Breaking Point

by Lindsey McKenna

  “What are we going to do, Gabe?”

  Slowly easing into a sitting position, his hands clasped between his open thighs, he studied her in the gathering silence. “We’re going to have to gut it out, Bay. It won’t do us any good to start something here, and we both know that whether we like it or not.” His mouth twisted into a wry line. “Our platoon rotates out of here in four more months. We’ll be going back to Coronado. I have a condo on the island. Maybe, if things work out, we can move forward at that time when you get home and explore what we have?”

  He held her gaze, waiting for her reaction. It was a bold move on his part, and Gabe surprised himself. And obviously, his suggestion surprised Bay by the look on her face. He’d never wanted anything more than her. Bay was different. She was honest, caring and there was a simplicity to her that called to the depths of his heart. Most of all, he found himself wanting to love her as he’d never loved another woman. He went hot and hungry with need of her. What would she say to his brazen offer?

  Bay held his burning gaze. “I’d like that but I don’t know what my orders will be, Gabe. I’ll have two more months to fulfill in Afghanistan before I can be rotated stateside. I’ll probably be assigned somewhere else, but I have no idea where that might be.” She saw his brow furrow.

  “If you had a chance to get leave, would you?” He held his breath, waiting.

  “In a heartbeat.”

  Relief tunneled through him. “Then we’ll just have to figure out a way to make this happen.”

  “Easier said than done,” she whispered.

  “Easy is done by the common man. SEALs are used to completing the impossible,” he said with a smile.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  THE SEPTEMBER HEAT was stifling even at 1900. Bay wearily lugged her sniper rifle and ruck back to her tent. Where had the months gone? Her being an 18 Delta corpsman had spread quickly throughout Camp Bravo. If she wasn’t out with her SEAL team, there were requests for her medical help at the dispensary. Or she was asked to hold a women’s clinic in another Afghan village in one of the valleys by the Special Forces teams stationed at Bravo. She didn’t want for work.

  After dropping her ruck on the plyboard floor of her tent, Bay placed the Win Mag in a corner, making sure the protective sheath was closed to prevent dust and sand from getting into it. The evening was squalid with hundred-degree temperature even at eight thousand feet. Perspiration ran down her temples as Bay sat on her cot and removed the heavy Kevlar vest.

  Her thoughts turned back to Gabe, as they always did in rare quiet moments. Their secret had remained just that. They worked hard not to allow anyone in the team to think they had a personal connection. It was hell, as Gabe had said months earlier, when they realized they were powerfully attracted to each other. Bay rubbed her face, feeling the grit on it. She wrinkled her nose, got up, walked over to the basin and poured water into it. There were hot showers available, and she was going to get to one soon. Right now she just wanted the grit off her face.

  “Bay? You in there?”

  She lifted her head, hearing Gabe’s voice outside her tent. Instantly, her heart pounded. “Yes...hold on just a sec,” she called back.

  Quickly sloshing water across her face, she picked up a towel. She went over to the open flaps and stepped outside. They made sure he would never be seen inside her tent. He was still in his patrol gear. Why? The team was standing down for five days after the last patrol.

  “What’s up?” she asked, wiping the last of the moisture from around her eyes and nose.

  “Chief Hampton wants us to fly into a Shinwari village three valleys over and take a pregnant Afghan woman to Bagram. She’s the wife of one of the leaders and requested our help.” Gabe smiled, his hands resting across his M-4 slung horizontally across the front of his body. “Want to?”

  “In a medevac?” Bay saw his eyes were shadowed.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Gabe said wryly. “Last time we were in a medevac, it crashed.”

  “Yeah, no kidding.” Bay sighed, utterly spent from a night patrol hunting Taliban. At dawn, they’d been airlifted to another Shinwari village to conduct medical clinics during the daylight hours. It had been fourteen hours on the ground, and all she wanted right now was sleep.

  Nodding, he said, “The doctor’s worried about the woman, thinks she might need a Cesarean to deliver her baby.”

