick Geller!”
“What?!” asked Turner.
“He was coming here for one reason and one reason only — to kill Nick Geller!”
“Son of a bitch played us again!” Turner brayed.
Carson shook his head, a slim smile across his face; it was hard not to admire that level of ingenuity. “Did he tell you where they were heading?”
“Flynn’s asking him now,” she said, wincing at the sounds coming from the rear of the plane as Flynn ‘questioned’ Al Zahrani.
Ten minutes later, Flynn reported that Al Zahrani did not know the meet location, all they had were the co-ordinates for landing. The truck that was to pick them up was to take them to the secret camp.
“Well let’s get looking for that camp!” Turner urged.
“We have been since we found the plane,” said Carson. “There are hundreds of thousands of square miles to search. But even if we do find it, I guarantee they’ll be long gone.”
“So he’s done it again.”
“Yep, we saved him and not only that, we removed the only man on the planet who could stop him from within Al Qaeda.”
“Perhaps we should let Al Zahrani go?”
“If it wasn’t for that,” replied Carson, pointing to the breaking news banner on one of the news channels announcing Al Zahrani’s capture, “I may have agreed with that quite ridiculous idea.”
“How the hell did they know already?”
“Wouldn’t surprise me if Geller hadn’t tipped them off himself,” sighed Carson.
Chapter 51
“So, what do we think…where will he go next?” mused Reid. She and Flynn were poring over a large map of the desert. Exactly the same conversation was happening back at NCTC, only with a far larger map and group of specialists. They all came to the same conclusion: they had no idea. There were just too many variables.
Frankie had accompanied Al Zahrani back to the US on the C40B, insisting that Flynn and Reid were far more valuable in the hunt for Geller. Her job was back home, trying to look for clues from the last few months. Flynn had argued initially, but ultimately, he was a soldier and was more than happy to stay at the sharp end of the hunt with his Delta team. Reid just wanted to catch Nick and if Frankie felt she could help do that better from the States, she had no complaints. With no objections from Carson and Turner, Frankie, along with four of the CIA Special Operations operatives, waved the V-22 Osprey off at Abu Simbel and took off in the C40B for the US, most likely via Guantanamo Bay, although that was still to be decided.
“Port Sudan,” said Reid, tracing her finger east across the desert to the coast of Sudan.
“Any particular reason?” asked Flynn.
“He came from the west and headed east. I expect he’ll keep going east.”
“There are lots of ports to choose from,” Flynn noted, looking at the coastline.
“Yes but Port Sudan’s the biggest, easiest to get lost in, and will have the greatest flow of traffic,” countered Reid, judging the size of the ports by the diameter of the circles denoting their locations on the map.
“As good a call as any,” said Flynn, hitting the dial button to reach Turner and Carson back at NCTC. “We’re going to head down to Port Sudan to see if we can pick up anything,” he said when he had them on the phone.