Talley looked around. There was a flat area with just a few rocks. They could clear those in a few minutes. He passed on the details to Weathers.

  “Very well, the helo will be with you inside a half hour.”

  He ended the call and looked at Nolan who was standing near.

  “Chief, we need four men to check the bodies and make sure there aren’t any of ‘em faking. Then we’ll need another four to clear that space. They’re sending a Chinook.”

  Nolan nodded. “That’ll about use all our available personnel. Carl is finishing the charges inside the complex. I gather that Agnetha is still there, and she’s keeping an eye on both Rahimi and her father.”

  “All? How many did we lose?”

  “Six dead, three wounded.”

  “Shit! We’ll need to get them ready to go out on the Chinook.”

  “Yeah, the bodies are all out in the open. The wounded are lying over there, near Vince, behind cover. Dave Eisner is attending to them.”

  Talley nodded. “I’ll go and see them. Chief, would you attend to those other things. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Nolan nodded and went to attend to his tasks. Talley went over with a heavy heart to inspect the wounded. Brad Rose was in a bad way. The burst had clipped him across the top left shoulder, four bullets that sloped down towards his right side. They were small, high velocity bullets, probably from a Soviet made AK-74. They hadn’t noticed the lower wounds at first, as they were drenched with blood from the first hit just below the shoulder. But the lower wounds were horrific, fluid was leaking out of the lowest one. The Seal was unconscious, and Dan had just finished injecting morphine to ease the pain.

  “What’re the chances?” Talley asked.

  “If that helo can land at a hospital with a top flight ER room, we might just save him,” Dave replied. “But it’s not looking good. He could go into cardiac arrest at any moment.”

  “Is there anything you need?”

  The PO2 looked up, the scar on his face etched particularly vivid from the strain of their recent battles. “Just the ER room, Boss. There’s nothing else can help him.”

  Talley nodded. “I’ll get on to them and see how they’re doing, as soon as I’ve finished here.”

  He checked the other two wounded, they were both in a bad way, but their wounds were not life threatening, not yet. As he walked over to the bodies, he heard the sound of a pistol shot, then another. They were finishing off any of the hostiles who were either faking or not yet dead. To leave the wounded on a hostile mountainside would be cruel, and getting treatment impossible; and to leave the unwounded behind to hit them again from behind, an act of martial folly. Nolan returned.

  “It’s all being done, Boss. You want me to bring out Agnetha and her father?”

  “Yeah, now would be a good time, and Carl, too. He should be finished.”

  Nolan walked into the complex. It was now silent. Inside, Agnetha waited with her father who was sitting on the ground, moaning softly from the pain of his wounds; and Rahimi. She had the pistol held on Rahimi, and Nolan gently pushed it to one side.

  “I need a word with him, so keep that gun out of the way.”

  She smiled. “Sorry, I was just making sure he didn’t try to escape.”

  Nolan noticed that he had several bruises on his face that hadn’t been there before, but he made no comment. He had business of his own, and chances were that he might add to those bruises. Rahimi was sat with his back against the tunnel wall, an uncomfortable position with his hands bound behind him. He knelt beside the prisoner.

  “Who provides the organization and resources for all this?” He swept his hand around the tunnel complex.

  The man laughed. “I’ll see you in hell, American! You’ll never get anything from me.”

  Nolan nodded. “Yeah, okay. We’ll see.”

  He turned as Carl appeared. “I’m all done here, Chief. She’s set to blow anytime we want. I found a remote triggering mechanism. When we leave, I start the countdown, and she’ll blow in fifteen minutes.”

  “Right, go and join the others, Carl. I’ll be out soon. Would you take the Professor with you?”

  “Sure.”

  He helped the old man up and shepherded him to the entrance. The cave seemed very quiet, abandoned, with a feeling of desolation. Nolan looked at Agnetha.

  “You want to hurt this guy?”

  She nodded vehemently. “More than anything you can imagine.”

  “Right. I’ll go out and check that everything is ready to leave. You can start by cutting his balls off.”