  “Okay,” she said with a grimace. “Chief Hampton asked for both of us?”

  “It’s routine—if one member of a team is on a medevac, if possible, another team member goes along. I just happened to be the last guy left in the HQ when the call came in. Hampton told me to find you and ask if you’re up for it. He said if you were, I was to go along.”

  Gabe saw the weariness on her face. He also saw yearning—for him. He could relate to any concern she might have that something might happen on that medevac flight. Hampton had asked him upon their return from the first crash if anything had happened between them that day they’d spent at Bagram. One thing a SEAL did not do was lie to another team member. Ever. Gabe could honestly tell Hampton that nothing had happened. And it hadn’t. It would remain that way. But each time together was going to be a special torture for them.

  “This is a pro-American village?” Bay asked.

  “Yes, but it’s in an area where we’ve been rooting out Taliban who want to create rat lines and take it over. That’s why I’m coming along. Hampton doesn’t think anything will happen, but you need a big, bad guard dog.”

  “Hold on, let me get my medical ruck and I’ll be right out.”

  Gabe stood waiting. He took special care not to give her any more attention than any other SEAL member on the team. He didn’t want Bay’s career or his own destroyed by their desire to be with each other. That didn’t mean he didn’t dream of meeting her in San Diego after his team rotated back Stateside. He’d have time to be with her, explore her, share with her. That was worth waiting for.

  Bay slipped between the flaps, the medical ruck slung over her right shoulder, her M-4 and SIG in place. “Okay, let’s rock it out.”

  He smiled a little, seeing the warmth in her eyes for him alone. “This should be routine,” he assured her, walking at her side. And maybe, just maybe, they could spend some quality time at Bagram before hitching a chopper ride back to Bravo. It wouldn’t be much, but it was a moment to steal a little privacy with her.

  * * *

  THE MEDEVAC LANDED outside the village at dusk. Bay and Gabe hurried out of the sliding door of the Blackhawk and walked toward the gate to the small village. A tall man dressed in white-and-cream robes, a white turban on his head, stood near the gate, his hands clasped in front of him.

  Gabe looked around. He was tense because the medevac was on the ground and, therefore, a target. The village was small, maybe a hundred people who lived at the far end of this narrow valley. The mountains and hills were shadowed around the oval valley, night coming on quickly. The medevac was equipped for night flight, but the two pilots and the crew chief weren’t happy about having to sit and wait. Gabe couldn’t blame them.

  As they approached, the forty-year-old chieftain, named Taher, seemed upset. After giving him the greeting, Bay asked to be taken to his wife, Razia.

  Gabe increased his stride to catch up with the leader and Bay. Everything looked normal, the shadows running deep. He could feel the chill and gusting winds coming down off the mountains at this time of the evening. The village appeared almost deserted, but at this time, families were inside eating. He could smell the wood smoke and spices used for cooking their meals in the air.

  Taher led them down one of the main streets. They barely saw the outline of a two-story mud and stone house at the end of it. This village did not have a wall around it to protect it from intruders. The slope of the mountain was literally about a
hundred feet away, providing some protection for the village.

  Taher stopped outside the door. “My wife is in there. You must hurry. She’s in great pain.” He opened the wooden door. “Please, both of you go in.”

  Gabe looked around, his hands on the M-4. Taher appeared nervous, but Gabe wrote it off to the fact that his wife was in labor. Bay went in and he followed.

  Just as they made it inside the house, Gabe heard a horrifying sound. It was the hollow thunk of an RPG being fired.

  They saw the pregnant woman sitting in the corner, on the floor, surrounded by pillows. Her face was sweaty, her eyes wide with fear. She was holding her large belly, gasping for breath. When Bay heard the sound, she froze in the middle of the room.

  As the explosion hit, the house shuddered. Instantly, Gabe called it in on his radio. His eyes were narrowed as he brought the M-4 up, ready to fire.

  “Bay, exfil!”

  She hesitated only a second. Turning, she lifted her M-4, her heart pounding. Had they been set up? Who was attacking them?

