by Dirk Patton
“About twenty-one hundred kilometers,” she said. “However far that is.”
“Thirteen hundred miles,” Nitro said quickly.
“Okay, we’ve got half a tank of gas and thirty more gallons in the jerry cans,” I said.
“Probably about fifteen gallons in the tank, then,” Nitro said, looking up at the roof as he did math in his head. “So, assumin’ we get fifteen miles a gallon in this thing, that’s not enough. We’ll run out about six hundred miles short.”
“Maybe we can pawn Bunny,” Goose called from the back. “He’s kinda cute if you’re drunk and it’s really dark.”
“Personal experience?” Monk asked with a straight face.
“Don’t be jealous,” Goose shot back. “It’s unbecoming in a woman of your age.”
“Anyone have a helpful idea?” I asked before things got out of hand.
It was quiet in the van for a while, then Nitro sighed and pulled his collar open. Reaching in, he lifted a heavy, gold cross on a thick, braided chain over his head and held it up.
“Fourteen karat,” he said, bouncing it in his hand. “Chain alone’s worth about five hundred. Or was.”
I turned and looked at him. He met my eye and nodded that it was okay. Driving to the gas station, I got directions from the attendant to a local pawn shop. It took several wrong turns and retracing our path before I found it. Pulling in, we waited while Nitro went inside by himself. We were probably already drawing too much attention in the town and it would only be worse if we all trooped in.
After fifteen minutes, I stepped out of the air conditioned interior and casually walked around the front of the van. Glancing to the side, I could see Nitro standing at a tall counter, speaking with an older man and woman. He was nodding and smiling and they seemed to be comfortable with him in their store. Leaning against the side of the vehicle, I lit a cigarette while I waited. Rachel got out and grabbed it from my hand.
“You know that’s really annoying,” I said.
“So?”
I shook my head, not rising to the bait.
“Still worried?” she asked after taking a couple of drags and handing the smoke back to me.
“Yes,” I said. “But don’t know what to do about it.”
“I still think you should call the Admiral,” she said, fanning herself in the heat.
“Maybe,” I said, though I’d already dismissed that idea.
Fortunately, Nitro came out of the store at that moment, ending a conversation I didn’t want to have.
“All good?” I asked.
“Got three hundred,” he said, nodding and holding up a wad of cash.
“That’s all?” Rachel asked in surprise.
“Only sold the chain,” he said. “Nice couple in there. They wanted the cross, but the man said it was worth way more than he could afford and didn’t want to cheat me.”
We got back into the van, the AC feeling good after the blistering heat. Driving slowly, I returned to the filling station on the highway and topped off the tank. While I did this, Nitro and Rachel went into the small shop attached to the side of the building and stocked up on bottled water and food.
Once we were back on the road, Rachel dug through the sacks, passing out sandwiches and bags of chips. I glanced over when she tore open a plastic clamshell package and lifted a cell phone. She plugged a charging cable into the dash, then the other end into the handset.
“Don’t turn it on,” I said, not even sure I wanted it in the vehicle.
“Just in case you change your mind,” she said, then unwrapped and handed me a sandwich.
We ate as we drove, the perfectly flat and straight ribbon of asphalt quickly lulling us into silence. Dog wolfed down his own sandwich, burped loudly and stretched out behind my seat. There was a minor skirmish as he pushed against Nitro’s big feet, trying to find enough room to stretch his legs. They growled at each other. Nitro flexed and bounced his pecs. Dog curled his lip, exposing his teeth. Nitro moved his feet.
Soon, everyone was asleep. I could have easily joined them, so I forced myself to keep scanning the instrument panel and either side of the road. We passed the occasional northbound road-train, which was a semi-truck pulling three or more very long trailers.
Other than that, there was no traffic. After two hours of driving, I hadn’t seen any indication of modern civilization other than the infrequent road sign. I was pushing our speed, wanting to cover as much distance as possible before the sun went down, but decided to pull over when I saw a primitive rest area.
