Page 9 of Destroyer
After tossing the gun, the man pushed onto his knees and raised his arms over his head. “If you kill me, I will die an honorable death. I will be hailed a hero in heaven.”
“You lost your ticket to heaven when you became a terrorist and slaughtered thousands of innocents.”
“Did you kill Farquin?”
Teddy recognized the man as one of Haqazzii’s loyal soldiers, Al-Rahayal. He was considered an expert bomb maker and one of the masterminds behind The Day of Destruction.
“How does it feel to fail?” Teddy growled.
In the black of night, the terrorist’s freakish grin sent anger streaking through Teddy. “You will know that soon enough. We have moved on to something even greater, and this time, we cannot fail. We will be heroes.”
Teddy swept his gaze over the house. He had no idea if Al-Rahayal was stalling so other terrorists inside the building could weapon up. But the area remained silent.
“When we cut off the head of the eagle, it cannot fly. Then, we will finish the job we started. Haters of democracy and counties that loathe your country will make their move when America falls. It will be overtaken by powerful people.” A smugness filled his face. “It’s bigger than me or you, my friend.”
Someone wearing a gas mask charged outside, and started shooting.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Teddy returned fire—BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!—unleashing retribution into both men.
Silence.
Blessed silence while Teddy waited, his semi-automatic at the ready.
Teddy checked the first terrorist. Gone. Then, the second, a woman. Her soulless eyes staring up at him.
Wasn’t expecting that.
After confirming she was dead, he snapped pics of both, then stood in the doorway of the dilapidated structure. Holding his breath, he took in what he could see through the already grainy night-vision goggles.
The small room held two long tables filled with bomb-making supplies—mounds of nails, cardboard boxes with red antistatic plastic bags containing the explosive hexogen, wire, blasting caps, and burner phones. There were two metal folding chairs and a prayer rug in the corner.
After taking a few more photos, he turned on his heel and he left.
In the car, he texted the pilot and copilot.
Back in forty-five minutes to an hour
Seconds later, the copilot replied.
We’ll head to the plane and ready her for departure
He opened his compass app, displaying his GPS coordinates, snapped a photo of the screen and texted it to his brother Greystone Santini.
While driving back to the airport, Teddy’s phone rang.
“Hey,” Teddy answered.
“How’d it go?” Greystone asked.
“Three down,” Teddy replied.
“Three? Nice work.”
“Two of the eleven,” Teddy clarified. “The third was a woman. We need a priority-one hazmat cleanup.”
“Got it. Are you okay?”
