No Remorse Part 34

However, she had another problem. Throwing the gear from the boat had broken the telescopic sight. She would have to use the normal sight. Not nearly as precise, but her skill would hopefully overcome the limitations of the equipment. She adjusted the sights to nine hundred metres.

The sound of an alarm drifted across the bay. A short time later, a second alarm sounded as smoke rose from behind the resort building. As she watched, a few minutes later, people began to evacuate. A group of people dressed in blue surgical scrubs was pus.h.i.+ng two gurneys slowly along the path towards the jetty. Near the jetty, eight armed men dropped their weapons and put their hands on their heads. The five Andaran soldiers and their officer stayed put with weapons at the ready. Anastia was confused. What was going on?

Then, as she watched the scene through the binoculars, she could see that Mac and Tally had taken Khalid hostage. Anastia frowned. They would never make it to the launch with a sniper on the roof of the resort building.

95.

They were about a hundred metres away from the jetty when Boroni's men brought up their weapons to the firing position.

Then all h.e.l.l broke loose.

Two shots echoed off the cliffs. Mac couldn't tell where from. Above them a sniper toppled from the roof with his weapon, landing on the concrete below. The unarmed Pakistanis took off, fleeing up the sand dunes. Rubi took off with them and they were soon out of sight.

Who was the shooter? Mac wondered. Then it hit him. Wisebaum had sent a raiding party. He smiled at Tally. They'd made it!

Not quite.

One of Boroni's men panicked at the shooting and fired. Several of the medical staff forming the cordon fell, dead or injured. Tally pushed Sophia's gurney to cover behind one of the concrete tidal barriers. Khalid ducked behind Jamila, who bucked and jerked as several rounds. .h.i.t her. Mac fired, cutting down three of Boroni's men.

"Stop, you fools!" Khalid shouted. "Boroni! Order your men!"

Colonel Boroni turned to his men to give an order, but his head exploded, followed by the belated sound of the shot from the sniper. That was enough for the remaining two men. They dropped their weapons and fled.

"Mac!" Tally screamed.

In the confusion of the shootings, Ziad had crept from behind a day tent and grabbed her. He dragged her up towards the sand dunes, the muzzle of his pistol tight against her head.

"It's over, Ziad!" Mac yelled. "We have a team surrounding the place. Let her go!"

Ziad slammed the pistol b.u.t.t down on Tally's shoulder. Her legs gave way and she cried out in pain, as Ziad grabbed her around the waist. "Release His Highness! Or next time I shoot!"

Mac hesitated, considering his options. None were ideal, even with a sniper helping them. One sniper. It seemed that Derek hadn't sent a team at all. Mac realised then that it must be Anastia. He yelled at Ziad: "All right! I'll let Khalid walk slowly back to the resort building, and you will let Tally walk to the boat." He lowered the AK-47 and kept the pistol aimed at Khalid. "Walk, a.r.s.ehole. And take your wife."

"You are a dead man. You are all dead!" Khalid pivoted on his heel and strode towards the building, wheeling his dying wife in front of him.

Tally stepped away from Ziad and headed towards the jetty. Mac ordered two of the uninjured staff to push Sophia on the gurney to the jetty. Lying on the gurney might have saved her from being hit. Ziad retreated back up the beach, increasing his distance. Now he was about sixty metres away. They needed to get to safety before Khalid made it to the resort building.

"Hurry, Tally!"

Tally quickened her strides. Khalid left the wheelchair and ran the last few metres. Ziad raised his pistol.

Fired.

At Mac.

Mac squeezed his trigger at the same time. A burning sensation swatted the skin of his thigh and blood spattered the sand.

CLICK. His pistol was empty.

"f.u.c.k!" Mac started running, limping towards the jetty.

Ziad stopped retreating up the dunes and reversed direction, running across the sandy mounds to cut Mac off before he could reach the jetty.

More shots from the sniper. Ziad was. .h.i.t. He dropped to one knee and took aim. Close enough for an easy kill.