Turning off the pavement, I intentionally braked hard as the van bounced onto the rough dirt of the pullout. There were grunts of surprise then multiple disparaging comments from the back. Rachel just looked at me and rolled her eyes.
Red dust boiled around us for a moment, slowly clearing in a gentle breeze. Leaving the engine running so the interior didn’t turn into an oven, I stepped to the ground and had to move out of Dog’s way so he didn’t take my legs out from underneath me in his hurry to smell new territory.
Stretching, I wandered around, smoking a cigarette. There were no facilities, but a faded sign had the symbols for male and female with arrows pointing at two separate trees.
“Are you kidding me?” Rachel asked, hands on her hips as she glared at the sign.
“Watch for snakes,” I said.
“Great! Just what I needed to hear. Come on, Dog!”
I chuckled as she followed a faint path in the dirt to the far side of a low growing tree. Nitro walked up next to me, starting to speak but pausing and turning to look at the eastern horizon. I turned with him, but didn’t see or hear anything. After a moment, he raised a hand to shade his eyes from the harsh glare of the sun and continued to watch the sky.
“What?” I asked quietly.
Bunny, Monk and Goose had taken notice, coming over to stand with us.
“Not sure,” Nitro said without looking away. “Swear I heard something.”
“What’s ‘something’?” Goose asked.
“Not sure. Maybe a helicopter.” He shrugged. “Only heard it for a second.”
He stayed motionless, other than his head, which slowly traversed as he scanned the horizon.
10
“Anyone else hear anything?”
They all shook their heads. I looked back at Nitro, who was still intently scanning the horizon.
“Anything?” I asked quietly.
After several seconds, he shook his head but didn’t take his attention off the direction he’d been watching.
“Don’t know what I heard,” he said. “Probably two kangaroos fuckin’ or something.”
“We’d better get back on the road,” I said, looking around for Rachel and Dog.
I didn’t see them and frowned. It shouldn’t take that long to go to the bathroom. Stepping to the idling van, I reached in and retrieved my rifle. Gently closing the door, I was stepping around the hood when Rachel and Dog appeared from behind a thick bush.
“Everything okay?” I called.
“You know what it’s like trying to pee when some asshole put the thought of a snake in your head?” she asked, glaring at me.
Nitro guffawed and laughter rippled through the rest of the team. Rachel gave them a look, too, and their mirth was quickly tamped down. Shaking my head and smiling, I put the rifle back into the van. Lighting a cigarette, I stepped around the tree designated for men and relieved myself.
Returning to the pullout, I paused and looked to my right. I’d caught a brief flash of motion out of the corner of my eye. It was in the same direction that Nitro had been watching so intently. I didn’t see anything, but my radar was up and I was getting that bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Let’s move,” I said, hurrying to the van.
The team had taken note of me surveying the horizon and quickly climbed aboard. I didn’t waste any time jumping behind the wheel. Accelerating hard, small rocks pinged off the undercarriage as the rear tires mo
mentarily spun in the dirt, then we bounced onto pavement and roared away.
“What’d you see?” Nitro asked, leaning forward.
Goose, Bunny and Monk were all watching out the windows.
“Don’t know,” I said. “Maybe I overreacted because you heard something, but no point in taking a chance.”
“Who could know where we are?” Rachel asked.
“Satellite was only down for a little while,” I said. “Couldn’t have been that hard to find us when it came back up.”
“The SEALs?” she asked.
“Maybe…”
Before I could say anything else, the left front tire exploded with a loud bang and the wheel was nearly torn out of my grip. Fighting to keep us from turning sideways and flipping over, I gently applied the brakes. The team in back had their rifles ready and swarmed out the side door as we ground to a halt.
“Stay close!” I hissed to Rachel.
Squeezing between the seats, I jumped through the open door. She and Dog followed as I ran across a short stretch of open ground and threw myself behind some bushes. Nitro and the guys were already spread out, Monk focused on our rear as the rest of us scanned for a threat.
