Day of Mourning

7

"Where to?" asked Grimaldi.

The evening lights of Washington and the gridiron arrangement of streets cut by diagonal avenues raced by beneath the chopper's Plexiglas.

"We need an airfield," said Bolan above the steady rumble of the chopper. "I want you on standby alert for the rest of the night."

"Boiling?"

"Not tonight. Make it National. I'll need a car with no government tie-in."

"A rental," said the pilot, glancing at the big warrior beside him. "I've seen you like this before, soldier. You're on the kill. And it's a lone-wolf play, just like it used to be."

Bolan's eyes were chips of ice.

"Patch me through to Stony Man."

Local communications were relayed through a government scrambler frequency.

Kurtzman wasted no time on amenities when the connection was made.

"I have two names and an address for you," the computer expert reported.

"Hold on that," said Bolan. "How's Konzaki?"

"No change," reported Kurtzman. "April has a guard on the door. Two doctors and a nurse are with him right now. It's all we can do."

"Any contact with Able Team yet?"

"Negative. We still can't get through. My guess is they're the same. I've got my crew working without break."

"Tell them to work harder. The Central Foreign Bureau has a mole inside The Dragon's operation. The CFB boss put it together and The Dragon has been tipped off about what's going down."

"Farnsworth, the bastard."

"That mountain fortress is a trap for Able Team. If we don't contact them to abort their mission in time, they'll be massacred by the force The Dragon left behind."

"It seems," said Kurtzman thoughtfully, "as if an awful lot is going wrong for Stony Man all at once."

"What's the status of Phoenix Force?" asked Bolan, ignoring Kurtzman's comment.

"On their way home. Their ETA is midnight."

"Wade. Did you run a clearance check?"

"April did. Our security officer has a clean bill of health, Striker, clear back to Nam. You want the details?"

"Later. Now tell me those names and address."

"Ismet Kemal and Mustafa Izmir," said Kurtzman. "Armenians. Chief enforcers for a terrorist cell operating out of Turkey that calls itself the Justice Commandos of Armenian Genocide. The CIA spotted them disembarking from an Istanbul flight late last night. We got our intel from the usual source, but the Company has it classified top secret.

"They have Kemal and Izmir under surveillance right now. That's how we know the address. I figured it might be more than coincidence, these boys in town when everything starts going to hell for us, especially since Kemal and Izmir's specialty is commando night raids. They've been linked to several such actions in Europe."

The Bear rattled off a street address that Bolan committed to memory.

"It's a start," said Bolan. He saw the runway lights of National Airport coming toward them.

"Thanks, Bear. Get through to Able Team the instant the communications foul-up is corrected. Gotta go."

"Roger," Kurtzman replied, and the connection was broken.

Grimaldi set the Hughes chopper down after control-tower directions to the airport's private landing area. The pilot cut the chopper's engine as soon as they touched ground.

Bolan climbed from the bubble front and shed the suit jacket and tie he had worn to meet the president.

He shrugged into a more comfortable jacket that once again concealed the Beretta 93-R.

"A lone-wolf play, just like it used to be," repeated Grimaldi as he watched Bolan tog for night work. The pilot wore an enthused grin. "Here we go again, is that it?"

"That's it," acknowledged the Stony warrior.

Bolan grabbed the briefcase containing his .44 AutoMag and more death.

April rose entered the room just as Aaron Kurtzman broke his connection with Bolan. She sat beside him at the communications console and handed him a cup of freshly made coffee.

"That was Striker," Kurtzman told her. He sipped the coffee and growled his contentment. "I gave him Izmir and Kemal."

April ignored her cup.

"I hope they're not a false lead."

"They're the only lead we've got," Kurtzman grunted. "Unless you consider Lee Farnsworth."

He briefed her on Bolan's report that Farnsworth had fingered the men of Able Team for a waiting Dragon in the Hindu Kush on the other side of the world.

April still didn't touch her coffee.

"Interagency rivalry? I've heard stories of it in the past."

"I barely survived two interagency wars," said Kurtzman. "Damn spy business."

"The damn spy business," said April. "Maybe that's what's been bothering him."

"You noticed it too, eh?"

"Of course I did, Aaron."

"If we're right, this thing could blow up in our faces, just like the plastique that blew out our communications setup."

"Mack won't risk Stony Man," said April. "He's committed to the new war."

"He won't risk us," agreed Kurtzman, "but he could reconsider if this is really where he belongs."

"That is his decision to make."

"Of course it is. I just don't want to see the man do something that'll burn all the bridges behind him."

"Like taking on Lee Farnsworth?"

