The Assassin
Peng heard the shots and watched as Jackson began barking into his radio, chastising his men for using force. Chastising them for killing Matt. Peng looked around him. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Joey put his face in his hands and began to cry. The woman called Jillian looked down at Joey, snorted, and then moved a few paces away as if she didn’t want to be infected by his tears. Ron looked quizzical and calm.
Peng didn’t know what to feel. He’d been planning on leaving Matt and Hope for a few years now. He’d been steeling his heart for the separation, trying not to become too attached. Maybe that was why he felt numb—he’d been successful at keeping himself aloof from his new family and he didn’t carry the emotional baggage most sons would bear. Why else would he feel nothing when he’d just heard that his adopted father had been murdered?
And then he looked down at his hands.
They were shaking uncontrollably. Then a hole opened inside his chest that felt so large it could swallow all of the ocean in the entire world. He thought of Hope and Jin, how they would react when they heard the news. He felt their sadness so deeply that it might have been his own.
It was his own. Despite his plans to leave, despite his attempts at keeping emotionally separate, he felt like he had just lost a father. Not the stepfather he had known in China. Not his real father who had died when Peng was a baby. But a real father who had loved him and raised him and struggled with him. Peng realized that these past few years had been the happiest of his entire life. He felt the tears rising in his face and wondered where the well of water had been hiding all these years. He had pretended not to have a family, and now one of them was suddenly gone. Taken from him.
He looked to Ron again. Peng had experienced loss before. He had experienced grief. But he’d never known the right way to act, so he had always buried it deep inside. He needed an adult to show him the proper way.
But when he met Ron’s eyes, Ron shook his head slightly as if to say, “Wait.” He was listening intently to what Jackson was saying into the radio. At first Peng didn’t understand. The words were fast and confusing, and Peng’s brain seemed to have shut down. But gradually the picture became clear. Jackson was yelling and stomping around. Jillian looked more ticked off than usual.
Somebody had died, but . . . it wasn’t Matt. It was the man they had called Woolhead. It sounded like Matt had shot him. But that didn’t make any sense. Matt was a good person. Peng had watched his every move for two years now. He wasn’t somebody who could kill another human being. But Ron didn’t look confused. He didn’t look disappointed in Matt either. He looked somehow . . . satisfied.
The wave of relief that flowed through Peng’s body was almost overwhelming. But now he felt something else—something akin to regret. This made no sense either. Why should Peng be disappointed that Matt was alive and one of the bad guys was dead? The tears were still coming, and Peng wiped them away with his sleeve. He decided to stop trying to figure out his feelings and focus on the situation in front of him instead.
The voice on the other end of the radio had stopped talking. Jackson was still pacing back and forth and glaring at Jillian every few seconds as if the whole situation were her fault. Finally he stopped, fiddled with the channel on his radio, and said to Jillian, “Time to call the boss.”
He tried to hand the radio to Jillian. She didn’t take it. Instead she said, “You’re the leader on this job. So lead.”
Jackson reluctantly pulled the radio back and punched the button.
“Carney, you there?”
Static crackled for several seconds, and then the gravelly voice came on the other end. “I’m here. What’s your status?”
“We have secured the primary target and his boy. We also have control of the other kids as well.”
“That’s good, then.”
“No, it’s not good. We’re also a man down because you neglected to provide us sufficient intel on the other leader.”
“What do you mean you’re a man down?”
“The other Scout leader jacked a few rounds into Woolhead’s brain and put enough fear into Tiny to make him run like a little girl. So what was it that you conveniently forgot to tell us about him?”
The static returned for several seconds, then the voice came back. “Is your position secure?”
“For now. Tiny’s on his way back to join us. But we need to know what we’re dealing with here. You’ve got to give me something on this guy.”
“Sorry about that,” the gravelly voice said. “You know this was a last-minute job. Dempsey gave us only the bare details. I didn’t receive any intel on the other guy either. I thought he was just a Scout leader. What’s his name?”
Jackson looked at Eric. “Easy, what’s your other leader’s name? Brother Walton or something?”
“It’s Ronald Kelton,” Ron said before Eric could answer. “And you’ve made a big mistake.”
Jackson barked the name into the radio, and the voice came back saying, “Give me a few minutes, and let me run the name.”
Jackson began pacing again as he waited for his boss to get back to him. Tiny came crashing into the camp and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
“He killed Woolhead,” he said, panting.
Jillian scowled at him. “It was two against one, and you ran away?”
“He wasn’t a normal guy. He talked all casual like he was an idiot, and then he put three rounds in Woolhead’s head just like that. He would have killed me too if I hadn’t run. That’s not just some Scout leader.”
Jillian turned away from Tiny in disgust. Peng didn’t think she would ever run from anything, even if it meant dying. Tiny was huge, and it was hard to imagine him being scared either. But it was clear he was terrified. Of Matt.
The voice came back on the radio. “You were right. We missed on this one big-time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Kelton used to be a ranger.”
