Free ARISEN, Book Eleven - Deathmatch by Michael Stephen Fuchs Page A

badass with a giant sword.”
    Handon didn’t look like he thought this was a big improvement. He also saw Jake’s expression darken at the mention of this guy. It looked like maybe the two of them had history.
    Baxter scanned faces around the circle. “You’re going to have to bear with me here. But, basically, I believe al-Sîf is reasonable.”
    Jake shook his head, obviously working to hold his tongue.
    “He’s not a zealot, or even an Islamist. Hell, he’s not even religious – which means he’s not superstitious. Godane thought Patient Zero had magical powers. But al-Sîf knows better. I’m betting he kept it because the rank-and-file still believe Godane’s spooky bullshit. But he doesn’t.”
    Henno said, “How do you know?”
    “We were locked up in there a long time. And he and I had… I wouldn’t exactly call it a relationship. I was more like his pet Westerner. But we talked. And I think he’ll just give it to us, if we ask. No assault necessary.”
    He could see skepticism on a lot of faces.
    “He doesn’t think the plague was Allah wiping out the unbelievers – he knows it’s just a horrible disease. And he doesn’t want to be in charge of a new Caliphate – he just wants to survive. He’s a pragmatist. If we tell him we can cure the plague, he’ll see reason – if only because he’ll want the vaccine for himself. Worst case, we have to pay or bribe him somehow.”
    Henno shook his head darkly. “No, it’s not. The worst case is we ask him, he tells us to piss off – and now we’ve told him exactly what we’re here for, and that we’ll be coming for it. We try this and it doesn’t work, then we’ve given a heads-up to the defenders, making the assault five times as hard. And that’s us fucked.”
    Handon considered this. As usual, Henno’s thinking was clear and incisive. But was the risk he pointed out fatal? Because this might be a chance to avoid a frontal assault that would be extremely risky and costly, at best. Not that Handon was counting the cost at this point. But this thing wasn’t over, and someone had to stay alive to finish it.
    “Can we contact him?” Handon asked.
    “Absolutely,” Baxter said. “We can even do it encrypted.”
    Handon looked over to Jake, who said. “Yeah. They ended up with some of our radios after the battle there. One vehicle set and three team radios.”
    Left unsaid was whose radios those had been. Fallen friends.
    “How do you know?” Handon said.
    “Because they’re dumbasses,” Baxter said. “And don’t even know how to update encryption keys. We’ve been listening to their radio traffic at will for the last six months.”
    “I’m not convinced,” Handon said.
    Henno nodded. “Now you’re using your fucking head.”
    “But I’m not ruling it out, either.” Handon knew he had to make a decision, and without a lot of delay. But it was a huge decision point, and he was determined to take a few minutes with it. In fact, he wanted to talk it through – with someone he could confide in, and who wasn’t Henno.
    Ali – that was who he needed.
    “Top.”
    He turned to find her standing ten feet behind him. Jesus , he thought. You’d think I’d have gotten used to her doing that by now…
    “I need to brief you,” she said. “Urgently.”
    Handon looked around the group. He trusted everyone there – he had to. And there wasn’t time to pick and choose who got read in. “Go,” he said.
    “There’s someone out in the forest – and they’ve got eyes on us.”
    “Who?”
    Ali knew who it was. She just couldn’t prove it. “Unknown at this time. Unknown numbers and disposition.” She paused before tacking on editorial commentary. “But we only know one other force that’s been poking around Africa lately. And, whoever it is, there’s definitely someone out there looking at us. We’re not as safe here as we thought. So whatever play we’re going to run, I suggest we do it fast.”
    “On me,” Handon