Walt shrugged. "Promotions are hard to come by these days."
"You fucking..." Brandt didn't waste his breath. The guy had been as close to a friend as a covert operative could have outside his unit. To think that eating grubs together wouldn't bond you for life. At least not when career trajectories got in the way. He should have known something was up when Vanderwalt showed up personally in Egypt. A little too-white-gloved service, even for MI-5.
A ping sounded from behind him.
Vanderwalt drew his weapon. "What are you playing at?"
Was that Davidson? Then another ping and a piece of brick flew across the room. A bullet chased after it, nearly catching Talli in the ear. The man danced away, lowering himself and the girl to the floor.
Not Davidson, then.
"That is not us," Brandt answered, ducking down.
No, it was the Disciples. More accurately, the Disciples' sniper.
Walt smiled that crooked-actually crooked-smile of his. "As a kicker, I have a way out of here that avoids the sniper." As another bullet whizzed into the room, shattering against the far wall. "I will allow you to follow us, but only if you give us the girl and the artifacts. Your call."
Brandt was so busy calculating the odds of him being able to get to all three of Vanderwalt's thugs before he got taken down that he had nearly missed the part where Rebecca tossed the two crosses to Walt, along with the Star of David. Walt frowned. "And the pieces of map."
Rebecca complied. The die was cast. Brandt couldn't do anything to stop her. What was her plan? She had one, right? She had to have one. One that was better than a shoot-out in an enclosed stone church.
"The girl," Walt said, his hand out.
Talli, though, wouldn't let go of the girl. "Talli..." Brandt warned. "Give her over."
"No," the man said, shaking his head vigorously.
Great. Perfect time for Talli to get all brave.
"I'm done," the sniper said, still ducked down under the window.
"Just give me the girl," Walt warned.
But Talli just kept shaking his head. "I want out."
What the hell was he talking about? "Out of what?" Brandt asked.
Surprisingly, Talli turned to Walt. "I want out." Talli pointed to Brandt and Rebecca. "They are insane. You said you would pull me whenever I asked."
"Pull you?" Brandt growled, a bitter realization growing. One he didn't want to admit, but one that made a whole lot of sense. "Talli, you fucking traitor."
Walt sighed. "If it is any consolation, that is not Talli."
Brandt nearly got clipped by a bullet as he just stood there. Rebecca tugged Brandt back, jarring him out of his shock.
"Then who the fuck is he?" Brandt demanded.
"It is a long story, chap, told over a warm beer."
"Try me, now," Brandt said, clutching his gun as the Disciples' bullets began chipping away at another window. Damn, how he wanted to take Talli down right about now. Consequences be damned. You would think after being betrayed so often it would take the sting out of it. Think again.
Walt sighed. "Ibel here was SRR on a joint mission with Talli's unit in Dakuh."
"SRR?" Brandt repeated. "You've got to be fucking kidding me. They are surveillance personnel. You sent me out into the field with a fake sniper?"
"Honestly, chap, I didn't mean to. Ibel was just there. Talli and the rest were killed. Talli had no family." The Brit sounded almost remorseful. Almost. "We had the perfect opportunity to insert one of ours into the American Special Forces. You would have done the same."
Brandt snorted. "Send you out without perimeter support? Have you fucking lost your mind?" And here he thought he knew Vanderwalt.
"Now, wait," Walt retorted. "We were going to have him fake an injury to get him off sniper duty, but you requested him."
"Because he was graded an A-one sniper, you jackass."
"Yes, well..." Walt conceded. "That was unfortunate."
All of the various scenarios played out in Brandt's mind. How fucking frequently Talli's lack of skills had endangered their lives. Rebecca's life. Vakasa's life. Walt had played Russian roulette with them all.
"But now we must be off," Vanderwalt announced, waving Talli and Vakasa over to him. "My men will have shoot-on-sight orders, so give us a two minute head start. Then you can blend in with the crowd."
What crowd?
Before Brandt could ask, Levont chimed in. "But wait. I don't get it." The beefy point man turned to Talli. "Why do you want to leave the team?"
"Levont..."
"What? I mean, really, why?"
Walt waved the question away and ushered Talli and Vakasa down the hallway. Rebecca took a step forward. Brandt grabbed her by the wrist, but it turned out he didn't need to.
"Vakasa," she said, "we are right behind you."
The girl smiled, holding Talli's hand. "Ta-ta."
She then skipped on after Vanderwalt, heedless of the danger she was in.
This was going to be the longest 120 seconds of his fucking life.
Rebecca ducked her head as the sniper punched through another window. He peppered the wall with shots. Although, none seemed necessarily aimed at them. Weird.
"One hundred fifteen," Levont counted down.
You could tell each second was eating at the point man. He itched to move out. But not more than Brandt. He wouldn't look at her. Wouldn't hold her hand. Wouldn't talk about it. He'd gone full-on caveman mode. There was his job, and then there was "making things right." She didn't care about any of that. She only cared about that little girl she'd made a promise to.
"One hundred twenty," Levont announced as he burst through the door and headed down the hallway Vanderwalt had taken. Three of the team, now down from five. It didn't feel right, yet they rapidly found what must have been a storage room. A trapdoor was propped open. At the least, Vanderwalt hadn't been lying about that.
Levont shone his light down the rickety staircase. "Looks a little sketchy."
Rebecca shook her head, urging him down. "It was built during World War Two," she explained, but Brandt still frowned. "While Spain was essentially neutral, it became a massive underground for Jews escaping from Eastern Europe." When neither man seemed to get it, she continued. "And while the Vatican was also supposedly neutral, Catholic churches were a major sanctuary and transfer stations. Now, can we go?"
Brandt gave the nod, and Levont headed down. "Clear, at least as far as I can see."
