Power Game (GhostWalkers 13)

Great. More of Ezekiel's friends no doubt, but she was grateful they were coming. She would have to leave as soon as they got there so she could lead Whitney's men away from Pepper, Nonny and the triplets. She had the feeling Cayenne could take care of herself. Still, Bellisia didn't want anyone hurt on her behalf. She tapped her thigh with her fingers, her mind protesting. She'd given Ezekiel her word, but she'd also promised him she'd take care of Nonny and the others. That meant leading the supersoldiers away from the Fontenot compound.

"That was fast, them finding me." How had they tracked her? She'd stayed near the water. She knew the tracking device Whitney chipped all of them with was too deep in her for her to get out by herself, but water messed with it. She'd been careful to stay in the river or a bathtub for long periods of time. She worked, but she had chosen a restaurant near the river where she could go on her breaks.

She looked at Nonny. "I promised Ezekiel I wouldn't leave without seeing him first, but if I stay here, eventually those men will come here looking for me."

Nonny shrugged. "It won't be the first time. If they come, they'll run into a parcel of trouble. You made your man a promise, Bella, and you can't go back on your word. That wouldn't be right."

"It wouldn't be right to put everyone he cares about in jeopardy either," she pointed out.

"You leave, they'll come all the same," Donny said. "You told that man you'd wait, you best be waiting. He's not the kind of man you want to lie to."

Cayenne walked up, went straight to Donny and touched her foot to his in a weird gesture of affection. "What's with the firepower, chief?"

"I came to straighten your spidery ass out, woman. Where's that man of yours? He's the only one that can keep you in line."

"Chief?" Bellisia echoed.

"Chief cook and bottle washer," Cayenne said. "He babysits for Pepper occasionally."

Donny bristled, puffing out his chest. "You're going to be a world of hurt, woman, you keep that up. I don't babysit." He leaned over as if he might spit, looked at Nonny and changed his mind. "I instruct those little girls on plants and animals in the swamp. Just because they like my company more than they like yours, you don't have to be so snarky."

The two sounded like they were at war, but clearly they were friends. It occurred to Bellisia that Cayenne was every bit as wary around people as Donny was.

"I'm telling them you're here," Cayenne said. "We'll see about all the instructing you do."

"They'll be jumping all over me, and I'm here to protect your spidery ass."

"You can't keep calling me 'spidery.'"

"I can as long as you have that red in your hair. Why women have to go putting God knows what kind of junk in their hair, I'll never know."

Cayenne stuck her nose in the air and swung around to show Bellisia the hourglass in her thick mane of beautiful black hair--an hourglass that was natural, not dyed as Donny so clearly believed. "You like?"

"I have to admit, it's pretty cool," Bellisia agreed.

Donny scowled. "And people think I'm crazy. Where's Pepper? At least she's got some sense in her, marrying a Fontenot. You married Trap. Got crazy hair and a crazy husband. What the hell are you doing with that man?"

"He's amazing in the sack, Donny. Ah. Mazing," Cayenne taunted.

Donny rolled his eyes. "Stop talking. In fact, go away. I'm going to take my supplies and go lie up on the roof until your men come home. I hope your ah-mazing man spends a lot of time on spanking your ass."

"Oh." Cayenne fanned herself. "He does. Hurts so good."

"Cayenne." Nonny said her name. A warning.

"Sorry, Nonny." Cayenne blew her a kiss. "I'll behave myself. I just can't help it, especially when he calls my man crazy."

"He is crazy," Donny argued.

"Like a fox," Nonny said. "He's one of the smartest men on the planet."

Donny sighed and pushed the duffel bag at his feet closer to Bellisia. "There's your belongings. These men hunting you disappear, you come home. And if Ezekiel really wants you, he can come talk to me." Without another word he sauntered off in the direction of the side of the house where he knew they kept a ladder.

"Wow," Cayenne said, awed. "He's so amazing. He's already treating you like a daughter."

"What did that mean? About Ezekiel going to talk to him?"

