Tactical Deception: Silent Warrior, Book 2 Read online

  It was her mind that suffered and it wasn’t necessarily because Dugar had assigned himself as her executioner, either. It was because he made her realize she couldn’t escape her past. The fate decreed by her father years ago in Afghanistan would find her, no matter where she went. She’d been marked for death and death would follow. Her hope was to bear her child before death caught her, and to keep Roger from sacrificing his life trying to save her. Those were the only two things that mattered. Keep your eyes on the target. Let everything else go. Breathing deeply, she re-aimed the .22 and fired, absorbing the slight recoil and aiming again and again until the bullets were gone.

  “Excellent.” Holly brought the target forward.

  Mari winced with dismay. “How can you say that? One bullet hit the man in the arm. The rest are all in the white space.”

  “It only takes one bullet to stop an attacker. You’ve made good progress. You kept your eyes open. You’re consistently hitting the paper and with each practice you tighten the spread of your shots.” She pointed to the clustered bullet holes just above the man’s left shoulder. “You did well, considering. I know how nausea destroys a girl’s aim.”

  “You’ve had a child?” Mari had been so focused on learning self-defense over the past few weeks that she knew little about Holly’s personal life. Holly was from Georgia, an expert sniper from the National Guard, and she was at Fort Bragg to teach soldiers how to think like a female sniper.

  “Heavens no. Marriage and kids aren’t even a gleam in my eye yet. I got the flu during a sharpshooting competition once and refused to quit. I was up against fifty men and wasn’t about to wimp out.”

  “How did you do?”

  Holly grinned. “Kicked butt. Came in third.”

  “You’re amazing.” Mari envied Holly’s independence and confidence.

  “No. Just stubborn. And you’re too pale for my piece of mind. Are you sure you’re all right? Roger would never forgive me if something happened to you on my watch, especially with me taking you off base.”

  “It doesn’t help that I didn’t sleep well last night.”

  “Thinking about Neil?”

  Mari lowered her gaze, guilt eating at her. Her tears flowed less and less now. Yes, she thought about Neil. Almost every minute of the day she had to remind herself that her husband, her friend, the man who’d saved her from death in a windowless cell and had loved her despite her shame, was gone. But at night, when she was alone in Roger’s room, when she lay in Roger’s bed, it wasn’t Neil on her mind.

  Surely Allah would never forgive her. Two years ago Roger had walked into her and Neil’s house and she’d met him for the first time. His blue gaze had pierced all the way to her soul in one look and no amount of prayer had wiped him from her mind. From that moment on she’d avoided Neil’s commander as much as possible. Only Allah knew how Roger affected her.

  She truly had to be as unworthy inside as her father had believed. Otherwise, how could she love and miss Neil, yet be so deeply drawn to Roger? How could her pain-filled heart race when Roger walked into the room? How could her aching-for-Neil self want to lay her head back on Roger’s shoulder and feel his arms around her again?

  Roger had carried her to the ambulance and had held her comfortingly close after Dugar’s attack when she’d feared she was losing her baby. He’d eased her pain, reassured her that it was going to be all right, and had left her no doubt he’d protect her with his dying breath. She wanted to feel that enveloping comfort again, but she couldn’t let that happen. With her fate, it would surely sign his death warrant.

  Holly touched Mari’s shoulder. “I can’t begin to imagine how hard this is for you. I didn’t know Neil well, but he always made everyone laugh. No one has laughed since Lebanon. What happened to the teams there and the fallout from Menendez’s terrorism has everyone reeling. But you felt the effects of that firsthand when Dugar…crap… There I go bringing up things you need to forget. How about a Sonic cheeseburger and shake?”

  “Yes!” Mari latched onto the cheeseburger lifeline. She could think about food and satisfying her cravings all she wanted without guilt or sin. Stifling her thoughts of Roger, she picked up her hijab and slipped the scarf back over her head. Her pulse kicked in protest.