  Nolan took out his huge, heavy, razor sharp combat knife and handed it to Agnetha. She took it and looked at it reverently. “You will let me do this?”

  “Sure. I want you to cut off his balls, and if he still won’t talk, you can take him apart piece by piece. We’ll take what’s left of it back to Bagram and bury him in the body of a pig, preferably one that died from a nasty disease.”

  Rahimi’s face betrayed fear for the first time. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Oh, I think I would. I’ll be back in five minutes. If you talk, I’ll let you go.”

  “You’re bluffing,” the man said as Nolan walked away. He didn’t wait five minutes after he heard the first of the screams. When he reached them, Rahimi was moaning softly, blood was bubbling out of his torn crotch. Agnetha intercepted him.

  “I couldn’t do it all,” she whispered. “It was vile, disgusting. It means descending to their level.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. As long as he doesn’t realize that, let’s see how he’s doing.”

  He crouched down. “It’s up to you. Either you tell me, or what’s left of you will be buried inside a diseased pig.”

  Tell me, you bastard! I need to know the name of the man who runs this outfit. Whose fund raising operation through running drugs resulted in Grace’s death?

  He used his Sig Sauer to strike Rahimi in his wounded crotch, and he screamed again in terrible agony. The man mumbled something, and Nolan leaned down to listen better.

  “Faramarz Azizi, he is a Major General and minister in Karzai’s cabinet. He has an assistant, Abdul Walid, and between them they lead the Taliban faction inside the government.”

  “Which portfolio does Azizi carry?”

  “Defense.”

  “Yeah, now that explains a lot. Azizi and Walid, got it. Where does the money come from? What’s the name of the guy who provides the money to pay for it all?”

  “Mohammed Gul, may you rot in hell.”

  “Yeah, I thought you might say that. I just wanted confirmation.”

  “You said you’d let me go.”

  “That’s right, I did.”

  Azizi and Gul, two corpses that’re still walking. Not for much longer.

  He took the knife back from Agnetha. With two quick strokes, he cut through the tendons of Rahimi’s ankles. Then he stood up and took Agnetha’s arm. “Let’s go.”

  “You said you’d let me go!” he screamed from where he lay on the blood-covered floor, trying to move his useless legs.

  “That’s right. Help yourself, buddy, you can go where you like.”

  Score one for Grace. It’s a beginning.

  They waited for a few minutes until the noise of the Chinook announced the arrival of their ride. They loaded in the wounded and the dead bodies. The rest of them climbed in as the ramp started to close. Carl Winters triggered the time delay detonator as the helo was lifting off. Just before the ramp slammed shut, Nolan was sure he could hear a shrill, terrified scream coming from inside the tunnel complex. Or maybe it was just the wind. They climbed for height, the rotors clawing their way upwards through the thin mountain air. The explosion, when it came, was almost an anti-climax. They’d traveled several miles, and there was a faint ‘pop’ in the distance. A cloud of smoke poured out of the mountaintop. Nolan looked at Talley, and both men nodded. Mission accomplished. The Lieutenant went forward to the cockpit.

  “Where are we headed? One of my men is badly wounded. We need to go to the best ER in the Kabul area.”

  The pilot, a captain, glanced at the tired, disheveled character still wearing filthy Afghan tribal dress. “That’s tough. The best ER is in Kabul, the military hospital, but we’re going straight back to Bagram, Lieutenant. Those are my orders.”

  He pronounced the word ‘Lieutenant’ so that the junior officer was in no doubt as to his lower rank. Talley just nodded. “Your co-pilot is currently in control of the helo, Captain, that right.”

  The officer nodded. “So?”

  Talley screwed the barrel of his Sig Sauer under the man’s chin. “I’ve got a proposition for you, Captain. I’ve got several men who can fly one of these helos, so we don’t need you. I can toss you out and fly directly to Kabul, or you can fly us there.”

  The Captain shouted at his co-pilot. “We’re heading for Kabul, Chuck. The Military Hospital.”

