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Thoughtful enough to earn him Shahkhia's alliance. So a curse on this nefarious attack on the other side of the globe. What foul surprise would beset them all next?
7
The temporary command post for the mission was an office barrack at the north end of the courtyard of Jericho's villa.
The low building was equipped to function as base headquarters for Le
The building was deserted now except for the quarters that were Ke
The topkick merc stood at the window that faced north from the villa. He watched the sky fade from deep purple into night as the sun disappeared behind the rocky silhouette of the Jebel el Akdar mountain range.
The hot Sahara winds of daytime had already died down. The temperature would now drop abruptly into the mid-fifties.
Ke
After tonight, he thought, I'll never walk on sand again.
He glanced at his watch. He wondered when he would be hearing from Leonard Jericho. He was tired of waiting.
Doyle was in the office with Ke
"The call should have come by now, don'cha think, Top? The men are starting to get restless."
Ke
"They're paid to hurry up and wait, and they know that. Tell 'em to stow it. We'll be lifting off soon enough. I got other things on my mind."
"Such as?"
"That new guy."
"Rideout?"
"What'd you think of him, Doyle?"
The second-in-command lit a cigarette thoughtfully. "Fu
"Like, what?" asked Ke
"Like a clam. So what's with this job anyway?"
"Knock off the questions," growled the topkick. "The headshed screwed it up, as usual. I don't like it either. But we work with what we got.''
Doyle got thoughtful again.
"If we're talking about Rideout, I don't know what we got, exactly. I couldn't read the guy worth a damn. There's something about him. It's in the eyes. Cold eyes, Top, like chips of blue ice. The guy looks like he can handle himself."
"Maybe that's it," nodded Ke
"I thought that was the kind of man we wanted here. What is it? You got a gut feeling about the guy?"
"Maybe. I don't know. I got a gut feeling that the guy's a pro all right. But not the kind of pro we want. I got the feeling I was being handled out there when I met him."
Doyle eyeballed Ke
"So what do we do about him? Jericho might not like it if we don't have proof."
"We'll give Jericho the next best thing, if I'm right," grunted Ke
"I think we got what you wanted," replied Doyle. "It was the guy you had tagged, just like you said. I had two men on his ass and they took him right to the doorstep of a woman we know works for Mossad."
"Your men should've dusted him right on the spot and those others with him," grunted Ke
"My men didn't know they were trailing an Israeli spy," Doyle bristled mildly. "Those were your orders."
Ke
"Wait a minute. There's a way we can tie these two things together."
"I don't get you, Top."
Which is why you'll always be a dumb ass kisser and nothing more, thought Ke
"Here come the orders," said Doyle.
Ke
"Yes?" was all he said.
"Relax," a voice said. "I've got a scrambler on the line. How are things going there?"
The question was asked in an authoritative tone that made it anything but polite conversation.
"My men are ready and waiting to move out, Mr. Jericho," said Ke
"Very good. What about our Israeli problem?"
"We've got the man tagged, sir. I'm making plans right now to take him out."
"Good. About goddamn time. New developments?"
Ke
"No, sir. Nothing new. I've got security airtight. It's all ru
"Then set a course for the Aujila oasis. That's about thirty minutes flying time. Be there in one hour."
Ke
Perfect, he thought.
"One hour. Yes, sir. I'll brief the pilots immediately."
"I will see you in one hour then, Mr. Ke
"Yes, sir. Goodbye, sir."
Ke
"Aujila oasis," Ke
Doyle was on his feet. He started from the office, but paused with his hand on the doorknob.
"You didn't say anything about Rideout."
Ke
"I guess I have," said Doyle. "I'll set that up too, then."
Ke
"Use Bruner and Teckert. Tell them to watch their asses. I got that damn feeling."
"I wonder if we're right. About Rideout, I mean."
"Either way we'll find out soon enough."
"You want it, you got it," said Doyle. He snapped off a curt salute and left the office, closing the door behind him.
Leaving Ke
The boss merc turned to stare out the window. It was too dark to see anything out there except his own reflection in the glass. But it would give Doyle a few minutes in case the guy came back with any last-minute questions. It would do no good for Doyle to return and find Ke
I've got to be real careful now, thought Ke
The world looked at Ke
In other words, the horrors that he had perpetrated, and the hellzones — Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Rhodesia, Chad, Libya — where he had spent his career soldiering amid the harsh realities of a world he never made, could not be imagined from his outward appearance.
Ke
Even some of the men in his outfit here in Bishabia would be shocked to know about the locked and boarded schoolhouse full of rebel kids near Gatooma that Ke