“Major Chase!” Commander Sherman called from somewhere in the brush on the far side of the road.
“Fuck,” I grumbled, then whispered to Rachel. “Keep control of Dog in case this gets ugly.”
She looped an arm around his neck, pulling him down to the ground next to her.
“They’re probably already around us,” I murmured to Nitro.
“Would be if I was them,” he said, then quietly slithered away.
“What do you want, Commander?” I called.
“You know why I’m here,” he answered, his voice coming from a different location. “You and your men need to put down your weapons and come with me.”
I shook my head in frustration, now knowing what Nitro had heard. They had been tracking us. We’d stopped and the C-130 had put down on the far side of the series of low hills that lined the east side of the highway. While we were stationary, the SEALs had beat feet across to set up an ambush and I’d driven right into it. I was pissed, as much at myself as anyone.
“Not happening, Commander,” I shouted.
He was silent for a nearly a minute before responding.
“I’m coming out. Let’s you and I have a chat.”
I looked around, verifying that my small team was well spread and covering all four points of the compass. A few seconds later, Sherman stood up in the tall grass that bordered the opposite shoulder of the pavement.
“Stay put,” I said to Rachel, then crawled twenty yards away so I didn’t reveal her position.
Getting to my feet, I lowered the rifle on its sling and moved onto the asphalt. Sherman cautiously walked forward, stopping on the faded line that ran down the center of the highway. Moving equally as slow, I went forward to meet him.
“I have my orders, Major,” he said. “You need to call your men off before someone gets hurt.”
“Exactly what are your orders, Commander?”
He sighed and reached up to wipe sweat off his forehead.
“The Admiral wants you and your team to stand down. We’re supposed to take you into custody and hold you.”
“Why?” I asked. “He can’t be that upset that I resigned.”
“Why? How the hell would I know? You understand how this works. Orders come down, we follow them. At least some of us do.”
“Fuck you,” I said, taking offense at the slight.
“Look,” he said. “This is going to happen. It’s up to you to decide how it goes down. I’d rather not get into a firefight with you and your team, but I don’t have any wiggle room. You can come willingly, or this can go to shit in a hot second. You’re outnumbered and surrounded. You don’t have a move. Now, how about we just calm down and get the hell out of here.”
I stared at him, doing my best to keep my face impassive. I wasn’t any more interested in shooting at his men than he was in firing on mine.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he finally asked. “You know better than this. You are better than this. How the hell do you go from surrendering to the Russians to save Hawaii to disobeying orders and creating this mess?”
“Tell me why,” I said. “This isn’t grade school and I’m not an idiot. What’s got the Admiral so twisted that he’s willing to let me and you go to war? The goddamn enemy is sitting on his fat ass in Sydney. That’s who we need to be fighting!”
Sherman sighed as he frowned at me.
“I really don’t know,” he finally said. “But I can tell you this. The Admiral likes and respects you. Or he did. Lay your weapons down and come with me. I’ll put you on a phone with him and you can ask him yourself. You have my word.”
I glanced down at his chest when a bright red dot suddenly appeared directly over his heart.
“Got a sniper out there on my six, don’t you?” I asked.
He didn’t answer, but the way his eyes flicked to look over my shoulder told me all I needed to know.
“Not anymore you don’t,” I said, tilting my head toward his torso.
He looked down and froze when he saw the laser dot that was unmoving. Nitro had gone hunting and hadn’t disappointed me.
“Doesn’t need to happen like this,” he said, raising his face and looking at me.
“No, it doesn’t,” I said. “But I’m not the one who started it. Now, if I just flick my hand, you get a bullet in the chest. I’m guessing your guy was carrying something either in 7.62 or .300 Winchester magnum. Either one’ll punch right through that body armor you’re wearing. You ready to die, today? For nothing?”
“Are you?” he asked, appearing unconcerned with being targeted.
