Page 128 of Into the Gray Zone

We felt the vehicle stop, then heard a sliding door close. We were in the garage. Manjit said something in Hindi, but I didn’t hear his door open. Someone answered back through an open window, and Manjit started arguing with him.

What the hell?

I wanted to separate Manjit from any suspicion of treachery, so I’d given him instructions to tell Jaiden that the Chinese had found them and tried to kill everyone, knowing that the bodies they’d found would be on the news, so it was plausible. His cover story was that he was the only one who’d escaped alive. Which was sort of true.

Manjit seemed to be a bit of a sensitive sort, more a bespectacled student than someone who would enjoy cutting a head off solely for the thrill, like I’d seen with Al Qaida, Hamas, or ISIS. I believed he’d been wrapped up in something that had gone out of his control—much like what had happened to the Chinese—and I had tried to use that against him. I’d told him what the government had planned for Thakkar’s residence, and that everyone inside—Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim—was going to be slaughtered because of his actions, so helping us wasn’t going against his brethren but alleviating unnecessary bloodshed.

That was the carrot. For the stick I’d told him he would be the first one I shot if he gave away that we were in the vehicle.

I hoped I’d at least convinced him enough to waver on screwing us over, but maybe I’d gone too far, since arguing with whomever was outside this vehicle wasn’t what I wanted.

After a few seconds of raised voices the argument stopped, and I heard the car door open. I said, “Remember, we need Manjit and one security guy alive.”

When it shut, I reached over and pulled the latch opening the tailgate. It popped about an inch and I said, “Ready?”

“Yeah. Do it.”

I pushed it up and rolled out, bringing my Staccato to eye level and moving to the driver’s side, Knuckles right behind me. I saw Manjit talking to a man in a red uniform, two others with black uniforms behind him, all of them holding rifles. None of them Jaiden.

I really didn’t want to start blasting bullets this early in the assault, alerting anyone who could hear the gunshots, so I went into rapid domination mode, shouting, “Down, down! Everyone get on your belly!”

One of the guards started to raise his weapon, but Knuckles reached him before he could aim. Knuckles slapped the barrel down and pistol-whipped him in the head, dropping him to the concrete. I trained my weapon on the others and said, “Get the fuck down.” They immediately complied.

I kept my pistol on them while Knuckles stripped them of their weapons and flex-tied their wrists and ankles, leaving Redcoat and Manjit free. I said, “Go get our long guns.”

He returned to the vehicle and my radio came alive: “Pike, Pike, this is Blood. I’ve got movement down the street. Police cars with sirens and some type of armored personnel carrier coming your way.”

I shouted, “Knuckles, it’s on. We have to move.”

He tossed me a SIG Sauer MCX chambered in 300 Blackout, and I holstered the Staccato, putting the AR sling around my neck. He waited until Jennifer’s weapon was over my back and then tossed me another. I checked to make sure a round was in the chamber, flipped open the folded buttstock, then said, “Get them up.”

Knuckles did so. I went to Redcoat and said, “Take us to the elevator that leads to Jaiden.”

He sneered at me, and I felt the beast stir. I immediately tamped down the emotion, shoving it back into its cave—and it worked. Satisfied, I punched Redcoat in the gut, leaving him bending over and hacking, gasping for air. I put my barrel in his ear and said, “You want to try again?”

He nodded and pointed. I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket and said, “Knuckles, take ’em to the elevator.”

He started marching them at a fast walk, me falling in behind with the cell to my ear. I heard Veep say, “Pike, the Black Cats have launched. Don’t go for the Trojan horse. They’re on the way, and you’ll get annihilated in the crossfire.”

I said, “Too late for that. We’re inside. What’s the ETA?”

“Maybe ten minutes. Maybe less.”

“Do we have any radio contact with them?”

“I don’t know. Maybe, why?”

“Tell them the twenty-second floor is wired to blow and they have some Americans on the inside.”

“I’ll try, Pike, but I’d suggest just getting out.”

“Can’t. They’re doing a ground assault too. We can’t get out now.”

He started to reply and I said, “Get someone to tell them what I told you,” and hung up. The elevator door opened and Knuckles said, “Good news?”

“Only if you’re a Black Cat.”

The doors closed and I poked Manjit in the back, saying, “Just walk out like you expect to be here. Understand?”

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