Page 9 of Her Righteous Protector

“That’s bloody funny. I’ve heard about your gun shows in the States, but they wouldn’t hold a candle to what’s going on over here. Since the US pulled out, every day has been like a bloody arms swap meet.”

“If you know the right person, that is,” Roger said. “Max, text me the list on my phone, and we’ll get you everything you need. But I know you SEAL types and how damn picky you are, so it won’t be by Monday, it will probably take until Wednesday. Which will help us get the transportation arrangements finalized.”

“So you have an idea on how we’re going to get to Kandahar?”

Max had talked to Mason Gault, who was the lieutenant of Midnight Delta. He and his team had done an intense rescue two days after Kabul had fallen. They’d needed to get a group of eight relief workers out of Kunduz who’d been trying to assist Afghans with dual citizenship to successfully leave the country, but they’d been caught up by the Taliban. Mason had been able to give Max some suggestions on how he and his men had been able to use both ambulances and civilian vehicles to smuggle their team and the relief workers to the airport in Kabul. They’d needed to switch up their mode of transportation at the drop of a hat at least four times, and at one checkpoint there had been a real problem.

Mason told Max how two of his men, Finn Crandall and Drake Avery, had handled the situation. After watching just how violent the men at the checkpoint were to the people preceding them, Mason knew there was no way that they were going to have a chance of getting past. Drake and Finn traded one of their vehicles for two motorcycles. They broke the long line and sped past the checkpoint, shooting at the Taliban members as they went. All of the guards took off after them. Leaving the post empty for everyone else to start going through the checkpoint.

It had been a daring move by the men of Midnight Delta, but it was a calculated risk. Both men were trained snipers, and as soon as they were on higher ground they jumped off the bikes and aimed at the jeeps coming toward them. They blew the tires out in seconds, which left the Taliban members sitting ducks, all the while the relief workers and the rest of Midnight Delta made it past the checkpoint. All of the Taliban soldiers had been killed.

Mason went on to explain how they’d handled the rest of the rescue operation to get the relief workers on one of the last planes out of Kabul, so he supplied enough ideas that Max felt comfortable collaborating with the team in Pakistan.

“My wife’s cousin does some welding as a side job. I’ve hired him to supervise building some metal crates for wild boars. Nobody has blinked an eye at the request,” Roger said.

“Meanwhile, I’ve spent a shit-ton of your American money, Mate.” Again, Max had no idea if it was Nigel or Randall talking.

“How’d you do that?” Max asked.

“I just purchased three flatbed trucks. We’re going to be transporting over a thousand bags of plaster into Afghanistan. Perfectly reasonable, because the Taliban is wanting to show what do-gooders they are, re-building everything they just blew up.” Max could hear the derision in the man’s voice.

“That’s where the metal crates come in,” Roger said. “You’re all going to be inside the crates, surrounded by the bags of plaster. It’s going to be miserable as fuck, but it will work. Nigel has worked it out on the Afghan side; there are real buyers for the material, so we shouldn’t run into too many problems with paperwork.”

Max just thanked God it was November when the temperatures normally didn’t get up past sixty degrees Fahrenheit.

“This is Randall,” Randall said.

“Appreciate the clarification,” Max said.

“Thought you might. Anyway, the way we see it, there might be times we can let you wild boars out of your cages for respite, but that’ll have to be under the cover of night.”

“Understood. So, all of you are really sure that you can get us the weapons we’ll need?” Max asked again.

“Max, just text in your order; it’ll be like putting in a take-out order to McDonald’s. I’ll bet you one hundred dollars we won’t even have to do any substitutions,” Roger said with extreme confidence.

Max liked the sound of that.

“And another thing—I’m Nigel by the way—we have the nine of you booked into three different hotels. We need to pick you up at different times and go different routes to get to the trucks.”

“Ten. There’s ten of us now,” Max said. “I’ll text you with his passport information.”

“Is there a problem?” Roger asked.

“No problem, just a change in plans.”

“Okay. This number is safe to send and receive calls and texts. I’ll get you the room information before you land in Quetta. Each group will be met for their respective hotels at the airport.”

“Thanks, Roger,” Max said.

“You’re welcome.”

The line went dead and Max turned his attention to Kane and Kostya. Kane looked up and gave him a quick nod. Max relaxed. He leaned back so he could start thinking about his report to his commander and wondered just how hot the blowback about Kostya was going to be.

* * *

By the time they landed in Pakistan, Max had his answer. Simon was not happy. Before sending his formal report when they set down in the UAE, he had called his commander, wanting to give him a heads-up.

“This phone call is the only thing saving your ass—you understand that, don’t you, Hogan?” Simon Clark growled.