Page 53 of Enemy Within

Ohh, that was too close to familiar for comfort. Too close to having Faisal pressed against his back in a whole other way.

He revved his ATV and throttled hard, opening up the engine with a roar. His tires spun, and he spat mud and snow behind him in long arcs, sliding a bit before gunning forward. He kept going, speeding ahead, and listened to the roar of his teammates following behind.

Faisal laid his head on Adam’s shoulder and held on tight.

When they passed the village and got over to the east side of the island, where it was rolling hills of mud and patches of snow, Adam dropped one hand and laced his fingers through Faisal’s.

THEY SET UP CAMP on a flat patch of mud overlooking the bay. Black waves rolled up on the rocky beach, dark basalt boulders like something from another world. The sky overhead was gray and gloomy, a drab slate of mottled steel. Snow clung to the ground in patches, but mostly it was a sucking, oozing mud, frigid when it slipped through their boots. Down the island another two miles, there was a lagoon and an inlet, but they steered clear of those beaches. Walruses hung out there, and bears.

They cleared the snow and rocks from the ground, and then laid tarps out in a wide rectangle. They tied another to two logs they scavenged from the boulders and propped them up in the mud, making a rough lean-to. There was enough room for them all to sleep side by side, huddled close for warmth.

Faisal slid his sleeping bag next to Adam’s. No one said a word.

Doc wheedled his way out of camp setup by collecting firewood and starting a fire. Faisal reassembled their weapons, all of their rifles and pistols. Adam unpacked his sat phone, and the rest of the team pulled out their extreme cold weather, ultra-thick neoprene dry suits. Designed for diving in freezing waters, Adam had ordered one for everyone before they left. Faisal had picked up the tab.

He pulled Faisal aside, stepping away from the camp. “Hey…” He kicked the dirt, rolling pebbles beneath the toe of his boot. “Uh, I thought you should know. East is that way.” He pointed down the island, into the gloom. Faisal would need to know the direction of Mecca when he prayed.

Faisal smiled softly. “Thank you.” He turned away.

“Wait.” Adam grabbed his elbow, stilling Faisal. “Could you… could you come get me? When it’s time to pray?”

“Why?” Faisal frowned as he breathed his question.

“I just want to be there. Be with you.” He swallowed hard and kicked the dirt again. A tuft of moss rolled off the top of his boot. “I want to pray with you again,” he finally whispered.

“In front of your team?” Faisal’s eyes went wide. “What will they think? What will they say?”

“I don’t care—”

“Adam, you’re not even Muslim.”

He looked away, glaring into the sea. “It helps, all right? Being close to you. Praying together. And—” He shook his head. “I need that right now.”

Faisal stared at him as if he were a puzzle, a riddle he couldn’t quite figure out.Don’t give up on me. Please, don’t give up on me.

Finally, Faisal nodded. “Salat al-‘Asris in a few hours. I will find you.”

Adam smiled thinly. He headed back for the main campsite, and the small fire Doc had started.

“All right, everyone gather around.” He rubbed his hands together, trying to warm them and find something to do with his nerves. This was it. The secret that had been burning a hole in his brain.

His team packed it in close. Marines weren’t afraid of body contact, not when it was cold. Doc pushed himself into Coleman’s side. The sergeant, a big man with shoulders the size of a semi-truck, rolled his eyes and wrapped one arm around Doc’s thin body.

“You’re probably wondering why we’re out here in the middle of fucking nowhere.” Everyone nodded. Doc snorted. “We’ve been detailed on another mission by Director Reichenbach. Yes, he’s still in command,” he said, as his guys frowned. “We’re still on the hunt for Madigan. Even more so now.”

He gave a quick rundown of Madigan’s movements into the Arctic and his plans to pump the atmosphere full of methane hydrate, enough to ignite a firestorm that would burn across the world, incinerating everything on the surface. His team’s expressions moved from shock to disbelief to dumbfounded rage.

“I thought we were coming out here to fight the Russians in Canada,” Wright said. He shook his head, struggling to find something to say. “Why just us? Why are we here? What, are we swimming to Russia?”

Adam shook his head. “Madigan’s still got people on the inside. In the White House, somewhere where his people learned about us. That’s why Fitz was killed. Madigan is deep inside everything. They hit us, and they hit the president.”

Stricken faces all around. His team looked torn between puking and tearing the island apart, the first step in ripping apart the world, looking for Fitz’s killer and the traitor who had betrayed everyone, from the president to their little team.

“We can’t trust anyone. Not anyone in SOCOM right now. No one in DC. We’re on our own, other than Reichenbach.”

“Who is Reichenbach getting his orders from?” Coleman frowned and crossed his massive arms. “Has he gone rogue, too?”

Swallowing, Adam shook his head. “What the world has been told about the president’s condition… is a lie.” He took a deep breath. “President Spiers is alive. And he’s not in the US. He’s working with Reichenbach, or, more like Reichenbach and he are working together again. They’ve teamed up with the Russian insurgency, and they’re headed up to the Arctic to take Madigan out. The plan is once Madigan is out, the deposed Russian president can take back his country and stop the Canadian situation before it gets worse. We’re rendezvousing with them. With the president, Reichenbach, and the Russian insurgency.”