MAC WALKER'S BENGHAZI: The Complete Collection by D. W. Ulsterman Page B

single key hanging from the ignition.
    Bingo.
    The car started easily, though Mac could smell the body odor of its regularly assigned driver. Whoever it was, they needed to invest in a hell of a lot more deodorant. Pulling the car away from the other three, Mac drove it slowly toward the parked United Nations van where his team waited.
    He left the car running as he stepped back outside and motioned for Jack, Benny, and Minnick to get into the taxi. Mac’s eyes scanned the area to see if anyone had noticed them. The airport remained relatively quiet even as Mac spotted what appeared to be an approaching passenger jet approaching from the skies.
    “Ok – let’s go.”
    The taxi left the airport without incident and within minutes Mac was driving around a massive roundabout, his taxi one of more than a dozen matching vehicles doing the same. Mac’s phone rang – it was Tilley. He hadn’t waited for Mac to call after all.
    “Are you on the move?”
    Mac considered the question, then lied.
    “No - the airport.”
    “Ok…listen carefully. Hadaik – Area Fifteen. Villa Four. Only one of you enters. Ask to speak to Ella. We’re still operational. Do you understand? We’re ok. Ella will take you to where you need to go. Call to confirm when you get there.”
    Tilley hung up, leaving Mac to ponder if he should follow the instructions and drive to the address given.
    “He wants us to head out to Hadaik, Area Fifteen, Villa Four. Meet a woman named Ella. Says we’re still operational. Give me some feedback boys. What do you think?”
    Minnick, sitting in the passenger seat, was the first to respond to Mac.
    “We do it. I thought about what Jack and Benny said. Until we know for sure otherwise, we have to trust Tilley Mac.”
    Mac punched in the address given to him by Tilley into the taxi’s dashboard GPS. They were seven miles from the location. Outside, the streets of Benghazi were quickly becoming increasingly congested. Seven miles in this traffic was going to take some time.
    “Three cars back. Black SUV.”
    Mac’s eyes looked in his rear view mirror, following Benny’s description. A large, American-made SUV was in fact three cars behind them, its darkened windows making it impossible to see its occupants.
    The taxi shot forward, passing several cars on the right side as Mac pushed down hard on its accelerator while watching to see how the SUV would react.
    “Definitely following us Mac.”
    The SUV moved quickly to the left side of the road, coming within inches of hitting several other vehicles as it neared their taxi. Whoever was driving it was well trained.
    Mac moved the taxi back to the center lane and slowed down again, trying to keep at least one other vehicle between them and the SUV. The GPS indicated they were still six miles from the address Tilley had given them.
    “To hell with this.”
    Mac mashed the taxi’s accelerator all the way to the floor, swerving between several other vehicles before veering off onto a side street. The car’s engine howled in protest as its speedometer indicated nearly eighty miles an hour.
    “Still there Mac - hundred yards and closing.”
    Both Benny and Jack had drawn their handguns as they looked out the taxi’s back window.
    Mac kept the accelerator to the floor as they approached nearly a hundred miles an hour.
    “Hold on.”
    The taxi’s tires screamed against the pavement as Mac pulled the wheel hard to the left and onto another side street, barely missing a row of parked vehicles and causing Mac to almost lose control as he frantically pulled the taxi back toward the center of the street.
    Jack’s Alabama drawl called out from the back seat.
    “Hey! Keep it on the road badass.”
    Mac responded to Jack’s quip by raising his right middle finger as his foot again slammed down on the accelerator.
    “On your right Mac, forty yards - dumpsters.”
    Mac saw where Minnick was pointing to. A row of ten or so large green metallic dumpsters. The SUV could no