Shadow Tyrants (Oregon Files 13)

He switched his light off and paused at the trailer’s rear door to listen for any patrolling guards. There was nothing but the sound of a ship being loaded on a quay a quarter mile away. Still, he was prepared to fight his way out, this time with a Glock pistol equipped with a suppressor.

He pushed the door up slowly. The area around him was clear. He climbed out and relocked the door.

That’s when he noticed movement to his right by the shed holding the dock’s backup generator.

Two men were stealthily approaching the building. Both of them were in night camouflage and carrying suppressed pistols like he was.

One was a huge black man and the other was a wiry Asian. Torkan blinked in surprise when he recognized who they were.

It was the two men who had passed him and Mallik in the stairwell during the attack in Mumbai.

Why they were here, Torkan couldn’t guess, but he didn’t want to stick around to find out. He didn’t have time, however, to duck out of sight before the black man saw him. For a millisecond, they stared at each other in disbelief.

Then they both started shooting.

FORTY-FIVE

Linc was shocked to see Torkan coming out of the trailer, but it lasted for only a moment.

When he saw the Iranian assassin raise his pistol, he shoved Eddie down and fired. Bullets whistled overhead as they dove behind the generator shed.

“Torkan,” Linc said to Eddie, who had already drawn his own pistol.

“Did you get him?”

“Don’t think so.”

“Why is he here?”

“He was doing something in that semi-trailer.”

Linc poked his head out and saw Torkan crouched behind the trailer. By now, the gunfire had drawn attention from the security team, and a klaxon sounded. Unlike the nearly silent gunfire shown in movies, the suppressors were still loud enough to echo through the dockyard.

“He’s cut off our escape route,” Linc said.

“What’s happening out there?” the Chairman asked. “We hear gunshots.”

“Asad Torkan blew our mission,” Eddie replied.

“He’s here?”

“Mission is aborted. Sorry, Chairman.”

Linc fired off more rounds, but he didn’t hit Torkan. He saw the assassin take off. Torkan fired three quick sho

ts before he disappeared into the maze of equipment near the trailer.

“He’s gone,” Linc said.

“We need to get out of here. Let’s move.”

Footsteps were pounding toward them from all directions. Linc and Eddie ran to the trailer, which was in the direction of the hole they’d cut in the fence.

They reached the rear of the truck when rifle fire ricocheted off the asphalt, shot by six guards running from the front gatehouse.

Eddie and Linc slammed into the side of the trailer and crouched down.

Tires from two SUVs screeched as they tore across the dockyard.