The Emerald Scepter

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Amir’s scout team returned within an hour. The men gathered around the sheik, babbling in Pashto and jabbing their fingers toward the far shore of the lake. Amir turned to Abby and Cait.

“My men got to within a quarter a mile of the camp. They were afraid to go any further because a helicopter had landed at the encampment. The troop carrier was heavily damaged and they saw bodies lying on the ground.” Anticipating the unspoken question, he added, “They were too far away to identify the bodies.”

Abby was worried about her friends, but she pushed her personal misgivings aside and her military training took over.

“Did your men report anything else of interest?”

“Yes. They heard an explosion, and a short while after that the helicopter took off and flew over the camel’s back.”

Abby glanced up at the clear blue sky.

“The helicopter may have set down to refuel and rearm,” she said. “We’re totally exposed to an air attack out here. We’d better get out of sight before it returns.”

“What about Matt and Calvin?” Cait said. “We can’t just leave them!”

“There’s nothing we can do,” Amir said.

Abby put her arm around Cait’s shoulders. “Matt and Cal are highly-trained soldiers. They’re fully capable of taking care of themselves. They’ll be fine.”

“But what if they’ve been wounded and are just lying there?” Cait said with pleading eyes.

“If they are dead they are dead,” Amir said bluntly. “We must get back to the village, see to the living and prepare a defense.”

As Amir shouted orders to his men, Cait walked to the edge of the bluff and looked across at the wispy clouds of smoke rising from the far shore of the lake.

She was about to turn away, but her eye caught a strange V-shaped ripple and trail of bubbles around fifty feet from shore. Something was moving in her direction.

Keeping her eyes glued to the object, she called Abby over and pointed.

Abby squinted against the glare. “What the hell is that thing?”

Amir noticed the two women staring into the lake and hobbled over. He saw a light-colored blur moving toward land and called his men over. He pointed his cane at the object which became more yellow in tone as it rose to the surface.

The black muzzles of six automatic weapons tracked the object until it stopped around twenty feet away. It was a tribute to their discipline that they didn’t unleash deadly fire when one head, then another, popped to the surface. A hand reached out of the water and pulled the hood back and goggles down to reveal the grinning face of Hawkins.

“Hello,” he said as if returning from the dead were a normal occurrence.

Calvin pulled his mask down as well. “You-all going to stand there or give us a hand?”

The two men pushed the AUV in until it touched the bottom of the sloped bank. Amir’s men hauled Fido out of the water and onto the top of the cliff. Then they helped Hawkins and Calvin who crawled out of the lake as if they were antediluvian water creatures making the transition to land. They stood on shaky legs at the top of the cliff and slipped out of their dive gear.

“This is a miracle,” Amir said. “Did you swim underwater all the way across the lake?”

Hawkins patted his friend on the back. “It was nothing for a navy SEAL. Right, Calvin?”

“An ex-navy SEAL,” Calvin corrected. “Speak for yourself, man. You said we could ride Fido all the way.”

“What Cal is saying is that Fido gave us a tow until its batteries ran down,” Hawkins said.

“And our propulsion units fizzled.” Calvin puffed his cheeks out. “We had to drag the submersible the last couple of hundred feet. It was like moving a refrigerator underwater.”

“Fido is a prototype,” Hawkins explained. “Still got a few bugs to work out of its battery system.”

“I’ll carry some extra double AAs next time,” Calvin said.

“Maybe you two could stop your bickering long enough to tell us what happened over there,” Abby said.

“Sorry, Abby.” Hawkins took in a lungful of air and let it out. “There was an air attack. Three Cobra gunships with missiles and Gatling guns.”

Amir was familiar with the Cobra’s capability and he knew better than to ask if anyone had survived. “Many of my men have wives and children in the village. The people responsible for this will pay with their lives.” He clutched Hawkins by the arm. “Do you know who is behind the attack?”

“Partially. A Blackhawk helicopter landed after the Cobras did their work and three men who seemed to be in charge got out. I knew two of them. One is the twin of the man who tried to kill me. The other is a professor from Georgetown University.” He looked at Cait. “His name is Saleem.”

Cait gave a coughing laugh. “That’s impossible. The professor isn’t a killer and this is the last place he would be. I’m sure you’re mistaken.”

“I’m afraid not, Cait. I talked to Saleem a few days ago at Georgetown,” Hawkins said.

“How is it that you escaped the attack?” Amir said.

Hawkins explained that they’d been underwater looking at a possible mine entrance and then told of the run-in with the dive team.

“My men said they heard an explosion,” Amir said.

“We used the dead diver’s body and made an improvised floating mine before the divers could make a second try at us.”

“I’ll bet that isn’t in the SEAL bag of tricks,” Abby said.

“Yeah, but it’s in Calvin’s bag,” Hawkins said like a proud father.

“I had the C-4, but Hawk was the one who figured out how to use it,” Calvin said. “Dumb luck.”

“We won’t be as lucky if the choppers come in while we’re out here like sitting ducks,” Hawkins said.

The sheik ordered his men to help lift the AUV onto the desert vehicle. Then they tied their dive gear onto the side carriers. Amir and the women and two guards got in the touring car. The other guards followed in the Russian jeep. Hawkins and Calvin brought up the rear in the desert vehicle.

They dashed through the countryside at a breakneck pace, prompting Calvin to say, “These guys are running as if the hounds of hell are after them.”

Hawkins, who was behind the wheel, glanced in the rear-view mirror and let out an oath.

“What’s wrong?” Calvin said.

“Those hounds of hell you just mentioned?”

“Yeah?”

Hawkins jerked his thumb at the black speck in the sky behind them.

“Hope you brought some dog biscuits.”

He squeezed a few more miles of speed out of the desert vehicle’s engine, knowing even as he did so, that there would be no escape from the helicopter closing in for the kill like a fierce-eyed Valkyrie.