  It was stupid, but the fear of having a killer wrap the silken material around her throat again wouldn’t go away. This time she didn’t fold the hijab to cover part of her face. She left the ends hanging loose to her waist, allowing her whole face to show in public. The cool air felt good.

  Holly secured the rented weapons into their cases and returned them on the way out. The flat screen in the lobby showed angry protesters carrying “Give Us The Truth” signs. The volume was off, so she didn’t know where the trouble spot was, but she did know what it was about. As Roger put it, “a billionaire’s plot to exact economic and environmental justice by making the world slave to his biofuel had sent the political world into a death spiral.” Menendez had pitted the world’s major powers against each other. Country against country, West against East, Christian against Muslim, and radical against radical. He’d framed Israel and the US for the assassination of an Imam in Iran and had set up Hezbollah for the kidnapping of Ambassador James and Israeli Prime Minister Shalev’s daughters in Lebanon. Neil had died trying to rescue them. Then, with tempers at the boiling point, Menendez had destroyed the oil market. He made it look like Al Qaeda had annihilated the US’s pipelines and hubs, then had crippled Saudi’s refineries and oil fields with evidence pointing at the US and Israel. Roger, Jack and Beck had uncovered Menendez’s plot and put a stop to it, but most of the world didn’t believe the story. Conspiracy rumors were rampant.

  Mari exited the gun range into the hot, bright September sun. “How can they believe the American government was involved with what Menendez did?”

  Holly rolled her eyes as she took the driver’s seat and buckled. “There are crazies who will turn any event into a government conspiracy. That said, if I hadn’t been there when the Lt. Col., Jack and Beck cracked the plot wide open and heard how Menendez’s mercenaries pulled off terrorist attacks, I’d think there had to be more than one man behind everything that had happened.”

  Mari adjusted her seat belt and waited until Holly was on the highway before responding. “Okay, I can understand a person from another country, especially one of my faith believing America guilty, but her own citizens are doing so. Why is the government allowing it? It doesn’t seem right. But on the other hand, in my village if you spoke against authority, severe punishment or death would follow and that is completely wrong. It’s so complicated.”

  “I look at it this way, and please don’t take this as an offense against your culture. There’re good, bad, ugly and just pure-evil things in the world. Free speech gives you good and bad things. Total suppression is ugly, but with a death penalty attached, it becomes pure evil.”

  “Maybe. I’ll have to think about it when I’m not starving for that cheeseburger.” Mari let the subject drop.

  Holly smiled. “Sounds like cheeseburgers will be your thing. My sister’s had two kids. For her it was French fries and pizza.”

  “Those sound good too. And chocolate shakes and cupcakes and truffles and—”

  “Stop now before you get me started or we’ll never make it back home. I’ll be driving all over North Carolina just to satisfy my cravings.”

  “Okay. I won’t mention rocky road fudge then.” Mari shut her eyes and relaxed against the seat, smiling at Holly’s groan.

  She’d let the good, bad, ugly and evil subject drop not because she was afraid to disagree with Holly, but because in order to make her friend understand, Mari would have to share her shame and she couldn’t do that. Besides her family and the men who’d violated her, only Neil had known.

  What Holly was calling evil, Mari didn’t think was. Dugar was evil. The men who’d attacked her in her village were evil, but to call laws and punishments evil wasn’t right, was it? It was…what
?

  Justice? It hadn’t been justice in her case, though.

  Was it deserved punishment then? Maybe—

  No! her inner heart shouted. She hadn’t deserved what had happened to her, had she? Yes, she’d been unwise years ago and had foolishly left home unaccompanied to retrieve her necklace. Then men had found her alone and had attacked her.

  And yes, last month she had purposely gone to a store she’d never been to before when she’d encountered Dugar. She’d been trying to avoid painful reminders of Neil at the usual grocery store. It hadn’t worked, though. She’d broken down in tears and had rushed for the privacy of her car. That’s when she’d hit Dugar with the glass door, cutting his head. The unbalanced man had flown into a murderous rage and the fallout from that had landed her in Roger’s apartment on post.

