Page 29

QUINN

After discussing it with Tony, they stayed with the plan and drop zone they’d hashed out. Extraction would be trickier. There weren’t any bases near their location, so getting out by helicopter wouldn’t be possible. They would have to bring them out using the trucks at their camp.

Quinn’s biggest concern, besides Patience, was the current health of all those involved. Depending on injuries, a long trip could prove deadly.

The plane circled the HALO point at zero four hundred, and before they were on the ground, it was long gone. This was the riskiest part of the mission, usually. If detected after they’d deployed their chutes, they’d be defenseless.

In full mission stance, they used their usual call signs.

As their leader, Quinn used the call sign Falcon 1 and assigned numbers based on their rank to the rest of the team.

Except for Whiskey, the military dog handled by Ry.

It had been a last-minute decision on whether to bring Whiskey, but in the end, they decided if they had to search the mountains, he’d be an enormous asset.

They weighted down their gear in the river, and put on their NVDs, night vision devices, and began their trek to the village. Quinn hoped they’d find some clues if not people. It was a major concern that the village looked totally deserted.

“Com check,” Quinn said.

“Falcon 2 clear,” Lucky responded.

“Falcon 3, clear,” Doc said.

“Falcon 4, clear,” Josh answered.

“Falcon 5 and Whiskey, clear,” Ry replied.

“Head to checkpoint one. Falcon 5 and Whiskey take point,” Quinn ordered. He didn’t have to tell them it was the village or to be quiet. They were SEALs, and they were a very well-trained fighting force. Not for the first time, Quinn realized how proud he was of his team.

“Copy that, Falcon 1,” Ry replied. He and the dog disappeared into the darkness.

Only a sliver of moon was visible, which aided in concealing their presence. With their goggles, they could all see just fine, but the enemy wouldn’t detect them.

Lucky followed closely behind Ry, while Josh and Doc kept pace with Quinn. They made good time, and thirty minutes later they’d arrived at the village.

“Falcon 1, permission to infiltrate?” Ry asked.

“Copy that, Falcon 5. Falcon 2 and 4, do a perimeter recon. Falcon 3, you’re with me.”

Quinn and Doc creeped forward into the village, while Lucky and Josh checked the perimeter. Ry was ahead of them and already clearing the buildings.

“Falcon 5, any tangos?” Quinn asked.

“Negative, Falcon 1, nothing.”

Fuck. Where the hell did they go? Hundreds of people didn’t just disappear, even if that’s what it looked like.

Doc pointed toward the large brick building to their left, and Quinn nodded.

They’d seen that in the drone images and figured it was the clinic or a school.

The door was ajar, and he pushed it open with the butt of his rifle to make sure it wasn’t an ambush.

No sounds greeted them at all, and they entered the empty building.

Except it wasn’t empty. The smell was the first thing they noticed.

“What the fuck?” Doc exclaimed, pointing toward the rear wall.

Quinn had seen some horrific shit over his long military career, but seeing so many dead bodies piled against the wall almost made his heart stop.

“Falcon 2 and 4, come to the primary building when you’re done with the perimeter search. You too, Falcon 5, but keep Whiskey outside.”

Moments later, the rest of the team gathered at the building entrance. No one had words for the scene they’d walked into. It got worse as they moved in to check on the status, hoping at least one person would still be alive.

Examination of the bodies revealed no gunshot or stab wounds. No visible wounds at all. Then they noticed their eyes were empty sockets, and some kind of foamy residue surrounded their mouths.

“Looks like chemical or biological warfare,” Lucky hissed.

“Fuck. It sure does. Who would do this and why? And where is everyone else? This isn’t even half the population of the village. Glove up and put on your gas masks. We don’t know what this is.” Quinn wasn’t taking any chances with their lives since they didn’t have a clue what had caused this yet.

“Thank God we kept Whiskey outside,” Ry added.

“Copy that,” they answered one by one.

“Use your M256 chemical test. Let’s see if we can figure this out. Falcon 3, get a sample to bring back. Just be careful,” Quinn ordered.

“Copy, Falcon 1.”

The test came back negative for the chemicals.

Quinn’s gut said otherwise, and he always trusted it when they were on missions.

Too bad he hadn’t followed it when Patience had come to his house.

What if when they found her, she looked just like these people?

How would he live with himself? Tony’s words replayed in his head, “keep your head in the game,” and he would.

“Outside now and decontaminate. Make sure you wipe everything down, including your weapons.”

“Copy that.”

They made sure they were as clean as possible. Then they cleared the rest of the buildings. The rest of the village was empty—no bodies dead or alive. After going over the perimeter again, Lucky found tire tracks leading to the Karre Mountains.

“Looks like we’re going mountain climbing.”

They put away their masks and gloves and set off for the mountains five klicks north. All the while, Quinn prayed they’d find everyone alive when they got there.

It didn’t take long to reach the range. Whiskey and Ry took point. The rest of the team held back until Ry gave the signal to approach.

“There are voices up ahead, but I can’t tell where the sound is coming from. There are too many cave openings.”

“Send Whiskey.” Quinn nodded toward the German Shepherd.

Ry gave him the command, and the dog took off for the first ledge to the right.

They silently crept up the steep incline. As they got to the edge of the cave entrance, Quinn heard crying and voices. They were speaking English.

Using hand signals, they came up with the plan.

Whiskey would enter first with the video camera around his neck.

Ry would display the video on his device so they could determine the number of tangos and innocents inside.