“I died a long time ago. In Nevada,” I said, earning a concerned frown. “Just been going through the motions ever since.”
He stared at me another few moments, then slowly nodded his head when he realized I wasn’t going to back down.
“What about them?” he asked, meaning Rachel and my team. “You ready to see one of them die? Have that on your conscious?”
I didn’t have an immediate answer. My focus had been on getting out of this. I had an appointment with President Barinov to end his miserable existence. But Sherman’s question hit me like I’d been doused with cold water. There was no doubt in my mind that Nitro would follow me to his death and his men would follow him. Rachel and Dog wouldn’t stay out of a fight, either, and their odds of survival were pretty damn slim if we all started shooting.
“It’s about more than just you,” Sherman said, having seen something in my face. “Do you really want to lose one of them?”
“Walk away,” I said, but my heart wasn’t in it. Not like it had been.
“You know I can’t do that,” he said. “No more than you would if you were me.”
We stood staring at each other, time stretching out. I had no doubt he was sincere about carrying out his orders. An image of Katie, lying in a primitive grave in the Nevada desert flashed through my mind and I nearly flicked my hand to signal Nitro to fire. Then a memory of Rachel’s face came up. Her eyes were closed, mouth parted slightly as we made love. That was the tipping point that pushed me to stand down.
Before I could say anything, there was a sudden roar as a Russian Hind gunship popped up from behind the hills and a volley of rifle shots rang out. Sherman spun around to see what was happening and I yanked him to the side an instant before high-velocity cannon slugs shredded the pavement where we’d just been standing. We tumbled across the highway before leaping to our feet and running for the brush as the massive helicopter screamed over our heads.
11
The Hind pounded the air as it circled for an attack run. Screaming for Rachel and Dog to follow, I ran down a gentle slope and leapt over an outcropping of brilliant red rock, huddling against the backside. Sherman was on my heels and Dog bounded over the ridge, Rachel onl
y a second behind him.
The toe of her boot snagged on a scraggly bush and she crashed down, far too exposed. Sherman grabbed her by the arms and hauled her into shelter as the Hind fired a sustained burst from its nose mounted rotary gun. I ducked, pulling Dog’s head down with me as the SEAL threw himself on top of Rachel to protect her. Not that it mattered. One of those shells would pass through both their bodies without even slowing.
The ground erupted from the aerial onslaught. Dirt was blasted into the air and rained down all around us as something whizzed past my head. I popped up a second later, the gunship already banking as it climbed to line up for another pass.
“Shoot him!” Rachel screamed as she gathered Dog into her arms.
I ignored her, knowing the rifle I carried would do no more than chip the paint on the flying tank that was lining up to strafe the far side of the pavement. Before it swooped in and began chewing up the desert, I heard a brief moment of light weapons fire from within the brush. Sherman was screaming into his radio and I turned to look at him as the Hind let loose with another stream of withering fire.
“Spetsnaz on the ground!” he shouted to be heard over the bellow of the attacking helicopter.
“You got anything with you that can bring that bastard down?” I screamed back.
“Got a couple of Stingers in the plane, but it’s over a mile away.”
We ducked again as the Hind flew over, blasting away at a thick stand of bushes forty yards to our right. They were shredded, as well as the SEAL that was concealed within their branches. Sherman kept his head down, pressing hard on an earpiece so he could hear, then barked more orders before turning to me.
“I’ve got four men not responding and three confirmed enemy kills. Russians are pushing in from the east. Almost to the road. We’ve gotta take out that fuckin’ helo!”
The Hind made another run, tearing up the hard-packed dirt on the far shoulder of the road. Through the cloud of dust thrown up by the attack, I caught a glimpse of one of the SEALs as he stumbled behind a rock. The way he moved left no doubt he was injured, but his rifle was up and firing. He wasn’t going down without a fight. I threw myself to the side as a bullet spanged off the rocks I was using for cover. Small chips blasted free, peppering my face and neck.