  Dugar had tried to kill her twice now. And both times Roger had placed himself in harm’s way to save her. He’d gone out of his way to protect her reputation and her sensibilities too, but she couldn’t let that keep happening. Now that she’d healed from her injuries and the danger of losing her baby had passed, she had some hard decisions to make.

  She couldn’t endanger Roger again and she couldn’t lose Neil in her growing attraction to Roger. Though Roger slept in a different apartment, she still saw him every day—multiple times a day. Coupling that with sleeping in his bed and it was destroying her peace of mind. It wasn’t his fault, but the more she saw of Roger, the more ghostlike Neil became.

  Neil had loved her and she had to do whatever she could to keep his memory alive for their baby. She had to leave.

  Holly pulled into Sonic and Mari gladly abandoned her thoughts for food. They ordered the works—double cheeseburgers, chocolate shakes, fries and onion rings—and ate in the car where she could relax. No people boxed her in and only Holly and their teenage female waitress could see her face.

  “This meal is going to add ten pounds to my hips.” Holly groaned and grabbed more fries.

  “Mine too, but I don’t care.”

  “You can afford it. You’re eating for two.”

  Mari drew a deep breath. She now needed to provide for two as well. “How did you do it? How did you leave home and make it on your own? I am in awe of American women and their independence. You don’t have to rely upon a man for everything. Not even for protection.”

  “It doesn’t come easy, but in America hard work can make it happen. After graduating from high school, I found a job waitressing and moved in with a friend. It didn’t take me long before I realized I didn’t want to do that the rest of my life. Every minute was a struggle to survive. So, I checked out my options and decided to join ROTC. They paid for my education and that led me to where I am today.”

  “I need to do that.”

  Holly choked on her last fry. “I assume you mean get an education because I can tell you, pregnant and ROTC won’t work. Have you seen your Casualty Assistance Officer yet? He can tell you the specifics, but as Neil’s widow, you’ll receive benefit payments and they’ll pay for your education too.”

  “I will have to go see him again. I was…it was shortly after…I lost Neil and I can’t remember anything he said. He gave me papers but they’re all at my house and I can’t go back there yet.” The life that she’d planned with Neil was gone. By booby-trapping her house and stealing Neil’s pride-and-joy car, Dugar had effectively taken away everything else too. All of her belongings, all of the little reminders of her life with Neil weren’t surrounding her as they had in the few weeks after his death. Maybe that was why his memory was growing distant.

  Holly reached over and clasped her hand. “Roger is going to get Dugar soon and then you’ll be able to put your life together. Meanwhile, we’d better get back on post. My classes tonight won’t teach themselves. I still don’t understand why you don’t want Roger to know you’re learning to shoot.”

  Mari didn’t answer until after they’d cleaned up their mess and were on the road to Fort Bragg. Rules and regulations made target practice on post impossible for her. “He’d never agree to me leaving the safety of the post until Dugar is found and that is taking longer than anyone expected.” More importantly, Roger and his piercing blue gaze would surely realize she was planning to leave. And while she didn’t fear him in any way, she knew him well enough to know that he’d die protecting her. She couldn’t let that happen. Leaving wasn’t going to be easy, but it was the right thing to do before her attraction for Roger invaded more than her dreams—like her heart.

  She closed her eyes and rested her head on the back of the seat.

  “What the hell is going on here?”

  Mari snapped her eyes open. Holly had turned the bend and the area leading up to the post’s access control point was a madhouse of camera news crews, police and protesters. Lights flashed from police cars lining the street. Policemen in riot gear were lined up and people crowded every empty space as they punched their fists into the air and waved signs demanding TELL THE TRUTH, MR. PRESIDENT.

  Holly slammed on her brakes as one man ran in front of her car, shouting. Instead of passing, the man climbed onto her hood and sat, waving his sign at the world as camera crews converged on them.

