Page 11 of Call Sign: Thunder
A long silence dragged on. He could imagine the curse words being used at the other end of the radio. He didn't even blame Peter.
"Dammit, Zach. This was not our mission. My ass is gonna be in a sling if we start world war three down here. Guns are a threat to national security. Saving some chick is not."
"Maybe not, but it is a matter of national honor. She's an innocent. She's American. She deserves our help."
"Are you sure you aren't thinking with your dick, soldier?"
"Fuck you, Peter. You know me well enough to know I love 'em and leave 'em. This isn't about her. It's about doing the right thing. They are hurting her. Bad. She won't make it out of here alive. We are her only chance." When there was no answer, he added assertively. "I'm not leaving without her."
"God dammit, Thunder." A long minute passed. Zach spent the minute praying the unit would back him on his decision. He wasn't stupid enough to think he could take on the entire compound without help. He had exactly one knife, a handgun and two grenades. He'd confiscated the rifle the guard had carried, but it only had two rounds in it. What he'd give for an M16 right now.
"All right, we have the coordinates. We are at our primary rendezvous. The backup bus will be here within two minutes. We got in and out of the compound under the radar. There is a three-minute countdown before our surprise explodes. We have detonators rigged to blow on the arms cache. With any luck, we'll have some time in their confusion after the blast to sneak in and pick-up a stowaway for the ride home."
Relief flooded Zach. There were still so many things that could go wrong, but he didn't want to think about it.
"Keep your head down. The bus will have to set us down at least a klick out and we'll hoof it in on foot. We'll be in touch when we hit your neighborhood."
"Roger that. And Major... thanks."
"Don't thank me yet. I'm still deciding if I'm going to have your ass court-martialed for insubordination for ignoring my direct order." The radio went silent.
Fuck. This blows.
Zach checked his six again before standing, hoping to see through the small window. The bastards that built the building planned ahead, placing windows too high for any passerby to see inside. He pulled over several broken pallets, stacking them to make a platform. He was risking being seen, but he needed to know how many guards they'd face once inside.
The sight that greeted him through the dingy glass turned his stomach in knots. He closed his eyes, reopening them seconds later, sure what he had seen was a mirage. Blind fury consumed him as he realized the scene was oh so real.
He counted seven guards milling about inside. More than one had their dick out, stroking off as they fucking enjoyed the agony of the naked woman strapped immobile to a chair created for one thing—holding victims immobile while they were tortured.
He didn't need the file to know that the only two men in the building wearing business suits were two of the three Blanco brothers. Knowing Superman was playing with the gun-smuggler, he knew these two were the drug and slave traders. A lethal combination for the poor young woman in that chair.
Had they already killed her? He worried he was too late as he watched her carefully and found no signs of movement. He was too far away to hear the conversation taking place between the brothers. She had just screamed minutes before. Had they used too much force to silence her?
As he assessed the scene, her position suggested they'd been taking turns raping her. Rage that he was too late to prevent that from happening consumed him. He prayed he'd have an opportunity to use his knife on a much more private location of their body than their neck.
Zach felt relief and dread in equal measure when the woman regained consciousness. Something was wrong. She was fighting like a mad woman against her restraints. Even from his distance, he could see blood flowing down her arms from cuts on her wrists. The metal manacles were cutting into her flesh, but she acted as if she couldn't even feel the pain.
He had no idea how it must feel to be in her position, but he knew something was really wrong. There was a manic quality to her flailing that alarmed him. She was going to be difficult to subdue when they liberated her. He hoped they wouldn't need to knock her out to transport her.
The sound of laughter hit his ears. It seemed out of place for the scene and it took a minute for Zach to understand it was the Blanco brothers inside the warehouse that were laughing. The fuckers were laughing at her distress. Laughing at her desperation. Fuck, they were taunting her. He couldn't hear their words, but he understood her keening scream so well.
I need to get her the fuck out of there.
He needed to create a distraction so he could get in there and cut her loose. He was fondling one of his two grenades when he noticed all of the men inside had started pulling their cell phones from their pocket and were looking down.
Panicked shouts met his ears. Several of the guards that had been playing with themselves put their erections away and rushed out of the north side of the building. The brothers were ignoring their captive, in deep conversation with each other.
The shipment must have blown up. Their brother a few miles away was sending out a warning to the rest of the family to watch their back, that there were hostiles in the area. There was no other reason Zach could think of that would explain the sudden distraction in the warehouse.
In the confusion that followed, he knew he would never have as good of an opportunity to rescue her than that moment. The warehouse had turned into a deserted wasteland, the two brothers and what looked like a doctor in a lab coat were the only three men that remained with the captured American.
Zach jumped down from the pallets and crouched low. He drew his Berretta and made sure the safety was off. When he got to the southwest corner of the building, he stopped to assess the situation. Heavily armed men were pouring out of the surrounding buildings at alarming rates. Soon, his squad would be well outmanned.
It was now or never. The residence was in confusion. No one had taken charge yet. He needed to capitalize on their disarray. He pulled out his radio and let his commanding officer know his update. "Situation has changed. Need to move in and secure the asset ahead of schedule. Will check in when mission accomplished. Over."
He didn't wait for a reply. He'd made up his mind. He was going in.
Zach used a group of scrubby bushes as cover first, crouching low and crawling to the cover of an ancient magnolia tree that was only ten feet from the side entrance to the warehouse. He'd have no cover once he stepped out from behind the tree.