"It's a tradition for a man to ask for her father's permission when he wants to marry a woman," Nonny explained.

"Whoa." Bellisia straightened up from getting the duffel bag. She pulled it onto her lap and held it in front of her like a shield. "No one has mentioned marriage. He barely knows me. There are things that would make him run for the hills if he knew them about me. Everyone is jumping to conclusions just because he asked me to wait for him."

"Wait here for him," Nonny corrected. "We're his family. By bringing you here openly, he's telling his team members and us that you're family as well. These men make up their minds fast and then act on it."

Bellisia tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She was desperate to be in the water. She wanted to run a bath and sink down into the soothing liquid that would keep her from feeling like a dried-out prune. It would also slow Whitney's men down if they were still able to use the chip in her to track her.

"You said he barely knew you. What do you think of him?" Cayenne asked curiously.

If she answered, she'd look like a stalker, but these people were Ezekiel's family, she didn't want to start off by lying to them. "I carried out a mission for Whitney and I overheard some things that led me to believe a member of Ezekiel's team--or maybe several members--might be in danger from a man living in China. Cheng is very powerful and has tentacles all over the world. He doesn't appear to be in league with Whitney, if anything just the opposite. Whitney almost killed me, and I'd had it with him, so I escaped and came here to assess the situation."

"Assess the situation?" Cayenne echoed, not looking too happy with her.

"The only men I'd ever been around had been Whitney's supersoldiers, and I have to tell you, they aren't good men. I had to find out if these men were worth saving. I parked myself in the water right over there." She pointed to a spot a little way from the pier. "I could see the house and keep it under surveillance. When Ezekiel took the girls out in the boat, I'd follow. I realized he was a good man, and I wrote the note to Nonny."

Cayenne nodded. "It's horrible to come out of what's virtually a prison and try to figure out how to maneuver in the real world. Who to trust, who not to trust."

"Exactly." She stood up. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take a bath. If you leave the kitchen, I'll do cleanup since I didn't do any of the cooking."

"Can you cook?"

Bellisia frowned. "Um. Not without harming someone. But I'll try."

"You'll have to get in on Nonny's cooking classes. We're slowly getting better."

Bellisia contemplated learning to cook while submerged in the bathtub. That sounded like a good idea.

10

Ezekiel looked around him. The C-17 was cavernous in spite of holding the two boats with the gear for two boat crews, as well as all the men strapped inside. He knew these men now. All of them. Some of them were friends. Several members of the boat crew had been to the Fontenot compound for their crazy crab or shrimp feeds. He'd served on several occasions with nine of the twelve SEALs. There were the men from his squadron, his brother Mordichai, Gino and Draden. Now, having trained with the others, the two new SEALs brought in to replace the fake soldiers from the Kopaska group and the remaining four Indonesian soldiers, he knew he was going into the situation as prepared as possible with good men.

He felt responsible for them, the way he always did. He accepted that about himself. He would always feel responsible for the men he went into combat with. They mattered, and he would get them home. Every. Single. One. That was always the vow he made to himself and tonight was no different.

He glanced at his watch. He'd slept on the way, the roar of the powerful engines not

bothering him in the least. He could sleep anywhere, anytime, when the possibility presented itself. He'd learned that valuable lesson on the streets a long time ago and serving in the GhostWalker PJ squadron had only strengthened that trait in him.

The men varied in their reactions, spending the time in several ways. Some, like Ezekiel, slept while they could. Others joked with one another, relieving the tension that built before dropping out of the dark sky into a hot zone. He found that although it was all familiar to him, this time was different. It was different because for the first time he had someone to go home to.

He'd never considered what having a woman would mean to a man like him. She made him vulnerable in ways he didn't want to think about. He barely knew her, but it didn't seem to matter. She was his. He knew her the moment he sat down at that table where she was working. She wasn't anything like he expected her to be. He'd always looked at tall women. Women he thought were strong. He wanted a woman at his side, a partner, like Nonny had been with her husband.