  “Get off!” Holly shouted at the man as she locked the car doors. He didn’t even look at her, just kept yelling at the other protesters to join him in fighting corruption. Holly beeped her horn for help. The police moved their way, but were powerless as a swarm of protesters came at the car. Within seconds, the car was surrounded. People were on the hood, the roof, the trunk, crowding in on all sides, and the car began to rock crazily.

  Mari’s stomach clenched as fear crawled down her spine. The darkness closed in on her with a vengeance, worse than ever before. She wasn’t in a car in America. She was in Afghanistan with men encircling her, pulling off her clothes, screaming at her sin, beating her, hurting her…

  Her heart thundered. Her body shook. Her mind screamed for her to escape now, to run. She couldn’t breathe.

  She grabbed the door handle and pulled, but it wouldn’t open. She was trapped. She was going to die. “Roger,” she whispered, remembering his solid strength weeks ago as he spoke to her when Dugar had been breaking down the door to kill her.

  “Mari! What’s wrong?” Holly’s voice came from far away.

  “I can’t breathe. We’re going to die.” Mari stabbed at the power-lock button and jerked on the handle. The door came open. The noise deluged her, left her swimming in a dark, sucking tide that dragged her under.

  “Mari, don’t!” Holly caught her arm but she jerked free. She had to escape now. She shoved at the door. The crowd moved back and Mari shot from the car, but there were people everywhere she turned, closing her in even as they moved away from her.

  “Neil!” She yelled for help, running and pushing against the crowd. Then she remembered Neil was gone. She’d never hear his voice again. He’d never walk through the door and make her laugh again. He’d never hold her again and the darkness around her grew. She had to reach safety before it claimed her completely. Lights flashed at her from every direction. People yelled at her, angrily shoving their signs at her face. She heard Holly calling to her. But she couldn’t stop. The choking darkness had her by the throat and wouldn’t let her go.

  “Roger!” She ran harder, but couldn’t run fast enough to escape. She screamed but couldn’t scream loud enough to be heard. She pushed but couldn’t push hard enough to make the men blocking her way move. They grabbed at her, caught her clothes in their hands, and trapped her in the past that she had kept buried in the dark recesses of her soul.

  Chapter Four

  Piedmont Park

  Atlanta, Georgia

  “Listen well, Abdullah, our shots will ring throughout America,” Salaam Meshood murmured to his nephew. The Mark IV scope crowned the sleek Remington 700P Light Tactical Rifle (LTR) and gave real meaning to deadly precision. As much as he despised the kafirs and their sins against Allah and Islam, he did admire
their weaponry. The ten pounds of lethal metal and stock fit like a baby in his arms, which had given him the idea of just how to invade the heart of the public on such a beautiful summer day.

  Innocence didn’t give bliss; it invited slaughter.

  He never believed it possible. That after fighting so hard for peace for his countrymen, it would be taken so ruthlessly away.

  Salaam let the rage flow through him to his kin. “They came like thieves in the night and stole our lives. Now we come as wolves in sheep’s clothing to take their lives. Eye for an eye.”

  “Mullah Meshood is wise,” Abdullah replied. The young man had been raised properly, which made him willing to do anything for their cause. Even die. Few of those trained at the River of Blood Camp would return home. Abdullah knew he might be one of those chosen for the highest honor.

  Salaam’s sister, a woman of faith, had been blessed with many sons. Unlike Salaam’s wife, Maisa, who was barren. He wanted more wives, could have four of them, but he did not want the expense of them during this time of war.

  “I studied hard, fought harder, and learned from the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar himself,” Salaam Meshood said, acknowledging the praise as his due.

  As a young man, Salaam had been at Mullah Mohammed Omar’s side when the Madrasee Taliban moved into Qandahar and saved Afghanistan from the murdering Mujahideen factions destroying the country and annihilating its citizens. Salaam had been shot several times in battle, but he’d survived. One step at a time the fighters for truth had brought swift justice to the evil and order to the chaos through the Sharia. Punishments and executions had been necessary. He still served Mullah Mohammed Omar, only now in secret. The tenets to gaining power had not changed since the early days.