They’d used this tactic successfully many times, but there was always the risk they’d detect Whiskey’s presence.

After sending him inside, they gathered around Ry and watched the live feed. The narrow entrance led to a huge open area. The first thing they saw clearly were more dead bodies, all villagers. Whiskey hugged the walls of the cave as he moved further inside.

“There. Finally,” Quinn whispered. The doctors were chained together and sitting on the cave floor against the wall. As Whiskey moved his head, Quinn could identify most of the doctors and nurses from the photos they received in their mission packet.

As far as he could tell, they were almost all there. The only two missing were Patience and Dr. Ronald Christenson. Where the hell were they, and why were they separated from the rest?

“It doesn’t look like they’re injured,” Doc whispered.

“That means using the trucks as exfil should work,” Lucky added.

“Yeah, as long as we take out all the tangos,” Josh said.

They were all correct, but Quinn wouldn’t give the go until Whiskey returned.

He hoped he’d find Patience and the missing doctor before he did.

Then he got his wish, finally. Tied to a chair, gagged, Patience struggled in her bonds.

Thankfully, she didn’t look injured. Then, as Whiskey backed away, his camera picked up three dead tangos, and a very alive Dr. Christenson, pointing a gun at a fourth tango.

“We need to move now. Give Whiskey the attack whistle. Hopefully, he can get the gun away from Christenson. On my call.”

Ry pulled the chain around his neck and lifted the whistle. It was so high-pitched they wouldn’t hear it, but Whiskey would. As soon as Ry nodded, Quinn whispered, “Move, move, move.”

As stealthy as possible, they entered the cave. Checking the bodies as they came upon them, they didn’t find anyone alive. Finally, they reached the doctors and held their fingers to their mouths for quiet. They nodded their understanding as the SEAL team continued into the next area.

Whiskey had knocked the gun from Christenson’s hand and was standing on the tango. They filed in, and Patience’s eyes grew wide at the sight of them, and then they filled with tears.

His poor girl. Quinn wanted to race to her side and free her. But they weren’t out of danger yet.

Ry took his position near Whiskey and put zip ties on the tango.

“Hello, Dr. Christenson. We’re your way out of here. But first, I need you to tell me why you’re the only one not tied up?” Quinn said as he directed his Sig at the irate man.

“I wrestled the gun away from one of our captors as he tried to tie me up with the rest. Then I shot the three of them, would have shot him too, if not for the damn dog.”

“That damn dog probably saved your life, asshole,” Ry said through gritted teeth.

Quinn examined the man—tall, in his mid-forties, and the only one who didn't appear to have been dragged through the mud. He wasn’t buying his story.

“Ry, cuff him until we can verify his story.”

Ry reached for another zip tie from his belt when Patience pitched over in the chair, knocking Christenson to the ground.

“You stupid cunt. What the fuck are you doing? Do you want to die? If I don’t give you the antidote in the next hour, you’ll die the same as the others. A slow, painful death.” Then he pushed her off him and punched her in the face.

Quinn saw black. He raced over and lifted the doctor by his collar.

This was his worst nightmare come to life.

He fought the urge to pound the man until he took his last breath.

Overcoming his blinding rage, he shoved him at Ry to cuff.

Then he kneeled on the ground and pulled the gag from Patience’s mouth and untied her.

“Easy, little doc, I’ve got you,” Quinn whispered as he helped her stand.

“We need the antidote. He’s got it stashed in that metal case. He injected us all with whatever bioweapon he was creating.”

“Falcon 3, grab that case and inject everyone. Each of us too, if there’s enough. We’ll bring what’s left back with us.”

“Copy that.”

“Patience, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere else?” Quinn asked as his gaze traveled over her.

“No, I’m good. But all the villagers. He doesn’t deserve to live. We should give him his own medicine. Isn’t that what you called it, Dr. Death?” Patience screamed.

“It would have worked too, if you’d all just listened to me. We could have been rich. Working in private labs.”

Doc injected Patience first, then the rest of the hostages, as Lucky untied them. Then he gave them the antidote, too. It was time to get the hell out of there and get everyone home.

“Are all the villagers dead?” Doc asked Patience’s parents.

Her father, Clark, answered. His voice filled with despair. “Yes, he killed them all. We thought maybe some kind of weird virus. It turned out that’s exactly what happened, but it was his creation. Christenson gave it to them. He killed them all.”

“Talk about too much power going to someone’s head,” Josh murmured.

“C’mon, we’re getting you all out of here. After a brief drive, you’ll have an all-expense paid trip home courtesy of Uncle Sam,” Lucky said as he gathered everyone together.

By the time they made it out of the cave with the two tangos, a case of the viral drug and the antidote, dawn was breaking over the horizon.

That made it a lot easier to get everyone down the mountain and hike back to the village.

Luckily, no one suffered any serious injuries or required medical attention.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t say the same for the villagers. Dr. Christenson had wiped them all out.

Two hours later, they made it to the airport. Although it was one of their stranger missions, they’d successfully rescued everyone and sent them home.

Everyone thanked Quinn and his team for saving them as they made their way onto the plane. Patience was the last.

“Aren’t you coming with us?”

“We have our own plane. It’s just how it works. I will come and find you when I get home.”

She grabbed his hand and stared up into his eyes. “Do you promise?”

“I do.” Only death would keep him from her now. She didn’t realize that, but as soon as he got back to the states, he’d never give her reason to doubt him again.