"Farnsworth and his organization. Interagency feuds are strictly verboten. Farnsworth should never have betrayed Able Team to The Dragon, but if Striker executes Farnsworth or any of his people over this, all of those bridges will be gone and Striker himself will be ordered terminated. It's a tough game and those are the rules."

"Maybe Farnsworth and his unit aren't involved," said April. "We don't have proof. Only the timing, and that could be coincidental."

"We do have Izmir and Kemal," added Kurtzman. "I'd give anything to have those creeps be the source of this trouble."

"It's happening so fast," noted April. "First, the sabotage, then Konzaki and Able Team and now Farnsworth. It could be that there isn't a thread connecting it together."

Kurtzman got up and walked over to a window. He stood looking out at the night. His right hand rested on the butt of the holstered pistol April had brought him.

"I'm just glad we're carrying our own side arms tonight," he growled. "It's going to be a night for everyone to cover his own ass. I can feel it out there. I just hope to God Striker is aware of what he's up against. Washington is a goddamn snake pit. The only things Bolan can trust tonight are the guns he's carrying."

"He knows," said April.

The door opened.

The nurse who had been attending Konzaki stepped in.

April knew right away.

"Konzaki..."

The nurse shook her head.

"I'm sorry. There was nothing we could do. He never regained consciousness."

Kurtzman remained looking out the window. He did not turn.

"Why?" he said into the night.

Brognola and the president were alone in the Oval Office. The Man himself had mixed the drinks, but the atmosphere was not congenial.

"I assure you, Hal," said the president, "I had no idea what Farnsworth was up to. I am purposely not briefed on the details of his operation, just like with Stony Man."

"I only hope Kurtzman restores our communications in time to alert Able Team to abort their hit on The Dragon," said Hal. "Those are good men, sir. We can't afford to lose them."

"I appreciate what you're saying," said the Man. "But I hope you'll pardon me for pointing out that you probably feel right now exactly what Farnsworth felt when a Stony Man operation caused the deaths of several of his men. Those were good men too."

Hal finished his drink, wishing more than ever for a cigar.

"A damn can of worms," he acknowledged. "And I've got a hunch it's all going down right now."

"Tonight?"

"Yes, sir. The colonel makes a damn good case for thinking there could be an attack on the Farm tonight."

"Farnsworth? You can't be serious."

"We don't know for certain who's behind it. Colonel Phoenix is working that angle. And our intel informed us that Armenians could be involved, with or without the CFB. Or there could be factors we don't even know about yet."

"Armenians?" said the president. "No, don't tell me. If my political opponents ever got hold of this kind of thing, I'd be roasted alive. What about Colonel Phoenix? The man concerns me."

"In what way, sir?"

"He's the only guy who ever told me to go to hell in this office," said the president with a chuckle, "but I don't mind that. In fact, I like him for it. I know of his work during the Vietnam War and his own Mafia campaigns, and I have a sketchy idea of what he's accomplished for Stony Man.

"His ideas of right and wrong have thus far happily coincided with our ideas of right and wrong."

"Bolan will not move against Farnsworth or the CFB unless he has positive proof," Hal assured the president. "The only indication we have of any possible involvement by Farnsworth in our trouble at Stony Man is the timing of it and his campaign tonight to put us out of business.''

"But let us imagine the worst," suggested the president. "Suppose Colonel Phoenix does find out that Farnsworth and his unit are involved. I can't have him declaring war on Farnsworth and his unit and wiping them out. Colonel Phoenix has always gone by 'an eye for an eye,' and won't that be the way he'll see it if he does find proof of wrongdoing by Farnsworth?"

"I, uh, suppose it could be," hedged Hal. "But one thing you can count on with Mack Bolan is the totally unexpected."

"That's what I'm afraid of," the Man replied. "We're expecting the colonel to be a team man tonight. But when he stomped out of here a while ago, he did not look like someone about to play by the rules."

"The guy's a survivor," said Hal. "Rules only work sometimes."

"He'd better be a survivor if he breaks my rules," growled the president. "I do not want the man liquidating other American agents, no matter what the circumstances."

"That's putting the guy in one hell of a squeeze, isn't it, sir?"

"He's not the only one. I like and admire the guy, but I won't have any choice, Hal, if push comes to shove. Colonel Phoenix will be liquidated before he can make waves that will endanger our national security and this administration. I suggest you make contact with him to apprise him of this fact."

"He well knows the chances he's taking, sir," said Hal. "The personal consequences of his actions have never stopped Mack Bolan from doing what he had to do and they won't stop him tonight."