  Gabe pushed the door open. Taher was nowhere to be found. Gabe called the medevac, hearing more RPGs being fired. No answer. Damn!

  “Stay close,” he growled to Bay.

  Fear rolled through her. The night was almost complete. She could see fire and dark, thick black clouds rising in the air. “It’s true. We’ve been set up!” she gasped.

  “Get your helmet on. You need NVGs,” he rasped.

  Gabe had worn his Kevlar helmet into the village, his night-vision goggles already in place. Dropping her pack, with shaking hands, Bay pulled the protective helmet out of her ruck. Her NVGs were next. Breathing hard, Bay quickly pulled the ruck back over her shoulders and picked up her M-4. “What are we going to do?”

  “Get the hell out of this village,” he snarled, angry at himself for not paying more attention. “Follow me!”

  Gabe ran for the slope of the mountain. As a sniper, he knew to take high ground. It meant safety. He had seen a wadi, a ravine, about two thousand feet above them. The Taliban could be hiding in there. Best to avoid it entirely.

  “What about the medevac?” Bay rasped, following on his heels.

  “They’re dead.”

  Oh, God... Tears filled her eyes for the three-man crew. “We were suckered in,” she cried, stumbling and digging in on the rocky slope.

  “Yeah, dammit.”

  “You’ve contacted the chief?”

  “Yes. Come on, we’ve got to hide. We have no idea how many Taliban are around here. Or where they are.” He scrambled up the steep slope like a surefooted mountain goat. The rocks were many, gave way and began to tumble down past him.

  Her lungs began to burn as they faded into the night. They climbed a thousand feet up the slope. Bay turned once, gasping for breath, seeing the medevac helicopter enveloped in flames. She pushed up her NVGs up because bright light of any kind would destroy her night vision. The flames had spread out, an orange dancing circle around the destroyed helo.

  Gabe halted, breathing hard himself. The village sat at eight thousand feet. Now they were close to nine, and he was laboring, too. Grimly, he watched the helo burn. Three good men had just died. And for what? Anger roared through him.

  They knelt on the mountain side, using some small bushes to crouch behind. He called in their GPS position, requesting a drone. There was one coming on station as he spoke. Cursing, Gabe wished there had been a drone active over the valley before they’d flown in. It could have picked up the hidden Taliban in the hills above the village. And saved the lives of four men.

  Bay knelt at his shoulder. “How many mags you got on you?” he asked.

  “Twelve. You?”

  “Same. Pistol?”

  “I got four mags.”

  “Good. Water?”

  Bay knew how important water was out here. “I’ve got a full CamelBak and six bottles in my ruck.”

  “I’ve got the same.” He looked around, keying his hearing. Below, he could see at least twenty Taliban approaching the helicopter, AK-47s in their hands. “Damn, that’s a big group,” he muttered.

  “They were waiting for us.” She wiped tears from her eyes, her heart broken. Bay worried about the pregnant woman, but there was nothing she could do to help her now. Had the leader and his wife been threatened by the Taliban? Had they threatened her life if they didn’t call in for American medical support to lay the trap? The Taliban knew they would respond. And they’d fallen for it.

  Gabe reached out and gripped her shoulder. “Come on, we’ve got to find a hide.”

  “I wish I had my Win Mag,” she gritted out, rising the turning to follow him up the mountain. The night air was freezing, the wind blowing in gusts across the ridge above them.

  “Makes two of us,” Gabe said. Pulling down his NVGs, he studied the wadi a thousand feet above them. The snow line was at the top of it. Would the Taliban be using in it? He had no way of knowing.

  “I hope we find out how many Taliban there are,” Bay huffed, following at his heels.

  “We’ll know shortly when Hampton calls us.”

  Once they reached the lower end of the wadi, Gabe stopped at the edge of the thickets and crouched. Bay moved next to him, alert, looking around. They were high enough now that they couldn’t hear the burning of the helicopter anymore. The village looked far away. She quickly took a drink from her CamelBak, glad she’d filled it before they’d left.