Mac turned, pulling the khanjar from his waistband. As Ziad fired, he dived and threw the weapon. Felt the shockwave of a bullet whizz above his head. The khanjar tumbled end over end and the blade thumped into Ziad's belly, knocking him back onto a sandy mound.

Ignoring the hot pain in his leg, Mac rushed over and grabbed Ziad's pistol. Ziad's expression changed from pain to terror as the mound came alive like a miniature volcano. Thousands of black fire ants swarmed out of their nest to attack the invader. Ziad screamed, trying unsuccessfully to brush the insects away. The swarm quickly covered his face, thousands of the stinging ants crawling into his mouth, nose, ears and eyes. Soon the seething black ma.s.s covered his entire body, which writhed in agony, unable to escape the onslaught. The screaming stopped.

"Welcome to h.e.l.l, Ziad," Mac mumbled as he turned away.

He pushed Sheik Zodhami's gurney onto the jetty as the sniper from the cliffs covered their escape, shooting at any of Khalid's men who tried to fire at them from the resort building.

"Let's hope we can start this boat," Tally said as they laid the two unconscious patients in the launch.

96.

Mac cast off and pushed the throttle forward and the boat sped away from the jetty on the smooth green waters of the bay. He turned to Tally. "Tank's almost full-that's a plus. A hundred gallons will get you safely to the Rabi. To Grand Comore even, if necessary."

"By you, you mean what exactly?"

"I have unfinished business here."

"No, you don't. You've done enough. Let Derek handle it now," Tally said, checking Sophia's pulse. She undid the straps holding her to the stretcher. She was still unconscious, but her heart was beating strongly.

"Derek? Are you kidding? Where's the rescue team? He's f.u.c.king useless!"

Tally grunted, rubbing her neck where Ziad had hit her with the pistol. "He's probably trying to get approval to negotiate for the canisters. At least we won't be a liability anymore."

Mac scoffed. "If he finds out in time. Khalid's got another bomb-maker coming. You okay?"

"I'm good." Tally glanced at the unconscious man on the stretcher. "What about him?"

"Let me know when he wakes up. I want to see his face when he sees us."

They were powering out of the end of the bay when they heard a gunshot. Then a second. Partway up the cliffs a figure was waving. He waved back.

"There she is. I guess we should offer her a lift, seeing as she saved our hides back there."

He throttled back, watching for any other boat from the Princess Aliya while Anastia climbed the rest of the way down and limped to the edge using the rifle as a crutch. He tossed a donut lifebuoy.

"I can't get any closer! You'll have to jump!"

Anastia waited for an incoming wave and hurled herself into the water.

97.

The Rabi made steady progress along the west coast of Andaran in the gentle afternoon swell, on course south for Grand Comore. The crewmembers were singing and sharing a meal of ugali, a sticky corn paste with stewed vegetables, and freshly caught fish, eaten strictly with the right hand from a shared dish. Mac had insisted on towing Khalid's launch along behind, despite the possibility of it being seen. Tally suspected that he wanted to use it to go back, but she was doing her level best to encourage him to stay. n.o.body had pursued them so far, and although they were keeping close watch, they had concluded that Khalid had enough to worry about. And at least Ziad and Colonel Boroni were no longer around.

Sophia stirred under her blanket. Her head was resting on Mac's lap. As Tally watched him stroking the girl's hair, she wondered whether she would ever be able to regain his trust. Even if she did, would he be able to feel anything for her, after the abuse that Ziad and the others had put her through? She wasn't even sure how she was going to cope with that, once they were safely away from this place and she started to think about it.

Sophia opened her eyes. Blinked several times and gave a startled sound as she looked around at the unfamiliar faces.

"It's okay, Sophe. You're safe now."

Sophia looked up. "Uncle Mac? Oh my G.o.d, is that really you?"

He chuckled. "It's me. You're among friends here. And your dad'll be waiting for you when the boat arrives on Grand Comore."

"Oh...I thought I was..." Sophia tried to speak but tears began raining down her cheeks. She burst into heaving sobs and turned her head into Mac's chest and put her arms around him as her body was racked with tremors.