Rebecca hurried down the rickety stairs, with Brandt on her heels. The tunnel stretched out into the distance. Levont started at a quick walk, then picked it up to a trot. Rebecca breathed in the stale air through her nose and out through her mouth. It seemed like they were running into oblivion, as the tunnel just kept stretching out farther and farther away from the church. Exactly how far was the exit? Then as light could be seen farther down, Levont kicked them up into an all-out run, only slowing as they reached a door, cracked open an inch.
Even though the men barely seemed taxed, Rebecca was winded, trying to catch her breath as Levont tested the door. A strange roar came from the other side. The point man jerked open the door, revealing...well, the crowd that Vanderwalt had promised them.
All of the missing people were here, at the center of the town. They were shouting and waving Spanish flags in the air. Like she had guessed. It must have been some Spanish holiday. Which clearly everyone and his brother were attending.
"Time to get lost in the crowd," Brandt stated, urging her toward the revelers. He then whispered in her ear. "Tell me you know where they are taking her."
Rebecca just nodded. There was no time to explain. Just to escape.
CHAPTER 24.
Cuellar, Spain 6:41 p.m. (CEST) Davidson watched through his scope as the sniper took shot after shot at the rounded church. Sure, the guy was good, but he certainly wasn't the only thing keeping Brandt and the others inside. Davidson would have bet money, even if they couldn't find the matching cross with the map, that Brandt wouldn't have stayed inside the church for more than a few minutes.
Something was wrong. Unfortunately, Davidson had no idea what it was or how to help. Instead, he had concentrated on the conundrum in front of him. The Disciples' sniper hadn't bothered with Davidson at all. Of course, Davidson hadn't fired at him, either. Mainly because it seemed that the other sniper wanted him to, almost baiting him to take a shot.
And there it was. Davidson found the tiniest glint of metal in a tree across the way. That wasn't a sniper up there. A sniper's scope had antireflective gel and the rifle itself a black matte coating. Nope, that was just a plain old mercenary out in those woods. Probably more than one. Probably more like four or five.
If Davidson had taken a shot, they would have honed in on him, leaving him no room for escape, until the sniper himself took the kill shot.
Davidson brought his rifle up and prepared for the move. There was no point in staying here. He could give no tactical support, at least not for long. Besides, the chances that Brandt would come out into the hot zone were nil.
Straddling a branch, Davidson pulled out his sat phone. Perhaps Bunny and the others had an idea of what in the hell was going on in the church. He popped the battery back in and dialed the number Bunny had provided him.
It rang and rang. No one picked up.
Davidson checked the battery level, the number he'd dialed, and the connectivity. All showed ready to rock and roll. He dialed again. Still, no answer.
Fantastic. They were in a ghost town. Brandt and the others were AWOL, and now Bunny wasn't answering.
No wonder Levont loved working with this team.
Bunny stared at the phone as the light blinked out.
"You couldn't answer it," Emily comforted. "Not until we know more."
Still, it killed Bunny to ignore Davidson. The man she knew and the man who would betray everyone just didn't jibe. She knew he'd done it before, to tragic consequences, but that was before. Not now. Now he took responsibility for his actions and was making amends.
"Yeah, um...new problem," Stark said as another alarm went off.
"Do we really need auditory prompts?" Prenner asked, wincing at the sound.
Stark ignored him. "Whether it is Davidson or not, someone has given our hacker some serious intel. They must have been watching Madrid and back-traced my patch into the cameras."
"What exactly does that mean?" Bunny asked, knowing without the word exactly in her question the tech would meander off into computer speak for five minutes before returning to his point.
"My first firewall has been breached," Stark hurried on, "but I've got nine others. We've got to figure out the leak, though, or I give us half a day max before they worm their way in."
No one spoke. If the enemy could compromise this pristine computer system so quickly, what chance did they have anywhere else?
A loud buzz filled the attic.
"Another breach?" Prenner asked, tilting his head to the side while plugging his ears.
"No, duh," Stark answered. "That's facial recognition."
Quickly, he scanned the screens, pulling up a series of photos showing Brandt, Rebecca, and Levont pushing their way through a large crowd.
"Where is everyone else?" Emily asked to no one in particular.
Bunny's heart fluttered thinking what could have happened in that stone church. What could still be happening?
"Wait," Stark announced, "I've got Lopez."
He showed the corporal nearly flying down the road in a stolen car, speeding back toward the church, only to slam on his brakes and do a U-turn in the middle of the intersection.
"That was two and a half minutes ago."
None of this made any sense. How had Brandt and the others gotten all the way to the heart of Cuellar from the church? Where was Talli? Where was Davidson?
They watched the flickering, disjointed footage of Brandt play across the screen. Suddenly, he stopped and it looked like asked to borrow someone's phone. Almost immediately, another buzz emanated from the speakers.
"He's using the text drop box," Stark stated. "They must really be in trouble."
Bunny looked to Emily, whose frown echoed Stark's statement. "It is a dummy text account we have set up for emergency contact. It is only supposed to be used in the most exigent of circumstances since it leaves both them and us open to exposure."
Well, given everything that had happened, it was no wonder Brandt was willing to risk it.
Stark read aloud as the text showed up on the screen. "Vanderwalt has Vakasa and not in the good way. Disciples on tail. Talli traitor."
Not Davidson. Davidson hadn't betrayed them or anyone. Bunny's pulse pounded against her ears. "Yes!" she shouted. "In your face!" she said, pointing to Prenner, who seemed almost disappointed it wasn't the sniper. "I told you it wasn't Davidson."
"Vanderwalt?" Emily said, her voice sounding distracted and tinged in pain.
Bunny calmed herself. Davidson might be free and clear, but some serious stuff had gone down.