  Gabe spoke quietly on another channel on his radio. Unable to hear, Bay continued to scan the area. She saw nothing on the slopes on either side of the wadi. Maybe this one was too high and too damn freezing for the Taliban to use. Shivering, she hadn’t packed her winter gear. Her hands were numbing around the M-4. She hadn’t brought gloves, either.

  Gabe scowled as he completed the transmission to Hampton. He reached out, touching Bay’s sleeve. Tugging on it once, she moved closer to him to hear his lowered voice. “Hampton says the drone is picking up approximately two hundred Taliban on the hills to the east of the village.”

  “Two hundred?” The disbelief in her voice was a whisper, but Bay felt terror work through her. “They must have planned this for a long time?”

  “Yeah,” Gabe whispered, drinking water. Wiping his mouth, he pushed up his NVGs and took his binoculars out of his ruck. He focused on the burning helo below but couldn’t see the enemy. The Taliban would know the Apaches would come and hunt them down. Most likely, the enemy was already scattering throughout the hills to avoid retaliation. The enemy could be coming their way, too. “Bastards,” he snarled.

  Bay nodded, still trying to catch her breath. According to the Geneva Convention, no one was allowed to shoot at a medevac helicopter, no matter from what nation. It had a bright red-and-white cross painted on its nose, easy for anyone to see. “I feel horrible about this.”

  Gabe lowered the binos and put them back into his ruck. “Don’t. We had no idea. The Taliban is smart and they know we’ll come to an aid of a woman in labor.” He pulled his NVGs down, gazing around the area above, beside and down below them.

  “Do you think they know we’ve escaped?”

  “I’m sure of it. They’re probably going house to house right now searching for us.”

  Fear twisted in her gut. “How are we going to get out of here?”

  “Hampton’s working on it with the LT.” Gabe wiped the sweat off his temple. “We need to go into sniper mode, Bay. We’ll work our way quietly off to the left of this wadi. Once the Taliban don’t find us in the village, the next place they’ll think we’ve hidden is in this wadi.” Snipers never chose obvious cover to set up their hide.

  Nodding, Bay knew his logic was sound. “Yeah, thank God for sniper training. Never hide under a tree, a bush or in a ravine because it’s the first place the enemy will look.”


  “Right.” Gabe studied the slope above them. He pointed upward. “Those boulders at the snow line should do it. Let’s hoof it up there and check it out.”

  Bay slowly eased from her crouch. She was freezing but didn’t say anything. They’d been working in high desert, not in the mountains. “I wish I had my winter gear on me,” she said, following him.

  “Makes two of us. We can’t carry everything in our rucks.”

  Wasn’t that the truth? Bay could feel fear eating at her. In the black ops groups, they never left a man behind when they were in trouble. She was sure Hampton and the LT were working at light speed to figure out a way to drop a Night Stalker helicopter in to pick them up. As she watched where she was putting her boots, Bay knew it wasn’t as simple as she made it out to be. There could be other Taliban around. They might be hidden up among the boulders, where they were heading. A group of unknown size might be on the other side of the mountain ridge. It would take time for the drone to fly around the mountain and send back live video feed into the SEAL compound at Bravo.

  Gabe halted about five hundred feet away from the boulders. He crouched and so did she. Breathing hard at his shoulder, Bay studied the monoliths that resembled a string of stone pearls halfway around the mountain.

  He received another call. She waited, her heart pounding, her hands now numb.

  Gabe hissed a curse after signing off. Twisting around, he rasped, “Bad news. There’s about fifty Taliban on the other side of this ridge where we’re located. And they’re coming directly at us.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  FEAR GALVANIZED BAY as she followed Gabe higher. The gusts sliced across the ridge, about five hundred feet below where they wanted to hide. The stars were bright, huge and close. If she hadn’t been so scared, she might have appreciated their beauty at this altitude. The good news was, there were no clouds, which meant no snow or sleet would fall to make their situation even more miserable.