Bellisia was extremely slight. In spite of her size, she was lethal as hell, had confidence in herself and would protect their children as fiercely as he would. He liked those traits. Admired them. He hadn't expected that he would think about her night and day. That she would creep into his thoughts during the down times of his training or at night when he lay in bed. Or now, just before he would make the jump onto foreign soil.

He glanced at his watch; it was 20:40. They were to jump at 21:00. He stood, signaling to the others that they were twenty minutes from jumping. The cargo doors of the plane were already beginning to open and the wind howled through the interior. He looked at his men, all grim-faced now. They were faces of warriors, where only a few minutes earlier they'd been joking around with one another or simply sleeping. Like Ezekiel, those who had been napping woke completely alert.

The boats were pulled out of the plane by their drag chutes that would open the mains. The boat crews followed their boats closely. The SEALs and Kopaska warriors went next, one right after the other, no hesitation. They were then followed by Gino, Mordichai, Draden and last, he was out, floating in the dark sky. He always found peace there.

Initially, facing the unknown in the dark, there was always that trepidation, a fear that gripped his insides and sent adrenaline rushing through his body like a freight train. Staring down over water or forest in the dark, knowing men were somewhere hiding with guns ready to kill him, gave him that rush. This time he would be parachuting onto an island on the Musi River.

Part of Palembang City is on an island in the Musi River nineteen kilometers from Sri Jaya. An Indonesian Marine unit had set up the staging area in an abandoned building on the southernmost point of the island near some old docks. His men assembled their gear while the crews refueled the boats with swift efficiency.

"This is it, gentlemen. In a few minutes we'll be embarking on the mission we've trained so hard for. In spite of the setbacks, all of us are ready for this. We will be victorious and bring our comrades out safely."

He got a couple hooyas, they were all listening. He wanted them listening because every word he said was important and couldn't be drilled in enough. "Everyone needs to check that their gear is functioning properly. Test radios, NODS and strobes. Everyone will wear their IR strobes. They are what will identify us from the enemy when the boat team moves to extract us. The last thing we want is a fratricide incident."

They'd checked their equipment prior to stowing it in the boats, and it had been checked before they ever set off, but checking gear multiple times often meant the difference between life and death and he was bringing them all home.

"Make no mistake, gentlemen, these men are Islamic radicals. They consider it a blessing to die for their cause. Let's accommodate them. Number-one priority is the hostages. We want to get in and get out without detection if possible, so when you're accommodating them, do it as quietly as possible."

That got a ripple of laughter, and a couple of the SEALs nudged each other. "Don't worry, Slick, you die on this one, I'll take good care of your girlfriend for ya." Another ripple of laughter went around as Slick flipped his buddy off.

Ezekiel waited a heartbeat or two until the laughter died down. Humor was a good way to deflect the intensity of what they were about to do. "Boat teams, get your gear ready. It is 01:00, we leave in ten. The rest of you, finalize your gear and be formed up on the dock with your game faces on."

"Hooya, Captain."

They moved into the boats as they'd practiced over and over until they could do it in their sleep. No one spoke as the SWCC crew took them along the river. The boat crews were all business now. It was their job to protect the men going in to rescue the hostages, and they were elite when it came to doing so.

Ezekiel had been to Indonesia several times. The Musi River's source was deep in the Bukit Barisan Mountains. The water rushed down to the plains where two converging rivers, the Ogam and Konering, fed the Musi so that it widened into a large river right at Palembang. He liked Indonesia and its people. He didn't like that the terrorist cells were growing into the population, infesting the young and putting most of the good-natured, hardworking people at risk.

The weather was very close to the weather in Louisiana, and the humidity didn't bother his fellow PJs or him. SEALs trained in every kind of environment and they weren't bothered by the heavy humidity either. It was a fairly clear night, no clouds, which wasn't in their favor, but that didn't matter. It was particularly dark, however, just the way he liked it. The GhostWalkers believed in their creed. The night is ours.