“I told you so,” Tiny said to Jillian. But she still wouldn’t look at him.
The voice continued. “But that’s not the worst of it.”
“What could be worse than that?” Jackson said.
“It’s what happened after he was a ranger. Apparently he was assigned to a special ops unit and served for another five years before he retired.”
“Which ops unit?”
“Doesn’t say. There’s no record. You of all people should know what that means.”
Jackson stopped in his tracks and seemed to listen to the surroundings.
“What does it mean?” Tiny asked.
Jackson chewed on his cheek for a minute before answering. He was no longer smiling. “It means tier one,” he said. “It means first special forces operational detachment.” Jackson spat on the ground. “It means we’ve got Delta Force on our tail.”
“We’ve dealt with special ops before,” Tiny said, seeming to find his courage again now that he was back with the group. “We can handle it. There’s three of us.” He looked over at Jillian as he spoke.
Jackson stepped over and got into Tiny’s face. “Do you know why Delta Force was formed?” he asked, but he didn’t wait for Tiny to answer. “It was to deal with the threat of terrorism, to train a new breed of warrior to fight in a war without rules, to especially deal with terrorists who take hostages. It was to be able to step inside of a hijacked plane, differentiate the hijackers from the civilians, and take out the bad guys by putting a bullet in their head before they knew what was happening. Let me put it this way: Delta Force was trained to deal with exactly the situation we find ourselves in now. They were trained to deal with people like us. Three of us and one of him—we’re just sitting ducks.”
“How do you know so much about Delta Force?” Tiny asked.
Jillian answered. “Because he was there. He even made it through selection before they saw his true colors and kicked him out. Probably a good thing too. The way I heard it, if he hadn’t been booted to the street, the Delta boys would have taken care of him on their own. They don’t much like it when one of their brothers shoots one of their own.”
“Shut up, Jillian.” Jackson had a full-on grimace.
Peng looked over at Ron. All the boys were looking at Ron. They knew of his military experience, but Jackson’s description of Delta Force’s abilities in a hostage situation brought a whole new level of respect for their Scout leader.
Ron was looking at Jackson. His eyes had narrowed, and there was something in them that made Peng feel cold. He wouldn’t want to be in Jackson’s shoes if Ron ever freed himself from his restraints. Jackson was bigger, louder, and more muscled, but somehow Peng felt that Ron would have a significant advantage. Maybe that was just a foolish wish. Either way, Peng decided he needed to figure out a way to free Ron from the bindings on his hands.
“I don’t like this,” Tiny said. “If we try to hike out of here, this Delta assassin is going to choose his spots and pick us off one by one. Carney needs to send us some backup to take this guy out.”
Jackson looked like he wanted to yell at Tiny, but he stopped himself. “Tiny, for once in your miserable life, you might be right.”
Jackson touched the button on his shoulder radio. “Hey, Carney.”
“Yeah.”
“There’s been a change of plans. We’re going to hole up for a while to make ourselves less vulnerable. In the meantime, you need to send a backup team to take out the Delta.”
There was a pause on the other end as Carney seemed to be considering. “I’ll send a team,” he said finally. “But it’s going to take at least a day. You think you can survive for twenty-four hours?”
“I know a spot where we can wait. A box canyon that’s only accessible through a small pass. Only one way in, and no trees to hide an approach. We’ll make camp there and keep our eyes on the pass. He might figure out a way to get to us, but it will take him more than a day.”
“Okay, I’ll charter a wet team and get them there by tomorrow. We still have a few days before the package needs to be delivered, so it doesn’t impact the job.” The voice on the other end seemed to be talking with someone else and then came back. “There is another option, you know. You could use the leverage you have to get this guy to back off.”
“What leverage?”
Jillian moved toward Jackson. “You know what he’s talking about. We take out one of the kids and let him know that if he gets close, we pop the other ones. We could start with the little pudgy one.” She looked directly at Joey. For some reason, his being there personally offended her.
“No,” Jackson said into the radio. “Kidnapping is one thing, but killing kids is not good for the reputation. Mine or yours. That kind of thing tends to follow you. People don’t hire kid killers, and I plan to have a long and profitable career.”
“Guess you’re right,” the gravelly voice agreed. “Get to your spot. I’ll contact the team. And try not to lose any more of my men. I guess I’m also going to need to send in a stump grinder to clean up Woolhead.”
“Woolhead’s not a stump,” Jackson said quietly.
“He is now. If I were you, I’d get to the canyon as soon as possible. I’ll take care of the Delta.”
Peng felt the ocean in his chest open up again once more. Matt was alive, but the voice on the radio was sending men to kill him. Ron met his eyes. He looked calm; he looked confident; he looked like he was trying to tell Peng not to worry. The waters receded but not completely.
Peng knew what he needed to do. Ron had been in the Delta Force. He could save them. But not until he was free. Peng would help Ron escape. But for that, Peng would need the darkness.