Operation Fallen Angel Read online

  “And those patients went unreported to the authorities?” He tried to keep his judgement of that from showing.

  Elizabeth nodded. “They had to have faith that they would remain anonymous or they wouldn’t come for treatment. And if they didn’t come for treatment, they’d most likely die.”

  Doc shook his head. “I was a Paramedic in Houston, before I joined the Army. I transported way too many young people who’d been shot. Such a waste. And of course, in the Army, over in the Sandbox, the wounded were always coming. Man’s hatred for each other is a constant no matter where you’re at.”

  Elizabeth nodded her head. “I hope you will be able to go fishing soon.”

  Doc gazed at her with an added level of respect. She got it, few others did. “What about you? What do Sister’s do during their leisure time?”

  Elizabeth chuckled. She locked eyes with him, appreciating the unique pale gray coloring of his irises. “I like to read and sing. I recently got hooked on crossword puzzles. The Sisters don’t really have leisure time, they are always in ministry or studying the word of God. I’m no longer a Sister. I didn’t take my final vows.”

  Doc stared at her with surprise. “What exactly does that mean?”

  “When it was time for me to make it official, I didn’t.”

  “I’m sorry,” Doc said. “I’m not Catholic. I know there are steps and a timetable, but I don’t know what those steps are.”

  “I declared my intention to serve at age sixteen, was sure I had the calling. At age eighteen, I officially joined the order. At age twenty, I made my first vows. I should have made my final vows last year, but I couldn’t. Sister Bernice John counseled me this past year, and we prayed on it together. She put the paperwork to process me out on hold, believing I’d change my mind. I haven’t. I don’t have the faith I should have. I mistook the feeling of belonging with a calling.”

  Doc gazed at her with a mixture of feelings. “So, just like that, you decide after eight years of your life that you’re not being called. Now what?”

  “I need to leave. I’m more sure of it now than I have ever been. When we get picked up by your team, I will be firm with Sister Bernice John that it is time for me to go home, for my paperwork to be processed. I guess I’ll need to figure out the rest of my life now. I’m not afraid of the future and my deep and abiding faith remains. I will always love God and my fellow man, just not as a Sister.”

  Doc didn’t understand. She still sounded like a nun. Then his thoughts went to Lambchop, their resident reverend. Lambchop had that faith and still managed to be a hell of a SEAL, and a hell of a team member. Maybe her calling was more in the direction as Lambchop’s. He knew there were limited roles for women in the Catholic church, and the whole celibacy thing for both men and women would be a deal breaker for him. Unable to figure out anything to say, Doc just nodded.

  The older of the two boys mumbled words. He began to move his limbs. Doc rushed over to him. He was the one with the many wounds in his chest. “Hey, easy there, little guy,” he said. He kept the boy from touching his bandaged wounds, which as the boy came more alert turned into a fight to control his hands. The boy shouted out words. “Do you speak his language?”

  Elizabeth hovered at the head of his bed. “No, it sounds like one of the many clan dialects.”

  The boy was becoming more combative. Doc was worried he would tear his sutures. He grabbed both of the boy’s hands and pinned them down, which frightened the boy and made him fight harder. He shouted out louder. Even though Doc didn’t understand the words, he recognized the panic and fear in the boy’s voice.

  “It’s okay, my child,” Elizabeth said softly, leaning her now scarfed head into the boy’s line of sight. The boy’s eyes focused on hers.

  Doc watched Elizabeth smile mildly. She ran the back of her fingers over the boy’s cheek soothingly.

  “You are fine, and we will not hurt you, precious one.” She pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, a motherly gesture no matter what language a person spoke.

  Doc watched in fascination. She definitely had a way about her, a way that instantly disarmed the child. The boy stopped struggling. Doc relaxed his hold of the boy’s hands.

  “Tawfiiq,” the boy exclaimed repeatedly.

  Just then a flashing light and a low tone emitted from the rugged computer tablet Doc had set up on the foot of the other bed. “Fuck, the motion sensor,” Doc said softly. “Help me get him quiet.”

  Doc moved to the other table and clicked on the keyboard, silencing the low tone.

  “Shh!” Elizabeth said over him. “Al-Shabaab.” She pointed towards the entry into the cavern, like the boy would know where she was pointing to.

  The boy did know Al-Shabaab. He whimpered, his eyes went wide, and his pleading eyes never left Elizabeth.

  “Shh,” she repeated, her finger in front of her mouth making the universal gesture to be quiet.

  “The fake wall shows movement,” Doc whispered, standing beside her. He had his rifle clutched in his hand.

  Elizabeth’s wide eyes met his cold focused stare. Then her eyes darted around the cavern. There was nowhere else to hide. She watched Alexander take a step towards the passageway. “Come back to me, please,” she whispered.

  He glanced back at her and nodded.

  She held the little boy’s hand and tried to remain calm. A few minutes later, the second motion sensor showed movement on the tablet dashboard. No, no, no, she said in her head. She strained her ears to listen for any sound. Nothing. Certainly, if the enemy had breached the fake wall, she would have heard gunshots or at least a scuffle if they overtook Alexander.