  The man looked across. “You sure, Captain? There’s no helipad there.”

  “Land on the fucking car park, just get us there! And radio ahead. Tell them we’ve got a serious casualty coming in. We’ll need a medical team on standby, and they can clear a space for us to land.”

  The man looked at his senior officer, looked at the Seal with the pistol, then nodded.

  “You got it.”

  The Captain looked at Talley. “I could have you court martialed for this, Lieutenant.”

  “Yeah, you could, Captain. But then every Seal in the country is going to be gunning for the man who was too mean to take their wounded comrade to the hospital and save his life. How would you rate your chances?”

  They locked gazed for a few seconds. Then the Captain snarled, “Fuck you, Lieutenant.”

  Talley nodded tiredly. “I’m just too tired to care, Cap’n.”

  Two hours later they landed in Bagram, after completing the detour to the military hospital in Kabul. At the side of the main runway, they saw the reason for the absence of the Osprey. The wreckage of the twin rotor aircraft lay in an untidy pile, swept clear following a failed landing. After they’d seen to the dead and injured, Talley and Nolan, as the senior men, were directed into an anonymous office at the far end of the airfield, sandwiched between two cargo hangars. When they went inside, a full colonel waited behind a desk. They both came to attention. He nodded.

  “At ease, Gentlemen. Take a seat. I’m Colonel Weathers.” They waited for him to speak. “First of all, my congratulations on a mission that seems to have gone according to plan.”

  “Except for the men I lost,” Talley interrupted.

  The Colonel nodded. “Yes, sorry about your men. Are you certain about the nuclear threat, it was real?”

  “We have Miss Agnetha Bergmann and her father, Professor Bergmann, both nuclear scientists rescued from that complex. Yeah, we’re certain, and they’ll confirm it.”

  “Okay, I’ll talk to them later. We need to find out who the hell paid for all of that stuff. It would have cost millions; hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for the materials to even start to build those nukes. The bribes alone to get hold of weapons grade uranium, is almost beyond belief.”

  “I’ve got a name,” Nolan told him. “Before he died, Gemal Rahimi told me who was behind it. It’s the Defense Minister, Major General Faramarz Azizi.”

  “Azizi! You’re sure?”

  “I’m positive. Rahimi told me just before he, well, before he died.”

  Weathers looked at him sharply. “You killed him?”

  “No, Colonel. Like a good captain, he went down with his ship.”

  Weathers looked puzzled, but didn’t pursue it. “Yeah, okay. Azizi could be a problem, a huge problem. Hamid Karzai isn’t going to like us taking down his Defense Minister.”

  “Does he have to know?”

  Weathers looked skeptical. “How could it go down otherwise?”

  “I was thinking along the lines of an accident.”

  The Colonel nodded thoughtfully. “Afghanistan can be a dangerous place.”

  Nolan caught a ride out to the city and found his way to the military hospital. He’d borrowed some clothes. The marines had lent all of the Seals a set of Marpat camo fatigues apiece. It was a relief to get out of the stinking rags that the Afghan robes had become and dress in the more familiar US uniform. And it was just as well, they’d have been less than happy about letting someone dressed like a local beggar into the gleaming hospital. Brad Rose had come out of emergency surgery and was in the recovery room. He was awake, and even managed a smile when Nolan came in to see him.

  “How do you feel, Brad?”

  “Like shit, Chief. Did we do it, did we finish those bastards?”

  “Yeah, we finished ‘em, and that place is toast.”

  Brad nodded and slumped back down, exhausted with even the effort of those few words. Finally he looked up. “What about Bravo, did we lose any?”

  “We lost six, Brad. It was nearly seven, but you’re going to be okay.”

  “Six! Jesus Christ, that’s losses of a third.”

  “We’re Seals. It’s what we do. Shit happens.”

  “Yeah. Until it happens again.”

  He drifted into unconsciousness. Nolan made a vow there and then. It wasn’t going to happen, not again. No matter what it took. He left the ward, walked out of the hospital, and bumped straight into Lieutenant Talley.

