Shock Wave by Al Pessin

Author:Al Pessin [Pessin, Al]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2021-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Commander Will Jackson could not imagine what kind of clearances were needed for a short-notice, direct Baghdad–Tel Aviv flight, and he didn’t care. All he cared about was how fast the C-37A military executive jet could fly.

His ride was on loan from the senior American general in Iraq. The pilot told him they’d make the trip in an hour and a half. It would have taken Will a full day to catch a military transport to Germany and connect to a commercial flight to Israel.

It paid to have the three-star head of DIA as your travel agent.

Most passengers on such a flight would have leaned back into the plush leather seat, popped up the footrest and enjoyed their soda and peanuts, maybe caught a nap. But Will sat forward and stared out the window. He checked his watch every few minutes. His right leg bounced up and down in his desert cammo trousers. His twice-injured left hip ached, but he was determined to ignore it.

* * *

Somewhere below him, Bridget’s left hip ached, too. She had been lying on it, as far as she could tell, for something like an hour on the hard floor of the trunk. Her head also hurt from rebreathing the same air, along with car exhaust and dust from the road.

The car slowed down, turned onto a gravel surface—maybe a driveway—and stopped.

“Stay quiet,” Ra’ed said from up front.

The car doors opened and closed. The men greeted someone. She heard a woman’s voice.

* * *

It was dark as Ari, Peretz, and the assault team sped along a two-track road through a West Bank olive grove, following the satellite track of the last vehicle on Corporal Golani’s list.

They stopped in a cloud of dust at an old storage building, and the team members ran from their vehicles with weapons up. Drucker took cover with Ari and Peretz and gave his warning through the bullhorn.

As before, there was no response.

He repeated it. “Come out with your hands up.”

A voice came on Drucker’s radio. “Target vehicle in the back, sir.”

Drucker looked at Ari, who nodded. Drucker spoke into the radio, “Go.”

Two men moved forward and broke through the door with a small battering ram. Drucker and the rest of his team ran inside. Ari broke protocol and went in behind them.

It was one large room, so the All Clear didn’t take long. Ari walked to the hodgepodge of furniture. He saw the leftover food and the bedrolls on the wooden floor. He smelled the cigarette smoke.

“This building is for storing olives at harvest time,” he said. “Why would they have furniture and bedding?”

“For rest maybe,” Drucker said.

“But it is not harvest season.” Ari picked up a piece of pita. “And this bread is fresh. Someone left in a hurry and not long ago.”

Ari moved to the far corner. There was a rough carpet thrown at an odd angle. He kicked it. The carpet slid to the wall, revealing the outline of a trap door.

The soldiers were immediately on alert.

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