  The seconds dragged into minutes, and time played games with her senses, just like it had the entire time they hid before Alexander and his team rescued them. She stood motionless, listening intently, barely breathing for a long time. Finally, Alexander reentered the cavern.

  “They’ve moved on, never entered the cave. From what I can tell, it was looters, taking anything that wasn’t nailed down,” Doc whispered as he came in close. Then he moved to the computer tablet and typed a few commands in, resetting the system. He checked his watch. “I’m due to check in with my team in five minutes. I’m going to go on early and check the status of our visitors.”

  Relief washed over Elizabeth, as did exhaustion. She watched him power his comms back up. He stood facing her as he talked.

  “Doc to Xena.”

  “You’re in early,” Razor’s voice came through Doc’s comms, bringing a smile to his face.

  “Just had some visitors, thought I’d let you know we didn’t invite them in or entertain them.”

  Garcia laughed. “Glad to hear that. It sucked not having the ability to give you a heads up.”

  “I’ve got a couple motion sensors wired. They weren’t too curious about the surroundings just the things they could take. Are they still in the area?”

  “Affirmative, these guys are in no hurry. I’d stay as quiet as possible.”

  “My batteries are at under twenty percent. I’ll be back on in twenty minutes to check the status of my visitors. We are ready to evac whenever you can get us out.”

  “Roger that,” Garcia said.

  They remained silent standing near the exam tables. The little boy stayed quiet as though he understood what was taking place. Twenty minutes later, Doc powered his comms back up. “Razor, you got a report on our visitors?”

  “They are out of the area. You are clear, Campground.”

  Doc smiled and nodded at Elizabeth. “Roger that.” He checked his watch again. It was just before zero-five hundred. “We are good for exfil as soon as a canoe can come by and pick us up.”

  “Good to hear, Doc. Coop and company are poised near your twenty, ready to swoop in and take you out. Primary LZ will be right in the middle of downtown,” Razor said indicating the chopper would land right in the middle of the village. “Give me about twenty minutes to make the arrangements and I’ll be back in t
ouch.”

  “I’ll go off comms till then. My power is damn-near depleted,” Doc said, viewing the gage.

  “Roger that Doc. Basecamp out.”

  “We’re getting picked up, probably within the hour,” Doc said to Elizabeth with a grin curving his face.

  Elizabeth smiled too and relaxed. She thanked God.

  “Tawfiiq,” the boy said, sensing the easing of the tension in the adults.

  Elizabeth’s eyes met Doc’s. “That’s a name. Help me angle his head to see this other boy. The woman who brought them in thought they were brothers.”

  Because of his wounds, in order to turn his head, it meant rotating his entire body. Doc slid both his arms beneath the boy. Together, he and Elizabeth rolled the boy so he could view the other one.

  “Tawfiiq,” he said with obvious relief and then relaxed against Doc’s arms.

  Elizabeth leaned over him again. “Yes, Tawfiiq is fine.” She pressed another kiss to his forehead. She caressed his cheek. Then she smiled at Doc. “This is what I’ll miss no longer being a Sister.”

  “There are a lot of jobs you can do back home to comfort children that you don’t have to be a Sister to do,” Doc said.

  “I haven’t thought about it yet. My departure from here was always so far off, but now that it is about to happen, I guess I will have to give it some thought.”

  Doc took a few moments and packed things up. Twenty minutes later he logged back onto his comms and reestablished communications with Razor. “Are we clear to move closer to the cave opening? The last visitor destroyed part of the wall.”

  “Roger that, Doc. The bird is en route to your twenty, ETA, twenty minutes.”

  “Great to hear, Basecamp,” Doc said. “Make sure the bird has a stretcher. I only need one.”

  “It does,” Razor guaranteed.

  Doc turned off the tablet monitoring the motion detectors and packed it away in his bag with everything else. He carried his bag to the main cavern. When he returned, he took hold of the older, alert boy. “I’ll bring him out first, follow me so I can leave him with you while I get his little brother,” he told Elizabeth.

  She nodded and followed him from the cavern, glancing behind herself at it as if to say goodbye to it. It had hidden them and kept them safe. She felt an amazing relief wash over her. Doc sat the boy to one of the two exam tables Elizabeth had in the main cavern. Her eyes scanned the fake wall she’d fashioned. Yes, the looters had torn part of it down. They weren’t completely exposed, but they weren’t hidden well either. Good thing their ride out was on its way and there were no threats nearby.

  Elizabeth got a cup of water and helped the boy sip. It had been several days that neither boy had been awake long enough to drink more than a few drops of water. Alexander had them both hooked up to IV fluids the entire time so they wouldn’t be dehydrated. He’d just removed the tubing, but he’d left the needles taped into their tiny hands. She was sure the boys would receive good care at the U.S. Naval Base in Djibouti when they arrived there.