  “Boss! I didn’t know you were coming.”

  “I came to find you, Chief. Let’s find a bar and have a quiet word. Somewhere where there are no ears to listen to what I have to say.”

  “About what?”

  “Azizi. He goes down.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  An hour later they made their way back to Bagram with the rough outline of a plan in place.

  * * *

  The helo landed in the desert, one hundred and fifty miles west of Kabul. Major General Faramarz Azizi stepped out, followed by his aide, Abdul Walid, and the troops lined up snapped to attention. Walid cut the usual theatrical figure in glistening Afghan ceremonial dress. His hand rested on the curved dagger as he followed the General, and if Azizi made any of them nervous, Walid made them doubly so. The hard, dark eyes in the lined, leathery face that had seen every horror ever perpetuated by man, screamed killer. The officer in command of the company, Major Omid Jalili, walked with the General and his aide, and Azizi inspected his men.

  “What have you lined up for me today, Major?”

  “It’s an assault on a suspected insurgent arms convoy, Sir. The enemy is approaching from the east, and my men will deploy close to the road in hidden trenches we have dug ready for the drill. I have arranged that you will accompany the convoy, so you will be able to watch the action from the best vantage point.”

  Azizi considered for a few moments. Was this major reliable? Yes, he should be. Jalili was the second cousin of his brother’s nephew. The information he had was that Jalili was totally reliable. But still…

  “Have you double checked that the weapons are loaded with blanks?”

  “Yes, Sir, of course.”

  “Do it again. Abdul, go with him and make sure.”

  “Yes, General.”

  A half-hour later, Azizi and Walid were in a Humvee heading toward the convoy’s start point. When they got there, there was an assortment of old civilian trucks, just as the Taliban would use to transport arms. His driver positioned the Humvee in the center of the ‘rebel’ convoy, and the group of trucks started their engines and drove off. He asked the driver of the Humvee, an Afghan Army sergeant, who was in charge of the trucks?

  “I don’t know, Sir. It was supposed to be a platoon from our unit, but they were called out for an operation, and another unit took its place.”

  Azizi grunted, perhaps he should find out more about this new unit. He took his security seriously. But time was running short, and besides, he was tired. He just wanted to get this over with and get back to Kabul. He thought about his new girlfriend, Amina; so young, and yet so skilled in the arts of lovemaking. Perhaps he would spend the whole night with her. He hadn’t planned to, but this exercise was tiring, and he was entitled to some reward. He looked around the dark, steel, utilitarian interior of the American made jeep. Then he thought of his ministerial Mercedes limousine. Yes, he deserved a reward for putting up with this level of discomfort.

  “We’re nearing the ambush site now, General,” the driver called back to him.

  “Very well. Keep your eyes on the road, and make sure you don’t collide with any of the trucks.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He looked at Walid. “Abdul, tomorrow we must talk. This Special Forces attack has set us back badly. Can we recover quickly enough?”

  “We’re working on it, General. But it will be at least two years before we have a facility up and running again. And we need someone to run it, of course. Someone who knows how to build these weapons.”

  “Cancel my evening appointments. We will talk tomorrow. Find someone who can work for us, and prepare a plan of how to get them here. Bribe them, kidnap them, kill their relatives, I don’t care how you do it.”

  “Yes, General. It will be a pleasure.”

  It happened quickly. The Afghan Army Company leapt out of their prepared positions and opened fire on the convoy. A truck rolled across the highway, blocking it so that the convoy was trapped. Another truck came up behind to prevent any escape back the way they’d come. Machine gun fire and single shots from assault rifles roared continuously as the ambushers busily fired their blank loaded rifles at the convoy. The men in the civilian trucks fired back.

  It was well done, Azizi thought. Some of the ambushers were going down, shot by the return fire from the convoy. Very realistic.

  “Is that blood on those men, Abdul? Are they using live rounds?”

  Walid peered out through the window. “I believe it is, General. Yes, they are firing back with live rounds.”