Mario was careful to keep low in the back of the cargo van, despite the fact that no one could see him. But even if they did, he wouldn’t stick out from the others. With dark eyes and dark skin, he looked little different than the five other warriors that Billy had assembled for the mission. He’d even borrowed a turban and shalwar kameez to complete the disguise.
The drive along the highway had gone unimpeded and a quick raise up to look out the windshield revealed that they were in a breadbasket region of the country. There was agriculture equipment, grain barns along the road, and a gold-colored crop about knee-high that stretched as far as the eye could see. Mario assumed it was wheat, but what did he know? He was a beach bum from San Juan, not a farm boy from Texas. He’d have to ask Garrett if he made it out alive.
Snapping himself out of some bleak thoughts, Mario looked at his watch. Based on the length of time they’d been traveling, they were near the rendezvous spot. But a quick glance through the windshield showed nothing on the horizon but an endless stretch of cropland beneath an empty sky. It was colored a sickly yellow from the wafting dust that rose high into the air.
Mario glanced around at Billy’s soldiers, kind of surprised that he didn’t know a single one of them. Although they’d each served in different Afghan Special Forces and National Strike Units, there’d been a lot of mission crossover. Most of the men he’d known and worked with over the years had departed with their families. Only a few had remained behind.
Since none of his men spoke English, Billy relayed their backstories, each of which was more tragic than the next. The driver and the one in the passenger seat were brothers whose families had been killed in a NATO drone strike years ago. Fortunately, they blamed the Taliban, who had commandeered their home for one of their senior religious leaders.
Every tale was different, but they all had similarities. In some form or fashion these men were victims of the regime. Mario knew that what he was offering in terms of intelligence support for a vengeance mission wouldn’t return their lost loved ones or right any wrongs, but it might provide some solace—if not for these old warriors—then at least for him.
Mario saw that Billy, now in the passenger seat, had perked up. “What you got, man?”
Billy waited a few seconds, then pointed ahead. “Looks like the granary. I think we’re here.”
Mario let out a sigh of relief. To this point, they’d met no obstacles. He wasn’t complaining, but he’d learned over time that there was such a thing as too good to be true. “You see Kim?”
“No, I don’t see anyone at all.” Billy waved him up. “All looks clear.”
As Mario made his way to the front of the van, he couldn’t help but worry. Since the call had cut out earlier, he’d not been able to reestablish contact. It wasn’t that surprising since they were in the middle of absolute nowhere. Unlike him, Kim didn’t have a satellite phone. Which meant the farther she moved out into the country, the less likely it was she’d have any cell service.
Mario looked ahead to find the grain storage facility. He’d imagined some semblance of a modern depot along the railroad tracks like he’d seen while traversing the American Midwest. But the main structure was about the size of two basketball gyms, stacked one atop the other. The gray concrete walls gave it the drab look of an old Iron Curtain industrial slum.
Not only was the building dilapidated, but it had also been bombed and rebuilt about twenty times over half a century. The outside walls were pockmarked and the inner grounds cratered. There were piles of corn, wheat, and beans around the silos. A few of the commodities were stored beneath open-air sheds, with roofs or rotting wood planks and rusted corrugated tin.
The driver tapped his foot on the brakes and let the van coast before they eased to a stop at the entrance. And it wasn’t hard to figure out why. It wasn’t only that the place had an ominous feel. There were irrigation ditches on either side of the grounds and a fence along the back that would hem them in once they drove inside the compound.
Mario gave the command: “Go ahead. This is where we’re supposed to meet them.”
Billy confirmed the order in Dari and the driver toed the accelerator. With a turn of the wheel to the left, they drifted across the culvert over a wide drainage ditch into the facility, making a straight shot toward one of the bomb-ravaged grain storage towers.
The closer they drove to the silos, the more damage he could see. But the bullets and bombs had done less destruction than the years of neglect. Like everything else in Afghanistan, the facility had fallen into disrepair. It was the Soviet-era version of The Land That Time Forgot.
Billy turned back. “You see anything?”
Mario had a sinking feeling. She should’ve been there by now. But he had told her to hide the BMW, so maybe she was on the other side of the building. “Not yet.”
Billy must have had the same thought because he nudged the driver and pointed to the rear of the massive brick storehouse. Another push of the accelerator and they were again on the search.
As they crept around the side of the structure, Mario glanced back at the others, who were looking fairly tense. “All part of the plan,” he said in English.
Billy rolled down his window, hung his head outside, and studied the ground. “They’re not here. Never were. If they had been, there would be tracks in the dirt.”
The timid driver looked over, as if wondering if he should keep going. This time, Mario took the initiative to prod him on. He pointed to the back of the building. A few seconds later they were around the far side, empty-handed as expected. They were curving around an auger when Mario saw something back at the entrance that dashed all his hopes.
The appearance of an American-made Humvee would’ve once been a wonderful sight. The arrival of three would’ve been even better. But driven by the Taliban, and more specifically, Badri 313, a task force made up of the violent extremists, made it a harbinger of death.
In an odd twist of fate, Billy and his men were now face-to-face with the unit that had murdered their families. While Mario had been sincere in his promise to help them take their vengeance, he’d planned on being a hell of a long way away from there when it all went down.