Ezekiel glanced around him at the faces of his team. He had become used to running missions with his own squadron. They tended to keep to themselves. It was far easier using their abilities without an audience, but he knew these men now, what they were made of and that they'd get the job done.

The boats took them within a kilometer of the village. They entered the water, using snorkels to breathe as they swam through the river until they were at the very edge of the village. Very cautiously they slipped from the water. Gino and Draden hid snorkels, fins and masks in the bushes while the others remained in place, waiting for the signal.

Mordichai called the SWCC crew. "Wolf Pack, Wolf Pack, this is Liberator."

"Liberator, this is Wolf Pack."

"Wolf Pack, Liberator is on the objective."

"Wolf Pack copies, Liberator is on the objective."

Gino and Draden split and began moving in a circle. It was easier to use their skills without an audience. Gino scented the air using his acute sense of smell. Immediately he picked up on the location of the outer guards. There were two on his side set apart at fifteen-foot intervals. There was one in the tower overlooking the river. He could even scent the two guards on Draden's side. So five altogether. He knew there would be more, but these five were the direct threat to his team.

He moved through the brush unerringly, his feet never snapping so much as a twig, but he was fast, coming up behind the first guard, covering his mouth while he slit his throat. He caught the rifle cradled in the man's arm and lowered it to the ground along with the body. Then he moved the fifteen feet to repeat the action with the second guard. He knew Draden would be doing the same.

Gino went up the side of the tower, blending into the structure as he climbed. He barely used his toes to propel him up, using mostly upper body strength. At one point the guard made the short walk around the top of the tower. He muttered into his radio, reporting, and slumped down, drinking water. That gave Gino his opportunity. The guard's back was against the wall. As he leaned over stretching, Gino came up over him and drove his knife deep into the back of the guard's neck, severing the spine and killing him instantly. Gino activated his infrared strobe for two seconds signaling Ezekiel it was clear. He then climbed down, moving quickly to join his teammates.

"They're expecting trouble," Gino reported tersely.

It didn't change anything, and they'd expected it after the

attack on Ezekiel, but it made getting in and out without a firefight tougher--probably impossible.

The SEALs nodded, but didn't respond. The two Kopaska soldiers looked at each other with far too much satisfaction for Ezekiel's liking. He couldn't blame them for wanting to take out the entire nest, but this was an extraction. Getting out the hostages was the main objective of their mission.

The men had already broken into three six-man teams as well as the PJs four-man team as practiced during training. Bravo team had four SEALs and two of the Indonesian soldiers. They were responsible for ensuring security at the front of the target building. They moved silently toward their destination while Charlie team, consisting of four SEALs and the other two Indonesian soldiers, spread out to keep the way secure going back to the water. Delta team, consisting of six SEALs, kept the rear entrance secure for the Alpha team to get in and out with the high-value targets.

Gino and Ezekiel took lead, moving in after Bravo team signaled them forward. Two bodies lay rolled to one side and a third was just at the entrance. There were yet three more enemy waiting beyond the door. Gino, Ezekiel, Draden and Mordichai stacked up, prepping for entry, one man behind the other. When they were ready, Mordichai, the last man, tapped Draden, the man in front of him, on the shoulder until the signal reached Gino, the front of the line.

Gino kicked the door and then stepped to the opposite side. Ezekiel tossed a flash bang grenade through the door. The grenade detonating signaled the entry. As each man cleared the door they alternated to which side they would go. Gino went right, Ezekiel left, Draden right, Mordichai left as they entered the room. All four engaged the roomful of targets as they did so. In less than four seconds they eliminated every hostile in the room. Gino signaled they were ready to move to the next room.

Gino and Ezekiel both had unique gifts that allowed them to smell the enemy, but it was Gino's gift in such situations that always astonished Ezekiel. The man seemed to be able to see through walls.

Two ahead. They're hiding to the left of the door. Both lying flat, weapons ready. No hostages in that room, but don't want them at our backs. You call it, Gino whispered in their heads.