After some time, Sophia calmed enough for Mac to introduce her to the others, and for her to answer a few questions about what she'd seen and heard. They gave her some flat bread and a little rice and a c.o.ke from the dhow's cool store. She told them that Danni had been sold to a wealthy Saudi Prince. Khalid had told him differently, that she'd been sold to a Banglades.h.i.+ industrialist by the name of Bas.h.i.+r Alsadh. They would follow up both possibilities back in the States. After a few minutes of asking and answering questions, Sophia was exhausted. Mac took her below and made her comfortable, covered her with the blanket, then climbed up to where Tally and the others were sitting on deck in the light breeze.

"She's okay," he said.

Jog pa.s.sed him a mug of coffee. "She'll have a lot of questions in the morning, once she's had a good rest."

Mac sat down next to Tally and took a sip of Sammy's coffee. It was strong and black, almost as thick as mola.s.ses. "G.o.d, how do they drink this stuff?"

"It'll keep you awake." Tally s.h.i.+vered, but not from the cold. She glanced at the terrorist Zodhami, whom they had restrained at the stem of the dhow.

"Are you warm enough?" Mac said, putting his arm around her.

"I'm fine," she said, then realised her mistake. "Actually, that's nice. Thanks." She leaned her head against his shoulder and put her arms around his waist. "Mmm, that feels good. Like we're on a cruise."

"Oh ha, ha."

Jog, who was lying back with his head against the gunwale, said, "Ana was just telling me about how she became an a.s.sa.s.sin."

Anastia gave a cynical laugh. "Yes...so when work for the Bulgarian Government began to, how you say, die up-"

Tally chuckled. "Dry up. Although in your case, that works."

"That's right, we were getting no work. So Anton, he looks for other business through a broker. Yuri." She shrugged. "We kill some bad men. But I never kill women or children. We argue about that many times."

"Well, you're an amazing shot. We owe you our lives," Mac said.

"Is unfortunate I could not use the telescopic sight. I wanted Khalid also, but could not get a shot. Was too risky at that distance."

Tally gestured at Zodhami. "What would they do with him, do you think?"

Mac shook his head. "A show trial, perhaps? But he'd be a martyr."

Anastia said: "The terrorists, they make more bombings if he's kept in prison."

Jog threw the dregs of his coffee overboard. "That's why they dumped Bin Laden at sea. So the bad guys couldn't build a shrine."

"You get big reward?" Anastia said.

"My parents died in 9/11, Anastia. Do you think I care about a reward?"

"Oh Tally, please forgive me. I am truly sorry."

"That's okay." She looked up at Mac. "You know, I think I understand you better now."

"Oh, yeah? This'll be good."

"No, really. I know you'll think this is a bit precious coming from me. But I really do admire you. Your commitment and determination. My folks were Vietnam-era. I grew up thinking wars are just about politics. Not that I'm blaming them for my opinions. But now I realise that you guys in the military are on the front line. Like cops. Every day you're seeing and experiencing the evil you're trying to protect us from. It... You must think that the people who haven't lived that are so naive."

"In some ways I envy them. They're the lucky ones."

"Yes, they are." She kissed him gently and stood up. "Please. Let me do this myself."

She looked up at the brilliant stars of the clear sky. For what I am about to do, I do not ask for forgiveness. I have no remorse. I only ask that you understand. For my mother and father and all of those who have died and those who protect us...

She climbed over to where Zodhami was bound by his wrists and ankles to the Rabi's stretcher. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the handles of the stretcher. Anastia stood up to help but Tally shook her head. The crew watched, fascinated, as she heaved one end of the stretcher onto the deck rail.

The terrorist leader turned his head and spat at her, but the wind blew the gob of sputum back in his face.

Tally was surprised to feel no hatred, only a profound sense of justice. She spoke in Arabic. "You are evil. You have no right to mercy."

She grabbed the handles at the other end and levered the stretcher until it slipped over the side. It speared straight down, down to the black depths of h.e.l.l.