Ambush Force

“You heard the man!” Dirk bawled. “Now I would like you all to turn your kind attention to our friend and leader, Captain Fairfax!”

The commandos whooped for their commanding officer. Fairfax had been in Somalia and earned his officer’s stripes and the jagged scar along his jaw the hard way.

Lieutenant Dirk edged up to Bolan as the briefing began. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“By all means, Lieutenant.”

“No offense meant, but, uh, just who in the blue hell are you, anyway? Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice that the Man has taken an interest in our little situation, but why exactly are they sending me a Fed?”

“None taken, and I’m not a Fed.”

Dirk cocked his head suspiciously. “Well, you work for the Justice Department, don’t you?”

“No.”

Lieutenant Dirk blinked. “No?”

“No.”

“I was told you did.”

“That was a misinterpretation.”

“Well, we’re going out tonight, me and you.” The lieutenant’s eyes went hard. “So why don’t you illuminate my ignorant black ass?”

Bolan sighed. He had been a soldier, and there was nothing worse than strange, murky individuals suddenly popping up from stateside during an operation. It implied mission creep and goat screws of epic proportions. “I don’t work for the Justice Department. I have a working relationship with the United States government, and when I choose to take action, I liaise with the President through the DOJ.”

“A…working relationship, and when you choose to take action you talk with the Man?” That gave even Dirk pause.

“Yeah.”

“Directly?”

“Sometimes,” Bolan admitted.

“So…you’re a spook?”

“No, though I’ve been spooky.”

“Paramilitary?” Dirk tried.

The man was getting warmer. “I guess you could call me an operator of a sort.”

“You’re—” Dirk’s nose wrinkled in suspicion “—a merc?”

“Naw.” Bolan shook his head. “I don’t get paid.”

“You don’t get paid?” Lieutenant Dirk regarded Bolan like a primatologist who has just encountered a gorilla with wings. “So you’re a…volunteer, spookerator, with a direct line to the President who does this out of love?”

“Close,” Bolan conceded. “And payback. I’m pretty big on payback.”

Dirk suddenly grinned. “Well, hell, that’s all you had to say! Count me in!”

Bolan looked at Lieutenant Dirk long and hard. “You want in all the way?”

The lieutenant cocked his head. “You mean join the all-volunteer spookerator love and payback club? Sorry, man, I appreciate the offer, but I’m Delta all the way.”

“What if I said I might need you on a one-shot deal, and it involves the dead Rangers.”

“I’d ask you to clarify that a little.”

“I think it was an inside job.”

“Inside job?” Dirk’s face became a mask of stone. “That’s some real messed-up shit you’re implying there, Spooky.”

“Problem is, I don’t have any proof. To get it, and get payback, I’m going to have to go inside. I’m going to need someone like you to piggyback my way in, and frankly I don’t mind admitting I’d like to have someone like you on my six.”

“This is getting really goddamn deep and dark.”

“Listen, if we come back from this op tonight alive, and you trust me after, I’d like to buy you a beer and talk about it more.”

“Ooh!” Dirk grinned. “Beer.”

Pandit Valley

“WHERE THE HELL IS Coop?” Dirk hissed. “I told him to keep his civilian ass on my—”

Bolan spoke quietly. “I’m right here.”

“Jesus!” Dirk turned around. “I thought you were arranging satellite feed.”

“I was.”

“Well, don’t sneak up on a brother like that!”

“I didn’t. I’ve been here for five minutes.”

“Man…So what have we got?”

“It’s a series of caves. The local villagers say two years ago there were some earthmoving machines up in the hills. There’s no known mining in the area, and satellite recon shows no new construction. Most likely, what we have is a tunnel complex, probably using the preexisting caves as a template. Thermal-imaging satellites show low-level heat signatures venting from several sources around the cave area, probably cook fires.”

“Great.” Lieutenant Dirk wasn’t pleased. In his experience the only thing worse than urban warfare was tunnel fighting. “We’re going to have to dig them out hole by hole.”

“I’ll have a map of the complex ready in another couple of minutes.”

Dirk brightened. “Someone gave you a map of the place? Why didn’t you say so?”

“No one gave me a map. Someone’s making me one.”