  Doc reentered the main cave carrying the younger boy. He was still unconscious. He gently laid him onto the other exam table. He saw the anticipation and relief on Elizabeth’s face. The anger he felt towards her for disabling his alarm and handling the check-ins by herself was gone. Stubborn girl!

  The two of them made idle chatter to pass the time. The sound of engines approaching brought a smile to Elizabeth’s face, but a worried frown to Doc’s. “That’s not a chopper. Campground to Basecamp,” he spoke. There was no reply. “Basecamp, this is Campground.” He took his comms off and viewed the battery level. “Fuck! They’re dead.”

  Delta

  “Campground, come in,” Razor repeated with urgency. He shook his head at Jackson who sat beside him in the Operations Center at Camp Lemonnier. “Doc’s comms were nearly dead when we last spoke. Sonofabitch! Coop, I can’t raise Campground. He has no idea they have incoming.”

  “We’ve fallen back two clicks from his location. How soon can you get backup in here?”

  “Not soon enough if it goes south. Sonofabitch!” Garcia repeated. “I only hope he recognizes the difference between truck engines and a chopper fast enough.”

  “How many heat signatures you got in those trucks? It would be nice to know how many Tangos we’re dealing with,” Cooper questioned.

  “Well, we got four troop transport trucks with blurred heat signatures in the back of each. They could each be full, men sitting shoulder to shoulder or it could be a few men laying on the benches. It is early morning. They could be sleeping.”

  Now Cooper cursed. “Fuck, we’re too close to lose them now.”

  “We’re watching Coop,” Garcia said.

  “So are we from HQ,” Yvette’s voice came in. “Big Bear just came on and wants to know why an airstrike wasn’t called in the second the threat was identified.”

  “Fuck,” Garcia cursed off mic. Then he clicked back in to answer. “The convoy of trucks was observed entering the sector. Its original route had it heading south, but it veered off course and doubled back at the last minute and turned onto the road leading into the village.”

  “Can you neutralize the threat now?” Shepherd’s voice came through.

  “Negative, Big Bear. The trucks have regular Somali military markings. We don’t have authorization to engage.”

  “Do we know if it is regular Somali military behind the wheel? From the briefings I’ve received, that cannot be taken as a given.”

  “Captain Marscin is attempting to get clarification with his Somali counterparts. We’re at a standstill until then,” Garcia reported.

  “Fuck!” Shepherd exclaimed. He had a very bad feeling about this. Things were going south, fast.

  The engine sounds cut almost directly in front of the clinic building the cave entrance was behind. Doc’s eyes went to Elizabeth. He heard voices. Doc killed the two low wattage lights he had on, plunging them into darkness. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust so he could see the opening on the half torn-down fake wall in the shadowy morning light that was cast on it from within the clinic building. The voices grew louder. The men were now within the clinic building, moving closer. Then his eyes became glued to the part of the fake wall that was torn down. His rifle was held at the ready.

  Elizabeth leaned into the boy’s face and shushed him, finger in front of her pursed lips. She heard items being picked through in her clinic. More looters, she assumed. Would Alexander’s team come in with the looters here and run them off? Or would they wait until these interlopers were gone before they came to get them? She felt lightheaded, barely breathing, afraid to make any noise.

  The seconds dragged into minutes; the time passing once again warped. Elizabeth felt her heart beating wildly in her chest. The sounds from within the clinic were so loud. Surely, those within would find them. Her eyes went to Alexander. He held his rifle in both hands. What would happen if he did fire his weapon? How many were within, ready to gun them down? They didn’t know who was there. They just knew it wasn’t Alexander’s people.

  The fake wall moved. Doc’s adrenalin, already high in his system, quadrupled. His finger hovered near the trigger. He wished he would have had time to get Elizabeth and the two boys on the floor. The voices near the wall chattered more loudly with each other. He made out four different voices. He could take them all out, but he didn’t know how many friends they’d brought that were in different buildings in the village. He hoped Elizabeth would drop to the ground if any gunfire erupted.

  “Ha sameyn toogasho!” The little boy called out. “Aabe!”

  The fake wall was pushed in. Doc fired a burst of gunfire. Screams answered.

  “Ha sameyn toogasho!” The little boy yelled louder. “Aabe!”

  Elizabeth made out a few words, don’t shoot and father. “Alexander! Don’t shoot!”

  “Don’t shoot!” Was repeated from the inside of the clinic. It was said with a heavy Somali accent, but it was said in English.<
br />
  “We won’t shoot if you don’t,” Doc called out, still holding his rifle at the ready.

  “Ha sameyn toogasho!” The little boy repeated. “Aabe!”

  A bright light approached the opening. Elizabeth turned one of the low wattage lamps back on.

  “Extinguish that,” Doc commanded.

  “Aabe is father,” Elizabeth told him.

  Her heart stopped when three men stepped through the opening into the cave. They wore military uniforms. Two of them had their guns trained on Doc. The third one wore officer insignia. They all stared at each other in silence for a few long beats.