Page 14 of Flash and Bang
Jarrett flopped down onto his belly, adjusting the Remington bolt-action M-40 sniper rifle on its perch as he peered through the telescopic sights.
“Long beard located,” Adael said. “Long beard confirmed. Niner 8-0 to gate. 1005 to truck. Wind 5 miles left.”
Jarrett could see two shrouded figures exit the house as Adael spotted for him. One carried a small bundle and from their briefings, Jarrett knew Deif was known to travel with his wife and small children. If that bundle is a child… Jarrett took a breath, lined up his target and exhaled slowly. He squeezed off a round and the rifle kicked.
“You got him, Jarrett! Perfect head shot!” Adael shouted, excitedly.
“Call off the airstrike!” Jarrett cried but Adael was already on the phone and he knew his lover was doing just that. Jarrett cringed when the roar of aircraft engines roared above them. A second later, the entire compound and the escaping vehicle exploded in a massive mushroom cloud of flame and smoke.
“God dammit!” Jarrett said, reeling back as he and Adael were forced to cover their ears from the cacophony of sound. Adael turned and threw himself over Jarrett, landing them both on the ground as a wave of heat washed over them. They rolled into a nearbyditch but the blast of heat nearly fried Jarrett’s short hair clean off. “Adael! You okay?” Jarrett scrambled for the Israeli’s face, grabbing both sides of it and looking into his eyes.
Adael nodded vigorously. “Barely, love. You okay?”
“God damn them. Why couldn’t they wait? There were kids in that compound and they knew that.”
“We did our job, Jarrett,” Adael shouted over the noise of a secondary explosion, probably from stored fuel. He held on to Jarrett, lying on the ground and wrapping him in his arms as he buried his face in Jarrett’s neck.
****
San Diego Present Day
Jarrett and Adael hadn’t done their job that night. They’d killed a man but it hadn’t been Mohammed Deif. The Israeli Defense Forces had taken out Deif’s twenty-seven-year-old wife, Widad, his seven-month-old son, Ali, and his three-year-old daughter, Sara, along with three others. When Jarrett had finally been briefed on the operation two days later, the photographs made him sick. Among theburned bodies of the adults and children, a photograph of a singed rag doll lay among the ruins of Deif’s compound. A rag doll that eerily resembled the one Jarrett had just seen. He stalked away from Thayne, unable to face him. The last person he could face was Thayne right now. It was bad enough that he had to live with the image of a three-year-old’s baby doll, but he had to live with the knowledge that if he’d somehow been able to get at Deif faster, she wouldn’t have had to die.
Jarrett’s superiors hadn’t blamed him or Adael for not taking Deif out sooner and Jarrett knew in his heart that the terrorist had put his family in the compound not giving a damn if they died for their Jihad. But that didn’t erase the blood on Jarrett and Adael’s hands… not as far as Jarrett was concerned. He blamed the CIA, Mossad, and the IDF for not giving him the time to take out the adults before wiping out the compound. The bottom line was, they hadn’t been trusted to do the job even after they’d been tasked to do it and the hurt was still unspeakable.
Jarrett wished he could have been able to tell someone what he’d tried to do but the only people who knew it were Adael and their superiors. He knew his orders had come from the highest office in the land. Joint operations with the Israeli’s always camefrom the White House and he’d walked away from a man he truly cared about that night because every time he looked at Adael, he saw that compound light up with the bombs that had been dropped on that little girl and her doll. When the Marine Corps had asked him to re-up, he’d told them where to shove their offer of an increase in rank and an assignment in intelligence. If he’d only been able to tell someone… anyone… Thayne, maybe he could start feeling like a man again after all this time.
After leaving the Marine Corps shortly afterward, Jarrett had gone off the reservation entirely. He’d gotten himself involved with the sort of men he hated… mercenaries. He’d taken jobs that guns for hire took because the leadership he’d trusted had let him down and he’d hated himself. Seeing that doll lying on the cracked earth of San Diego brought it all home to him and he’d snapped at Investigator Carrillo and his own partner, a man he genuinely cared about, because in that split second, Jarrett’s memories had come back to haunt him… again.
****
The ride back to the base operations offices was a somber one, very different from the ride over where Jarrett had educated Thayne on the BlackHawk helicopter. Even the landscape had gone gray with typical southern California June overcast. Thayne knew that something had happened to Jarrett out there at the parade grounds and he wasn’t certain what it was. The way Jarrett had become confrontational with Ada was unusual for the behavior Thayne had come to expect from his partner. He wasn’t sure who this man was at all.
Thayne had never served in the military, much less been a Marine Corps sniper, but the man he’d seen out there as they’d gone over the scene of the fireworks explosion was a very different man from the one he’d come to trust with his very life. Whatever it was, Thayne was willing to wait until Jarrett was ready to talk about it. He knew he’d never know what Jarrett had done or seen while employed by the Marines because even though they held the same top secret security clearance, Thayne knew that many of the missions Jarrett had performed had been done on a “need to know” basis and Thayne would never be read into them. All he could do was stand by helplessly and be supportive for his partner… for the man who was his lover.
They drove up to the offices and Ada and her husband got out of the golf cart. Ada threw them a small smile before turning and catching the captain’s elbow as he preceded them into the building. Hewasn’t being terribly pleasant, obviously ticked off by the way Jarrett had barked at his wife and wanting them gone from the base as soon as possible. They walked into his office and he picked up a folder as they waited.
“This is the report NCIS conducted of the incident out on the parade grounds. The note was received at our offices here yesterday. NCIS ran fingerprints but the author of the note must have worn gloves because none were found. They’ve written down their findings but they are no different from the ones Ada already shared with you. There are witness statements and the note itself. For what it’s worth, I hope you catch this bastard fast. He hurt a lot of people and my guess is, he’s not finished.” Captain Carrillo was businesslike and formal, not at all like the way he’d been earlier.
“What makes you say he’s not finished?” Jarrett asked, meeting Carrillo’s glare with one of his own.
“The note appears to have a religious connotation. I think you’ll understand when you read it,” he said, frowning. “With that, I have some work to do.”
“Thank you for taking us out there, Captain Carrillo,” Thayne said, reaching out a hand andtaking the Marine’s. Jarrett shook his hand as well and nodded curtly at the man before he turned to leave.
“I’ll just walk Alfie out,” Ada said, clearing her throat before turning and strolling out the door with her husband.
“Awkward,” Thayne sighed as the door shut.
“I have a headache,” Jarrett remarked, flopping down in a chair with the file in his hands. Thayne sat down across from Jarrett as his partner opened the file.
“We’ll get some food once we’re done here, Jarrett. It’s been a long-assed day,” Thayne said, trying his best to be conciliatory.
Jarrett looked up. “I already want this fuckin’ case to be over,” he groused, all warmth gone. He flipped open the file as Thayne stared at him for a second. He finally sighed and leaned forward to see what Jarrett was reading. He’d picked up a plastic evidence bag in the file with a note inside. Jarrett read it over and then huffed before handing it over to Thayne. Thayne looked down. In neat block letters was written:The breath of Jehovah.
“The breath of Jehovah. What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Thayne asked. Jarrett ignoredhim, flipping through papers in the file. Thayne looked up when the door opened and Ada returned to the room. She walked up and stood next to Jarrett’s chair as she looked down into the file.
“Weird huh?” she said, pinning Thayne with a serious expression before shrugging.